Chapter One
Hermione Granger was brave. She'd come to accept that about herself. Since she'd started her life at Hogwarts and befriended Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, she'd been through a lot of things, each one giving her more and more courage.
It was summertime, and she'd been home with her mum and dad for a few weeks now. She loved her parents, but she missed Ron and Harry who were awful at writing her. She couldn't wait until the latter half of the summer so she could see them at The Burrow.
"Good night, Mum! Night, Dad!" she called, walking slowly up the stairs to her room.
"Night dear!" she heard them call out in unison.
Hermione loved her room. It was her favourite part about being home. Maybe it was because she didn't get to spend too much time there throughout the year. She didn't know. She just loved it
She prepared herself and got herself into bed, quite comfortable in her silk nightgown. It was the kind of pajamas that she'd never dream about wearing in front of Harry and Ron as it was quite revealing. Although, due to the sheer comfortableness of the silk, it was her favourite.
Hermione turned off the light and sank down into her bed, pulling the covers over her and smiling contently to herself. She was exhausted from shopping with her mother for most of the day, as well as reading and practicing spells. Her eyes closed after only a few moments, sending her into a deep sleep.
"Hello, mudblood." a voice whispered in her ear.
Her eyes snapped open, feeling disoriented.
"Oh, you are awake." she heard the voice sneer in her ear.
She jolted upright and felt an arm tighten around her mouth. She couldn't scream. There was light coming from the end of the intruder's wand. She kept squirming and squirming.
"Oh for the love of Merlin, you piece of filth. Stay bloody still!"
Hermione couldn't see who it was, but she felt as if she recognized the voice. She had heard it before, but she just couldn't place it.
"Petrificus Totalus!" the voice whispered.
Hermione was frozen. She felt the extreme panic rise. She couldn't move, couldn't scream. She needed her wand.
"Hello, mudblood."
The intruder moved into sight.
Bellatrix Lestrange.
If Hermione could scream, she would have. She had been through a lot in her six years at Hogwarts, but she'd never been as scared as this.
"Oh, does the poor, defenseless, little mudblood want to scream?" she taunted. "Even if you could, you bloody disgusting piece of filth, it wouldn't matter. No one would hear you."
What did that mean? Had she put an enchantment on the room? Or were her parents...
Hermione knew she was going to die. She knew it.
"I'm not going to kill you, mudblood. Not today. I will, but not today." Bellatrix spat, as if reading Hermione's mind.
"I was just bored. Needed someone to torment, and who better than a mudblood?" she snarled, inching closer and closer to Hermione's face. "You daft, fool. You don't even have protective enchantments around your house! You practically begged for me to break in."
Hermione felt a rush of immense pain come from her arm. She wanted to scream, oh how desperately she wanted to scream. Bellatrix laughed maniacally. The pain continued for what felt like hours.
"Crucio!" she yelled.
Hermione wished that she would kill her. She would rather die than feel this amount of pain and be completely helpless. The pain was going to drive her absolutely mad. It was endless. It took hours. Hermione just wanted to die, oh how she wanted to die.
"I'll be back, mudblood. You better watch your back." she whispered close to Hermione's ear.
"Crucio!" she said, one last time.
The pain lasted forever. It didn't stop. Hermione couldn't move. Bellatrix got up from the bed and stood by Hermione's window. Hermione's eyes followed her. She heard Bellatrix quietly murmur the counter curse for Petrificus Totalus, and then apparate immediately.
Hermione felt the charm be lifted, though she still couldn't move. She was terrified. She was still in an immense amount of pain. She managed to sit up, aching with every move and look at her right arm, which was still hurting too much.
She wiped the pouring tears from her eyes and she saw why her arm had been hurting.
Bellatrix had carved the word Mudblood into her arm. It was bleeding.
"Accio wand." she mumbled, tearfully as the wand shot into her hand.
She murmured a healing spell while pointing it at her arm. The blood stopped, however the deep cuts did not heal. She whispered it again.
Nothing.
Hermione weeped and weeped, barely being able to believe what had just happened. She pulled her covers up over her body, afraid to see if her parents were dead or alive.
The next morning Hermione slipped out of bed, quietly. The tears had long dried from her face, though left her feeling awful. She had a horrid headache and her arm was still aching. She grabbed a grey cardigan from her wardrobe and pulled it on over her nightgown, covering her arm.
She was terrified.
She walked slowly down the stairs, listening desperately for the sound of her parents.
"M-mum?" she called out, nervously.
"Oh, good morning Hermione, dear! You're up early." her mum called back to her.
"What, no hello for Dad?" her dad yelled.
