Chapter 20
I think everyone waited for this chapter...
"Ahh... no, No, No! Please… don't do this, no...!"
Hermione was woken up very early by Lavender crying in her sleep.
She was weaker than Hermione originally expected…
Last night, after Hermione returned to her room, seeing as both girls were asleep, she carefully planted the dripping mandrake root under Lavender's bed.
Seeing as this was her own doing, Hermione got out of bed and went to wake her up.
Maybe she should have opted for a traditional poison? Surely even hemlock would do the job faster. Lavender would soon be pushing up the daisies, and Hermione would finally have her peace and quiet. But, there was a problem with that scenario, because Lavender would actually be dead, and that wasn't what Hermione aimed for.
Instead, she ended up with even more noise.
Hermione shook her gently by the shoulder and Lavender pushed herself up abruptly and began to breathe heavily, as she looked around the room. She tried her best to look unbothered as soon as she saw Hermione next to her, and got up immediately.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
Lavender often did her best to act like a 'pureblood lady' around her, putting on rusty manners and puffed up graces. The way she tried to sit like a lady, walk like a lady, eat or drink with proper movement, felt forced and unnatural, not to mention sloppy. It was almost offensive to all the graceful and appropriately trained pureblood ladies out there.
It was unkind of her to think that, but Hermione thought Lavender's actions were rather cheap. Browns weren't as well off as other pureblood families, but they had a reputation for being arrogant and boastful about their blood status and money they did no longer have. They often bragged about the old days, of their family's glorious days, when they were blessed with good fortune and their single great warrior ancestor, who fought in a small battle against Goblins, insignificant enough to be forgotten by Professor Binns himself.
Maybe that's why Browns tried so hard to not be forgotten by the society, always trying their best to fit in with the elite, standing on their heads to get invitations to every event they found a way to get in to.
So, Hermione decided it was probably Lavender's bird-brained way of trying to establish herself as better than her.
Hermione knew others often saw her status as a muggleborn witch, before seeing her for who she really was, as just Hermione. Sadly, it was just the way things were, and the only way to changing them was showing the wizarding community that the magical strength didn't depend on one's blood… but the road to that included Hermione's family revealing themselves as Druids, which Hermione didn't feel very good about.
And, they couldn't do it without finding Merlin's library and getting rid of the curse he placed on Morgana's blood line.
Even if the Greenfells would decide to keep themselves a secret for longer, Hermione was determined to one day find the library, afraid that her kids could find themselves without full magical ability, like many of Hermione's relatives.
Hermione got dresses. She was brushing her hair when Lavender came out of their shared bathroom, all puffed up, looking at her as if she wanted Hermione to die on the spot.
"If I was you, I would stop trying to fix that tragedy you call hair, and instead focus on your ugly face, maybe then someone would finally be interested in you." She said and left the room, leaving Hermione speechless.
If she had any doubts before, whether Lavender deserved to be cursed, they all dissolved in the aftermath of her cutting remark. Hermione put her hairbrush down, and followed her out, to go to breakfast.
She ran into Lavender, standing just outside the common room, and she decided to help the mandrake get into her head.
She walked up to her quietly and whispered in her ear;
"If I was you, I would be careful if my boyfriend had feelings for his best friend." She felt Lavender tense and went to move around her, but Lavender suddenly grabbed her hair.
"You! You ugly, arrogant, boyfriend stealing pig! What did you just say to me? I will kill you!" She was shouting and pulling on Hermione's hair like she's gone insane, and Hermione was considering blasting her into the wall.
Her eyes gleamed gold as she was about to do it, but then Ron and Harry came out of the common room. Seeing that Lavender was attacking her, they ran over to them and intervened.
"Lavender! Are you crazy! What are you doing? Let her go!" Ron shouted as the two boys ran up to them, making Lavender immediately let go of Hermione and jump away as if burnt.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked Hermione all concerned, who was touching her hurting head from all the pulling.
"What happened?" Harry asked. Lavender was looking between the two boys in fear and uncertainly. She didn't understand what happened herself.
