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I would love to see someone use this story, Intellect, Innerhouse and Sweet Nectar in their own way. So have at, if you want to.
The Book Called Revenge
Chapter 6
Hermione woke early the next morning to find that Draco was nuzzled close behind her, his face between her shoulder blades. The feel of the covers beneath her and his smooth skin against her, it was intoxicating. She moved her legs against the softness all around her, felt the way each wrinkle in the sheets put small pressures against her body.
And the warmth of Draco behind her was amazing. This was just weird, but also pleasant in many ways. Since the curse, all she'd really been able to feel had been the weather and even that had become somewhat muted in her intangible state. She focused on the way his breath moistened her back and how it was warm when he breathed out and cold as he breathed in.
A shiver went down her spine.
Last night had been… fun, but it had also been necessary. This, on the other hand, was not either of those. She made to pull away, but his grip tightened on her and she remained cradled in his arms.
"Draco," she called loving the sound of her own voice, but he didn't stir. Something about this was making her increasingly uncomfortable. She hadn't pegged him as the cuddling type and somehow she guessed he hadn't meant for this to happen in the night.
She pushed at his arms while calling out to him again and finally he sighed sleepily. He didn't let her go, but he was slowly waking up. She ignored his naked body against her and waited for him to come to his senses.
At last, he rolled onto his back and she jumped up from the bed, more than ready to get back to her own life. She had so much to do today, starting with a shower. She looked down at Draco and he seemed a little dazed, like he wasn't just ready to be woken up. She decided she wouldn't bother him just yet.
Draco was trying his best to lie still as Hermione moved away from him, but everything in his body buzzed with and urge to be near her. It was an itchy restless feeling clawing under his skin. He wanted to pull her back down to him and he knew without a doubt that these were not his feelings. Something was very wrong, and had been since the kissing lesson last night. The thoughts and feelings he was having were foreign. And most definitely not his. Not that part of of him hadn't enjoyed last too.
Hermione went to pick up her clothes from the other side of the room and as she made her way toward her fallen garments, a loud thump sounded from behind her. She turned to see that Draco had disappeared.
"Draco?" she called as she moved back toward the bed. Then from beneath it, he emerged looking shell shocked and they both just stared at each other.
Neither of them was able to voice what they both knew was happening. Hermione stepped back from him and watched as he stood half infused with his bed.
"Oh my God," she said in a whisper and he shook his head in absolute disbelief. "I am so sorry," she continued and took another step away from him as if she were afraid he'd attack her.
There was no need though because Draco was still too much in shock to get to the anger part… yet.
Hermione picked up her clothes and threw them on and then picked up his discarded clothes and handed them to him. He wordlessly put them on and little by little he was waking from his shock.
"We'll fix this," she said frantically, and with the way she was freaking out, you'd think she was the one who'd just been double crossed by a book after trying to help someone out.
Yeah, now the anger was starting to kick in.
Hermione quickly grabbed Revenge from the floor and sat at the edge of the bed, immediately scanning the inside of the book's cover. Her eyes moved back and forth and up and down, until she frowned so deep her eyebrows began to connect.
"There's nothing here," she finally said and her voice was a croak.
Draco calmly sat beside her with a sigh. The book would probably only let him read it now. He took the thing from her hands and searched the page, but nothing happened. He waited for some time just staring at the page, but no magical writing appeared.
As his patience grew thinner and thinner, he fanned through a few pages to discover them also void of explanation. That was it. He snapped, tossing the book across that room and screaming obscenities that no one could hear.
Hermione flinched away from him and suddenly he was calm again and his mind was telling him that he needed to relax or he'd scare her. But what did he care about scaring Hermione, he asked himself. He was outraged, and rightfully so.
He was breathing hard, crossed between wanting to throw a tantrum and fearing that he'd hurt Hermione, which he knew now, was Revenge's doing. It had to be. He remembered last night and how he'd felt so lost in the moment with her. So lost that he hadn't realized what he was doing half the time, and that wasn't like him.
Neither was the way he'd let her stick around or how he kissed her after their business was done. Especially not the way he yearned for her closeness all night. It was maddening that the book could do this. Impossible really, and yet here he was.
