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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
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Warning: This chapter contains gore. If you don't like gore, please exit stage left and collect your complimentary stuffed ducky. If you have decided to stay, please accept a cuddly teddy bear as a token of appreciation.

“Draco, are you sure this is the place?” Hermione whispered. She and her husband were a few feet in front of where Severus had landed in the pensive.

“These are the coordinates Harmony gave me,” Draco answered. He was distracted, holding a magically generated map while matching it with the place.

“Draco, this, this looks an awful lot like Voldemort’s headquarters.”

“It doesn’t just look like it sweetheart,” Draco whispered. “It is.”

“Dear Merlin,” she squeaked. “Um, what if the old wards are still intact?”

“On it,” Draco said and pulled out his mirror, calling for Melody. In a few moments, the strawberry blonde woman was standing in front of them, her face pensive as old memories washed over her.

“Wards are still up,” she croaked. “Let me draw them out for you.” She whipped out a muggle pen and a piece of paper and started drawing diagram after diagram of the layers of wards that were erected around the place. Severus couldn’t help but gasp at the sheer number and complexity of them.

“Damn, this could take all night,” Draco breathed.

“I’ll help with what I can,” Melody murmured. “Just let me get Alex. I’ll need a balance. Stupid fucking snake faced bastard.” She continued to spew insults and curse wildly until Alex was beside her, picking her up into his arms and comforting her.

Severus stood back and watched as they threw counter after counter out, their brows dripping with sweat as they worked. He remembered this place all too well. Usually, one would just need the Dark Mark to enter but since Voldemort fell, those wards collapsed into other ones meant for that purpose. Of course, the Dark Mark faded slightly on the arms of all his followers but it never went away. Melody knew how to take the Mark off completely but they’d never accomplished it. He remembered her words like it was yesterday.

“Sev, I don’t think we should try to take them off. I can cut off all the spells woven into it so that it’s just a tattoo and not a virtual cattle prod every time his name is spoken. It’s just, well, to completely remove the Mark, one needs to repent.”

“Repent!” He’d spat.

“It’s not what you think,” Melody had continued. “You’d need to be remorseful for every reason you took the Mark, every crime you committed under it, and every reason why you never turned away. I…I can’t do that. I don’t regret taking it. Draco can’t be remorseful that he took it under duress, not truly. He would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant saving his mother. Could you Sev? Do you truly regret being a Death Eater all the time?”

Severus had searched himself for many weeks after that and came to a conclusion. No, he didn’t truly regret being a Death Eater in the end. It was one reason they’d won, spying, and he was a part of that. Therefore, there was no way to remove it. True remorse for everything the Mark was, or had been to him was impossible.

“Look at it this way Sev,” Melody had said when he informed her of his decision. “You can still hide it. It isn’t like you haven’t done that for twenty years already. I mean, you’re already hiding your binding tattoos. What’s one more mark? Besides… you can scare the bejesus out of people with it.”

Even now he laughed at that. It was true, one glimpse at the Mark had people practically pissing themselves with fear. It certainly helped in their missions. No one questioned a Death Eater and expected to live to tell the tale. This mission that he was watching though, this one was different. This was the headquarters of the bastard himself. A mere shadow of a tattoo wouldn’t scare the inhabitants. He fingered his wand and sped the pensive up so he wouldn’t be viewing it for hours.

“Finally,” Melody breathed as the last ward fell. Her shirt stuck to her, wringing with sweat. Her once wavy hair was hanging limp and plastered to her forehead. Severus could only imagine how much energy they’d spent trying to break the wards. Alex was in the same shape. Draco and Hermione were better, only the drawn looks on their faces giving them away. Then again, they had much more power at their disposal, even if they were only five percent from Melody and Alex in their magical polarity.

“Stick close,” Draco hissed.

They cautiously made their way to the front door. Melody kept turning every which way, scanning for company. Since she could see through most magical means of hiding, she’d be the first to spot trouble.

“No one has been outside since he fell,” Melody whispered. “All the wards show that. I can’t see any magical residue here. It’s like…I think the whole place is under a stasis spell. There’s no telling what we’re going to find inside.”

“Wait.” Draco came to a skidding stop. “You mean that it could be exactly as we left it eighteen years ago?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Melody said.

“Oh fuck me,” Draco muttered.

“Why don’t you wait until later?” Melody asked weakly, trying and failing to make a joke. It wasn’t hard to see that she was affected by the proximity to such a horrific piece of her past.

