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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
- 5
- 6
- 7
"Wands at the ready, and on three," Voldemort said. He moved gracefully as he braced himself for battle, and Harmony did her best to look equally as good, though she was certain that she failed miserably.
Why had she accepted this suicide mission? Dumbledore and Snape would sure feel sorry they talked her into this when she ended up dead. She knew she wasn't ready to come here. But if this was to be her last stand, her final blow, she'd better make the best of it. She held her head high and tried to stare him down.
"One—," her Master began in his iciest voice ever. His blue eyes did a much better job at staring her down than the other way around.
Harmony acted on a sudden impulse. A red bolt of light shot out of her wand and impacted with his, and the wand went flying out of his hand toward one of the corners. A look of pure astonishment crossed his face, but he quickly recovered and his wand flew right back into his waiting hand.
She considered following the first spell with the one she had just learned about making someone believe they were being attacked by giants, but her Master did not send a spell at her. Instead, he lowered his wand.
"I said on three," he said with his mouth hanging slightly open and his fists clenched.
Harmony stared at him with her big brown eyes, full of fear and apprehension.
He saw this and a muscle in his jaw clenched. "You're bold. Almost too bold, to cheat in a duel with your Lord. But I have to admit," he said, "it is something I can admire."
Harmony blushed. She had expected him to kill her, and instead she got a comment—or something like it. Had she miscalculated his intentions?
Voldemort moved back into position, and cast a challenging look at her. "Let's see if your boldness can disarm me the right way this time. And remember, it's on three."
Harmony shook off her agitation and brought up her wand again. She sucked in a huge breath, leaned forward, and gave him a darkly look in return. I can do this, she thought. I will do it.
"One," he began, and Harmony spied a small smile on his lips, "Two … three."
Later, Lord Voldemort sat in his leather chair by the fire in his bedchambers, as he did every evening. He and the girl, Harmony Hangleton, had left the lesson hall to go and take lunch. She would have the remainder of the day to rest for tomorrow, where lessons were going to be brutal.
When he had asked Severus for a new follower, Voldemort had never dreamed he would receive one with such power and knowledge. He once again thought about how she had miraculously deceived and disarmed him in the lesson hall today. That was something he would do in a duel, cast the first spell.
But—of all the things he could not forget—the way she had looked at him was perhaps the most unnerving of all. His followers hardly ever met his eyes, and when they did they were always full of quavering terror. Her eyes were a soft brown, innocent. But he caught her once looking at him with an unshakable fury that he somehow found appealing.
A small smile twitched at the corner of his lips as he closed his eyes. Yes, he thought, I believe Harmony and I will get along just fine.
There was a meal waiting for Harmony when she returned to her room. As she cleaned away the meat stuck between her teeth with her tongue, she gazed around and decided that she was tired of the dirt caked all over her room. She made up her mind to make a dent in the dust at the very least. It wasn't that monumental a task, since the furniture here was not overly elaborate, and there were very few pieces. She assumed she must be in a guest room.
She stood up, face scarf hanging down around her neck, and pulled the velvet coverlet off the bed to shake out the filth. After she tossed the coverlet back on the bed, she examined some of the other things in the room. A golden glint on the wall caught her eye and she walked over to it. A large picture frame on the wall was so dirty she hadn't even realized it hung there. It blended in with the deteriorating and colorless wallpaper.
Using an armchair cover, she wiped at frame, and the more she rubbed away at the dirt, the brighter it became. She set to clearing dust off the picture itself, and she jumped away in surprise when something moved beneath her rag.
A female voice coughed and sputtered as more flecks of dust flew off. Harmony quickly cleared away most of the dirt then took a step back to admire her work. Inside the painting, a tawny, plump witch in long violet robes stood in front of a sunset background, dusting herself off. She coughed a few more times with her rosy cheeks aflame as dust billowed up into a cloud around her.
