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
- 45
- 46
- 47
Hello people. First of all, I want to apologise for the way the former chapter looked. For some reason, FF have stopped accepting the formation of documents who have been through Google Drive, so I had to repost and reedit the last chapter five times or so before it came out alright. However, there may still be some words paste together, so I apologise for that. My A/N in that chapter also disappeared, so I didn’t get to thank Nerys and Shan for helping me.

Now, to this chapter, I first apologise for the delay, real life is hectic since this is my last semester before I get my master degree. But here it is, and I hope this will be readable once I post it.

Once again, I’d like to thank Nerys and Shan for all the help they’ve given me betaing and brainstorming and what not. You are the best!

I’d also like to thank everyone for reading and reviewing! Review replies can be found here: tomioneconvention.forumotion.com/t144-shared-flame-review-response-ffnet

Chapter 45

“You did what?” Hermione roared, whipping her wand out, ready to hex her husband into oblivion.

Voldemort quickly put up a shield and did his best to hold it up as she threw curse after curse at him. Needless to say, she was not impressed by his offer to Althea to let her kill him. Even though it had worked wonderfully. Althea had realised she didn’t want her father dead and had cried herself to sleep. No doubt would she feel a lot better tomorrow.

Once her curses finally stopped bouncing off his shield, he lowered it and looked at the destruction caused to the room. Good thing they hadn’t bothered to buy any new furniture yet.

“She said she wanted to see me dead. There is no talking anyone out of that. They have to realise for themselves if they are able to do it or not. Althea isn’t.”

“And what would you have done if she had been?” Hermione hissed, stalking up to him, wand still in her hand, twitching.

Voldemort scoffed. “I know a killer when I see one, Hermione. Althea has a temper, but she is not a killer.”

“That does not make it okay!” Hermione exclaimed, throwing her arms up before starting to pace around the room. “For Merlin’s sake, Voldemort, you can’t just do things like this all the time.”

“Things like this?”

“Being you!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, who would you like me to be? Harry Potter who tries to kill us, or Ron Weasley who just tries to kill our unborn baby?”

She glared at him. “You know what I mean.”

“No, actually, I don’t,” Voldemort said truthfully, taking a deep breath. “I realise I’m not a perfect husband—”

She snorted.

“—but it’s not like we can change that. At least I did what you asked me to do. I spent time with Althea and I prioritised her. I’ll continue to spend time with Althea. It will be easier now when she doesn’t think she wants to kill me. I think that can be considered progress,” he finished, ignoring her glares.

Hermione stared at him for a few more seconds. Then she sighed. “There is no point talking to you.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight. Don’t even think about disturbing me.”

She spun around and left the room without another word. Voldemort let out a growl once the door closed. He kicked the broken bed. Why was she acting like this? So what if he had almost tried to kill her?

Voldemort sighed. Of course she was angry because of that. He knew her better than she knew herself. She would only focus on that he had tried to kill her, not that he hadn’t succeeded. To her, it was just as bad. He would have to find a way to make her forget about it. Alas, he couldn’t make her forget about it. She had become too good at Occlumency over the years. It didn’t stop him from breaking into her mind if he needed, of course, but it did stop him from meddling with it. Thus, the only thing he could do was suck it up, and he hated doing that.

Not feeling like sleeping, he went to the library instead. He should take the opportunity to research Merlin’s scrolls and books, but once he sat with the book in front of him, he found his thoughts wandering.

Things had gone so well between them lately. Althea getting kidnapped had really strengthened their bond. The common anger, the break-in at Gringotts, saving each other, fighting off the fairies … he had known he could count on her. But then Althea ruined it all by hating him.

Yes, it was Althea’s fault, even though Voldemort would never point that out to his wife. Hermione was unreasonable that way. It wouldn’t help to blame Althea, especially since she was starting to get over it. Hopefully Hermione would feel better once Althea were getting along with him again. But he knew it wouldn’t be enough. Hermione would keep up appearances for the sake of their children, but she would be cold and distant when they were on their own.

He didn’t want that. Not at all. He wanted her underneath him, moaning and writhing, screaming out his name. He wanted her by his side, reading Merlin’s books. He wanted her in his lap, kissing him!

Who would have thought he missed kissing so much?

He groaned and fell back in the armchair. Why did she have to provoke him so much? Did she get off on making him angry? That would explain a great deal. However, she didn’t seem able to deal with the consequences.

Then again, she would say exactly the same thing to him. He grimaced and closed his eyes. Why was family life so hard? He was too clever to be a father and a husband. He knew there were better things to do than taking care of your family. However, the rest of society behaved as if you had to stop prioritising yourself once you had a family. Hermione certainly bought into that.

He didn’t know how long he lay there, cursing the world around him, before he fell asleep. He woke up by someone closing the door.

It was Hermione. She stood in front of him with her arms crossed, looking at him, eyebrows arched in question.

“What?” he asked tiredly.

“You are researching. Again.”

“Well, it was not like there was anything else keeping me occupied at night. A man needs his pleasures,” he replied sourly. His body was stiff from sleeping sitting up.

