cleenTeenStories

Dramione Fanfiction Eclipse of Serpents and Lions Chapter 4: The Phoenix’s Ashes Setting: Hogwarts, Dawn. The word hung between them, raw and impossible: *Sanctuary.* Hermione stared at Draco Malfoy slumped against her dormitory corridor wall. Blood crusted his split lip, his left eye was swollen shut, purpling violently. Fresh bruises mottled his jaw. His torn robes revealed glimpses of the half-healed Sectumsempra scars beneath, stark against his unnaturally pale skin. He looked like a ghost haunting the wrong hallway, a shattered prince exiled from his own kingdom. Logic screamed *No*. He was a Death Eater. He’d brought the killers into Hogwarts. He’d pointed his wand at Dumbledore. He’d stood by while Snape… She squeezed her eyes shut, pushing the image away. But the memory of his trembling hand lowering the wand, his broken sobs on the Astronomy Tower, the raw terror in his whispered plea – it drowned out the scream. *He lowered his wand. He tried to stop me from dying too. He’s b...

Dramione Fanfiction Eclipse of Serpents and Lions Chapter 3: Unbreakable Whispers Setting: Hogwarts, June.  The Astronomy Tower wasn’t just cold; it was *alive* with dread. Hermione pressed herself against the rough stone pillar, her breath shallow puffs of vapor in the frigid air. Beside her, hidden in the deeper shadows cast by a crumbling gargoyle, Draco Malfoy stood rigid, his face a mask of frozen terror illuminated by the eerie green glow of the Dark Mark blazing over the castle. His knuckles were bone-white where they gripped his wand, pointed shakily at Albus Dumbledore. The Headmaster stood near the parapet, looking frail but unnervingly calm. Below, chaos reigned – flashes of spell-light, shouts, the distant roar of Hagrid’s hut burning. Death Eaters had breached the castle. Draco’s mission. *His* Vanishing Cabinet. *He’s going to do it,* Hermione thought, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. *He’s going to kill him.* The realization was a physical ac...

Dramione Fanfiction Eclipse of Serpents and Lions  Chapter 2: The Sectumsempra Secret Setting: Hogwarts, February. Cold seeps through the castle stones like regret. Hermione Granger couldn’t escape the smell of blood. It haunted her between stacks of library books, lurked behind the sharp scent of Floo powder in the common room, and now—*Merlin, now*—it was thick and metallic in the damp air of the second-floor girls' bathroom. Moaning Myrtle wailed overhead, her sobs echoing off cracked porcelain tiles. *“Worthless! Unlovable! Forever alone!”* Hermione barely heard her. Her breath hitched as she stared at the crimson streaks smeared across the floor, leading to the farthest stall. Her prefect rounds could wait. Logic warred with dread. *It’s Peeves. Or a wounded animal. Or…* She pushed the stall door open. The scent of copper slammed into her. Draco Malfoy slumped against the wall, his face chalk-white, lips tinged blue. His Slytherin robes were slashed open, the white shirt benea...

Dramione Fanfiction Eclipse of serpents and lions Chapter 1: Shadows of the Vanishing Cabinet   Set: Hogwarts, early Sixth Year - Half-Blood Prince era. The castle feels colder, heavier, like it’s holding its breath. The library dust motes danced in the late October moonlight slanting through the high windows, usually a comforting sight for Hermione Granger. Tonight, they just looked like ash. She slammed *Moste Potente Potions* shut with more force than necessary, the thud echoing in the unnervingly quiet Restricted Section. Her brain felt like it was vibrating – Arithmancy equations warring with worry for Harry, who was becoming disturbingly obsessed with his mysterious Potions book, and Ron, who seemed perpetually annoyed with… well, everything, especially her. "Ugh, useless!" she muttered, shoving the heavy tome back onto its shelf. Slughorn’s impossible assignment on the properties of powdered moonstone under lunar phases could wait. What *couldn’t* wait was figuring out...