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The Apprentice	By : Nerys Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 62961 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
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The Apprentice

Chapter Fifteen

The walls of solid rock trembled when Sharasvati Nathaira shut the door. It was dark and damp as most caves were, but she liked the gloom, the moist and the outrageous humidity. She loved to see people sweat at her feet. It was a sign of their inferiority to her. Real witches did not perspire; there was no need to if you could control the magic within. And she was all about control. She paced to the centre of the circular cave and whipped her wand around. Little lights sparkled on the walls, casting shadows at odd moments all around.

She dumped her coat on the nearest of two large half-circular white couches, which stood opposite from each other forming a true circle. They could seat as many people at a time as was necessary. Though often, she was the only one sitting in it, while the rest grovelled at her feet on the floor. In the centre of the couches’ circle stood a low-rising table made of the same rock as the cave was from. Her wand had carved it out so many years ago. It was all the furniture and decoration she had. She never was one for the frivolous things in life. Magic was all you needed; magic and the right blood.

‘Mistress, I-’ a bald, fat-bellied man spoke, grovelling on the stone ground as required.

‘Leave,’ she barked furiously, while continuously slapping with her wand in her hand.

The man’s eyes widened and he hurried away fearfully. He’d seen what happened when her temper was like that before and he had no desire to be on the receiving end of that stick.

Nathaira paced the cave to and fro. Her long purple robes trailed her slim figure, exhibiting her aggravation by swaying abruptly with every turn of her body. She rubbed her hands through her short spiky dark-brown hair, frustrated. Nobody, nobody dared to challenge her! So, who did that little bitch apprentice think she is!? She growled, swearing she would get Li Mei back for this. Even if it was the last thing she’d ever do, she’d find a method to pay the blasted light Keeper back for handing her this infuriating apprentice. Never before, never before had she failed to show a light candidate the dark; NEVER! How dare that insane girl ignore its powers! How dare she ignore her! She was Isabella Sharasvati Nathaira; her ancestry could be traced back all the way to Isis; she was the greatest witch alive – nobody ignored her!

‘What’s got your knickers all in a twist?’ Gellert asked, amused. He’d seated his frail body luxuriously in one of her white couches, his arms hanging over the backrest, his legs resting on the low table, ankles crossed, lounging comfortably – the prototype of laziness.

Nathaira froze on the spot upon hearing the blasted voice. Unbelievable, the man was unbelievable – always appearing out of thin air when you least expected him. Not to mention that he never waited for an official invite, and whatever bloody ward she used, he just burst through it. It was most annoying, especially since she had no idea how he did it, and Nathaira always knew, always. However, right now, Gellert was not the source of her aggravation, but he might be of assistance in getting rid of it. She swirled around.

‘That girl,’ Nathaira growled. ‘She is insane. Li Mei picked a candidate who is insane.’

‘Oh my,’ Gellert said, bringing his hands to his chest in a mocking gesture. ‘Don’t tell me it finally happened?’ He laughed loudly. ‘The great Nathaira unable to destroy a light candidate. Stop the presses.’

‘This isn’t funny,’ Nathaira hissed.

‘Oh come on, Vati, it happens to all of us. Sometimes you just get a candidate that can’t be swayed by the dark. Big deal.’

‘But it is a big deal, Gellert, it is.’

‘You are taking this way too serious.’

‘Am I? You tell me, Gellert. How is your candidate responding to Albus’s guidance?’ She snorted haughtily. ‘Don’t tell me you really think that insipid Malfoy boy is going to be able to resist his light path?’

‘Do I look like I care?’ Gellert replied, shrugging, a small smile on his face.

‘And then, there is Him,’ Sharasvati groaned. ‘He’s not going to fail with that Mudblood.’

‘He’d better,’ Gellert mumbled, scratching his neck nervously.

‘What was that?’

‘Nothing – nothing.’

Nathaira looked at him, curiously.

‘So, this is an ego issue?’ Gellert asked, diverting the attention away. He didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart about his feelings concerning Albus’s candidate with this witch. ‘You want to beat Albus and Tom.’

‘No, damn it, Gellert. I am supposed to guide her. You know the rules.’

‘Then guide the girl, stop nagging to me she is not picking what you want her to.’

‘You’re missing my point. I can’t guide her,’ Nathaira said, throwing her arms in the air in defeat. ‘She won’t take any guidance.’

Gellert raised an eyebrow.

‘I swear to you,’ Nathaira said desperately. She waved her wand at the couch and it moved to let her pass. ‘She is impossible. The blonde bitch is impossible. Li didn’t pick this moronic candidate to become a Keeper; she couldn’t have. No, she picked this candidate to drive me insane. I swear one more second with that girl and I am going to Avada myself.’ She plummeted in the couch opposite to Gellert’s.

‘Eh, I know all about how infuriating some powerful light candidates can be. Remember, I had to guide two of Albus’s former protégés, Gunvald and Li Mei. They both drove me up the wall at times.’

