Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Fooling Fate sequel to Bound	By : goldhorse Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 44179 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That lucky duck JK Rowling does. I don't make any money from this fanfic. I just play with her toys and put them back in relatively good condition.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
AN: One more time, this chapter contains rape. The most intense parts are seperated with stars. If you have a weak constitutuion, feel free to skip that part.

“Let’s get this over with,” Draco said when the dishes had been cleared.

“Yeah,” Harry breathed. “Not sure how much longer I can last.”

“Oh drug dealer,” Melody called in a sing-song voice.

Harry growled low in his throat. “I’m not a fucking junkie!”

“You will be if you keep this up,” Melody said darkly. “I mean it Potter. You will sleep after this or Hermione will be the least of your worries.”

“I’ve got it,” Harry said tiredly. “I’m an idiot. That’s not really a surprise, is it?”

Melody smiled softly. “You’re a dad. You’re entitled to get a little crazy but this ends tonight. Understand?”

“Yes mother,” Harry said sarcastically.

Melody chuckled. “I am your mother…sort of…not that anyone would believe me if I told them.”

Harry snorted and shook his head at Melody’s antics. He winced when Alex gave him another shot and then blinked rapidly when the solution went racing through his body. When this dose wore off, he’d be out for the count.

Draco waited until Alex had cleaned up to clear his throat. “Since I did not look at these as I pulled them, I have no way of knowing what we’re about to see. All I can say is that this first memory is of the day Zandra was kidnapped. Keep your eyes peeled.”

They landed in the front room of what appeared to be a two bedroom flat…a very neglected and dusty one at that. The atmosphere reminded Hermione of Spinner’s End, Severus’s childhood home that she’d only visited once. Besides being horribly run down, it had a sadness that permeated the walls, as if it had been witness to a thousand heartbreaks. There were no pictures on the walls or any surface.

“Well this is homey,” Melody said with a brightness that was almost eerie.

“Where is Zandra?” Ginny asked as she looked around. The place seemed to be empty.

“Uncle Adam?” Zandra’s voice carried down the stairs. “Damn it, where in the bleeding hell is that man?”

Draco chuckled. “I like her.”

A grunt sounded from the sofa. Hermione jumped in realization that she’d been right beside the person in question all along. She looked over the back to see a man who seemed to be asleep.

“Not asleep,” Draco corrected. “Pissed out of his mind, more likely.”

Hermione wrinkled her nose when she realized that the man was lying in his own filth, mangy clothes twisting haphazardly around his body. He shifted, his grip loosening a bottle of whiskey. It tumbled to the ground with a clank but thankfully didn’t break.

“Of course,” Zandra scoffed when she got into the room. She was heavier set, a bit pudgy but not obese like she was railing about. She looked healthy, although the bags under her bloodshot eyes indicated that she hadn’t been sleeping well. “Completely sloshed and passed out on the sofa. UNCLE ADAM!”

The drunken man peeled his eyes open slowly, revealing bloodshot brown eyes. “Wha’ ya on ‘bout, ya dozy cow?”

“It’s eight in the bleeding morning! Get your arse off the sofa! You’re late for work again.”

“I quit,” Adam muttered before rolling over and promptly passing out again.

Zandra pursed her lips and tried to hold her temper in check but it was a losing battle. She began muttering to herself as she started flitting around the flat, trying fruitlessly to tidy up. “Lazy, sorry, no good, worthless, alcoholic piece of shite…”

“Are you sure this girl is a Hufflepuff?” Melody asked with a grin. “I like her very much.”

Severus smirked. “Despite many beliefs, Hufflepuffs are not the meek little lambs everyone makes them out to be.”

“You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true, And unafraid of toil,” Hermione hummed to herself.

“Correct,” Severus said softly. “Nowhere does it say that they can never be angered and patience can only go so far.”

“Never poke an angry badger,” Ginny mumbled, watching Zandra try breathing exercises to calm herself down.

“She’ll be perfect for Aiden,” Celeste breathed. “If her spirit isn’t broken.”

“No,” Draco mused as Zandra viciously pulled a pot out of the cupboard and put some water on for tea. “I believe she is very much intact. She just needs to remember who she is and know that she is stronger for where she’s been.”

“The strongest warriors are tempered with fire,” Harmony said softly. “She’ll be quite formidable…but fragile until she finds herself.”

“How long will that take?” Harry asked, his eyes zeroing in on a letter on the coffee table.

“I’m afraid I can’t say,” Harmony said. “There are three ways her recovery can go, each almost equal at this point. The first, she will retreat into herself, only recovering after many years of self-imposed isolation.”

“Merlin!” Alex said. “What triggers that?”

“Finding out what Aiden is before it is time…which means she’ll learn it come morning.”

“And we stop that how?” Philippe asked, his eyes now on Harry who was reading a letter with a frown.

“When Lily awakens, he’ll rush to her and Zandra will see.”

“That’s easy enough to avoid. We’ll just lock the door,” Draco said. “Please tell me the other two are less bleak.”

Harmony nodded, a slight wrinkle in her brow. “Now it is fifty-fifty. The lock on the door will work. The second and third depend on the same event, Khrone’s castle.”

“She’s going to have to choose,” Melody said in understanding.

