I bolted upright, tearing the sheets off me. I always had realistic nightmares, but that particular one seemed so damn real.

I looked to my left and saw Hermione still sleeping peacefully. Jade wasn't in my room at all, instead a pile of books lay in disarray in the place where I could've sworn she was moments ago.

Pull yourself together. I dragged my hands through my hair, trying to calm myself. No one had been killed, it was all in my head. Not that I gave a damn about killing anyone, but to see Hermione killing her own friend because of me left me deeply shaken. And I had no idea why.

"Tom?" I started only to see Hermione's huge doe eyes looking at me in concern. "What's wrong?" She had woken up.

"Get up." I got out of bed and walked around to her, taking her hand in my own and pulling her unceremoniously out of bed. "I need you to come with me."

"Where are we going?" She said in confusion. I didn't reply, leading her by the hand to the chair beside my desk. "Sit." I put my hands on her shoulders, directing her.

"I need you to stay there. Don't move until I tell you to."

"Ok."

I strode over to my cupboard, pulling out two large volumes on curses, desperately trying to find one bookmarked page in the book Madam Pince gave me the other day. I had to reverse the damn curse before I lost my sanity for good. This was turning into a fucking nightmare. All I wanted to do was get Hermione under my control, and the only one that was turning into a puppet was me. I felt completely helpless against this onslaught of undesired feeling and guilt. I never wanted so badly to undo a curse I had created in my life.

I flipped through the pages of the book impatiently, finally finding the page I was looking for. Reversal and Remedies For The Effects Of Dark Magic.

I scanned the page feverishly, making a mental note of what was required. Everything I needed I already had. It was only 4 things that were required. I scanned the page again, certain I was missing something. Apparently not.

Blood of the one who spoke the curse into being.

Dragons blood.

Blood of the Victim, taken forcefully.

Hair of the Victim, thrice woven.

Acromantula Venom.

I had everything, the Dragons Blood and Acromantula Venom I had sought out earlier. Both of which were stolen from the Potions storeroom, kept safe in my cupboard. I never cast curses such as this if I didn't have the ingredients for the reversal on hand. Unless I was sure of what I was doing.

I set up my cauldron on the floor of my room on the ground beside Hermione's feet. With years of magical experience behind me, I followed the instructions carefully, placing the set ingredients in the cauldron. Dragons blood first. My own blood second. I snatched up a knife from the desk, slashing my hand in one clean stroke. I felt nothing as I felt the blood dripping down my skin into the cauldron, and thought of absolutely nothing as the contents turned a shade of deep crimson overcast with black.

Blood of the victim, taken forcefully.

I got to my feet, approaching Hermione slowly.

"Give me your hand."

She held out her hand, it was almost as pale as my own. I put my wand to her wrist, casting a numbing spell into her skin with barely a whisper. The spell said the blood had to be unwillingly given, but said nothing against whether or not I was able to stop the pain.

"Close your eyes. I don't want you to see this." I looked at her, meeting her gaze steadily.

"What are you going to do?" She closed her eyes anyway.

"Nothing." I lied.

I dragged my wand across her outstretched arm, over the skin that I had specifically numbed. A deep red mark followed the movement of my wand, and then moments later a wound had blossomed on her skin leaving a shining ribbon of blood that dripped down her wrist. Hermione's eyes were still closed as she sat quietly, completely unaware of what I had done or what I was doing.

Very gently, I pulled a flask and collected her blood, stopping once it was full. I placed the flask on the ground, tracing her skin with my wand again, the remedial spell on my lips. In mere seconds she was healed.

"You can open your eyes." I told her.

She blinked, staring around the room as I got back to work, expertly placing the remaining ingredients in the cauldron. I added Hermione's blood, noting carefully as the shade of the contents became a dazzlingly bright butterscotch. It was something I had never seen, despite the fact I had sacrificed much blood to Potions such as this, and not just my own either. The colour was something out of this world. A beautiful dawn-like melted amber. Something like the sunrise over the castle.

I cut a piece of her hair from her braid, twining 3 separate pieces of it into a miniature braid before placing it into the now simmering potion. I spoke a few verbal incantations lowly, making sure to follow each instruction with accuracy, to note each word with utmost care. One failed movement could be fatal.

The potion was complete, appearing as the book had depicted, perfect shimmering silver like Unicorn Blood. Of course, none of this would've come to pass without the spoken incantations over the potion. Something Hogwarts had never cared to teach us, was the timing of Potion making and spoken incantations had to be perfect. Particularly dark magic.

I took a ladle and poured the potion into two empty flasks making sure each was filled to the brim.

"Drink." I placed one in Hermione's hand. She took it, barely even acknowledging what I had said before pressing it to her lips and beginning to drink. I followed after her.

Fire. It felt like I had sculled a bottle of Firewhisky in one hit. Ice. A feeling of deep chill trickled down my skin. I finished it within mere moments, taking the flask back from Hermione as she finished hers. This was it. The curse was about to be undone, once and for all.

I waited, my impatience getting the better of me. Then, when I finally couldn't take it anymore I consulted the book again. Scrawled at the very bottom of the book was a hastily written note.

If the two participants in the curse do not know each other, may they part in peace after having consumed a flask of the potion each.

I blinked, tracing my hand down the aged paper. I turned the page, coming across another handwritten note.

If there is to be found an inexplicably wrought connection between the two in perfect truth, such as of lovers, the curse can be only undone with a kiss. Unrequited love will result in elimination of both.

"Damn it." I strode over to the bed, sitting on the edge with my head in my hands. This wretched curse could only be perfectly undone if I kissed Hermione. But that would only be effective if she felt the same as I felt toward her. And I didn't know how she felt about me, and neither could I say that whatever she said to me now would be in perfect truth since she was submitted in will to me, binded to do my bidding and to that alone. If I kissed her, and she didn't share the feelings I had toward her, she would die. And I would die too.

I took a deep breath, sitting up. My hands were unsteady. I was putting my own life on the line, and not only that. I was putting Hermione's life on the line too.

"Hermione, come here." I said finally. I held out my hand toward her, she took it and sat on the bed beside me.

"I want you to close your eyes again. Can you do that for me?" I felt like I was speaking from a different persons body. This didn't feel real. I was going to kiss Hermione. Or quite possibly kill the both of us. My heart began to race, a deep feeling like fire burning deeply in the pit of my stomach. Fear? Love? Pain? I didn't know.

I moved closer to her, until we were sitting very close to each other. I could smell the sweet fragrance of her hair, the scent of something like a perfume. Her breathing was deep, calm. It reassured me.

I took her face gently in my hand, turning it slightly so she was facing me. I bowed my head down to her, feeling more like a Dementor taking the soul of a pure being instead of anything like that of the lover the book spoke of. Our lips were about to touch. I closed my eyes, and as I pressed my mouth against hers I knew at once that what I had done now had sealed our fate once and for all. The world around me seemed to instantly burn down in fire and ice, and for what I had thought would be my death seemed to have become my beginning.