Feeling, unmistakably, in love with Hermione Granger.
He stood up, wishing he could throw something else but instead, he turned back to Hermione. She looked completely apologetic with rounded eyes and tears brimming in them, but it wasn't enough.
'Fix it!' he yelled silently and she easily understood what he'd said, even without his voice.
"I don't know how…" she answered in a whisper and even though Revenge was playing tricks with his emotions, he held on tight to his anger and ignored the ache her voice caused in him.
They were going to fix this the way they'd fixed it before, he thought as he pushed her back on the bed.
She was shocked at first, but then understanding his intentions, she began to undress without question. It squeezed at his chest to see her frantically undressing like this before him, but he forced that away, not sure if it was his or Revenge's feelings.
He too began to disrobe and it wasn't long before he was on top of her.
He wanted to think that this strange wanting he had was related to breaking this curse but as he kissed her, he knew that somehow the curse had become second priority to just getting to touch Hermione. He wanted the thought to make him sick, but instead it elated him. There was no need for the kissing and yet he continued, and soon what had started as a plan to undo this curse, turned into a feverish desire to make love to her. To pleasure her.
Focus, he thought, and he grounded himself with his surroundings. Hermione was as nervous as ever beneath him and a little frightened, from what he could tell. He didn't let that stop him though, as he reached between their bodies and placed himself at her entrance, this time single-mindedly, ready to undo whatever Revenge was planning for him.
Suddenly she was pushing away and he fell off of her in surprise. She was breathing hard and there were tears ready to fall down her face.
He hadn't hurt her had he?
He pushed the thought and worry away.
"What if…" she tried to say and a grave look of shame crossed her face. "What if, if we do this, I end up cursed again?" she asked and he could hardly believe her.
After everything he'd done for her, she was only worried about herself. For the first time since he'd woken up, he was clearly able to discern what his feelings were toward Hermione. Although Revenge tried to mask it as pain, he knew, bright as day, that it was hatred.
At this moment, he hated her, and no matter how hard Revenge pushed love for her into him, he swore at that moment that he would never forget the truth.
An old and yet familiar sensation, he let it fill him up and force out the hurt that he knew wasn't his.
Hermione seemed to have just realized what kind of fury she'd unleashed and tried to sooth it down.
"I'm sorry," she said pleadingly as she rose from the bed and retrieved her clothes, "I just can't go back to that. We can find another way," she said as if she were trying to convince herself more than him. He slowly stood from the bed and pegged her with the most hate-filled glare he could muster.
"I'm so sorry," she repeated and it had him clinching his fists. She wasn't sorry. If she were, then she wouldn't be doing this to him. He couldn't even yell at her. There was no way to show her. To make her understand what she was doing to him.
He was even close to raising his hand to her, something he'd never thought he was capable of doing.
"Please," she said handing him his pants, "Please just give me time to figure this out." She pleaded.
He stepped into them because it distracted him from his single thought at the moment. And as horrifying at he admitted it was, he was thinking about rape as a suitable plan of action. It was horrible, yes, but she was such a traitorous bitch. He could easily do it, he thought. It made him sick to his stomach, but what choice was she giving him.
Suddenly though, Revenge's feelings were winning out over his, and his body was hit with fierce surge of regret for even thinking such a thing. It was painful, and he shut his eyes against the burning he felt there.
"I'll come back for you," she said backing away from him and it took a moment to register what she was saying. She was going to leave him like this.
"I'll stop my funeral and then come back," she said and again it was in a tone that made him think that she was trying to convince herself that that was what she was going to do.
She turned for the door and he grabbed her arm so tight that she winced in pain and he knew that his grip would leave a bruise. He couldn't let her leave. If she did, how could he trust her to return and how would he find her if she didn't.
"Ow," she put her hand over his trying to pry his fingers apart and the tighter he held her, the more pain he felt reverberating through his chest. "Let go," she said and as if he were a well-trained dog he obeyed.
They both stared at each other, bewildered by his compliance, but Hermione didn't stick around too long to ponder it. She sent one last pleading look his way before, with a pop, she was gone.