"I don't know, I was going to the great hall and she just attacked me." Said Hermione.
"No! I-I... She said she would take her away from me Won-Won!" Lavender tried to defend herself, pointing her finger at Hermione.
"What are you talking about? I never said anything to you. Besides, Ron and I are friends." Hermione said, playing the victim. It looked as if Morgana's spirit was wakening up in her.
"You told me to be careful! You-you said…" Lavender was close to tears. "Won-Won! Why aren't you defending me?" She turned to her boyfriend who looked conflicted.
"Look, you shouldn't attack Hermione like that…" Ron started but she just burst out crying.
"I don't have time to watch this." Hermione said with a hurt look on her face and turned to leave. She smirked to herself.
It looked like her mandrake worked much better than expected. It was unbelievable how real the effects were.
"Wait for me." She heard Harry call behind her as he ran after her, leaving awkward Ron to deal with hysterical Lavender.
It took a while for Ron to finally join them at breakfast. He sat down with a sour expression on his face. Clearly Lavender was finally getting on his nerves.
"Have you sorted it out?" Harry asked, but Ron only sighted, and stuffed his mouth with food. Hermione, saw he was struggling with Lavender's overexpressed feelings and she was only doing him a favour, giving him an excuse to break up with her.
"He clearly didn't."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, she is still glaring at me." Hermione said, making both boys turn to look at where Lavender sat.
Lavender quickly looked away, but it began, and her behaviour was only getting more and more difficult.
At first her cutting remarks became more frequent and she even stopped holding back when Harry and Ron were present, then her anger turned into small acts of bullying, like Lavender brushing past her and making Hermione drop her books or other things she carried, passing something to her and dropping it before Hermione had a chance to grab it.
Once she even spilled ink all over her essay. Hermione managed to fix it but it was still getting irritating, and just when she was finally going to remove the mandrake, Lavender began to hallucinate during the class.
She saw Seamus and Padma sitting close together, she got up and pushed them apart making a big scene. She did the same with Ginny and Dean in the corridor, and others… She was seeing Hermione with Ron everywhere.
Other students began to look at her like she was crazy and she must have felt herself go crazy, because her confidence suddenly levelled with the ground. Her eyes were red, she had dark circles, was pale and her hair had gone all frizzy.
The effects were slow but they kept coming one after the other, almost naturally, raising no suspicions.
It took a few days but it was worth a wait because Lavender was now making a big scene during dinner.
Earlier that day, Hermione saw Draco say something to Lavender, and before that she saw him making eye contact with the enemy and smirk brutally at her.
She wondered what it was he said to her but, seeing as the girl was hysterically trying to explain herself to Ron by blaming Draco Malfoy for cursing her, she could take a guess.
"Look, we don't like him, but what reason would he have to curse you?" Ron was clearly over her pretentious act.
Harry was sceptical about her claims too. There was no reason for Malfoy to curse her, besides what curse did he use on her to make her act like that? She didn't act like she was cursed, more like she was going crazy with jealousy… No spell or curse (that they knew of) worked like that. It made no sense…
"Because few weeks ago I accidentally threw a bat-bogey hex at him." Lavender said, not thinking she would have to reveal the circumstances around that particular event.
"What? Why would you do that?" Ron asked suddenly alarmed.
"She was aiming at me and she missed." Hermione explained casually, watching the scene unfold with interest.
"What?! Why would you do that?!" Ron turned to Lavender looking at her with pure accusation in his eyes.
"Because she was getting too close to you and you touched her face! You don't ever touch me like that and I'm your girlfriend!" Hermione looked across the hall to see almost everyone watching the dramatic scene with undivided attention. She noticed Draco was enjoying it the most, sniggering from where he sat between Blaise and Pansy, who were also watching with amusement.
Harry was trying to ignore the spectacle and eat as if it wasn't happening, obviously too second-hand embarrassed, to watch with the rest of the student body present in the massive room.
Then, Professor McGonagall stood up and called for attention.
