THE SEVEN SINS
CHAPTER 10: LUST: LUXURIA I
Lust's passion will be served; it demands, it millitates, it tyrannises. Marquis De Sade.
"Ron."
Roll over.
"Ron."
Snort.
"Ronald Weasley, get out of bed NOW!"
Ron jumped out of bed, now rendered completely awake at the sound of his mother's voice. He then found himself standing up next to his bed facing his best friends, and he scratched his head in confusion.
"…told you that his mom's voice would wake him up."
"Never thought of that, actually, thanks!" Ron crossed his arms, tapping his foot grouchily as he watched both Hermione and Harry discussing wake-up methods. For him.
Harry turned to him, waving a little, saying brightly "Glad you're awake, Ron, breakfast starts in ten minutes." Ron span around, and seeing the clock, instantly forgave his best friends, while rushing to get his robes on.
And remembering at the exact same moment who exactly was in the room. "Hermione!" he screeched, turning around and grabbing a blanket hastily to cover himself. Harry chuckled at Ron's completely maniacal way of dressing himself, and turned towards their female friend in humor. And stopped laughing at the lack of response.
There was a pause. Harry and Ron froze, somehow understanding that the atmosphere around the three had suddenly changed. Then…
"Why cover yourself?" Hermione's voice contained darkness, and it was velvety and cool, nothing like her usual friendly warmth, and instinctively the boys went nearer to each other.
"Shit!" hissed Harry, drawing his wand out instinctively. "She's one of them!"
Ron too, grabbed his wand, both of them moving so that each covered one another's backs. He narrowed his eyes, somehow incredibly furious at this sudden turnover of events. "What have you done with Hermione?"
She didn't answer, only smirked, swaying –Ron's shoulders tensed a fraction more; Hermione never swayed, she walked sensibly –towards him.
He gripped his wand tighter.
"What have you done with Hermione!"
"Nothing," she said, and she was close enough that she was almost touching his skin. "Nothing at all, Ronald, I am Hermione."
He pushed her away forcefully, although something inside of him still balked at doing anything forceful to this girl that two seconds ago had been his 'Mione.
"When did she change?" Ron whispered this harshly and Harry didn't blame him. They certainly didn't foresee this one coming, and this was Ron's girlfriend, as well as their best friend.
"I don't know. Right after we woke you up." Harry looked at Hermione worriedly. When had she changed? It couldn't have taken very long and it couldn't have been very noticeable if they had been in the same room.
"Well, whenever she changed, get her out of the room!" Ron said blanket still clenched to his body. Harry, still in a somewhat shocked state, moved to escort the girl out of the room. Instead, she moved a hand into his face.
"No need. I'll go myself." She turned, with a stately elegant air, that was so dreadfully like the Hermione that they knew. Then she turned, and winked before disappearing from the room altogether.
Harry and Ron looked after her, horrified. Then Harry uttered the one word that summarized everything that they had felt since the start of this morning.
"Shit."
-
When lunch time had finally rolled over, Ron had finally managed to put Hermione into the Room of Requirement –using a good deal of persuasion and many, many deals.
By the time it was mid-day one distressed Harry had somehow told Draco the entire story, and both were mulling over it, when Ron, who was in front of them –and who had been silent throughout the day –suddenly stopped. They gave each other a mutual look, withdrawing their wands; they weren't about to take any chances with anything, what with the things that had taken place so far.
When they had stepped out and away from behind Ron, their holds loosened.
A brown, bushy haired girl stood in front of the three boys, a smug, smug grin curving her lips.
Hermione –no, the –possessed Hermione had escaped from the Room of Requirement. Thankfully she hadn't freed anybody else; otherwise they'd have had a time of it, but she had escaped.
This girl, this thing was just as smart as Hermione. Just as clever. Just as ingenious. Just as potentially dangerous.
"What, how, I-" Ron spluttered helplessly, as he held out his arms in a show of vulnerability.
She shrugged her shoulders.
"I decided that the deals weren't worth it."
She walked towards them, her stance of a predatorial big cat, waiting to pounce. Harry and Draco backed away; Ron held still in his stand. With a quick movement she was holding onto him, as he tried to pry her fingers off of him.
Unbaffled, she turned to the other two standing away from him, noting idly the strong red strings of ribbons winding around them. Sniggering.
"What are you laughing at?" Draco demanded roughly.
"Nothing." She said, mocking them with her mischievous, enigmatic smile.
"Tell us!" Draco said, his tone insisting, commanding.
She giggled, dangerously, as she clasped her arms around Ron again. The red head's posture freezing, still as a stone. "You don't realize, do you?" she asked, at last, stilling her laughter and looking at the two of them. Her eyes were glinting like knives, the eyes of one who knew the world and whose soul had not survived it.
Harry stepped in front of Draco impulsively –Draco's heart beat a little faster. "Realize what?" he said, and his voice was fierce, almost…protective, the one who was currently Hermione noticed amusedly.
"Realize that you both feel the same way, of course," she said, coolly, almost in an uninterested voice. She was running her fingertips along Ron's arm. Watching as the red ribbons, crimson in colour, wound tighter and tighter around the two boys in front of her, gliding over their skin.
Harry's voice faltered that slightest little bit when he answered, but he recovered nicely. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Draco's heart dropped back down again.
"You know what I'm talking about. You! You're feeling what I feel for Ron." She watched as the ribbons faded a little more as the blonde looked a little more dejected, and leaned closer to Harry, her lips almost touching his ear. Whispering. "Just act upon it."
