Disclaimer: The sun sets in the west and rises in the east, I don't own anything, and I beg you not to sue me please!
Summary: Hermione is sick and tired of being alone. She decides to make herself a golem. Not just any golem but one that looks and acts like her ideal prince charming, in fact, he is! The whole of Hogwarts is going crazy over this new boy... and why is Draco Malfoy glaring at him so much?
"Talk"
'Thoughts'
(Author's notes)
Letters/Mail
Letters/Mail
Authors Note: I am sooo sorry for updating so late. Think of this as a Halloween Treat. Hehehehe… I would like to dedicate this chapter to everyone who has read and supported me with this fic and others. Special mention goes to duj who I am in eternally indebted to and my other best friend Cheska who moved to the USA a couple of months ago. Good Luck and Miss ya!
Recap
Draco downed the Potion and he instantly felt himself going numb.
It was as if time itself was reversing. His sight was becoming black and white and his surroundings… he never remembered the events occurring. Everything seemed to be ganging up on him. He wanted to shout for it to stop but his voice was gone.
And then as if reading his mind, everything did stop.
He looked around him. He was at one of the willow trees on the grounds. He quickly found the two people he had been looking for, replaying a memory for him.
Realization dawned on him.
He would be experiencing her memory… even the memory of when she was… missing.
Chapter 6 – The Awakening
'This is strange.'
His silvery grey eyes tried to grasp all the images rushing past him. He should have known better than to just pluck a hair from Granger. He wouldn't know if she was willing or not. It's just…
He tried not to go into his own memories. He was in hers and if he mixed it with his, it could tamper whatever he was trying to accomplish.
He walked over to the willow tree, not listening to his housemate relate the story to the girl. He tried to touch a leaf but his fingers went through them, as if he was a ghost. He sighed. He was truly a mere stranger, a mere spectator, in this world.
He turned his attention back to the two students who were actually in the Hospital Wing, clinging to life but a thin thread of hope. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine he would be that thread they would be counting on.
He watched as the girl fell asleep as her little 'boyfriend' was speaking to her.
"Always thought he was a bit dull." He chuckled at his own joke.
He watched as Prince picked her up.
He glared at the boy.
Prince walked up to the castle and entered, Draco followed them closely.
"Look -- Granger and Prince! -- sweet!"
"Can you imagine ---- a boyfriend like ----? Aww…"
"I ---- he beat her up! She's probably ----- to start crying ----. Remember when she ---- into the ----- common room during third -----? ---- a crybaby. I would --- to get hit by him!"
"She probably feinted --- she's anorexic. She hasn't --- eating at -- lately. Tsk, tsk. She never treated --- this badly when --- with Potter or Weasley. He must be doing ---- to her."
"I saw --the willow tree's earlier! So sweet!"
"I bet t----e even g---a die together."
"Malfoy used --------- one to----- her cry. I -----r what Prince ---. She ---- feinted this time! There----- be a new bad--- in Hogw---s."
Draco stared at the people around Prince making the comments, their faces blurry and unrecognizable.
"This must be some kind of subconscious memory of something…"
He kept thinking about what the people kept repeating in crude whispers to their neighbors. But one comment stood out, he recognized the voice but he couldn't tell who it was.
"I guess it's over.--- thought --- and Malfoy--- together. It was ------- obvious. There was always -------- tension between --- two of them."
'Crazy.' He kept repeating again and again in his head.
He kept following until Prince stopped in front of a portrait of an overly obese lady.
"Password?" she asked.
"-----" Prince said.
The portrait opened.
"Here we go. The Lions den." Malfoy smiled gleefully. "I bet he gets beat up by everyone! No Slytherin will ever enter the Gryffindor Common Room with a Gryffindor with dried up tears and unconscious! This ought to be good!"
When Prince entered the common room, all was quiet. All eyes watched as Prince climbed up the girls' dormitories.
Draco followed, expecting cat calls or punches or even a broomstick coming out of nowhere and hitting Prince in the head.
Nothing happened.
When Prince came back down only Potter approached the boy.
"What happened?"
"She fell asleep."
And that was it.
Draco growled angrily as Prince left the common room and found himself in an odd feeling. He was being sucked into another phase of the memory.
