CHAPTER FOUR
Summary: Sent to Volterra in order to negotiate terms of an alliance to end the war, Hermione's life is turned upside down as she is brought into the world of the Volturi, better known as the Vampire Kings. There she is made a part of a new kind of family and a most trusted member of the guard, whether she likes it or not, and surprisingly, she does. Rated M for language, violence and sexual content.
Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters, they belong to J.K Rowling and Stepenie Myers. I am not making a profit from writing and posting this fanfic. As for the descriptions of appearances for the Twilight characters, all my research is based on the books and not the movies, but I may have changed a few things regarding Alec's height and age.
Page count: 7
Thursday 23rd April 1998
"Enter," she ground out through her clenched teeth and with her eyes screwed shut tightly, impatiently waiting for the pain to fade.
When the door creaked open, she took another breath and forced herself to open her eyes, latching onto the tall olive-pale vampire stood in her doorway. His blood-red eyes were watching her with interest.
Hermione's eyes looked him over and she admitted that he handsome, and not due to his vampire beauty. If she had to guess, she would've said he was remarkably handsome even as a human. The vampire venom only enhanced one's best qualities and if one was previously handsome or beautiful before the transformation, it resulted in irresistibly, unnaturally beautiful beings.
"Forgive me for intruding, I just wished to ensure your health," he spoke politely, his red irises catching locked on her blood-covered stomach and the wound on her side, not to mention, the cuts littering her body and the green patches of salve.
"I'm fine, thank you. Unfortunately, the healing process is rather painful and unpleasant," she answered, picking up her wand and once again siphoning away the blood.
"A witch?" He said in surprise, both eyebrows rising high on his forehead.
"That's me, Hermione Granger, and you are?"
"Forgive my manners, I am Demetri. I have been tasked with guarding your rooms until you are collected."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Demetri," she replied, reaching for the last of the gauze she had left and holding it to her side whilst she waited for the healing salve to clot her blood and stop the bleeding. She sighed tiredly. "Is there anything I can help you with?" She asked, noting he still stood in her doorway.
"No, Miss. Granger," he replied, still staring at her.
"Just Hermione," she corrected. "Does the smell of my blood tempt you?"
"I'm sorry?" He asked, his surprise evident and she laughed lightly.
"I've been informed that I am to have a guard as my blood may attract members of the coven that are unable to resist the temptation of human blood. And right now, I'm a perfectly good meal, bleeding all over the castle. Does my blood tempt you? If it does, I can put measures in place to remove that risk but it'll wear off after an hour or so."
He shook his head slowly. "No, I can withstand the temptation, Miss... Hermione," he corrected when she narrowed her eyes. "You do not fear me," he stated, confused by the notion.
She sighed in annoyance. "I swear, if one more person says that to me..." She muttered, trailing off. "No, Demetri, I do not fear you or your kind. Believe it or not, I have faced things that frighten me more than you. If needs be, I am easily able to defend myself against you just as I'm able to attack you if needs be. I may dislike certain individuals but I don't hate an entire race or species due to the actions of one, that's not fair." He blinked once. "Is there anything else you needed?"
He shook his head before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
"Yes?" She called.
The door opened to reveal Demetri once again.
"Miss... Hermione," he corrected at her glare. "Selena has brought you medical supplies and dinner."
"Thank you, Demetri," she replied.
He stepped aside and a woman walked through the door, a tray balanced in her arms. She looked to be in her mid-twenties with long blonde hair, bright green eyes and sun-kissed skin. She was wearing a smart black dress and heels, and Hermione thought she was very pretty. Hermione noticed that she visibly shook as she made her way past Demetri, evidencing that she definitely suspected something and she feared being in his presence.
She placed the tray on the table by the couch and turned towards Hermione, terror flashing across her expression as the sight of blood and her eyes darted between Demetri and Hermione.
Hermione sighed; the woman looked about ready to faint where she stood as her face paled and she swayed on her feet. She looked to her right where the bedside cabinet sat and on the surface was a glass of water, an idea forming
"You're Selena, yes?" Hermione questioned with a friendly smile.
"Ye...s Ma...am," she stuttered.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Hermione. You look a little faint, would care for a drink?" The blonde shook her head. "I really must insist you have a drink," Hermione pushed, "You don't look too well and I don't want you fainting and injuring yourself."
Hermione patted the mattress beside her in invitation and the blonde hesitantly crossed over to her. Hermione quickly uncorked the Calming Draught and poured half of it into the glass of water before she handed it to the trembling woman. She gingerly took a sip and Hermione pushed the glass back to her mouth, signalling that she ought to drink the rest of it and once she had, Hermione smiled and took the empty glass from her, waiting a few moments until she saw the woman's form no longer shaking and she visibly relaxed, her shoulders slumping.
"That's much better," Hermione smiled. "Thank you for bringing my dinner."
"You're welcome, Ma'am," she replied with an easy smile and then she stood and exited the room, sending a strange look to Demetri over her shoulder.
