Hi Hi. It's been a while huh? College life has been busy. I think I'm finally adjusting to it all.
I thought I'd get this chapter up. I'm a little worried about the flow and characterization so if you find anything weird, tell me! It's longer than the previous chapters, at least, I think it is, so call it a treat. This is for all you guys who wait patiently for the next chapter and have stuck with me so far. I love you all! XoXo Hee Hee
Please, Read and Review!
Chapter
She wasn't sure how long she stood out there before she decided to leave. She didn't feel cold anymore. Instead, she felt warmer than before. She fingered the brooch, an emerald encompassed within silver folds, which held the cloak tightly around her. She looked once more at the lake and then turned to make her way in.
Draco Malfoy. She didn't know what to make of him anymore. They were enemies; she knew this, yet she realized that somewhere along the line, somewhere during the past few weeks, the lines had blurred. She still walked straight, but she wondered where the line she walked truly led.
Wasn't it just yesterday they had thrown insults at each other? Well, he had been avoiding her, but if he hadn't been they surely would have. How was it that a man who could cause her so much pain could offer her so much comfort as well?
When she first saw him, she was surprised. She didn't believe anyone else would be out that night, alone in that dark cold, but there he was, staring out into the distance like a lost soul. How she envied him. She wondered if she couldn't be frozen like him too.
A part of her wanted to question him about last night, this morning. She wanted to ask him why he had so freely given her such deadly knowledge. Another part though, the part that prevailed, didn't want to disturb the odd calm that had been placed upon them, so she gave in, freely.
His words, while still bitter and cold, felt less so. It was as though she could ignore it, tolerate it. It didn't mean they liked each other, it was just that while they hated, they knew there was a time and place for their hate. That afternoon wasn't it.
Once inside she took off the cloak and gently folded it over her arm. It was a gift after all and it wouldn't do for her to treat it without care. She made her way to her rooms.
She paused in front of a painting which portrayed the four seasons. Currently it was in winter. Appropriate. Inside the painting was a little sprite. She smiled. "Snow Flower." The small sprite giggled as the portrait moved to reveal the Head rooms.
She set the cloak down on Malfoy's usual reading place where he was sure to find it. She sighed as she plopped into her red and gold couch. What was she going to do about Ron and Harry? Perhaps it was a good thing she was angry at them. It allowed her to ignore the problem for a while, something she seemed to be doing a lot of lately.
Still, as she sat she couldn't feel at ease. Something still bothered her, and she couldn't figure out what it was. She wondered as she watched the bewitched embers burn within the fireplace. Shaking it off as nothing she prepared to retire for the night.
His Dark Mark started burning soon after his parting with Granger like he had expected. He hadn't even made it to the forest when he nearly cried out in pain. He hissed as he clutched his forearm. The Dark Mark burned and his Lord demanded his arrival. Cursing about the inconvenience of it all, he apparated to his Lord.
He found himself in an open field with trees surrounding the boarder. It was dark and he could barely make out the ground in front of him. It seemed as though he had arrived in a land without moonlight because he couldn't see its silvery glow anywhere. He didn't worry about his disappearance from Hogwarts. If someone questioned his whereabouts, his house would create his alibi. The Dark Lord saw him and smiled. "Ah yes, you have arrived."
Draco approached and bowed, staring at the dew-laden grass beneath him.
"Rise Young One," Voldemort hissed and Draco did so. Their eyes matched. In that moment he made a decision, one that could possibly get him killed in the future: he decided to hide the Angelus from the Dark Lord.
It was not to protect the girl. No, that was stupid. It was for his own benefit. This information needed to be hidden until the right moment. Satisfied with his scan the Dark Lord turned to the crowd.
"Tonight, another joins our ranks. He shall prove himself worthy by ridding us of the blood traitor who dared to seek Dumbledore's help and proclaimed that the Angelus was dead."
Draco's eyes flashed at the mention of the Angelus. She lived. He now knew she lived and the fact that this traitor had dared to say that she didn't, well, it wouldn't be a good day for him. He bowed once more to the floor. "It will be my pleasure Lord."
She cried. The tears would not stop as she sat up in the astronomy tower where the stars seemed to shine brighter, colder. She sat on the cold stone floor with her arms folded over the window ledge which held her as she shed her crystalline tears. They fell, one by one into a moonlit-pool around her.