"As you all know Professor Dumbledore has been absent since the Winter break, but I'm very happy to announce he is coming back within the next week. That's all, thank you." She said and the dinner continued.
Hermione looked over to where Slytherins sat.
Draco looked cast down again. He locked eyes with her and a silent moment of understanding passed between them. Dumbledore being back meant that Draco could fulfil his mission but it also meant he had do carry out his mission and succeed.
Few days before the Easter break - 1997
Darkness…
He broke though the water surface and took a deep breath.
He gathered his last strengths to swim up to the shore he could not see, because of the deep darkness. He crawled out of the water feeling barely alive.
But was he alive?
Chocking up on the dark liquid, he was holding himself up on his arms. So weak.
Weak, but not dead.
Dead can't feel pain, and he was feeling a lot of it, all over his body.
Exhausted, he climbed up on his fours. He made it to the top completely out of breath, it was amazing his body was still functioning. He turned slowly, withering in pain, and sat leaning on the basin.
The Horcrux.
Did Kreacher destroy it?
Oh, right… He told him to take it to Claudius.
Then he remembered the inferi.
Where did they go?
He reached for the pendant that hanged around his neck and brought it in front of his face so he could look at it. He smiled.
"That sneaky, talented, crazy little witch" He said out loud to himself, in a hoarse voice. "What on Salazar did she do?"
He chuckled.
If only he could see her again…
Thinking about her, he closed his eyes and fell unconscious.
He woke up feeling some of his strengths return to him. He was still very weak.
He got up pulling himself up the basin.
He looked around.
Where was his boat?
He put his hand in his hidden inside pocket of his black long trench coat, and took out his wand.
With some light now, he was able to see a little bit more.
An eerie sight, standing on the edge of an isle in the middle of the great black lake, so vast that he could not make out the distant banks, in a cavern so high that the ceiling, too, was out of sight.
A misty greenish light shone far away in what looked like the end of the lake; it was reflected in the completely still water below. The greenish glow and the light from his wand was the only thing that broke the otherwise velvety blackness.
No boat. He sighted.
But the cave felt different now.
As if a lot of its dark magic has been washed away. The anti-apparition wards seemed to be gone.
He looked at his wand hopeful he had enough energy left in him to apparate out of the cave, to the first place he could think of, the one place he felt truly safe at.
Hermione was walking around the castle, visiting all the spots she could think of where Draco might be hiding away from the world, and her.
She needed to talk to him. She had no idea what she would say to him but it was certain that he should not be left alone right now.
Suddenly she felt a strange tickle in her stomach and then a warm yet powerful feeling washed over her.
It made her freeze, it was so overwhelming she could not move.
And then came the pain.
Hermione fell onto her knees, clutching her body tightly. The pain was very strong and it felt as if she was ripping through something hard. She did her best not to scream. There was no one around but the last thing she wanted was to bring any attention to herself.
The pain was gradually getting worse and seemed to come from within her, wrapping her body inside out.
And then it stopped.
Suddenly it was replaced by the warmest feeling, the sense of incredible power she felt in that moment scared her senseless.
It was unbelievable. Unimaginable. The intensity of the pure force, felt limitless. Like she could level Hogwarts with the ground she was kneeling on, with a snap of her fingers.
It felt like the power was wrapping herself around her, and it felt amazing. There was so much of it Hermione feared it would overtake her, but she soon noticed neither the incredible power or her were in control of one another.
It felt like balance. Like a partnership. Not something to command but…
Hermione would compare it to a flower you take care of for it to grow. You water it and make sure it has sunlight, so later you can enjoy its beauty, its scent. But not everything is up to you. You're just an element that needs to play its tiny part in the massive, complex eco-system.
Hermione began to relax and the formidable power seemed to ease, until it left.
It didn't leave entirely. Some part of it was still there, hidden within her, for Hermione to reach and hold on to if she needed to.
Hermione got up and began to walk.
What was that?
Was it some side effect of what she did to Lavender? It didn't feel… equivalent.
