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Serpentine Series	By : HarmonyB Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 12060 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN REGARDS TO THE HARRY POTTER FANDOM NOR DO I MAKE MONEY OFF OF THIS STORY.

Chapter List
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- 22
PART SIX:

APPARITION

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
As she continued to lie motionless on the sofa, Harmony could sense her Master's eyes as they casually roved over her, and she wished once again that she could open her own eyes. She felt him sit down on the couch again, his back and thigh touching her. Her heart had started to relax in its pounding for that brief moment he was speaking to Lucius, so then it seemed to pound all the harder when he returned to her side.
"Who are you?" he asked softly as he blew a hot breath on her face. She could hear him breathing in and out, and he blew each successive exhale on her as his face lingered near hers. She felt very tense, not knowing what was going to happen.
It was almost like he was waiting for her to answer him. Harmony fought like she had never fought before to break free of the freezing spell and open her eyes. She mentally reached into her very core and demanded every ounce of her will to move her eyelids.
Almost there, she told herself. I just need a little more power; this spell has no control over me. From the sheer intensity of her force of will, she forced a small moan out through her lips. Slowly, as though she wore five-pound weights on her eyelids, she force her eyes open just enough to see through the lashes.
A pair of piercing blue eyes stared at her from less than three centimeters away. Then suddenly, as soon as he knew she'd seen him, they were gone. Now she saw nothing above her but the dark wood of the ceiling.
"My Lord," she managed to whisper as energy slowly seeped back into her body.
Voldemort hesitated, as though unsure whether to answer. "I'm here," he finally said, as though he'd been holding his breath for a few moments.
Harmony waited, but he said nothing more. She wondered what must be going through his mind right now. He must be furious with her for the poor fighting performance she'd shown in Knockturn Alley, but after so many hours of intensive training he had every right to be.
But why did he come for her? Why would he have stolen her away from those Aurors with such unmatched wrath in his eyes? Why would he—save her? Harmony winced uneasily as she tried to find an answer to that question. This was the Dark Lord Voldemort. He had to have some reason for acting in a manner so unlike himself. Like he was some kind of hero coming to her rescue. No, she thought, not a hero exactly. He had killed the Aurors, murdered them in cold blood. He could never be a hero.
"I'm sorry I let those Aurors get ahold of me," she whispered contritely. "I wanted to fight them, but I was—I just wasn't fast enough."
The wood ceiling became a blur as tears welled up in her eyes. No matter what situation she was ever in, she always found it difficult to accept how inept she could be. She was always the best in all her classes at school, always in control of everything around her. But the one time she needed to appear strong, she had failed miserably.
"I would've been gone if you hadn't saved me," she whispered, and swallowed hard when she found a knot forming in her throat. "I would understand if you thought it was a big waste of time—a waste of your power," she said, feeling that swirl of nausea in her gut again, "just to save me."
She was mortified when she had to gasp back a hiccup and sniffle violently as the tears continued down her face unchecked. She couldn't stand how childishly whiny her voice must sound to him, almost as whiny as Bellatrix's voice had been earlier.
"A waste of my power?" Master gasped incredulously. Harmony didn't know whether to register the outburst as anger, surprise, or perhaps amusement. It was highly likely to be a combination of all three—but whatever it was, the tone set Harmony on edge.
Voldemort stepped back over to the couch and crouched down so his face was in her line of vision. The intense look he gave her made Harmony's middle swirl. He looked at her in the same way she'd sensed he must've looked while he thought she was unconscious, only now she was able to see it. But even then, she still couldn't quite believe his emotions towards her to be real.
"You have no idea who you are, do you, Harmony?" he asked softly as he brushed her tears away.
"I'm beginning to think I'm worth a lot more than I first supposed," she whispered.
"And you're right."
"Enlighten me."
A corner of his lips twitched upward at this, but he forced it back into his usual stern look. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it again when a couple of footsteps went past the doorway.
"We're in the central parlor of the mansion, where we could easily be overheard," he told her softly. "I think we should take this conversation up to somewhere a bit more private."
"Er, okay," Harmony agreed hesitantly. When she made no move to get up, she looked up at him sheepishly. "Er, I still can't move. I can hardly even feel my toes, though the sensations are slowly coming back. I don't know how long it will be before I can—hey, wait!"
