~A/N> Thank you for all the great reviews on the last chapter! I'm glad you like this story so much!! For
those of you that read my other stories, I'm hoping to update the other two by this weekend. I'm trying to work
through a wicked writer's block and finishing this chapter today has helped a little. Thanks to Spaz and Heaven for
all their help on this chapter!! :)
Hermione walked down the corridor, looking around nervously. She was currently on rounds and unfortunately she was
patrolling alone. Harry was supposed to be with her, but Professor Dumbledore had sent him an owl saying that he needed
to see Harry in his office immediately. She probably should have asked someone else to walk with her, especially after
what had happened to Lavender. She could have asked Ron, he would have come with her if he didn't have a date that
night...
"Hermiioooneeee," came a taunting voice, seemingly from nowhere, causing Hermione to stop dead in her tracks. Hermione stood in the middle of the corridor, looking in every direction, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.
"Harry?" she whispered, praying it was Harry. Her hopes were dashed when evil-sounding laughter rang out all around her.
"You wish," came the angry reply.
Hermione took a few tentative steps down the corridor, hoping that no one would jump out at her as she tried to make her way to the stairs. If she could just get back to the Common Room...
"Over here Mudblood," the evil voice taunted again, an almost hateful denotative to it, "Don't run away or another girl will be taken in your place."
"What do you mean?" she asked, her own voice quivering with fear. It was the middle of the night and the corridor was pitch black except for a few lit sconces along the wall, spaced widely apart. As she looked from left to right she noticed that there was a light haze surrounding her, impeding her vision even more. As she slowly continued down the corridor, she listened intently to see if she could pinpoint the exact location of whoever it was that had been calling out to her.
"What do you think I mean?" the evil voice continued to taunt, "Lavender was taken in place of you...I wanted to practice so that I was ready when it came time for the real thing."
Hermione gulped involuntarily and asked, "The real thing?" She became nervous when her question was met with an eerie silence so she started walking a little faster. Just as the stairs came into view and relief flooded through her she felt an arm wrap around her waist and a hand cover her mouth, silencing her before she could let out a scream.
She cringed as she felt his tongue lick her earlobe and then the evil voice whispered in her ear, "You, my pitiful Mudblood, are the real thing. I'm going to have fun taking you from Potter." She started to struggle, hoping to break free of the maniac's hold, but stopped when she felt the cold, sharp edge of a blade being pressed against her throat. "Time to have fun," the evil voice said, his excitement evident. She could feel the pain as the blade cut through her skin and she started to fight with every ounce of strength she had...
"Hermione, wake up!" shouted Harry, and when Hermione opened her eyes the first thing she noticed was that she had her hands wrapped around Harry's neck, choking him.
"Oh my God Harry, I'm so sorry!" she cried out horrified and immediately removed her hands before flinging her arms around him, holding him tightly.
He could feel her trembling and he held her close to him. "What's wrong?" he asked her, bringing his hand up to smooth down her bushy hair, hoping it would somewhat comfort her.
She turned her face so that her nose was pressed against his neck and tried to calm herself down enough to tell him about her nightmare. She sighed as he moved his hand from her hair to her back and started rubbing it comfortingly; he always knew just what to do to make her feel better...safer.
"I was having a nightmare about Lavender's killer," she started to explain, "I was making my nightly rounds and he came after me...it was so scary...you woke me up just as he was slitting my throat."
"That would explain your reaction," he replied. They sat there quietly for a while, just holding each other in the silence. They had returned to the Common Room after they had explained everything to Dumbledore; it was hard to believe that it had only been five hours since they had found Lavender's body in the bathroom. Thankfully Professor Dumbledore had excused them from classes that day and seeing as neither of them wanted to be alone they had sat on the sofa together and proceeded to fall asleep in each other's arms. They had been totally unaware of all the Gryffindor's passing by them, talking about how cute they looked together and how it was obvious they belonged together.
Harry pulled back just enough so he could see Hermione's face and brought his hand up to lightly cup her cheek, gently rubbing his thumb over her skin. "Are you okay now?" he asked, looking deeply into her eyes; her breath caught as she glimpsed what she thought was love shining in his eyes.
"I'm better now," she replied, unable to tear her gaze away from his. Without either of them realizing it, they started to lean closer to each other, their lips mere inches apart. When their lips finally met in the long awaited kiss, it was as if time stopped around them. The sensation of drowning in their feelings engulfed them both and Harry tentatively touched her lips with his tongue, asking permission to explore the depths of her mouth more intimately. He groaned as her lips slowly parted, granting him access and he plunged his tongue in, familiarizing himself with every taste of her that he could.
Suddenly Hermione realized that she was kissing Harry, her best friend, and that she was possibly putting their friendship in danger. Reluctantly she broke the kiss and pulled away from him, or at least as much as she could with his arms wrapped so tightly around her. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, afraid of what she would see in his emerald eyes, so she stared at his shirt.
"Hermione?" he whispered, his voice deep with emotion and longing. Hermione closed her eyes, gathering all of her courage about her so that she wouldn't start kissing him again the moment she looked at him.
