Summary: SSHG, AU, Ronald uses ancient magic to win the war at the cost he was all too willing to pay. Just a soul. Hermione's soul. For the greater good. She was dying anyway.

Beta Love: Dutchgirl01 the Absentee, Commander Shepard the Ammo-Hunting Zombie Killer, Sickly Dragon and the Rose

Personal Demons

You simply have to accept that your demons are a part of you.

Aurora

"Are you really a demon?" Hermione asked as she looked up into the dark, dark eyes of the tall creature that had extended a taloned hand to her.

"I am," the black-skinned creature said, his muzzle twisted into a smile that looked more like a snarl than something kind.

Hermione put her hand in his, her entire hand wrapping around his finger as he helped her up.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was called here," he rumbled.

"On a phone?" Hermione asked.

The demon shook his head. "By magic."

"Oh," Hermione said, tilting her head. "Did they say please?"

The demon cocked his head. "No."

"Mummy says you should always say please when asking for someone to come over," Hermione said.

"It takes more than please to summon one such as I," the demon said with a rumble.

Hermione unwrapped a bundle of biscuits she had brought along as a snack. "Would you like one?"

The demon tilted his head. "I would—try one?"

Hermione smiled, placing the small biscuit in his large hand.

He took it gingerly between his fingers and put it in his mouth. His eyes widened. "Thank you. It is delicious."

"My mummy makes them," Hermione said proudly. "But don't forget to brush your teeth!"

"I will endeavour to remember," the demon rumbled.

"Do you have a name? Mine is Hermione! What is yours?"

The demon stilled. "I have a name, but demons do not share their true names, lest another gain power over them—or summon them."

Hermione frowned. "But, what do I call you?"

The demon grimaced and tilted his head. "Perhaps, you can give me a name to call me?"

Hermione pulled a large book out of her school bag and flipped through it.

"I've been learning about Roman emperors when dad leaves me at the library," Hermione said. "May I call you Severus? Like the emperor?"

The demon blew a jet of warm air out of his nostrils. "That is acceptable."

Hermione beamed at him. "Pleased to meet you, Severus. Will you be my friend?"

The demon gaped at her, his tongue licking nervously across his fangs. He obviously had no idea how to reply to such a question.

"I will try," he said honestly, having no clue as to what made a good friend. Demons did not typically have—friends. They had fleeting relationships—demons that would rather tolerate your sex than murder you—but friendship? That was—new.

There was, of course, the myth that one could find a mate out there. Someone to travel the span of time on Earth or away from it, together. Someone valuable. Someone—priceless. Few demons believed in such things. Their world was dark, where the strong devoured and enslaved the weak, where mortals tried to make bargains for a demon's servitude.

Demons had nothing but time.

Mortals seemed to forget such things.

But as Hermione's eyes lit up to match the smile on her face, the newly named demon "Severus" was almost willing to believe there was more to life than the deals between mortals and demonkind. More than wars of power and strife between factions.

He visited often between his contracts—most times those that summoned him gave him more than enough loopholes to get to the meat of their weaknesses and use it against them. Then, when such gruesome business was done, he would find her at various places of her life. She always had a smile for him. She always called him her friend, and her touch of arms around his body without having to worry that she would then try to murder him or wound him—it was different. Intoxicating.

With her, he never had to read more into what she said. She was honest. She was caring.

Once, this was foreign to him, but with her, he'd come to realise it was normal.

But one day, she was sick, and he found her curled under her blankets, shivering.

She could see him, but others could not. Why, he did not know, but she had become—important to him.

He tucked her against himself, allowing his wings to cradle her against his body as his dark miasma seeped over her. It was the only way he knew to help her heal.

It was the way demons healed.

He breathed his Dark breath into her nostrils, and she coughed, but then she took a deeper breath more easily. She snuggled into him, still too sick to realise, perhaps, what she was doing or even that he was there.

He crooned softly, tucking her against himself. He allowed himself to close his eyes, content that she was breathing more easily.

"It's good to see you," Hermione said as she wrapped her arms around his body and pressed her head to his chest. "I was worried for you."