Harmony nodded. “It will be a hard decision, as she has an unspoken bond in place.”

“Well, to be fair, Aiden does as well,” Melody muttered.

Severus hissed in annoyance. “Would you two stop blabbering and let the rest of us in on the plot?”

Melody sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “The two whose souls we already have, Jonah and Timmy as Zandra have identified, are going to be rescued. Right?”

Harmony nodded. “Yes. If we play our cards right, we’ll get more out but those two are certainties… provided we survive.”

“Lovely,” Alex said dryly. “So Jonah, I believe that is Serena’s soul mate, and Zandra have a bond?”

Harmony nodded again. “It isn’t hard to believe. Most magical beings form a bond from tragedy, turmoil, pain, or other extreme emotions. I mean, look at Draco and Hermione…or Melody and Severus for that matter. And just like them, each bond is different. Unfortunately, only Melody can tell what the bond is…and she has been unusually silent on that matter.”

“What?” Melody asked when everyone except Harry stared at her. He was now peering at a stack of letters strewn on the coffee table.

“Out with it,” Severus snapped.

Melody merely raised an eyebrow but realized he didn’t know. She sighed sadly and shook her head. “Sev, I gave you my gift. Did you see any kind of restraining bond on her?”

Severus blinked in surprise, already having blocked out much of Zandra’s healing from his mind. The hideous spells on her had made it a necessity. “Other than the spells, I saw nothing.”

“Exactly,” Melody huffed. “Therefore, the bond is of friends, camaraderie, binding together to stay strong, just like the Golden Trio.”

Hermione snorted. “Spare me.”

Melody chuckled. “Like it or not sweetie, you, Harry, and Ron share a unique bond, one only many trials and tribulations can form. You are family.” Her face fell. “Unfortunately, I get where Harmony is going with this.”

“What do you mean?” Ginny asked.

“Well,” Melody drawled. “There was once a certain someone…or someones who may or may not have mistaken extremely close friendly love with romantic notions.”

Hermione blushed from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. “H-h-how was I-“

“Save it,” Melody cut her off. “You didn’t know the difference. That was the point…and is the point, in this case. Zandra will feel the bond and be confused. Friendship and soulmate aren’t always the same thing…and sometimes they will war with each other. Case in point.” She pointed to Hermione and Draco.

“So,” Draco all but growled. “What happens with each choice?”

Harmony closed her eyes for a moment to think. “If she stays with Jonah, obviously besides Aiden being crushed, she’s not going to want to hang with the family. She will heal by the end of the year and they will go off on their own once they finish school. It will end amicably but she’ll feel hollow.”

“But she’ll heal eventually,” Draco said knowingly.

“Of course,” Harmony answered. “She’s strong.”

“And if she chooses Aiden?” Celeste asked quietly.

Harmony smiled. “Depending on when, she’ll heal in months…and almost miraculously.”

“Yay fate,” Melody said sarcastically. “By that depending on when clause, I take it things could progress much more slowly than we hope?”

Harmony nodded. “She’s going to choose Jonah at first regardless. The first bond made is always the one tested first. Ron broke the bond with Hermione first by necking with Lavender. Severus broke the bond with Melody by leaving. Both were necessary to create new bonds, but if the first bond wasn’t explored, it could have had disastrous results.”

Melody snorted. “Which is why I insisted that Aiden and James be allowed to date Rhapsody and Cadence. No what ifs that way. Yay fate.”

“So,” Severus spoke over his friend, “We need to find a way to get them together sooner rather than later. But how?”

“Jealousy is always a nice little motivator,” Alex said distractedly. He walked over to Harry with a frown. “Son, what on earth has you so entranced?”

Harry’s eyes were like twin fires when he looked up from the pile of letters he was reading. “That bastard sold her.”

“What?” Melody asked, pushing through everyone and bent down to read the letters on the table. She shrieked and made to wipe them off the table. This being a memory, her hand went straight through.

“Well?” Severus asked.

“Just what he said,” Melody huffed. “Adam apparently started a correspondence with a Mr. Iam A. Richman, so subtle. Anyway, stupid bastard was too lazy to work and apparently up to his eyeballs in debt. Richman offered him money in exchange for information regarding Zandra, innocuous things like where she lived and so on.”

“The missives started before her parents died,” Harry said softly.

“They’ve had their eyes on her that long?” Hermione asked aghast.

Harry nodded. “That was no accident. The letters get increasingly specific and intimate. Adam cut the brakes on their car after Richman handed him a hefty sum. The last letter says that he’ll get more when Richman gets Zandra.”

Harmony sniffled. “Bastard was in too deep to pull out when he realized what they were going to do.”

Draco hummed. “Which is why he’s probably passed out on the sofa right about now.”

Melody nodded. “Regret. I can’t see it because he is a muggle but it’s there.”

A knock on the door startled them out of their discussion and they watched as Zandra went to answer it. She gasped in shock but stepped back and admitted the caller.

“Thomas, I didn’t expect you to drop by.”

“I’m sorry,” a boy with a distinctly American accent said as he made his way inside. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about you so I decided to do something about it.”

“Son of a bitch,” Harry growled. “That’s him, Thomas Gregory, the leader of the Pure Phenoms.”

