Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Inc., Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Raincoast, and any other affiliated party.
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Chapter 7: End of the Horror
Hermione screamed against her gag as the Cruciatus curse ripped through her body! It was pain like she had never felt before, like a thousand knives were stabbing her and her insides were being torn out. For what seemed like an eternity, the curse tore through Hermione. Finally, Cassandra lifted the curse. Hermione slumped in her bonds, barely able to look up. She was now sobbing like she had never before and was whimpering from the after effects of the Cruciatus Curse.
"People always try to separate me from my betrothed," said Cassandra. She started pacing again. "Even my mother tried to end the contract, saying some nonsense like made a mistake or something. So I kissed her. No one gets in the way of Harry and myself."
Cassandra stalked up to Hermione took her chin in a death grip. She forced Hermione's face up and glared into her crushed face. To anyone else, the crushed vulnerability on Hermione's face would have been a heart breaking sight. At this point, that only thought that crossed Hermione's mind was, 'Harry…Harry…Harry…'
Cassandra removed the gag. "I think you are about ready to be kissed," she said.
"No…please…please…no please…no…" begged Hermione. Cassandra grinned at the devastation she had caused her.
"Goodbye mudblood. Just remember that Harry is mine," said Cassandra as she leaned forward.
"Harry…" whimpered Hermione as Cassandra's lips brushed hers.
"Expecto Patronum!" A silver stag charged at Cassandra, its antlers lowered in an attack position. With her succubae nature, Cassandra was unable to resist the powerful positive nature of the patronus. She screeched and scurried away from Hermione.
Harry Potter approached them, his wand drawn and his green eyes burning with rage. Hermione looked up at him and whispered, "Harry." A ghost of a smile graced her face and her tears of despair were replaced with tears of relief.
Cassandra walked up to Harry, a sweet smile on her lips. "Why Harry. I'm so glad you could make it. I was just about to finish off the mudblood who enchanted you."
Harry looked about ready to kill Cassandra. "Get out of the way, succubus!" he said. He was beyond anger and a dangerous calm had come over him.
Cassandra looked confused. "But beloved, do you not want to see the bane of our troubles finished?"
Harry glared at Cassandra. Slowly, he lifted his wand up and trained its tip on her. Cassandra's eyes widened in shock and horror. "You wouldn't dare," she said. Harry slowly started to gather energy on his wand. A faint light crackled with energy on the tip. "I'm your betrothed!" shouted Cassandra.
With a huge thunderclap, a lightning bolt burst out of Harry's wand! Cassandra was blasted into the air and landed some fifteen feet away from Harry. Harry walked up to her looking like the specter of death incarnated.
Cassandra slowly stood back up. "The mudblood still has you under a spell. I'll end that right here!" she screamed. Cassandra charged at Hermione and tried to pull her into a kiss. Hermione didn't even have enough strength to scream.
With a roar of rage, reminiscent of a lion trying to protect his cubs, Harry charged at Cassandra and tackled her to the ground. As Cassandra struggled to get out of Harry's grip, the tip of Harry's wand accidentally found its way into Cassandra's mouth. Almost by instinct, Harry thought of the kiss he and Hermione had shared earlier and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"
Whereas a patronus on the outside drove dementors and succubae away, swallowing a patronus turned out to be fatal to succubae. Cassandra screamed in pain and her body exploded into dust!
Realizing that Cassandra was dead, Harry hurried over to Hermione and untied her bonds. With her remaining strength, Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and started sobbing into his shoulder constantly repeating, "Harry…Harry…Harry…"
Harry felt his heart break at how fragile and vulnerable Hermione looked. He gently hugged her and started to soothe her saying, "Its alright. I'm here now. I won't let you go." A few tears streamed down Harry's cheeks as well. Harry gently scooped Hermione up and proceeded to carry her out of the chamber,
* * *
Dumbledore, Sirius, and Lupin were in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, waiting for any sign of something happening in the chamber below the school. Suddenly, Sirius let out a yelp. That magical contract of betrothal in Sirius's pocket had suddenly burst in flames! Sirius looked alarmed. "Dumbledore, does this mean?"
