That word, whispered right against her ear, was like an icy needle piercing her brain.
"Forever."
Hoarse, cold, it didn't belong to Lia, or even to a human.
The doting smile on Hermione's face froze instantly. The warm body in her arms felt as if its temperature was being drained away, and even her own blood began to run cold.
"Lia?" Hermione's voice was dry as she tried to look at the girl's face.
But Lia only buried her head deeper, as if acting spoiled, or perhaps hiding something.
The air in the Hospital Wing solidified.
The shock on the faces of Ron and The Twins stiffened into masks; they instinctively backed away, their heels hitting the floor with a dull thud.
Fred's hand, frozen in mid-air, jerked back as if it had been burned.
"Uh... Hermione," George spoke dryly, trying to break the dead silence, "we just came to bring some sweets..."
"Right! To celebrate!" Fred immediately stuffed the bertie botts every flavor beans into Ron's arms as if getting rid of a cursed object. "We remembered we forgot some prank materials! We're leaving now!"
The Twins practically bolted out of the Hospital Wing. They were prank geniuses, not exorcists.
Holding the box of candy, Ron looked at the door, then at Hermione and the silver-haired girl nestled intimately against her; he couldn't say a single word.
The real blow came from Harry.
The scar on his forehead began to burn, the sharp sting making his breath hitch. That tone, that snake-like hiss... it wasn't an imitation.
It was a recurrence.
"Hermione..." Harry's voice was frighteningly dry as he stared intently at the seemingly harmless Cat-girl, every word squeezed through his teeth. "That wasn't her voice... it was Lord Voldemort."
Hermione's body gave a violent shudder.
Lord Voldemort.
fear, like an icy tide, instantly submerged her mind.
But only for a second.
Another stronger, more frantic thought overwhelmed everything else.
Dumbledore's words echoed in her head—"Love and protection are a more powerful... restraint than any spell."
Hermione lowered her head and rubbed her cheek against the top of Lia's silver hair. She looked up, her gaze meeting those eyes with a ring of dark green, her voice returning to that drippingly sweet tenderness.
"Lia, it's okay, I'm here. They're friends, 'our' friends."
She said the words "our" softly and slowly, as if taming her, or more likely, declaring ownership.
Lia let out a satisfied purr in her arms, and that suffocatingly cold aura quietly dissipated.
When she raised her head and her deep blue eyes looked at Harry and Ron again, the ghostly green ring had faded, leaving only pure dependence and bewilderment.
It was as if the terrifying presence that had just declared "forever" was merely an illusion.
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