"It was a long task," Severus said. "The contract was—complicated."

"Demon life sounds so very complicated," Hermione said as they sat together under the willow tree. "More so when not here—in this world."

"Is that why you must always leave?" Hermione asked.

"We can only be here at the will of a summoner," Severus said. "And for a short time after our task is done. A summoner anchors us to this world until what they want is granted, done, obtained—or the contract is broken."

"And you spend that freedom with me?" Hermione asked sadly.

Severus jerked his head, tucking her against him with his wing. "You have no idea how rare you are," he replied. "Even as you have matured, you have not lost trust in me. A trust I should not have."

"You've never hurt me," Hermione said. "You're my only friend."

Severus pressed his muzzle into her curls. "And you—are mine."

Hermione snuggled into him. "One day, I want to travel." She looked down, seemingly shy all of the sudden. "Would you—like to travel with me?"

Severus pressed his muzzle to her temple. "Always."

Hermione beamed at him, leaning into his warmth. She frowned slightly. "School isn't quite how I imagined it."

"Your magical school?" Severus asked.

Hermione nodded sadly. "They call me a Mudblood. They say I'm not worthy of magic."

Severus smouldered at that. "They are idiots. I will teach you the kind of magic they could only dream of."

Hermione brightened. "Truly?"

Severus nodded. "You must take care to keep such magic hidden from others, however, lest they covet what you have."

Hermione frowned. "I don't think they could ever be jealous of me, but I will not use it around others."

Severus grunted, his creased snarl softening into smoothness as he nuzzled her gently.

"I don't think I fit in," Hermione said. "I'm not sure I ever will." She frowned more deeply. "Do you think I'm strange?"

Severus' brows knit together. "I am probably not the one to be asking such things. I am a demon, and my normal is a mortal's abnormal." When he saw her turn her head away, her shoulders slumping, Severus pulled her closer and under his wing more tightly. "I will tell you something I have told no one else."

Hermione looked up, warily curious.

"If I were mortal, I would spend much time with you. What you are, what you could be—they are both equally valuable. I—care for your future."

Hermione leaned into him with a content sigh. "I'm glad you are here with me, now."

Severus rumbled but said nothing, but his sinuous tail wrapped around her waist as his wing tucked her against him.

"I will be away for some time," Severus said.

"A contract?"

The demon nodded, letting out a warm huff of air.

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?"

"That you are bound by such things," Hermione said, her hand wrapped around his thumb with a gentle curl of fingers.

"It is the way of demons," Severus said, "until their Name is altered and we can no longer be summoned."

"Will you ever be free of it?" Hermione asked.

"Perhaps, one day," Severus

replied, smoke trailing from his nostrils with the faint odour of brimstone.

"How can you be freed?" Hermione asked.

"I cannot say," Severus said.

"Rules?"

Severus nodded. "Always rules. Otherwise we would be a legion across this Earth."

"I hope one day you will be free," Hermione said. "Then, we could travel the world together. Without having to say goodbye so often." She shook her head. "NEWTs are coming up," she said with a frown. "I may not survive them. They are supposed to be horrible tests that chew you up and spit you out."

"I am sure you will do fine," Severus said. "You are very talented in magic. Even more so the kind they do not know."

Hermione smiled. "It's kind of you to say."

"It is the truth," Severus said.

Hermione leaned into him. "I'll miss you."

Severus' tail curled around her body. "I—will miss you too."

Finally free, even temporarily, Severus returned to the one place he knew where she would be.

His talented little human that never feared him.

Ever since she had first seen him while playing under the willow tree, she had greeted him with warmth and friendship. Once, it had been foreign. Utterly alien to him.

As a child, she had been insatiably curious and fearless.

She touched him like every little touch meant something more.

And it was.

With every touch, she bound him just as clearly as any summoner's bind. With every shared biscuit. With every smile. With every snuggle into his body.

As a child, he never saw anything in her but something to be nurtured—also an alien concept to him. Demons knew how to make mortals more powerful. They knew how to twist their desires into something useful, but he never wanted to do more than encourage her to grow—to be as great as she was destined to be without wish magic or some contract of demonic magic.

