Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Songs of Regret	By : RavieSnake Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 76454 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 17
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from it. I also hold no rights to any of the songs mentioned. I make no money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Hermione shut her eyes and tried to concentrate. She had her wand to her temple ready to extract her next memory, but it kept slipping away as her mind kept trying to focus on the conversation being had by the two men in the corner. She heard Draco in the background speaking in low tones with Snape at the other end of the office. She strained her ears but couldn’t make out what they were saying. She opened her one eye a sliver to look at them through her lashes.

They were just sitting facing each other while they talked, but Hermione noticed that Draco was tense, and he had a death grip on his forearm again. He had been touching it unconsciously all morning. And he wouldn’t look her in the eyes. Draco still refused to admit that anything was wrong, but she wasn’t stupid.

She put down her wand and inhaled deeply. She was much too distracted to pull the memory Dumbledore was asking for. There were simply too many things that might be obscured if she rushed it, and the details of the inner workings of the Gringotts vaults were definitely ones the Headmaster would want to be clear.

“Are you quite all right, Hermione?” Dumbledore asked her as he looked up from the parchment he was taking notes on.

“No, I’m not,” she answered truthfully. Her answer caused both Draco and Snape to stop talking and look in her direction.

“Do you need to take a break? You have been at it for nearly five hours now,” Dumbledore said understandingly. Hermione shook her head.

“No, prof…Albus. What I need is to know why Draco keeps grabbing at his forearm and avoiding me,” she said bluntly. Both Snape and Dumbledore looked at Draco. He shrunk back in his chair like a child caught in a lie.

“You have not told her of the plan?” Dumbledore asked him, looking over his spectacles.

“Not told me of what plan?” Hermione questioned sternly turning to face Draco. Draco turned away from her and looked at Snape.

“Why have you not told her?” Snape thought to him.

“I don’t know how. She’ll hate me… I’m going to be a fucking Death Eater, aren’t I?” Draco worried back to him.

“Do you really have so little faith in her? She will find out eventually anyway. She deserves to hear it from you,” Snape chided him. Draco looked down at the floor. Snape looked at Dumbledore and the old man nodded. Both professors stood.

“I think this would be a good time to break for lunch after all,” Dumbledore said as he went to the door. “I believe it is now safe for the two of you to wander about the castle, but I think you should still remain inside. We will reconvene here in one hour,” he said and then turned to exit the office behind Snape.

Hermione watched them walk out and then returned her gaze to Draco who was still staring at the floor. She had a very good idea what the ‘plan’ was. The way he was holding his arm could only mean that they hadn’t figured out a way to get him out of receiving the Dark Mark. And by the way Dumbledore had said ‘plan,’ it seemed they intended him to get it.

She was struck with the revelation. “They want him to be a spy,” she thought dismally.

The logical part of her brain saw the advantage of his situation, but her heart suddenly ached with worry and she felt sick in her soul at the thought of him having to once again go through the one thing he had regretted most in his life. But more than that, all she really wanted to do was comfort him. But how…

Draco still hadn’t moved when Hermione’s hand was suddenly thrust into his line of vision. He looked up to see her standing before him with an encouraging smile. He looked down at the hand she had offered him and he took it in his own. Without a word, Hermione tugged him out of the chair and lead him from the office.

They walked in silence as Hermione directed them down the spiral stairs, through the main hall, and across the castle until they came to the door of the transfiguration classroom. She pushed the door open and pulled an unprotesting Draco in behind her. Hermione released Draco’s hand and, with a flick of her wand, opened the curtains over the windows to flood the room with sunlight. Dust motes danced in the air as Hermione walked to the center of the room and looked around appreciatively.

“This was my most favorite classroom, did you know?” she said airily.

Draco did not respond, but Hermione paid no attention and began to slowly pace around admiring the many objects Professor McGonagall had upon the shelves. She ran her hand along one of them.

“Do you know,” she began as she looked upon the goblets and matchstick boxes, “why it is that I love transfiguration?”

She did not look at Draco, but continued her perusal of the objects. Again he did not answer her, but she went on anyway.

