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The Prisoner	By : Nerys Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 63563 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 13
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
- 23
- 24
- 25
Warning: unbeta'd.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. 2 more chapters left before it's finished.
The Prisoner
Chapter 24: Rose
She'd been waiting for hours or it seemed like hours. Rose impatiently sat on the steps of her front door. The stick of her broom rolled between her fingers.
Perhaps she should just go over to the Potters?
A roaring noise sounded, and her eyes bulged when a light-blue Ford Anglia came driving up to her house and stopped on the street next to her driveway, the engine stuttering for a moment before James shut it off. Albus and Scorpius jumped out of the backseat and ran up the driveway, emitting a warm glow on the wards as they passed without noticing it. She rose from her seated position, leaving the broom on the steps.
'Isn't it brilliant?' Albus said, excited. 'Uncle George said we could borrow it!'
Was this why they'd kept her waiting? Some old car? She'd looked forward to flying and feeling the wind in her hair.
'What took you so long?' Rose huffed, putting her hands on her side and glaring at her classmates.
'Scorpius couldn't decide on an outfit as usual,' Albus mocked, his head nodding sideways.
'While you just kept your nightgown on,' Scorpius retorted.
Albus sputtered, 'This is a robe, not a nightgown.'
'Whatever you say, sweetheart.'
'Stop flirting with my brother, Malfoy!' James shouted, his arm resting casually out of the opened car window. 'Are you coming, Rose? I need some sanity in this car.'
'Hey!' Lily objected, sitting next to him on the passenger seat.
'Gotta ask Mum if it's okay,' Rose replied, holding up her broom. 'She was expecting us to fly to Diagon Alley.'
'We'd still be flying. You would not have lied.'
'What?' Then her pupils dilated in realisation. 'Is that? No, no way!'
Scorpius and Albus both nodded excitedly.
'Come on, Rose. James wouldn't let it fly until you were also on board,' Albus said, ignoring the slight tinge of red that suddenly coloured her cheeks.
'It is flying as you promised your mum,' Scorpius added, but he didn't sound convinced.
'Yeah, I don't think Mum would see it that way,' Rose replied, looking skeptical at the old Ford.
'You better ask then,' Scorpius agreed, earning him a raised eyebrow from Albus. 'What?! Have you met her mum? She is terrifying.'
'You're just easily scared.'
'I'm not scared.'
'Oh really? Go in then. I dare you to say good morning to Ms Riddle.' Albus chuckled when Scorpius turned paler than normal.
Rose whacked Albus over his head.
'Oi!'
'Stop taunting Scorpy, you know he is a scared little ferret,' Rose said.
Scorpius sighed, shaking his blond-haired head. 'I just have better survival instincts than the lot of you.'
'You got into the car,' Albus retorted.
'Don't remind me.'
'With not just any Gryffindor, but James behind the steering wheel,' Albus teased further.
Scorpius groaned.
'You two are impossible. I do hope your stunts aren't going to cost us all our house points like last year,' Rose said sternly.
'Our stunts?' Scorpius said, sharing a bemused glance with Albus before looking back at Rose. 'I daresay who got us caught exiting the Chamber of Secrets by the Headmistress?'
'And who got you two out of the inevitable detention with her marvellous excuse as to why we just had to go down there?' Rose countered smugly.
'Or when she just had to see Professor Longbottom's new mystery plant up close,' Albus added, ignoring Rose's comment.
'I can't help it you were too slow in leaving before getting caught,' Rose interjected.
'Or Hagrid's—'
'At least I create more points for Slytherin than you two lose.' Rose ignored their splutters of protest and dramatic clutching to chests and looked past them to James. 'I'll be right back, James!'
He lifted his hand in acknowledgement.
'Hurry up! I want to see this puppy fly!' Lily shouted, hanging out the passenger window.
Rose rushed indoors, parked her broom with a flick of her wand in the hallway closet as she raced up the stairs. 'Mum!'
No response. She flicked her wand at every door she passed but her mother wasn't there, cursing the many magical extensions that had been put on the once tiny cottage.
'Mu-um!' she elongated before noticing her wand flickering towards the end of the corridor.
Of course she'd already be in her office at home. Rose could just hit herself for not realising. Her mother was always busy working, being the Head of the Department of Mysteries. Even the two days of the week when Hermione worked from home, she put in more hours than expected. Rose was a bit sad when she'd created her home office—she liked going to the department with her mother. It was full of interesting magical things to explore, and her mother's employees were always delighted to explain things to her whenever she showed an interest. Some even let her assist.