And she did grow.

She matured and became all the better. Soon, he knew she would go off the way mortals did. Pair off. Have insufferable babies. It was what mortals did, usually. It was why they covered the Earth with their great feats and sins as well as their species. They often made war with each other—all for so many reasons, throwing away life like it meant nothing.

Even those with the riches of family and life—many would go off and do something "adventurous" and leave that "beloved" family without them. They would die just for that taste of achieving something "great." Others chased immortality—like the wise men on the mountain drinking cinnabar and dying thinking it was the elixir of greatness.

Not so wise, perhaps.

Though, if the immortality of the soul counted, perhaps it was freeing in that regard.

Perhaps.

Yet, a part of him wondered if she would still welcome his presence in the light of starting a new life. He had no reason to doubt her word, but she had not seen as many people as he had mucking their way throughout life.

He had seen far too many lives come and go.

But he didn't want to see hers come and go. She had become—very important to him. Special.

And the more mature she became, the more he felt the tingle of want within him. It had never even stirred in him in all his long life. No demoness was worth all of the resultant drama.

They always wanted something—it never ended with sex. They wanted to play games with partners like they played with their food. He had come to prefer being summoned by humans than being on the hook with a demoness.

Not one of them was worth it.

Others had their opinions about it all, but it was just not for him.

But—maybe.

Maybe, just maybe.

Hermione would trust him with her soul and allow him to make her his mate.

And then, they would both be free to travel the world together—no longer obliged to obey a summons by mortal idiots wanting power or a bigger cock.

Or both.

Usually both.

But—he couldn't just tell her. She had to care for him on her own. She had to want to be with him.

Rules.

Always bloody rules.

It was why demons couldn't just be free from the start. No demon could trust another with their essence. They did not share power let alone—care.

But Hermione had taught him this strange thing called "caring." It was no longer foreign. It was no longer just some foolish mortal foible.

When Hermione wasn't at the tree as usual, he didn't think much of it. He had told her it would be some time before he could return, and they didn't exactly have a set schedule.

There was a vague disquiet in his stomach, however. He wanted—no, he needed to see her.

But just as he was about to check the residence he knew she lived at, he felt the pull of a bind around his Name.

He was being summoned.

Snarling with annoyance, he surrendered to the Call and disappeared.

He smelled the blood even before seeing the liberally stained floor—arcane symbols passed down from the earliest of humans—humans that had learned the secrets of demonic magic and power of the Names.

Somehow, however long ago, someone had discovered his Name. Ever since, he had been at the beck and call of anyone powerful enough or stupid enough to draw the symbols and chant the words.

He'd never regretted such a life. It had always amused him to twist wishes and "serve" mortals just to see them flounder when they got exactly what they wanted. And he—

He gathered souls as mortals did wealth.

But, while he had so much more than other demons, souls which had given him power, it was an empty feeling. What he wanted—

Was to see Hermione again—

Time was different for demons, but he figured she would be done with her "NEWTs" and ready to start her new life. Perhaps, just maybe, she would want to—start it with him?

His nostrils flared, and he snorted a thick smoke from his churning lungs. The blood circle of runes kept him in the circle—they had, at least, done the bind correctly enough to keep him from leaving it. "What do you want, mortal?"

It was a young human. This hair was all over. Orange like the fires of the underworld but dull and lank. His face was dirty like he rolled in mud and never bothered to bathe.

Severus narrowed his eyes. Even demons enjoyed a good bath. Water felt good, but lava cured all ills.

The mortal was shaking in his boots, but he put on a brave face as if to convince himself he was in control.

"Harry is dead—you need to bring him back so he can save the world."

Severus narrowed his eyes, staring at the lump of flesh he pointed to. "I cannot bring back the dead, mortal. That is between you and the gods."

He saw the trails of blood everywhere. These two mortals had fought. The dead one—the one called Harry—had died with a knife to the chest. A cursed one.

Now, this mewling mortal whelp wanted him back—for what reasons, he cared not. Demons did not bring back the dead. That was the domain of the gods.