“I love that it allows you to change something without really changing it. You can make something into anything that you need it to be without taking away the essence of it. It will look different, but will still be the same on the inside,” she said reverently. Hermione walked her way back to Draco and took a hold of his left arm. He looked down at her as she lifted his arm and pushed back his sleeve. She ghosted her fingers over the skin of his forearm and he shivered. Hermione smiled sadly.

“A poorly executed transfiguration can be devastating. If it is rushed or not thought through properly you run the risk of causing irreparable damage,” she said softly. “But when done correctly, and with the right intent, a transfiguration can allow something to be even better than it was before. It can be stronger, more valuable, more desirable.” She finally looked up at Draco.

He blinked at her miserably and a single tear ran down his cheek.

“There is nothing desirable about a Death Eater,” he choked out. Hermione rubbed the tear streak from his face with her thumb.

“You agreed to be a Death Eater again?” she asked simply, keeping her hand at his cheek, cupping it gently.

Draco nodded.

“Did you agree so you could act as a spy for The Order?”

He nodded again.

She chewed the inside of her cheek lightly and lowered her hand. “How long did you expect to keep this from me?” she asked.

Draco shrugged a shoulder half-heartedly. “As long as I could.” He sighed dramatically and went to one of the student desks and plopped down on it. “How was I supposed to explain that I agreed to repeat the very regret that brought us here? It’s the best way for me to help defeat Voldemort…but I still feel like I’m betraying us," he said dismally.

Hermione went to the desk and stood between Draco’s legs. She grabbed the sides of his face and forced him to look her in the eyes. “That regret is the very thing that allowed us to find each other. It is us," she insisted. "And you are not a Death Eater. You will never again be a Death Eater. You will be a Phoenix. Your arm will just be transfigured a little. It will look different and serve a new purpose, but it will still be yours…and mine,” she said with a small smirk. Draco put his hands on her hips and squeezed.

“How I ever hated you I don’t know,” he said quietly. Hermione smiled, but then looked at him very seriously.

“I don’t know either, but if you ever keep anything from me again, you will wish you still did,” she threatened in a low voice. Draco might have chuckled at her warning if he hadn’t been looking her directly in the eyes. The raw emotion he saw in them made it clear that she was serious.

“You can be all the Slytherin you want with everyone else, but with me you will be honest. Is that quite understood?” Hermione said forcefully. Draco gave her a repentant look.

“Yes, my queen.”

“Good,” she said and leaned forward to kiss him gently. She went to pull away, but Draco had crossed his legs and arms behind her trapping her against him.

“Just where do you think you are going?” he said roguishly. Hermione pushed at him playfully.

“I was going to call for lunch so we can eat something before we have to spend the rest of this miserable day stuck in Dumbledore’s office.”

Draco shook his head and held her tighter. “I’d much rather listen to some music,” he rumbled, pushing his face into her neck.

Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed at him again. “I gave you three songs last night.”

“So?” he asked, undeterred from his inspection of her neck. “I expect that notebook to be filled by the end of the week.”

Hermione relaxed against him and Draco brought his head up to look her in the face again.

“We only have the week you know. After that…” he trailed off and the briefest flash of grief crossed his face.

“We’ll have forever,” Hermione finished for him. “Just because we may be apart doesn’t mean we won’t still be together.”

“But we won’t be able to be free like this. Once I do this (he moved his left arm) and once we are back in school…we will have to pretend to hate each other again. Snape’s already training me to manipulate my memories to hide our relationship,” he said heavily and uncrossed his legs and arms to release her. "And just the thought of being apart makes my insides twist."

Hermione thought for a moment.

“Hmm. We’ll just have to come up with a system that allows us to remain close...a way to communicate without anyone else knowing,” she said.

“Like what?” he asked, leaning on his hands behind him.

“Well…in Quidditch, don’t you use hand signals to alert your teammates which formations and plays you want next so the other team doesn’t know?”

Draco grinned widely. “You like Quidditch?”

“I’ll like watching you play Quidditch. But that’s not the point,” she said directing him back to the conversation.

“So what kind of hand signals are we talking about? We can’t exactly be waving to each other across the Great Hall,” he said with a shake of his head.

“No. They’d be deliberate but easily dismissed by others. For instance, if I wanted you to know that something was upsetting me, I could rub my forehead twice with my left hand. Or if you had to say something nasty to me and you wanted to assure me that you didn’t mean it, you could straighten your tie. Small things like that.”

