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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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- 33
Harmony went straight to her old room across the hall. She could think of nowhere else to go since she didn't want to encounter any of the Death Eaters that were waiting below. She wouldn't be able to stand looking at any of their faces, not now that she finally knew what they had always known, that she was intended to be their leader someday.
What a joke, she thought. It could never happen. If they ever found out I was Muggle-Born, they'd murder me. As she strode through the door, she tied her face scarf back on—covering her mouth and nose.
Feeling as though she'd just been taken on an emotional rollercoaster, Harmony was shaken by what had just happened between her and Master. Surely no one had ever talked back to him in the harsh manner she just had. There was no way he was handling it well.
Not sure what she was supposed to do in the middle of this catastrophe, Harmony just wanted a place to sit and think. Glancing around the lonely, forgotten room she found a seat and dragged it over to the window.
When she pulled the dirty window open she was greeted by a soft breeze. The starlit, nighttime sky twinkled innocently down at her, and Harmony closed her eyes and allowed the cool breeze to chill her face.
For a few short seconds she wished she could take back what she'd said, but at the same time she knew that something had needed saying. All the while she had been here with "the most feared wizard of all time," she felt as though she were being kept on a leash, and as it turned out she had not been far from wrong.
Harmony looked back on the day in the labyrinth when she had nearly given in to death while she was looking for the mysterious room with the woman, but had lost her way. She had a choice of when and where to die in one of the countless rooms. As far as she could tell, that was the last time she had truly felt in control since coming to the mansion.
It was right then when Harmony heard hurried footfalls coming down the hall. She twirled around in her chair by the window at the exact same time Lord Voldemort came charging into the room. The look on his face made her jump up in alarm. His blue eyes were intense with what at first she thought was anger, but by the way he chewed brutally at the inside of his cheek she figured out that he was more annoyed than anything else.
"What did you mean by what you said?" he demanded. "Hm?"
Harmony just gaped at him. She was speechless at his ire, which was seldom directed at her.
"Of course I always get what I want," he insisted through gritted teeth. His face had turned red now, as if something within him had snapped. "Why did you say—?"
"Me! I was talking about me!" Harmony shouted before he could say any more. At this exclamation, Master's posture straightened questioningly, and Harmony took this as an incentive to keep going. "I'm not just some slab of meat you can use as you please. You can't just take me away from everything I've known simply because you wanted me."
"It's because I wanted you that you're even here. I made you into what you are now. Like I said, it was your destiny to become my heir. It was always going to be you, clear back when I made the charm, and it always will be you. You can't avoid that," he explained. "You should feel grateful."
"What I feel is used," Harmony spat back. "You endowed me with something so life changing, and you didn't even tell me. You didn't even ask if I wanted it."
"I was quite surprised by your ignorance when I first gave you the charm, Harmony, but it gave me the idea that maybe it would be better if I waited to explain. That way I could prepare you magically and mentally. You're more ready now to handle the responsibility. Imagine if I'd told you on the very first day you came. Don't you think you would have handled it differently then? Do you really think you were ready to know?"
Harmony knew that he was right, but that didn't make her feel any better. She knew that if she'd been told then she would have probably tried to escape, which would have put her in a great deal more trouble.
"You certainly would have acted differently if you had told me then," she retorted, though she knew how lame the words sounded. She thought of how he'd almost kissed her before she got away.
"Yes," he agreed without hesitation. "I'm sure I would have. I did not comprehend then just how important you would be."
"When I think of you, I always hear his words running through my head, over and over," Harmony said. "'I wouldn't mess with the girl who belongs to the Dark Lord.'"
Master asked with curiosity, "Who said that?"
Harmony was breathless with anger at the memory, but replied, "Barty." When she had regained her breath she added with renewed frivolity, "But I don't belong to anyone—only to myself. And especially I don't belong to y—" she stopped short as her eyes stared over Master's shoulder.
Master spun around, following her line of sight to the doorway.
There, Draco Malfoy stood. His face was screwed up with incredulous confusion, and his eyes were wide with wonder as he stared back at Harmony. After a couple seconds, he stepped uncertainly into the room and said, "When I came up here, I thought I heard a familiar voice, but—" he shook his head rigorously as he stared at Harmony. "You couldn't be her. It's not possible."
Harmony remembered with sudden horror that she always changed her voice while around Draco, to help hide her identity. But she never felt the need to change her voice around Voldemort, and because of her outbursts of anger, Draco heard her every word spoken in her regular voice.
