The Contract (Hermoine/Voldemort story)

Chapter 19

Hermione was well aware of her surroundings, even if she was pretending to be asleep. It was the middle of the night and her fever was rising again. She knew Voldemort didn't like it when she touched him, however, now she needed his body heat. He was lying on his side with his face in her direction. She crawled closer to him and put her ice cold nose against his chest. He mumbled something, but didn't wake. She put an arm over his waist and pressed herself against his body. That made him wake up.

"What are you doing?" he mumbled.

She didn't answer. Her eyes were closed. She could hear him sigh as he rearranges his body parts. His arms came around her and he placed his hand at her neck, making her bend her head a little so her nose wasn't in contact with his body.

"You'll pay for this," he said with a yawn and fell asleep again. Hermione did the same. She didn't care what he would do. She just wanted some comfort.

xxx

In the morning, Voldemort was gone. Professor Snape and another man were standing next to her bed instead. Her eyes widened and she pulled her blanket closer around her body.

"Who are you?" she asked hoarsely.

The unknown man smiled a toothless smile. He seemed ancient and not very healthy. His head was bald with a thick grey beard. She thought he looked like an evil wizard from one of her old fairytale books.

"Don't worry, Mrs Riddle," Snape said in a boring voice. "We are already done with the examination. I'll brew a potion for you and Mr Boham here will speak to your husband."

"What? You did an examination while I was asleep?" she asked, a bit horrified.

"Yes," the old man said in a low hoarse voice. "The Dark Lord is a lucky wizard."

Hermione's eyes narrowed and she was about to retort when her head began to spin as it had done for the last couple of days. "What is wrong with me, then?"

"We think that you have been reading the wrong books, Mrs Riddle. Or at least one too many. The last book you read contained a strong toxic curse which has been infecting your blood stream. Your body started the labour earlier so it would have more power to fight the curse off. Lucky for you, the Healers at St Mungos managed to remove the curse from your body. Although I'm afraid the damage was already done. What you need is to heal your blood stream," the old man said with an unpleasant smile. Hermione didn't like him one bit.

"I thought they did a Cleansing at St. Mungos?" She didn't know much about healing and now it really annoyed her.

"They did and it removed the active curse, not the damages. Once your husband comes back, we will inject a healing potion into your veins. When we have done that, your fever will either raise or sink a lot since your blood won't be able to control your temperature. You may black out for a minute, and you will probably feel quite sick. Once it is over, you'll feel better."

Hermione looked from Snape to the Healer (if he really was a Healer), but before she had time to say anything, Voldemort entered.

"Shall we begin?" he asked.

The other two nodded and Hermione's eyes widened. "How long will it take?"

"A couple of minutes, it depends on how good a heart you have." The Healer took up a needle and a tube and handed it to Snape. Snape filled the tube with some greenish potion and gave it back to the Healer. Hermione closed her eyes as they took her arm. She wasn't afraid of needles, but she didn't like them. There was a small sting and then… Hermione moaned when it felt as if her heart had started to race. Her head was spinning even if she closed her eyes. She felt extremely cold and then extremely hot. She cried out.