Hermione sighed. “Fine, be that way.”

Voldemort groaned. Before she had time to turn around and leave, he grabbed her and pulled her down on his lap.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m just tired. I didn’t plan to fall asleep here.”

She didn’t look impressed. “Don’t say things you don’t mean, Voldemort.”

He sighed, annoyed. “What do you have against me saying I’m sorry? I may not feel remorse, but I am capable of apologising, and knowing when I should. It’s common courtesy.”

She sighed. “I don’t feel like doing this now. I was just going down to make breakfast.”

“I’ll make breakfast,” he said. “Go and get ready for the day instead. Tamsin is coming by to give us an update at ten.”

She made an attempt to rise, but he kept her in his lap. She looked at him in question.

“I will make it up to you, kitten. Just as you did to me when you tried to kill me.”

There was a second of confusion on her face, before she realised what he was talking about. Once she did, she nodded once, got off his lap again and left the room.

Voldemort stood up and stretched his stiff muscles. He would make Althea’s favourite breakfast, pancakes with apples.

Half an hour later, the whole family was gathered in the kitchen. Voldemort served the pancakes for each of them. When he got to Althea, he held up the plate.

“How many would you like, Althea? I’ve made them especially for you.”

Althea looked up at him, startled. She seemed to have been lost in her own thoughts the whole morning. After a second of suspicion, she held out her plate. “Three.”

He placed them onto her plate, making sure to give her extra apple crumbles. “There you go.”

“Thanks,” Althea said, looking at her plate, “Dad.”

Voldemort smirked in victory. “You’re most welcome, my dear.”

He glanced at Hermione and saw her watching the exchange in shock. He winked at her, before serving himself and sitting down to eat.

“Mum, can we do something today?” Alexandra asked, her voice on the edge of becoming whiny. “It’s so boring to just be at home all the time.”

Hermione blinked, and finally managed to move her eyes away from him. “Maybe. What did you have in mind, Alex?”

Alexandra shrugged. “Dunno. Something fun.”

“Do you have a suggestion, Althea?” Voldemort asked, whilst wolfing down his pancakes. He was hungry.

Althea swallowed her mouthful of pancakes. “I’d like to go to the ocean.”

“Oh yeah, let’s do that!” Alexandra exclaimed happily.

Voldemort turned to Hermione. “What do you say, love?”

Hermione glanced out the window. “If we can find somewhere still warm, then sure. I don’t fancy lying on the beach if it’s like how it is here.”

“Let’s go to the south coast of France after noon,” Voldemort suggested. “Just get away from all of this?”

“I want to go now!” Alexandra whined.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but your mother and I have a meeting to attend first. But why don’t you and Althea start getting organised by collecting all the things you want to bring to the beach?” Voldemort suggested, finishing his pancakes.

“I want to go now,” Alexandra muttered, but more to herself than them. Instead, she went back to eating her pancakes.

Voldemort rolled his eyes. She could be such an ungrateful child sometimes.

He left the kitchen and went upstairs to get ready for the day and change into some non-transfigured robes. When he came out of bathroom some twenty minutes later, Hermione was standing in the bedroom, her eyes narrowed.

“What could I possibly have done wrong now?” he asked with a sigh.

She scowled. “Don’t give me that, Voldemort. What did you do to Althea?”

“You know what I did. You tried to curse me for it last night.”

“Oh no, you can’t make me believe that everything is okay between you two now, just because you offered her the chance to kill you!”

Voldemort sighed. “I tried to tell you last night that Althea needed to realise she doesn’t hate me as much as she thinks she does. Now she has.”

“But that isn’t—”

“I know,” he interrupted her, holding up his hands. “I know that isn’t enough. Which is why I’m taking you all to the beach instead of just making them something to play with here, so I can research.”

He came up to her and placed his hands on her shoulder. “I’ve said that I’ll make Althea like me again, and she will. Once she likes me again, I’ll work on getting you to like me as well. That will be a bit trickier, though. I can’t blackmail you with ice-cream.”

As he had hoped, his comment made her smile, even though she tried to keep it in. He smiled at her and sneaked a kiss on her forehead before pulling back, winking at her.

She scowled, but he could see that she was in a much better mood now than when he had entered the room. Oh yes, he was still an excellent manipulator.

xxx

It was just past ten when Hermione went to open the door to let Tamsin in. She was surprised, however, when she saw Ginny standing next to the attorney. Her former friend looked worn out; her face was pale, and there were with dark circles under her eyes, but Hermione recognised the fire in her. Ginny was dead set on something, and whoever stood in her way would be sorry.

“Mrs Granger,” Tamsin said, making Hermione shift her focus to her instead, “may we come in?”

Hermione just nodded and stepped aside to let them both in. Right then, Voldemort came down the stairs. If he were surprised to see Ginny, he didn’t let it show. Instead, he merely made a gesture for them to follow him into their study.

“Mrs Potter would like to talk to you on her own,” Tamsin said. “I’ll be in the kitchen, helping myself to some coffee.”

“Be our guest,” Voldemort replied, sitting down in one of the armchairs.

