Devils and Dust

Monsters [2]

Your heart hits like a drum
The chase has just begun

Your heart hits like a drum
The hunt has just begun

We never shoot to stun
We're kings of the killing, we're out for blood
We'll take them one by one

- Monsters, Ruelle

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Hermione gasped, flinging the duvet off of her as if it were on fire. She didn't regret going into Harry's head –he had been having regular sleeping patterns and less nightmares –but she couldn't get his eyes out of her mind.

Tom Riddle.

Hermione hated how she was intrigued by him, especially when he wanted to hurt her best friend. She hated feeling powerless to him –even though it was only a memory, not him in her mind. Hermione sighed, and ran a hand down her face, and quickly put on a cropped Gryffindor tee-shirt that Harry had stolen for her and some black shorts. Walking out of the door, she turned to check if Ginny was okay and let a faint smile appear on her face, missing Charlie entering from the bathroom to his bedroom, and seeing the scene play out. She loved her –she loved Ginny, Ginny who was her fearless girlfriend, and didn't hesitate to tell people what to do if she didn't like them, Ginny who knew so many spells it was a surprise that the teachers hadn't caught on to who was harming students (even though she didn't feel bad for them, since they had bullied others), Ginny... who was in love with her best friend. Ginny, who had moaned Harry's name and then fell asleep. God, this was so fucked up. She sighed quietly, and shut the door, a naive part of her mind saying that it was a way of shutting the problem out for a little while longer. She turned and walked –quite literally –into Charlie,

"Morgana's tits, Weasley!" she whispered it harshly and watched as Charlie's lips twitched, "do not scare me like that!" she could feel her heart beating erratically and had a vague thought of that the Weasley's were going to give her a heart attack one day and that that would be how she died, not by the supposed dark lord, but was drawn back into the moment as Charlie snorted,
"sorry Granger, although I didn't know you knew that sort of vocabulary," he raised an eyebrow at her and she huffed, trying to not turn red, which, judging by the smirk, didn't work, "nor is it my fault, you'd have seen me if you hadn't have been staring at my sister as if she was the answer to the universe." Hermione felt herself stiffen, and realised her eyes had widened, and before she could stop herself, had squeaked out a very undignified 'what' in a tone that was so high that she didn't know she had had before. Charlie laughed softly, "don't worry Granger, it's fine," Hermione nodded, and quickly tugged Charlie away from the side of the step that made a noise before they entered the kitchen, Hermione waving her wand lazily, and smiled slightly as she watched her magick make her coffee.

"it's complicated," why the hell she was telling her girlfriend's brother their relationship problems she didn't know but screw it, she needed to tell someone, "I love her, I'm in love with her for fucks sake," she let out a hysterical laugh, and saw Charlie mutter a spell, no doubt making sure no one heard her, "but she doesn't love me. or maybe she does, she just isn't in love with me, you know?" Charlie nodded, bringing over their tea, and coffee, and she continued on, realizing just how much she had needed to tell someone. She decided to continue, "I mean, she tells me she does, and it's enough to believe it. I mean, she could convince me that poison was water and get me to drink it, even though I knew it was poison and probably be able to get me to ask for some more, so it's easy to believe her when she says she loves me," Bill had entered the kitchen during her rambling, and she'd only just noticed, but she couldn't give a damn, "and yet, it's hard to believe it at night when she moans my best friend who I consider a brother's name out when she's with me. it would be hard to deal with even if it was another girl, but she isn't even thinking of a girls body with me! surely something is wrong if she can imagine my best friend easier than her supposed girlfriend?