But what was that? Should she write home and...? No, she was returning home soon there was no need… Well, she was going straight to the 12 Grimmauld Place, but her grandfather would be there surely, he will know what could have caused this.
Deciding to change her direction and return to her dormitory, to look in the book she's been glued to since she received it, and see if there is any mention of such side effects, she spotted the person she was looking for in the first place.
Forgetting her new plans, she made her way towards him.
"Hey." She said, sitting on the bench outside the castle, next to a depressed looking Draco.
He looked up at her sourly, only to look away in favour of staring into the abyss.
Dumbledore came back to the castle two days ago and Draco was clearly putting it off for as long as he could, but the Easter break was barely couple of days away.
They sat in silence and Hermione was building up her courage to break the comfortable silence between them.
"He has returned to Hogwarts. What will you do?" Hermione asked finally.
"I will do what I've been told to do." He drawled, still looking into the distance.
"Are you sure you can do it? I know you're skilled enough but…"
"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" He said, turning to her.
"I suppose you don't." She swallowed. "What if you and your mother went into hiding? If he could not find you then you would be safe, you wouldn't have to do it."
"What about my father? It is only a matter of time before the Azkaban falls and he will be back at his side. My father is far from perfect but I can't let him be punished for us running away. That's not what our family does, Granger."
"You forget you're having to do this because you were punished for his failure." Hermione argued.
"And you forget you and your friends were the reason why he failed." Draco hissed. "What is the point of this conversation? You're not helping and you're not getting in the way either, what exactly are you doing, Hermione? This is ridiculous!" He stood up suddenly, and began to pace.
Hermione stood up and went to put her hand on his shoulder but he turned and caught her wrist. "I'm going to kill the Headmaster; I have to murder your Dumbledore." He hissed. "Do you know what that means? As soon as he's gone, the Dark Lord will take over this school, no one will be safe anymore! You will not be safe here, Granger, this is why you can't come back here. Don't come back after Easter. Promise me you will stay away!" He insisted.
"I can't promise you that" She said calmly, looking into his eyes., thinking of how far they've come. "I can't leave Harry and Ron alone, he's already taken over the Ministry, even if I don't come back to Hogwarts, his followers will find me and kill me, at least if I'm here, I can try and fight." She told him but he refused to give up trying to convince her. He let go of her wrist but he took a step closer to her, so they were only a few centimetres away.
"It's a suicide. You must leave! Listen to me Granger! You must take your family and go, leave the country, run and hide!" He insisted. "You might think you and Potter can face him, but knowing a few dark spells won't save you. You've not met him; he's terrifying and he's too powerful.
You don't know what it's like having him live at your house, having to constantly watch yourself so he doesn't snap and punish you or one of your family members. Having to constantly think what's the next thing you can do to make him happy, to show you're useful so he doesn't get rid of you. And I'm a pureblood, Granger." His eyes flashed, and he moved his mouth closer to her ear.
"What do you think will happen to you? A mudblood friend of his greatest enemy, what do you think he will do to you as soon as he has you?" He whispered. "I can promise you he will not kill you right away, no, he will have one of his death eaters torture you for days, weeks even, until you die out of exhaustion." He looked her in the eyes. "And what if that dead eater is me?"
"I'm not going to run, Draco. There is nothing you can say to make me hide." She watched as his eyes darkened.
"Fine! But don't say I didn't warn you." He growled and walked away not looking back.
This was the last time she would see him, because that night Dumbledore was found dead.
Greenfell Manor
Klaus was as always, very busy.
He was lying on the grass, surrounded by apple trees. He watched the clouds and enjoyed the sun. The sound of the birds singing was calming.
He closed his eyes and bit the apple that fell down from the tree he was lying under. It tasted so sweet. The day couldn't get any more beautiful.
The sun was shining and its warmth was baking Klaus' pale face, until a sudden shadow was cast over his upper body, making him open his eyes.