Then she was back in Ron's arms again, her eyes gloating, taunting him. And Harry was looking after her, gaping, even as he still stood in front of Draco. He hadn't even noticed Draco pulling out his wand behind him, furious that the girl had even come close to harming Harry.
"Sternius!"
Hermione flew back with a slight crack, locked against the floor. Ron, open-mouthed, span around.
"What did you do that for?" he said, harshly.
"Getting her away from Harry!" Draco said heatedly. Ron pressed several of his fingers to his head, as if trying to push down the headache that was pressing down on his brain.
"Just… just get away, will you?" said Ron tiredly. "Please, just get away."
Draco made to protest, but Harry tugged on his arm, and with a mutual look, they melted away down the corridors. Ron looked after them for a bit, but then turned to face the girl that he had made such steadfast friends with in first year, and who was now his girlfriend, the one that he loved. She had sat up, and was already getting up to a stand, brushing the dust away from her robes. Coming towards her, he offered a hand and pulled her up. She using the opportunity to clasp onto him.
Not withstanding the hands still on his waist, he pushed her away so that she wasn't sticking onto him quite so heavily.
She huffed, as he turned away from her attempted kisses. Finally hissing:
"You know you want me. Why are you not doing anything?" Ron looked down at her, and for a second, just for a tiny second he saw Hermione. The real Hermione. His Hermione.
"Because this is not you." Softly, firmly, he lifted her arms from around his waist, pushing her away from him. "No matter what you say, or what you do, that is so like Hermione, Hermione would never do this, so this is not you! This is not Hermione!"
She stared at him, the brown eyes that for the whole day had been luring him, tempting him. That were now empty, yet full, so similar to the eyes that he loved.
Then she turned around. He looked after her, expression blank.
Then: "Wait, where are you going?" he ran after her frantically. She stopped, then turned again. She smiled.
"Back to the Room of Requirement, of course." With a mild toss of her head, she walked forwards yet again, and upon Ron's face fluttered a smile. He ran towards her, and she slipped her hand under his arm, letting him escort her.
By the next day everything would be different again.
A/N: Happy Christmas Eve guys! As a gift and an apology for all I've put you through, check in tomorrow for a surprise. Oh, and the fav fics lsit I promised you all wil be up with that 'surprise' tommorrow as well.
Responses to Reviews: California Smells Funny: Perhaps I was too jet-lagged the first time I went. Or maybe Sacremento just has better air. I'm not too sure! It didn't smell funnyto me, but then again I live in Hong Kong, and that's as 'funny' as you can get. Except I can tell you you won't be laughing when you have a bout of CO2 up your nose.
clayscarface: You call that a quickie? I call that slow, detailed, and completely specific! Thank you for the Hogwarts: A history thing, I DID take some creative license there (ducks as all the publishers jump and stampede me to tiny little pieces), but I figured that the Room had to come otu of somewhere, and naturally, SOMEONE had to make all those rooms! I don't think The Four had THAT much time on their hands. As for Mrs. Norris, that was a scene that was stuck in my head even before the entire fic was started, so I'm afraid the chapter just couldn't change! I'm sorry that you didn't seem to like the part, but I hope you just take it as if it were a failed experiment on my behalf!
Megalicious moony: I'm just thinking about what on earth to make for the cover! Lol, but thank you for the offer. I'm wondering how I'm goign to do so much, becauseI've put myself in a fix. I've doen all my schoolwork, btu now I've got to do all my fics today!
The Ersaj Chroncles: Why, thank you I'm going to India this week, so I won't be able to eat Western food for quite a while! Could you possibly email me the pictures? I'd love to see them:)
The one and only ZARIA: I'll take your word for the name. Lol, everyone's minds go into the gutter once in a while... (coughs). And I'm updating now! sorry, it wasn't soon.
Evil Farie Queen: Yes, I made it up! Yuo seriously thought it wasn't? Wow. I feel complimented!
Aseret kitsune: I love the pools too! The fact that Mrs. Norris was Gluttony was just basically something I'd though of since the beginnint, so I had to get it in!
Neverbird: I consider MYSELf lucky that you guys bumpernto my story! It's quite funny, my favorite c2 actually added my story onto the list, and I found it rather strange to see it. I didn't even recognise it at first, until I actually started reading the prologue! At elast now I know the summary isn't that bad -.-U
Julia: I'm so sorry that I didn't know. It's jsut that I get very frustrated when people push me to update! I'm already trying so hard to ba;ance everything, you see, and I geniunely try to get everything in on time. I hope you like this chapter!
TheSecretCharacter: I adore slash too! You so don't want to know how much I read.
emeralddragonchild: I know! Blonde against black, almsot yin and yang. sighs happily.
JJ CJ: Snake eyes or even Somewhere Out There would be nice...aha! You didn't know I read CCS did you? I think I read your stories before actually... I really did love S O T... I try not to get characters to rush into relationships simpyl because I would never never do the same. It's just quite impossible for me. I fall for guy friends, but never really people I completely do not know.
JadeLilyMalfoy: That's fine! I don't know cheers myself! It's enough for me to see a review alert in my inbox!
Dark Angel's Blue Fire: Glad you liked it. There are so many reviewers for this chapter! I'm amazed! I'm honoured you think it's brilliant!
ImpishyNymph: Naturally, I will! It'll be up tomorrow, as I said. Happy Christmas Eve!