“Can we break the stasis?” Hermione asked.

Melody shook her head. “Not if you want to maintain the structural integrity of the inside. I mean, eighteen years is a very long time for a building to go into stasis. It’s fallen into disrepair in the meantime since no one has renewed the stability spells. The stasis keeps it up but if you cast it on something for that long and then take it off, it ages rapidly. It’s a side effect of the spells, especially those cast by normal wizards. We can cast a more thorough one, freezing molecules down to the smallest particle and actually reaching long term preservation. These though? This castle was ancient before Moldy decided to inhabit it. Without the stasis spell, the walls will crumble within an hour.”

“We’ll need longer than that,” Draco said. “I doubt he kept the book in the library.”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it past him,” Melody said. “The bastard was exceedingly arrogant.”

“True. He did give Severus the secret of the Mark.”

“I wish he knew we dodged that obliviate,” Melody said wistfully. “I would give anything to see that bastard writhing in impotent fury.”

“Yeah,” Draco sighed. “Pity Potter had to finish him off so quickly. He deserved much worse than a simple rebounded killing curse.”

“Well, we can only hope he’s residing in hell…forever,” Melody said.

They had reached the front door now.

“Wait!” Melody called out and squinted at the door lock. “That smarmy despot!”

“What?” Hermione asked, her eyes wide with fear.

“There’s a magical eyeball in the key lock I’ve never noticed before. No wonder that bastard could tell what went on outside. He had the whole place magically wired, like muggle surveillance cameras. Anyway, there is a stinging jinx on the handle that was tied to the Dark Mark. Now it’ll skewer you with iron spikes. Don’t touch it.”

“No problem there.” Draco whipped out his wand. He waited for Hermione to erect a shield before he blasted the door inward. Several iron spikes came hurtling out at them but bounced harmlessly off the shield. Hermione held it until they all were free of the entrance. The spikes stopped hailing down shortly afterwards.

“Well that was fun,” Alex said a bit breathlessly. “So, where is this infamous library? Melody? You okay?”

Melody was frozen in place, her eyes wide and filled with terror. Severus felt his chest constrict at her obvious discomfort. He wanted nothing more than to shield her from this. She hadn’t deserved it the first time and she certainly didn’t deserve to relive it a second.

“Someone’s been here,” she whispered. “Not through the front though, through the dungeons.”

“Are they still here?” Draco asked under his breath. Their sensitive hearing would come in handy now.

“No one magical. I…I don’t think we should split up this time. It doesn’t feel right.”

“I agree,” Hermione added. “We’ll need to check for extra ward traps anyway. I wouldn’t put it past You-Know-Who to be extra paranoid.”

They made their way through the foyer carefully, wands at the ready, ears straining for the smallest noise. When they reached the main room, Melody’s knees buckled. Alex caught her just before she hit the floor. Severus understood why immediately. The large X was still there, the one he’d been forced to manacle her to, beat her thoroughly, and then fuck her until she was unconscious. That was where she had conceived their twins. There was a dead woman lying on the floor in front of it, looking as if she had just perished that morning. He felt his stomach lurch painfully.

“Fucking hell,” Draco spat. “Ought to burn the damn place down.”

“No,” Melody protested weakly. “Whoever comes here, we don’t want them to know about us.”

“We took the wards down. They’ll know anyway,” Alex said. “I say we get the book and burn this place to ashes.”

“Let’s find the book then,” Draco said and began walking towards the library. He remembered the way well. It was there that the Dark Lord had transferred the pain of the Mark to him while he burned it into Melody’s arm.

Severus watched on as they scoured the library from top to bottom, removing tons of glamour and expansion spells to make sure they didn’t miss anything. There were hundreds of Dark Arts books there, most banned and half of those thought to have been destroyed. It would be a good thing for this collection to be destroyed, just to make sure it didn’t fall into the wrong hands. Knowledge was power, but in the wrong hands, it could be fatal.

“Why don’t we just destroy them all?” Hermione asked, seeming to have read his mind though it was impossible.

“Because they do come in handy,” Melody sighed. “What if someone were to actually be cursed with something from one of these monstrosities? The way to cure it would be lost. No, I say we shrink it and store it.”

“Where?” Hermione asked.

“My Ranch,” Melody answered. “At least until we can find safe places for them where we know they won’t fall into the wrong hands. Maybe someday we can sort through them all and write a book on just the effects and cures and then destroy them.”