Before she even finished speaking, Master had slipped one arm under her legs and the other around her back, lifting her off the couch.
She was about to shout at him to put her down, but figured that it would have done her no good. After all, her body was useless, and it was also likely Master would just ignore her and do what he liked anyway. So she swallowed the cry upon her lips as her useless neck caused her head to slump against his shoulder as he carried her out of the room.
Master did not talk, but his breathing was loud in her ear as he headed for the stairs. Harmony could hardly hear herself think. But think or not, she was acutely aware of his hand curling around her knee from where he held her underneath her thigh. He tightened his grip as he mounted the stairs, and goose-bumps rippled over her body.
By the time they were at the door to his bedroom, the numbness in her body has eased for the most part. He used magic to open the door, and again to close it once they were inside. When he laid her on the bed her head fell back onto the pillows, and his face was a mere centimeter away. Harmony held her breath when the tips of their noses nearly touched as he moved away, but only to sit close beside her on the bed.
"Do you have any idea as to the nature of the Serpentine Charm?" he asked as he brought a finger up to trace his fingers over her chest, following the concealed charm with an ominous accuracy.
"I don't," she whispered, and thought she saw a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. "No one wants to tell me."
"Well, let me put it this way," he said as his hand came to rest on her ribs, not too far below her breasts. "The Serpentine Charm has existed for many years, and thousands of people know about it. But one—and only one—can ever be conjured and cast. Only one person in the whole world will ever be given that charm."
"Oh," Harmony gasped, not knowing what else to say. She considered what she'd heard him say to Lucius earlier, when he'd thought she couldn't hear him. Her emotions were suddenly at war; she felt humbled and undeserving of the endowment her Master had given, and yet at the same time a tickle of fear crawled through her insides. "If this charm is so important, why don't you tell me its meaning? Everyone else knows what the thing is, and I'm the one you gave it to, but I have no clue."
"I will," he said hesitantly, with the slightest twinge of impatience in his voice. "But I want to do something else first." He stood up and began to pace. "I've been considering about this ever since those Aurors caught you. I've been wondering just what your abilities truly are."
"Abilities?" Harmony repeated uncertainly. She didn't like the sound of where this was heading.
Master continued in his pacing, and Harmony's eyes followed him to the right and to the left as he crossed the length of the room. His face was screwed up with indecision.
The feeling in Harmony's body had finally returned to its fullest, but now she was hit with a tsunami wave of pure exhaustion. Even though she had slept most of the day away, the encounter with the Aurors had depleted her energy completely. Her eyelids were beginning to droop as she gazed at her Master, and she was beginning to think he might wear a hole in the floor with all his pacing if she didn't intervene.
"Master?" she asked impatiently. "What is it?"
Master stopped short and turned to face her.
"Tell me, please," she pleaded. "What are you thinking?"
Voldemort pursed his lips, then bit the inside of his cheek—one of her own bad habits, she realized. He focused his eyes somewhere in the vicinity of her ear, not wanting to look at her. "I am thinking I need to teach you another spell," he said. "Well, it's not so much a spell as it is an ability. But I'm not sure yet if you would be able to learn it. I don't know if your body would be able to contain such magic at once."
Harmony frowned and ventured, "I know that my body is a bit smaller than most people's, but—"
Voldemort shook his head. "That's not what I mean." His eyes glanced down at the body in question. "Your size is not the issue. Your ability to hold magic is like a balloon that never really deflates." He held his hands in front of his belly, curling the fingers as if he was holding a ball there. "The more magic that is put into it, the more it will always be able to hold. But there comes a certain point, and it's different for every wizard, when if you were to put too much magic in at one time the balloon might—" His once curled fingers sprawled far apart in one quick motion.
"I see," Harmony nodded in understanding. "But how could we be sure if it was going to kill me? How is anyone sure of how much power they can hold? Maybe my body can tolerate more power, like yours can."
"It may, but still, that's what has me so uncertain," he said as he stared at her like a puzzle he was trying to figure out. "From the spells you have learned so far, you have yet to show any signs of slowing down. In fact, I would have to say that with every spell you seem to learn quicker than the last."
"Then you'll teach me?" Harmony asked. She was delighted at the thought of learning something new.
"Yes," he said, and then after a pause he added, "But not until after you learn how to Apparate. As I said before, Apparition must come next."
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Serpentine Series