Draco hummed and turned his eyes up in thought. “Yeah, that could work. It would help keep us sane anyway until we could actually get alone together,” he said as he leaned forward. He put his hands on her hips again and gave her a jiggle. “So, what is the sign for ‘I want to shag you senseless’?”

Hermione shook her head at his antics, “You are incorrigible.” Draco pouted playfully and she laughed. “I’m still a bit upset with you, you know…”

“Yeah,” Draco sighed, deflating a little.

“But,” Hermione continued, “since we’re here, there’s no sense in wasting a good opportunity. I can punish you later.”

Draco perked up at once and Hermione wrapped her arms around him. He took out his wand and several flicks later had the door locked and the room silenced. He raised his eyebrows at her suggestively.

Hermione gave him a saucy look. “So what did you have in mind?” sje whispered.

“Honestly?” he asked mischievously. She nodded.

“I was thinking of bending you over McGonagall’s desk and taking you from behind,” he said as he grabbed a hand to each of her arse cheeks. Hermione felt the delightful burn of arousal pulse through her core and leaned into him.

“Well then, get to it pretty boy. We still have to eat,” she sassed.

Draco smirked and stood up from the desk holding Hermione up by her arse. He brought her to the front of the room, just before McGonagall’s large desk, and set her down. He swiftly removed her robes and tossed them to the side.

“Turn around,” he commanded. Hermione felt a gush of wetness in her knickers at the order and did as she was told.

“Bend over. Lay your chest and hands flat on the desk.” As soon as the second order left his mouth, a droning music filtered around them. Draco cocked his eyebrow. “Is this Radiohead?” he asked curiously.

Hermione bent over the desk and nodded. “The title’s I Might be Wrong. Sorry, sometimes my subconscious selects a strange song,” she said apologetically.

Draco frowned at her. “You will not be sorry about the songs you play for me,” he said sternly.

He lifted her skirt up over her backside and rubbed a hand across her right cheek before giving it a stinging smack. Hermione gasped loudly and clenched her nails into the wood of the desk. The stinging quickly faded into a pleasant tingling. Draco’s hand came down on her other cheek and she cried out in pleasure.

She had never been spanked before. She’d never thought she would like that kind of thing, but the surprisingly satisfying pain of Draco’s slaps had her wanting more of it.

“I don’t ever want to hear you speak ill of your music again. Is that clear?” Draco asked her firmly. When Hermione didn’t answer, he gave her another two quick smacks. She moaned and wiggled her bum in response.

“Do I make myself clear?” he asked her again with another hard slap.

“Yes, sir,” Hermione squeaked out.

Draco nearly whooped in excitement. He knew that he was taking a risk when he’d given her the first spank, but he couldn’t resist the urge. It had always been a desire of his to play the role of a dominant and knowing how Hermione had already responded to the hair pulling and dirty talk he hoped she’d be responsive to a submissive role.

And she had just called him ‘sir’ without prompting.

Draco grinned ear to ear as he looked upon Hermione’s body bent so beautifully over the desk. He rubbed his hand gently over her backside.

“Good girl,” he said soothingly.

Hermione was on fire inside. She couldn’t believe how intense and immediate her body’s response had been to Draco’s actions. Usually she needed a fair amount of foreplay to be this ready, but those few spanks and words had her absolutely aching for him. Her heart pounded painfully with anticipation as she felt Draco glide his hands across her backside and then grip the edges of her knickers and pull them down her legs.

When she felt his hands trail back up her legs and his hot breath on her core as he stood again she nearly blacked-out.

“Look at how wet your gorgeous cunny is for me already,” he said as he swiped his hand through her folds. “Such a good girl.”

Hermione whimpered loudly and dug her nails into the desk again. Draco made quick work of removing his robes. He undid his trousers and pulled himself free over the top of them. He stepped up to come right behind Hermione and leaned forward. He teased her soaked entrance with the head of his cock.

“Good girls deserve rewards,” he said lightly. “What would you like as your reward, my love?” he asked innocently as he continued to rub his tip along her.

Hermione’s mind was blown with desire. Her breath had caught completely in her throat and when she tried to form words only a strangled, “F..uck…” escaped her.