"Then make me the hero he was supposed to be!" the mortal cried. "I created the circle. I gave you the sacrifice. You owe me!"

Severus' lips curled up from his teeth. Then, he smelled it.

Something familiar. Something—

No.

There in the blood circle near his, just beyond the murdered mortal boy, was Hermione. Her eyes were glassy, and blood trickled from her carved arm into the groves that made his prison.

This mortal whelp had used Hermione's blood to make his circle.

Severus blinked slowly, using every bit of control he had to show no iota of emotion. "A dead sacrifice means nothing, boy. Only the alive and—unspoilt."

The mortal sputtered, fumbling for some cloth next to Hermione. A bag.

"For me?"

Severus nodded. "To carry your important things. It is not unlimited, but it will carry the books you love so much."

Hermione hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much!"

Severus stifled a snarl as the boy manhandled the bag he had gifted Hermione, dumping out a bunch of items until he found a bottle—

He fumbled with the cork and it spilled over her as he cursed. He used his inept hands to smear it all over her wounds.

Severus saw she was breathing—barely. He felt her heartbeat. Weak—but stable.

The mortal was a halfwit, but he at least fumbled the healing tonic on Hermione's body.

"Ok, give me my wish," the mortal squeaked at him.

Severus moved his head on a slow swivel. "Bring the sacrifice to me, or you get nothing." Severus made his muzzle curve into a cruel smile. "And if I get nothing. You get nothing, Ronald Weasley."

"H-how did you—"

"Do you want your wish or not, boy?"

Ron took Hermione by the shoulder, pulling her by her robes across the sacrificial circle and then pushed her to the demon. He seemed to forget he had magic as he used sheer physical force to move her instead of magic in his haste.

Severus suppressed a smile as the boy broke the magical circle with Hermione's body, but he couldn't afford to let the idiot know he knew. It was more important to get Hermione into his embrace—

Where it was safe.

The irony was heavy.

He cradled Hermione against him, making a very big show of extending his black tongue to "taste" Hermione's skin even as he breathed his miasma into her nostrils. The Dark energy tendrils from his body immediately moved over her, recognising her from a hundred thousand times she had touched him, accepting both his touch and his Dark presence.

She coughed, her arms instinctively clinging to his body, just as she had so many other times when she had been sick and he had cradled her against him.

"Your offering is acceptable, mortal," Severus said with a deep rumble. "What do you wish from me?"

"I want to be the hero of the Wizarding World and the power to destroy V—He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named—and get all the fame that Harry had."

Severus narrowed his eyes, a low chuckle rolling from his throat. "You want the largest cock of the Wizarding World that turns young witches into your willing rut partners."

Ron turned red. "So what! You can do it. Give me what I want! I gave you your sacrifice. If you can't bring Harry back, I want to be the one to save the Wizarding World."

Severus closed his eyes. "Done, when next you meet this V-He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, you will defeat him, and the first night you rut with a female, she and whatever female witch that fancies your fame afterwards will find your cock more than adequate and your fertility unmatched."

Severus curled his lips. "Now, release me, mortal, since your wish was granted."

"But I want more," Ron insisted.

Severus growled. "Do you have another innocent female you wish to sacrifice to my needs, boy? Shall you offer your body to my cock?"

Ron paled. He clutched the grimoire in his arms tightly and jerked his head in the negative. "Fine. By contract and Bind, I release you from service completed."

Severus pulled his Darkness around himself, cradling Hermione's body to him. "Enjoy your fame, mortal."

He disappeared in a whorl of Darkness and the stench of Brimstone.

Just as he disappeared, however, he growled deeply, "Do give your mum my best regards on her fertility."

"You saved me," Hermione murmured into his chest, her small hands curling against his back.

"I would ask how going to school ends up with you being sacrificed to a demon, but I have long since understood that humans will do just about anything to win power—and war." Severus nuzzled her cheek with his muzzle.

"I love you," Hermione whispered against his skin. "Please don't leave me again."

Severus stilled like a statue. "You cannot possibly mean that. You have only just healed. You have an entire life ahead of you."