"Aunt Amelia! No wonder the shadow was so big, I could already tell it was you before I even opened my eyes, did you change your perfumes though? But oh, my, you always look so elegant, how do you do it?" He rattles on with a big grin on his face.
"Get up." She ordered with a frown on her handsome face, making him gulp and get up immediately.
"Walk with me." She commanded and turned to walk in the way in which she came from.
"I am leaving for a couple of days. I came to make sure you are aware that I am gone. Upon my return, I expect the house to be just how I left it. Are we clear?" She asked in a commanding, clear voice. The last time Klaus was left at the manor alone, it looked like a hurricane went through it, and there were all sorts of animals and creatures roaming around as he accidentally left Lydia's suitcase opened, causing some of her magical zoo to escape.
"Crystal" He said, stopping in front of her and placing a kiss on her knuckles.
"Mhm." She raised her eyebrow at him, and continued to walk. Klaus followed her with a smile.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"To visit our family in France. Hermione will be returning from Hogwarts in a couple of days. She wrote to let us know, she wants to join Claudius at the 12 Grimmauld Place straight away." Claudius was staying for the past week with Sirius, Remus and the Weasleys at 12 Grimmauld Place, to avoid constant travelling, and for safety reasons.
Amelia halted and turned to face Klaus who mirrored her movement immediately.
"When they both return, do remind them to go through the mail. The season is soon to begin and our Hermione is more than old enough to be engaged. Tell your grandfather there is a letter from the Duke of Winchester, he must reply to him first, before replying to the Earl of Surrey. The Countess and I have come to an understanding, initially, but your Grandfather believes the Duke's son Louis is more suited for our Hermione, and our family."
"Are we running out of money? Aunt Amelia, I don't think Hermione will appreciate being sold off like a…"
"Hermione has not much to say on the matter." She cut him off and walked off. Klaus followed.
"She has always known, she must one day marry, and she must marry well. And don't be daft, our finances are much more stable than all the suitors' families put together. Although with you, demon child, I worry our spending estimates in the books might prove to be insufficient, with some your costly habits.
As for Hermione, I do not wish to pressure her, the times have changed and arranged marriages are becoming unfashionable, but with your… predicament, she has no choice. We must think of our family." She drawled looking into his eyes with sharpness.
"Especially in such dark times as the ones we have entered." She said glancing up at the sky with a sneer.
"Your aunt Lydia is coming with me, which means you will be on your own for a couple of days, so, do at least try to be sensible."
"I'm always sensible, my dear aunt Amelia." He said with a grin, making her sigh as she got inside the car.
"Be good Klaus, and stay away from my lab or I will lock you down there for the next ten years." Aunt Lydia kissed Klaus on his cheek, and went to join Amelia in the back seat. Kiwi was driving them to the private airport.
Klaus waved them goodbye, and as soon as the car was out the gate and out of sight, he happily skip-walked back inside.
He closed the massive door behind him and spreading his arms wide he tilted his head back and took a deep breath.
"This is what freedom smells like." He giggled happily.
One of the Greenfell house elves walked passed with a bag full of letters.
"Pheo! What have you got there?"
"More mail has arrived Sir, I am taking it up to the Master Claudius' study."
"Pass them to me, I will take them."
"As you wish Sir."
Pheo passed Klaus the big bad of letters and went his way. Klaus looked inside them and grinned.
He ran upstairs to take them to his grandfather's study. He couldn't let such an opportunity pass, could he?
"Oh my…" He chuckled when he saw the two big piles of latter on his grandfather's desk. He has been gone for a week, not attending to any of his business matters so the urgent requests and messages seemed to have piled up. There was no way all these letters were proposals to be sealed with Hermione's hand.
He chucked the bag on Claudius' desk next to the other two piles of mail, and went to look around the room.
He opened one of the cabinets and trying to reach for a chest, where Claudius kept some of the more interesting smaller artefacts, he accidentally pushed the silver clock off, making it fall on the floor and break.
"Oh no!" He put his hands on his head. He picked up the broken pieces of the priceless clock and put them back on its place. He closed the cabinet and looked around the room.