Hermione landed in her apartment and collapsed onto her dusty couch, gasping through the onslaught of tears that had started.
She was a monster. A complete coward. But more than anything, she was selfish.
Deep down to her core, she was so selfish that it was ripping a hole in her gut. She ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. She didn't want to go back for him, she didn't want to be cursed anymore. What was worse was that she was trying to talk herself into really leaving him that way. Why do what she didn't want to?
Because it was the right thing to do!
She gagged at having to remind herself of something like that. How she'd been sorted into Gryffindor, she didn't know. Maybe the sorting hat hadn't accounted for how horribly she'd end up after living through the war.
She started the shower and peeled off her clothes, making plans to burn them and forget about this whole ordeal. To forget about Revenge… and Draco. She sobbed in her shower feeling guilty about how divine the water felt against her skin and how she was going to take that away from Draco after he'd done so much for her out of the kindness of her heart.
She wouldn't do that. She was going to go back. They were going to find a way that they could both be free, and then she was going to do everything in her power to stay out of his way for as long as they both lived. After all, what better 'thank you' could he ask for right about now, than to never have to see her again after this?
Draco still stood where he had when she'd disappeared from his room, never to return. Daylight was gone and his legs were killing him, but he couldn't move. He didn't know what to do with himself. Should he go and hunt her down or trust that she would come back after putting an end to her funeral?
He glanced at Revenge, still on the floor, open with its pages bent awkwardly beneath it. Why had it done this to him? He'd been a good guy, and complied without question practically. This is why he should have stayed away from magic. Muggle life was a reap-what-you-sow type deal, but in the wizarding world, anything could happen to you, and for no reason. His life was a testament to that. The only thing he'd done was be born, and from there it was a downhill slope.
But he would get his life back, he decided. And no one was going to stand in his way. He picked Revenge up from the floor and inspected it once more. The pages were still blank, but he figured that when the time came, Revenge would speak up again and until then, he'd keep it close and start his search for Hermione.
He put his hand up to his closed bedroom door and watched as his hand sank through. This was going to take some getting used to. He went down stairs making sure not to rely on the banister for support.
He had to figure out where to start looking for Hermione. Finding Potter was a likely place. That or Weasley. He didn't know where either of them lived, but everyone knew where they worked.
With a pop, he was at the ministry.
He wasn't going to trade his life for hers, even though Revenge was trying to convince him that he was fine with it. He forced himself to remember how she'd run of a few hours ago, but he could tell that the longer this curse continued, the less in control he was going to become, until he was her mindless, lovesick slave. He wasn't going to let that happen.
He hopped on an elevator and was going to have to wait for someone to get off on the auror training floor.
Harry Potter was a trainer now, creating a new class of wizard-kind's protectors. His teams and graduates were the best and he was constantly being reported on in the Prophet for one victory or another. Draco was suddenly glad that he at least kept up with the times.
He remembered seeing Hermione's face on the front page for so many months and thinking nothing of it. Who knew it would be the beginning of his end.
He shook the thought from his head. He was going to get out of this.
Hermione had spent the whole day debating on if she should find Harry and Ron, or go back to Draco's. What was the point of stopping her funeral and letting her friends know that she was alive, if she may go missing again after trying to free Draco. Why put them through that?
Because you're selfish, she reminded herself.
What if they could help her? Maybe if they all worked together, they could break Revenge's spell. She could gather a team and…
She knew that she was lying to herself. If she couldn't do it, then no one could. She hadn't even started training or finding people for her new branch at the ministry. But maybe she could figure it out if she had more time to study the book and now that she was tangible again, she could use resources that she hadn't had when she was cursed. Yes, she could crack the code like she'd always done before.
But would Draco give her the time? In fact, she'd have to go to him in order to get the book back for study and she somehow knew beyond a doubt that if she hadn't gotten away from him when she had, she'd have ended up hurt. He hadn't been the light hearted nice guy she'd just become reacquainted with. He was a man who was willing to do what it took to get what he wanted.
And rightfully so, she reminded herself.
She needed to find her wand so that she could protect herself from him, if necessary.
With all of this in mind, she couldn't tell Harry or Ron about any of this. If worst came to worst and she went missing again, they'd find Draco and who knew what they'd do to him. She couldn't let that happen. None of this was his fault.