“Fuck? Fuck what? You will need to be specific,” Draco responded casually. Gods, he was loving this…

Hermione heaved a breath, “Me. Fuck me,” she cried. “Please.”

Draco leaned over her back and brought his mouth to her ear, “As you wish.”

He straightened back up and grabbed a handful of her hair as he did so. With one hand in her hair and one hand on his erection he positioned himself and then with one hard thrust entered Hermione easily to the hilt.

Hermione arched her back and cried out in relief. Her body was wracked with intense jolts of pleasure as her head was yanked back forcefully while Draco pounded into her roughly. She clawed furiously at the desk and Draco laughed maniacally.

“Do you like when I fuck your pussy hard like this?” he asked demandingly.

“Yes, sir!” she screamed.

Draco grinned and gave her several more hard thrusts and then pulled out. Hermione began to protest with a “what…” and Draco responded by giving her arse another strike. She went silent and Draco pulled her by her hair to a standing position, turned her around and pushed her back down on the desk. He forced her onto her back roughly and pulled her by her thighs to the very edge of the desk. He realigned himself quickly and plunged back into her tight heat.

“I want to see your beautiful face when you come for me,” he panted as he slammed into her.

Hermione felt herself quickly reaching climax and she looked with wide eyes to Draco for guidance. For some reason she felt compelled to ask his permission to orgasm.

Draco felt her tense and he let out a groan. He couldn’t believe what an incredible, natural sub she was; she even knew to wait for his consent. He felt that his own climax was near and pressed his thumb firmly into her clit.

“Go, my love,” he whispered, “Come with me.”

Hermione’s body released an explosive orgasm that sent her arching off the desk into Draco’s torso. She grabbed onto him and clenched his shirt in her fingers. She wailed in his ear as he released himself into her with his own moaning mantra of, “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

The volume of the music increased drastically in a surge just before it ended and the goblets on the shelves and glass panes of the windows rattled. Hermione and Draco collapsed into one another.

“Wow,” Hermione breathed against his ear after a moment. “I haven’t done it like that before.”

Draco hugged her tight. “Neither have I,” he puffed.

“I never thought I’d like it like that,” she said with a slight shake of her head. Draco leaned back to look at her.

“You liked it? The spanking and answering to me?” he asked with a hopeful smile.

Hermione gave a small laugh. “Apparently. I’ve never been turned on so fast in my life. Did you like spanking me and ordering me around?” she asked him honestly. Draco nodded enthusiastically.

“Gods, yes,” he answered, “and you were so perfect. Fuck, there is so much more I want to do to you.” He leaned his forehead against hers and hummed. Hermione gave a nervous chuckle.

“There’s more? How do you even know what to do?” she asked skeptically.

Draco shrugged his shoulders a bit sheepishly, “I go by instinct mostly, but…I suppose fifteen years worth of looking at porn has given me some ideas.”

Hermione laughed again. She kissed him gently and ran her hands through his hair.

“Well, I look forward to experiencing more of your ‘ideas’,” she said, smiling. She looked Draco in the eyes and was surprised to see that he suddenly seemed pained. “What’s the matter?” she asked softly.

He exhaled sharply. “You overwhelm me," he confessed. "I’ve been nasty to you our whole lives, I’m about to become a Death Eater, I just dominated you, admitted that I watch porn, and you still smile at me and trust me enough to entertain the thought of letting me do whatever I want to you. No one...no one has ever trusted me like this before. It’s just…” he went quiet and swallowed hard.

Hermione rubbed the side of his head affectionately. “What?” she asked him gently. He bowed his head a little.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away about getting the Mark again. But I think...I think part of me hoped that if I didn’t tell you, maybe somehow it wouldn’t really happen.” He looked back up at her piteously. “I don’t want to do it. Just the thought of being that close to the Dark Lord again scares the hell out of me.”

Hermione felt her heart clench with worry again at the prospect of Draco being sent into such a dangerous situation.

“It scares me too,” she admitted. “But you are strong and smart and capable. Plus you are a Malfoy and a Slytherin. If anyone has a chance at being a successful spy, it’s you,” she said, pushing him gently. He gave her a lopsided grin. “And,” she went on, “you will always have me to come back to.”