‘But you could guide them, couldn’t you?’ Sharasvati snarled, crossing her legs. ‘I may not like them, but they can think logically. This – this one,’ she raised her hands in surrender again. ‘Her brain is all twisted. It’s not wired correctly. She is not allowing me to do a thing.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean she is literally not letting me guide her,’ replied Sharasvati, frustrated.

Gellert frowned. ‘You’re supposed to guide her.’

‘Really, you’re telling me?’ she mocked.

‘If you don’t guide her, Sharasvati, you will be held in violation of-’

‘Don’t you think I don’t know that!’ she yelled, jumping to her feet. ‘This is all a trap. Li set me up with this girl. That Chinese bitch set me up to die. There is no way Li can think this girl should become a Keeper. No way!’ Her hand clutched around her wand, turning her tanned knuckles whiter than a ghost on laundry day.

‘I still don’t understand why you say this candidate couldn’t become a Keeper; she did excellent on the previous tasks, and if she is capable of driving you up the wall like that then...’

‘Then what?’ she sneered, kicking the very heavy couch to the side.

Gellert flinched.

‘She must be really good?’ she finished his sentence mockingly, snorting loudly. ‘I have done everything – everything! – to guide that girl into choosing a path, into choosing her destination. Ha! She won’t pick. I started out as I always do; a few dark curses to target her body, mind and soul. Most light candidates are soooo afraid of their inner darkness; they bury it deeply so no one will see. Once you bring it out, they run home screaming for their mummy; but she ignored it! Ignored it like it was irrelevant!’ she huffed, disbelievingly.

Gellert scratched his neck, wishing he hadn’t decided to check up on the third candidate’s progress on the day Nathaira had a mental breakdown. Her wand could be pretty darn damaging to the human body. However, on the other hand, seeing the mighty Nathaira fall was quite entertaining.

‘So, I did the mind games,’ Nathaira rambled on. ‘And every logical mind out there would see the benefit there is to gain from embracing the power of all your magic. She didn’t care about the power the dark could grant her. She was too busy theorising Time should move backward to undo a cast spell. Time moving backward without a Time-Turner! And do you know how she thinks Time can move back? Do you, Gellert!’ she shouted.

Gellert just stared at the furious witch, unresponsive. He thought the whole situation was quite comical. And he was beginning to hope that maybe, just maybe, Hermione Granger wouldn’t be the last one standing in the end.

‘Well, there are these invisible creatures. I forgot the ridiculous name, but conveniently no one has ever heard of them,’ Nathaira sneered, her hands gesturing wildly to support her words. ‘Well, these beings will move Time for you if you perform the right ritual to get them to come out of hibernation in our closest parallel dimension. I swear she will drive me nuts with her illogical ideas.’

‘Look,’ Gellert intervened calmly. ‘I know you always want to beat the light Keepers by dragging their chosen ones into dark magic or crushing their minds, but sometimes you can only guide your apprentice on the path he or she has already chosen. Sometimes they have matured enough to no longer be susceptible-’

‘Matured?’ Nathaira mocked questioningly. ‘She is not mature; she is insane.’

‘You keep saying that, Vati, but you’re not validating your statement with any facts. You really need to start guiding your apprentice as you’re supposed to – not as how you may want to. The Dream Sequence has been invented for a reason.’

‘I did the Dream Sequence,’ Sharasvati said sweetly, approaching him slowly. ‘I followed the rules once I knew I had no other choice. Wanna know what happened, Gellert?’

Gellert eyed the wand in the witch’s hand apprehensively. His memory about her capabilities was too clear not to take the threat seriously. Besides, his butt still ached from Voldemort’s bloody curse when he ended the duel at the Keepers’ meeting – Gellert felt he couldn’t use another lasting injury.

‘Nothing,’ Sharasvati continued.

‘Nothing?’ Gellert questioned, confused.

‘Nothing,’ she repeated, satisfied he was finally getting her dilemma.

‘How do you mean? Didn’t she follow your lead in the dream or didn’t the dream work?’

‘Oh no, the charm worked. I was there; she was; both paths were available to her. I explained which one she should pick, but nothing.’

‘I don’t get it. You say the Dream Charm worked fully, and then, she didn’t do what you want? Why do you care which path she picked? You know it doesn’t matter if they pick the light or the dark path. Both paths show either side and lead to the same destination – further knowledge of self.’

‘She didn’t pick a path,’ Sharasvati answered, tapping with her foot, getting tired of repeating her words.

‘You have to pick a path; it’s inherent to the charm,’ Gellert objected. ‘It doesn’t matter which one they pick; once they have chosen, they learn.’

‘Well, she didn’t pick either path,’ Sharasvati repeated again, folding her arms over each other, irritated.

‘Then the charm must have malfun-’

‘She turned around and walked back,’ Sharasvati interrupted abruptly.

‘She did what?!’ Gellert asked, amazed.

