Children of the Night Part 1: The Book of Death
Chapter 2: Death of a Lady
by Polydicta
Summary:
Harry seeks revenge after Hermione is killed, but finds that they have both undergone a life-changing event. Violence, blood, character death, normal marital relations, necromantic themes. ON HIATUS.
This story is on PERMANENT HIATUS - that is, until I feel inspired to add anything more to it. I know where I want it to go but lack the inspiration or the drive to get there. I'm hoping that the guilt of leaving everyone hanging will motivate me … or something.
Disclaimer:
All fiction is derivative and fan fiction doubly so. I make no claim to own any part of any of the following, all I have done is an attempt to put together the elements in a novel fashion, using words and ideas like Lego ™ bricks.
There is no money involved – all I do is to share what I do for my own amusement.
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Children of the Night Part 1: The Book Of Death
Chapter 2: Death of a Lady
.
Hermione woke slowly. She had a delicious ache in her hips that spoke of their nocturnal activities. The smile that curled her lips was enough to tell the world how … satisfied she was with her married life.
"Happy anniversary, 'Mione!"
"Nice man to remember. Happy anniversary, Mr Potter. What have you got planned?"
Harry grinned. "You just wait and see, woman of my own, but we need to be up and about by eleven and packed by lunch time."
"Packed?"
She felt him nod. "I've booked a hotel."
.
Harry had planned their second honeymoon to the finest detail.
They arrived at Glasgow airport by portkey at two, then picking up a hire car, they drove through Scotland to a sleepy village on the west coast.
The Forester was a small muggle hotel run by a couple of wizarding folk, and the young couple were welcomed warmly.
"Just married, dears? "
Harry chuckled. "Second honeymoon. It's been five years."
The landlady smiled. "And you're more in love now than you were."
.
During their ten days, Harry had planned visits to the Isle of Skye, the coast, Loch Ness and Aberdeen, they wandered up Ben Nevis and into the Cairngorm Mountains.
Each night they returned to the hotel tired and yet feeling wonderful.
Each night they seemed to grow closer, waking snuggled more warmly, more and more in love.
They were in the forest when Harry turned around and kissed Hermione for no apparent reason. She simply melted into him, their mouths blending together, their bodies moulding themselves closer, their eyes closed and the world far, far away.
As they gently broke their kiss, Harry murmured, "As thou breathest, so breathe I. As thy heart beateth, so beateth mine. As thou lovest me, I loveth thee. So mote it thus, eternally."
Hermione blinked and repeated his words. The trees were momentarily lit by a golden glow, ignored by the young couple so wrapped in each other's eyes.
Eventually, they continued their walk arms entangled with each other, pressed as close as humanly possible.
That night their loving was of a gentle sort, full of tenderness and touches, of caresses and kisses. And after, a slumber that was like the drifting of an owl's wings through the night.
.
Two nights later, they were walking through the forest behind the village. Hermione had been teasing Harry and, laughing, started running. A wild game of hide and seek in amongst the well-spaced trees followed. Suddenly there was a shriek.
"Hermione!"
Harry ran, his wand slipping into his hand and immediately lighting the area.
He found her slumped at the foot of a tree, blood staining her neck.
"Hermione?"
She was still, her eyes open, pale and lifeless. He couldn't find a pulse, no breath, nothing. Without further thought, he picked her up and apparated them to St Mungo's.
.
"I'm sorry, Mr Potter, there was nothing we could do … she was already …"
"What was it that attacked her?"
The healer looked at him. "A vampire. She's full of the venom, but she wasn't turned. The aim was to kill. I'm sorry."
Broken, Harry returned to Grimmauld Place where he passed the dread news on to Sirius and Remus.
Harry just sat and brooded.
For reasons that he would never be able to explain, he sat and simply said, "As thou breathest, so breathe I. As thy heart beateth, so beateth mine. As thou lovest me, so I loveth thee. So mote it thus, eternally."
His tears flowed as though the sea was attempting to wash his grief from his soul. As he sat, the day turned and he reflected on their lives together. The troll, when they had first become friends …
The picture-book of his mind supplied him with the memories that had fuelled his patronus, a great seven-point stag that was not only corporeal but coloured.
