Through Tinted Windows

Chapter 17

Tsuki ga yureru kagami ni
Furueta kokoro
Hoshi ga nagare koboreta
Yawarakai namida...

Excerpt of: 'Suteki Da Ne' (Final Fantasy X)

Performed by: Rikki

------------~~~~~~~ o ~~~~~~~------------

Silence fell upon them, the light swinging and the chain that attached it to the ceiling squeaking in protest at its movements. Meg's breath came out raggedly as her chest heaved as she inhaled a lungful of air. The look on her face was murderous, something that Hermione had never seen before. Considering such, Hermione felt a great fear overcome her usual sense of control.

"You know I couldn't get the two of you farther than three meters?" she said in a matter-of-factly way, but upon her lips was a bitter smile. "The circumstances in which you two are put under break my heart. Funny how you didn't notice it."

"Please stop this insanity, Meg," Hermione pleaded. "You're not acting normally -"

"Don't tell me you think is right or wrong with me!" the Asian girl shouted. "How do you know what I am truly like? We have only known each other for what - half a year? You have no right to plead me insane!"

"I thought that we had no secrets! You're my best friend!"

"Ah, the wonders of a naïve, young witch!" Meg let out a snort of laughter. "A normal person would have actually be smart enough not to trust someone right off from the beginning!"

Hermione gave the muggle girl a bewildered look as Severus narrowed his eyes on the Asian and growled. "So all the things you said were..."

The dark-skinned girl tapped the side of her mouth with a finger in mock thoughtfulness. "You know, it's a wonder what a good sob story can do for you. And when the person actually takes the bait and feels sympathy. Oh, that was good!" She made a dramatic pose as if she was about to faint. "Oh, Hermione! I have such a hurtful life! Save me! Save me!" The girl let out a horrific cackle. "At least I didn't lie to you about the whole homosexual thing! At least be thankful about that."

"I can't believe you lied to me about everything else! I trusted you! God, I told everything that was the truth! You - you even know about the wizarding world!" she cried out in desperation for the truth; in frustration.

Meg merely smiled. "Dear Hermione," she crooned. "Do you actually think I knew squat about that before you ever came along?" She began to walk menacingly towards them, causing Hermione to tug more frantically at the ropes, loosening them, trying to free Severus. "You want the truth now? Do you want to know everything about me?" She smiled in a wild way that reminded Hermione of a mad scientist. "My name is not really 'Megara Ilanilara Gold.' I mean, have you ever heard of a person with the last name Gold? Maybe Goldwin or something but definitely not Gold. No... my real name is actually Magick Lopez. Pinay all the way!" She stopped and threw a fist in the air with pride and whooped.

"Then how do you know about the world of wizardry?" Severus asked. He was trying to buy time so he could figure some way to get out of there.

"Easy, I learned from my mother. Of course, thanks to my oh-so useless father, the wizarding genes weren't passed down to me." The grim resentment was thick on her voice as she clenched and unclenched her fingers in mute anger. "Instead, I became a plain poor girl. A father would never want anything weird on his name - not when he had everything made for him. So my mother took care of me when my father went away. Nope, there was no child abuse from any parents - unless, of course, you count the fact that I lacked a manly figure in my life and that the male that had planted his sperm in my mother's womb was a coward and left my mother for dead.

"My mother was a strong woman, however; not easily pushed down. She took her predicament as merely a sign from God that her choice to be with the man was wrong and used the opportunity to start over again. She had the magical education that was given freely so she used it to her advantage. She didn't have enough money to go to the magical world - and there was still the rising power of Voldemort and the lousy Death Eaters that were being very extreme in our end of the world. She couldn't risk exposing her child. Instead, she started a series of businesses that were based on muggle essentials. Have you heard of a mall called Shoe Mart*? Well, it's big in our end nowadays. With the business that grew, she was able to support me and then send me to a local school, teach me a few wizard things and then send me to college here."

"It seems to me like you were set for life. I can't see why there is a need for this obsession with Miss Granger -" Severus's comment earned him a hard look from both the girls, causing him to flinch. "Let me rephrase that: what was so bad about your life that makes you resent being the way you are?"

"I have no ability to do magic! I am absolutely incapable of doing a single spell. It's not in my blood! I want to be a witch! You know the power that you hold - the things that you can create with the use of magic? I've craved this ability for all of my life! And when I came here I sought to forget that life; forget my obsession with it."

"And when did I come into the picture? You only knew me recently -"

"You were in my class back in that muggle college," she said, cutting Hermione off. "Don't you remember? I sat in the last row in Professor Mills class while you were taking that engineers course."

Hermione looked at her blankly and gave a nervous laugh. "Oh, yes, of course! It was that class..."

"You don't remember." With the statement was a hard look.