Well, except for that one bloke, Moore, who kept saying underaged witches had no business being at the department. That it wasn't a daycare, as if she were a toddler. He was a jerk who always kicked her out when he was doing an experiment she would've liked to have watched. Her blue eyes darkened at the memory, and her black, bushy hair rose in every direction.
The door to her mother's office opened, and Doris Farrow walked out, closing the door quickly behind her. Frowning, Rose wondered when the warden of Azkaban had entered the house. She'd been on the doorstep the entire time, and the wards were ghastly around this place.
Maybe she'd Floo'd in? But why not leave through the hearth then as well?
'Hi Rose,' Doris said cheerfully. 'Excited to go back to Hogwarts tomorrow?'
Ugh, adults. They were so predictable with their inquiries to which they rarely wanted a real answer.
'Always,' she replied politely.
'Well, have a nice day getting your supplies at Diagon Alley then,' Doris said.
'You have a nice day, too,' Rose responded, nodding before walking past Doris.
Behind her she heard a familiar woosh. She looked over her shoulder to see one of her dad's portal doors closing. Her eyebrows rose. He was pretty particular with whom he shared those keys with. She was surprised the warden was one of them.
Rose threw open the door. Instead of being behind her desk where Rose had expected her, Hermione was leaning on the window sill, facing the magnificent valley views.
'Mum, they borrowed uncle George's car. May I—?' Rose halted abruptly, noticing the rigid posture, and the clenched hands around the sill.
Crap.
She should've realised this after seeing Farrow here so early in the morning. Her mother never held official meetings with this witch. She only invited Doris to some of her larger social gatherings.
Quickly Rose looked over her shoulder. Relieved nobody had followed suit, she flicked her wand, dampening all sounds and warding the area with a second flourish.
'Mum?' she asked tentatively.
Her mother's knuckles turned stark white. The tension in her muscles caused visible tremors on her arms, while the room swirled in dark magic. Rose wanted to hit herself for being so unobservant to have missed all that dark magic before running into the room.
'Dad?'
Rose flinched when the windowsill cracked. Bolts of dark lightning erupted from Hermione's hands, causing the cracks to widen and spread beyond the sill into the walls.
Oh uh.
Rose took a step back. He clearly was pissed about something. Whatever it was.
Her fingers firmly clutched her wand now. Not the house again. Last time it had taken her forever to rebuild. She still wasn't sure if her mother hadn't noticed that some of the walls weren't perfectly pendicular anymore or if she hadn't addressed it. Rose hadn't known how to correct the anomaly in the limited timeframe she had. She really didn't want to do it all over again.
'Dad, witnesses!' she said more forcefully.
He swirled around. Red eyes bored into hers. Magic crackled all around the room, but no longer disturbing the walls to her relief. Alas, its focus now seemed to be her. The force made it hard to breathe.
'And that's my problem, how?'
It was ever so strange hearing that cold, detached, clipped tone coming out of her mother's mouth. She'd heard it many times before, but never once got used to it.
She didn't have an answer. Nothing that would satisfy him. He'd killed witnesses before. He'd do it again. He always got away with it.
'Well?' Tom pressed.
'They're my friends,' she objected, her mouth stretched thin, teeth clenching.
Those red eyes flickered briefly between her face and her hand holding tightly to her wand, then he laughed. Cold and harsh.
'Your friends? Think you can protect them, little one?'
'Leave them alone!'
'Do you have what it takes yet, I wonder,' he mused, eyeing her up and down. 'Last time you were willfully insufficient, but perhaps you lacked the proper motivation then? Prepare yourself.'
Rose gasped when suddenly her mother's wand was in his hand.
'Mum!' she shouted, casting a non verbal Protego to combat the assault flying her way. The force threw her into the wall, but she remained unharmed and standing. Wand at the ready. 'MUM!'
'Well, at least your battle stance isn't a complete disaster. I'd be impressed if that had been followed by an immediate attack back. Now it's just … disappointing.'