He found himself in a dormitory. The walls were red as blood with a line of pure gold trimming running halfway through the wall all around. There were only three four-poster beds in the room. Only one of them held an occupant.
"Must be Granger." He smirked when he saw the trademark bushy hair of the girl.
He noticed she was shivering a bit.
He looked around the room and found the cause.
"Bloody window is open." He muttered to himself and walked towards it.
He reached out a hand to pull the handle but like the leaves on the grounds, his hand went right through it. He cursed his stupidity and walked back towards the slightly shivering girl.
"Stupid Prince couldn't even put the covers on properly…" he muttered as he stared at the clock on her bedside table.
Time seemed to pass by so slowly… He decided to have a look around… there could be some blackmail potential under all this 'heroic-business' he was doing. He walked over to the vanity at the far side of the room. He cocked an eyebrow up as he saw all the colorful potions and face-paints or whatever they called it on the vanity.
'Never knew Granger cared so much about her looks.' He grimaced. He hated girls that were obsessed with their looks…
He glanced at the clock again. Two hours had passed? How had that happened? The he noticed a lot of movement around him. Those other two Gryffindor girls were here. They were moving faster than he'd seen anyone move! One moment they were next to their own beds and the next in the bathroom or looking at themselves in the mirror and so on! What was happening?
He glanced at the clock again and realized it was moving in an incredible speed as well.
"I guess the potion has a time limit. It's speeding things up." He told himself.
He moved away from the dressed and it was good move on his part for the next hour, well minutes to him and hour for them, the two crowded the dresser and started applying the various potions to their faces.
'So it's not Grangers! Now that explains a lot." He said as he watched the girl sleeping peacefully, moving slightly.
Before he knew it, silence was all he saw or heard for all three were asleep and the moon was at its highest point. His eyes began to droop as he felt the exhaustion take its toll. Why hadn't he slept before taking the potion?
He had to stop himself from falling asleep! He yawned and walked towards the window again. The two girls didn't bother closing it either. They had their thick blankets while Granger was still shivering, stupid Gryffindor Girls.
Before he knew it, the sun was coming up and the room was filled with its warm glow.
An alarm went off and Time suddenly went on its usual course. He looked over to the Gryffindor Mudblood with contempt. She probably had a cold now.
To his relief, she got up and seemed to be humming. She didn't seem at all sick or gave any sign as to having a cold. She started skipping towards her dresser and started getting dressed for the day. She started to take off her clothes and Draco turned around automatically.
'It's not like she'll know if I saw anything!' he muttered angrily at himself.
'But you'll know and it'll haunt you forever! Do you want to live with that kind of guilt? And the only way to amend it is if you told her? What a pleasant conversation that would be. "Hey Granger! I saw you in your nuddy pants that time when I tried to save your life in your memory! Fancy eating dinner with me tomorrow?" Right…' His mind spat at him.
'It's not like I want to have dinner with her anyway!' he shouted at the air.
He heard the door suddenly close and felt the familiar odd feeling.
'Another location it is then…' he muttered dejectedly.
He was in the hallways…
Draco spotter Hermione skipping down the hall heading towards her favorite destination.
'The Library. Typical Granger.' He chuckled.
He followed her but suddenly a hand came out of nowhere and she was out of his sight.
"GRANGER!" he shouted. "GRANGER!"
He ran towards the spot he had last seen her. There was door there. An unused classroom was behind it most probably.
"GRANGER! OPEN THE DOOR!"
He felt the familiar sensation again.
"WELL BLOODY HURRY UP DAMMIT!" he shouted as he found his surroundings changing.
Once everything was clear he found himself in a dark classroom.
"Blaise…" he muttered dangerously low.
"Zabini?" he heard Granger say disbelievingly. She sounded scared… as if she was a mouse caught in a trap.
"Who did you think it was? Prince? Yeah right. I didn't want to do this but just for you to know, I was forced to do this." He smirked then suddenly, her hands and legs were tied by magical ropes and she was gagged.
"That doesn't mean I'm not enjoying this though." Blaise laughed such a cruel and high pitched laugh.