"And what would that life be without you?" Hermione asked. "My best friends fought over whether to sacrifice my dying body to summon a demon, and my other best friend went through with it. You were so worried about me showing demon magic, but it was Ron who had a family grimoire with instructions on how to summon you inside it."

"You used demon magic to keep yourself at the very brink of death," Severus said.

"It seemed like a good time to say to hell with it," Hermione admitted.

Severus whuffed Dark vapour into her face with a huff. "It saved you."

"You saved me," Hermione said. "If you hadn't taught me—found me—I would be dead."

She looked up into his black eyes. "I want to be with you. Always."

Severus grimaced. "You would—have to give me your soul—forever."

Hermione touched his muzzle. "I trust you to take care of it."

His taloned hand pressed against her cheek. "I am a demon. How could you trust me for something so precious?"

Hermione smiled serenely. "Because you trusted me with your Name."

Severus' eyes widened. It was only then that he realised that his Name had been interwoven in every breath he gave her—to heal her. He had willingly shared his Name to bring her strength, and she had figured it out but never once shared it with anyone.

"Trust me now then, my gorgeous girl," he whispered. "My brave Hermione. Give me your soul that we may travel the worlds together and fly the skies together as this wretched world burns around us."

His head dipped, and his tongue slid against her lips, and she welcomed his invasion with that same burning trust she had never lost—even as the blue shining wisp of her soul moved from her into him. His wings wrapped around her tightly like a cocoon as his tail anchored around her trembling body.

The eternal combustion engine that lived within him merged with his Darkness, transforming her willing soul, tempering it into that which would survive the span of eternity with him. He burned away that softness of mortality and infused it with daemonic resilience.

A process that was both intimate and intricate.

A process that required a willing soul that—truly cared for him.

Something no born-demoness had ever been able to do.

This was purely mythical.

This was—a miracle.

He transformed her soul into a daemonic one, preserving all that she was into the mate he had come to realise he wanted more than freedom.

As he let her transformed soul re-enter her body, he realised they were now bound to each other, their Names forever changed into the shifting nether that could never be summoned by force.

Because what they were now—what they would be—had never existed before.

A family.

He wrapped her in the Dark cocoon of her body, feeling it changing against him, twisting, reforming, becoming—

"I love you," she whispered against his body.

"And I you, my demoness," Severus crooned. "Always."

Ronald Weasley, Hero of Wizarding Britain Slays He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named!

Nation Grieves Tragic Loss of Boy-Who-Lived But Honours Hero Ronald Weasley at Ministry Celebration!

Rita Skeeter Releases Biography: Ronald Weasley: Hero or Murderer? Or Both?!

Rita Skeeter Accuses Weasley Family of Summoning Demons!

Aurors Investigating Allegations Against Ronald Weasley Find Flat A Mess With a Herd of Rare Fire Horses Rampaging Inside

"I Thought They Were Extinct!" Exclaims Rolf Scamander

Ronald Weasley Goes Missing As DRMC Attempts To Deal With Ever-Growing Herd of Fire Horses and Disappearing Witches

Missing Witches Linked to the Ronald Weasley Fan Club, No Other Clues Found, Leaving Aurors Baffled

"They All Had TWINS!"

Once-Believed-Extinct Fire Horses Now On Display at Hagrid's Horse Haven

Hagrid's Horse Haven Inexplicably Gains More Mares

"I know these things were thought extinct a year ago, but maybe we need to geld that stallion."

The Ghost of Harry Potter Appears at Hogwarts!

Claims Best Mate Ronald Weasley Murdered Him and Sacrificed Fellow Student Hermione Granger to Summon Demon!

Weasleys Vehemently Deny Their Family Involved In Dark Magic

Lucius Malfoy Surfaces To Give Photographs of Trashed Home Showing Evidence of Blood Summoning Magic That Occurred While Malfoy Was Wandless and Trapped Inside His Peacock Garden, Transfigured Into a White Peacock

Aurors have confirmed Malfoy's story. "We found him struttin' around the peacocks, sensed some sort of dodgy magic, and found his entire family was transfigured into birds!"