Rose dove away, seeing his wand slash the air diagonally. No Protection Charm would hold that curse. She rolled over and cast three attack spells in rapid succession, quickly returning to her feet. He waved them away like it was nothing. Now they were flying back at her, she swirled her wand around. Upon feeling the force, she realised she couldn't extinguish them fully, so she diverted their paths. The wooden desk her mother adored splintered into a thousand pieces. Rose sent those splinters flying straight towards him, feeling briefly the satisfaction of seeing several fragments digging into his skin before a Fiendfyre snake erupted from them and turned her wooden attack into cinders. It was a sight to behold, gorgeous but deadly. When it was fully formed, it halted its forward motion and slowly, ever so slowly, began turning its head towards her.
Rose stepped back.
Shit shit shit.
Time to leave.
'Alohomora!' she cast at the door she now regretted closing behind her.
The doorknob shivered. For a second she thought the door was opening, then blackness enclosed the frame, sealing it shut.
The window then!
It was only the second floor. Not a large drop. Just a bit of glass. No biggy. She ran, but the Fiendfyre was faster. She swirled around.
No.
She was surrounded.
'MUM!' she yelled, more desperate now, casting Aguamenti what she knew to be useless, but anything to buy herself time. Sweat drops fell from her brow. The snake came closer and closer. The sounds of fire hissing and its tendrils lapping in her direction was terrifying. She'd been hurt duelling him before, but this would be next level.
'MUM!'
'Not around at the moment. Use your brain.'
'MY BRAIN IS FRYING!'
The amused laughing response only infuriated her more. There was no extinguishing his Fiendfyre by anyone but the caster, and he knew it.
Her clothes stuck to her body. Perspiration wasn't even the word one could use anymore. She was drenched in her own sweat. The heat was unbearable. She cast a bubble around her head to be able to breathe and not burn her lungs.
Use your brain. How?
'Thinking yet?' the snake hissed as it made another pass, coming closer.
Wait, was that fire talking? Did it have a consciousness about it? According to 'Magicke Moste Evile' that was imposs—oh never mind.
'Stop!' she hissed back in Parseltongue, relieved to see the fire freeze, the snake's fiery eyes waiting expectantly. 'Get him,' she hissed, pointing into her father's direction.
The Fiendfyre snake smirked and then charged him before disintegrating.
'Not bad,' Tom said, lowering his wand.
Rose leaned on her knees with her palms, exhausted. 'Not bad?' she breathed. 'You almost burned me to a crisp!'
'Almost being the key word here. Your response time needs to be faster. In a real battle situation, you would've been dead now.'
'Ooooh, in a real battle situation.' She straightened her back, while pocketing her wand. 'I don't have time for this nonsense whenever it suits you. I have appointments to catch. Places to be. Look at me!' She waved her arms around, showering the room with her perspiration. 'There are people waiting for me. I can't go out looking like this. You can't just make me drop everything I have planned so you can throw in one of your little lessons whenever someone or something pisses you off. I'm not some convenient patsy to have around—'
Rose halted upon seeing his eyes and wand flash. 'Brilliant thinking, Rose' flashed through her mind right before that dash of purple impacted upon her.
She had expected to fall to the ground in unbearable pain or be blasted off her feet or something equally dastardly. Instead, a cooling breeze ran through her. It felt like showering without water. Most unusual. She felt utterly refreshed. Surprised, she looked down at herself. The burn patches and wrinkles on her clothes had vanished. They actually seemed cleaner than when she'd put them on this morning.
How?
'I'm afraid that rat's nest isn't something I can fix in record time,' Tom said, eyes twinkling.
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. 'Take a long look in the mirror and call my hair a rat's nest again.'
He smirked. 'Your mother makes it work.'
'I need to talk to her.'
'You could ask me.'
'And have to fix the house again? No, thank you very much.'
'Something I would not like?'
'I need Mum,' she said, placing her hands stubbornly on her sides. She had to restrain her urge to stomp her foot.
A small smile graced his face. 'You're so much like her; it's unbelievable.'
'I need to talk about periods,' Rose said, having heard from Lily that helped make her dad get her mum.
Tom merely snorted. 'Okay, what's the matter? Cramps, unbearable pain, leakage, problems pooping, issues with contracep-'
'STOP! OH MY GOD!' She really didn't need to hear him lecture about this. He always droned on and on and on about everything. 'I just want Mum.'
Tom paused, waving his wand around to restore the room to its previous condition, 'I don't appreciate being lied to, especially when it's so utterly transparent. I've seen you do better. At least try make an effort, you're in Slytherin.'