"What did you give to her?" He asked curiously, having seen the extra ingredient she'd added to the water.
"A Calming Draught, she was making me nauseous with her shaking and stuttering," she replied, bringing her free hand up to rub at her temple, trying to ward off the headache that was settling in.
A laugh left him and her eyes glazed over before she blinked and shook her head. She made to stand and move over to the table to grab the medical supplies, when she suddenly saw Demetri kneeling before her with the first aid kit held in his hand.
She blinked in surprise at the fast movement and he offered a casual shrug.
"Do you need help?" He offered, eyeing her wound and admitting that it did look a little better than when he'd seen it less than half an hour ago.
Her chocolate brown orbs locked onto him, making him feel as though she were looking into his very soul.
"If you have time," she settled for.
He snorted. "I'm immortal; I have all the time in the world."
She nodded, reaching over to the bedside cabinet to pick up a jar of clear paste, a little bottle of clear liquid and then a jar of green paste.
"Hold these for me," she instructed and he took them from her.
He observed carefully as she removed the blood-coated gauze from her side, siphoned away the rest of the blood and then place four drops of the clear liquid over her wound, hissing when she did so. She then lathered the wound in the green paste and followed it with the clear paste before using the clean gauze from the first aid kit and pressing it over the wound and asking him to it hold in place whilst she applied the bandages. He held those in place, too, as she wrapped around her stomach until the blood was no longer seeping through and she muttered a Sticking Charm to ensure the edge of the bandage didn't move before she lowered her t-shirt. He blinked when she took the bandage and wrapped it around her head, too, indicating she had a head wound.
"Thanks," she said, cleaning the blood off her hands and to his surprise, his hands, too. He hadn't realised he was covered in it. She was bleeding all over him and he'd had no desire to feed on her. That was odd.
"How were you injured?" He inquired, unexpectedly pushing down the slight flare of protectiveness he felt.
"Unfortunately, I ran into a bit of trouble getting here, most of my cuts and burns are from that. If you're referring to the fact that I've a chunk missing from my torso, that happened after I arrived."
"Alec was very clear that no harm was to come to you," his brow furrowed slightly.
"I wasn't hurt by a member of your coven. Aro wished for me to say a word and I refused to, not out of fear, but due to there being a form of magic tied to it that would summon snatchers and Death Eaters to anyone that spoke it. Aro mistakenly spoke the word aloud and it resulted in a small battle between myself and four members from the other side."
"Who won?" He asked curiously.
"Well, I'm sat here talking to you and I've left four unconscious humans on the floor if you wish to snack on them," she said lightly.
"You're a strange human," he commented with an amused sparkle in his blood-red irises.
"At least I'm sane," she shrugged with a small smile.
His gaze was drawn to her bruised eyes and sunken cheeks.
"Why are you here?"
She sighed in annoyance. "I'm honestly getting tired of having to answer that question."
She picked up a small bag and his eyes widened when her arm disappeared inside it, right down to her shoulder and when she drew back, she had several copies of what looked to be newspapers in her grasp.
"Here," she held them out to him. "Read these, you should be able to get an idea of why I'm here. But don't believe everything you read, prejudice is a major issue in the Wizarding World; if you aren't born to magical parents who have only magical ancestry, then you don't deserve to live. Unfortunately for me, I was born to non-magical parents with no magical ancestry, I'm the first generation of magic in my lineage and I'm hated and hunted for it. If you have any questions, I'm sure Aro, Marcus, Caius or Alec can answer them for you, otherwise, just knock on the door and if I'm able to, I'll answer them."
She made to stand but in a blink of an eye, he'd placed the tray of food on the bed beside her. A bowl of soup and some bread, she noticed, something light on her stomach.
"That's going to get annoying really quickly," she told him.
He smiled charmingly before turning and leaving the room with the newspapers in hand, closing the door behind him.
Hermione eyed the food before pulling the tray onto her lap and tucking in. She would like to think she ate it the way her mother had taught her, but in all honesty, she devoured it in a way that would put Ronald to shame. Once her stomach was full and seeing from the only window in her room that night had fallen, she flicked her wand at the fireplace and the flames roared to life, consuming the firewood hungrily.
She stood and her body ached from months of sleeping on an uncomfortable camp bed and in freezing cold weather. She hadn't had a decent night's sleep in as long as she could remember, nor had she had a decent shower or bath and she hoped the bathroom had at least one of those luxuries. She searched through her beaded bag until she found a pair of clean underwear and nightclothes before moving over to the fireplace and setting them down in front of it to warm them up.
She hadn't realised the room had grown quite cold and she shivered. She put a Heating Charm on the bed so it would be nice and warm when she climbed into it, and then she retrieved an old towel before moving to the bathroom. The walls and flooring were stone to match the rest of the castle, there was a single window in the room and it was dark, something her eyesight struggled to adjust to. She conjured several of her blue-bell flames for lighting and warmth and looked around the room. Much to her delight, there was a large claw foot bathtub in the centre of the room, a mirror sat above the sink and much to her surprise, there looked to be a working toilet, too. Why vampires would need a toilet was beyond her but she wasn't going to complain, she desperately needed to pee.
