Regular P.O.V.
New story that just popped into my head one night!
I own nothing, nada, zip, zero….you get the idea
" What the hell?" Sirius said as he and Remus headed toward the front door of Grimmauld place.
Sirius had been having a rather nice dream that involved several models and a white sandy beach, when he was rudely awakened by an incessant banging.
Wands drawn, they opened the door to reveal a very tired and bloody looking Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood and Carmen Mathews.
" Hermione!" Sirius said, immediately putting his wand away and ushering her into the house.
" Hello Sirius, professor." she said walking into the house.
The blonde was in the middle, a shoulder thrown over each shoulder, as she limped into the house.
" What's happened?" Remus said once the girls were in the living room, sitting on the couch.
" Did death eaters do this?" Sirius asked. Carmen, who had caramel colored skin, and shoulder length dark brown hair (almost black) and eyes to match it, snorted, only to be immediately followed by a wince as she held her side.
" If only." she ground out.
" If it wasn't death eaters, who was it? Your parents?" Remus growled.
The 3 girls smiled sad smiles.
" We don't have parents. We were all orphaned at around 5. Our matron is a bitch who abuses her wards every chance she can get." Hermione spat.
" And her brother is a lech who doesn't know how to keep his hands to himself. We can usually fight him off, but tonight was just too close." Carmen said looking at Hermione.
" Look we'll explain in the morning but right now, we need to tend to our wounds." Hermione said.
" Of course." Sirius said.
" Do you need any help?" Remus asked.
" No, we're ok. Thank you for taking us in, sorry we woke you up, please go back to bed. It's awfully late." Luna said.
" Please, it's no bother, please let us help." Sirius said.
" Alright thank you. Remus if you could please wrap up Luna's ankle, she sprained it." Hermione said. She hissed as Hermione lifted her shirt to examine her side. Her torso was covered in a plethora of colorful bruises and her lip was split.
" You've got a broken rib, and 2 cracked ones." Hermione said.
" God damnit, they just started to heal from the last time they were broken." Carmen groaned.
" Ok, Sirius I need you to do something, and neither of us are going to like it." Carmen said. Sirius nodded reluctantly.
" Ok put your hand right here." Carmen pointing to her side. Sirius did as told and felt the dislocated joint.
" Now on 3 I need to push really hard on it. Do not hold back really push ok?" Carmen said. Sirius gulped and nodded.
" One…two…three."
Carmen cried out in pain as Sirius pushed the broken bone back into place. A few gasping breaths later her breathing was regular and she was wrapping her side.
Hermione, who had just finished wrapping the cut on Luna's head, turned to Carmen.
" Hermione." Carmen said, taking her arm. " Sorry for this." she said and yanked Hermione's arm toward her, placing the joint back in place. Hermione cried out.
" S'okay." she said between breaths.
20 minutes later the girls were patched up and sound asleep in a transfigured bed.
Next Morning
The occupants of Grimmauld place were all sitting around the table. Sirius and Remus had woken everyone up early to discuss the girls.
The kitchen was heavy with silence. Even the twins picked up on the heavy tension in the air.
" Sirius, Remus, what's happened?" Tonks asked.
"Last night at around 3 in the morning, Hermione along with Luna Lovegood and Carmen Matthews showed up at our door." Sirius said.
" All 3 had been beaten severely and Hermione was apparently almost raped." Remus finished.
" WHAT?" was the reaction of everyone in the kitchen.
" See for yourself." Remus said pushing a penisieve toward them.
They all immediately plunged into a memory.
Memory:
They were all standing in a small dark room with one bed. On it lay Hermione, Luna and Carmen all crammed together.
" We have to get out of here." Hermione whispered.
" We know that, we're all set to leave tomorrow night." Carmen said.
" I feel bad leaving the younger kids." Luna whispered.
" They'll be fine Luna. We gave them the goblin made charms, they'll protected from everything from a slap on the face to the cruciatus." Hermione said.
" Yeah, and they know what to do and how to contact us in case of an attack." Carmen said.
" You're right. I'm going to miss them." Luna said.
" Us too. we'll get them out someday, all of them." Carmen whispered.
Just then the door was thrown open and in it stood the silouette of a tall bulky man…
End memory.
The group took their heads out of the memory. Most were deathly pale, except for Ginny who looked green.
" Pretty gruesome, huh?" a voice said from the doorway.
In the doorway stood the 3 girls in question.
Hermione had her arm in a sling and 2 pieces of surgical tape over the cut on her cheek. Her eye was still swollen but less black.
Carmen stood next to her, the bandages on her side slightly visible under her pajama top.. The swelling in her lip had gone down considerably and was now just slightly red. There was still a large bruise on her left cheek.
Lune had a white bandage wrapped around her forehead and a small bruise under her eye. She was leaning on Hermione for support.