'Dad, please.'
Even though he was more likely to not care about how many ministerial rules that flying car would break and thus more likely to say yes, she always tried avoiding him from interacting with her friends, because even though for some reason he hadn't (she suspected Mum had something to do with that), she could tell he really, really wanted to hurt them, especially James for some reason.
Also, she did want her mother's permission. Hermione had enough on her plate. Rose didn't want to add on it. As she was thinking that, she saw the decision made in her father's expression and felt her wards drop around the office. The ripple that went through the magic and the rapid blinking of her mother's eyes, filled with confusion and then annoyance, showed the change.
'Mum?'
Hermione shook her head as if shaking off her thoughts. She turned to her daughter.
'Sorry, hon, I didn't notice you there. Too deep in thought,' Hermione said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, while clearly searching her daughter's face for some indication of having noticed something was off.
'I only just got in. I hope I didn't disturb you?' Rose lied out of habit, feeling guilty at seeing the relief on Hermione's tired face.
Why did she keep doing that? Lying for him. Who was she doing that for? Was she even helping anyone with it?
'You could never disturb me.'
'Hah!' Rose objected. 'Unless you're reading, researching, writing—'
Hermione laughed. 'Okay, okay, okay, I got your point. You're not disturbing me now. What's the matter?'
'Albus and Scorpius are downstairs, asking if I can come with.'
A frown erupted on Hermione's face. 'Didn't I already tell you you could go yesterday?'
Rose shuffled on her feet. 'Yeah, but they didn't come as we agreed upon. They borrowed Uncle George's car.'
The frown deepened. 'The Ford Anglia?'
'Yes.'
Hermione rubbed her face and sighed, walking to her desk and sitting down behind it, suddenly appearing quite old and worn.
'Rose, Muggles can't be allowed to see something so obviously magically as a flying old Ford. It will take a lot out of the ministerial resources to fix and it's really unfair to remove so many people's memories just so you can have a bit of fun.'
'We won't fly it in a populated area, Mum, only above wizarding lands and where we can't be seen. I promise.'
Hermione rested her chin on her fingers. 'Who is driving, because neither of you three are old enough to even remotely look like you have a license.'
'James.'
'Well, that explains why the car is here.'
'Huh?'
'He likes you, Rose, a lot. Would do anything to impress you, including borrowing an illegal vehicle which I surely will need to have a firm talking to about with Geor—' Hermione halted.
Rose's cheeks had turned the brightest shade of pink imaginable.
'Hmm…' Hermione said, pondering. 'Okay, well then.' She waved her wand around and held out a card she'd just conjured up.
'Okay?'
'As in yes, you can go if you indeed will make sure that car remains unseen.'
Rose jumped in delight.
'Take this.'
'What is it?' Rose asked, taking the card with James's unmoving photo on it.
'His driving license in case you get pulled over when the car is on the road, which undoubtedly none of you considered necessary,' Hermione calmly said as if she wasn't handing Rose a falsified legal document.
'Thanks Mum,' Rose said happily, running around the desk and hugging Hermione.
'Just leave before I change my mind, and make sure James knows his fake birthdate and tell him I will know if he so much as gets seen by one Muggle.'
'Yes, Mum,' Rose said, giving her a big kiss.
'Rose,' Hermione added, 'if that Invisibility Booster fails, you will have to disillusion a whole car, not just one person.'
Rose nodded. 'I know the charm, Mum.'
She raced out, leaving a head-shaking Hermione looking back at the files on her desk.
Halfway down the landing, Rose stopped, her excitement dropping at recalling the tired, worn out and unhappy look her mother often sprouted these days. Rose knew she tried covering it up for her, but she was getting worse at hiding it. Trying to suppress Lord Voldemort took its toll on her, and she was losing the battle. Rose knew that for sure. She seemed exhausted so often even when she'd just woken up. Her mother always made sure everyone else was happy and safe. Her mother always made sure she was happy and safe. Rose swallowed. It was so unfair. Her mother deserved to be happy and safe, too.
Resolutely, she turned on her heels and walked into her mother's bedroom. With a flick of her wand, the wardrobe opened and she pulled up a stool, not daring to use magic on the box she was retrieving. She flicked her wand at the many wards that surrounded the vault and tore them down like he'd taught her. The door clicked open. She grabbed the shoebox, standing behind some official paperwork, and closed the door of the vault. Quickly she spread out the winter clothes before it and walked back to the office. It was time this stupid charade between them ended.