‘She went back from where she came. She said, “She knew this path would lead back home.” The charm broke immediately.’

Gellert roared with laughter.

Annoyed, Nathaira narrowed her eyes at him, tightening the grip on her wand.

‘Oh come on, Vati,’ he chuckled, clutching to his belly. ‘You gotta hand it to her; it’s one hell of a joke on our so-called infallibility. She broke the charm,’ he repeated, giggling.

‘Yeah, well, I’d be more amused if the joke wasn’t on me,’ she said. ‘I can’t teach this child anything. Her essay is madness. Her ideas are too far out there. Her magical skills are mediocre, but worse is that I can’t even guide her in her choices. She is not living in reality.’

‘What if you put all your darkness inside her mind? Don’t try to locate hers, just infuse her with all you got. It’ll be impossible to ignore and she will have to deal with it.’

‘You think I hadn’t thought of that already? I did that before trying the damn Dream Charm.’

‘Are you telling me you couldn’t guide a girl after you filled her mind with all your dark magic?’ Gellert taunted, knowingly targeting the humongous ego of the witch to set her off, but for once these taunts fell on deaf ears.

‘She said, “Wrackspurts are following me.” And she went to bed. I hit her with every last ounce of my dark magic, and she blames Wrackspurts,’ Nathaira said, shaking her head.

‘Wrack-what?’

‘Wrackspurts,’ Nathaira said, tired. ‘Don’t tell me the great Gellert Grindelwald has never heard of Wrackspurts?’

‘Can’t say I have,’ he said, now thoroughly amused.

‘Well, they eat your brain and make you feel fuzzy.’

‘Okaaaay,’ Gellert replied, stretching out the vowel.

‘I need help here.’

‘Yeah, obviously.’

‘Not from you, you idiot,’ she sneered. ‘From Him. I need you to contact him. You’re a natural at Apparation, and the only one of us Keepers capable of actually passing his bleeding wards without dying a horrible death.’

Gellert sighed. He really didn’t feel like visiting Lord Voldemort. ‘Why not send Nebi to ask for his assistance?’

‘I did. He didn’t reply back,’ Nathaira said, disgruntled anyone had the nerve to ignore her almighty being.

Gellert bit his tongue, but it didn’t stop the laughter from bubbling to the surface; he coughed loudly, obscuring the laughing fit as he felt it closing in. He had a pretty good idea what happened to the envelope and he sincerely doubted it had been opened before it became part of the kindling in the hearth. When he felt secure enough he could hold his speech under control, he opened his mouth.

‘Well, he does have his own apprentice. Perhaps he doesn’t feel like doing your job, too,’ Gellert replied tauntingly. ‘It is, after all, your responsibility.’

‘I don’t need him to do anything. I only need to know what safety measures he used in his Nightmare Curse, so I can use that curse, too. I’d love to see her ditch her lesson then,’ Nathaira said vengefully.

Gellert just looked at Nathaira.

‘What,’ she snapped.

‘Er – Vati, you are not really asking me to ask Tom Marvolo Riddle about his additions to an already dangerous Dark Arts curse,’ he said, blinking, because he was sure he must have misunderstood her.

‘Concerned for Lovegood’s safety, Gellert?’

‘No, concerned for mine.’

‘Look, you little pip-squeak, the Nightmare Curse is all I have left; no one in all eternity has been able to resist the inherent darkness of that curse, but the risk of death is too great and we are not allowed to kill our apprentices,’ she said; she was very furious about that restriction.

‘I can understand your dilemma; but really Vati, you’re delusional if you’ll think he’ll share his solution with you. The man’s a living, breathing, impenetrable vault. He is going to laugh in my face when I ask him.’ Gellert shook his head. He could just see himself having that conversation. Oh Lord Voldemort, could you pretty please tell me all about your personal inventions?

‘There must be something I could do for him in return,’ Nathaira retorted.

‘You want to be in his debt?’ asked Gellert, warning her with his eyes to reconsider. He might not like the witch, but to hand someone over to him… Well, you had to be really spiteful and vindictive to do that. And he was absolutely not spiteful and vindictive. Well, not without a wand anyway.

‘What choice do I have? I am dead if I don’t guide this impossible loony bin.’

‘Well, I can ask,’ Gellert muttered, rolling his eyes; he had a pretty good idea to what the answer would be. Eh, he might not like Sharasvati Nathaira, but he was pretty sure Tom loathed her.

‘Then go ask,’ Nathaira ordered impatiently. ‘Don’t hang around here like you have nowhere to be.’

‘Always the hospitable one, aren’t you?’

‘Just leave, Gellert, before I take out my frustration on you,’ she snarled, waving her wand at him threateningly.

Soundlessly, he disappeared from the cave.

Nathaira looked at the quiet empty spot. ‘How does he do that?’ she shouted before blowing up several pieces of furniture to let of steam.