Their first date, the Valentines' Ball in second year. The various feasts and parties in third year. The Yule Ball during the year of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the night he had realised his love for her. Their dates during the fifth and sixth years. He had proposed to her on her birthday, a quiet dinner for two in the Room of Requirement.
The look of love in her eyes that night still brought a smile to his lips and the sun into his heart. Now it wrenched a scream of anguish from his throat.
Their wedding, the utter bliss of their love. Their unending love … a love that simply grew, that had now ripped his soul in half.
As he sat, his heart and spirit shredded, he remembered his wedding vows, their private promise so recently renewed.
"Oh, my Mione … I swear, before I come to you, I will wipe out the evil that took you from me. And then I will follow you beyond the confines of the world…
"I swear, on my life, my soul, my magic that we shall be together until the world ends. There is no life without you. If I cannot have you back then I will come to you, My Love."
At last, he emerged from his room. His eyes blank, his soul hollowed out. He had passed beyond mere grief and despair into the cold depths beyond feeling, the icy land beyond emotion. His will was like a glacier, cold, patient and, ultimately, an irresistible force fuelled by loss and love, his thoughts turned to ice, his intentions to cold steel.
"Harry?"
"Bring her here. There is a small crypt, isn't there?" Harry's voice was cold and emotionless.
Sirius nodded. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I have things to do before I can say goodbye."
The marauder looked at his godson, his own heart breaking for the young man.
"Make sure they don't touch her. That they don't defile her."
Sirius nodded. "I understand. The books … they're not … they can't bring …"
"No, Sirius, this isn't about necromancy. This is about honour. I made a sacred vow, and I intend to keep it. I will be no longer than three days. If I'm not back then, I won't be coming back at all because I will already be with her. However, I intend to come back to bury my wife."
.
Hermione's coffin was brought into the Black mansion's crypt that evening. Harry lifted the lid and looked at his dead wife's grey features, now peaceful in repose.
"Hermione, My Love, I swear by all that is right and holy in this world, I swear by my life and my magic that I will avenge your death or die in trying. Wait for me, My Love, because I will be joining you soon, one way or another."
He closed the lid and walked back up into the house.
"Goodbye, Sirius. Remember us well, if I don't come back."
"Harry? You'll need this…"
Sirius handed Harry a sword, a long, curved blade with a strange, hand-fitting grip, and a short, heavy fighting knife with a similar grip.
"This was my great grandfather's hunting sword and knife. They have silver lacing through them. Use them well. Good luck."
Harry took them and apparated away, arriving at the hotel.
"Mr Potter? Is there …?"
"My wife was murdered by a vampire not a mile from here last night. She was bitten but not turned."
The landlady blanched. "There were rumours, but …"
Harry nodded. "What can you tell me? I shall be destroying the nest."
There was little enough to go on, but Harry had an idea.
.
Two nights later, he found the nest, the lair, but the three vampires were out, presumably to feed.
He waited.
It was past midnight when the three arrived: two females and a male.
"I will return, my pets. I must see to business before we sleep."
The male departed and the two females … waited.
Harry stepped out from the shadows, eliciting gasps from the pair.
"We never heard … or smelled …"
"No, you wouldn't, would you. Which of you killed my wife, three nights since?"
"it was Savarin! Not us! We don't want to … we are young … only a few weeks since he turned us …"
They had separated in an attempt to flank Harry. They sprang together and the sword swept in a horizontal arc as he stepped back. As one, the two vampires collapsed, heads separated from their shoulders.
Harry shook his head. The male was their alpha, and with a name like that, probably an old one, too.
He stepped outside the mine tunnel that the vampires had been using as a lair. He waited.
The vampire entered the tunnel, and a yell emerged.
"Nooooooo!"
Harry knew that the creatures were fast, faster than a human, strong as a troll on steroids and capable of all manner of mind manipulation magic, but still he would attack the killer of his beloved Hermione.
Harry stepped in. "Yes. As you, Savarin, took my wife, so I have taken yours. And now you too will die."
"Ah, the brown-haired witch. Yes, she was most satisfying."
The vampire launched himself at Harry, transforming while diving. His fangs grew, his nails lengthened into talons and his body became enlarged and wiry.
Harry dropped the sword as soon as he failed to connect, seizing the knife.
"A schtrong one … you would make an ecshellent addition to my family…"
Harry broke away from the creature, cut and bleeding. The blood was distracting the vampire, he could see the creature becoming frenzied.