He buried his face in her neck and nodded. She wrapped her arms around him and the two held each other until Hermione’s stomach growled.

“Damn this needy stomach,” she cursed lightly.

Draco chuckled as he pulled back and fastened his trousers. “Time for lunch.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco and Hermione held hands as they walked down the hall toward the entrance of Dumbledore’s office. Satisfied with both their quick romp and full lunch, they felt surprisingly ready to tackle whatever instructions Dumbledore and Snape were sure to give them. Both professors were already waiting for them in the hall as they approached.

Dumbledore beamed at them as they came closer. “What wouldn’t I give to have your classmates see you like this?” he said with a smile towards them and Draco gave him a good-natured smirk. “Did you both resolve your miscommunication from before?”

Hermione nodded with a shy smile.

“Good,” Dumbledore said with a clap of his hands. “Well, I hope you both also had a sufficient lunch. Severus and I have decided it would benefit everyone if you spent some time furthering your physical abilities. So, we will proceed from here to the Room of Requirement. You will resume your memory extraction in my office after dinner tonight. Severus, if you’d lead the way please.” He bowed his head in Snape’s direction and the Potions Master turned on his heel and walked purposefully down the hallway.

The four of them made their way through the castle in silence until they came to the corridor that housed the Room of Requirement. Snape placed a hand to the wall and ran it along the length of it as he paced up and down the hall three times. Just as he finished his third pass, a large door appeared and cracked open. Snape pushed the door open all the way and held it with a nod for the others to enter.

Dumbledore entered, but Hermione and Draco held back. Snape gave them a questioning stare.

“Problem?” he asked simply. They did not answer and continued to stare at the door. Dumbledore poked his head back out of the door to look at them. Hermione finally tore her gaze from the door and looked at the Headmaster.

“The last time we were in there we nearly died,” she whispered and Draco squeezed her hand.

Dumbledore stepped back out into the hall and addressed Hermione directly. “I know. You both gave me your memories of it. But it is because of those memories that we are here now,” he said as he pulled a tarnished silver tiara from his robe pocket.

Hermione gasped and backed away into Draco who then put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

Dumbledore gave her an understanding smile. “It will not happen like last time, Hermione. There was much more to your memories than you realize. I promise that you will both leave this room quite unharmed,” he said reassuringly.

Hermione gave Draco a worried glance over her shoulder and he squeezed his hands. “It’ll be okay,” he said in what he hoped was a convincing tone.

Hermione inhaled deeply and nodded. Dumbledore nodded back and motioned for them to enter the room. They walked forward slowly and without another word stepped into the Room of Requirement.

The room was already well lit when they entered and they both scanned their gazes around to take in the surroundings as the professors came in behind them.

The room looked nothing like it had the last time they had been in it. Gone were the vast of piles of old furniture and junk. Instead the room was almost entirely empty. The only items within it were several tall candle holders flanking a stone pedestal lined up along the mirrored wall facing them, and several stone benches positioned near the side walls.

Dumbledore walked before them and held up the tiara with a look to Hermione. “According to your memory," he began, "the last time you were here, you and Ronald Weasley were trying to assist Harry Potter with the retrieval and destruction of this.”

Hermione nodded. “Yes, sir,” she answered. “Ravenclaw’s lost diadem. It is one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes,” she elaborated as she eyed the diadem warily.

“You ran into some trouble during your quest,” he said with a look to Draco. Draco furrowed his brow and looked down at the floor.

Hermione frowned in recollection. “Yes, we did. Draco and Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle tried to stop us. We all dueled and at some point Crabbe cast a Fiendfyre that went out of control. He was killed and the rest of us escaped on old brooms we found in the room,” she said succinctly.

“And the diadem?” Dumbledore asked.

“It was destroyed by the Fiendfyre as well,” she answered.

Dumbledore nodded serenely at her, but said nothing more. There was a brief silence until Hermione spoke again.

“What did you mean when you said there was more to our memories than we realized?”

Dumbledore went to the stone pedestal and placed the diadem upon it before turning back to face them. Instead of addressing Hermione to answer her question he looked at Draco. “When the six of you were dueling did you notice anything peculiar?” he asked him. Draco blinked at him silently for a moment and then his eyes widened.