“Did you get anything from him?” Draco asked as he watched the arrogant boy make himself at home.

“Not much.” Harry bared his teeth as the boy started flirting shamelessly with Zandra. “He couldn’t stop me from breaking into his mind, but he has more than one vow in place to stop intrusion. The imperius will be in effect for a few more days but he’s apparently been banned from meeting the Master.”

“Joy,” Melody said sarcastically. “Oh, if this wasn’t a memory, I’d rip his fool head off.”

“Well,” Harry drawled. “He will be going back to school in America soon.”

“Don’t tempt me Potter,” Melody growled.

Harry only chuckled, knowing he’d gotten under her skin. If he were honest with himself, he would be the first in line to give that little wanker what for. He was about to rile her up again when he noticed Thomas pulling something from his pocket without Zandra noticing. “What is that?”

Draco had spotted it as well and scooted over closer. He let out a snarl when he realized what it was. “Liquid complacency.”

“Like what I gave him?” Harry asked.

Draco shook his head. “No, this one will make her compliant within reason. If he suggests she remain calm, she will. If he suggests that she go on a rampage and kill half her neighborhood, she’ll balk.”

“Why not liquid imperio?” Harry asked.

“Because,” Severus cut in, “liquid imperio lasts for a week.”

“And?” Harry asked, not getting it.

Severus sighed harshly. “Use your mind Potter. If they are going to torture her, do you honestly think they want to control her during that? No. They want her fear to mingle with the pain. What did you feel when Moody, or Crouch Jr. rather, placed you under the imperio?”

Harry thought for a moment before his eyes widened. “It was fuzzy, like I didn’t have a care in the world. The only thing I remember is the directions. I didn’t realize I was complying until I’d broken it and ended up smacking my shins on the desk.”

Severus nodded. “She wouldn’t register the torture at all, just the directions not to escape.”

“How long does that potion last?” Ginny asked.

“Six hours,” Severus supplied. “Long enough to convince her to come away with him and get her stored in her cell.”

“The perfect prisoner,” Draco said with some amount of disgust.

“They did that to you,” Ginny whispered after seeing the loathing in his eyes.

Draco nodded jerkily. “Lucius found the recipe in an obscure Dark Arts tome and decided to try it out. The reason it fell out of favor is because it loses its potency after several doses. I was able to rebel in three.”

Hermione bit back a wave of anger as images from Draco’s past assaulted her senses. She could see him, so much younger, being led around nude by a collar. Lucius jerked on the leash and barked orders to which he couldn’t help but comply. Draco knew what was happening but he couldn’t fight it, not that he didn’t want to, he just couldn’t.

“Spread your legs Draco,” Lucius’s sneering voice ordered as he held a wicked looking spike in his hands. “This will only hurt a moment.”

“STOP!” Hermione screamed and willed the images to go away.

“Oh Gods love,” Draco panted and raced to embrace her. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see that. I just…I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t thinking. Gods forgive me, I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Hermione croaked. Tears were streaming down her face. “I know you couldn’t. Just…just try not to think about that anymore okay?”

“Of course darling,” Draco cooed softly in her ear. He rubbed soothing circles across her lower back until she got a grip on her emotions.

“What happened?” Melody asked softly.

“Memories,” Draco said darkly. “Normally I can block them but…I don’t know what happened.”

“You’re still weak,” Melody said. “Being in these memories weakens you even more. Are you sure you want to continue this? We can pick it back up after you’ve gotten some rest.”

“No,” Hermione said, her voice much stronger than she felt. “We need to get this over with as soon as possible. It will give us more time to plan. I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting that.”

Melody narrowed her eyes and stared at her for a few minutes before nodding. “Alright. Don’t be surprised if it starts happening a lot more though. You’ll both lose a bit more control as these memories roll on.”

Hermione nodded. “Now that I know what to expect, I’ll be fine.”

“The potion is in effect,” Severus said, breaking them from their thoughts. “Notice the slightly glazed look she has now. It isn’t as pronounced as when under the confundus but more noticeable than someone under imperio.”

Thomas rose from his chair and cleared the tea setting. “Come take a walk with me?”

“Sure,” Zandra said. Her speech was clear but it sounded a bit dreamy, almost reminiscent of Luna’s normal breezy tones.

They followed them down the street. Surprisingly, they weren’t all that far from the Leaky Cauldron. Thomas held the door for her and then got them a table. They ordered a few butterbeers and sat down to chat for a moment.

“He’s waiting for someone,” Harry said. “His eyes keep doing a sweep of the perimeter.”

“A very sophisticated one,” Severus said with narrowed eyes. “He’s been trained.”

Harry nodded. “It’s a technique I’ve noticed that the Unspeakables use. Aurors are given basic training but they are the masters.”

“You use that technique as well,” Ginny said with a frown.

Harry grinned. “You don’t hang around Snape for two decades without learning a thing or two about subtlety.”

Severus snorted. “This coming from the most unsubtle person on the planet.”

Harry laughed. “I guess that’s why they don’t have me go undercover.”

“I’d wager the scar has more to do with that,” Alex said lightly. “Kind of hard to blend in when you have a lightning bolt on your forehead.”

