Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Shared Flame	By : TheLadyMiya Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 58981 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I do not make any money writing this.

Chapter List
- 36
- 37
- 38
Hello, sorry for the wait, RL and school in particular is being very hectic at the moment. Don’t worry, though, I’m not planning to abandon anything. But expect slow updates until the summer.

As always, lots of hugs and kisses to my awesome betas, Nerys and Shan84! You’re better than chocolate.

Lots of thanks to the people that take their time to read and review as well! It really cheers me up. Reviews can be found here: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/20494-shared-flame-by-lady-miya/

Enjoy!

Chapter 36
“Dad, where are my socks?” Althea yelled from upstairs.
“I’m carrying them right now!” Voldemort yelled back as he levitated the heavy hamper with clean clothes up the stairs. “For crying out loud, girl, how many socks do you think you’ll need?”
He walked into her room and dumped the hamper on the floor next to the bed. Althea immediately dove in to find her things.
“Careful with that,” he scolded. “I just ironed them.”
Thankfully, he had put Althea’s things on the top, so she didn’t have to disturb the rest of his neatly ironed clothes.
Since when have I started to consider things like this? he thought as he helped Althea rearrange her trunk so she could fit everything in it. Who would have guessed Lord Voldemort could become such an expert on domestic chores? Then again, few people appreciated the complicated magic used to take care of the house. But, as always, when it came to magic, Voldemort had mastered and now excelled in it. Thus, Hermione left most of the house-work to him.
“When will Mum be finished in the shower?” Althea asked as they closed her trunk. “We still have to eat breakfast and go through which books I should take with me. I don’t want to be late!”
“It only takes a second to Apparate to King’s Cross Station, and it’s still three hours before the train departures. You won’t be late,” he said, avoiding the other question. The truth was that Hermione was sitting in the shower, crying her eyes out because of Althea’s departure.
Voldemort knew that it was considered normal behaviour for parents to miss their children when they went away, but he found it annoying all the same. Almost all wizarding parents sent their children to Hogwarts or some other magical boarding school. It was just the way things worked. Yet, Hermione behaved as if someone were ripping her baby from her bosom. However, she had said that she didn’t want to alarm Althea by being sad in front of her. Althea seemed to be looking forward to going, and Voldemort wanted her to stay happy. If Althea became sad because she would miss them, the atmosphere at home would become even more irritating.
At least Althea was finished with Muggle School. Just like him, she didn’t see the point of learning a lot of Muggle things when there was magic to be discovered. However, Hermione had wanted her children to know as much as possible about the Muggle world.
“Let’s take this downstairs and I’ll start breakfast,” Voldemort said and flicked his wand at the trunk.
“I can do that!” Althea said and pulled forth her own wand.
It was a ten-and-a-half inch, yew wood wand with a phoenix core, like the one he had had before. Ever since they purchased it three weeks earlier, Althea had wanted to learn every spell there was. She was already quite adept at easy charms, like levitation. Thus, he allowed her to take the trunk downstairs.
He was just finishing with the fried eggs (he was sick of porridge) when Hermione finally joined them, Alexandra in tow. Their youngest daughter looked as if she had just eaten a sour lemon.
“Dad, why can’t I go to Hogwarts?” she asked. “You always say that I’m cleverer than everyone else in school.”
“Unfortunately, Hogwarts doesn’t work like that,” Voldemort explained. “You have to be eleven before you are allowed to start.”
“Why?” Alexandra whined as she sat down at the kitchen table, next to her sister.
“Just one of those silly laws,” Voldemort explained. “Too bad none of us are the Minister. Then we could have changed that.”
For the past two years, he had started to drop hints about what Alexandra could do if she became Minister one day. It was very easy manipulating a child. Then again, he couldn’t see anyone be more fit to become Minister than a child he had raised. He was actually doing the world a favour.
“Have you packed all of your things?” Hermione asked Althea, eyeing the trunk in the hallway as she sat down.
Althea nodded. “I just have to pick out the books I want to read on the train. Tell me what will happen when I get to Hogwarts!”
Hermione started to explain everything about the train ride, the sorting and the feast. Voldemort served them all the fried eggs with bacon and toast. He gave Alexandra some extra eggs, since he knew she liked them and he wanted her to stop sulking. It didn’t seem to work, though. Voldemort took his own plate and sat down next to her.
“After we have put Althea on the train, we can do something you want,” he said to Alexandra in a low voice. “How about the zoo? We could see if they have any new serpents and monkeys.”
For some strange reason, Alexandra liked to look at the monkeys just as much as she liked to look at the snakes in the zoo. Voldemort assumed it was Hermione’s bad influence. However, the prospect of going to the zoo seemed to brighten her up.
“Will we have ice cream?” Alexandra asked.
Both Alexandra and Althea had inherited their father’s love for ice cream.
“Of course,” Voldemort promised. Although he hated all the Muggles at the zoo, the ice cream was delicious enough to stand it.
After that, Alexandra was in a much better mood and ate her breakfast with vigour. She even joined in the conversation and asked Hermione a few questions about Hogwarts. Voldemort was content with just listening, and when they were all done with breakfast, he cleaned up, letting Hermione spend time with Althea.
At half past ten, the entire family Apparated to King’s Cross. Voldemort and Hermione had decided to Apparate outside the train station, so Althea got to experience of going into Platform 9 ¾. She did so very eagerly and was jumping with glee when they met her on the other side.
“How is that possible?” she asked.
“It’s very complex spell work,” Voldemort began to explain, but Hermione took his hand, looking mildly amused.
