The Prime Princess

Hermione sat in the Slytherin common room and copied notes from Advanced Charms, History of Magic and Ancient Runes. She looked over Blaise’s neat writings and Millicent’s scribbles. There was like nine yards of scrolls and even using a self-copying quill, it took ages to get all the important stuff written down.

Her mind was lurching around dark corners as she thought back to the bathroom incidence. She still didn’t know what she had seen but one was for sure – she had to deal with Lucius when he came back. From somewhere Hermione knew he wasn’t so loveable and joyous person to start from but that recollection was hard to keep intact because something wanted to overwrite it.

Had she really kept Lucius under Imperius for all those years? Well, it made sense in a way. He always tried to please her and make her feel good. That wasn’t very Malfoy-like, she figured and looked down on her notes.

So I just have to take the curse off and pray to some god that he won’t hex me silly, reasoned Hermione and rolled up some finished scrolls. A high-pitched laughter shrilled over the common room. Hermione didn’t need to look up to see Millicent between two muscular giants – Vincent Grabbe and Gregory Goyle. Slytherin Quidditch team’s pride and honor – the 2 best Beaters who could knock even that big brainless Hagrid out cold.

Hermione snickered to herself when she recalled one very boring lecture in History of Magic. It had been in 3rd or 4th year when she, Millicent and Pansy had sat back in the classroom behind the boys and just chatted among themselves. In one point they came to speak about boys with well-built bodies. Vincent and Gregory had been eavesdropping and started at the very next day hard training to gain their attention as possible lover-candidates. And they had succeeded in that. Big-bosomed and wide-hipped Millicent had grabbed them both to herself and had never let go. Hermione was only happy for her, because Millicent really had something to offer to those two big hunks of men.

Back to work, she reminded to herself and was only distracted by some younger slytherins who mocked professor Trelawney. For once she wanted to join their livid charade but then the faintly glowing mark on her palm stopped her. Suddenly she was afraid that maybe she turned out to be just like that phony Trelawney. That could just ruin her whole reputation.

Not wanting to mull over that anymore, she retired to her quarters in to the back of the girls’ dormitories. She shared it with Pansy and Millicent. They each had separate bedrooms that were connected with walk-trough bathrooms. The study was in the center and it linked the whole place into a whole VIP Suit.

Hermione walked trough the study and faced her room’s door. On it hung the Balthazar’s Cross – her family’s crest in some sort of way. It was a winged sword, circled with an uroboros. Above it were her name’s initials – HERA.

Just like home, mused Hermione and watched the silver snake release its’ tale and turn its’ head towards her.

“Passsword?” asked the snake.

“Flames to dust,” told Hermione. The sword’s wings unlocked the door and she stepped inside. High flames roared in the fireplace, lighting the dark room with soft and warm glow. Without further thinking she just stripped, threw a nightgown over her head, sank into her king-size four-posted canopy bed, and considered to take a nap.

She had just closed her eyes when an urgent knocking drove her out of bed. She staggered to the door only to find Pansy going crazy.

“He is dead! Oh my god! He is dead! Mione, come quickly!” Pansy babbled and pulled her out of the room.

“What? Who is dead? What happened?” demanded Hermione and followed the petite witch to the dorm’s common room.

“Blaise!” Pansy cried out and started to wail. Hermione was dumbstruck but then the cold Ariston took over. She pulled the weeping Pansy around to confront her staring hard.

“Blaise is not dead, not on my watch!” and just then Madam Pomfrey elevated the stiff corpse out of there.

Hermione woke up with a scream. She was tangled up in her bed sheets and almost choked by half a dozen of pillows. Looking at the clock through the bed-curtains, she read 1:07 AM – a bloody middle of a night! With a growl she sat up and run her hands through her curled hair and tried to overcome the coming frustration.

It’s just a stupid nightmare, she convinced herself and stared at the ceiling of the canopy. I have had these before! Not one of them came true!

But the scratching feeling didn’t go away. Sitting in the dark, she only heard the logs catching fire and Millicent snoring. No one screamed bloody murder or fainted after seeing a carcass.

Yep, just a stupid crooked dream haunting her down. She wanted to believe that. She needed to believe that or other ways Draco really had planned to rape her. And that would have changed the twisted daydream into a prediction. Now that was a scary thought!