She hoped the man would return quickly. She really wanted to inflict some serious damage on the target of her anger, and the Cruciatus Curse just didn’t cut it. It didn’t create real physical damage. Sure, you could destroy someone’s mental state, but in this case… Ugh. Need she say more?

In a swirl, she tossed her body over the backrest of the nearest couch and lay down, waiting for Grindelwald to give her Lord Voldemort’s answer. Merlin, that she had to ask a half-blood for help was another reason to get back at Li Mei for making her a guide to Luna Lovegood. Yes, when the time came, she would get even with Mei. She would get even.

---

The full moon in the enchanted window cast its bright light across the chamber, highlighting the girl’s form in a spectrum of black-and-white colours, as she slept on her right side in the bed he’d provided her with. Shadows danced eerily around the four-poster when the occasional cloud blocked the biggest light source of the room, leaving it up to the one candle on the wall, she had left burning. At the foot of the bed, Lord Voldemort leaned against the post with his shoulder, while gazing intently at Hermione Granger.

She’d hugged one of the pillows to her chest, her left arm around it, while the other lay limp underneath her head in between her curls. The bed’s white covers were draped only around her torso, wrinkling tremendously. They had long given up hope of staying neatly tucked into any edge of the bed. The same was true for her big shabby sleeveless nightshirt. He’d seen her standing in it before, and it was so long it reached over her knees; but she’d twisted and turned in her sleep so much, it was now wrinkled up all the way to her stomach, revealing a lot of naked skin and her cute bottom inside a pair of sensible white panties.

Her left leg lay in an odd, uncomfortable appearing stretched out position, making her foot dangle outside the bed at nearly the same height as her head was on; while her right leg was curled up against her butt. Someone was going to have some serious sore muscles when she woke. He grinned, pushing himself away from the post, slowly strolling toward the side of the bed with his wand in his hand.

Everything turned out most convenient for him. When he had used the Nightmare Curse on the girl, he’d made more modifications than merely the one to prevent her from dying. It was something he hadn’t felt the need to share with the other Keepers. It wouldn’t do to upset Dumbles and his posse after all.

However, at the time, he had merely thought the modifications would turn useful in their ability to destroy Potter’s best friend. He had considered her to be nothing but a Mudblood in dire need of elimination. Someone, whose intelligence and skill were far overrated by those incompetent of seeing real talent. Someone, who was foolish enough to think she could steal from him and get away with it; an insignificant detail in Potter’s environment.

Boy, had he been mistaken.

Mistaken, a term most unsuited to describe the greatness that is Lord Voldemort. It irked him severely he had to use it once. It would not happen again – never, ever again. This girl was to be the only exception.

The severity of her injuries, her near-death experience despite his inserted fail-safe; those things had intrigued him. After all, a Nightmare Curse only affected the most powerful to such extend, but he had pushed her reaction aside as an anomaly. His excuse being that perhaps she had an underlying physical condition, which had triggered her absurd condition.

However, the girl had the nerve to demand a meeting after her recovery – he’d been absolutely livid about it at the time. He’d wanted to crucio Dumbledore for all eternity. He’d wanted to coat every single lemon drop in the whole of Great Britain with slow-working, excruciatingly painful venom to make sure he’d got his well-earned punishment for forcing him to be this Mudblood’s guide. But that meeting had turned into a blessing in disguise, because it had shown him her true potential.

Nowadays, the girl being his apprentice, made him feel ecstatic; for without it he would never have known this seemingly insignificant girl had the sharpness of mind to come to the same conclusion he had when he had been an apprentice – namely that McMullen’s theory was worthless. If she would have had any other guide but him, this would have never come to his attention, because they would not have allowed her to continue her essay in that direction. He remembered clearly the amount of opposition he had blatantly cast aside as nonsense when he wrote his essay.

Yes, in case you were foolish enough to wonder or hope for a happy ending, his guide did mysteriously disappear one evening and was never heard from ever again.

Sure, Dumbledore had suspected him to have a hand in the disappearance; but eh, Tom Riddle had classes and a person could hardly be at two places at once; right?

Wrong!

He sniggered. He had to hand it to Abraxas Malfoy though. He wasn’t as useless as his offspring. The polyjuiced boy had been pretty darn good at imitating his posture, his walk, the way he talked, his every gesture – a bit too good. It would have been obvious to any imbecile that Abraxas had done some previous imitations. Tom had “explained” his displeasure about this at his earliest convenience, despite Abraxas’s useful assistance in helping him get away with murder. Killing the Keeper, who had the gall to mock his theory, had been most pleasurable. Murder quickly became his newest hobby.

Nevertheless, Lord Voldemort was pretty sure Hermione would not have had the strength to keep believing in her theories and continue working on them if they were trashed over and over again by her tutor. Her insecurity would have been her undoing. Carefully, he sat down on the bedside her back was turned to. The motion merely made her sigh and hug the pillow a bit closer. She did not wake.