Hermione looked up, startled, when Rose slammed open the door and stomped in. 'Rose, what?' She fell silent upon seeing the shoebox Rose demonstratively put in front of her. 'Rose,' she said softly.
'You need to stop this,' Rose said. 'How many times have you woken up lately not knowing where you were, how much time had passed, and what you have been doing and to whom? He gets out more and more, and I can't even reach you anymore when he is. I used to just have to call out for you and you'd be back. Now.' Rose shook her head. 'He's getting stronger than you, Mum, and you know it.'
Hermione stood up and walked around the desk, grabbing her daughter with both hands. 'How long have you known about this?'
Rose looked down, thinking.
'I don't know for sure. I think I've always known on some level, but I recall being at the zoo when I was five, and then, I started talking to that snake, and then, you completely spaced out and started talking to snakes, too.'
'Oh, Merlin, I'm so, so sorry, hon.' Hermione pulled her into a hug and pressed her tightly to her chest.
'I'm fine,' Rose said, pushing away. 'It's you I'm worried about. I can't lose you, Mum. I just can't.'
'Hon, you've got nothing to worry about. I'm not going anywhere.'
Rose huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. 'You can't promise me that.'
'Yes, I can. I'm sorry, dear, that this is something you were worried about, but he can't erase me fully, just like I can't erase him. You don't know how this works.'
'I may not know how it works, but I see him more and more, Mum. It's …'
Hermione's eyes widened; she gripped Rose's arms tightly. 'Has he hurt you?'
Rose looked down, wondering how to reply.
'That's answer enough,' Hermione said, eyes narrowing, 'I'm going to find a way to kill him. Slowly. How dare he lay one finger—'
'Mum,' Rose interrupted, 'it's not what you think.'
'Oh, I bet it is,' Hermione grumbled, but there was no response from him inside of her. He was uncharacteristically quiet. The manipulator. She could tell when he was or wasn't sleeping. No, now he just kept his mouth shut to let a teen do his dirty work for him.
'No, he's been teaching me things, how to duel and so on, and well …' Rose shuffled on her feet, hesitantly. 'He can get a bit intense.'
'Intense,' Hermione huffed. 'That's one way of calling it. Always heroically taking on little children. I'll show him. When I'm done with him, he'll be lucky to have any fingers left to hold a wand with.'
'It's not his fault,' Rose objected, getting angry. 'I had to know how to defend myself.'
'Had to know?'
Crap.
This entire conversation wasn't going as Rose had planned at all.
'Why did you have to know how to defend yourself? Who attacked you?'
Rose threw her arms into the air. 'Who hasn't, Mum? You want a list? I should warn you; it's going to be long. Lots of people out there who really, really don't like that the daughter of Lord Voldemort is just allowed free rein of their streets. It got worse after I was sorted into Slytherin, too.'
The soft creak of a floorboard alarmed them to his presence.
'Albus,' Hermione said, looking over her daughter's shoulder.
'Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to interrupt this,' Albus said, standing in the doorway. His face had coloured a furious shade of red. 'I was wondering what was keeping Rose.'
'Did you know about this, Albus?' Hermione asked.
Albus's eyes swivelled between Rose and Hermione, trying to figure out the right answer to give.
Hermione turned to Rose. 'So everyone knew but me?' She looked past Rose to Albus. 'Did you tell your father?'
Albus shook his head slowly, looking down in embarrassment.
'He wanted to. I made them swear not to tell. They're my friends. They help.'
'Oh hon, there are things you can keep from your parents and things you do need to tell. I could've helped you. Harry could've helped. Holding on to secrets that harm your safety isn't wise, dear.'
'You should know, shouldn't you?' Rose bit back, shaking her head in annoyance.
'We make sure she's never alone when we go shopping,' Albus said hastily. 'They never try anything when James, Lily or I are around, except mumble stupid stuff.'
Hermione stared at the boy. This was worse than she thought if they felt the need to do that. 'Thank you, Albus. Could you give us some privacy? Rose will be out soon.'
'Yes, Aunt Hermione,' Albus said, nodding. 'And I'm sorry.' He smiled weakly at Rose before exiting.
Hermione waved at the doorway. A bright, red sheen quickly enveloped the room, warding the area fully and keeping any noise contained to the inside of the room.