"No, I don't, but still," she added quickly as she regarded the other girl with a weak smile.

Meg - no, Magick - waved a hand to stop her. "Forget it. That's beside the point. What I was getting to was that I found out that you were a witch. There were instances when you did things that just didn't add up - like the time when 'Loopy-Larry' - you should at least remember him - had his pen explode in his face and you were there. Then, I saw you put your wand back in your sleeve."

"Damn it, I thought no one was looking," Hermione muttered.

"Then I started craving for the magic again. I wanted to have something to do with it. You had it all, Hermione. You had the muggle and witch intelligence in you. It wasn't fair! I needed it for my own!"

"Spells and tricks with the wand aren't important, Meg - Magick, I mean! What is important, however, is that I know now and that I'm your friend."

"You are not my friend!" Magick burst, throwing her hands up. "I don't want you to be a friend! I want more than that! You were everything that I wanted to be. You have everything I had craved to have in my life! To be with someone who had such a lifestyle would guarantee such a thing to happen for me in the future! You are my ultimate desire, Hermione. I will do anything to have you! Why do you think I staged that whole episode with you and Viktor -" she stopped, putting a hand to her mouth as her eyes widened. "Oops."

Severus, who had been listening quietly for almost the whole time, narrowed his eyes. "You did what?"

"Huh? Did I say anything? I didn't say anything. I'm sorry I think you misheard," she babbled her expression turning nervous.

"You set up the whole 'meeting Krum' thing? How do you know him? How did you pull it off?" Hermione lost the fear of the muggle girl and stood up with an accusing look.

"My mother has contacts," Magick admitted reluctantly. "I looked you up and found that you knew Krum from before and had some relationship of sorts in fourth year. I met him, told him where you were and he seemed somewhat interested. I made it so that you would end up having a rough time and I'd enter your life and be the shoulder to cry on. Unfortunately, that didn't lead to what was much of a relationship that I wanted. Instead, we ended up being merely friends when I wanted more."

"And the Bachelor Auction was what? What was the deal with that?"

"That certain thing didn't go as I wanted either. I thought that you would go there, see that men were hopeless and turn to women for sexual relief. I would be there and..." she trailed off and looked at the two of them in somewhat embarrassment.

"So you're the one who sent Krum! He was merely a pawn while you were the actual player!"

"Well, see..." Magick paused then glared. She quickly reached into an unseen section of her attire and pointed a gun at the two. "Why the hell am I defending myself? I'm holding the both of you in damned hostage and I've got to give a goddamn reason for my actions? Well, I think the only explaining that I'm doing is the current circumstances now. Since my chances with you are nil to a million, then I won't allow you to be with anyone! And to prevent any future threats, I'll kill you both."

The cold, cruel smile was back on the Asian girl's face as she pointed the barrel at Severus first. Hermione gasped in fear and, in a moment's desperation, threw herself at Magick. The action caused the girl to stop for a moment, giving ample time for Severus to wrench out of the confining ropes. Just as he got free, both Hermione and Magick went falling to the floor and landed heavily to the ground. There was a gunshot, but the bullet missed the two of them and ricocheted of a pipe before embedding itself into a distant wall. Severus frantically watched as the two fought one another for the gun. Hermione's body hid their struggle from his line of view and when the second and last gunshot rang out, he felt his blood run cold.

The two stopped moving. One of them made a gurgling sound - who emitted the sound, was lost to him. He blinked and watched as the two broke their hold one another. The moment slowed - seconds seemed like minutes, while minutes seemed even longer than an hour. He pictured a million of the worst scenarios - Hermione was shot and he would be left by Magick to live with the burden of another death on his conscience, Hermione shot her, but realized that she felt the same way as Magick and because of the loss, killed herself with the same gun.

When she rolled over, however, he felt his body deflate with the overwhelming relief he felt. Her chest heaved with a great breath of air and she let out a strangled cry. Rushing over to her, he knelt down and brought her head into his hold, rubbing her cheeks with his thumb.

"You're alive," he murmured, a touch of a purely joyous smile on his lips. "Oh Merlin, I thought it was over. I thought you were gone for good."

She turned her head slightly so she could look at Magick. As much as she was relieved to still be unhurt, she still felt the sadness for an individual whom she trusted wholly. She looked back at Severus with pleading eyes. "We need to help her. She still has a chance to live."

"So she'll come after us again and try to kill us both?" he whispered incredulously. "I think not."

"She can start over again this time! This is her time to atone for her mistakes. Don't you believe in second chances? Did I not give you just that? Or have you forgotten that particular scenario a few days back..." She gave him an intense glare, to which he looked away, flustered. She couldn't help but think of how adorable that was - she could think of no other word that could describe the expression he had on his face.