Hermione tuned out their good natured bantering while they waited for Thomas’s contact to come in. Her mind was still on the memory Draco had unwittingly sent to her. She just couldn’t shake the vision of that horrible looking spike coming his way.

‘It never touched me,’ Draco thought to her.

She almost jumped out of her skin. ‘What?’

‘That was the last time the potion worked on me. My magic manifested and overcame it. Unfortunately, that was also the day he bound my magic again. Hurt like hell.’

‘How old were you?’

Draco paused for a moment. ‘Fourteen. That was the summer before fifth year, right after Voldemort returned.’

‘Why do you think your father never turned you in?’

‘I’d like to think it was because he cared for me on some level. However, it was most likely a combination of not wanting to give up his favorite toy and wanting to keep me for himself in case he needed to overthrow his Lord.’

Hermione snorted. ‘Probably.’

“There!” Harry hissed and pointed to a hooded person who had just come through the door.

“Can you see who that is?” Melody asked.

“Hood is up too far,” Alex growled.

The figure came over to Thomas and Zandra’s table but they never said a word. Thomas introduced the man as a close friend that he was staying with but gave no name. The three then got up and walked over to the wall to get to Diagon alley. The figure tapped the bricks and waited for the couple to go before him. Everyone else followed, wondering when they were going to strike.

They didn’t have to wait long. Thomas suddenly veered off, entering Knockturn alley in one swift move. Before Zandra could protest, she’d had her hand thrust on an old tin can and they disappeared. The fog swirled around them as the memory adjusted for the new location. It seemed to take forever.

“They’ve got to be taking her to America,” Alex said. “No regular port key trip takes this long.”

“Right in one,” Melody croaked and pointed to a castle that had just appeared from the mist.

It was about half the size of Hogwarts and looked to be twice as old, which was really saying something since Hogwarts was built before America was discovered by Columbus. The black stone walls seemed to ooze a tar like substance. Thick bushes of devil’s snare surrounded the turret walls. There was even a moat, complete with foul looking mud colored liquid and a drawbridge. The entire place seemed to be encased in fog.

“Where are we?” Zandra whimpered.

“Welcome to Khrone’s castle, love,” the figure drawled in an English accent. “Now be quiet and don’t move.”

“Dormer,” Severus breathed.

“Who?” Melody asked.

“Wilhelm Dormer, one of Voldemort’s first recruits.”

“How come I never met him?” Melody asked.

“Because he was reported to be dead,” Severus growled. “The only man Arthur Weasley hated more than Lucius Malfoy.”

“Why?” Ginny asked.

Severus’s face softened a bit as he looked over at his daughter. “He petitioned for your mother’s hand.”

“He what?!” Ginny shrieked.

Severus nodded. “Wilhelm was a staunch believer in pureblood rights and marriage by lineage. The Prewitt lines weren’t as inbred as the other houses, making them very desirable. He believed a child by the union would be the most powerful in existence.”

“Then he had obviously not met Narcissa Black,” Melody muttered.

Severus chuckled. “Molly is quite a bit older than Narcissa. He was looking for someone ready to breed then. What he didn’t know was that Molly was already with child and scheduled to wed Arthur Weasley in one month’s time.”

“Oh,” Ginny growled. “I am so going to give her an earful when I get home. Imagine, she chewed George up one side and down the other for getting Angelina pregnant before they were married and she did the same thing.”

Severus chuckled. “Very well…but be prepared to tell her exactly how you stumbled upon that information…and where.”

“Damn it,” Ginny hissed. He was right. Molly would badger her until the entire truth came out, which she couldn’t reveal.

“So how did Dormer supposedly die?” Harry asked.

“He made a grave mistake,” Severus said almost reverently. “He threatened to terminate the pregnancy and take Molly for his own.”

“Bet that went over like a chunk of lead,” Melody snorted.

Severus nodded. “Arthur challenged him to a duel and killed him.”

“Obviously not if he’s still standing here,” Harry said. “Why are they just standing here though? They haven’t said a word, moved a muscle, anything.”

“You wouldn’t either if you were going to face a cockatrice,” Melody breathed.

“Like a Basilisk?” Hermione asked.

“Close,” Severus said. “While a Basilisk is a cock’s egg that is incubated by a snake, the cockatrice is incubated by a toad. The resulting creature is a two legged winged dragon with a rooster head. However, they do have the same weaknesses. A weasel is the only creature that can look upon it without being petrified or killed and a rooster’s crow is the only thing that can kill it besides looking at itself in a mirror.”

“What about the Sword of Gryffindor?” Harry asked.

“It would work,” Melody said. “Know where it is by chance?”

“Urm… no,” Harry sighed. The sword had disappeared soon after Neville cut off Nagini’s head.

“We’ll need mirrors then,” Harmony said softly. “Can’t exactly port key a rooster all over the place and there is only one person I know who can turn into a weasel.”

“So, if this cockatrice is guarding the castle,” Harry said, “then how are they going to keep from getting killed?”

A movement from the left startled them. Green scales flashed across the dim sky and the sound of some sort of bird cooing permeated the air. The creature dove down and landed on the ground, half hidden by the castle. Its eyes were shut tight.