Thoughtfully, he eyed the wand in his hand before watching Hermione again. Now that he understood the full range of her fear of failure, it was clear to him why Dumbledore had chosen him as the girl’s guide. Lord Voldemort was indeed the most likely one to assist her in correcting this insane character flaw.

Back then, he had expected Albus to pick McFerlon, Dubois or Bouvier, since neither of those dark Keepers gave a damn about someone’s blood-status. But these three were too dim-witted in the social arena to do something about her weaknesses. Petro fell off, because he was too lazy to put any effort into another person. Nathaira, who had the manipulative skill and the intelligence to use it, would have destroyed Hermione, purely out of spite over her heritage.

Merlin, he remembered the woman nagging on and on and on when he visited her the first and last time in India. It was like Sharasvati Nathaira had been worried he hadn’t understood it the first million times she explained how important the right blood was for someone of magic. With the condescending tone she had dared to speak to him, she’d been lucky he’d made Keeper by then; otherwise she’d be a nice, little Inferi right about now. He’d had to torture and kill someone else afterward to relieve the tension headache the witch had given him. No, Sharasvati was out of the question as an option. She was a bigger fanatic about blood than all the Lestranges placed together.

Gellert…?

Lord Voldemort tapped with his wand in his hand. He had to admit Gellert had the capabilities to steer a person into the right directionif he felt like it. And Gellert’s strive always was aimed more at the subjugation of muggles – not so much at the different wizarding blood-types. Sure, he valued pureblood as the highest; but as long as you were magical and saw things his way, he could live with you.

Perhaps it had been the past between the two that made Dumbledore pick him as the more likely person to assist the girl over Grindelwald? The responses he had got from the man concerning Hermione so far didn’t make it seem likely Grindelwald would have felt like helping her out. Dumbledore must have realised that Lord Voldemort would see her true potential and act upon it.

Also, Gellert’s words would never have the same amount of weight to it as His would have to Hermione. Grindelwald belonged in the past, while he was very much a part of her present, an enemy even. A compliment from someone who was your adversary held considerable more weight than one from someone you considered to be history. Of course, Gellert also didn’t have a wand, which limited the man’s abilities to act as a true guide should.

No, it seemed poor Albus had been stuck with him. A vile smirk made it to his snakelike face, lightening up his features with an undeniably evil joy. This surely must have caused that ridiculously everlasting, on-your-nerve-getting, I-Know-Something-You-Don’t twinkle to leave the old coot’s eyes for awhile. He considered this fact alone a testament to the value of this entire apprenticeship, but it would become even better once he had Hermione change sides.

Lord Voldemort looked back at the sleeping girl and his eyes turned thoughtful. If he’d been Dumbledore, he wouldn’t have risked it with someone so valuable. But he always seemed to be able to underestimate how low Albus could go. Sure, Lord Voldemort knew a thing or two about going low. He himself had set up his own fair share of his stupid, blundering followers to be taken down by his opponents, Draco Malfoy being the latest example; but that was all part of his devilish Dark Lord charm. When Dumbledore did the same, it was just annoying everyone to tears.

Well, this time around, Albus’s plotting would blow up in his face. He’d show the fool the true definition of loss. What Lord Voldemort wants, he damn well will get. And the moment he realised Hermione Granger had the intelligence to see through the idiocy that’s called a theory of everything, he knew exactly on which side she belonged – His.

He might not have realised her full potential back when he cursed her with the nightmare, but now that he had…

A wicked glint danced in his eyes.

Now that he had, he was going to take full advantage of those modifications he planted in that curse.

Cautiously (in order not to wake her), he stretched out his hand and stroked through her hair. For something that appeared like a bush of exploded barbed wire, it felt incredibly soft when it ran through his fingers. Several strands were stuck to her face. He gently brushed them back, trying to flatten them, to tame them into keeping their place with the others; but they stubbornly jumped back into their previous position the moment he removed his hand.

How very typical.

Waiting patiently for the proper response, he kept on patting Hermione’s hair. It took a couple of minutes before she suddenly let out an inarticulate noise, moved her left leg on top of her right, and rolled around. She came to a stop when her side bumped against him, which caused her left arm to end up in his lap and her bend legs to drop, stretching themselves out on the flat cotton surface. Wand ready, he waited to see if she’d wake.

Fortunately, she didn’t; a true testament to the actual power of his modifications. The corner of his mouth tugged upward, while he watched her lay there, sprawled on her back helplessly. It was about to get so much worse. He moved his wand in a fluent, wavelike motion above her face and cast non-verbally, ‘Somnus Totallus!’

She let out a deep sigh and every muscle in her body turned completely flaccid. He felt her arm slide out of his lap, until it bungled slightly over the side of the bed – unable to go farther. No longer having to worry she would waken, he picked up her dangling arm and placed it above her head where her other arm lay. There, they wouldn’t be in his way. Studying the peaceful expression on her face, he waited a moment before cupping her cheek with his left hand. After running his fingers in small circles over her soft skin, he slowly moved his thumb over her lips, took a hold of her jaw, and opened her mouth. Placing his right hand close by her head for support, he took a deep breath and leaned forward. His lips captured hers easily.