" Oh you poor dears." Mrs. Weasley said rushing to give them a hug.
" Wait!" they yelled stopping her mid-hug.
" Mrs. Weasley as much as we could really like one of your patented Weasley hugs." Hermione began.
" Hermione has a dislocated shoulder, I have a sprained ankle." Luna said.
" And I have 2 cracked ribs and 1 broken one. So if you could please squeeze too hard." Carmen said.
" We promise that as soon as we're healed, you can squeeze us until our eyes pop out of our head." Hermione said grinning. Mrs. Weasley smiled a small smile.
" I'll hold you to that." she said hugging the three girls. She ushered them over to the table.
The twins and Harry immediately gave up their seats so the girls could sit. Hermione now sat in between Luna and Carmen. They sat in awkward silence until Hermione couldn't take it anymore.
" For Godric's sake stop starring at us with those pitying eyes. We're bruised not dead." Hermione snapped. Carmen put a hand on her shoulder.
" Hermione." she said.
" No. They keep starring at us like we've sentenced to die." Hermione said.
" I know Mione, but you're heart. It can't handle anymore stress, we don't need it stopping right now." Carmen said. Hermione took a deep breath and sat down.
" What's wrong with her heart?" Ron asked. Hermione sighed.
" I have a heart condition. If I get too stressed out it could stop." Hermione said.
" She's pretty used to stress, what with our environment and all the things she does with you and Harry." Luna said.
" Too much stress together though will cause her heart to stop." Carmen said.
" Has it ever stopped before?" Harry whispered.
They all gasped as they nodded. " A few times." Hermione said.
" So wait, you've actually died? A couple times?" George asked.
" Yeah, it happened once when I was 6. Another time in second year and once in third year, and again last year." Hermione said.
" How are you still alive. Have you found a way to bring back people from the dead?" Mr. Weasley asked. The girls laughed.
" No. This whole if your hearts stops, your dead rule is ridiculous." Luna said.
" Usually I do CPR, I'll explain later, and chest compressions. In serious situations I inject a few cc's of adrenaline into her chest cavity." Carmen said.
" How come you never told us?" Harry asked.
"About my condition, or the abuse?" Hermione asked.
" Both!" Harry yelled frustrated. Hermione shrugged, wincing slightly.
" I didn't tell you about my condition because you'd start treating me like I as some china doll waiting to break. As for the abuse, you never asked." Hermione said.
" You never asked what my home life was like, or even if I had parents. You all just assumed that I had these great muggle parents and a fairy tale existant at home. I was just Hermione Granger, as far you 3 were concerned." she said looking at Harry, Ron and Ginny.
" My life consisited of helping with homework, listening to boy troubles and keeping Harry Potter alive. I didn't have problems, except for which book I was going to check out of the library. You never noticed when I acted strange." Hermione said shrugging again.
" And you're the only ones. Practically all of your housemates have noticed." Carmen said. " The twins probably had an idea, but needed confirmation. Even Lavender Brown noticed. Lavender Brown."
" Hell even Malfoy realized it." Luna said. Everyone turned to look at twins.
" You knew?" Harry asked.
" We had an idea, everyone did." Fred said.
" It was pretty easy to catch, no matter how good she was at hiding it. We had our suspicions but we weren't sure if they were true or not." George finished.
" And you didn't tell us?" Ron asked angrily. The twins shrugged.
" We thought you knew, I mean it was kinda hard to miss. She had stopped eating at lunch, she was walking with a slight limp and her smiled never reached her eyes." George said.
" And they didn't sparkle, her eyes always sparkle when she's truly smiling." Fred said smiling at Hermione. She gave a small smile back.
" Oh and Ginny by the way, Dean Thomas, sorry but he likes someone else." Hermione said.
Carmen rolled her eyes," Whatever you say Mione."
Hermione grinned.
" He's completely in love with you." Hermione said. Carmen rolled her eyes.
" Oh yes, because everyone is lining up to date the Ravenclaw mute." she said.
" I must agree with Hermione, the wrackspurts have been following him around recently." Luna said. The two girls looked at their friends for a moment before all 3 burst out laughing.
Hermione hugged Luna, " Don't ever stop being Loony." she said.
" I don't plan on it." Luna said returning the hug.
" Ow…it hurts to laugh." Carmen whined. Everyone at the table were starring at them with bemused looks. All except Harry, Ron and Ginny.
The three people couldn't help the feeling that had messed up big time, and might have lost their best friend.
" Oh no." Hermione moaned.
" What?" Luna asked.
" We have got to owl Sev and the Malfoys." Hermione said.
" Snape!" Harry said and the same time Ron said. " Malfoys!"
" Ok 1. the Malfoys are actually nice people. They have to keep up pretenses oh they could all be killed. For the record it wasn't Luscious that put the diary in Ginny's cauldron, it was a polyjuiced Pettigrew. 2. Snape is our friend, he looked out for us. The only reason he hates you Harry is because the Marauders used to bully him." Hermione said.