Tamsin left, and Hermione put up a Silencing Ward around the room before sitting down as well. After a moment of hesitation, Ginny sat down opposite them.

It took several seconds before someone broke the silence.

“Well then,” Voldemort said, “what can we do for you, Mrs Potter?”

“Drop the act, Voldemort,” Ginny spat. “You may have been able to convince everyone else that Harry is insane, but I know my husband, and I know you, so don’t play that game with me.”

Hermione and Voldemort exchanged a look, and she could see that he didn’t mind dropping his sweet, Marcus persona. She nodded.

Voldemort turned to Ginny again, leaning back in the armchair. “To rephrase then; what do you want?”

“I want you to go to prison instead of Harry,” Ginny commented, her voice cold. “I want my family back together.”

“Is that so?” Voldemort asked, smiling.

Hermione frowned at her friend. Did Ginny really think it would be that easy?

“Of course it is,” Ginny replied and looked at Hermione. “With your testimony, he could go to prison, Hermione.”

Hermione sighed. She could see that her friend was just grasping for straws now, and she knew it. “And what good would that do, Ginny? There is no prison that could hold him for long. And ever since Kingsley banished the Dementors, there is no punishment that would stop him. He would break out, gather an army and try to take over Britain with force again. At least now, he doesn’t kill anyone.”

Ginny glared at Voldemort. “Somehow, I have a hard time believing that. Besides, once imprisoned, there are other ways to make him disappear forever. It doesn’t have to be legal.”

Voldemort chuckled. “Are you threatening me, Ginny?”

“Very much,” Ginny said in a low voice, her eyes narrowing. She was clearly desperate. Voldemort met her gaze, not appearing scared at all.

Hermione sighed, reached out and pinched her husband on the arm. He broke eye contact with Ginny. “What was that for?”

“Stop being silly,” Hermione ordered him. “You know we have to solve this somehow. Harry isn’t insane, and they’ll realise that in due time. He will be released and then he will just come back here again. I don’t want that. We are fixing this, now.”

“What do you suggest, then?” Voldemort asked, clearly not impressed by her tone of voice.

Hermione turned to Ginny again. “If we can get an oath from Harry that he’ll never hurt us again, we won’t hurt him, or you for that matter.”

Ginny studied her for a short moment. “Hermione, he is Lord Voldemort! Don’t you think his victims deserve justice? That we deserve justice?”

Hermione looked at Voldemort and sighed. “Yes, they deserve justice. But life isn’t fair, Ginny, you know that. You don’t always get what you deserve. Besides, we have two girls upstairs who love their father. Do you want to destroy their lives for revenge?”

“You mean do exactly like what you two have done to my children?” Ginny asked. “You’ve got some nerve, Hermione.”

“Yes,” Hermione said, leaning forward. “You know me, Ginny. I love my children just as much as you love yours. What do you think I’ll do for revenge if you make them unhappy?”

She didn’t break eye contact with Ginny for several seconds. Hermione knew the younger woman was aware of what she could do when she was crossed. Even though Ginny would fight like a lioness to protect her loved ones, they both knew that Ginny was nowhere near as ruthless as Hermione was. They both remembered Umbridge.

“I would also take out my revenge, of course,” Voldemort suddenly added, sounding a bit sad to be left out of the threatening. “And if you think Her—”

“Shut up, Voldemort,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. “I think if it’s better if I handle this.”

“But—”

“No,” Hermione growled, her eyes narrowing at her husband.

Voldemort stared back, not impressed. However, for whatever reason, he fell back in his chair again, silent.

Hermione turned back to Ginny, only to see that the other woman’s expression had changed from angry to thoughtful.

“I’d very much like it if we could just stop this endless fighting,” Hermione said. “I know it’s what you really want. To just have your family together and in one piece. Voldemort stopped hunting after Harry a long time ago. Harry would be much better off if he could just put the past behind him.”

Ginny regarded her closely for a moment. “I’ll want an oath from your husband as well that he won’t come after us.”

“Sure,” Hermione replied.

“I will?” Voldemort objected. “What in Salazar’s name would make me swear that?”

“Because you cherish peace and quiet and want to make me happy,” Hermione said, looking at him pointedly.

Voldemort grimaced. “Fine,” he said, crossing his arms. “I have no wish to kill Potter. I’ve no problem to give an oath not to harm him, unless in self-defence.”

“Good,” Hermione said and looked at Ginny. “Think you can talk some sense into your husband?”

Ginny looked from Hermione to Voldemort and back again. “Yes. Will you drop the charges against him if he gives you the oath?”

Hermione turned to Voldemort again, arching an eyebrow in question.

Voldemort shrugged. “I’m sure we can settle for some compensation to cover the damage. But included in that oath, I want Potter to swear never to tell anyone the truth about me.”

“I’ll speak to him,” Ginny said in a low voice. “I just want him to come home.”

Hermione fully understood Ginny and felt sorry for her. However, she had to put her own family first. At least her children. If there were any way to throw Voldemort under the bus without it affecting her children, Hermione would have considered it. Alas, there was none. So this would have to do instead.
- 45
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