She'd stop her funeral, make up an excuse for her disappearance and then start work on tearing Revenge to shreds and freeing Draco, while simultaneously protecting herself from him. Nothing Hermione couldn't handle.
Hermione took a deep breath to prepare herself. First she needed to go see Harry and find her wand. Then she'd handle Draco.
She decided it would be best if the wizarding world didn't know that she was still alive just yet and so apparated to Harry's house. Ginny was staying at the burrow for Hermione's funeral preparations and to comfort Mrs. Weasley who was taking all of this worse than anyone. The house was quiet and Hermione waited in the living room for Harry to return home from work.
Draco was still shirtless and felt strange to be surrounded by people and not seen, especially in this work environment and looking the way that he did now.
He hadn't been to the ministry since his final court date and only sent updates to them periodically for his file. It was strange but being inside this place with it's hustle and bustle was refreshingly familiar. He was in the wizarding world again and it felt like home no matter how much he hated the place.
Magic was everywhere and he kind of felt like a muggle discovering all of it for the first time. Or more like reacquainting himself. The elevator had stopped on many floors and he'd seen so many things that he recalled the names of, and old memories of the good things about this place resurfaced.
Draco found Harry within the hour surprisingly, and from the look of it, Hermione hadn't been here yet, but he knew that she would. She was sure to run to Potter first, so he'd shadow him and wait.
It won't be long, he thought, but what would he do with her when he found her? That was a question he wasn't sure about just yet. A lot of that having to do with Revenge. When Draco thought of her, the picture was becoming more and more rose colored. The longer he was away from her, the more he was longing for her. Even his heart was pounding relentlessly in anticipation of getting to see her again. It was disturbing.
He clung to his anger and hatred and replayed her retreat over and over in his head.
Finally, Harry was going home for the night and Draco followed silently as he entered the floo network. He just hoped that he didn't apparate anywhere or Draco would lose him.
Luckily, they were deposited in a small business that sold hats and an old witch at the register waved hello before Harry left through the front door, and headed only a block away in a muggle neighborhood to his home.
Hermione ran a hole through the carpet while she waited for Harry and when she heard the door being unlocked, she ran to it.
Harry was pulling his key from the door when he looked up. His wand was pulled before she could say a word.
"Don't move," he said and inched toward the light, flipping it on.
When he saw Hermione standing before him, he dropped his wand and without question ran to her, pulling her into a hug.
"Hermione," he said and she laughed as tears ran down her face, "Where have you been?" he said suddenly angry as he pulled away from her.
"Harry," she said with a frown, "You should know better than to drop your wand. What if I'd been an imposter?" she asked and he shook his head.
"No," he said seriously, "there's only one Hermione and I could tell the difference," he said as tears started to blur his eyes, "I'm trained to do that you know," he added and they both let out sobbing laughs.
Hermione's eyes traveled for a movement behind Harry in the doorway and met eyes with Draco. He was just as she'd left him, shirtless and angry. She took a step back and he took two steps forward.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked watching her carefully and then turned back to his doorway, where he looked right through Draco. "Hermione?" he asked again when she didn't answer.
Hermione tried to turn tail, but Draco had her in seconds. He pushed her to the ground and she struggled beneath him.
"Hermione," Harry called, he'd grabbed his wand, but he had no target.
"Please," Hermione said to Draco, "Let me figure this out. I can break the spell if I have time to study the book," she said and he shook his head. They both knew how the spell would be broken and he wasn't going to sit around waiting for her, lest she betray him again.
"What?" Harry asked confused, looking pained that he didn't know what to do.
"Harry I'm fine," she said to calm him, but she wasn't fine. Draco backed her to a wall where there was a table and a coffee mug full of pens. He picked one up and wrote in Revenge. He was sure to keep an arm linked with hers in case she tried to apparate away.
"What the…?" Harry whispered and Hermione realized that he must have seen the pen moving. "Hermione, what's going on?" he asked, and Hermione wanted to tell him but didn't know if it was the right thing to do.