" Which we totally chewed him out for last year. You shouldn't be getting any trouble from him." Carmen said.
The turned on Sirius and Remus, who were twiddling their thumbs and whistling.
" Look, what happened between you and Sev is your business. But we've dealt with bullying and Sev's childhood was a lot like ours. I'm not saying become best friends with him, but all he's looking for is an apology. And please remember that he lost someone too that night. He lost his only true friend." Luna said.
The two Marauders looked thoughtful.
" Well then, are you girls hungry?" Molly asked.
" Yes." Carmen and Luna said, while Hermione said no.
" Yes please Mrs. Weasley, we could all eat." Carmen said emphasizing the all.
" Would you like any help?" Luna asked.
" No, no dears, I've got it." Molly said, " You girls should go and get settled."
The girls went upstairs to their appointed room. After they unpacked all their stuff, they changed out of their pajamas.
Hermione wore a pair of light-wash cutoff Jean short-shorts and a red v-neck T-shirt that said ' I'm sexy and I know it'.
Carmen had on a light blue v-neck t-shirt and black cut-off jean short-shorts.
Luna had on a pink tank top and blue cut off jean short-shorts.
They were all barefoot.
Carmen grabbed a book and Hermione their shared ipod. They headed down the stairs, helping Luna, as she had to stay off her foot for a while.
They walked into the living room to find Harry, Ron, Ginny, the twins and the two marauders in the room.
Ron and Harry were playing chess, while Ginny was reading Witch Weekly.
The twins and the marauders were discussing pranks. All talking ceased as the girls walked into the room. All eyes followed them as they walked in silently and plopped onto the sofa.
Carmen was on her back, her legs stretched over Hermione's lap, Luna sat curled up next to Hermione.
Carmen opened her book and began reading, while Hermione and Luna began listening to music.
The living room was completely silent as everyone was starring at the trio.
" Take a picture, it'll last longer." Hermione said. Immediately everyone immediately went back to what they were doing.
They reverted back into comfortable silence, with Hermione and Luna's occasional hum.
The silence was interrupted by a melodious voice.
Hermione
I remember tears streaming down your face
When I said, "I'll never let you go"
When all those shadows almost killed your light
Everyone listened mesmerized as Hermione started to sing. Luna and Carmen soon joined in.
Luna
I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"
But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight
Hermione, Carmen and Luna
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Carmen
Don't you dare look out your window darling
Everything's on fire
The war outside our door keeps raging on
Hermione
Hold on to this lullaby
Even when the music's gone
Gone
All
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh
La La (La La)
La La (La La)
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh
La La (La La)
Just close your eyes
You'll be alright
Come morning light,
You and I'll be safe and sound...
Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh oh oh. [x7]
Hermione had her eyes closed, Luna had her head on her shoulder, Carmen never looked up from her book the entire time they sang.
They didn't notice that they had audience. Ginny, Ron and Harry both had identical looks of pure shock on their faces. Sirius and Remus resembled fish.
Fred and George both had smiles on their faces as they looked at the 3 girls.
Mr. Weasley, who had come into the living room once he heard them singing, looked slightly proud.
Mrs. Weasley and Tonks had come into the room at the same time as Mr. Weasley and both had unshed tears in their eyes.
Only Remus and Sirius' clapping broke the silence. The girls startled and looked around.
They all blushed when they realized that they were being stared at.
" That was beautiful." Mrs. Weasley said.
" Thank You." Luna said.
" What was it?" Fred asked.
" It's a lullaby we used to sing to the younger children, when they had trouble sleeping." Hermione said.
" Well you girls sounded beautiful, I didn't know you sing Hermione." Remus said.
" I don't think anyone did." Hermione said.
" We knew." the twins said.
Everyone looked at them in surprise.
" We heard her one day when she was singing in the library." Fred clarified.
" Well, that was beautiful dears. Breakfast is ready." Mrs. Weasley said. Everyone stood and headed for the kitchen.
" Profresor, Mr. Black can I talk to you both for a moment?" Carmen asked.
"Sure, please call me Remus." Remus said.
" And Mr. Black is my father, please call me Sirius, or Padfoot, or snuffles." Sirius said.
" Alright. Now I know this sounds weird, but I was wondering if you both could give me a blood sample." Carmen asked sheepishly.
Sirius and Remus looked at each other confused.
" Let me explain, Remus, I know about your fury little problem." Carmen said. She held up a hand to stop them from interrupting.
" Hermione didn't tell me. I smelled you. Both of my parents were werewolves and I have the trait. I don't turn into a werewolf on the full moon, but I have the heightened senses." Carmen said.