“Like that,” Melody whispered. “Someone can speak to it.”

“Lovely,” Draco said dryly. “I don’t suppose it understands parsletongue.”

“It isn’t a snake,” Melody said. “That sound was a bird of some sort.”

“Well, no time to ponder now,” Harmony called. “They are going in.”

“I wish I had my notebook,” Hermione breathed. “I could write all this down so we can know what to expect.”

“Well,” Melody said. “Item one, avoid the cockatrice. Item two, the shit in this moat is steaming and actually eating the ground.”

“It is a mixture of the Black Death and flesh eating tonic,” Severus supplied.

“Right then,” Draco croaked and cleared his throat. “We’ll make a note not to touch it.”

“Not that easy,” Melody called. “The drawbridge is tied to the new Mark, which Dormers and Gregory have. There are also anti-apparition wards and wards in place to keep from simply jumping over the damned moat.”

“Any weaknesses?” Hermione asked.

“One,” Melody answered. “It allows magical animals through. Probably has something to do with big, green, and scaly over there.”

“Could we ride Draco?” Harry asked.

Draco snorted. “Sorry Potter, I don’t swing that way.”

“Get stuffed,” Harry growled. “Bloody wanker.”

Draco laughed. Riling Harry up was still his favorite thing to do. It was so easy, just like taking a lolly from a babe.

Melody chuckled as well. “I’m sure Hermione would mind if that were to happen. However, I believe that it would work. I’d very much like to keep his form a secret though, so I propose we disillusion him.”

“Item three, then,” Alex said as he walked over the drawbridge behind a shivering Zandra. “Ride an invisible dragon.”

“Sounds like an acid trip,” Philippe muttered.

“Only less fun,” Alex supplied. “What in the fuck is he muttering?”

Dormer was waving his wand in intricate circles around the door handle. Creaks and groans could be heard as the locks slowly pulled back. The doors swung open to reveal utter darkness. The inside was as inky black as if someone had thrown Instant Peruvian Darkness Powder about the entire place.

“It’s ancient Gaelic,” Celeste breathed. “My sire tried to teach it to me. He gave me a book to study before he was destroyed.”

Philippe laughed softly. “We thought she was slow, reciting some made up language until we realized what she was speaking.”

“Shut up dick head,” Celeste snapped. “I was five. I didn’t know any better.”

Philippe only laughed harder until Celeste popped him in the stomach.

“Yeowch. Damn it, I don’t need a broken rib, thanks.”

“Then quit being a bastard.”

“Stop!” Alex snapped. “Don’t make me send you two to time out. Now, are we going to have to rewind this fucking penseive or did you get what he was saying?”

“I got it,” Celeste growled. “It was a list of spells, one to unlock the door, one to keep the beast in…whatever that means, and one to blind the enemies.”

“That would explain the darkness,” Draco said. “You can’t see a bloody thing in there.”

“How are we going to follow her if we can’t see her?” Harry asked.

“Really Potter,” Draco sniffed. “You need some sleep. It isn’t like we’re going to run into anything, is it? This is a memory. If we lose sight of her, it will reform.”

“Oh, right,” Harry said sheepishly.

They wandered along in darkness for what seemed like ages. At one point, they traveled up several flights of stairs only to spin circles for a moment and go back down again. The only sounds were the footfalls of the three occupants and Zandra’s panicked breathing. Since Dormer had ordered her to be quiet, she was complying. After what had to be half an hour of walking, a dim light shown up ahead. There was no mistaking where they were headed, a dungeon…complete with populated cells.

“Here we are,” Dormer sneered. “Right where you belong, poppet.” He tossed Zandra into the cell and slammed the door shut, laughing throatily at her terrified whimper. “Go ahead love, scream. They love it when you scream.”

He disappeared around the corner along with Thomas. She opened her mouth and let out a terrified scream, one that defied the logic of sound waves. Draco knew that scream, the sound of ultimate terror. Poor Zandra.

“What the fuck is that?” Alex yelled and dodged a greenish looking mist.

“Holy Mother of Merlin,” Melody whimpered. “A Rakshasa.”

“A what?” Hermione asked.

“Hindu man-eater,” Melody breathed. “Shapeshifter, magician, illusionist. They can take any form and usually feed off human flesh.”

“What is it doing to her?” Ginny squeaked as she watched the green mist envelope Zandra, pouring in through her nose and mouth.

“Draining her,” Melody whispered. “This one appears to feed on fear.”

Zandra’s screams were choked off as the mist completely consumed her. Her eyes went wide and she tried coughing. Her face started turning grey before the mist left. She heaved a ragged breath and the memory ended.

“Holy shit,” Alex breathed when they landed safely at the Ranch dinner table. “How in the fuck do you kill something like that?”

“You don’t,” Melody said, shaking her head. “We’re going to have to read up on them.”

“She was alone in that cell,” Philippe said softly.

Harmony nodded. “I imagine that it would be much more horrific to be alone in a place like that.”

Draco nodded. “Human nature is to form an attachment. If you rip that away, captives start to crave companionship…no matter what.”

“Stockholm syndrome,” Hermione said. “The least bit of kindness is seen as compassion.”

Draco nodded. “And Lucius was the best at that.”