After emptying her bladder, not wanting to wait to fill the tub with water from the taps as it would take too long, she used her wand, later tapping the tip to the water and it heated it to the perfect temperature. She quickly stripped off her clothing, casting an Impervius over her bandages and then climbing into the bathtub.
She sighed happily, as the hot water surrounded her aching and sore body and she reached up, removing the bandage from her head before checking to see if the head wound had healed, and given it hadn't been that significant, it had. She summoned the little soap and hair wash products she had left before proceeding to give herself a good scrub. Once she was dirt and blood free, she banished the dirty water before quickly filling the tube with clean hot water and she summoned a Calming Draught and Healing Potion and poured them into the water, allowing herself to relax until she was on the verge of falling asleep, the water had grown cold and her skin had pruned.
She vanished the water and stood from the tub, tapping her wand to her body to dry off but leaving her curls damp. She wrapped the towel around herself and quickly made her way to the fireplace, summoning an old blanket from her bag and some cushions from the bed, arranging them in a comfortable pile on the ground.
She quickly changed into her nightclothes which consisted of her underwear and an old Quidditch jersey belonging to Harry, before she summoned her favourite book, Hogwarts, a History, from her bag and then she settled down in front of the fire, getting lost in the magic that is Hogwarts.
~000~000~000~
Demetri had long since finished reading through the newspapers Hermione had given him, in fact, he'd reread them three times just to ensure he hadn't missed anything. They started as far back as seventeen years ago and the latest being but a few days old.
He reminded himself not to believe everything he had read like Hermione had told him, and it was obvious to him the last few were in support of the Dark Lord that was taking over Magical Europe. And he now understood, or at least he thought he did, why she was at Volterra. From what he'd gathered, she was in the middle of a war and her side was losing against the man trying to take over the world. She needed help and he admitted it was clever of her to come to Volterra to ask for the aid of the Volturi, but would Aro give her aid, and if he did, what would his conditions be? He knew Aro and he may not know how his mind worked but he did know what he had done in the past.
But he had questions and he didn't think Alec or the Masters would answer them, nor was he allowed to leave his post, so he decided to ask Hermione.
He knocked on the door and there was no answer, so he knocked once more. It didn't occur to him that she might be asleep, not until after he'd opened the door and his eyes flittered around the room which was lit by the flames in the fireplace.
His gaze landed on that of Hermione's sleeping figure curled up on the cushions and blanket by the fireplace and a book lay open beside her. He walked over to her and crouched down beside her. Her skin was lit by the flames of the fire, casting shadows over her and making part of her glow softly. The clothing she wore had 'Potter, 7' emblazed on the back, her arms were covered by the long sleeves, but the hem of the shirt didn't fall further than mid-thigh and he'd be lying if he said he didn't spend a good five minutes staring at her legs.
She made a sound in her sleep and shifted and he remained still, not wanting to wake her. It was odd but he wanted to watch her sleep. It wasn't often he had the opportunity to see someone sleep as he was rarely around humans, and vampires didn't sleep and he had forgotten what it felt like to complete such an action or to dream.
And unable to control himself, he felt compelled to reach out and push a curl out of her face and so he did. His fingertips skimmed her warm and soft skin, he could feel the heat radiating onto his own skin and he found it was a welcome feeling. She shifted and he held still until she gave a sigh and he felt his mouth pull into a smile, affection filling him. Strange, he thought. He had never felt that for anyone, yet he knew what to name it. His eyes flittered between her and the bed before he made his decision.
He stood and crossed to the bed, pulling back the duvet and covers ready and he was surprised when a gush of warmth came from the covers when he did so. He made his way back over to Hermione and carefully lifted her into his arms before standing and returning to the bed, gently depositing her in the centre of the mattress and covering her with the quilt.
"Demetri?"
He spun around so fast, had he not been a vampire with grace and speed, he would've fallen and landed flat on his face.
"Master Marcus," he bowed his head in respect to the co-leader of his coven. How long had he been standing there?
When he dared to lift his gaze, he was surprised to see the emotion-filled expression he wore, something he couldn't recall seeing in his time being with the Volturi. His eyes were slightly wide, his mouth parted and his focus moving between him and the sleeping witch.
"What are you doing?"
"I was putting Miss. Granger to bed; she had fallen asleep reading in front of the fire. I did not want her to get cold. If you don't mind my asking, why are you in this wing?"
"I need to speak to Alec regarding an important matter. But it can wait for a moment, I must speak to Aro. Demetri, do not leave your post, I will be back momentarily, as I believe, I will also have a discussion to be had with you."
Demetri nodded, a confused frown marring his handsome features as Marcus left down the corridor. He stole one final glance at Hermione, reaching out to push another curl from her face and took it behind her ear before he turned and left, shutting the door behind him.