Focussing intently, he blew every bit of air he had down her windpipe – his dark magic swirled down with it, searching Hermione’s body for that tiny dark flame to supply it with food and oxygen to turn up the heat. He closed his eyes and moaned against her lips when his magic came into contact with the little seed his Nightmare Curse had sown. It was beautifully rooted into the very essence of her being already. This was going to be much easier than expected. She must have had quite an inclination to do dark deeds before his curse.

Not unexpected though, in the past when he had wanted more information about Potter’s friends, he’d got some reports from Severus about her more questionable jinxing actions. He recalled the sheer annoyance on Severus’s face as he informed him about the things Miss Perfect and Everybody’s Favourite Gryffindor Prefect had got away with. It had been hard for him not to laugh real loud in Severus’s face; but you had to see the irony of it, and he didn’t think Snape would get it.

Reluctantly, he withdrew from her lips when what he really wanted to do was make that little dark flame roar and burn away every last residue of light inside of her. But she was not stupid. If he did that, she’d know he’d done something to her when she woke; and she would fight him tooth and nail. He didn’t feel like fighting a dark witch of her power – no, she had to be his witch first. It had to go gradually, seemingly organic, one lousy irritatingly slow step at the time. By the time Lord Voldemort would ask her to stand beside him, doing his bidding; it had to be the logical next step to take to her. And not just in her eyes, but also to everyone else in her environment too. It would crush that whole pitiful Order of the Nugget to pieces if someone that close to their boy wonder switched sides. They wouldn’t know who to trust after such a joyous event occurred.

His high-pitched laugh bounced of the walls.

Thoroughly happy, he gazed at the girl who was going to destroy them all for him. Though Potter and the silly ignorant Order were irrelevant when it came down to the real target he wanted to use her for. He should write Dumbledore a letter expressing his Lordship’s utmost gratitude. The old coot had unwittingly secured his victory.

With a devious expression, he leaned back to Hermione’s face. Lord Voldemort might not be able to turn her dark overnight, but he could toy with her a bit. He’d had so much fun in that hallway, noticing the amount of restraint it cost her to stay still, to not fall victim to his magic. He’d seen the confusion on her face – not understanding why she felt the way she did. He could have informed her it was due to the choice she had to have made in her nightmare in order to survive it. He’d known from the moment he heard she was on the verge of dying that if she lived, she would be his. She would have to surrender her magic into his care, submit to him fully, and this was not something exclusive to the Land of Phobetor. No, it was very real; a dream that wouldn’t go away once you opened your eyes and returned to reality. He was her reality now and he had waited long enough – controlled himself long enough around her; it was time she began to see who was her master.

So far her memories had not supplied him with any visuals of her nightmare during their Occlumency exercises. Her mind was subconsciously doing what he was trying to teach her; it had compartmentalised her memory of the event to such a degree you had to pass too much rubbish to obtain it. No amount of Stage Two Legilimency would bring it to the surface – you needed to be able to do the real deal, Stage Three. The fact that she had buried it so deep was pretty telling all on its own. But, since she had almost died, he knew what would have to have happened in order for her to stay alive, so he knew why she stuffed it away. It was time to see the details for himself. Holding his wand in his hand, he whispered to her lips, ‘Legilimens!’

It’s when he kissed her thoroughly on her mouth, forcing his magic inside of her while closing his eyes to mentally establish a connection to her mind. He had to be quick. This was Stage Three Legilimency, the most dangerous one of all to perform for its victim, so he had to locate the correct memory fast in order not to fry every single one of her brain-cells. Fortunately, her magic was his to command, the memory he needed was from a dream, and her mind was already hovering in that state, so he caught it within the timeframe he deemed to be safe. Smirking, he filed away the details and left her mind.

It was even better than the Dark Lord could have hoped for. Thank Rowena, for he had to make use of this information. It wouldn’t matter if Hermione figured out, this was his doing. Though, he wondered if she would. Hogwarts wasn’t exactly known for his great sex-ed lessons; she had hardly spent time with her muggle parents, and she seemed pretty green in the memory. But, she was a teenager after all. Teenagers were walking hormone bombs waiting to explode. All he had to do was add some magical fuel. He sniggered. He had plenty of fuel.

‘Flamma Hormonallus!’ he cast, tracing her skin with his wand.

He, then, placed the tip of his wand on his skin and cast, ‘Priori Incantato!’

A ghost image of his previous spell traced his skin, connecting them intimately again. One thing was for sure when Hermione would wake from her deep slumber, she wouldn’t be doing any studying. Sniggering loudly, Lord Voldemort stood up. His wand flashed one last time. ‘Somnus Finite!’