“There was music,” he said in quiet awe. He turned to Hermione. “Your music. It was faint, but it was there. I never thought about it before,” he said stunned.

“I don’t imagine that you’d have had a reason to think about it. Though, it was a rather dramatic little score wasn’t it? I trust by now you are fully aware of Hermione’s telepathic abilities involving music?” Dumbledore replied with a tilt of his head. Draco nodded.

“Both sets of your memories contained the music,” Dumbledore continued as he turned then to Hermione, “but only one of them contained the other aspect of your abilities.”

Hermione swallowed hard and gave him an anxious look.

“Do you recall exactly how Draco and Mr. Goyle survived the fire?” he asked her seriously. She thought hard about the circumstances of their escape.

“Ron and Harry and I were on the brooms flying out of the room when we heard Draco scream. We flew back and found him and Goyle and took them out with us,” she answered simply.

“Could they not have escaped on their own?” Dumbledore asked in a quizzical tone. Hermione shook her head.

“No. They were completely surrounded by the Fiendfyre. I couldn’t believe it when we heard him scream. It was a miracle that they hadn’t been consumed before we got to them.”

Draco nodded grimly in agreement at her statement.

“It was not a miracle, Hermione,” Dumbledore said gently. “When I reviewed Draco’s memory of his escape, I observed something that only someone knowledgeable in elemental magic would notice. Fire dances a little differently when it’s being controlled, you see. The fire that surrounded them was unable to consume them because it was prevented from doing so. The flames swirled quite distinctly around them as if they were controlled by someone.” He looked pointedly at Hermione over his spectacles.

Hermione paled and her jaw fell open. She shook her head. “It wasn’t me! I had no idea I could control fire back then. I thought they were going to die.”

“That is exactly why you were able to shield them," he said surely. "You thought about them needing safety from the fire and your mind did the rest. You have a very valuable and rare gift, Hermione. I have met only a few with your talents before, and only one other that had an elemental connection to fire.”

Hermione’s mind reeled. “Why didn’t my Healer tell me I could control an element as part of my condition?” she asked forcefully.

“Because he or she wasn’t allowed to,” Dumbledore answered solemnly. When she gave him a confused stare, he continued.

“Elemental magic is extremely dangerous. That is why the information regarding it is kept in the restricted section in the library. But what you have goes beyond mere magic. Telepaths and Telekinetics like yourself are able to control elements without wands. You can manipulate and direct your elements nearly without limitation. The Ministry long ago made a regulation forbidding any government or health employee from disclosing information concerning elemental abilities unless absolutely essential. They felt, I imagine, that the fewer people that know they can control elements, the fewer problems they’ll face with controlling those people.”

“Are you one of those people too?” Hermione asked Dumbledore hesitantly. He raised his eyebrows at her question.

“I do not have telepathic or telekinetic abilities as you do, no. But I have mastered elemental magic. I suspect that is one of the reasons why Voldemort fears me as he does. His abilities have little effect on me.”

“He can control elements too?” Draco blurted out.

Dumbledore turned to him with a grave expression. “He is like Hermione, I’m afraid. He does not have the musical projection as she does, but he is able to project his thoughts out loud if he wishes. He can control both fire and air, though his air is much stronger than his fire and I do not believe that he has made the connection between his telepathy and telekinesis.”

“That’s how he can fly…” Hermione said quietly to herself. Dumbledore sighed and nodded.

“Yes. He has learned to manipulate his air control to combine it with regular magic and has taught his most trusted Death Eaters to be able to use it as he does,” he said with a significant nod toward Snape.

Snape nodded back and then suddenly turned on the spot as if about to Apparate and hurtled into the air in a swirl of thick fog. He soared along the high ceiling and then landed lightly on the other side of the room. He let the briefest glimpse of a smile cross his face when he saw Draco’s and Hermione’s reactions to his little display.

They gaped at him in amazement and then looked to Dumbledore who was looking rather severely at Hermione.

“Do you see now, why I wanted you to research your gift?" he asked very seriously. "With the proper practice you will be able to manipulate your fire as Voldemort has manipulated his air. Fiendfyre is one of the few things that can destroy a Horcrux, but it is notoriously difficult to control. Not even someone as gifted as I can manage it completely. But you have already done so without even trying. If you learn to harness your ability, the Dark Lord himself will fear you.”