"You Bloody Bastard!!" Draco shouted at his 'best friend'. The truth was that he knew that Blaise had been the one to take her. When he had rescued her that night… this was not the time! He couldn't go into his own memories! Lives were resting in the palm of his hands! He needed to stay focused!
Draco felt helpless as Blaise placed an incantation of Granger. Her whole body was now transparent and he said an easy 'Wingardium Leviosa' to make her float above him.
Blaise seemed to enjoy it, laughing and crackling silent cruel jokes to her. Draco doubted that she could hear it but he heard every word.
"Look over there Granger, its Potty and Weasel! They can't really see you though… Aww… too bad, so sad." Blaise muttered quietly.
Draco clenched his fists.
"You'll never guess where we're going! It'll be so much fun! She'll be so pleased with me…" Blaise smiled to himself. "I hope you're not afraid of the dark… or creatures of the night chasing after your flesh… If you're lucky they'll spit it out though. With dirty blood like yours even animals will find little use for you."
He could feel his palms bleed. His fists were so tight it hurt…
Zabini and Hermione, hovering above, reached the edge of the woods. He directed Hermione to continue hovering until Draco saw she had reached the very heart of the forest.
"Have a bloody fun time dying mudblood." Blaise whispered and flickered his wand, Hermione instantly started falling… constantly falling…
"YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING BLOODY BASTARD!" Draco shouted as he threw a punch at Blaise, his fist going through Blaises' stomach then through Blaises' head.
Draco screamed in frustration as he continued punching Blaise who was walking away.
Draco felt the familiar sensation again… and for the first time since he has started this journey, he dreaded what he would see next.
The entire world was spinning, his eyes were unfocused and his palms were still bleeding.
"Where am I?" he asked himself. He was so confused.
His eye sight cleared a bit and all he saw was darkness. He rubbed his eyes and it started to become more focused. There were dark branches and leaves were falling. He could hear small voices.
"Shwiap kollipanradi. Jojokailiropa? Ilirangina muna lilarigasha." The voice was so small Draco knew this was it. The Humanili.
He quickly sat up and looked around.
He couldn't see them. Where were they? And more importantly, where was she?
He finally spotted her… He winced and looked away almost instantly.
Her bounds were still on, her wrists bleeding as they were tightening around her swollen hands. Her head projecting a huge gash and her face was full or scratches undoubtedly from the trees above as she fell.
"Where are they…?" he asked himself, standing his ground and eyes darting everywhere.
"Jojokailiropa! Jojokailiropa! Shwiap!" a tiny voice boomed out of the silence.
Draco turned his head towards the sound but saw nothing. He heard tiny footsteps behind him and turned again, nothing! He couldn't see them!
And as horrible as a nightmare her scream pierced the night.
He stiffened. He slowly turned around to face her… and he saw them.
Hundreds of them. Humanili… small fairy-like creatures with no wings. They lived in tribes and fed on flesh. Notorious for even hunting down Unicorns. Once their teeth were barred into the creature a poison would spread, numbness would be the only outcome, consciousness still intact, they would devour their prey slowly, one Unicorn enough to suffice five hundred for a month. But Hermione was a human, considered a delicacy to them and they would not wait until they were hungry to finish her. They would do it for the rarity of a human to come across them.
Hermione's fearful eyes… they were enough to make him want to leave the memory. To go somewhere else… to… try to save her.
He felt his eyes water as they approached her like a swarm of bees to honey. He noticed her legs were no longer bound.
He saw a ray of hope.
Unfortunately, Hermione did not.
"You're legs are unbound! Get up! Run!" he shouted, knowing full well that she could not hear him.
The moment the first Humanili bit into her flesh, she had stopped screaming and looked helpless, the fear engulfing her.
Another bite and she was gone.
No more light shone in her eyes only the acceptance of the inevitable.
"No… you… you can still run away! You still have a chance!" he shouted at her.
She remained in her disposition and closed her eyes, weeping as each bite made her wince and bite her lip, as if daring to not let them hear her scream.
"You can still run!" he shouted again.
He knew what he was doing was hopeless. Even if she did runaway, she was in the heart of the forest. The poison would take effect and she would be stranded possi9bly devoured by another creature. She was doomed either way.
"But you got out of it Granger! You reached me! You… survived…" he cried.