“You believe you suffered from it?” Philippe asked quietly.

Draco nodded jerkily. “After I started seeing Hermione, I realized just how much. Despite what he did to me, I wanted to be just like him, craved his attention and praise. I was a nutter.”

“No,” Hermione said fiercely. “You were confused.”

“I’m not anymore,” Draco said a bit more harshly than he wanted.

“Always a good thing,” Melody said, trying to calm everyone down. “Unfortunately, we need to see the rest of these memories if we are going to tell how far gone Zandra is.”

“Let’s go then,” Draco said gruffly and stuck his finger in the bowl after the new memory was in place.

“She’s still alone,” Ginny said.

“She will be until they start breaking her,” Draco said. “It’s always easier after a period of isolation.”

“How long do you think she’s been out?” Celeste asked.

“Long enough for her neighbors to have died,” Severus said. His eyes were focused on the next cell over where two small boys were lying in a broken huddle. Blood slowly trickled from their mouths. “They were terrified but relatively healthy last time.”

Draco steeled himself and went over to examine them. He swallowed back the bile in his throat at the sight. “This kind of spell work takes hours to finish. I’d say she was here overnight at least.”

“Wake up poppet,” a disembodied voice spoke. “Time for some fun.”

Zandra had obviously been awake a few minutes but she stirred now, whether from fear or intrigue, it was difficult to say. She crawled over to the bars and peered out, her eyes wide and panicked. She tried to scream but her voice was gone.

“Don’t worry,” Dormer said as he stepped out from the shadows. “You’ll have your voice back...in due time.”

Two more hooded figures appeared from the darkness and unlocked the cell, hauling Zandra up roughly. They dragged her out of the cell easily, despite the kicking and squirming she was doing. Her mouth was moving but no sound came out, testament to the Rakshasa’s abilities. At least she wasn’t going quietly. It made the adults proud that she still fought, despite the apparent hopelessness of the situation.

She was taken into a stone room and shackled to the walls. Torches were in every corner, providing plenty of light to see where she had ended up. There were no windows, only one solid wood door and several tables filled with sharp and horrifying looking implements. A stretching rack and stocks stood open in the corner next to an iron maiden…a used one with a pool of blood beneath it. She shuddered and cried out when she spotted that monstrosity.

“Now poppet,” Dormer cooed and ran a long jagged fingernail down her cheek, slicing it he pushed so hard. “Let’s see what you have on under all these layers.”

With a flick of his wand, Zandra was disrobed. She shut her eyes in shame as Dormer and the other two occupants in the room laughed at her. She tried pull her legs up and arms down to cover herself but she was spread too far away. Tears started leaking from her eyes in humiliation. Draco wanted desperately to cover her up, spare her the pain but he couldn’t. He could only sit there impotently and try to hold back the memories of his own humiliation.

“My, my, you are a fat one, aren’t you?” Dormer sneered. “I reckon you’d feed a family of five. Disgusting mudblood cow. No wonder it took two men to haul your chubby arse in here. Just the thought of your skin slapping around is enough to make my cock limp.”

“Gods,” Ginny whimpered. “He’s horrible.”

“Sometimes verbal attacks work better than the worst pain,” Severus said softly, regret and remorse lacing his tone. “The goal is to get inside the victim’s head and turn them so they torture themselves.”

“She’s got to know he’s lying,” Harry said.

“Hear it enough times,” Draco whispered, “and you’ll believe it.”

Everyone went silent after that, sorrow in their hearts as Dormer berated Zandra for her looks, her heritage, and her mind. She never stopped crying, her torso covered with tears by the time Dormer was through.

**********

“Well, look here,” Dormer said and ran a dirty hand down her chest, making sure to fondle her breasts roughly before scratching her down her torso. He thrust two fingers inside her and grinned as she silently screamed out in pain. He held his bloody fingers out for the others to view. “Looks like the mudblood is wet for me.”

Hermione discovered that she wasn’t the only one who had turned away. She just couldn’t stand to watch anymore. She’d already seen Narcissa in that same situation but this was ultimately worse. As horrible as her logic sounded, at least Lucius was her husband and not some disgusting stranger. Then again, perhaps knowing that you lived with a monster was worse. She buried her head in Draco’s shoulder as she listened to the filthy lies that came out of Dormer’s mouth. She was sure that if Zandra could have screamed, she would have been hoarse again after her first round. After too long, all three men had taken their turn with her. They threw her soiled and still naked form into the cell. Another green mist covered her and she seemed to writhe in pain before collapsing, shivering against the cold. She cried herself to sleep.

**********

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” Ginny cried when they were released from the memory.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Melody said. “We can just tell you what we learned afterwards.”

Ginny slammed her head down on the table, disgusted with herself and what she had seen. “I’m not weak.”

“No one said you were,” Severus said softly. “Even staunch Death Eaters were felled by sessions like those.”

“If I don’t do this, I’ll have failed her somehow,” Ginny reasoned with herself. “I know I’ll feel that way. I’ve never backed down from anything in my life but the thought of watching that again makes me sick.”

“It’s not a bloody picnic for us either,” Draco muttered before he could stop himself. Merlin, what was wrong with him? He knew though. That memory had brought back a hundred more of his own, each harder than the last to keep away from Hermione. He was tired, so tired.