'It's that bad that they have to make sure you're not alone?'
'Usually it's just words, but occasionally you have those around who feel the need to show me. There was this one wizard who kept following me and ...' Rose bit her lip, looking down.
Hermione's fists clenched. 'Why, why, why, in Godric's name, haven't you told me about this?'
'Because I wanted to handle it. It's my problem, not yours.'
'No, dear, it's my problem, too. You need to tell me about these things.'
'I tried once, but I hadn't noticed it wasn't you.'
Hermione unclenched her fists, closing her eyes for a moment, and said with a groan, 'You told him.'
'Yeah.'
'Oh, Merlin,' Hermione sighed, running a hand through her hair.
'He helped me, Mum. That man never bothered me again. And he taught me what to do in situations like these. How to strike back and get away.'
'You shouldn't have a need for knowledge on how to do that. You're only fifteen.'
'How old were you when you first had to battle?'
'How old I was doesn't make it alright that you have to go through this, too. If someone is bothering you, you don't solve it on your own or with your friends. You all go to the nearest grownup, and tell them who is harassing you. You have them warn the Aurors.'
'And what if they are just like them?'
Hermione stood silent for a moment and then turned on her heels, walked to her desk, opened a drawer and pulled out something Rose couldn't see.
'Open your hand,' Hermione said, stopping in front of her.
Rose did and looked at the Galleon her mother had pressed into her hand. 'Isn't this the coin you used for meetings?'
'Yes, so if someone ever threatens you or any of your friends again, you activate this coin, and I promise you, a lot of people will show up and help you. You understand?'
Rose nodded, staring at the golden coin in awe. 'What if I lose it or accidentally spend it or?'
'You can't. I made sure of that back then.'
'How? That's unbelievably complex magic. Weren't you my age when you created this?'
'I'll explain how it works later. Just promise me you'll use this and not your father's solutions to problems.'
Rose closed her fingers around the coin and placed it in her pocket. 'I promise, Mum.'
Hermione smiled. 'Good.'
'If you promise to use what's in the box.'
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose. 'Honey, really, I can't. It's not safe.'
'It's not safe if you don't. Don't you get it? He's using your body to do whatever it is he wants. There's no one there to stop him. You have no idea where he's been going and what he's been doing. Do you think it's anything nice and legal? He tortures and kills people, Mum, and he enjoys it. What if someone sees you, and he doesn't realise. You could go to Azkaban for what he's doing while in your body.'
'You say that with such conviction for it to be merely secondhand, theoretical knowledge.'
'I've seen him in action.'
'He tortured and murdered people in front of you?'
'Not commonly, but it's happened.'
'I'm sorry you had to see that.'
Rose shrugged. 'They had it coming.'
Hermione cupped her cheek. 'No, Rose, people don't have it coming. It's wrong.'
There was a clear struggle in Rose's blue eyes that Hermione wished she wasn't seeing.
'You better go. You've kept your friends waiting for long enough.'
'You'll use the box?'
'After what you told me, I don't think I have any other choice, do I?'
Rose shook her head; her eyes lightened up in relief. 'Love you, Mum,' she said on her way out.
'Love you, too, Rose.'
Hermione waited until she heard the telltale signs of the Ford leaving, and then hissed,
'You couldn't tell me about this?'
I had it handled.
'Clearly not.'
Wasting time in finding a coin in your pocket when you should be drawing your wand is incredibly unwise.
'She's a child. They're all children.'
Which is why people assume it is safe to attack them, I prefer they find out it is not.
'Well, I suppose you should know, wouldn't you?'
He was silent then.
Hermione shook her head. 'I won't have the adults in her life be as irresponsible as the ones who were in mine and Harry's.'
She's not wrong, you know.
'Not wrong about what?'
You're losing control. The potion is no longer working, and it has actually been inhibiting you since you started taking such large quantities.
'Losing, eh? I'm not the one stuck in another. Still couldn't figure out a way to do it without my cooperation, I take it?' She could sense at the annoyance inside of her that she'd hit her mark.
I won't need to exit this body if it becomes fully mine with time, wife. I'd rather not lose you, but if you won't cooperate, that is how this will end. I believe you know I'm right. You know you're losing more and more time. You know you can't always witness what I do anymore, unless I allow it. You know you can't break through anymore when I take over. You know you have to wait until I allow—
'Just shut up,' she said, rubbing her temples. She wished she wasn't so damn tired all the time. She wished she could think properly.