It launched itself at Harry, and with a massive back-hand sweep of Harry's knife, the head sprang from it's shoulders.
Harry was laughing hysterically at that, the vampire's momentum had carried it's head onward and had hit Harry in the mouth with its lips as in some macabre farewell kiss. There was blood everywhere, and Harry was covered with it. He could even taste it, and he guessed that it was unlikely to be all his own.
He left the mine tunnel and cast the spell to scour it with fiendfyre, letting the fire burn for a few minutes before dousing it.
He returned to the hotel, collected his and Hermione's belongings and, shrinking the car, apparated to Glasgow to return the car. He then returned to Grimmauld Place just as the sky was brightening.
.
"Harry?"
"It's done. I'll clean up and rest. I have some goodbyes to say tonight."
"Well done, Pup. Rest well."
Harry showered and changed, and drawing the heavy curtains on windows and four-poster bed, slept.
He woke feeling refreshed. Unexpectedly refreshed, in fact. It was dark outside.
He wandered downstairs.
"Harry? Are you…?"
He nodded. "A bit peckish, even, Sirius."
"How are those cuts?"
Harry looked at his arms. "They healed okay, same as ever. Why?"
"Just wondered. Now, care to tell me about it?"
"Later, when tonight's duties are done."
He fetched himself a glass of milk and drank it.
"I'll eat when I come back up, and we can have a proper chat."
.
Harry went down to the crypt and lifted the lid on Hermione's coffin.
"Well, Love, I did it, and survived long enough to come back to tell you goodbye."
He looked long at her grey features, but for that he would think she was merely sleeping.
He leaned over her still form, weeping silently. He choked out once more his vow.
"As thou breathest, so breathe I. As thy heart beateth, so beateth mine. As thou lovest me, so I loveth thee. So mote it thus, eternally."
His tears fell on her still face, sizzling slightly as they landed.
He bent down to kiss her cold lips, slightly parted as though from a recent kiss.
He kissed her goodbye and as he broke the cold kiss, he whispered, "I love you, Hermione. I love you."
.
There was a sudden intake of breath and the woman's eyes opened in shock.
"Harry?"
"Hermione … how? wha…?"
"Oh, Goddess, Harry, what's happened?"
She stared at him. "Where ..? Oh my …!"
Her skin was beginning to take on the colour of life, once more. Harry could see the irregular pulse in her neck take on a human regularity and he could see the rise and fall of her breast as she breathed the good air.
.
He helped her from her uncanny bed and led her upstairs.
"Sirius?"
"Harry … are you … Merlin's ghost, what's …?"
"Harry, I'm sorry, but I'm hungry, and …"
She was staring at Sirius's neck. She broke off and looked at her husband. "What's happened to me?"
Harry noticed her now overgrown canines.
"Hermione, I'm afraid that it's not that good. Look, umm …"
Harry took out a mug and his wand.
"Exsanguinatio."
Blood ran thickly into the mug from Harry's wrist until he cast finite. The sight had left Hermione hypnotised.
"Feed."
She drank the half-pint of her husband's blood greedily, and the colour came even more to her cheeks.
"Thank you, but does this mean …?"
Harry nodded. "Yes it does. You have been dead for the past four days. St Mungo's said that you'd been envenomed by a vampire and killed but with no attempt to turn you … quite … oh, Merlin's teeth!"
Sirius looked at Harry. "What?"
"When I killed the alpha, I got his spit and blood all over me, in cuts and in my mouth. I assume … Sirius, we'll need another coffin, I fear."
"You mean?"
Harry nodded. "Looks like we may have another vampire in the family."
He stood and went to his wife. "Hermione, as thou breathest, so breathe I. As thy heart beateth, so beateth mine. As thou lovest me, so I loveth thee. So mote it thus, eternally."
She repeated his words. He lifted her to her feet and tenderly kissed her once more warm, pink lips, tasting the lingering metallic flavour of his own blood.
"I love you forever."
Harry told the tale of the end of Savarin the vampire and his two wives. He returned Sirius' sword and knife, and they sat and talked through the night.
And at last they went, together, back into the darkness below the hidden mansion at twelve Grimmauld Place, beyond the reach of the sun they could never again enjoy.