“I think it’s better if we try to find Althea a place to sit first, dear,” she said. “We don’t want to block the entrance.”
Voldemort sighed but nodded. The platform was just like he remembered, filled with people, animals and noises. Hardly a place for a lesson in magic. She would be going to Hogwarts now, anyway. She would probably stake out the library first thing tomorrow morning and find the answer herself.
He would “miss” his daughter, in his own special way. Despite what he had said about wanting to have Hermione all to himself, he would miss having his oldest daughter around, asking him for information and staring at him with awe every time he performed complicated magic. She was also very entertaining to spend time with. It would be so much harder to make her think and behave the right way when he wasn’t there to control her.
He could suddenly understand why Hermione, who was a hundred times more emotional than him, had been crying the whole night. As he looked around at the other parents in the crowd, he could see the same fake smile that Hermione was carrying on a lot of them. It seemed that most parents were going to miss their children.
They boarded the train, with Voldemort levitating Althea’s trunk in front of him.
“How long will the trip take?” Althea asked when they placed her trunk into an empty compartment. Some of her cheerfulness had been replaced with clear signs of nervousness.
“The entire day,” Voldemort said. “So you can spend that time reading.”
“If you feel like it, you can also introduce yourself to someone,” Hermione commented. “Or, if someone comes by, you can offer them a seat in here. I spent my first train ride with Neville. You remember, the man who was helping me in the garden last summer? After all this time, we’re still friends.”
“Okay.”
Althea didn’t look all that excited anymore. She had never been much for socialising, having always been more comfortable with her books. The only other children Voldemort had seen her play with were the Weasley children and Alexandra. Hermione was worried about her lack of friends, but Althea didn’t seem too bothered about it. Voldemort was more concerned that she wasn’t trying to make connections, which he could use later in life.
Voldemort sat down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You will no doubt meet some people you’ll like at Hogwarts.”
“Just be yourself,” Hermione added. “Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid,” Althea objected.
However, she did look a bit uneasy. Voldemort guessed it was finally hitting her that she was actually leaving her family.
Alexandra, who had been standing quietly next to Voldemort, stepped forward and held out something for Althea. “You can have this. I made it.”
It was a twined bracelet in purple and red wool. “Sabina, from my class, showed me how to make them,” Alexandra explained. “They’re called friendship bracelets. I have made one for myself, and got the others from my friends.” She pulled up her sleeve, showing a matching bracelet as well as three others in green, pink and yellow.
“Thanks,” Althea said and slid the bracelet onto her small wrist.
Voldemort glanced at his watch. It was already ten to eleven. “We have to get off the train now, unless we want to go to Hogwarts as well.”
“I want to go to Hogwarts!” Alexandra commented.
“You aren’t old enough, sweetie,” Hermione said and kissed her head. “You’ll get to join Althea soon enough, though.”
Alexandra sighed but didn’t argue further.
Voldemort pulled out a small purse and handed it to Althea. “Here is your allowance for the next few months. Don’t spend it all on candy.”
Althea opened the purse and looked a bit happier when she saw how much money it contained. Voldemort leaned down and gave his daughter a hug. “Don’t forget to eat your lunch. It’s in the paper bag in your backpack.”
“Yes, Dad,” Althea said.
He ruffled her hair. “Write to us if you need anything.”
Althea nodded and then turned to Hermione, who leaned in and hugged her as well. Voldemort could see that Hermione was close to tears again.
“Take care, love,” Hermione whispered. “Time will fly when you are at Hogwarts, you’ll see. Before you know it, it will be time to come home again.”
“Mhm,” Althea murmured. The extra hard hug suggested that she would miss her mother.
Voldemort felt rather uncomfortable as he led his wife out. Not only did he become uncomfortable because of Hermione’s emotional state, but there was something else. Something felt … wrong. It wasn’t just that he would miss his daughter, but he had the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something.
As they saw the train roll out from the station, the feeling of wrongness increased. He started feeling paranoid. He glanced around, trying to see if anyone looked suspicious. All he could see were parents and siblings waving at the train or leaving the platform, either by foot or by Apparition. There were all kinds of people. Minister workers, Healers and shop workers, they were all at the same place now because they had sex twelve to eighteen years ago.
Or not everyone.
Voldemort recognised Harry Potter walking towards the exit. He must have taken his godson, Theodore Lupin, to the train.
Or?
Something in the way Potter moved made Voldemort suspicious. He knew his old enemy well enough to see when the other man was on edge. Still, it could be because of anything. Potter was an Auror after all.
“Mum, why are you crying?”
Alexandra’s question made Voldemort turn his attention back to his family.
Hermione wiped her eyes with a transfigured napkin. “It’s just hard letting your children go, Alex. But don’t worry. We’ll have a great day at the zoo.”
Alexandra and Hermione continued talking, but Voldemort didn’t listen. He was too busy worrying about the alarm bells going off in his head. He was missing something. Forgetting something important.
Suddenly, twenty wizards surrounded them, their wands raised. At the same time, Voldemort realised one thing: “Letting your children go” was another way of saying that you’d given up your claim. Voldemort had already given up his claim of Althea when he got his new body. He had given it up to the fairies and now Hermione—
Hermione!
However, in the split second it took him to realise what was going on, no less than ten separate spells had been cast towards him. He drew his wand and deflected seven, but the other three hit him, causing his wand fly out of his hand before he lost consciousness.