Hermione’s stomach clenched with a strange blend of fear and excitement at his statement. She held her hands out in front of her and studied them. “Could I really be that powerful? Did I really save Draco’s life?”

She looked up to see Snape, Dumbledore and Draco staring at her penetratingly. She steeled her courage and stared back at them determinedly. “How do I start?”

Dumbledore smiled and, with a flick of his wand, lit one of the candles along the wall.

“You start by mastering regular fire,” he answered. “Without your wand, I would like you to light the rest of these candles. I assume you're familiar with the basic fire-taming principles after your research yesterday?”

Hermione nodded once and then looked at the candles that were stationed ahead of her. She thought hard about wanting them to be lit, trying to focus her energy as the books had instructed, but nothing happened. She twisted her mouth in disappointment as she rethought her approcah. She raised her right hand and pointed a finger at the lone burning flame and moved her finger up and down while focusing hard. The flame rose from the wick and then returned to it.

She smiled widely in triumph and Dumbledore beamed at her.

“Go on,” he encouraged. She nodded and traced her finger through the air to direct the little flame to the neighboring candle’s wick. The flame followed her proposed path and landed on the next candle, igniting it. She quickly repeated her movements and within seconds all of the candles were shining brightly.

“Now, collect all of the flames and bring them to you,” Dumbledore instructed. Snape and Draco backed away from her and then watched raptly as Hermione held up her hand towards the candles. At once all of the tiny flames lifted from their wicks, converged together, and then floated across the room into Hermione’s cupped palm.

“Make the fire larger,” Dumbledore said with enthusiasm.

Hermione focused on the bouncing ball of fire in her hand and it tripled in size. Without prompting, she then transferred the flames between her hands and then let them swirl around her arm as she had done for Draco the day before.

Draco’s heart raced with anxiety as he watched the fire travel up and around her arm and then down and around her torso. The fire expanded in size again and, in one swift whoosh, engulfed her entire body below the neck.

“Hermione!” Draco yelled in complete panic. He pulled out his wand, but Snape gripped his arm and Dumbledore held up a hand for him to calm. He watched wild-eyed as Hermione turned to him with a smile.

“I’m alright. It doesn’t hurt at all; it doesn’t even feel hot to me,” she said calmly. Draco relaxed a bit and took a tentative step forward when Snape released his arm. Hermione walked to him and said, “Hold out your hand.”

Draco held out his left hand to her. He held his breath and prepared for pain as she flexed her fingers to drop a flame into his waiting palm. But the pain never came. He didn’t feel anything. He looked at the fire bouncing over his hand in astonishment and looked back up at Hermione.

“Do you trust me?” she whispered to him.

Draco stared deep into her sparkling brown eyes. “Yes,” he said and smiled when he realized he really meant it.

Dumbledore and Snape watched silently as Hermione then stepped into Draco and wrapped her arms around him. She leaned in to kiss him and as she did so the flames that surrounded her spread out and enveloped the both of them entirely.

“My gods, Albus,” Snape said in awe as he stared at Draco and Hermione kissing passionately within the giant swirling fire.

“I knew she would be good,” Dumbledore remarked astutely.

The professors looked on in silence and waited for their pupils to end their session.

Draco pulled back from Hermione after a minute and marveled at the flames that whirled all around them. “You are amazing,” he said. “I look forward to having a front row seat when you make Voldie shite himself.”

Hermione threw back her head and cackled loudly at Draco’s comment. She released the fire as she did so and it extinguished at once. She was still laughing heartily when Dumbledore began to clap his hands.

“Excellent, Hermione!” he exclaimed, stepping toward them. “That was truly magnificent. I daresay you have mastered regular flame already. Do you feel comfortable attempting the Fiendfyre today?”

“Absolutely,” she answered, wiping a mirthful tear from her eye.

She had never felt more energized in her life. It wasn’t even three o’clock and she had already had a sexual awakening, a breakthrough in trust with Draco, and become a master fire tamer. She looked at the diadem on the pedestal only a few steps in front of her. By dinner, hopefully she could add ‘destroyed a fucking Horcrux’ to the list.