She breathed a sigh of relief. They were alive. They were okay.
As for Hermione... she wasn't sure if she'd ever be okay again.
. . .
"Hermione! Come on now, dear." Mrs. Weasley called out from down the stairs.
It was the end of summer and Hermione had spent the last few weeks living at The Burrow. Harry was there as well, arriving a week or so before she had.
Every single night Hermione had spent home alone in her room, she had woken up screaming from a nightmare that Bellatrix had come for her again. Though she never did. Hermione had awoken her parents every night for a week with her screaming. They'd rushed into her room, making sure she was alright. She'd brush them off, telling it was just a nightmare that she couldn't be rid of. She didn't dare tell them about Bellatrix. After a week, she'd cast Muffliato so her parents would no longer hear her.
She had owled Harry, Ron and Dumbledore immediately the next day, explaining what had happened. Dumbledore had extensive protective enchantments placed around her house, as well as promising to have someone keep an eye on her parents. Since arriving at The Burrow, she'd been staying in Ginny's room, which had stopped her nightmares, knowing that someone was there, close to her. She wasn't alone.
"I'm coming!" she called out to Mrs. Weasley.
They were headed to Platform 9 and 3/4 to board the train to Hogwarts.
"Alright, Hermione?" Harry asked when she made it down the stairs.
She nodded, pulling her bushy brown hair back into a low bun.
"Let's get a move on, you lot. We can't have you missing the train now, can we?" Mr. Weasley said.
They made their journey to the platform and were soon tucked away in a compartment aboard the train after saying their goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
"I can't wait until the feast." Ron mumbled, stretching out his arms in his seat.
Hermione was seated across from him, going over a mental checklist in her head that she had all her books she needed. Next to her was Ginny, who was quite obviously stealing glances at Harry across from her when he wasn't looking.
"Are you always thinking about your stomach, Ronald?" Hermione groaned.
"I'm just hungry, Hermione." he mumbled.
Hermione wasn't paying attention anymore, though. She was wondering if the Bellatrix nightmares had stopped, or if it was only because she wasn't alone.
Hermione had made Head Girl this year, meaning she'd have a room to herself, and a shared common room with the Head Boy. Her letter hadn't said who the Head Boy was.
"Hermione?" Ginny called out.
"What?" she said, snapping out of her own thoughts.
"Are you alright? You look a little..." Ginny started. "Off."
"Yeah, of course. I'm fine." she lied.
They'd all been worried about her ever since the incident with Bellatrix. Harry especially. He blamed himself because she was his friend. She had told him over and over again that it was only because she was muggleborn, and not because she was Harry Potter's best friend. Well... not completely.
"Hermione... come take a walk with me for a second." Harry asked her, standing up.
She nodded at him, following him out of the compartment.
They strolled down the hallway, stopping near the door to the next car over.
"Hermione, do you promise that you're okay?" Harry asked.
She knew that it was about this. Harry had become increasingly over protective of her.
"Harry, I'm fine. Really." she sighed.
"Don't lie, please. I'm just worried about you. You seem distant and... you're quiet a lot." he explained, sadly.
"Harry, please. I'm fine. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, Potter. Let your little mudblood girlfriend take care of herself!" a voice called from behind them.
Hermione and Harry turned to face the voice.
Draco Malfoy.
Harry's face instantly darkened, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Malfoy. Hermione's face reddened. Even though she was mainly used to him calling her a mudblood, it sometimes still stung. That, and the fact that his aunt was Bellatrix Lestrange.
"Shut up, Malfoy. You know what your aunt did to her!" Harry yelled, causing a few compartments to slowly open, heads popping out to stare.
Malfoy's signature smirk dropped for a moment, being replaced with a look of confusion.
"What the hell are you talking about, Potter?" he spat.
Hermione and Harry exchanged looks of confusion.
"Harry, let's just -" Hermione started.
"Don't play dumb! You know what your Death Eater aunt did to her!" Harry said, his voice escalating even more.
"I've got no sodding idea what you're talking about." Malfoy said, pulling out his own wand and pointing it at Harry.
"Please, Harry! Let's just go!" Hermione pleaded.
Harry slowly dropped his wand, Malfoy following suit and doing the same.
"Get out of my face, Potter. You too, Mudblood." Draco snarled.
Harry reached for Hermione's hand and pulled her away from Malfoy to their compartment.
"D'you reckon he actually didn't know?" Harry questioned, dropping Hermione's hand and sliding open the compartment door.
"No idea. Let's just drop it, okay?" Hermione said, sitting down and resting her head against the cool glass.
It was going to be a long year.