That's how he found her, a lost soul in white crying to God for forgiveness, praying for salvation. She shivered as the tears left her, as if it were her warmth that was gone. The silk nightgown trimmed with lace did little to warm her.
It was then she saw him. He let out the breath he realized he had been holding in. She shifted her head to regard his form as tears still flowed silently down her cheeks. Her eyes were blank as she sat in her own sorrow, in the dark, the cold.
He went to her. He could not resist running to her. He kneeled in the cold pool of saltine tears and with his right hand, cupped her left cheek. With one movement of his thumb, he wiped her tears way.
So lost was she that he could not help it. He kissed her so gently, so softly, as if giving her his strength to live and she took it. The moment lasted forever. The angel's breath upon her lips gave her the strength and will to live as he kissed her sorrow away.
The tears had stopped. She looked at her angel whose skin glistened with pale moonlight and eyes were of emerald green. She knew.
No words were spoken, but each understood. Things had to stay as they were. Nothing could change. Slowly, she got up and stood a moment with him, dark and light, Gryffindor and Slytherin, connected hand in hand. Their small hands let go and the world suddenly became colder…
"Fuck" he thought as he ran from the pursuing Aurors. Fucking Aurors. He slid to a stop as he became surrounded. They stood in the shadows so that he could only see the faint outlines of their forms. He stood, wand arm ready, waiting for his pursuers to attack.
Oh, he'd fulfilled his mission alright. The bitch had squealed like a pig when he killed her son first, and then her baby daughter. He had his revenge. The Angelus lived.
Afterwards, the Aurors came. He had just enough time to light the house on fire and run for it. The bastards had put anti-apperation charms around the house so he could do nothing but run until the charm ended or he was out of its range. He curled and uncurled his left hand into a fist to release some of the energy he was feeling. His arm twitched. His eyes darted back and forth. If it was a fight they wanted, he was going to give them one they'd never fucking forget he thought as he saw various hexes flying towards him.
She woke up with a start. Something's wrong. She rubbed her eyes as she looked about her room. She sat up and grabbed her wand. "Lumos" A warm glow emitted from its tip as she put on her slippers and walked out into the hall.
Her feet had a mind of their own. Her breaths caught in her throat as she blindly began following her intuition. She felt panicked, like something was about to happen, something horribly wrong. That's when she saw them. There, in the corridor at three in the morning, kneeled Professor Snape and Blaise next to something she could not make out. There was a flash of silver blond. That's when she knew. "Draco."
They whisked around to face the Head Girl clad in only a silk night gown and a dim wand for light. Snape sneered as he quickly stood, his reflexes kicking in. "I don't see how this concerns you Miss Granger."
He was right. This was not of her concern, yet a part of her screamed that it was. She looked down to Draco Malfoy once more. His hair stuck to his face with blood and his pale features were even more so. His eyes were closed and his breathing shallow. It wasn't as though she cared for him. Her life would probably be easier without him to constantly plague it. Why would she care if another Death Eater die?
Because…he's your Death Eater a part of her replied.
She reached out her hand to try and brush Draco's hair out of his eyes when Snape blocked her. Her eyes flashed at him. "Move aside."
Snape, furious, glared down at her, "What right do you have to order me?"
A part of her was surprised. He was right. She had no right here. It wasn't her business. Yet, she looked back down on the blond and realized that he was the one who told her the secret she had been missing all her life. She couldn't continue living a Hermione Granger, muggle born intellectual forever. She closed her eyes to regroup her thoughts before she opened them and started blatantly at Snape.
"Because you know damn well that I'm the only one who can save his life," she hissed back eyes ablaze. If what she read was right, she had the power to save him.
She closed her eyes and then took a deep breath. It was now or never. She pulled up her slip.
Both looked at her in shock. "Miss Granger, I fail to see how…" Snape began and then voice died down as his eyes locked onto her right thigh. Blaise followed his professor's gaze and froze. There was the Angelus crest.
She moved quickly as the two said nothing in protest. As she kneeled down beside him, his necklace caught her eye. She paused and pulled it gently from beneath his robe. It was the mate to her own pendant. She looked up at Snape to inquire the meaning of it.