“It’s something to work towards,” Alex said. “Let’s do that right now. Any of these going to protest being packed up and zapped out of here?”

Melody shook her head. “Surprisingly, Dark Arts books are generally only warded from opening them. It is usually the possessor of the books that curses the outsides from touch and detection. A lot of these have demons bound inside but none are cursed to the shelves. Looks like they might have been at one time but the curses probably dropped when he died. The evil here is overwhelming but nothing sinister will happen simply from transport.”

“Right then.” Draco conjured a box and set it in the middle of the room. “Let’s get to packing. No telling when the others will be back.”

Severus sped the pensive up again, watching idly while the four figures zipped by. Books flew into boxes, packed themselves up, and were popped out of existence, most likely to the back barn that Melody and Harmony always kept empty for such unexpected endeavors. He noticed that although the occupants appeared to be hard at work, each one wore a look of hyper awareness. They wouldn’t be caught off guard. He slowed the pensive back down when the last box popped out.

“That’s that,” Melody said tiredly. “Now, where do we think he would have hidden a book about magical binding? I mean, it’s a tiny little excerpt about polarity. How interested could he be in it?”

“He was interested in the power of the twins and the elder wand,” Hermione argued. “Those were just legends. Well, they were supposed legends. Who’s to say he didn’t believe in the other.”

“It kind of makes me sick to think about actually,” Melody said. Indeed it looked like she was about to be ill.

“Well, we’ve checked the library and the main hall. I guess we’ll have to start with the bedrooms,” Draco sighed. “We all sticking together on this one?”

“I-I…we don’t h-have to,” Melody stammered.

Draco’s eyes were full of concern. “We do if that’s how you feel.”

“It isn’t about me,” Melody argued weakly.

“We’re all in this together,” Hermione talked over her. “We’ll look together.”

Knowing that this search took a few hours, Severus sped through again. It was a good thing he did have vampire speed because he easily caught up with their blurred figures through the pensive. Each room seemed to have some sort of horror waiting for them. Dead muggles strapped to beds in various states of repose, their bodies mutilated beyond recognition were the most common sight. Others contained small libraries filled with more horrific books which were carefully packed up and sent away. Still more contained remnants from dark rituals designed to give the caster more power.

“This is his bedroom,” he heard Melody whisper and slowed the pensive down to get a better look. The room was obscenely ornate, gold filigree, marble statuaries, and precious gems ordained every surface. A large bed dominated the room, decorated with black silk sheets with silver snakes embroidered on them. To the side was a large gilded throne with a green and silver throw pillow off to the side.

“Some room,” Alex said uncomfortably.

“A heavily warded one,” Melody grumped and began sketching the wards laid into it.

Once again Severus caught himself gasping at the complexity and layers built into it. He sped through the cracking again, knowing it would take a while and slowed back down when they began searching. Each corner held a new surprise that Melody warned about. It was painfully slow going and he could tell they were losing hope.

“Found it!” Draco crowed from behind a hidden bookcase. “Tell me if I can pick it up.”

Melody ran around and squinted her eyes, trying to make sure there wasn’t anything in place. “Check it for a tracking charm.”

“Merlin’s balls, there is!” Draco breathed and waved his wand again. “It also has a return to sender charm. Sneaky bastard.”

“I think it’s safe to say he took stock in what it said,” Hermione said nervously.

“Let’s just hope no one else did.” Melody held her breath and touched the book with care. When nothing happened, she relaxed and pulled it off the shelf, leafing through it to find the one passage she knew was in there. “Aha, here it is. Oh shit.”

“What?” The other three called out in alarm.

“This is one of the ones Nemesis was talking about. It has extra information. Holy Merlin fucking a duck!”

“What?” Draco asked, chuckling at her expression.

Melody’s horror stricken face stopped him cold. “Draco, these are the instructions we found in Merlin’s journals, the ones Sev used to save me and Harmony. It explains how to exchange pieces of magical cores.”

“Oh my Gods,” Hermione cried. “How many are there supposed to be of these?”

“Two,” Melody said. “She said there were two with this information. Damn it, why didn’t she say that it was THIS particular information?”

“Probably because you would panic like you are doing now and we’d get ourselves killed rushing about trying to collect all of them,” Draco said gently, prying the book out of her hands and reading over the information. “Merlin’s pants, this could kill a person.”

