Unable to sleep Hermione lay wide awake staring at the ceiling. She couldn't remember how she had managed to get to her room, her mind had sort of been on automatic. She didn't want to dance with Voldemort. She didn't want to hold the hand that had murdered her parents. She didn't want to touch the monster that had made most of her life a living hell. The idea of his hands on her body made her feel disgusted but there was no way out of it and the more she thought about it the sicker she felt.
Hermione forced herself to stop thinking about it and sat up. She suddenly felt angry with herself for letting nearly 2 months go by, she should have at least formed a plan by now. Time was running out and if she couldn't sleep she might as well use the time productively. She lit a candle and sat at her desk. She pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and dipped her quill in a pot of black ink. She would plan his murder right now and the Halloween ball was the perfect occasion to carry it out. She sat thinking for a while and a fat drop of ink splattered onto the blank sheet. Damn it, why couldn't she think of something? Lots of people would be in the great hall so it had to be something discrete. So that ruled out using wands, knives or physical force and she could make it look like an accident but then there was nothing in the great hall that could actually kill you. Injure maybe but not kill. If only the great hall had a chandelier, then she could have dropped it on him like in those muggle movies. Luring him out and whacking him on the head while everyone was busy partying was a great idea but he would obviously become suspicious if she tried to persuade him to come out. That would do no good since she needed him to remain completely unaware of her intentions. She had to catch him when his guard was down and when he was least expecting it.
How do you kill someone in front of loads of people without being obvious? Unable to come up with anything Hermione looked around her room feeling frustrated. A book on her shelf titled, brewing antidotes to poisons caught her eyes. Poison, that's it. She could use poison to kill him and it was perfect to use in front of crowds. All she had to do was be careful not to be seen and add it to whatever he ate or drank. There would be food and drink at the ball and he had to get hungry or thirsty sometime. Feeling pleased she smiled and wrote down project P. She had to decide what poison to use and then get it from somewhere. That was a problem, where could she get poison from without raising suspicions? She could brew some but then she would have to get a book for that and ingredients. She had no doubt that the restricted section would have something and she could steal the ingredients from Slughorn's office. She decided to sneak down there tonight and she couldn't be bothered to get dressed. Instead she grabbed her cloak and wrapped it around her night gown.
Hermione lit her wand and poked her head out the door. The common room was empty and she tiptoed her way down the stairs. She carefully opened the door and was glad to find Persephone and Hades sleeping peacefully in their portrait. She looked back and forth then she carefully made her way down to the library. She knew Longbottom and Bones were meant to be patrolling and if she got caught she could always lie and say she got the timetables mixed up. Hopefully she wouldn't be seen by anyone. After some time Hermione arrived at the library. She slowly entered and made her way down to the restricted section. She hid around the corner and carefully inspected the area to see if anyone was there. Finding no one she pushed open the gates and started to scan the shelves. Most of the books were huge and dusty with cobwebs while some of them looked like they had been recently read. She had no doubt the dark lord had been reading them, good thing he wasn't here tonight.
It didn't take her long to find books on poisons and she picked the one that she thought would be the best. It was a medium sized black leather bound book titled, how to make the most dangerous poisons. Hermione flipped it open and randomly skipped through the pages. A particular page caught her eye and she paused. It described the making of a poison called Letum Sero and it was perfect. It was colourless and odourless so no one would notice if it was added to their food or drink. It was so potent that only the addition of one drop was necessary to cause death but the more you added the faster they would die. It would be much easier to add one drop without being seen, compared to 5ml that the other poisons required and the best thing about it was its resistance to the Bezor stone. If anyone even managed to shove a Bezor stone down Tom's throat in an attempt to save him, it wouldn't work. If he drank it he was good as dead. The potion was simple to make but the ingredients were worrying. They were vile and dangerous and she wasn't sure if she could get one of them. One of the ingredients, moonflower only grew after the plant was incubated for 50 years under special conditions and she didn't think Hogwarts would have it but it was worth a try.