" Before they were killed, my parents started working on a cure for lycanthropy. After they died I decided to continue their research, but since I'm only part werewolf my blood doesn't work that well. But I think that if I could get some of your blood I could actually find a cure. I'm really close, you don't have to give it of course." Carmen said.
Remus and Sirius looked at her mouths open.
" Of course I'll give you some blood. Anything to get rid of this curse." Remus said.
" What do you need my blood for?" Sirius asked.
" I've been working on way to take the werewolf gene and combine it with ananigmus gene, so that you could control the transformation." Carmen said.
" Bloody brilliant." Remus mumbled.
" Wow, sure I'll give you some blood." Sirius said.
10 minutes later they walked into the kitchen. Everyone was waiting for them.
Carmen immediately took a seat between Hermione and Luna.
Everyone started to dig in.
" Hermione, eat." Carmen said.
" I'm not hungry." Hermione said.
" Bull. I don't care if I have to force feed you, you're eating." Carmen said.
" Seriously Hermione, we knew you would do this, try to shut yourself off. It hasn't worked before and it won't work now." Luna said.
" So open up." Carmen said. Everyone watched amused as Luna forcefully opened Hermione's mouth and Carmen forked eggs and bacon into it.
Hermione glared at them as she chewed.
And that is how the next 2 months were spent. Everyone getting to know Luna and Carmen and seeing a side to Hermione that they never knew.
Everybody began to realize how close the girls were to each other, where there was one, the other two weren't far behind. They were fiercely protective of each other. Ron found this out like he does everything, the hard way.
All the children were sitting in the living room late one night by the fire.
Ron and Harry were playing chess, Ginny was once again doing her nails. The twins were talking amongst themselves.
Carmen, Hermione and Luna were sitting comfortably on the sofa.
" Hey Luna, Carmen. You know Hermione well right?" Ron asked, looking up from his game.
" We like to think so, yes." Luna said.
" Then maybe you can tell us why she hates flying so much." Ron asked. Harry and Ginny perked up at this.
" I mean it's like she's afraid the broom is going to bite her." Ron laughed.
" Yeah I mean she even as so much goes near a broom she freaks out." Ginny gaffawed.
" Yeah. She screamed like a banshee when we were on Buckbeak." Harry laughed.
Hermione gasped and ran from the room, her hand over her mouth. Luna and Carmen shared a look before Luna ran following Hermione out.
" Do you know what an airplane is?" Carmen asked through clenched teeth.
Her hands were clenched into fists and her eyes were almost glowing.
" Think of it as a giant metal broom, that can hold about 200 people max." she said.
" Then picture it hurtling hundreds of miles an hour, from thousands of feet in the air. Imagine it plummeting to the ground and crashing." she said, starring at all of them.
" Imagine a young 5 year old girl, clutched in her dead mothers arms, death all around her. Imagine her waiting there for hours until help came." Carmen said.
" Hermione was the only survivor, she sat there for hours, the only thing she could do was stare at the corpses of her parents. She still has nightmares about it. She couldn't sleep for a week after you guys saved Sirius." Carmen said to Harry.
" So go ahead and laugh because she's afraid of heights, but ask yourself. Would be playing quidditch, if you went through that?" she asked, before leaving out the room.
Complete silence engulfed the room. Harry, Ron and Ginny were silent. The twins were having a silent conversation.
" Wow." Fred whispered.
" You really aren't her best friends are you?" George said.
" What do you mean. Of course she's our best friend." Ron said.
" Yeah, she's your best friend." Fred said.
" But you're not hers. Best friends notice when they're best friend is hurting." George.
" Hermione has always been there for all of you. But you guys have never been there for her. To you she was expendable." Fred said. Both twins left, leaving the three offenders behind.
They walked out into the hall to see Hermione crouched against the wall, with Luna next to her and Carmen in front of her.
Tears were streaming down her face and her breath was coming out in short ragged breaths, she was hyperventilating.
" Hermione, you have to calm down. Deep breaths." Carmen said. But Hermione couldn't, her breathing was still ragged. The twins immediately went to the distraught.
Fred sat down beside her, while George sat down next to Luna, who was rubbing soothing circles in her back.
" Shhh, Mione, it's gonna be ok. It's over, you have a us." Fred said.
Hermione's breathing began to calm down, she threw herself into Carmen's arms as her body became racked with heart wrenching sobs.
Carmen held her as she ran her hands through her hair, Luna wrapped her in a hug and laid her head on her shoulder.
Both were whispering soothing words in her ear. Fred and George vowed then and there to protect these girls.
Harry, Ron and Ginny could watch helplessly at the pain they had caused their best friend.
After that incident things mostly went back to normal. Harry, Ron and Ginny apologized. Hermione forgave them, but became even more distant from them. Carmen still gave them icy stares occasionally.
Before they knew it, it was the start of the term.
Heh? Heh? Soooo What do you think? NO Flames Please!