"I brought up the letters, and as I went to put them down, the cabinet shook from their great, collective weight, making the clock fall and… it broke." He said out loud as if practicing his explanation, for when the fruit of his invasion upon his grandfather's study was discovered.
Just as he was about to leave he stepped on the letter. There was a pile of already opened letters.
Klaus picked it up and sat down in his grandfather's chair, as he looked through them. There were notes on each letter that Claudius made.
"Let's see… The Duke de Cassel – too old. The Earl of Willowbrook – wants my money. Baron Lorraine of Westley – too arrogant. Earl of Mountberg – unintelligent. Baron de Clermont of Norwick – loves media and spotlight too much. The Duke of Southfield – scandal, scandal, scandal. Well these are clearly off the table." Klaus chuckled.
He got up, left the study and went down to the kitchen.
He made himself a peanut butter jelly sandwich, he went to the wine cellar and grabbed a bottle of wine. He then made his lazy way back upstairs to one the biggest day room and jumped over the back of the 300-year-old sofa, to land on the seating with the remote in his hand.
He pointed it at the massive TV and just as he was about to press it, something black and wet crashed on the carped just in front of his eyes.
He jumped up startled, holding his remote, his bottle and his sandwich close.
The curious figure moved and began to get up off the floor.
Klaus watched as the silhouette, now standing with his back to him tried to find his bearing and steady himself on his clearly weak legs. He suddenly turned around to face Klaus.
It was a boy, a bit younger than Klaus.
His black wizarding robes were fully drenched. His long, wavy but wet hair covered up most of his gloomy face. If Klaus ever had to imagine what a Grim Reaper in a human form could look like – this was it.
He looked kind of dangerous. And exhausted.
"Where is Claudius?" He asked in a hoarse voice.
"Oh, thank Merlin! For a second there I thought you were here for me… ah! what a relief!" Klaus opened the bottle he was holding so tightly and took a big sip. He sat back down on the priceless sofa. "Grandad's not here. You can wait for him if you want, I'm Klaus by the way."
"Klaus?" The mysterious boy murmured. "Niklaus Greenfell?"
"Yes! You've heard of me?" Klaus asked with a drunk gleam in his eyes. "Want a sandwitch?" He offered. The mysterious boy eyed him up and took the sandwich, which he also assessed carefully.
"I babysat you. This is impossible" He sat down on the sofa and took a bite. "What year is it?" He asked warily.
"1997" Klaus replied, looking at him curiously. The boy stopped chewing for a minute, and sat there seemingly not breathing. He swallowed and turned to Klaus.
"Can I have some of that wine?" The boy asked.
"Wait a moment."
Klaus got off the sofa and walked up to a bookshelf. He pushed the books out of the way and took out a brand-new bottle from behind them. He went back onto the sofa and passed it to the peculiar guest.
"Here, have this one."
"Thank you." Said the boy, taking and opening the bottle. He eyed it for a few seconds, thinking whether he should ask for a glass but he was too tired to care. He swung the bottle up and gulped down the liquid.
He must have been thirsty.
"I'm Regulus Black." The boy said in a much clearer but still raspy voice.
"You are?" Klaus asked in surprise, taking a good look at the boy. He looked just like the Regulus in his cousin's photo she kept near her bed, just a bit dirtier…
"And you're… alive?" With his gift, sometimes it was hard to tell if the person before him belonged to the world of the living or the dead. And if he had to guess Regulus Black would certainly belong to the second one, except he felt very real.
"So it seems." The ghost boy replied.
"Wow, maybe the ritual did work after all."
"What ritual?"
Well I hope you enjoyed that.
It's been about 10 chapters I recon, since Hermione came back from the past. I didn't mean to drag it this long but I have no planning skills left, but hey ho he's back at least!
Who's excited for the two lovebirds to meet? Lol I still need to write that.
Again, thank you for your reviews! I haven't had time to reply to you my darlings but I appreciate your thoughts a lot!
Lots of love!
Livxoxo