“I know,” Melody said dryly.

“Sorry,” Draco said sheepishly and slammed the book shut, shrinking it down and cramming it in his pocket. “Well, at least we have this one. I’m guessing the last one contains the same thing.”

“Let’s just hope it isn’t being used,” Alex said, his voice rough. “Now can we get out of here? This place might be under stasis but the smell of death is choking me.”

“No,” Melody said softly. “We need to check the dungeons.”

“Why?” Hermione asked, her eyes darting around the room.

“There’s something down there.” Melody’s eyes were haunted as she stared off into space. “I just… I can’t leave without knowing.”

“You think there is someone still alive down there?” Draco asked in alarm.

“I don’t know,” Melody whispered. “Harmony said that she felt really bad about tonight, really bad, but that she couldn’t see anything. It was black so it involves me and her, or someone is fucking with the fates.”

“Can they do that?” Alex asked.

“It’s possible.” Melody shivered. “Some magic is darker than even the fates can see. It’s why they couldn’t stop Moldy from making all those horcruxes in the first place. Intent to murder is one thing. Splitting souls, that’s something only the fates were sure they could do. To know that wizards can is unsettling. As such, that line of magic is a blind spot, darker than dark, disgusting. It’s why Harmony and I could hardly stand to look at it. You get used to it after a while, but it’s such a shock to the system that… I don’t even want to talk about it.”

“Philippe wasn’t the same after you gifted him with your sight for those few moments,” Alex said softly. “One look at Potter and he said he felt tainted somehow.”

Melody nodded. “He’s gotten over it since then but it takes a while, just like the effects of dark magic. You guys don’t have to go with me. I don’t think I’ll be attacked, but I can’t leave without finding out.”

“We’ll go,” Hermione whispered. The men nodded.

Severus realized he was trembling with fear at this new information. After they’d returned home, they refused to talk about what they found. All he knew was that it was so horrific, they couldn’t describe it. It had taken weeks to get them to agree to put their memories in a pensive. They’d warned him not to look but he had to know. His stomach was in knots as they entered the dank dungeons.

This was one place he’d vowed that he’d never return and yet, here he was. He remembered the layout well. Two agonizing months after the “death” of Albus, of struggling to free helpless muggles from its confines compounded with the years between the time that Voldemort returned and then had burned them in his brain. There were two wings of cells, each wing containing four rows of cells separated by a narrow walkway. In the middle, there was a station set up with magical monitoring. You could look upon all the cells at once. In Voldemort’s time, they had been completely filled with terrified men, women, and children. Many sleepless nights were spent tampering with the monitoring system long enough for the occupants of the cells to be freed, transfigured rocks and stones left in their places to keep suspicion away. It wasn’t uncommon for prisoners to die before they were brought in for the revels.

He was lost in thought as the quartet in the pensive explored the left wing. This part of the dungeons wasn’t utilized very much. Their layout was twisted and hard for a person to navigate if they weren’t physically fit. Staircases, steep inclines, and jagged drop offs from failed foundation stability spells had wreaked havoc with the wing. The cell bars were twisted from the pressure the building had put on it. Pools of blood and the occasional dead body littered the floors of the uneven cells, still fresh looking from their stint in stasis.

“Anything?” Alex asked, his wand held up to light the way. He still had excellent night vision, being a daywalker, but Draco and Hermione didn’t.

“Not in this wing.” Melody shook her head when they got to the end. “The spells are old, decaying from time. Even the patched foundation spells are starting to break down underneath the stasis. This wing will probably collapse within the next few years, even if we never lift the spell.”

“To the other one then,” Draco said softly and made his way up the crooked little walk way that would lead them back to the turn off for the right wing.

No one except Severus, Melody, and Draco knew it, but there was a trap door built into this little walkway. Go through it, and there were miles of underground tunnels that led to the forest. Severus guessed whoever had been coming here had discovered them now. There was no other way inside that wasn’t warded tighter than a drum. Instead of taking that route, Draco made a sharp right and zipped down two flights of spiral stairs. Another maze of turns had him going up a zigzagged flight of stairs followed by one that swayed in an S pattern. Draco had always sworn whoever had built this passage was royally pissed out of their mind. Severus had to agree.

“Wait!” Melody held her arms out to stop her companions from going any further. They’d reached the entrance to the right wing. “There’s new magic here, new wards. They’re nasty, childishly easy to dismantle, but nasty.”

