DISCLAIMER: I….I'M TIRED OF THIS.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN: NAILS IN THE COFFIN

A/N: Exactly two weeks.

Alexander Darnaeus smiled as he walked into his room, the space between him and the hag always comforted him, it was sacred. He grazed his black fingernails lightly over the olive green walls and walked over to his bookshelf with the determination to pick a book so large that he wouldn't have to step out of his room until supper. Upon picking up a book, a tawny owl flew in through his bedroom window startling him and causing him to drop the book onto his foot. The owl hooted at him somberly, it's amber eyes showing just how tired it was; Alexander walked over to it hesitantly, limping slightly and untied the envelope from it's leg, he wasted no time in opening it.

Dear Alexander,

I'm sorry to catch you unawares, but I- for an unknown reason- felt compelled to write you.

Alexander frowned throughout the whole letter wondering why in the world Maximus Black would write to him, to apologize no less! The idiot had written to apologize for how hostile he had acted towards him the first time he'd spent the summer at his house, not that there had ever been another time, and would like to invite him over again! The audacity! But Alexander would say yes, regardless. Until now he had no other way of getting away from Dorothy except by killing her, and now some random twat he hated had offered him a perfect escape plan, he couldn't say no to that. He glanced at the tawny owl that now stood on his desk happily munching away at the hand full of owl treats he had given it, and nodded subconsciously, he was definitely going to say yes.

XXX

Abraxas glanced at Peeves and then at Hermione, "Are you sure you want to do this?" He whispered. Hermione raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"We have no choice."

"I mean, we could just trap him in the mirror y'know, he'd technically have what he wants," Abraxas smirked and Hermione giggled.

"How'd we explain the missing poltergeist?"

"We wouldn't,"

"Someone would find out eventually,"

"Exactly, eventually,"

"You're wicked. Besides that, it's still never work for a bunch of reasons, so give up and give in,"

Abraxas nodded, still smirking. "Just let me know if when you realize how stupid this is, yeah?"

"Sure thing,"

Peeves coughed behind them. "Earth to you two. You stopped walking," Peeves snarled.

"Oh keep your knickers on, we're almost there," Abraxas drawled and stopped in front of the wall that lead to the Slytherin common room. "Pureblood," he muttered, subconsciously glancing at Hermione, and stepped in as the wall slid open. The common room was empty, surprisingly, at midnight usually there'd be at least five kids in there doing their homework because they'd procrastinated for too long and woke up in cold sweat because of it.

Abraxas lead Peeves and Hermione up the stairs to the boys dormitories, opening the door carefully and tiptoeing over to his bedside table, he opened up a drawer and picked up the mirror, raising an eyebrow at the lackluster ghost within it- she no longer moved around with purpose, she'd float about doing nothing, she was nothing, she'd become dead on the inside and out. The mirror, no, they'd killed her.

Abraxas glanced at Peeves, "So, here it is,"

Peeves extended a hand, "Hand it over,"

Abraxas glance hesitantly at Hermione and she nodded at him, he handed it over to Peeves and was surprised it didn't sink through his hand and shatter, it was what he was hoping for after all.

Peeves smirked at the two, "Thank you for your cooperation, now if you'll excuse me-"

"Wait, what're you going to do with that?" Asked Hermione. She'd suddenly realized that Peeves would probably take the mirror to Dumbledore, and if he did that he'd get her out and- no.

"None of your business, really."

Hermione shrugged and Abraxas raised an eyebrow at her. Peeves giggled a final time and evaporated. As soon as he left Hermione turned to Abraxas with a small flame in her eyes, "We have to destroy that mirror."

"Wait, what?"

XXX

Dimitri Darnaeus rarely talked to his son, the reason could've been that he spent most of his time at Azkaban, but it wasn't, instead, it was because he didn't see the point in it. His son- although a brilliant child- had always been too bright for Dimitri's liking. He over analyzed, too goddamn skeptical for his own good- Alexander reminded Dimitri too much of himself.