Tucking the book under her arm Hermione made her way down to Slughorn's office. After watching Slughorn open the door countless times during her Friday night detentions she knew what the password was but he obviously didn't think she knew. She checked under the door for any indication of light and there was none. She muttered the password and crept inside. After some searching she found most of the ingredients in a dusty cupboard at the back. Hermione hastily gathered the ingredient jars and looked hard for the moonflower but no sign. If it grew once every 50 years it must be hard to obtain and very expensive. It was mostly used to make harmful potions so Hogwarts probably wouldn't stock it and she knew Slughorn wasn't the kind of man that was interested in making evil potions but she looked in his private stores anyway. It wasn't there and she punched the table feeling frustrated. She would have to use another poison but this one had been so perfect. Hermione angrily kicked the floor and threw the book onto the table. She was just about to open the book and find another poison when one of her foot went through the floor.
"What the fuck?" she swore grabbing the table to stop herself from falling. She pulled her foot out and bent down to investigate. One of the floorboards had been weak and it has snapped under the force of her kick. She was about to repair it when she noticed a hidden wooden box. Hermione took out the box and pointing her wand at it she cautiously opened it. It was full of small empty jars but one of them contained something. She pulled out the jar and couldn't believe her luck. Inside was one small white moonflower and it looked exactly like the way it was illustrated in the book. To further confirm its identity she read the jar's faded label. Moonflower, Property of Geoffrey Stubbs, 1736, it read. The man was probably dead and she was sure no one knew about the hidden moonflower. She carefully put the jar on the table and replacing the box she repaired the floorboard. She took of her cloak and bundled all the ingredients carefully inside. Hermione peered out the office door and looked back and forth. After a while she stood in front of Persephone and Hades portrait. "Persephone" she whispered. "Persephone" she whispered louder and the woman jumped awake. "Medusa" she said ignoring the woman telling her off and quickly slipped through the door. Thank Merlin the common room was still empty. She quietly made it back to her room and kicked open her bathroom door. She dumped everything on the floor and went back to her room.
Hermione dived under her bed and took out her own cauldron that Dippet had provided for her. In potions they always used Tom's cauldron and there had never been a need to use hers. She grabbed some candle sticks and ran back into the bathroom. She stuck the candles on the bathroom floor and lit them around the cauldron. Hermione opened the book and lighting the cauldron she started to make the poison. Most of the ingredients stung her eyes and some made her cough, as she made the poison she was reminded of the time she had made polyjuice potion in myrtles bathroom. Tears came to her eyes as memories of Harry and Ron ran through her mind. She terribly missed them and she wished she could talk to them again. The mixture started to boil and she wiped away her tears and focused on the last step.
According to the book a whole moonflower had to be added next and in the end the amount of poison obtained would be 2 ml. Hermione wondered how a full cauldron could get reduced to 2 ml by adding one flower. Eager to know she hastily unscrewed the jar lid and dropped in the moonflower. Vapour immediately began rising from the cauldron as most of the liquid started to evaporate and she coughed and waved her hands trying to see what was happening. Soon everything became clear and Hermione stared into the cauldron to find a very small amount of clear liquid inside. Now she knew what happened to most of the liquid, it evaporated rapidly leaving behind a very concentrated poison. She went back into her room and fetched a very small bottle. She carefully tipped the liquid inside the bottle and screwed it shut. She lifted it up and stared at it smiling. The most dangerous poison, Letum Sero was in her hands. Soon she would have her revenge and Voldemort would be no more. The world would be a better place and Harry and Ron would have a chance to live again. Hermione cleared away everything and replaced the cauldron under her bed. She carefully wrapped the small bottle of Letum Sero with a woolly scarf and placed it inside her trunk, then she hid the poisons book deep at the bottom and locked it.
She went back to her desk and tore up the parchment. She liked to write things down when she brain stormed ideas but now she had the plan in her head. Besides it wasn't wise to write down murder plans and store them away, someone could read it. Now it was really late at night and she felt sleepy. She blew out her candles and crept under her quilt feeling a lot happier. Hermione slept peacefully knowing that the dark lord would be dead very soon.
I know it's short but I'm busy doing coursework. The next chapter will definitely be longer and I've already written half of it. In case anyone was wondering Letum Sero means lethal serum in Latin. Leave reviews.