At last, he grumbled and shifted to take a look at the wounded girl. Hermione slowly got up to look for some way to get out. As he tended to the Asian girl as much as he could, she watched him with unbelieving eyes. When Hermione was out of hearing range, Magick made it a point to question the Potions Master. "Why are you consenting? I heard you are a hard man. Why not just go against Hermione's plea and leave me for dead?"

"Having yet another death on my hands isn't something I want at this stage of my life," he snapped. He paused in his attention on her wound and looked her straight in the eye. "I love her enough to want her to be happy. If that means keeping you alive, then so be it. It does not matter that I want you dead right now for all that you put her - and me - through. It is her opinion that is most important to me. Perhaps you should think of doing the same."

"Oh! I found the door, you guys!" Hermione shouted happily, interrupting the exchange.

------------~~~~~~~ o ~~~~~~~------------

"I'm turning myself in," Magick declared.

She was lying in the bed of a muggle hospital and Hermione sat in a chair beside it. The couple had spent the rest of the week with the girl - much to Severus's dismay. When the enchanted week was over, they received a letter from the chocolate company, saying that they were expected back at the auction site the next morning with the decision of whether or not they were going on the cruise and vacation in Japan. They merely read the message quietly to themselves, but did not discuss it. They didn't want to bring it up just then. They weren't particularly sure where Magick stood on that particular topic.

In order to see whether or not there was still some resentment boiling underneath the exterior, Severus had given them both some time off so that they could talk and gave the excuse that he was just going to hunt for some coffee. When the door was closed, the muggle girl told her statement to Hermione, to which she looked at the other girl with an unbelievable look on her face. "You can't be serious. Do you know what penalty they would give you? A lifetime in jail!"

The Asian girl smiled sadly. "Well, it is better that I do that then live a luxurious life and forget that the murder happened. Thanks to you, I believe I've grown a conscience."

"That's good, but don't you think it would be better if we just... I don't know... I just don't want you to go to jail."

"Hermione, it's my punishment. I did things - bad things. There were consequences for them and I was too blinded by my goal to see them. Now I must take it like a woman and take things as they are. And, love, I wouldn't change it for the world." She smiled. "Besides, I think I need the time off from all this hurly-burly."

"You can do that in a province somewhere. Did you not say that there are many secluded jungle out there where you're from? Why can't you hide out there? Please, just don't turn yourself in."

They watched each other for a moment that drew out to a full minute and finally the bed-ridden girl sighed. "Fine, I'll go back to the Philippines. I'll stay with my grandmother on her farm and live a simple life. Puta, I'll be like Ghandi! You know, doing all that meditating and enlightening stuff! Oh that'll be cool!"

Hermione merely chuckled. It was then that Severus chose to come in, holding two cups of coffee with a scowl on his face. He handed one of the steaming cups to Hermione. "Remind me never to come here again," he muttered. "This place is a nightmare! I asked for the bloody coffee from one of the muggles and then laughed at me! They laughed! Then a sympathetic bystander came in to tell me that some device called a 'vending machine' was right behind me. I look and all there is, is a bloody box! They expected me to get something from it! So I go and take a look and see a column of buttons, each having some different label. I attempt to press one and the one who helped me find the bloody device gave me a weird look! The person helped me and gave me the cups then asked me what age I was born! The gall of the man! Truly!"

Hermione listened in amusement as she sipped her coffee. When he was finished with his tirade, she smirked at him. "I never knew you as the whining type, Severus," she joked.

"I learned from only the best whiner in the world, dearest," he retorted.

Magick laughed then. "You two are a funny pair. I wonder why I even bothered the second time around. The two of you already look like you're bloody married!" She watched as the couple gave her embarrassed looks. "I'm serious, my dears! Just look at the way you act. It's not quite prominent, but the tie is there. Just give it time. So! Are you going to go on that lovely little cruise? I hear that Bermuda's great - and that Japan has lovely accommodations as well."

They didn't answer her. She figured it out, however, by the smirk that suddenly graced Severus's lips.

------------~~~~~~~ o ~~~~~~~------------

The headmaster of Hogwarts sat at the head of the tables, watching as the remaining students and professors ate quietly in their seats. He had found the Potions Master and Miss Granger in the outskirts of Hogsmeade - in a rundown shack. They had an injured young woman with them - whom he knew had to be the muggle that they were talking about. He immediately noticed that they were also in need of their wands. He knew at that point that they would be holding their only line of defense at that point and waved their respective wands to appear. Upon meeting them, he handed them to the couple and looked at the other girl grimly. Her skin was pale and there were heavy bags underneath her eyes and she leaned heavily against Severus's body.

