Within Temptation

Chapter 1

The child without a name grew up to be the hand
To watch you, to shield you, or kill on demand

.- The hand of sorrow by Within Temptation

I am Hermione Granger, a 26-year-old law student at Aberdeen University, and glad to be one. Just for the record, I'm 26 and only two years into law-school because I've already finished Magical Relations in Birmingham Wizardring University.

The night when all this began, I was happily leaving my job at the restaurant with my weekly check in my bag to go to the apartment I shared with two girls (one muggle and one witch) a few blocks from University. It wasn't exactly in the nicest part of town, but I knew my way around, and in any case, I had –of course– mastered Aikido self-defense the previous year. And I also had my wand, even though it was my last resource. So I was pretty confident as I walked down the alley –a dark one, naturally– I took as a shortcut when I first felt the vibration in the air that magic usually made. I had lost practice in reaction time over the years, so before I could reach for my wand under my sleeve, all the air was knocked out of my chest when I hit the wall of the alley.

Fortunately, I am very resilient, so the hit didn't knock me out, but my vision became blurry so I just went all out with the first spell that came to mind: a stunning spell that in the blink of an eye came back to me, and I didn't have time to shield. A second before the world went dark; I recognized the dark hair and the sunken eyes: Professor Snape?