You know the cure to that.
'You can't kill me.'
I won't need to once I've got you fully suppressed.
Hermione swallowed.
It won't be death, but I wouldn't call it alive either, would you?
'I can't believe you dare threaten me with that fate.'
You mean the same fate you've been imposing upon me? For more than fifteen years, I might add.
She bit her lip and blinked back tears.
I've been more than patient with you, Hermione. Besides, Rose isn't wrong. I can feel your desires. You want to let me out. You need to let me out.
'You're so damn arrogant.'
His laugh vibrated inside of her, sending all sorts of delightful tingles to regions she hadn't had touched by another in years.
'Cheat.'
Don't say you didn't like it, and I could do so much more to you if I had my body back.
His voice had taken on a darker timbre, full of promise.
'Don't you see how your actions in my body are what's been staying my hand at reviving you?'
He didn't have a reply to that.
Hermione turned around slowly, taking the shoebox from the desk and walking to the couch and table with it under her arm. She sat down, putting the unopened box on her lap, her hands folding on top of it as she stared into thin air. She could feel her safeguards were still in place, its magic ever so palatable to her. Rose taking it from the shelf should've activated every Protection Charm she'd put on it.
Hell, Rose shouldn't even have been able to see, let alone know, it was there. Someone had not only told her. They had taken active steps to make sure she could get it. This had taken advanced magic, the kind no fifteen-year-old, no matter how clever, was capable of. To keep the safeguards active for everyone else, while disabling for one person, Hermione knew of only one person who had enough knowledge of ward theory than herself to be able to pull that off.
Hermione's mouth stretched in a thin line. Her eyes sparkled with fury, whilst her fingers dug into the cardboard of the box.
How did she not foresee this? So stupid. So utterly, utterly stupid. She wanted to smack her head. She knew him, knew how manipulative and charming he could be. How he could cajole you into doing his bidding. She'd left Rose wide open to his attacks. This was her fault, and hers alone.
'You showed her how to get past my wards so she'd bring me this one day.'
I showed her a lot more than that.
'So I've gathered.'
She's a quick study.
'You don't need to rub it in.'
She felt her shoulders shrug.
'Stop using my body—' she groaned, burying her head in her hands.
What would make this easier for you, Hermione?
When she didn't reply, he continued in that soft, gentle tone of voice he could sport when he needed you to do his bidding but had no power to enforce it.
You know I can't hurt your friends or any else you care about.
'There is a whole world out there. I can't possibly make myself care about everyone. It's too big a task.'
What are you worried about me doing?
She let out an unhumorous laugh.
You know I tried ruling the world. I didn't get very far, but damn, it was boring.
'Language,' she said out of habit with all those teens around her house.
Call it the influence of your mind.
'Suuure.'
You picked seven. You know what that bond does over time. Do you honestly think I've been immune these past fifteen years? Can you say you have been?
Hermione paused, paling ever so slightly.
I've seen a lot of your actions, wife, positively deliciously vicious, if you don't mind me saying.
'That man, Rose talked about,' Hermione interjected, suddenly recalling, 'I trust that's—'
—dealt with.
'That better mean dead and not alive suffering somewhere with the chance of returning and enacting his vengeance.'
You think I'd take risks with my own flesh and blood?
'Tell me you killed him.'
He's dead.
'Tom?' she asked, not trusting that cheerful lilt.
Well, I had to make him suffer first, right?
'But he is dead now?'
Very dead.
'You'd vow getting your body back on that?' She felt his stillness at that.
Yes.
'Not a vow.'
I vow on regaining my body that he is dead, Hermione. Do you honestly think I'd let scum like that live?
'No, I don't.' She really didn't, but considering it concerned Rose, she had to be certain.
Good. I was beginning to question your sanity.
'Call it the influence of your mind.'
Funny, wife. Yet you can be coy to me all day, in the end you will have to reach a decision on how much longer you're going to put complete strangers above me, your daughter, and your chance at happiness.
'I don't know …' she whispered, her fingers stroking the shoebox. 'I just—I don't trust you.'
When he didn't reply, she said, 'Tom?'
I've said all there is to say, Hermione Jean Riddle. It's your call now. Decide.
The silence was maddening. He always talked, always had opinions about everything.