'You can apparate somewhere private, or I'll do this in front of Potter' he wrote and she raised her eyes to him in shock.
"Hermione,' Harry said again but she held a hand up to him.
"Listen to me Harry," she started, "I might not come back-"
"What?" he yelled confused.
"-I'm under a curse and I don't know If I'll see you again," she was tearing up now and she felt Draco's hold on her lightening up. "I have to fix this on my own because I got someone else involved," she said looking up at Draco. His hold released more. Still looking at him she continued talking to Harry, "I just wanted to tell you to stop the funeral. I have to take responsibility for something I messed up and I'm going to give it my all, but I don't want you guys to bury me," she was full on crying now and Draco let her go, taking a step back as if he were in pain.
"What are you saying?" Harry pleaded, his voice breaking and tears rolling down his cheeks. He looked like he was trying very hard to understand.
"I have to go," she said and grabbed Draco quickly, apparating from the room before she was a sloppy mess. She had to leave with as little damage done as she could.
They landed in her apartment and she fell on the floor sobbing again.
It would have been better if she hadn't seen Harry at all. Saying goodbye, telling him that she may never see him again, it was worse than it had been before with him having just come to terms with her disappearance. She shouldn't have gone there.
This wasn't the time for hysterics. She had to do what was right. She put a stop to her hiccups and wiped her face. It was time for her to face the music.
Draco watched Hermione's body crumple to the ground and god he fought not to hold and comfort her. He let her stay that way, the itch under his skin killing him. After some time, she started to settle, wiping her face of with her hands. She looked pathetic… and he was starting to wane on his earlier decision to take what he needed and leave. He just wished he could tell if it was really him who'd thought it.
She looked up at him and stood.
"Let's do this," she said numbly and his chest almost ripped open, but he still followed her to her room.
She sniffled and her body shook as she started to undress. She kept taking deep breaths to keep from crying and he knew at this very moment that this was going to be impossible. When she reached to drag her panties off, he caught one of her hands and turned her to face him.
His heart was pounding with a mixture of his inability to do what he knew needed to be done, the love he felt for her that he knew wasn't his own, anger at what she'd done, and his more rational side that told him that what he was doing was wrong.
With Harry's pen still clutched in his hand and Hermione staring up at him with blood shot eyes, he wrote what he knew he would come to regret.
'You have a week.'
Hermione stared at the writing in disbelief then up into his eyes and he had to brace his muscles to keep from kissing her. In a week, the curse would surely make him unable to even think for himself he realized.
'Three days' he amended and she nodded frantically.
"Three days," she repeated gratefully, "Then I swear to you, that I'll take the curse back if it comes to it," she said tearing up again and he couldn't hold back anymore.
He put his arms around her and held on to her, which set off a bout of crying that went on for thirty minutes. The longer she stayed in his arms the longer he wanted to keep her there.
He could just gag at the sentiment.
Finally she pulled away and smiled up at him. Warmth spread through every inch of him and he thought about how nice it would be not to fight these feelings… no.
He couldn't start thinking like that; he had a life to get back to.
"Thank you for that," she said carefully, not sure if the words were right. "I'll need to take Revenge," she added and he knew somehow, beyond a doubt, that giving Revenge to her would be mistake so he shook his head. She looked confused.
'I'll be there while you study the book,' he wrote and she nodded agreement.
"You can stay and sleep in the bed," she said thinking of all those nights she'd spent on the floor and couldn't bear to do that to him.
'We should go back to my place' he wrote and she raised an eyebrow. 'I don't want Potter to interrupt,' he added and she nodded. It would cause problems for Harry to show up.
"Can I grab some stuff?" she asked and he nodded.
Ten minutes later, she'd hurriedly packed a trunk of clothes, books, and other things. He felt like she was moving in and again he had that horrible mix of feelings to the thought.
When she was ready, he took her hand and they were back at his secluded house in the middle of the forest, where she had three days to fix their lives and he had three days to fight becoming her slave for the rest of his life.
Hermione on the other hand wasn't so sure that she was being completely honest about her own intentions if she failed to uncover Revenges secrets. Though she wished that she could stop the thought, she was calculating an alternate escape rout for the future and for herself, alone.
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