At some point Alexander took a hint and stopped trying to talk to him. Dimitri didn't hate his son, he just didn't like his son. In some ways he regretted the way he treated him- it hit him that he was grooming him to become just like him, that wasn't good either. But he'd never really make it a point to change. He thought this over and over in his head as he burnt a letter Alex sent him without opening it.

Dimitri looked up as a crooked man stepped into his "office", the one eyed bony man grinned and Dimitri scowled at his broken teeth.

"What is it, Albert?" Dimitri asked, swinging his long legs off of the table and turning to face him.

"A letter from the watchers on the island, the lord comes north," the man's voice came out in a broken whisper.

Dimitri raised a thick eyebrow, his blue eyes examining Albert's wrinkled face."What does this have to do with me? I no longer have any business vwith him."

"That's not what 'e says, 'e says you owe him yer life and 'e's comin' to collect 'is debt."

"What? I've alrea-"

"Y'know wha' e's like, tha' wa'n't enough."

Dimitri stood up from his chair and with a wave of his hand went back to being a filthy, broken toothed man. "Albert, keep watch I'll be out for a while." With that he rushed out the room, down the rickety stairs and out the termite beaten door.

XXX

Abraxas raised an eyebrow at Hermione, and for the second time thought that she'd gone absolutely mad. He cocked his head to the side as she rambled on and bit the insides of his cheek to hold back a laugh.

"...and voila, the mirror is destroyed and all our problems are solved!" She finished with a big clap and sighed before wiping the beads of sweat glistening on her brow.

"Hermione, I think you're suffering from sleep deprivation," Abraxas remarked as she threw herself into an armchair.

"It's not that bad, is it?"

"It is, when's the last time you had a full night's rest?"

Hermione scratches the back of her messy locks and frowned, "When did Tom leave?"

"Hermione that was more than a month ago!"

"Oh, I've just been so busy thinking and-"

"That's it, you're going to sleep- now."

"Abraxas no."

"Yes,"

"No,"

"Yes,"

"You can't force me to sleep, Abraxas,"

"Says who?"

"Me, for Merlin's sake give it up,"

"Nope, you're going to sleep," Abraxa stepped towards her and she shot out of the armchair.

"No," Hermione took a step back with a small giggle.

"Yes," Abraxas leaped at her and she swerved narrowly with a laugh.

He turned to face her, his blonde hair fell into his face and made Hermione realize just how long it was.

"Your hair is really lo-"

Abraxas cut her off by tackling her to the ground. Hermione let out a small gasp as the two fell before bursting out laughing. Abraxas shushed her, "You'll wake the others up," he hissed.

Hermione raised an eyebrow up at him, their noses almost touching. "Maybe you shouldn't have tackled me," she giggled once more.

"You need your sleep," for a second- just a second- Abraxas' eyes flickered down to Hermione's lips; she noticed.

"Abraxas," Hermione whispered and he looked back into her tired eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Your hair's tickling me,"

"Oh," Abraxas laughed and rolled off of her onto her right.

"When're you going to cut it?" Hermione turned to face him and pulled at one of his curls.

"I don't know, I want to see how long it'll last until my mother snaps and cuts it off herself," he let out a mirthless laugh and turned to face her.

"Seems like a good plan," Hermione nodded and let out a small yawn. Abraxas couldn't help but reach out and trace softly over the bags under her eyes. "You should really get some rest, Hermione,"

Hermione nodded and yawned again, "Yeah, I really should," her eyelids fluttered shut, and Abraxas smiled. Hermione shuffled closer, her nose bumped against his and her lips brushed softly against his own; Abraxas' eyes widened and Hermione placed her head on his chest, falling asleep and leaving Abraxas to wonder if he'd imagined it all or If Hermione Bellouve, the outcast mudblood, had just kissed him and that he actually liked it.

XXX

A/N: I worked hard on this, hope you liked it.