xxx

“Marcus!” Hermione cried and tried to run to her husband.
Alas, two Aurors grabbed her and took her wand before she managed to take one step towards him. Another Auror took a hold of Alexandra and tried to move her away from her mother; however, Alexandra kicked her leg and bit her hand, so the Auror lost her grip of the girl.
“Mummy!” Alexandra cried and threw herself around Hermione’s leg.
Despite being held still, Hermione managed to stroke her hair, while looking around and trying to figure out what was going on. Harry Potter stepped forward, answering her question before she had time to ask it out loud.
“Tom Riddle and Hermione Granger, I’m hereby placing you under arrest for crimes against the wizarding world.”
“Harry?” Hermione asked, staring at Harry in disbelief. “What are you doing?”
Pain was evident in Harry’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Hermione, but you have been harbouring a fugitive and possibly conspiring with him. We have to take you in as well.”
“What—?” she stopped herself. Harry was able to tell the truth about Voldemort. He must have found a way to break the curse. No way would he ever risk Ginny’s life just to capture Voldemort.
But how could he have broken it? The only way out of that curse was through the death of the caster, and Harry couldn’t do anything to hurt Voldemort. Could he?
Hermione looked back at her husband’s lifeless body. Was he dead? Panic started to rise inside her. He couldn’t be dead!
Then, she saw an Auror put handcuffs on his wrists and immediately calmed down. They wouldn’t have bothered to put handcuffs on him if he were dead.
So, how had the spell been broken?
She looked around. All of these Aurors … Harry must have broken the spell some time ago if he’d managed to gather all these people. But why had he arrested them here and not at home?
“That girl has to be taken elsewhere,” one of the Aurors holding Hermione said, interrupting her line of thinking.
“What?” Hermione asked, outraged. “No one will take my daughter anywhere!”
“Mum,” Alexandra whined and tightened her grip on her mother’s leg as the female Auror tried to move her.
Hermione pulled her daughter’s head closer to her body and looked at Harry in desperation. “Why are you doing this?” she asked, getting a strong feeling that something else was going on.
“Voldemort has committed many crimes, Hermione! He has to be taken in and face justice,” Harry answered. “I was lucky and got help to break free from his curse from someone else who knows who he really is. But who knows how many others are suffering from the things he’s still doing? I can’t let it pass.”
Hermione gaped. This was serious. If Voldemort faced justice, people would scream for his execution. She would have to deny it! Another thought hit her. Who could have helped Harry? Harry couldn’t have talked about it, and there was no way to break the curse beforehand.
At least no human way.
“Fairies,” Hermione whispered, turning white. They were going after Althea! She began struggling against the Aurors who held her. “Let me go! Let me go! I have to get to Althea! Harry! We have to get Althea; they are going after her! Let me go!”
“Mum!” Alexandra cried again as the Auror finally managed to pull her away from her mother. Alexandra began screaming in outrage.
“No! Alex!” Hermione screamed and felt her magic surge within her body. In the next moment, the Auror on her right was blown away from her. She stretched her hand out towards her daughter. “Give me back my daughter!”
The Auror who had been standing on her left side took a hold of both her arms, twisting them behind her back. Hermione screamed and wrestled against the Auror. She had to get to her daughters! She couldn’t let these people take Alexandra, and she had to go and look for Althea. If the fairies got her, there was no telling what they would do.
“Someone knock her out!” the Auror holding Hermione roared.
The last thing Hermione heard was Harry muttering an apology before he raised his wand, sending her into unconsciousness.