Rose wanted her to do this. Rose had seen him in action without her knowledge. If he were outside of her body in his own, at least she could intervene. Now she wasn't even a spectator anymore it seemed. It stung after all the effort she'd put into suppressing him to know it hadn't been a long term solution. It stung that she hadn't been able to find another method. It hurt her pride severely that she was at the end of a losing battle. She knew he wasn't making empty threats. She could feel it. Every inch of her ached every single day. Just functioning on simple daily tasks alone cost her so much energy, she sometimes just wished she could sleep forever and never wake again. Now she realised where that wish—that thought—came from. Her body was warning her what would come to pass if she did nothing.
She knew what she wanted to do. She knew what was the easy way out. She knew what deep inside she desperately needed, what she ached for. There wasn't a day when she didn't miss him holding her close, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe. She missed his arms around her, keeping her in place. She'd been on the verge of doing it, almost every day for the last fifteen years, and every day her conscience—that feeling of the weight of the world on her shoulders—had stopped her.
For what?
He still killed. He still maimed. He still tortured.
He just did it with her face as a mask.
Her fingers hooked behind the rim of the lid, ripping it off with more violence than necessary. The lid flew through the chamber, landing softly on her carpet before disintegrating. She didn't need to see the contents of the box to know what was in there: his blood on her clothes, his ring, and the letter opener.
Taking a deep breath, she took a first glance back at the glowing items. The glow seemingly thrummed in the rhythm of a heartbeat. It surprised her how much it still pained her to look at it, how the memory of plunging that letter opener into his neck came to the forefront of her mind immediately. The doubt she'd felt when she'd picked it up and hid it in the palm of her hand as she'd contemplated what she'd had to inevitably do. She rubbed her hands together again, trying to erase the memory of feeling thick, warm blood pulsing over them. It had been horrifying. For days after, she'd kept washing her hands, unable to cleanse away that sticky feeling. The despair she'd felt when she saw the silver metal penetrate his skin and blood sprayed out was unimaginable. It had hurt so much, like someone had stuck a blade into her heart. It hadn't gone as fast as she'd hoped. He'd clutched to her, eyes wide in fear and something else, something she couldn't identify at that moment. She'd held him tightly, muttering, 'I got you' over and over again, until he'd turned slack.
She always wondered afterwards if she'd been kidding herself, if she'd known beforehand when she plunged in the opener that it was what he wanted her to do. He'd given her plenty of hints after all.
'Death is the only way.'
Their bond meant they couldn't hurt each other, not without the other's permission that is. She wasn't sure if she'd been in the right mindset to remember that at the time of picking up the opener. She just wasn't sure if back then she consciously and knowingly helped Lord Voldemort escape Azkaban without anyone noticing.
She was sure that if she followed through on the next steps necessary, that she was.
If she continued this, she would consciously, knowingly and willingly help Lord Voldemort rise again. Worse was that he'd be more powerful than ever before with their combined magic. Maybe not eternal as he'd tried many years ago, but still, he had been hard to stop before having her magic on top of his. All she had was that stupid bond.
She put his ring on the same finger as her own. It was only slightly wider and covered it halfway.
If ever there was a symbolic gesture, that sure was it.
She pulled out the letter opener and wrapped her bloodied clothes around them. With a flick of her wand, some of his dried up blood became fluid again and dripped down onto the blade. She took a deep breath.
On her head it would be.
Without any hesitation, Hermione plunged the opener forcefully into her chest, the symbols on her collar erupting in bright, green light. His ring widened and dropped down, completely circling hers. Pain beyond belief, beyond imagination. She crashed to her knees as dark smoke and bits of her blood began exiting her body past the knife wound and attached itself to the dried up blood on the clothes in her hands. It all turned fluid, pulsing hotly past her fingers more and more and more—more than possible, more than had been left on the fabric. It mixed with the black vapour that whirled around her. Her eyes burned with the contact. She clenched her hands tightly around the fabric, eyes closed, face contorted. Cold sweat poured down her spine. Soon she didn't feel the blood anymore. All she could focus on was the pain. Unbearable pain. She fell sideways, not noticing how the vapour solidified. She couldn't breathe, couldn't inhale or exhale. She became light headed, a whirlpool of darkness closed in. This was death that came to take her. She felt its arms wrapping around her, his voice whispering gently, 'I got you.'
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The Prisoner