"He's your guardian Gra—Angelus," he finally replied bitterly put out that he didn't realize it sooner, that know-it-all Granger, Head Girl, and the first child he'd seen more brilliant than Marcus, turned out to be his daughter, the Angelus.
Suddenly it clicked to Hermione, why her soul had been sorrowful, in pain. It all made sense now. He held her life blood within him. It was a part of her soul that had been crying out to her just then.
She began to move. She dropped her wand and began to assess his injuries without it. "Low blood pressure, internal bleeding, broken ribs, hex after-effects," she muttered.
Physical injuries were fixed first. Her magic rushed out to him as she corrected all that she could from him arms, to his legs, she put her essence within him.
She felt his heart, and it pulsed weakly. She moved above him and, after a second of contemplation, pressed her lips to his. His mouth opened and she breathed into him her life chasing away the darkness that had tainted his pure heart.
She moved to the binds. A push came to repel her efforts and she bit her lip so she would not scream. She tapped into her life's blood within him and with his faint aid, pushed the darkness away. A light flashed in her mind and then everything seemed to fade away…
Draco stood across from her: an angel, his Angelus. Her eyes were downcast. Her eyelashes teased him. Her hair was wild. She fascinated him, his angel, his Angelus. The air was cold. He could see his breath. She slowly gazed up and her chocolate-amber eyes stared at him so intensely that he felt her soul wash over him.
She took a step towards him. Her cream dress fluttered in the wind. She was surreal, like a goddess…foreign to him like love. Slowly she raised her arm and he couldn't move away, so captivated by this goddess he was. Her hand touched his heart, and he fell into an abyss of darkness.
Pain shot through him and he cried out. A pain burned on his lower back and he looked, only to see the wings of the Angelus crest burned upon his porcelain skin…
He woke grabbing the crest around his neck, a necklace of the Angelus. The crest was simple: an angel wing with a snow flower in front. It was given to him at birth as an indication of his guardianship, his duty. When he was born, he had been made her guardian by baring their family's crest on his lower back and exchanging his life blood.
Life blood was the greatest gift one could give to another. By exchanging his life blood, he was losing a part of his soul, a part of him. Of course, it forever connected him to the Angelus, but even his parents were surprised when the Angelus required it. The rite was done rarely, even between the pureblooded families.
He sighed as he thought back on his memories. His mission had never begun. Soon after the exchange their daughter, his ward, disappeared. Marcus and Lillian Angelus passed away in battle without revealing her whereabouts, so the world went on believing the Angelus existed while the pureblooded world was at a loss. He grew up believing in her existence. She just kept eluding him, like his dreams, forever disappearing at his touch. Now that he had found her, well, it wasn't exactly as picturesque as he once believed it would be.
"I see you are awake."
He looked to see Serveus gazing at him with silent fury.
He gave his Professor a puzzled look until the events of last night came back to him. He wouldn't have been in this state if it wasn't for the stupid Auror. He was about to make a clean escape when he was hit by a nasty hex from behind. He did the best that he could to fight, but he was drained, physically and mentally. He couldn't remember exactly how he arrived back at Hogwarts.
Snape stood up made his way towards Draco contemplating his every step. It was only after he had gathered all his thoughts and carefully chosen his words that he stopped in front of Draco and gave him a rather nasty look. "I will not ask you the specifics of your mission, only that it was accomplished. However, it was foolish of you. Had it not been for Granger—"
"Granger?" Draco hissed glaring at Snape. "What does Granger have to do with all of this?" As he said those words though, terror froze his heart. Snape knew. He knew that Granger was not actually a Granger at all, but the Angelus.
Snape raised an eyebrow at him as though he were amused that Draco did not know this fact. "She saved your life."
The Professor gave him a look which Draco returned with a cold, hard stare. He knew that the Professor knew that Draco knew, but he wasn't about to prove or disprove this fact. He'd let his Professor guess as to how much he knew ahead of time.
Still, he couldn't believe she used her powers in front of them, for her first time too. He groaned mentally as he massaged his temples. He would have to warn her about that. She couldn't go healing every bloke who ended up in front of her in rather bad shape. Besides, she didn't have the type of control she needed to perform such magic, especially without him. He was suppose to be her hold to this world when she preformed her magic so that she didn't give too much of herself up.