"Draco?" said Master as he held a pale hand out to the boy. "The news of Dumbledore's death is traveling like a wild fire. Let me personally congrat—"
But Draco was not listening to him; he was just staring at Harmony as though he'd seen a dragon. He walked right past Voldemort and stood in front of her. When he was close enough to look at her more easily she could see that the fuse had been lit—it was now smoldering in his eyes. She watched painfully as his face contorted into disgust.
"Hermione Granger?" he spat out, as if the words themselves tasted bitter.
Harmony felt her face drain of blood. No, she pleaded, please not now! She wished there was something she could do to convince him he was wrong, but how silly would it be if she started disguising her voice right in front of Master? The way she saw it, the damage was already done.
All she could manage was a little shake of the head, horrified of what might happen next. She hoped beyond hope that Draco would choose not to explain anything to Master.
Draco did what she had least expected. He jumped at her, his clawing hands grabbing for her face scarf. Harmony offered a feeble resistance, and he yanked off the entire scarf to reveal her entire face.
Harmony yelped in surprise at his forcefulness. Draco threw the scarf across the room as if it were infested with spiders. Harmony looked away from him, waiting for the next horror to be inflicted. What would it be? A curse, a beating, anything? But to her surprise, nothing came. She looked up at him through the curls that had cascaded into her face.
When Draco had attacked Harmony so viciously, Voldemort had grabbed him by the throat. He now had him in a white-knuckled grip, held against the dusty wall. His wand was out, pointed mercilessly at Draco's heart.
As if Draco had just noticed the Dark Lord for the first time, his face went deathly pale and his eyes were wide with paralyzing fear. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to make words come out. Amazed that he was still alive, he took his luck and ran with it.
"W-w-wait, my Lord!" he stammered. "I can explain." His eyes drifted over to Harmony. At that, Master forced him harder against the wall, and Draco's eyes snapped back to the bone-chilling pair in front of him.
"She's not who you think she is, my Lord," he said. He took his still being alive as a sign to keep talking. "When I heard her voice a minute ago, I just couldn't believe it." A look of disgust overtook his look of fear as he glanced at her again. "I've gone to school with this girl for over six years, and I would recognize that idiotic, know-it-all voice anywhere. I would never forget it."
Please don't, Harmony pleaded, but knew there was nothing she could do now.
Master crushed his whole hand tighter around Draco's throat, and the boy got the point that he was pushing his luck. "She's no pureblood, my Lord," Draco told him, and then shouted, "She's nothing but a Muggle-born fraud. I swear it to you, my Lord!"
Harmony felt the tension growing in the room. She watched Master as the angry look in his eyes slowly glazed over and went blank at the accusation. A look of utter despair set in, followed by one last angry glimmer of hope.
"That's not possible, you lying little snake," Voldemort said. "No Muggle-born witch would be capable of wielding the power she possesses. How dare you speak to your Mistress that way?"
When he spun toward to look at Harmony, she instinctively brought a hand up to hide her face, but she knew it was pointless.
"Tell him, Harmony Hangleton," Master insisted as his eyes lingered over the face he'd been longing to see. "Tell this little snake who you really are. Tell him what I told you about your Serpentine charm." He dragged a vicious glare back to Draco as he waited for Harmony to speak.
The room remained silent.
Voldemort looked back at Harmony expectantly. "Tell him," he said a little less heartedly.
Harmony bit her lip so hard she thought her teeth might pierce through the flesh. She was on the verge of tears, and could see no more point in lying to him. Besides, a part of her had almost wanted him to know the truth, despite the risks, so she wouldn't have to lie to him anymore. She tried to look at Voldemort through her blurry eyes, but the guilt she felt would not let her do it. Slowly, so that it was nearly invisible, Harmony shook her head.
The room was deathly silent; no one dared to breathe. At least, that was how Harmony felt—as though there was no more oxygen in the world. Tears fell down her cheeks as she waited painfully for her verdict. When nothing happened she forced herself to look up, but when she did she instantly wished she hadn't. She just wished she was dead so that she wouldn't have to see the look in his eyes.
Voldemort looked Harmony up and down, frowning as if she were some kind of stranger. He saw her like she was someone he did not know and dared not trust. He unconsciously loosened his grip on Draco, who took his chance and slinked away. When he reached the door, he cast one last look in Harmony's direction. His smirk was truly that of a snake. Then like a shadow, he was gone.
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- 33
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Serpentine Series