"Finally!" the witched exclaimed. "I thought no one would ever get that thing clean. It does no good looking through a dirty window, don't you think?" She put her fists on her hips and her velvet robes swayed slightly. She stared down at Harmony and added, "Well, look at you, gaping like a little codfish. You would think you never had seen a painting before."
Harmony realized she was standing there with her mouth hanging open, and shut it quickly. "Excuse me, miss."
"You're excused," the witch said as she waved a hand about. "At least you have some manners about you, unlike that Bella Lestrange woman. Ha! Strange, indeed." She chuckled so hard her purple robes bobbed with each laugh.
Harmony laughed uncertainly and asked, "May I ask you for your name?"
"Certainly," she said, then looked down at her expectantly, but said nothing.
"Er, what's your name?"
"My name—," the woman straightened her back like a ramrod, then bowed, "—is Claudia Nymphaea, in service to none other than the owner of this historical mansion." She straightened up and looked down her nose at her.
"You mean Voldemort?"
Claudia's eyes popped open in surprise, then she cast the girl a relaxed smile as she said, "Bloody hell, who else? You're not a shy miss, are you?"
Harmony gave the woman a half-hearted smile.
Claudia smiled back, but now it was a smirk. "Yes, not shy at all, Hermione Granger."
Harmony's smile faded, "How do you—"
"How do I what? Know your name? I know lots about you, Missy," she said with gleaming eyes. "I can jump in and out of all the paintings in this house before you can say 'hippogriff.'"
"How long have you been watching me? Have you told Master about my other name?" Harmony asked as a queasy feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. She hated the thought of being watched from only a few meters away without knowing it.
"No, I haven't told Master. Severus Snape's affairs are none of my business. And I have been watching you ever since you arrived. I've been in and out, of course. I have better things to do than watch a little bookworm flip through spell books."
"Oh, really? You? A painting? Like what?" Harmony asked as her temper began to flare.
"Ha! Like I would tell you," she scoffed. "You're only a follower. I deal with only the Master himself."
"So you talk to Master often, then? What would he have to talk to you about? You're just a painting." Harmony crossed her arms, and realized that perhaps the witch could tell her more about her new Master.
Claudia puffed up with pride, her cheeks grew rosier, and her emerald eyes flashed. "I can do a lot for just a painting. I'll have you know I'm doing one of my most important tasks right now."
Harmony frowned. "Right now? You mean this second?"
Claudia looked deflated, her emerald eyes losing their luster. She bit the side of her cheek, but soon recovered from her embarrassment. She was about to hurl a retracting statement at her, but Harmony had her pinned to the spot.
"You're doing your task right now, meaning," Harmony accused, brown eyes glaring, "I am your task? Master sent you to spy on me, didn't he?" Her anger boiled in her stomach and she began to worry that her lunch was going to make its way back up.
Claudia stammered and waved her finger at Harmony in warning. "N—now that's not what I said, Missy!"
"But he did send you, didn't he?"
"Well, yes, but not to spy," she said in a defeated tone. Her shoulders slumped as she added, "He just asked me to look in on you every now and then."
"Like you would look in on a child?" Harmony asked through gritted teeth. Seeing the hurt in Claudia's eyes made her suddenly uneasy. "I can take care of myself, you know."
"It's not like that, Missy," Claudia insisted sternly.
"Please just go," she said as she turned and walked over to her bed. "And tell Master I don't need a babysitter. If he's so curious then he can question me himself."
The room grew silent then, and after a moment Harmony turned to look back at the painting. Now it was only a painting of a lonely sunset. She turned away, surprised to feel the sting of tears in her eyes.
Harmony sighed and straightened out the coverlet so she could lie on the bed. Her first and only chance of gaining a confidant she could talk to in this horrible mansion and she had to ruin it. Now Claudia might never come back. Harmony found herself looking over at the painting every now and then, but regrettably, it remained empty.
- 5
- 6
- 7
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Serpentine Series