"Either Harry or Cassandra Frost has died," said Dumbledore with a nod. "The contract is dissolved."
The three adults continued waiting. After about fifteen minutes, the entrance to the chamber suddenly opened. Harry Potter lifted himself out of the pipe with magic, carrying a fragile looking Hermione in his arms. Dumbledore, Sirius, and Lupin immediately looked relieved. Lupin left and fetched Madame Pomfrey. Sirius turned into a dog just as the matron entered. She went to examine Hermione.
"I was wondering what had happened when my patients started to wake up from their comas. Professor Snape looked like he was ready to hex the next person he saw," she said. She examined Hermione who refused to remove her arms from around Harry. "She's suffered severe trauma," said Madame Pomfrey. "But she'll recover. You probably shouldn't leave her side tonight Mr. Potter. She should be excused from classes for about a week though."
"Will she be all right?" asked Harry. Madame Pomphrey smiled and nodded.
"We'll take care of everything down here," said Dumbledore. "The students will be returning to the school tomorrow evening. The two of you should go to bed."
Harry nodded and proceeded to carry Hermione to Gryffindor tower. "I'm so sorry, Hermione," said Harry, a few tears building in his eyes.
Hermione looked into Harry's eyes. "Why?"
"If I didn't love you, than none of this would've happened to you."
Hermione suddenly looked alarmed. "No Harry! Please don't push me away! I can't stand being distant from you! I need you!" she begged.
Harry smiled gently. "Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of pushing you away. As crazy as it sounds, I need you as well. And I promise that I will never leave your side. Because I love you."
"Promise?" whispered Hermione, more tears building in her eyes. When Harry nodded, Hermione allowed the tears to flow and she buried her face into Harry's shoulder. "I love you too," she whispered.
Harry made it to Gryffindor tower and carried Hermione up to the sixth year girls' dorm room. He was very thankful that Lavender and Parvati wouldn't be back until tomorrow evening as he laid Hermione on her bed and took off her shoes.
"Harry, please don't leave me tonight," begged Hermione. Her eyes still showed some fear in them.
Harry smiled gently. "Don't worry love, I'll stay as long as you need me." He pulled off his shoes, placed his glasses on the bedside table and lied down next to Hermione. Hermione snuggled right next to him as Harry pulled the covers over them.
"I was so scared," whispered Hermione as a few more tears flowed down her cheeks.
"You don't have to be scared any more," said Harry as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm here for you."
"Thank you for saving me."
"You're welcome, love." Harry gently pulled Hermione into a deep kiss. He then proceeded to soothe her lovingly as Hermione drifted off to sleep, a faint smile on her lips.
'A lot has happened,' thought Harry. 'But things will go back to the way they were before Cassandra came.' Harry thought about what the other students would think when they came back tomorrow evening. He knew in his heart that Hermione would eventually recover from her trauma and that he would help her with her recovery. He also knew that he and Hermione loved each other very much and that they would stick to each other forever. However, Harry decided that for that night, he was just going to be content about being with Hermione for the night, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.
THE END
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A/N I forgot to mention this in the story but Voldemort gave Cassandra his parselmouth abilities when he created her. Well, that's the end of the story. I hope all of you like it. At this point in my writing, I can only stop writing Harry Potter fanfics if I quit breathing.
About, Cassandra's sorting, I really didn't want to put her in Slytherin because that would've made things a bit too obvious. Besides, she's not really that ambitious. Since she doesn't have that much ambition, I decided that intellect would be her thing so I placed her in Ravenclaw.
The inspiration for this fic was a Japanese comic by Takahashi Rumiko (the creator of Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, and Inuyasha). The title is "The Laughing Target" from "Rumic World Trilogy". Namely the comic is about a boy and a girl who are betrothed since childhood, but the boy never took it seriously and has a steady girlfriend in high school. One day the betrothed girl comes and moves in with the boy's family, but she's all eerie and seems to have these mysterious powers. When the girl finds out about the boy's girlfriend, she starts terrorizing her with her powers. Well, that's my inspiration.