The Anti-Heroine || A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter XLIX

CHAPTER XLIX:

Harry's POV:

Due to the very heavy load of homework that the fourth years had been given for the holidays, when term ended Harry spent most of the week leading up to Yule getting it all done.

Unsurprisingly, the Slytherin common room was hardly less crowded than during term-time as a majority of the students had signed up to stay for the Yule Ball; it seemed to have shrunk slightly too, as its inhabitants were being so much rowdier than usual as excitement for the upcoming night grew.

Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with a series of rich, warming stews and savory puddings and all the fireplaces were constantly lit and crackling merrily.

On the morning of Yule, Harry awoke very suddenly to a rather enthusiastic morning blowjob. Spending the next half hour recovering from having his brain sucked out of his... down there meant the boys' dorm was empty by the time he and Hermione started opening their presents– both piles of which, he noticed, were located at the foot of his bed. Harry was pretty sure Snape knew Hermione was spending every night in his bed– or him in hers– but so far their Head of House hadn't said anything about it and Harry was definitely okay for it to stay that way.

Most of his presents were the usual– sweets and chocolates, Quidditch gear and the odd fancy quill with a gold nib– but this year he'd also gotten a rather interesting book on human anatomy from Bellatrix that was very thoroughly annotated with disturbingly detailed notes and corrections on locations of nerve clusters and tendons and arteries, as well as little "gems" such as where to avoid cutting if you "didn't want them to lose consciousness and bleed out while you were carving them apart". And, of course, there was her written reassurance at the start that everything inside was based on her own firsthand experience, making the book somewhat of a horrifying, grisly memoir.

Harry still wasn't sure why Bellatrix had chosen him to take under her psychotic wing when out of him, Tom and Hermione he was the only one who didn't possess some form of sadism or homicidal impulse.

Hermione's gifts were mostly the same as his, except with books in the place of the Quidditch gear. There were a couple of unique presents in there too– Fleur had given her a diamond-based nail polish that was, apparently, laced with poison. It was not meant to be lethal, Fleur had written in the accompanying note, but as a last resort it could be considered gloriously effective. Harry, while impressed by the whole concept of it, reminded himself to always check if Hermione was wearing it before they had sex– she liked to use her nails. Hermione was sort of like a cat in that regard; she liked to dig her nails in, cling too tight, bite, scratch– all as if she was a feline marking her territory.

From Tom, Hermione had received a necklace– a "choker", to be precise, which Harry thought was a fairly accurate representation of the pair's sex life. It was a band of white lace with little pearls and looked pretty and delicate and expensive. "I'm fairly certain this is a collar," Hermione mused as they both looked down at it. "A metaphorical one, anyway– it's a bit too flimsy. I could probably charm it to be unbreakable, though."

"Tom's kind of... possessive?" Harry offered up and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Understatement of the century." She muttered. Harry thought about the half-faded bite marks on his collarbone and shoulders, the yellowing bruises on his hips and half-healed scratches down his back and felt she shouldn't really be throwing stones from her glass house, but he was definitely smart enough not to say anything. "What did he get you?" Hermione asked, looking up from the choker... collar... thing.