Heaving a heavy sigh, she opened her eyes and met his questioning look with one of sadness, "I-I'm sorry Harry, b-but I don't t-think we should be doing this."
Before Harry could say anything she broke out of his embrace and went running up the stairs to the girls' dorm rooms, tears streaming down her face as she thought of how she had just experienced the very thing she had always wanted and had to push it…him away. She loved Harry with every fibre of her being, but she refused to put him at further risk with foolish romantic distractions.
Harry watched her run away his heart aching with the thought of how close he had been to having everything he had longed for; he was in love with Hermione, had been in love with her since...well, he had known there was something special about her the first time he met her on the Hogwarts Express that first year. Obviously she didn't return his feelings; he only hoped he hadn't done permanent damage to their friendship by acting so impulsively. He didn't know what he would do without her; he most likely wouldn't have survived Hogwarts this long without her by his side.
Unbeknownst to him, this was exactly what Voldemort was counting on...without Hermione, Harry would surely die and Voldemort would be free to take over the world.
~*~
The Hufflepuff had been easier to control than he had originally thought; she had opened up to him after only two days and now she lay underneath him, opened to him in a new way. He tried to tune out her incessant crying as he pulled out and plunged in again, but he was unable to block out her whining entirely and it was really starting to get on his nerves.
"Will you just SHUT UP!" he shouted, causing the girl to immediately stifle her crying, as her eyes grew wide with fear. "Much better," he mumbled, smiling down at her, "If you will just relax and keep quiet, you will enjoy yourself. I know you want this just as much as I do."
She stared up at him in disbelief, comprehension of just how demented he was blossoming in her clouded mind. She had not wanted this, but he had somehow convinced her to do it anyway; she had given in to his persistence and now he had taken the precious gift she had been saving for the man she loved. She felt the tears start to fall from her eyes once more and prayed that he wouldn't notice; she watched as he bent down and roughly sucked her nipple into his mouth, grazing it with his teeth and causing pain to shoot through her breast. This man thrived on causing others pain and this realization alone caused her blood to run cold as she realised what he may be planning to do to her next.
"Gods you're a good fuck for a Mudblood" he panted, thrusting into her harder and faster. Trying to block out the pain, she looked at him in confusion.
"I am a Pureblood" she said, and when he suddenly stopped moving she knew she had said the wrong thing; she pushed herself as close to the floor as possible at the look of pure hatred that now twisted his handsome features.
"You just couldn't keep your fucking mouth shut, could you?" he spat, and she watched in fear as he pulled out of her and walked over to their clothes that were piled by the Astronomy Tower door.
He bent down and retrieved something from the pocket of his robe; she squinted in the darkness, trying to see what he held in his hand, but it was useless. When he once again kneeled between her legs she watched as he brought his hands from behind his back and revealed what he was holding; her body froze in fear as she saw the moonlight gleam off the blade of a knife.
She was so scared that she was unable to form words; her mouth kept opening and closing but no sounds escaped from her lips. He started laughing almost maniacally and said, "If I had known this is all it took to keep you quiet, I would have brought it out when we first started."
She tried to scoot back, putting distance between her and him, but he quickly grabbed one of her ankles to impede her progress. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, a smirk playing on his lips as his eyes glinted with his repressed anger, "I'm not through with you yet; you won't leave unless I let you leave. You're mine now...just like Lavender."
"L-Lavender?" she asked her voice barely a whisper and fear overwhelming her now as she thought of the poor tortured girl who died such a horrible death. "T-That was y-you?"
"Yes that was m-me," he cruelly mimicked, mocking her. Letting go of her ankle, he moved so that his still hardened arousal was between her legs once again; plunging himself into her once more, he brought the knife up and pressed it against the soft flesh on her neck. As he started to pull out and push in slowly, the blade dug into her skin as he pressed harder and harder with each thrust. She listened as his breathing became faster as his excitement grew and then he said almost remorsefully, "It's a shame you had to open your big mouth; we could have had lots of fun together first."
As comprehension dawned on her face and fear filled her eyes, he plunged in balls-deep and slid the blade across her throat, splitting the skin in a familiar manner. He watched her life drain away, he slid in and out of her faster and faster, turned on by the power that consuming her life force had given him. When her final breath passed through her lips he plunged in hard and came, the power of his orgasm nearly causing him to black out from sheer ecstasy. When he had completely sated himself he walked back over to his robe and grabbed his wand, casting a cleaning charm on her body eliminating any evidence that might implicate him.
After taking his time getting dressed, he carefully examined her body and the area surrounding it, making sure he hadn't missed anything and then took one final look at her, "This is all your fault, if you had played the game properly, you might still be alive."
He turned toward the door and opened it; just as he was going to close it behind him he took one last look at his conquest. The moonlight was shining off of his handiwork, making it look as if an angel had fallen to Earth. Smiling, he softly closed the door and made his way back to his Common Room; trying to contain the pride he felt in himself he thought, 'two down…many more to go before my task is complete.'
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