Ginny’s head shot up; her face paled. “Answer one question for me Draco, and I’ll never ask again.”

“What?” Draco asked wearily.

“Everything she went through in that memory and everything I think she’s about to have done to her, did that happen to you?”

Draco’s jaw clamped shut as a flood of memories bombarded him. He could hear Hermione’s shocked gasp when his walls crumbled. She fought against them until they were back in their neat little box where he promptly locked them away. Those days were over and he would do well to remember that. When he finally got his emotions in check, he gave a jerky shake of his head.

“I still have my entire soul.”

“That is not what I meant and you know it.”

“I don’t want your pity!” Draco roared. “I don’t need it. I’m not the same scared little boy anymore.” He panted against the rage he felt in his stomach.

“I didn’t say I pitied you Draco,” Ginny said softly and peered carefully at his glowing eyes. She knew she had to tread very carefully. “I asked if you had gone through that. If you did, then I feel sympathy…and the need to bring Lucius back so I can kill him myself. But sympathy is very different than pity…and, well…you can help others through this. Maybe you can finally heal yourself too.”

“I’m not sick,” Draco growled.

“But it still eats away at you, even now. Maybe helping her back can help you finally make your peace.”

“I’ve made my peace,” Draco said.

“Have you? Have you really?”

Draco thumped his head on the table and muttered an apology to his wife when she hissed in pain. Ginny had been right though. If he had truly made his peace, then he wouldn’t be so torn up about his past…not like this anyway. He was positive he had accepted it, but even now he thought about how unfair everything was.

“Fine,” he sighed after a while. “Yes, it all happened…except for my soul. Who knows, if it had continued, I’d probably be lying broken in one of those cells.”

“But you are not,” Ginny said. “And that makes you strong. It also makes you unique. Lucius taught you how to do it all, didn’t he?”

Draco nodded. “Sorry bastard insisted that the only true way to learn something was to experience it.”

“Then you can get in their heads.”

“So can Severus,” Draco argued.

“I’m afraid Ginny is right,” Severus said softly. “While I know the theory, execution, and the aftermath, I only know the pain of torture. After Lily, Voldemort lost the ability to manipulate me. Lucius only lost that ability after you met Hermione.”

Draco nodded. “Very well. I’ll explain…but I am not like Bracken. I will not look at it from a medical standpoint, as if she is merely a cadaver to study.”

“Of course not,” Ginny said as she shook her head. “We only want to know why…beyond because it seems like jolly good fun for a psychopath.”

Draco snorted. “They do see it as fun. They get off on it, obviously. The first part is the power. The power makes them high, makes them feel better about themselves. There is a method to their madness though, a way things should be done to certain people for them to break properly. It becomes a mind game, figuring out the victim’s weaknesses, climbing inside their head. When they finally learn how a person ticks, they can tweak just the right situation and they crumble like a dilapidated wall.”

“How did Lucius do that to you?” Harry asked.

Draco’s head shot up to bite off a scathing retort but he could see no malice in Harry’s eyes. There was only concern…and the need to know. He was as sincere as he could possibly be. He sighed and let his anger go. “I just wanted to be loved. Lucius figured out when I was very young that the one thing I craved was his approval. He twisted that knife into me every time, used it to mold me into what he wanted. Shallow praise and one less beating and I was putty in his hands.”

“Not always,” Harry said and promptly looked away. “Who is going in the next memory?”

“I’ll go,” Ginny whispered. “But I can’t watch anymore. I’ll look everywhere else for clues about the castle, but I can’t watch that anymore.”

“Sounds good to me,” Melody said and tipped the next memory into the penseive.

The memories got progressively worse until Zandra would pass out in the middle of them. Even reviving spells wouldn’t work she was so depleted. They were sure that if they hadn’t seen her with their own eyes, she would have died. The Rakshasa continued to visit after every torture. They also noticed guards suddenly disappearing into the darkness. Their screams were cut short, as if their throats had been slit.

Zandra was wrong about one thing. It wasn’t the weak ones who were being picked off. It was the ones who were the most abusive, took the most pleasure from the prisoners’ pain. There were other things that Melody was able to pick up on, although it wasn’t because of her gifts.

“Some of these things are demons. They live for pure souls. I wondered why there was a ward against them on the cells but I understand now. They try to go for the newest prisoners. When they quit trying, the prisoner is carted off and either returns dead or with only half a soul.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Alex said as he watched Zandra struggle to make herself as small as possible against the back wall of her cell. “Not only is this place guarded by a noxious mix of potions, a dragon-thing that is literally petrifying, a bunch of Gaelic spells to render people blind, and let’s not forget the oh so helpful Rakshasa, there are also demons?”

Melody nodded. “Demons, poltergeists, and oh say, fifty or so spells designed to turn your insides out if you don’t have the modified mark.”

“Joy,” Alex huffed when the hooded figures came to pry Zandra from her cell. “She’s not going to make it after this last torture. I can hear it. Her heart is just about to give.”

“Well she obviously does or she wouldn’t be with us now,” Severus said snidely although he had to admit she looked like death when she returned.

