Changes Like These
Chapter 1: The Last Time
It happened on a Thursday, in the second week of September, at the beginning of the Golden Trios 5th year. It was as normal a day as any other in Hogwarts. Term had barely started, so classes were not yet focused on the critical topics, meaning that the students paid little or no attention. Apart from, of course, our lovely little bookworm, Hermione Granger. She was concentrating so hard in taking notes from her Transfiguration text book, that she never noticed the silence that fell over the classroom, until her name was called.
"Miss Granger!" called Professor McGonagall, for the second time, her voice cracking through the silence like a whip.
Startled out of her frantic note taking, Hermione looked up. The rest of her classmates were staring at her, some of them, mainly Slytherins, were sniggering at her dishevelled appearance, and there was a tiny first year girl in the doorway.
"Yes Professor?" Hermione responded, as she felt a red flush of embarrassment make its way up her neck.
"The Headmaster wishes to see you in his Office immediately. You are to go with Miss Shakeel now, and take your things with you. The Headmaster doesn't think you will be back before the end of class."
Some of the class began to whisper at this, and the sniggering got louder.
"Oh, okay, I see." Confusion swirled in her mind. "But, Professor, there's still another hour and a half left. What could the Headmaster possibly want that could take that long?"
"Maybe he won't be done with you until then, Granger. The old fool might have stamina," sneered Draco Malfoy, who was sat behind Hermione and to the left, in a voice low enough that McGonagall couldn't hear him, yet loud enough for the surrounding students to.
Hermione rolled her eyes at the derogatory comment, and kicked Seamus Finnigan's chair in front of her, to stop him from chuckling. Ron and Harry both turned to glare at Malfoy, who did nothing but smirk at them, as happy with himself as he was.
McGonagall looked up from her marking, and sighed. "Miss Granger, I do not pretend to know what goes on in the mind of Albus Dumbledore. Now kindly pack up your things, and go to the Headmasters Office. You are disrupting my class. I will give your homework to either Potter or Weasley."
"Yes, Professor," replied Hermione, beginning to pack her belongings in her book bag.
"What do you think Dumbledore wants with you, Hermione?" asked Harry. He was sat to her right, and doodling absentmindedly on a piece of parchment rather than taking notes for the essay that was due in the next week.
"Yeah, I mean, he didn't ask for me or Harry," said Ron, sat to her left, and making his quill dance across his page, "Isn't that weird? He normally asks for just Harry or all 3 of us."
Hermione let out a short laugh. "Guys, I don't know! It might be something to do with Prefect duties or…or SPEW, or-"
Both Harry and Ron burst out laughing, and Hermione scowled at them both.
"Spew? You think Dumbledore wants to talk about the House Elves with you? Oh come off it, Hermione!" spluttered Ron.
"How many times? It's not "spew", it's SPEW. I'll see you later."
With that Hermione lifted her bag, and made her way to the first year waiting in the hallway for her.
"Hi," she said, smiling at the rather tiny little girl, trying to make her feel more comfortable. She looked terrified. "I'm Hermione Granger, what's your name?"
"My name is Sonam Shakeel, but everyone calls me Sunny," she replied in a timid, quiet little voice.
"Oh, well that's a lovely name! And you're in Ravenclaw, you must be pretty smart then. The Sorting Hat was going to put me there, but then it decided on Gryffindor. I'm glad it changed it's mind. Ravenclaw is a good House, but Gryffindor suits me better. I wonder what Professor Dumbledore wants. It must be something to do with Prefect duties…but then why not call for Ron aswell? Strange, but I guess…"
As they walked through the castle to get to the Headmasters Office Hermione chattered on and on to the little girl, not stopping for a moments breath. She didn't notice that the girls face was growing darker with every word that came out of Hermione's mouth, and the scowl on her forehead was getting deeper.
The hallways were deserted, everyone had classes now, and those who didn't were either in the library or in their Common Rooms. Hermione never noticed the little girl draw her wand, nor was she ready for the Stunning and Petrificus Totalus spells, that hit her back. She fell like a dead weight to the ground, without so much as a squeak.
The "little first year girl" was no little girl. In the middle of the hallway the Polyjuice Potion wore off, and in her place was a full grown man, muscled all over, with huge arms and legs. He had a shaved head, but a full beard, and mean little eyes. The parts of his face not covered with hair, was covered in scars, one of which pulled the lid of his right eye down slightly, giving his face a rather lopsided look.
He had cursed Hermione outside a broom closet, as had been his plan. He dragged her by an ankle into the room and closed the door after himself. Clothes had been stored in there for him, to wear when the potion wore off. He did not need to worry now about being seen. If everything was going according to plan, the wards against apparition out of the castle would be down in 3 minutes.
Ripping off the shards of clothing that was all that was left of the tiny Hogwarts uniform he stood naked in the closet, looking for the hidden clothes. He was a huge specimen of a man. Definitely not someone one would wish to meet alone in a dark alleyway.
Finding the clothes, he dressed himself quickly, before binding Hermione with magical ropes, and casting a Silencing Spell on her, should she happen to wake up before they got out of Hogwarts. Seating himself on a small stool, the man patiently waited for the signal that the wards were down.
He looked at the girl on the floor. She really was quite petite. He couldn't understand the importance of taking this girl, how much damage could she do? He didn't know much about this world. An assassin from the depths of Wizarding Russia, he didn't do anything apart from what he was told. He obeyed orders, not question them, it was the way he had been trained all of his life. He had been hired by someone who wished to remain completely anonymous, was given his specific instructions, and so far there had been no problems. Getting into the castle had been laughably easy, taking the girl and overpowering her had taken almost no effort at all. All that was left was to get out of Hogwarts and the "hardest" part would be over. The hulk of a man snorted to himself. This was one of the easiest jobs he had been given to date, and it was the won he was getting paid the most for.
The wand he had been holding in his hand began to burn, and got steadily hotter until it was to hot to hold. That was his sign. Once the wand cooled off completely he would Apparate himself and his captive out of Hogwarts to the meeting point.
Grabbing the girl, he pulled her into an upright position, and held her to him tightly. If she was damaged in any way, he faced severe consequences, and he wasn't about to let stupidity ruin this ridiculously easy job.
His wand cooled. He waved it through the air, and twisted sharply, disappearing into thin air with a loud crack.
Alarms went off throughout the school, setting panic into everyone's bones. Chaos. Confusion. Stampede as everyone wondered the same thing. Why have the alarms gone off? What's happened? There's no Death Eaters here….what is going on?
A few hours later, they realised who was missing.
And that day was the last time they saw Hermione Granger.