Kingdom.7
The walls breathed teeth and bone. Tapestries shuddered as beast after beast, each smoking and ever-shifting, peeled itself from the stone. Hermione bit back a scream; they were so silent, so unblinking, and there were so many of them. Riddle's room, which had once seemed so expansive, was now stifling.
She jerked to her feet, the sudden movement dislodging Riddle's hold. Her hand seeked him out again without thought, and she found his hand doing the same. She looked at him, and he heaved a sigh of irritation before grabbing her wrist. Right. Now was not the time to be squeamish.
She shifted so that her back was to his. The movement felt unnatural; he was so much taller than she, and she hated how the back of her head brushed against his back. From his flinch, he hated it, too. She didn't trust him, couldn't think of anyone she'd want to face a room full of deadly, mysterious beasts with less save perhaps Bellatrix, who'd probably kill her and laugh even if it meant her own death. But what choice did she - did they - have? She could only hope that Riddle wouldn't shoot her in the back.
The beasts surrounded them, now. They were so unnervingly silent. It was hard to even see them in the light of the fireplace; when she blinked, it looked only like the walls were shimmering. Then, they were moving, hungry mouths unhinging far more than natural, and the smell of rotting flesh filled the room.
Hermione reacted; she flung a silent dislodging charm forward, and the beasts closest to her faltered. To her horror, they soon regrouped, separated flesh rejoining wetly to form even more misshapen figures.
She cursed. Riddle, at her back, was silent, but she could hear the hiss of his magic as he cast Dark curse after Dark curse. The room shuddered from the blows, and she saw a stray scarlet bolt smash the nightstand entirely.
"Be careful!" she shouted. "What if the guards hear?"
He wrenched his head towards her, fixing her with a disbelieving stare. "Are you fucking serious? We are being attacked by hundreds of unknown creatures and you're worried about some muggles seeing us?"
"Not just any muggles - Godric and Salazar."
That last name, at least, gave him pause, but he quickly shook it off. "Ridiculous," he snapped and turned away. She did, however, hear him mutter muffliato, but she had no time to relish the victory; a beast had wrapped its bone hand around her ankle and, Merlin, if Riddle's touch was euphoria, this was hell itself -
A scream wrenched itself from her throat, and she spat a stinging hex. It hissed, relinquishing its hold, and she kicked it away. "Don't let them touch you!" she shouted.
"Yeah, wasn't planning on letting them do that!" Riddle snapped. He surged to the side, wrenching Hermione's arm painfully, and she almost tripped. "Don't fall," he said in an accusing tone. "You'll bring us both down."
Hermione opened her mouth to tell him what exactly she thought of him when the next wave approached, and then there was no time for talk - only spell after spell, cast until her throat was raw and her mouth dry. She'd managed to dispel the first few earlier today with Confringo, but she didn't dare risk casting such a destructive spell in this enclosed space - especially considering she had no idea how sound medieval architecture was. She might bring the whole castle crashing down. Still, they had to do something; the beasts were relentless, and even Riddle was tiring.
In an instant, the room stood in sharp relief. There were seven beasts to her left, six to her right, and, oh, Merlin, eight had begun creeping across the ceiling. Still more were clawing their way up from the floor. There were even more now than there had been at the start; how could that be? Where did they come from?
She willed herself to think. Ignore the smoke. Ignore the teeth. Ignore Riddle. Think.
She saw Riddle lash at three beasts, saw the lightning quick bolt of magic split them cleanly in half. She saw the answering smoke and saw the six beasts surging forward in its place. Hydra, she thought dimly, remembering an old, Greek myth she'd read as a child, before she'd known anything about magic being real.
Cut off one head and two grow back.
Only, that wasn't quite true; experimentally, she wrenched the jeweled dagger from the hilt at Riddle's side. He looked down with an angry shout, but she was already in motion, slamming the iron blade deep into the closest beast's gaping mouth. It gurgled before falling still. There was no smoke, no answering two beasts. Only death.
"Merlin," she breathed, realisation making her veins go to ice. Magic only made the beasts hungrier, stronger. Behind her, Riddle had resumed lashing out with increasingly forceful waves of magic. She had to stop him. Without thinking, she yanked Riddle towards her, and he glared, a curse ready on his lips -
She reached up and slammed a hand against his mouth. "Magic only makes them stronger," she hissed, and his eyes widened. She removed her hand, and he said, "And you've relinquished our only weapon."
It was true; his dagger was wedged deep into the floor, now, and there were three beasts between them. Riddle cursed. Hermione looked around wildly. It was hard to keep the room straight with all the glowing threads around them.
"I wish these threads weren't here," she muttered as they edged away, slowly, so that their backs were pressed against the warmth of the fireplace.
Riddle looked at her like she was mad. "There are no threads," he said.
Even as he said it, the closest thread, a bright green one traveling from the fireplace to the smashed nightstand, shifted to make way for his shoulder. "Yes, there are," she said, desperation making her angry. Merlin, she wasn't mad, was she?
"We don't have time to argue about bloody threads," Riddle snapped. His eyes darted around the room as the beasts inched their way towards them. They were moving more slowly, now - the beasts knew they were trapped. The closest window might as well have been in a different room, as a dozen beasts blocked it, and the oak door was even farther. Riddle looked at her, probably wondering if sacrificing her would ensure his survival.
Hermione frowned. Fear had always made her brain sharp; it was what had kept her alive during the war, and she knew to trust her instincts. The threads were important, somehow. She pulled their joined hands up, ignoring Riddle's outraged protest, and brought their hands closer to the green thread. It trembled, swaying, and she could almost taste something - ash? - when she saw the beasts surge forward. There was no time to wait. She slammed Riddle's palm onto the thread and saw his fingers curl around it reflexively.
Then, she felt the burning; it began at her collarbone, at her rune, before spreading rapidly down her body. She stared into the crimson eyes of a beast, frozen mid-leap, as she slipped once more into oblivion.
Author note: thank you for reading and reviewing! all reviewers will get a teaser of the next chapter.
And, with this brief mini chapter, so ends the kingdom section of this multiverse...any ideas what the next au will be? ;) this fic is a self-indulgent excuse to write all the AUs I want...I haven't planned out all of them yet, so feel free to leave some suggestions/requests in the reviews!