“Anyone on the other side?” Alex whispered.

Melody didn’t answer for long minutes, her eyes almost in slits as she searched behind the door for magical signatures. “No wizards, at least I don’t think there are. There is so much magic, both new and old, that it’s hard to decipher separate objects. Wizards like us are easy to spot. We light up like a torch but normal ones, especially weak normal ones, they could blend in.”

“Wands at the ready then,” Draco said, taking charge. “Now, what am I dismantling?”

“A colostomy curse,” Melody said in disgust. “One that splits the tongue in half, one that debrides the skin, and one more. Huh. It makes you piss yourself. These are hardly effective.”

“Well, I doubt they’re expecting company,” Hermione sniffed. “I think they did these just for fun.”

“Probably trying to get a laugh,” Alex said. “All of those are more embarrassing than irreparable.”

“They’re all medical,” Draco said. “I wonder what the significance of that is.”

“Take them down,” Melody ordered. “We have to check the place out.”

A flew swishes and flicks later, Melody gave the all clear. Severus didn’t know what he was expecting on the other side of the door, but it wasn’t what greeted them. One half of the wing had been completely transformed. Instead of rows of cells, there was a large white room filled with muggle medical equipment, gurneys, leather restraint systems, and several bags of fluids hanging in IV bags.

“It looks like a cross between St. Mungo’s and a muggle emergency room,” Hermione breathed, her eyes going wide at the large black hole that was burned in the middle of the bed closest to them.

“Experimentation?” Alex asked, eyeing several charts and open magical books.

“Oh Gods,” Melody whimpered, her eyes going crossed for a moment. “They…it’s, the magic. I think I’m going to be sick.”

Severus was elated that this was merely a memory when Melody promptly turned around and emptied the contents of her stomach, perhaps two times over from the amount she heaved. He’d only ever seen her that upset after she’d seen Harry Potter the first time. He’d had to carry her to the loo and she’d vomited for fifteen solid minutes. Something horrible had happened in this room. He was sure of it.

“You okay baby?” Alex asked in concern. He’d scourgified her sick and was rubbing soothing circles on her back while he searched his robes for a nausea potion. He finally found his prize and handed it to her.

“I’ll live,” Melody croaked after she’d tipped the bottle back. “I just wasn’t prepared for that.”

“What are they doing?” Hermione asked cautiously as she gingerly made her way over to a table with an open tome on it. “Fuck!”

“That can’t be good,” Draco muttered and went over to his wife. He cocked his head and paled as he read the page. “They’re splitting souls manually?”

“Yeah they are.” Tears were streaming down Melody’s face. “They’re torturing them to the point of insanity so that their cores are unstable and then performing the Rites that are in that book. Once they’re recited, the victim starts to cross over, sort of like dying. But half way there, the soul will lift up and they’ll… I can only describe it as cutting it. Then they shove the other half back in and fill it with, oh Gods.” She turned and gagged, unable to throw up anymore due to the nausea potion.

“Pure animal awareness of wolves,” Draco finished, his eyes shutting in pain. “They’re trying to create a new half breed of werewolves.”

“Not necessarily,” Melody groaned when she’d calmed down. “Lycanthropy is a blood born disease, just like vampirism. To place an animal awareness in wouldn’t turn them to werewolves. They’d be a…a hybrid like the daywalkers, impervious to normal means of dispatch with almost all their strengths.”

“But why take part of their soul?” Alex asked, his eyes scanning the room in search of anything out of place.

“Because werewolves are said to have their souls cursed,” Hermione whispered, her eyes darting back and forth between the book and the notes beside it. “They are damned, just like vampires. To take half of a soul, it mimics the damning. However, just like a daywalker, the turn is never completed so they’ll live longer but they’ll still have a chance of moving on, even with a shattered soul.”

“What happens to the other half of the soul?” Alex asked. It was easy to see he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

“That’s what’s making me sick,” Melody cried. “They’re capturing them, binding them to objects like horcruxes. They’re trapped in a hyper world of torture designed to draw power from them.”

“Wait,” Draco growled, flipping a few pages forward in the book with his wand. “Here it is. When the object is placed around a wizard’s neck, it will increase their power. These figures in here, they’re close to… well, close to Potter’s output.”

“So there are two different sets of experiments,” Alex said gravely. “The first mimics the lycan version of a daywalker. The leftovers from those trials are then used to mimic phenoms.”