Warrant Issued for Arrest of Weasley Family Under Suspicion of Demonic Magic

Molly fidgeted nervously as she carefully drew the last of the magic runes in the hidden barn she had "borrowed" from some Muggle farmers she had Imperiused.

She had to save her family from relentless persecution.

She would just have to be very careful with what she said and how she said it.

But when she finished the runes and called on the magic, nothing rose from the magic circle.

She flipped through the grimoire and checked the lines. The lines were perfect. The demon's name, which she knew was very specifically drawn, was exactly as she remembered.

It was exactly as was written in the family grimoire—the lifeline that had given her fertility so she could be married to a proper wizard.

"Molly Weasley," a deep growl sounded as the entire circle turned to magma. Inside it, the familiar black demon was pressing a demoness against the side of the circle like it was a hot tub. "I do hope this is important. I have some very serious mating to do." His blackened tongue slithered out and into the demoness' very eager open mouth.

The demoness moaned with pleasure, her tail flicking out of the lava, sending it spattering around with its undulations.

"I want safety for my family where no one magical will ever find us!"

The black demon's smile was all fang and sharp teeth.

"And what could you possibly give me in exchange, mortal?" the demon said. "Which you haven't already promised me. What worth could you possibly have that I would want, hrm?" He descended upon his lover in the pool of lava, smiling as she shrieked with ecstasy at his attention.

Molly fussed with her robes. "I'll give you the family grimoire, so no one will be able to summon you again after this!"

The demon paused in his attentive pleasuring of his mate, and the demoness complained with a pouting sound.

"Fine," he said, extending his talons. "Give me the grimoire, and I will ensure that no magical will ever find you or your family."

Molly hesitated.

The demon snarled at her. "Do not play with me, Summoner," he said. "There are far worse things than me, and I will ensure they find your scent."

Molly thrust the grimoire at him. "Fine! Take it!"

The demon flashed his fangs as he let the grimoire drop in the lava pool. "When you step out the door, mortal, no one will ever be able to find you or your family. As agreed."

The two demons sank into the ground and disappeared.

Molly quickly used a spell to clean up the runes and magical circles and fled out the barn door.

Hermione and Severus lay sprawled on the beach on a soft blanket of a well-fed Lethifold as the moon radiated down upon them. Severus lay his hand over her abdomen, smiling as his magic picked up the distinctive thrum of demonic magic forming inside.

"We are something new, my love," he rumbled. "Something no demon has ever been or had."

"Then I am very lucky to be with you," Hermione said, her hand closing over his as she smiled.

"Not as lucky as I," Severus said, pressing his forehead to hers as his hand rubbed her belly. "I never dreamed such a thing could be possible, let alone with me."

"I had dreamed of you ever since I met you," Hermione confessed.

Severus tilted his head. "Truly?"

Hermione nodded. "Ever since I woke up from that illness—the one when my parents thought I would not make it—I felt you here." Her hand touched her chest. "It was a comfort to know you were right there with me."

Severus blinked slowly, his talons brushing her cheek with a slow draw. "You are a true wonder."

"Yours?" Hermione said with a tender smile.

"And I am glad of it," Severus said, pulling her into his embrace of wings and Lethifold. The dutiful carnivorous cloak wrapped around them both.

Hermione squealed as her mate ravished her shamelessly on the beach. Breathless, she cupped Severus' head between her hands. "Whatever did you do to the Weasleys?"

Severus smiled serenely. "Put them somewhere no magical will ever find them, precisely as promised."

"I know you didn't actually have to answer that summons," Hermione said. "What was your plan, really?"

Severus gave her a long, dark look, his eyes fathomless.

Hermione's eyes widened as she caught the image in his mind and then laughed heartily, tucking herself into his embrace with utter contentment. "I love you."

"And I you," Severus said smugly. "Always."

Far away and down well below sea level, a cluster of bright orange tube worms gathered in a colony around a heat vent deep in the ocean.

The magicals NEVER found them.

And they lived Darkly satisfied ever after…

A/N: Dragon and the Rose has returned to life (maybe). Thank you for your well wishes and prayers. Dutchgirl01 and Corvus are both happy she's back.

Everyone still dies, though. That will NEVER change.