# Penchant for Blood Red

hrmny4etrnty2

Rating: R
Genres: Drama, Horror
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 7
Published: 31/08/2009
Last Updated: 31/08/2009
Status: Completed

Harry defeated Voldemort, but the second war affected our beloved characters in a disturbing way.

## 1. Penchant for Blood Red

A/N: This is a drabble that was written for a community on LiveJournal. Our prompt was to write a drabble inspired by a piece of Harmony artwork. The artwork is by PortKey artist Gwendy and it is titled Evil H/Hr 2. Many thanks to my beta, redheadfaerie! Enjoy!

He knew he was important to their world.

He knew that it was up to him to draw a close to the second war.

Never once had he imagined that he would wield this tremendous power.

Never once would he have thought he would enjoy the power to this extent.

The fate of atrocious witches and wizards lay within the palm of his hand.

Bellatrix couldn't keep her mouth shut regarding Hermione and her blood status. Her death had been a long and agonizing ordeal. Hermione had been only too happy to participate, making it known to the Death Eater that blood status meant nothing when it came to dealing out harsh curses.

The madwoman had been the lucky recipient of twelve specially crafted curses, one of which made her eyes bleed. That hadn't been the curse to end her life, though. The curse that held that particular honor caused her organs to deteriorate slowly each time Bellatrix spoke harsh about any member of The Order. It didn't even matter if the member had been deceased.

Payback was indeed sweet.

Draco had been wise, switching sides to save his own neck shortly before the second war exploded. Harry was far from gullible, though, and made sure that Ginny remained in charge of the blond ferret. In exchange for Harry's protection, Draco swore an oath that he would never betray the Order.

Oh, yes, and he also served them Lucius on a silver platter.

Hermione and Ginny had especially enjoyed taking Lucius down a notch. Hermione had taunted him with insinuations of being reduced to nothing but a lab rat for a Mudblood and her self-invented curses that needed testing. Ginny merely tortured him with the knowledge that Draco took far too much pleasure in dirtying himself with a blood-traitor.

There's nothing quite as satisfying as watching a Death Eater beg for mercy.

In the end, Lucius had become more of a burden than an enjoyment. Hermione and Ginny were even considerate enough to let Draco have a few shots at torturing the sad excuse for a wizard before they had rid themselves of him permanently.

To the outsider, it was obvious that the group of young adults had been pushed too far. The outcome of the second war had been placed on their shoulders. They had seen a great deal, been exposed to the dark much too soon.

It was kill or be killed. Lately, though, it was more about proving a point. Confirming their power became just as important as protecting their own.

They wanted revenge for the pain they were forced to endure for ten long years. They had scores to settle with those that had been particularly cruel.

Without the guidance of Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin and several other influential adults that had lost their lives, common sense and levelheaded thinking vanished while retribution for those mentors' deaths surfaced.

Voldemort was a memory for Harry now, but his fight was far from over. His inner circle was a small one, with Hermione at the helm right beside him.

Today was going to be particularly hard. Ron had been killed by Dohlohov, who was now on the run.

He knew well to escape, but it would do him no good. They would find him.

They would torture him.

If he proved to be no fun, they would kill him.

Harry rose from his chair in his private chambers, a place meant for only him and his chosen friends. He pulled Hermione close to his chest, allowing his hand to lightly grasp her hair. The fingers of his other hand grazed her smooth shoulder, a lovely section of skin that wasn't covered by the exquisite blood red dress she had a penchant to wear.

“It reminds the enemy that my blood is just as red,” she had stated.

He couldn't agree more.

Ron, his best mate, may have become a casualty in this battle, but Harry would do everything in his power to ensure that Hermione's fate would not be the same.

The enemy would definitely know that Harry Potter and his army were a force to be reckoned with.

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