“They haven’t been doing this correctly,” Melody said suddenly, her eyes flashing in anger. “They’ve been testing it on muggles.”

“How do you know?” Draco asked, his eyes snapping up from the book.

“Because there is no signature from the victims. Spells like these cause a release of involuntary magic. Wizards release it unconsciously in an effort to save themselves, a built in fight or flight response. I saw it the night Harry’s parent’s died. Lily’s magic, it was splashed all over the walls. James’s signature was there as well, adding to Lily’s. It was probably why she was strong enough to stand up to Moldy. It’s uncontrollable. If they’ve been splitting magical beings, there would be a signature residue to suggest that. There is none that match the newer signatures.”

“But muggles aren’t strong enough to handle a transformation like a werewolf would have with only half a soul. They’d have no magic to compensate for it,” Hermione argued.

“You’re right,” Melody said softly. “Which is why we’re going to have to take a tour of the other half of this wing.”

Severus hadn’t realized that he’d been breathing so shallowly until he felt the room sway. It was more horrible than he could have ever imagined. Demitri had explained long ago that making a daywalker was forbidden because they were virtually unstoppable. What would a werewolf like that be like in battle? His feet felt like lead as he followed the shaken up explorers in the pensive memory. He hadn’t realized that he’d fallen behind until a piercing scream caused him to zip to the end of the row of cells.

Melody was against the far wall, both her hands on her mouth as she breathed heavily. Tears streamed down her face, flying in every direction as she shook her head in disbelief. Alex was trying to get her to turn around from the sight they had found but she refused, her eyes growing ever wider as she looked around.

In his disoriented state, Severus had only just realized that the screaming was still ringing through the halls. He looked to the right where Hermione was practically vibrating, uncontrollable screams ripping from her chest as Draco tried to turn her into him before giving up and casting a silencing spell on her. She didn’t seem to notice as she started jumping up and down, backing up at the same time. Draco looked positively sick, his eyes glued to the cell in front of him.

Dreading it, Severus turned to see what was so horrific. He felt bile rise to his throat as he took in the ghastly scene in front of him. There were three cells in succession and they were occupied. These didn’t hold the normal dead muggles that he’d seen in the first sets. These hadn’t died from ordinary torture, if one could call it that. These had died a death that he couldn’t even imagine in his wildest dreams.

The first cell was filled waist high with nude bodies. Each had holes burned in their wrists, ankles, and chests. Their eyes had been gouged out, leaving only bloody sockets to stare out into the abyss. Their hands and feet were curled as if they’d been sent through a pretzel machine. Fingernails were jagged and broken, thick globules of blood had rolled from them and dried on the fingers. There wasn’t a spot on their bodies that wasn’t violated with a myriad of bruises and cuts. Telltale dark swirls revealed the use of magic to crack bones. He decided these were the werewolf rejects. How many were there?

The second cell contained decidedly fewer bodies. These had all the same markings on them with only one hole in the chest that appeared to have healed over crudely. These still had their eyes, glazed white and staring out at him. He could see sharp teeth in their mouths, the lips curled back in repose. Their fingernails and toenails appeared thicker, yellower, and sharp like werewolf claws. Their ears were more pointed than a human's; a slight smattering of hair covered their bodies. These had to be the ones that had made the change but not lived to tell the tale.

The third cell made his stomach flip completely over. There were several young girls in this one, probably not one over seventeen. If it were possible, these were the most gruesome bodies yet. They were strung up in manacles, completely nude. From the bruises and bite marks around their hips and breasts, it wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened to them. Blood dripped down their legs and pooled on the floor. Whip and scourge marks littered their emaciated frames. This was business as usual for a Death Eater torture though. It was disturbing but nothing Severus hadn’t seen before. There was one aspect though, he couldn’t even see how a Death Eater had the stomach for it.

Each girl had been sliced from in the middle of their chest in between their breasts all the way to their vaginal opening. Their innards bulged out in a bloody mess. Their intestines had been strung in a gruesome parody of festive party streamers around the cell. He could see their uteruses, each appearing to carry a half formed child. Melody’s voice barely registered but he managed to catch it through his overwhelming revulsion.

“They’re still alive.”

Severus was sure that if it were possible to get sick in a pensive, he would have done so just then. He couldn’t believe her at first, until he looked closer. The gash in their bodies allowed their hearts to be in full view from the outside…and they were still beating.

“Impossible,” Alex croaked.