xxx

Once the train had left King’s Cross, Althea couldn’t stop the tears from falling anymore. Even though she wanted to learn new things, she would really miss her family.
It wasn’t that she was uncomfortable being on her own; it was just unnerving not seeing her family every day. Her mother had told her that she would get a new family at Hogwarts, but she didn’t want a new family. Especially not with children her own age. They were so stupid.
The only thing she did look forward to was learning magic. She wanted to know all the magic her parents knew, and more. There was nothing she loved more than learning new things. Though, she hoped it wouldn’t be like in her Muggle school. There, they had been listening to the same things over and over again. They’d been reading the same book and doing the same type of math problem for over a month before going over to new things. She hoped Hogwarts wouldn’t be slow like that.
Although, at least she would have the library to take refuge in if the classes were slow. Her parents had told her it contained a lot of books she had never even heard about. She looked forward to that. She loved reading.
Reading was exactly what she was doing two hours later when she saw people moving outside the window to her compartment. She glanced up and went pale when she recognised the boy outside. As her father would have said: Fuck.
Althea quickly looked down at the book again, hoping the boy outside the window wouldn’t see her. Of course, she wasn’t that lucky. The next moment, she heard the compartment door open and she reluctantly looked up.
Three people entered. Ted Lupin was one of them, looking just as confident and superior as a twelve-year-old could when standing in front of an eleven-year-old.
“Granger.”
“Granger-Foster,” Althea corrected him before she could stop herself. Then, she blushed for pointing out something so silly. Then, she cursed herself for blushing. Now he would say something mean to her again.
Ever since she had made the mistake of accepting Victoire’s challenge at the Burrow’s Christmas party last year, he had bullied her like crazy. Victoire had told Althea to kiss Lupin under the mistletoe. Althea had never kissed anyone before; but everyone who did it seemed to like it, so she had wanted to test it as well. Lupin had been shocked and then started to laugh at her.
“Whatever,” Lupin said, rolling his blue eyes. “This is the girl I told you about.”
Althea paled, glancing at the two other boys. They looked exactly the same, from the curly, brown hair and stupid freckles down to the unpleasant smiles on their faces. Already she was quite sure she would come to dislike them profoundly.
“Eew, did she really kiss you last Christmas?” the boy on the right asked.
Lupin nodded, looking disgusted and smug at the same time. Althea pressed her lips together in shame and anger.
“What was it like?” the boy on the left asked.
“Tasted like pig,” Lupin said, looking straight at Althea.
“You’re a pig,” Althea retorted, clenching her hands.
“Whatever,” Lupin said and rolled his eyes, which were now green. Slowly, his hair turned from brown to blond.
The three boys began laughing and turned to leave the compartment. However, before they managed to step outside, the glass in the compartment door exploded, glass flying into the corridor of the train. The three boys spun around and looked at her, eyes wide in fear and surprise.
“Freak!” Lupin shouted before the three boys ran out of the compartment.
Althea groaned in frustration. She should have known that kissing Lupin was a bad idea, but her parents seemed to enjoy it so much. Althea had wanted to try, too! Why had she taken the challenge from Victoire? Now she would never get a quiet moment at Hogwarts. They would tease her all the time.
“Althea.” The whisper snapped Althea out of her depressing thoughts.
“Morgana?” Althea asked, feeling happy at once.
Morgana was her oldest and sometimes only friend. For as long as Althea could remember, Morgana had been there, ready to appear if she felt angry or sad and no one else was around to comfort her. Sometimes, she came when Althea was just bored.