“I am a Goddamn Ariston and one does not feel fear!” declared Hermione, threw her feet over the bedside, and slipped out of the four-poster. Stepping into the study, she glared the other two doors of her roommates and just sighed in the light of blazing torches. Millicent’s door was ajar and she was able to hear her shallow snoring. From the opposite room she heard Pansy talking in her sleep. Yeah, she had quite noisy neighbors but she was used to it. If the place had been quiet, then there would have been something wrong.

Grabbing a parchment from the table, she tucked it inside her robes as inventing an excuse for barging into boys’ dormitories. Leaving the VIP chambers, she wandered trough the arcades while checking on other girls if all of them were at present and not missing. Reaching to the deserted common room, she spotted some house-elves cleaning up the place. For some reason she felt an urge to fight for their rights and freedom but that idea felt so silly she just dropped it on the very spot.

Disgusted by her traitorous mind, Hermione walked down the passage to the boys’ dorm and was glad that the whole gang was taking an early rest for the starting Monday. If she remembered correctly, then MacMillan and some Ravenclaw chick, Padma Patil were patrolling. That only meant that Blaise had to be in his room.

Creeping among the dark corners and archways, she tried to hide the smirk caused by the choir of snores. Sparkling torches showed her the way to the farthest place in dungeons where the Italian slept. Finally coming to stop in front of an oak-door, she knocked quietly.

“Blaise? Are you awake?” she tried the handle and found that the door wasn’t locked. A cold and bitter wind blew from the room and took out all the lights in the gloomy hallway. She pulled out her wand from her sleeve and cast a spell.

“Lumos!” Hermione took a step inside and swallowed a shriek when her bare feet touched something icy on the floor. Looking around, she was in total shock.

“Fiat Lux!” and the whole room were littered with bright light coming from nowhere. Lowering the wand, she looked around and gasped. It was snowing in the room and all surfaces were covered with white blanket. Temperature felt like 40 degrees below the zero and Hermione heard her limbs screaming when they froze. Like hellish fire burned her skin when she tried to remember why she had come there.

“B-Blaise?” stammered Hermione and started striding trough the snow that reached almost to her knees. Her toes were numb just like everything else was going to feel soon. She wanted to reach to the bed but her dead feet stumbled onto something under the snow and Hermione fell face-first into the suffocating whiteness.

Something hard was under her. It had a familiar shape and realizing something, Hermione picked herself up and started shoving the snow to the side.

“No, no, no, no…” kept Hermione chanting and dug in the snow with frozen fingers hurting like bloody hell. An ashen face with blue lips looked up at her and she couldn’t take it anymore. Hot tears rolled down her face, burning the cold flesh.

“Blaise… Oh my god…” cried Hermione and felt like her heart had exploded into million pieces. She felt extreme sorrow, anger and fondness at the same time, pulling her apart.

“Finite Incantatem!” said Hermione. The snow stopped falling from the ceiling and the full Body-Bind Blaise was strapped with, came off. The intense look on his face loosened a bit but Hermione didn’t notice it as she lowered her head and rested her forehead onto his chest.

“I’m so sorry. I never wanted it to end like this,” sobbed the witch. Loosing another important person in her life was too much to handle. Right now she just wanted to point her wand to her temple and say the Killing Curse.

“I’m so sorry for not coming earlier, for not caring more about you… So sorry… Forgive me,” begged the brunette and cried quietly. Madness raised its’ head and roared.

A shaking hand came to rest on her shoulder and pushed itself past the robes’ lapels inside and over the warm backside.

“You are forgiven,” a ragged voice sounded and her head snapped up.

“Blaise!” yelped Hermione, threw her hands over him, and pulled Blaise into tight hug. Still faint and tired Blaise rested his head onto her shoulder and snaked his freezing hands inside her robe, searching for some body-heat. Her hands curled around him, stroked his back, and came to caress his black curly locks that just reached to his shoulders.

“I thought you were… Merlin, I thought… Oh my God,” sputtered Hermione, tore his head away from her shoulder and looked into his dull indigo eyes. Blaise tried to smile but his facial muscles were still frozen.

“It takes a lot more to kill me,” told Blaise and Hermione burst into sobbing laughter.

“Don’t say it! Few more hours and you would had been an ice-cube!” spat Hermione and smacked gently his shoulder. “I have to get you out of here. Madam Pomfrey will melt you…” rambled Hermione and stood up to pull him onto his feet.