“I thought so,” Melody sobbed. “But they’re beating. Oh God. Alex, please, please kill them. Please.”

“I…” Alex choked them. “I can’t. I took an oath.”

“They can’t be helped,” Melody cried. “These girls have been under stasis since that bastard was here. I can see the spells around them. If we were to take them off, I couldn’t imagine the suffering. At this point, I think only the killing curse could end their torment. They can’t be fixed Alex. They can’t. It’s kinder to put them out of their misery.”

“Can they feel it?” Draco’s voice was weak but determined.

“Just look at their eyes,” Melody pleaded.

Severus looked into the girls' eyes. They were glassy, each looking half dead but there was no mistaking it. There was the undeniable strain of pain in them. Too weak to move, even breathe deeply, they were in unbearable pain that wouldn’t end until the spell holding them in stasis did, and possibly not even then.

“How did they survive?” Hermione gasped. She’d finally pulled herself together and Severus couldn’t help but be proud of her for it. Not many people could work through a horror like that.

“These were the first ones. Their souls are split. These are muggleborns,” Melody sniffled.

“So the scaly bastard was the one who started the experiments,” Alex whispered.

“He was. I can see his magic all over them. No one has touched them since.”

“That’s beyond disgusting,” Draco sneered and then held his wand up, his hand sure and steady. “Do I need to take care of the unborn children as well?”

“Yes,” Melody said thickly. “Their little hearts are fluttering. He’s even managed to torture them as well. They are in the same form as their mothers.”

“Fucking bastard!” Draco spat. “AVADA KEDAVRA!” He screamed as one by one, their hearts were stopped. He swayed a moment but was righted by Hermione. “My soul.”

“It’s fine Draco,” Melody said softly. “You didn’t take their lives against their will. It was a kindness. That makes all the difference.”

“Are we done here?” Draco asked stiffly.

“Almost,” Melody answered, her eyes wild with fury. “Grab the books, charts, notes, anything you can find. Pack them up, send them to the Ranch, and then we’re going to raze this place to the ground.”

It seemed like Severus was looking at a whirlwind as things disappeared from the white room and the occupants raced outside. Melody released the stasis spell and the quartet watched in satisfaction as the house fell in on itself. Then Draco stepped forward, both his arms raised in concentration. Hermione fell back with the others, a shield up around them as she watched her husband cast the biggest fiendfyre that Severus had ever seen. In only minutes, the house was mere ash. He looked on as Draco held the spell, the dungeons crumbling until all that was left were a few blackened tunnels.

“Should we look in them?” Alex asked when the spell had ended.

“No,” Melody answered. “Anything magical was in the house. The tunnels are clear.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Draco growled.

Severus was forcefully ejected from the pensive at the end of the memory. Nothing else registered as he dove for the bin. His stomach promptly returned everything he’d managed to eat that morning and more as images from the pensive floated across his eyes. What in the hell were they up against?

“I see you’ve viewed the pensive.”

Severus started at the male voice and looked up to see Draco and Hermione standing in the doorway, concern etched on their faces. While he was annoyed that they’d broken through his wards, he was happy to see his children. He nodded and vanished the contents of his bin. Sitting up, he rummaged through his drawers to find his favorite potion, a combination stomach calmer and mouth wash. Once that was down, he cleared his throat and collected himself.

“What in the hell was that?”

“What we’re up against this weekend,” Draco whispered.

“What?” Severus asked in alarm.

“We found the other book,” Hermione said softly.

“Where?” Severus asked, dreading the answer.

“Here in America,” Draco answered, his face set in a hard mask.

“Khrone’s castle,” Hermione added.

“Fuck,” Severus snapped.

“Fuck indeed,” Melody said as she shut the door behind her. “We are completely and totally fucked.”

AN: Wasn't that pleasant? No? Is it bad that I got a little nauseous writting it? Unfortunately, it was necessary for us to move on but that part is over.

On another note: WOW you guys. I missed you all so much and you didn't disappoint! Someone asked where the kids are. I believe at least one of them will be making an appearance next chapter so stay tuned. As always, thank you so much for your wonderful reviews and well wishes. They mean.. well, more than chocolate, caffiene, and winning bingo! As always, keep rating and reviewing, let me know how I'm doing and if there are any errors so I can go back and fix them. Until next time...love you guys!
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Fooling Fate *sequel to Bound*

Fooling Fate sequel to Bound