Dumbledore saw Hermione eyeing the diadem. “This next part will be substantially more dangerous,” he warned. “Severus, Draco, I will ask you both to stay as far against the back wall as possible and have your wands ready to shield.”

Snape nodded and walked to the far wall. Draco gave Hermione a quick kiss and then followed Snape to lean against the wall.

“Now,” Dumbledore began, “did you study how to cast a Fiendfyre yesterday as well?”

Hermione nodded.

“Do you think you can try casting it now?”

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded again. Dumbledore inclined his head back to her for her to try.

Hermione took out her wand and gripped it tight. She held it out in front of her and drew a precise sequence of swirls with it as she whispered the incantation for the Fiendfyre.

A roaring, fiery raptor burst forth violently from her wand at once and tore around the space surrounding her. She panicked and flicked her wand harshly and the raptor disappeared.

“I’m sorry!” she cried darting a glance to Dumbledore.

“It’s quite alright,” he said soothingly. “The power of Fiendfyre can be overwhelming at first. But do not doubt yourself. You are more than capable of controlling it. Try again.”

Hermione looked into the mirrored wall before her and caught Draco’s gaze from behind her in the reflection. He winked at her and she felt her confidence reboot. She looked down again and stared daggers at the ancient tiara sitting on the pedestal and drew the same precise swirls and whispered the incantation for the Fiendfyre. As soon as the fire left the tip of her wand the tiara began to hiss loudly.

A look of alarm crossed Dumbledore’s face and he went to step forward but was pushed back by the heat of the gigantic, flaming chimera that Hermione had created.

When Hermione heard the hiss, the room suddenly erupted with electronic music. She was about to battle a piece of Voldemort’s soul.

“Holy fuck,” Draco gasped from his place on the wall.

Snape looked at him. “What is she doing?” he asked.

“She’s playing music because she’s about to destroy it,” Draco answered as he admired his fire goddess at work. How appropriate was it that she was projecting Firestarter by The Prodigy? “Her subconscious is bloody brilliant,” he mused.

Hermione held onto her wand tightly in her left hand and raised her right hand to direct the Fiendfyre. The crackling creature she had created pounced around in front of her and slowed to a standstill. Its heads turned and looked at her.

“It feels like a Patronus,” she marveled to herself. Using the same intent she normally used to guide her Patronus, she directed the Fiendfyre to walk up to the pedestal with the diadem. As it approached, the diadem vibrated violently upon its stone resting place and Voldemort’s voice suddenly joined the sounds of the music in the room.

“I SEE YOUR FEARS, MUDBLOOD!” it wailed dramatically. “YOU WILL NEVER BE WORTHY OF MAGIC! YOU WERE NEVER WORTH ANYTHING, NOT EVEN TO YOUR HUSBAND! AND YOU ARE WORTH LESS THAN NOTHING TO THAT BLOOD TRAITOR! YOU WERE BORN WORTHLESS AND YOU WILL DIE WORTHLESS!”

Hermione closed her eyes and felt the chimera begin to resist her. The evil of Voldemort’s soul was penetrating into her own and she could feel the darkness taking over as it yelled at her. She doubled over and the chimera roared and reared up.

Seeing her obvious distress, Draco kicked off the wall and took a step forward. He quickly cast a sonorus charm on his voice and shouted to Hermione over the din of the music and the Horcrux’s taunts. “YOU ARE WORTH EVERYTHING TO ME! KILL THAT FUCKER, BABY!”

The darkness that had begun to filter through her immediately retreated when Hermione heard Draco’s words. She stood upright again and pointed fiercely at the chimera to return to the pedestal. It calmed at once and bounded to the pedestal and the lion head of it opened its flaming mouth widely and clamped down over the diadem. The ancient headpiece shrieked and then went silent as it broke in two.

Hermione ended the Fiendfyre spell and the chimera disappeared and the music faded away. She collapsed to the floor and Draco shot forward to her side.

“Are you okay?” he asked her sharply. She nodded. He hugged her tight and then watched as Dumbledore went to the pedestal and poked at the charred pieces of the diadem.

“I’d say you are officially a force to be reckoned with, my dear,” the Headmaster said with an awed shake of his head.

Hermione smiled weakly at him.

Destroyed a fucking Horcrux.
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Songs of Regret