Despite all of it, Hermione kept a bright smile on her face and Severus had his habitual scowl, to which worry and a strange openness was added. Dumbledore did not feel the need to question them. Whatever problems they were faced with - life-threatening or not - they got through it and it was now resolved. Assured by that fact, he merely exchanged a few words with the two before getting back to Hogwarts.

The headmaster gave a little smile and ate some of his food. Noticing his smile, Minerva asked him about it. He gave her a sideways look. "Out of the shadows is the man that has found his light. The window to his soul is tinted no more."

The Transfiguration professor looked at Dumbledore in a confused way. She could not understand what he was mumbling about and so she shrugged and went back to her food. He merely chuckled quietly.

------------~~~~~~~ o ~~~~~~~------------

"Welcome back, participants!" the announcer called cheerfully. The crowd of twenty hooted and clapped veraciously. "As you all well remember, all of came together at this very spot just a week before today. As an opening to this ceremony, we would like to ask all of you of the experiences that you went through. If you choose, you may keep out the more - ah, intimate - details. May we please start with couple number one?"

All of their stories were quite hilarious - people falling off the bed in the middle of the night, having to apparate quickly from one room to the other just to stop themselves from getting squished against the doors. Another couple chose to recount all of their erotic escapades around a secluded cabin. The effect it had on the couples - including themselves - was overwhelming.

"Alright, then," the announcer said before clearing his throat and giving a nervous laugh. "Can couple number six please tell of your experiences?" He almost seemed unsure of asking anymore. The other couples were giving suggestive looks to each other.

Hermione and Severus looked at each other incredulously before laughing out loud, causing the other couples to snap out of their aroused states. What would cause them to suddenly have the urge to laugh hysterically? The looked at the two questioningly.

"You really don't want to know," she got out between laughs.

"No really, if it's funny, then I believe we would all like to know," the announcer urged. "Don't we want to know?"

"Well, if you want to know..." Severus trailed off with a funny little grin on his lips.

He started their story and Hermione came in when he did not want to speak about something. After their tale, the others merely stared at them with wonder in their eyes. It was obvious that what they went through was far stranger than everything they had gone through all put together. Both Hermione and Severus smirked at the faces on the others. They were hoping for such a reaction from them and seeing what they expected was satisfying.

"Ahem," the announcer coughed. "Yes... well, anyway... couple number seven! Do you have anything to say?"

The girl from the seventh pair looked at the two of them. "If you survived that, then you two were definitely meant to be together. The bond between the two of you must be strong, huh?"

Anchoring the young witch close to him, Severus nodded, keeping a solemn look upon his face. Hermione beamed and let her head lean against his arm as she wove her arm around his waist. All the other women in the group sighed. The men murmured their manly approvals and gave a thumbs-up to him.

The announcer finally got through all the stories and with that done, he smiled widely. "Okay! At this point, I would like to ask if there are any objections or maybe questions about the all expense paid trip to the Bermudas and Japan."

When none of the couples had their hands up, a look of relief came over the man's face. "Oh, good! It's nice to know that our clients are all satisfied with the results of the Auction. Now, if you will, please stay hush-hush about the circumstances. If the new batch found out about it, they would immediately not participate!"

They all laughed about it, knowing that they would agree that the thought of having a closing distance around them would be quite overwhelming.

"If you may," the man continued, "it would be nice to have all of you pack your needed items! The cruise ship headed to the Bermudas is leaving at 9:30 in the morning - sharp! If you miss it, then I really am sorry. The ship will be exclusively for the twenty of you - no other passengers will be found. The crew will be composed of the captain of the ship, fourteen guards, and twenty house elves. The serving of the meals will be whenever you need it. Remember, this is your reward for surviving the circumstances you were all put under. Do enjoy yourselves!"

The couples got up at that moment and began to mingle with each other. Hermione talked to Bachelor number one and saw that - despite the fact that he had very bad nails, he was quite a good-looking man. He had a good build; thick arms, wide shoulders and a strong square jaw. The man was far too outspoken for her taste, however. When she talked to his partner, she could see that they were a match made in heaven. The two sized each other up and it was quite endearing - the way that they would bicker when one cut the other off while talking. She talked to the others and found out what good people they were - and how deserving of love.

Just as she finished up with the third couple, she looked at Severus. He had been talking to the announcer at that point and was bickering about something. Curious as to what it was, she came close, but he seemed to feel the inquisitiveness rolling off of her, and - as if signaled by some unknown force, he stopped talking and turned to her. There was a forced smile on his face causing her to quirk her eyebrows in suspicion.

"And what, pray tell, are you up to this time?" she asked, folding her arms and pursing her lips.

The smile turned lopsided. "Nothing, Hermione, nothing at all. Don't worry yourself about it." Yet in his mind, a voice cackled mischievously. You're in over your head now, love.