The woman became visible in front of her, as if she had been there the entire time. She looked as Althea remembered her, even though it had been a while since she had last seen her. For some reason, Morgana never visited her at home or when she was with others. The last time the fairy had showed up had been a year earlier when Althea had been in the forest alone.
“So this is the Hogwarts Express,” Morgana commented, looking around the compartment. When her eyes fell on the broken glass on the floor, her expression turned worried. “What happened?”
Althea grimaced and took out her wand, repairing the window. “Some mean boys.”
Morgana sighed. “The world seems to be filled with them. Did they hurt you?”
Althea shook her head. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to say goodbye,” Morgana answered, her expression turning sad.
“Goodbye?” Althea asked, surprised.
Morgana nodded. “I won’t be able to reach you once you are inside Hogwarts.”
Althea’s mood sank. For a moment, she had hoped that she would have had at least someone to talk to inside Hogwarts.
“How come?” Althea asked.
“The magic surrounding the castle won’t allow me in. It’s a shame. Now that you have a wand, I would’ve been able to teach you all sorts of magic, more than you’ll ever learn at Hogwarts,” Morgana explained, sounding bitter.
Althea’s mood sank even lower. She had always wanted to find out how Morgana did her magic. It wasn’t the same way Althea’s parents did magic, and it made her curious.
“Isn’t there any way we can meet?” Althea tried.
“No, I’m afraid not, unless …?” Morgana trailed off, hesitating.
“Unless, what?”
Morgana shook her head, smiling as if what she had been thinking was silly. “Nothing.”
“What?” Althea asked, eager.
“Well, if you don’t go to Hogwarts, then I would be able to teach you everything I know, but …” Morgana trailed off, shrugging.
Althea studied her old friend. “Where would I go if I wasn’t going to Hogwarts?”
“Home with me, and others like me. But then you wouldn’t meet any of the other students at Hogwarts.”
Althea scoffed. That was hardly a loss. “What would I do with you?”
“Learn magic,” Morgana explained. “It wouldn’t be the same as Hogwarts, though. We know much more magic, but we don’t have the structure with homework and tests and such things.”
No homework?
Well, that was something she liked. She had never seen the point of homework. Why did she have to prove that she had learned something easy all the time? She knew it and could use the knowledge; wasn’t that enough?
“Besides,” Morgana said, “if you come with us, you could help us.”
Althea arched an eyebrow, intrigued. “Why would you need me?”
“We are trapped,” Morgana said in a low voice, her eyes sad. “We need you to help free us.”
“But how can you be trapped if you are here?” Althea wondered.
Morgana brought her hand up to Althea’s face. When Morgana tried to touch her, her hand went through Althea.
“I’m not really here. I can show myself to people who are worthy, but for over a thousand years, I haven’t been able to move in this world like you can. But with your help, my family and I can break free from the spell that the evil wizard cast over us.”
“How can I help? I don’t know that much about magic yet, and you seem to know so much.”
“We will teach you. We will teach you so much more than the people at Hogwarts ever could. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
Althea nodded slowly. Perhaps she would finally get to learn things at her own pace. And no homework!
“But I’m already on my way to Hogwarts, how will I get to where you’ll teach me?” she asked.
Morgana held out her hand. “If you really want to, you’ll be able to touch my hand. Focus on what you want.”
Althea looked up at the woman’s face. It wasn’t just that it sounded fun; Morgana had always been there for her in the past. The least Althea could do was spend some time with her in order to help her and her family.
Her mind set, Althea took Morgana’s hand, which became solid the moment they touched. Morgana smiled, and then, they disappeared.
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