I'm Down To One Last Breath
Chapter One: The Confessions of Hermione Granger
Harry found Hermione sitting in the Head's compartment staring out the window, crying her eyes out.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked, walking over to her.
She looked over to see Harry sitting next to her on the seat. The look in his eyes was one she would never forget. It was a look of concern, worry, but most of all, love.
'Don't be stupid, he sees you as a friend, nothing more." Hermione thought to herself.
"Harry, if I tell you, you will hate me forever." Hermione told him, lying against his warm body.
"Try me." Harry told her.
"Fine, you asked for it. I suppose I should start at the beginning. It all started when I was about four." she started.
"Four! You must have been holding it in for over ten years!" Harry cut in.
"Harry, if I'm going to tell you, can you please not interrupt?" Hermione asked.
"Sorry."
"It was a little after my fourth birthday. I was playing with my dad's wand and blew up the kitchen. That was the first time I ever got punished."
"You dad is a wizard? What do you mean by 'punished'?"
"My dad is a half blood, my mom is a pureblood. Later on in the story, you will find out why I lied about it. That day was the first time he ever beat me."
After this, there was silence for about ten minutes, until Hermione spoke again.
"After that, he continued to beat me every time I did something wrong. Then, when I was five, I met Hadria. She was my babysitter until I started Hogwarts, she was as an older sister to me, still is. She found out about what dad did to me, and tried everything in her power to stop it. Nothing worked, so she introduced me to something that would help me not care when he beat me. The Morte Tossica is a cult; it thrives in the wizarding world. There motto is what first drew me in, La Vita Dei Morti Causa Più Dolore Che Della Vita. It means The Life of the Dead Men Cause More Pain That of the Life, roughly translated from Italian to English. Morte Tossica itself means dead women toxic in Italian. Hadria took me to my first meeting when I was six. I loved it that was the first time I ever felt alive, that day was the first time I ever as if I belonged. I kept going with Hadria until I started Hogwarts." Hermione continued.
"Why did you stop going if you liked it so much? Can you tell me what happened in those meetings anyways?" Harry asked, prompting her to continue.
"I had to stop going during the school year because I couldn't leave Hogwarts grounds, I did go during the summer though. As for your second question, the Morte Tossica teaches all its members the ancient arts. The ancient arts are fighting styles and such; I am one of the best, partly because I have been training for almost 11 years. I can't tell you much more than that without breaking an oath I made at the beginning of the summer." She explained.
"Oh, continue please." he said.
"Well, nothing happened really until I was 10; my paternal grandmother came to live with my parents and me. She was worse than my father was, much worse. One day I tripped on her dog, Poodles, and she beat me. I thought that was it, but she did things even worse. Then after about an hour, and the loss of one arm, three toes, one hand, and a leg, she tried to kill me. I saw this candlestick, grabbed it off the table, and beat her over the head until the candlestick was covered in blood. My mother lied to my father about what happened that day. I believe she told him that his mother tripped when she was walking down the stairs, broke her neck and cracked her head open. Then I came to Hogwarts and you know what happened. Mom asked me to lie about everything, so I did. My mom's maiden name was Christina Gaspar; her family is one of the most highly respected wizarding families in Europe. They make the Malfoys look like church mice. My father's family is almost as well respected as my mothers, almost as rich as well. My dad was a death eater, he tried to pull information from me for years, but he never got anything. The summer before fourth year, was when Mother was killed, Father killed her. That summer was also the first time I had to fight for my life; he ordered one of our house elves, Twinkle, to kill me. Every summer since then I have had to fight for my life. This past summer he got tired of me escaping his attempts to get rid of me, so he tried to kill me himself. I won, and he died. That must have been two weeks into the summer holidays, because a week after I killed him I became the second highest ranking member of the Morte Tossica."
There was silence in the compartment for a while, Harry trying to process everything Hermione just told him, and then Hermione spoke again.
"Something is happening within the Morte Consiglio. The Morte Consiglio, which means death council in Italian, is a group, consisting of the top ten members of the Morte Tossica that runs it. I found out, about two weeks ago, who Voldemort's son is. Marcus, who is the head of the Morte Consiglio, is his thirty five year old son. He was my mentor, teacher when I first started. He is the only member who has more power that me. Anyway, he tried to add the members of the Morte Tossica to his army, but I would not let him. Since I would not let him, I had to challenge him for his spot on the Morte Consiglio. So, in about a year from now, I have to fight him." Hermione explained.
"So? You will win Hermione. If you are as good at the ancient arts as you sound, you won't have a problem beating him." Harry told her, trying to comfort her.
"Harry, you don't understand. When a member challenges the head of the Morte Consiglio for his spot on the council, it is always a fight to the death, as opposed to usually happens when two other members fight each other. That and the fact I have to kill another family member to be able to live."
"What are you talking about?" Harry said, asking about the last sentence that came out of her mouth.
"Marcus is my fifty second cousin eighteen times removed, through my mother's side of the family."
"You are the Heiress of Slytherin! You were related to Voldemort this whole time!" Harry stated, in shock about the whole situation.
"Yes. I never told you or anyone about all this for that reason alone. I was scared you would all hate me for being related to someone I have always hated. I made a mistake in thinking Marcus was different from his father. I am scared Harry, scared that I might not win against Marcus. I am scared that, because I told you the truth, you hate me. I hope that you can forgive me and understand why I lied to you for all these years," she confessed to him.
"Hermione, I do understand and I don't hate you, I'm just surprised." Harry told her, looking into her eyes.
It was just at that moment when the compartment door opened to reveal someone much unexpected.
Here is Chapter 1, hope you like it! This fan fiction is dark and disturbing, but this still a somewhat romantic story. Your author, Ava.