Still, his heart had strangely raced at the mention of her name. The image of her earlier that night flashed in his head, her coldness, her white beauty. Despite her empty eyes, she was radiant, a goddess. Her lips were rosy pink along with her cheeks from the cold. Her ginger hair had tumbled down her back and over her shoulders wild, just waiting to be tamed. Damn her he thought. Fucking mudblood. Then he corrected himself. Fucking Angelus.
He pushed his thoughts aside and looked back at Snape. "Where is she now?"
"She's in the common room on one of the divans. She passed out after…healing you. We thought it best to lay her down," Snape replied as he waved his hand to indicate the door. "Blaise is currently watching over her."
Draco nodded partially in appreciation and headed out to meet his rather unlikely savior, his Angelus.
She slept on the large, dark emerald-green couch by the fire, a place of honor. It was considered to be the Slytherin "throne" of sorts. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. It seemed the Professor was giving her an honor indeed. Blaise sat watching from a high backed chair further away from the roaring fire. All was silent except for the occasional crackle from the fireplace.
"Draco," Blaise said nodding his head in greeting. He set his book down.
"Blaise," Draco replied sitting in a chair next to him. His eyes became harsh as they landed on her. He looked to make sure she was unharmed. Before him came the Angelus; she should have been more careful with herself. He shot a glance at Blaise and then decided to play it safe. "How is the mudblood?"
Blaise raised an eyebrow. "The question is how are you? It's only been an hour since she's healed you."
"I'm fine," Draco replied curtly. He looked at Blaise and met his gaze. "How much did you see?"
He understood the question. "I was there when she did it."
Draco looked down once again at his Angelus and paused. "How bad was I?"
There was a pause. "I didn't think that you would make it."
Draco took in a breath. "What did she do?"
Blaise ran a hand through his hair in apprehensiveness. He wasn't sure how to present the situation. "Had it been anyone else in this room I would have screamed and cursed them to hell for keeping it a secret from us, but Granger…"
Silence filled the air. "What did she do?" Draco asked firmly once more.
Blaise sighed yet again. "She preformed healing magic I've never seen before in my life. She used her life's blood on you Draco, life's blood."
Draco stared at him. She used her life's blood? Was she fucking insane?
"Why didn't you stop her?" he hissed, furious that she had done such a stupid thing.
"You didn't see yourself Draco," Blaise replied in a whisper somewhere between despair and fury. "I thought I was saying goodbye to my best friend that night, so when I saw Granger, no the Angelus, waltz up to heal her guardian of all people, who am I to stop her?" There was a pause. "I couldn't watch you die."
Draco looked back at Hermione. She slept quietly with drops of sweat covering her brow and her cheeks looked flush. Her hair tumbled down around her and he realized that the she was clad in only her nightgown. He looked to see the crest he knew was there.
With the Angelus name came great power. They were killers, beautiful, deadly killers. It was an honor to be killed by an Angelus. It meant that you were successful in frustrating the Dark Lord thus far. They were the right hand of the Dark Lord, almost as forbidden to speak of as he himself, referred to as one family, one unit, the Angelus.
He'd found her. After all those years of looking, waiting, he finally grabbed her; only, it didn't turn out how he wanted. His Angelus had turned out to be mud-fucking-blood Hermione Granger.
Fuck, if he wasn't sure the gods hated him already, this would be all the proof he needed. Karma was a bitch.
Hermione felt the brightness of the morning sun through her eyes as she woke. She slowly opened them and blinked a few times, refraining from stretching out like a cat. She closed them again.
"So the mudblood awakens."
Her eyes flashed open and met his. She continued to lie on the couch as he sat in a high backed chair on the far side of the room. The rising sun shone on his pale skin and his hair glowed in the sunlight to show a golden white tone not normally seen on him. The fireplace contained nothing but ash and the room was devoid of people except for the two of them.
Their eyes were both calm. It was a strange phenomenon that neither lashed out at each other. They both kept their fury in check.
She broke contact first as she stood up and walked towards the door.
She froze when he stood and began to move towards her. Her breath caught in her throat when he pressed up against her back; their flesh burned. She couldn't protest when his hand slid up her thigh and his thumb caressed her crest roughly, his calloused finger feeling like bliss upon her smooth flesh. His breath upon her neck was distracting, the warmth of his breath making her dizzy. His other hand slipped firmly around her waist, holding her against him.