And he apparated away to the corridor in the dungeons. He had made his insipid followers (including Narcissa and Draco) wait in one of Lucius’s hospitable cellars after the departure of the ministry workers. He still had some explaining to do to Bella and it would be most effective to her and everyone else who dared to even consider questioning his judgement if he performed his explanation in front of them all. He also needed to do some obliviating on the Malfoy boy, and then, there was Severus. What to do with Severus? The man obviously had recognised Hermione. She had tried her best, but even he had seen some of the telltale gestures she had made, so he was positive Severus would have picked up on them. The man had been around the girl much longer than he had been. So, obliviate Snape or not?

He smirked. Perhaps he should leave that problem for Dumbo? Yes, he would. It would be most telling if Severus joined him again with or without his memory intact.

Well, this shouldn’t take too long. He should be done on time before Hermione woke. He would make good use of his spell. It was going to be so much fun toying with her. Wondering in what state he would find her in, he made the decision there was no rush in getting there. No rush at all. With a crash, he slammed open the door to the cellar.

‘Bella, I believe we have a previous set appointment to keep,’ Voldemort said cheerfully. ‘Crucio!’

---

‘Gellert?’ he asked sighing, wishing for once the man would announce himself before dropping in like a thief in the night.

‘Just thought I’d hop by with some news before I am off,’ Gellert responded lightly and planted his behind quickly in one of the more comfortable chairs visible. ‘Nothing big. Just Nathaira loosing it completely.’

‘Oh?’ said the man at the other side of the table, looking up with interest, drawing his attention away from his stack of papers in front of him.

‘Yes, she is convinced Mei gave her this apprentice to drive her insane or get her killed,’ Gellert continued, winking. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me one bit either. Mei is devious and dark enough to do something like it. And I have to say I have kind of wondered why things were proceeding the way they are, ever since both you and Mei chose the most dangerous ones of all to guide your candidates simultaneously. I mean no one in their right mindset would choose Nathaira with her track-record of destroying candidates; and no one has ever been foolish enough to pick Tom, so…’ he wiggled his eyebrows. ‘Care to enlighten me, Albus?’

Albus shook his head, smiling. ‘Gellert, you are becoming quite the conspiracy theorist.’

‘Perhaps I am,’ Gellert said, laughing. ‘Must be the company I keep. Anyway, it seems Lovegood is managing her assignment without guidance.’

‘What do you mean without guidance? Are you saying Nathaira is deliberately letting this girl fail by doing nothing?’ asked Dumbledore sharply, and his posture went from mild interest to alert in a second.

‘No, she is trying her hardest to make Lovegood fall into darkness. It’s Luna who’s ignoring her. It’s Luna who avoided the Dream Sequence,’ Gellert ended, watching his old friend across the desk with anticipation. He was not disappointed.

‘Avoided it?’ asked Dumbledore, intrigued.

‘She didn’t pick one of the two paths ahead but went back from where she came,’ Gellert said, smirking.

Dumbledore gasped, and then, he shook his head. ‘Creative,’ he complimented.

‘No shit. It makes me worry less about your candidate.’

‘Worry?’

‘Yeah, worry,’ Gellert replied sharp, glaring at Albus. ‘Worry she will make it ’till the end, taking her guide into consideration. I’ve known you to take a risk or two in your life, Albus, but one as huge as this?’ He shook his head. ‘We both know it’s either her or Lovegood, and despite Luna’s creativity, I am not sure her magic is up for the job.’

‘Giving up on your own candidate?’ Albus asked, amused. ‘Or giving up on me?’

‘Draco doesn’t have what it takes,’ Gellert said dismissively. ‘I know it; you know it; Tom knows it; Sharasvati knows it; everyone knows it beside the boy. Maybe he will get through this round, but we both know the next task will be his undoing.’

‘You don’t think I can guide Draco past the next assignment?’ Dumbledore said; his eyes twinkled knowingly.

‘I think the boy will get you killed in the next assignment. He won’t be able to resist the power; he won’t be able to control it; and she will tear him and with him you to shreds if you’re not careful.’

‘Draco’s biggest failing is indeed his vanity,’ Dumbledore said, nodding thoughtfully. ‘He would be capable of doing more than he shows now if he stopped obsessing about being a Malfoy. He may surprise you.’

‘Yeah, well whatever, I’d watch my back anyway if I were you.’

‘Why did you pick him if you’re so convinced he is going to fail?’ asked Albus curiously.

Gellert shrugged. ‘I just picked the first at hand.’

‘The first at hand?’ Albus replied, frowning.

‘Yeah, you know me; lazy, lazy, lazy. I didn’t feel like looking, since the seat is obviously going to a light candidate anyway.’

‘Why Gellert, that’s the biggest bull you’ve ever tried to sell to me,’ Albus said, leaning back in his chair, pushing his fingertips to one another. ‘Olsen’s death came right after Tom regained his physical body. Don’t tell me you’ve grown a heart and picked Draco so I could show him the errors of his ways before he would be entrapped as his parents are?’