The look on her face was more terrible than the sight of a hundred of those creatures biting into her flesh and her entire body bloody. It was her eyes mostly, the ones that held such passion, and such belief and faith that everything will be alright… it was gone replaced by an empty blank feeling.
"But she will get out of this… she will…" he reminded himself.
But then her lip couldn't stop her scream any longer. They started scratching at her eyes, biting into her finger nails, going into the flesh underneath her clothes.
He couldn't take it. Run! He kept repeating in his mind, his words wanting to burst out into the open air of her screams.
He suddenly felt it and the potions warning came careening into his brain.
"…whatever the person with the memory experienced during the memory, the drinker shall also experience as they watch the memory.."
A bite mark appeared on his arm, then on his neck and onto his face each appearing faster then the last. He felt numbness then absolute pain. Each bite fired up, burning him from within and into the coldness of the night. Each drop of blood she had lost… he had lost the same amount. He felt himself going dizzy and as it all came swelling up into his own consciousness he screamed.
He turned to look at her. She was still horrified but was now desperately trying to get the Humanili off of her, she was crying hard.
"Get up and move!" he shouted, tears staining his face.
His own wounds hurt so much more than any curse that could have been tossed at him but what hurt him most was that she was experiencing the same pain, the same amount of blood was shed, and the same feeling of utter hopelessness was adamant within her eyes.
"Get up and move!" he shouted again, trying so desperately to remind her she would get out of this. He knew it! But with each new bite and each new burning pain from the Humanili's fangs, he started to disbelieve his own words.
She paid no heed to him and continued to scream, her scream bouncing off the trees and the ground and coming back to him tenfold.
"Get up and move!" he screamed before all went black, the pain too much for him to continue on consciously. His last sight was of her crying out as a hundred more started to devour every inch of her, slowly and very painfully. "Hermione…"
Draco's eyes blinked open. He found himself in front of the castle.
He got up quickly but his wounds were still open and bleeding profusely, he put his hand up to wipe the blood over his eyes to give him a better view. He spotted a girl, no, young woman stumble out of the forest, looking back and limping, almost crawling to get away.
He couldn't help but feel so proud… she had gotten out. She was Hermione Granger and nothing stopped her… even utter hopelessness and pain. Maybe not even… No. This was not the time to be thinking of those things! He needed to make sure and see what happened next.
She was stumbling. Running as fast as she could…
He followed her, he was limping also but at least her bleeding had stopped…
He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her enter the library.
He knew what was coming next.
She limped inside and saw one of the lamps at the very back of the library still open. She tried to run over to ask for help but her ankle twisted and she fell to the floor with a thud.
He wiped off more of his blood as he watched himself rush towards the noise.
The oil lamp was moved next to her face to examine who she was. Draco watched himself as his eyes went big seeing who it was. Hermione squinted and he moved the oil lamp further.
Draco wiped more blood from his forehead, not caring about anything else except truly seeing what happened and finishing it even if it cost him his life.
"Sorry." He heard himself say.
"Who are you?" she whispered hoarsely.
"You don't want me to answer that, Granger."
"Malfoy?"
"Sleep. I'll take care of you…"
His hands were now full of blood and he knew none of his wounds had stopped bleeding. He tried desperately to wipe away the blood covering his eyes so that he would see what was happening. He needed to finish this!
His pain seemed to outweigh his determination since the last word he heard echo through the library was,
"Obliviate."
And he blacked out, this time, unsure as to if or when he would be conscious again.
Authors note:
Okay, so I think I kind of led all of you to believe Hermione and David would wake up in this chapter… sadly, they didn't. but this chapter did awaken a lot of things, read again to see what I mean. Hehehe…
I'm sorry for the uber late update. Hope you all like it, by the way, I never cleared it up but Humanili is said 'Human-nill-lie.' And the language the Humanili said was their speak. Instead of roaring or whatever, they have their own lauguage. It all generally meant 'Human! Attack! Flesh!'
As to why only Draco knew it was a Humanili in the first place and how he knew to brew the potion well, that's a secret. I'll reveal that later in the story. So how is it so far? Please review!
Please read and review!
And! Watch out for the next chapter! Chapter 7: Truth Behind Truths