Hogwarts Maelstrom. Completed!

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Severus Snape grimaced from the body-binding spell. He should have known that devious little girl would pull this stunt. Hermione obviously unlocked her collar while he was imagining all the luscious ways he planned to tup Mariah.

He felt like a fool and a small part of him was hurt. Although Mariah had seemed interested in him as well, the real him, of course it was all a ruse. Women did not like Dark Wizards, like him. They occasionally liked to fuck and run, but they would never purposefully seek out a wizard like himself for anything more then that.

Snape felt genuine disappointment and rage towards Mariah. He had offered her safety, food and comfort and she repaid him with betrayal. Once he got out of here, she would pay dearly for that. Snape gritted his teeth and concentrated hard. He wiggled his fingers very slowly, stiffly.

Wandless magic was something that he NEVER used, if the Dark Lord found out he could do it, he would have been executed. However, like Occulmens and Legilimens skills, something was just a gift that he was born with. He called himself the Half-Blood Prince for a reason. Besides, if he did not take the Polyjuice potion soon, he was dead anyway.

Snape was breaking all his rules tonight. Wandless magic and trusting insipid young girls. DAMN! This process was going very slowly. Snape could feel sweat pouring down on his back as he slowly countered the body-binding curse. This was going to take a while.



…



Hermione trudged through the snow towards Hogsmeade and stopped by the trees to catch her breath. A sound of someone running caused her heart to leap into her throat. Hermione ducked down, her wand extended trembling.

The running stopped as Mariah froze, searching out the seemingly empty road before her. She looked down, checked the tracks in the snow, and began to run again when she heard Hermione call out her name. Mariah’s head shot up and she saw Hermione running towards her. Hermione threw herself on her in a fierce hug.

“Is he following you?” whispered Hermione as she withdrew from the hug. Mariah seemed frozen and she had not responded to the warm gesture.

“No, I put him in a body-binding curse,” murmured Mariah. She raised Snape’s wand with a wan smile. “Thank you for helping me.”

“I should be saying that to you,” exclaimed Hermione and she tugged Mariah by the arm. “Come on, we shouldn’t be out here.”

The girls hurried back to the joke shop, with Hermione checking to see if they were followed to the Shrieking Shack still.

“No one seems to be coming after us,” said Hermione. “Snape is still in his room. Oh! You cannot tell anyone, even if Snape is lying about Harry, I cannot risk him dying. No one can know about Snape, okay?”

Mariah nodded in agreement. The girl looked like a cold, hollow version of the girl she used to be. Hermione remembered seeing her talking to Fred Weasley at the library a couple of times.

“You were friends with Fred, weren’t you? That’s where I saw you before!” Hermione saw something shuttered behind her blank blue eyes.

“Yes,” said Mariah quietly.

Hermione did not probe any deeper as she opened the door to the joke shop. She moved inside and unwarded the door to the back. Mariah followed her quietly.

Hermione looked inside the kitchen.

Blaise looked up from his untouched meal of potted meat and cold beans. “Just in time to wish you weren’t here. Gods, know I do.” He stabbed the meat with a disgusted look.

Draco was sipping a cup of tea and he jumped up to walk towards her. “Thank Gods. I was going mad.” Draco hissed and he pulled out a chair for her. “Who’s the stowaway?”

“Mariah Higgs,” said Hermione.

“Are you hungry?” asked Luna.

“No, Professor Lestrange fed me earlier,” murmured Mariah.

Mariah sat down with her back against the wall. Blaise looked appreciatively at the short length of her skirt under the robes. Ginny smacked him in the back of the head when she saw that.

“Lestrange giving out food to prize students. Most generous of him,” laughed Blaise.

“He has his moments,” responded Mariah with a snarky smirk.

“It’s so refreshing to see another Slytherin in here,” remarked Blaise and he pushed the food away from him. “It’s ghastly! I cannot, no I will not eat it!”

“Slytherin? Hermione, what if she is going to betray us?” whispered Ginny.

“I can hear you, you know.” Mariah witheringly said and she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall.

“She saved my life, Ginny,” muttered Hermione. “Besides she was the only Slytherin that was considered a Blood Traitor during the war.”

“What for? We need to know, if we are to trust her,” declared Ginny.

“Well, I don’t exactly know, Ginny,” murmured Hermione. “All I know is she was punished worse then any of the others being held there.”

Mariah sighed. “I betrayed Lord Voldemort during the final battle. I killed one of his Deatheaters protecting my lover. OKAY?”

“So it was an accident.” nodded Luna.

“No, it was purposeful. They were trying to kill him, so I struck first. But I failed him and myself and he still died.”

“I don’t recall any Slytherin dying in the last battle from us.” interjected Draco.

“That’s because he wasn’t a bloody Slytherin. He was a Gryffindor. The bravest, funniest, loveliest man that I ever met,” hissed Mariah.

The pain grabbed a hold of her cold demeanor and broke it down, as she was forced to explain herself to these dumb kids.

“Who?” a quiet voice from the back finally spoke. Harry Potter stared grimly down at Mariah with shame etched in his features. His scar showing between the tufts of hair that were coated with grime from being on the run so long.

“It’s my fault, I should know who it was,” whispered Harry gently as Mariah felt cold tears begin to slide down her face.

She grabbed Harry and whispered. “It’s not your fault. You are our savior and you will make his death worthwhile. Besides, he would have hated it if you blamed yourself, Fred wasn’t that way.”

“Fred Weasley? He was sleeping with a Slytherin?” sputtered Ginny.

“Yeah, he was a bloody fool, but he wouldn’t listen to reason. He said he would rather die tomorrow and be with me one night then, spend his whole life pining for me. See what it bought us? Death, and for me, torture, rape and servitude.” Mariah dropped her head in her hands, and she could feel her eyes burning from the tears she managed to squeeze out. Instead of feeling relieved, she simply felt more numb.

Draco stared across at Hermione, Mariah’s words striking him deeply. Mariah had gambled everything and she lost. Fred had died and Mariah was a victim of her betrayal to Voldemort.

Would history repeat itself? All the doubts that clouded Draco’s silver eyes were obvious. He turned away from her and studied the book that Hermione brought back.

The room fell silent out of respect for Mariah’s pain but she didn’t seem like the type to share and eventually without the questions being asked, nothing more was said.

Nevertheless, every one of them was thinking of what could happen to their respective partner. Sometimes love does die. In fact, most of the time.




TBC - Will post later today.


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