"My Angelus," he murmured against her hair. She didn't move; she couldn't. She was frozen and overcome by this feeling so strange and foreign to her. She could feel his relief, happiness at finding her. It was such a polar opposite to his hatred that she was stunned into shock.
Slowly his hands dropped and he broke away. Her dam of emotions broke through and she began to realize what he had just done. He sat on the coffee table next to the divan she had been sleeping on.
Their eyes met and his tenderness was gone. His eyes were cold, dead again as they locked onto hers. She held his cool gaze as he examined her.
"How could you do such a stupid thing last night?" he whispered, eyes blazing with cold fury.
"Stupid?" Hermione snapped back in much the same voice, furious that he would question her, challenge her on something so trivial. "You were dying Malfoy. What the hell was I suppose to do?"
He wanted to reproach her and tell her that she shouldn't have saved his life, but he couldn't, and he was angry that he couldn't. She met his gaze and challenged him to say it, say that she shouldn't have saved his life. Her eyes flashed with victory. She knew she had won.
"I'm surprised Malfoy, that you have nothing to say for yourself," Hermione said to the man sitting in front of her. "I mean, with that mouth of yours—"
"Which has done things to make girls scream in pleasure numerous times," he replied back casually with a glint of amusement in his eyes. He wasn't about to let her have her fun.
She scoffed. "I'll bet my right arse you did."
"Really, you can do that?" he asked. She shot him a glare as their eyes met. He had a rather wicked look of both amusement and frustration on his face. "Because I could have sworn—" She slammed her hands on the table. She had had enough from him. He gave her a rather lazy grin. "Really, you shouldn't do that, it'll—"
She slammed her hands once more on the coffee table and he simply sat coolly, meeting her furious gaze. "You are insufferable. Did you know that?"
"Of course," he replied with a small smirk. She glared at him and eventually the smirk faded away. He crossed his arms looked at her with a cold gaze. The humor held in them previously was gone. "Now that we're understood, I propose a truce."
She blinked, too surprised to react any other way. "A truce?"
"You know, a kind of stalemate, an agreement, an—"
"I know what a truce is," she shot back glaring.
He simply gave her a smirk in reply.
Her glare never lifted. "What's the truce?"
"It is my duty to protect you Angelus, but that does not mean it will be agreeable to you or myself. I shall be as amicable as I can while protecting you Angelus if you will only grant me one thing," he finally replied.
"What is it?" she asked meeting his cool gaze once more.
"That accompany me the next time I am called."
She knew what he meant. Of course it was clear. He wanted to take her to the next Death Eater meeting. She understood his wish, but her heart froze in silent fear. "I can't."
He didn't reply. He simply turned away and looked out at the morning sun.
"If I don't attend, will you be punished?" she asked quietly. She knew she was asking a stupid question, a question to which she already knew the answer, but she had to hear it from him. She hated him and she could care less about what happened but still…
There was a pause. "It is most likely." He saw her hesitance and continued in his usual drawl. "Gran—Angelus, it's not like he can kill you. That would be like killing pureblooded royalty you dolt. So there's nothing but good in it for you."
She heard his next line, unspoken in her mind. "But if you don't go, that wouldn't apply to me." She sighed and looked out the same window Draco had been gazing out of. The sun was shining brightly over the lake and a few students lingered on the grounds.
She finally looked back at him quietly, with a mild look of contemplation on her face. Fine. Damned conscience. "Call me next time."
He turned to stare at her for a bit, as if contemplating her sincerity or her motives for agreeing. Finally he nodded. "Your protection will be seen to."
She coughed as she tried to suppress a laugh. He glared at her knowing exactly what she had just done. She simply met his glare. "I've done just fine for the last seventeen years. I'm sure I can take care of myself."
She looked to the divan next to her and saw her school uniform along with other various necessities there. She quickly scooped them up. "Where's the bathroom?"
He looked at her in question for a second before realizing the purpose of her inquiry. "It's over there," he replied, pointing behind him.
Hermione charged past him without a single thought, making sure to roughly shove him as she made her way to the Slytherin's bathroom.
"Bitch" he scowled as he grabbed onto his arm.
Five minutes later she was out of the bathroom changed and in her robes. "I'm going down to breakfast," she exclaimed and went out of the rooms before Draco could say a word.