22. Viventes Mortuae
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Malfoy looked up from the book he was perusing that was on Hermione's coffee table.
"Hermione? Did you forget your key?" He got up and opened the door and instantly frowned. "Krum?"
"Something has happened."
Malfoy's demeanor tightened. "What happened? Where's Hermione?"
Krum fell to his knees in true despair. "I tried! I tried!"
Malfoy tried to swallow the lump in his throat as he grabbed Krum and pulled him to his feet. "Krum, is she... is Hermione... dead?"
Krum wiped his face. "I don't know, but they have her. I tried to stop them... she was screaming and I had just been so rude to her... and... I tried..."
"Who's they?" Draco asked. Krum just kept sobbing. "Pull yourself together man! Who's they?"
"Voldemort."
Draco let go of Krum as if he had burned his hands. "That's impossible."
Krum shook his head. "I saw it!"
"Tell me exactly what happened."
One Hour Ago...
Victor was out for a stroll when someone unexpectedly bumped into him.
"Oh my, Victor. I haven't seen you since... since... the ball. I am so sorry I just ran out on you like that. You must think I'm a jerk! How have you been?"
He laughed slightly and patted her head, trying to make it seem like she was beneath him... he was still angry with her. "I am good, Hermione and don't worry about it. Things happen, good seeing you, but I must go now. Goodbye."
She frowned as she watched him leave, and he knew he shouldn't have been so cold. Krum turned the corner and rested against the brick wall of the store. He should probably go back and apologize. He had been so rude and cold... that wasn't him. At all. He sighed and pushed himself off the wall as he heard a scream.
"Hermione!" Krum yelled out and turned the corner to see a young Tom Riddle doing things to the woman he once loved. "How can this be?" Krum breathed out as he gripped his wand. "Get off her!"
Voldemort smirked and ripped open Hermione's blouse and pressed his wand to her flesh as she let out a blood curdling scream.
"I said get off!" Krum yelled and sent a hex his way. Nothing happened.
Hermione's eyes widened at something Voldemort said. "No Victor, don't! Just go! Go get Draco! Go... AHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Now, now Tom... you should know better than to play with our guests like this. Keep your hormones in check."
Krum recognized this woman as Narcissa Malfoy... he saw her raise her wand, ready to curse him so he apparated the only place Hermione wanted him to.
Present...
"How could you let this happen, Krum? You could have saved her!" Malfoy shoved him. "Why would my mother be there? What part does she have... oh, shit. We have to go, man."
"What? What do you know, Malfoy?" Krum asked as they raced down the stairs and across the street to the store where everything happened. No one was there, just a carton of whipped cream splattered on the ground and a button... from her blouse.
Malfoy punched the wall. "Fuck!"
"Malfoy, what are we going to do?"
He signed and cradled his bloodied hand. "We have to get Potter and the Weasel."
HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP
"Penelope, you look so thin for being three months along! You can't even tell!" Ginny smiled and placed a tray of cookies down for Ron and her. "I can't stand that bint!" Ginny groaned once she was back in the kitchen.
Harry smiled and pulled her into his embrace, kissing the top of her head. "You and I overcame some obstacles, who's to say Ron and Hermione won't?"
"Have you seen the way Hermione looks at Malfoy? Better yet, the way he looks at her? Not a chance Hermione will give that up for my brother... not anymore anyway now that he knocked up some slut."
"Oh..."
Ginny whipped around to see Penelope standing there, completely hurt. "Oh, hi... we were just... I was... wow, I'm sorry..."
"I should probably go," Penelope stated. "Thanks for the cookies."
"Penelope, wait! I didn't... shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!" Ginny yelped. "Ron is going to kill me!"
"GINNY WEASLEY! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" Ron bounded into the kitchen. "Why is the woman who is carrying my child leaving and crying hysterically?"
Ginny sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't like her, Ron. I don't like who you are with her and frankly, she shouldn't have been eavesdropping."
"Do you feel the same way, mate?" Ron asked Harry.
Harry closed his eyes and breathed in. "Yes. She just... doesn't belong."
"Yea? Well, Hermione doesn't want me! She already made that clear!"
Pop!
"Weasel, Potter... I need your help."
Ron jumped and turned around to see Victor Krum and Draco Malfoy standing in his sister's kitchen. "Yea, fat chance of that mate."
Harry punched Ron in the side and shook his head. "What do you need?"
"Hermione's been taken."
"What?" Ron bellowed. "By who? Where is she? How can we get her back?"
"Calm yourself... let me explain some things..."
HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP
They all sat around the coffee table, discussing everything that had been going on. Hermione's delusions, her theories, and what she knew that Draco now knew. The curse.
"So what curse is it that your mum is using to bring back the dead?" Harry asked.
"I didn't know until about an hour ago... but I remember when I was a child, my parents would always talk about that living dead and how if one of them should die, that curse would be used to bring them back and that I would need to give my blood willingly in order to do so... They called the curse Viventes Mortuae, which loosely translates into..."
"Living dead, we got that part," Ron snapped. Ginny stomped on his foot. "Ow, fuck...!"
"So what do we do? You obviously can't give your blood or else Death Eaters will be a surplus here... but we can't just sacrifice Hermione's safety..." Ginny contemplated.
Harry stood up and began pacing. "We need to find a crack in their plan. A way to finagle our way in..."
"Astoria," Malfoy breathed.