‘You’re being ridiculous,’ Gellert grumbled, shifting in his seat.

Dumbledore’s features lighted up; he leaned forward positively delighted. ‘My, my, I thought I’d never see the day Gellert Grindelwald did something nice for another human being.’

‘I do nice things all the time,’ Gellert disagreed, sticking his nose in the air.

‘Now, there is no need to disqualify one of your kinder deeds like that.’

‘My kinder deeds, yeah,’ Gellert muttered, shaking his head, ‘we are all stuck with my kind deeds.’

‘We can’t change the past, Gellert,’ Albus said softly. ‘No matter how much we may want to. You can only life in the present.’

‘I put that man on our Council, Albus. I, nobody else,’ Gellert hissed.

‘I think there are more reasons Tom got there.’

‘If I hadn’t made him a candidate just to spite you, no one would have seen his talent for the dark. You’d think Nathaira ever in a million years would have picked a half-blood?’ he snorted, emphasising on the idiocy of believing she would ever do such a thing. ‘Petro is too lazy to check outside his back garden. Dubois thinks only the French are capable of performing true magic. McFerlon, McFerlon-’

‘What’s done is done, Gellert,’ Albus interrupted.

‘Easy for you to say,’ Gellert said, slamming his fist on the desk. ‘You don’t have to carry this burden. The legacy of the fabulous Grindelwald.’ He rose from his chair. ‘Well, I am off to meet with my legacy,’ he sneered. ‘Nathaira wants use of his alterations in the Nightmare Curse to get it into Lovegood’s thick skull the dark is a happy place.’

‘Nathaira is asking Tom for help?’ Dumbledore said, alarmed.

‘Thought you might want to know,’ Gellert replied casually, and he continued ironically, ‘Now I gotta go convince Lord Voldemort to part with his knowledge.’

‘Gellert!’

‘Yeah?’ he looked over his shoulder.

‘Let me know when he does, will you?’

‘When he does, not if,’ Gellert said slowly. ‘You think he’s going to?’ He turned around, amazed. ‘You don’t even have an ounce of doubt about it. We are talking about Lord Voldemort sharing his knowledge with the greatness that is Isabella Sharasvati Nathaira.’

Albus sighed. ‘I know how he feels about the woman, Gellert. It’s exactly why he will go for it. He will love having a hold over her. I’ll contact Mei to let her know Luna Lovegood is in need of additional security.’ He swore and swirled to his feet. ‘Godric only knows what he is going to use Nathaira’s insane skills for. Just for once it would be nice if things would not get overly complicated.’

‘Wow, that statement coming from you is like-like…’

‘Like what?’ Albus snapped.

‘Well, I don’t seem to have the words, Master Complicator,’ Gellert said with a bow, and he apparated away, leaving Albus Dumbledore standing absolutely flabbergasted.

---

‘Nathaira wants what?’ Lord Voldemort asked merely for entertainment purposes (he’d understood the question the first time he’d heard it after all); a small smile stayed inevitably present on his lipless mouth.

‘Your assistance,’ Gellert repeated; disgruntled, he had to say it again. He really should stop functioning as a bloody owl one of these days.

‘Oh really,’ Voldemort said mockingly, leaning back in his chair, folding his hands in front of his stomach. ‘Are you sure we are talking about the same person, because I could have sworn I’ve heard you say Miss High-And-Mighty wants my-’

‘I am glad you’re enjoying basking in your glory right now; but could you just tell me what to say to the damn woman, so I can go back to enjoy the peace and quietness of my allegedly well-deserved imprisonment.’

It turned eerily silent.

Oh nice going, Gellert, real smart thinking there.

‘I am so sorry to be an inconvenience to your spend time, Gellert,’ Voldemort said quietly. ‘It would be a shame if your important postal duties were hindered in any way.’

Sticks and stones, Tommy boy, sticks and stones.

Lord Voldemort rose to his feet – wand in hand.

Crap. It wasn’t a suggestion.

The Dark Lord halted his stride inches away from him and gave him a condescending look. ‘I have something better to spend my time on than you, Gellert. You can tell Sharasvati I’ll take her request under consideration.’ He walked on.

‘She was positive there might be something you could need from her in exchange,’ Gellert added. He’d left out this bit of information for as long as he could.

Voldemort halted in front of the dungeon’s door and looked back. ‘I am sure she was,’ he said, smirking, and left the room.

It gave Lord Voldemort immense pleasure to leave the pureblood witch hanging for the time being. He hoped she would fret continuously about the possibility he’d say no to her. He had to give it some thought though; having Nathaira owe him could come quite in handy some day. On the other hand, if his no would mean her undoing, that could also prove an advantage to his goals. Two vacant seats were always better than one. But right now, he had better things to deal with than Nathaira, much better things.

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The Apprentice