At one point during the night, she quit breathing. Alarm wards went off and a dozen guards came running, hitting her with spells to revive her. Things took a surprising turn after that. She was given food and water and the tortures seemed to become less violent. She was moved into a cell with Jonah and Timmy. Severus noted that they were slipping her healing potions in her water.

“Why are they healing her?” Harry asked.

Draco sighed. “Because she has to be strong for the rites. The other tortures, they were just a preliminary for what is to come. They needed to know her limits and now they do.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. “So they’re going to heal her, give her companions, make her think things are going to get better, and then yank the carpet from beneath her and take her soul.”

“That’s the gist of it,” Draco said. “What better way to crush a soul than to give it hope and then take it away?”

He was right. She was getting stronger every day and became quite attached to the two boys in her cell. Their nudity didn’t seem to faze them. It became a fact of life. One day, that all changed. The two guards, whom never revealed themselves, came and pulled her out of her cell. It had been probably weeks since they had done so and it made her seize up in fear, which Draco said was what they were hoping for. This torture session was worse than anything she had ever been through. It seemed to combine everything she’d experienced in her stay tenfold all in a matter of a few hours. She had begged the entire time for them to stop or kill her.

“Look,” Melody said softly. “Her soul, can you see it?”

The band of adults looked on in horrified amazement as the two guards spoke the last rites over Zandra. A pulsing white light seemed to leap from her chest and burn her skin as it left. Her wrists and ankles burst open, blood pulsing weakly from her body. Another figure, this one dressed from head to toe in solid white, including a face mask, held the necklace over her and incanted a dozen spells in several different languages. The white light broke apart and leapt into the necklace. The white figure handed it off to Dormer who began placing spell after spell on it. The other two guards took something amber colored and magically shoved it in the middle of her chest, forcing her fractured soul to re-enter her body. Fire shot from her open wounds and cauterized them, stopping the blood flow.

Zandra had stopped breathing for a few minutes before they hit her with several spells designed to reverse a heart attack. She gasped in huge lungful’s of air as her eyes opened wide. Amber seemed to swirl inside them. Her nails elongated, ears started to point. Her teeth became sharp and jagged and hair started sprouting over her body before it suddenly stopped and retreated. She looked like she had the day she was dropped off at St. Mungo’s then.

“Perfect,” the figure in white hissed. “The full moon is the key. Take her back and observe her.”

She was thrown in a cell, this time alone, where she promptly passed out.

“Of course the fucking full moon is the fucking key!” Melody screeched out when they exited the pensieve. “Why the fuck wouldn’t it be? They’re putting fucking essence of the fucking wolf in her and mimicking the fucking curse of fucking lycanthropy which is fucking controlled by the fucking moon!”

“You forgot to say fuck,” Alex said dryly.

“FUCK!” Melody screamed and stood to her feet, kicking her chair across the room where it hit the wall with a thud.

“Never mind,” Alex said and got up to retrieve the chair. He put it down and practically shoved the irate woman back down in it.

“There’s one more memory left,” Severus drawled. “Will you be joining us or are you going to go for a record of most profanity uttered in a single sentence?”

“Fuck you, you big batty bastard,” Melody grumbled but motioned for him to pour the last memory into the bowl.

The entire room was pitch black, indicating that the spell had been activated again or she was blind for this part…quite possibly both.

“She’s lived a full week, longer than any other so far.” This voice was unfamiliar. It didn’t match any of the guards, although it was distinctly American.

“Very well, bring her in,” Dormer said.

The memory changed to a bright white light as a lab came into focus, the same one where they’d ripped her soul in half. She started shuddering, begging for them to have mercy.

“Listen very closely poppet, because your life depends on this. You have two choices. We can get reacquainted again…or you can remember a name. You say anything else but this name and I swear I’ll keep you alive so you can relive your time here every day. What will it be?”

“Why the name?” Zandra squeaked.

“I’ve got a bone to pick. What will it be?”

“Name,” Zandra whispered.

“Melody Bach. Repeat it.”

“M-melody B-bach,” Zandra whispered.

“Very good poppet. Let me remind you of what will happen if you don’t remember that name.”

Screams permeated the air before the memory ended.

Melody stared at the pensieve for a few moments before she took a deep breath. “Wonder how many people I’ll piss off before I’m dead.”

Before anyone could answer, those with sensitive hearing could detect feminine moaning and a call for daddy.

Lily.

AN: So that should be the last of the graphic scenes for a while. Lemons will be coming up...for those who are getting agrivated with me. :D Unfortunately, updates might slow down a little on this story. It's just not coming out like I want it so I'm off to have an arm wrestling match with my muse in hopes that it will relent. Wish me luck. (and in case your wondering, the next few chapters are ready, I just want to stay ahead of you guys. It'll more than likely be at least weekly updates. I don't think it's fair to just stop for a long time. I hate when writers do that. I'll finish this story if it kills me.) Anyway, as always, thanks to everyone who left me reviews. Did you know I read them before I went for an interview? Calmed me right down...and I go in for a second one next week! Keep them coming, let me know how I'm doing and if you find any errors. Until next time...Love you guys!
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Fooling Fate *sequel to Bound*

Fooling Fate sequel to Bound