"What? That bint caused Hermione to have hallucinations in the first place!" Ron retorted.
Malfoy shook his head. "Believe what you want, but she gave just enough information to Hermione for her to piece everything together... and I know that she still loves me. Just trust me on this one... I have a plan and Astoria is our way in."
HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP
Hermione was flung into a dark, cold room. Her head collided with the cold stone floor. And it reeked, Merlin how it reeked of rotting dead things.
"Let me out you bastards! Get me the fuck out of here!"
"Oh, come now... a lady should never speak in such a way."
Hermione scooted herself back against the wall, pulling her legs to her chest. "Stay away from me, Voldemort!"
She felt his cold, bony hand on her face and on her thigh. "You are in no place to be giving me orders, Mudblood." He slapped her across the face. He took a chain that was tightly fastened to the wall and shackled it to her ankle.
"You disgust me," Hermione hissed and spat in his face.
He wiped it off maliciously and grasped her neck. "You'll pay for that one." Voldemort lifted her up by her neck and tore off her blouse and slid down her trousers. "You're going to wish you were never born when I am through with you, Mudblood."
"Please don't!" Hermione choked out, clawing at his hand to let her go.
He dropped her to the ground and tore off the remainder of her undergarments as he bound her with a binding curse. "Don't beg, pet... it's not very becoming of you." He kissed her hard on her lip and bit down, drawing blood. Hermione felt like vomiting.
"Tom, get away from her now!" Someone commanded as a flash of light sent him flying off of her.
He stood up, zipping his trousers, keeping him from doing what he so desperately wanted to do. "Don't be such a prude, Astoria. I was just having a spot of fun."
"She has to be alive, Tom... Narcissa wants you. Go."
He sighed and licked the side of Hermione's neck. "Until next time, my sweet little Mudblood."
Hermione groaned and wiped off the nasty saliva from her neck, but still couldn't help but wonder why Astoria had so much control over Voldemort. It was unnerving.
After he was gone, the voice that had warded Voldemort off her spoke. "Hermione."
She didn't answer.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm perfect, Astoria. I'm lying naked and bleeding on a cold stone floor. Today is the best day of my fucking life."
Astoria flicked her wand and robes draped over Hermione. She took them thankfully and tied them around her body.
Astoria knelt next to Hermione. "Where is Adrianna?"
"Why should I tell you?" Hermione spat, sore and humiliated.
"I just need to know that she is safe... can you tell me that at least?"
Hermione sighed. "She's safe and out of harm's way, no thanks to you."
Astoria sighed. "Thank Merlin..."
"Why did you help me?"
Astoria rolled her eyes. "Despite what you want to believe, I am on your side." Hermione heard a click and looked down to see that Astoria had undid the clasp on her ankle. "I am in love with Draco... and I know that you make him happy... for the first time in a long time and I don't want him to lose that. So, leave before I change my mind."
Hermione's mouth was slightly agape. "You do know that this spell you have cast over all the dead corpses will have run its course by the month's end, right? Narcissa will die because there's no way Draco will ever give his blood willingly."
"Why will Narcissa die?" Astoria asked, confused.
Hermione was in awe. "Did you not read up on this curse? The spell caster faces imminent death if all instructions aren't followed through with."
Astoria's eyes widened. "Oh."
"That's one thing you shouldn't have overlooked. Now she'll die, Astoria."
"Stop it... Just shut up! She's not going to die."
"Why won't she..." Hermione finally realized something and gasped. Of course! That's why she had so much control over Voldemort. "Oh, Astoria... please, tell me you didn't!"
"She told me that nothing would happen... that it was just a spell. Textbook stuff... I didn't know!"
"I can't believe you cast the spell..."
Astoria took Hermione's hand, tears running down her face. "Please tell me there's away to end all of this!"
Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat. "You have to die, Astoria. That's the only way."
She hung her head. "I thought so."
Hermione panicked. What if Astoria tried to save herself instead of letting her go? "You're still going to let me go, right? Please let me go!"
BOOM! BOOM!
"It' Potter, Cissy!" a loud, booming voice stated. There was tons of crashing and screaming going on up above.
Pop!
"Hermione," a voice whispered.
She turned around. "Draco!" She didn't want it to, but tears began pouring out. She had never been so relieved to see this man in her entire life. Astoria still had a hold on her when she tried to leap into Draco's waiting arms.
"Astoria, let her go."
"If I do, I'll die and... and..." Astoria looked up the stairs then back at Hermione and Draco, ogling at each other as if there was no one else in the world. "You two really do love each other, don't you?"
Hermione wiggled out of her grasp and fell into Draco's arms. "We really do... please let us go? Please?"
"Astoria, is everything secured down there?" the same booming voice shouted down the stairwell.
Astoria glanced over at the two of them. "She got away, Lucius."
"Father?" Draco whispered. "That's my dad? But he's... he's...dead."
"How could you let that happen?" Lucius shouted and began walking down the stairs.
Astoria's heart beat quickened. "Go. Now!" She hissed.
"But you'll die. What about Adrianna?" Hermione asked, not knowing why she felt any sort of sentiment toward the woman who had made all this happen.
"You were always a better mother than me. Take care of her. Now, GO!"
Draco kissed her cheek. "Goodbye, Astoria."
But goodbye was and is never the end... and they both knew that somewhere in the back of their minds.
A/N: Sorry it took so long... but please R&R!