“No fucking way! I will not sit in Hospital Wing and stand that obnoxious witch! I think she is experimenting her new stuff on her patients and I certainly will not become her guinea-pig!” protested Blaise but his feet gave away and he fell stumbling all over Hermione. Gathering her strength, she supported his tall figure and leaded them out of the room.

“And what a cute guinea-pig you would be,” teased Hermione and shivered when his cold body was pressed against hers.

“You would like that, don’t you?” asked Blaise, getting his playful smart-ass attitude back.

“Sure, but first I have to get you all warmed up,” answered Hermione without thinking the ways her answer might be interpreted. Blaise looked down on her and despite the feeling of hundreds of knives poking him, he was quite turned on by sight of the negligee’s cleavage as the fluffy morning-gown was pushed aside to let his left hand get some warmth against her.

Staggering forward, Hermione and Blaise made it to the common room where the atmosphere was a bit warmer but flames in the big fireplace had subdued. Leaving Hospital Wing out, she knew only one place where Blaise could get some rest and come back to living world.

“Right,” drawled Hermione and started to the other hallway entrance. Her right hand was wrapped around his waist to keep him balanced, the other one held his left forearm in place as it was tucked over her chest and felt itself like home.

Sneaking quietly into the VIP Suit, Blaise took a look around and let out a hushed whistle.

“Damn, you live in a fine place,” leered Blaise and let her to lead him into her bedroom. The room was royally draped in cherry-colored mahogany furniture and deep emerald attire. Dark hue suited to her, making the Prime Princess even more mysterious and unreachable.

“Come, sit by the fire,” ordered Hermione and escorted Blaise to the front of the fireplace. There were black sheepskins on the floor with a dozen of dark burgundy cushions. Blaise landed amongst the softness and just relaxed. All his muscles hurt from the restraining Body-Bind but he didn’t let the soreness show.

Hermione came to him with a cup with Pepper Up and handed it to him. Blaise stared it at first but trusted her to drink it. The heat from the flames made him shudder but he gritted his teeth and tried to seem strong. A feather-like touch on his shoulder indicated that Hermione had put soothingly her hands on him. Blaise gasped as he felt her slide down behind his back and embrace him, keeping his backside also warm. Her thighs came to round his own and Blaise got a hell of an exciting view of her long bare legs on both of his sides.

“Wake me up when you feel like human again,” told Hermione yawning and placed her head onto his left shoulder, wrapping her arms over his right shoulder and around his chest hooking them up at the front.

Blaise’s eyes shot wide open when she nuzzled closer and he was able feel all of that glorious body of hers when she pushed her warm cheek against his neck. That’s not just gonna happen, screamed Blaise in his mind, for the second time she’s just gonna take a nap while we could do something fun! Life was so cruel!

“No!” He didn’t meant to sound so pathetic but it caught her attention.

“What? Wanna bedtime story?” asked Hermione and breathed in his scent of cedar-wood and musk.

“Sorry,” muttered Blaise and lifted his gaze to look blindly into fire.

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault that some bastard caught you unguarded and cast a spell on you. By the way, who was that son of a bitch?” she asked and rubbed her nose against his jaw-line. Silence. Blaise bit his lower lip and kept watching the flames.

“Someone I know?” inquired Hermione lazily keeping the sleep at bay. “I am a Prefect for crying out loud, I need to know such things! I need to know who is tormenting my pet Italian Prefect!”

Blaise turned a bit to look into her sparkling eyes and was perplexed.

“Pet?”

“Blaise, focus. Give me the name,” all the sleepiness was gone from her and a Prefect was staring back at him. Blaise admired her strength bound with beauty.

“Yes, you know him. You almost would have ended up sharing a dorm with him,” purred Blaise. Hermione stared him, trying to decipher his words. Dorm? He had to be a slytherin, no doubt, but she already shared the whole dorm with all of them! Wait a minute! Not all of them…

“Draco?” she was shocked but then he felt sorry for Blaise that he had been in wrong place at wrong time. “Oh Blaise,” whispered Hermione and hugged him closer.

“After lunch he came to me, raging like a mad man and just…” he took the advantage of playing the poor victim just to get closer to her.

“I will talk to him,” hushed Hermione and pressed a chaste kiss onto his lips.