Twisted Memories
By Tiri Lotus
Part Two
By the time breakfast was over, Hermione was seriously regretting her wish.
How could she have been so rash?
So...selfish?
She could have done a lot of good with that wish if she hadn't been so set on her own girlish whims! She could have possibly even saved the whole wizarding world with a few well chosen words.
'I wish Voldemort and his Death Eaters were all dead,' being a very good example of a wish she could have made...
Though something nagged at her that a silly little wish made by a school girl couldn't truly be enough to bring down the most powerful dark wizard known to wizarding kind.
But, still! She could have at least tried!
Hermione continued to silently berate herself as she slid her incredibly heavy spellbooks and parchment into her book bag. A quick glance over her shoulder showed her that he was still staring at her. Hermione shivered inaudibly in disgust and turned away, exiting the Great Hall.
Of course, the reason why she was so angry with herself could be because she had come down to breakfast to find out that the wish she had made last night had turned into her worst nightmare.
He had been there in the Great Hall, sitting to his breakfast and stalking her with his predatory gaze. At first she hadn't noticed it as she made a few minor adjustments to her Advanced Rune Translation assignment...but it hadn't taken long before she started to feel uneasy, like someone was watching her intently. That's when she had looked up to find his heated stare on her. She'd seen something in those eyes that she had never seen directed at her before by a member of the opposite sex. Hunger. Pure, masculine, unadulterated hunger. It had been as if he was mentally undressing her then and there in the Great Hall! Her first reaction had been to be highly disturbed. However, it had quickly turned into a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach.
'This must be the man my wish brought me,' she had thought in despair.
At that moment he had made sure to hold her gaze as he brought his spoon to his lips and licked the porridge off of it suggestively. At the action Hermione had felt her own porridge revolting against her. She had taken one last glance down to the remnants of her breakfast and decided she wasn't hungry any more.
How could she be? Pompous, hotheaded, lecherous Cormac McLaggen was the one that desired her most.
In her haste to get out of the Great Hall, she didn't notice the other pair of eyes following her movements. These eyes were more guarded in their observation. If anything they looked to be accusing her of something.
They were grey eyes.
Hermione, unlike Ron and Harry, had known all along that the extra free periods that they were being given in their sixth year should be devoted to the extra studying that they needed to be doing for their N.E.W.T. level subjects. However, she was finding that 'studying during free periods' was all easier said than done.
At this point in time she was currently avoiding her own common room so that she didn't have to suffer seeing the sight of Ron and Lavender cozily wrapped around each other on one-person chairs. And, much to her chagrin, she was finding that the library, her usual safe haven, wasn't an option these days either. Cormac McLaggen was in hot pursuit of her. As if it wasn't enough that she had to put up with his company during Slug Club (because those traitors Harry, Ginny, and another redhead she wasn't speaking to were scheduling all of their Quidditch practices so that they were purposefully missing the meetings), but she also had to deal with Cormac during her free time as well!
At this point she was rather regretting ever casting a Confundus charm on the seventh year Gryffindor so that Ron could make Keeper on the Gryffindor team instead of him... At least if the tall, wiry-haired dark blond had made the team he would have less time to pester her!
So instead she found herself moving restlessly from abandoned classroom to abandoned classroom, digging her quill harshly into her homework when Cormac would eventually find her, grinning at her like it was a game of pursuit that he'd won.
It was one day, when he'd cornered her in a broom closet with a sprig of mistletoe (the holidays were fast approaching) that she finally had had enough. Narrowly making her escape, after thoroughly being molested over her school robes, she had made her way around the lake and towards the Forbidden Forest entrance where she had spotted the enchanted silver streams that first time. Somehow, someway - she was going to undo her wish.
Only - as much as she searched, she couldn't find the streams. It was as if they had vanished without a trace.
Her heart sunk when she realized that she was going to have to live with her wish.
What a complete nightmare.
A complete nightmare indeed. It had been a few weeks since she had tried to get back to Wish Granted Lagoon with no avail. In that time Cormac McLaggen hadn't let up in his pursuit of her, and Ron and Lavender were only getting more sickeningly couple-y by the minute. Hermione angrily wiped at her streaming eyes as she exited the Transfiguration classroom to the sounds of laughter at her expense. It was one thing to be made fun of by someone like a mean-spirited Slytherin - she would expect their dripping disdain - but for Ron to mock her in front of their housemates, imitating her by waving his hand in the air over enthusiastically and acting as if he knew the answer to everything... Well, that really hurt... Especially seeing the fact that Lavender enjoyed Ron's little show immensely.
This time when McLaggen approached Hermione she was ready for him.
"Do you want to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with me?"
"Oh yeah," Cormac said enthusiastically. He was so tall that Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that he could easily see down the front of her robes. He didn't have the decency to be more subtle about the fact that he was leering.
Tomorrow evening, the night of Slughorn's Christmas party, was going to be a very long affair, Hermione thought a bit glumly.
She couldn't do this. She pulled away from Cormac's mouth. A frown pushed out her full, pink bottom lip.
"Why are you so interested in me?" she asked the seventh year Gryffindor. She knew why she was giving this a go... She'd made a wish, and she felt, maybe there had to be more to McLaggen than just sheer brawn and an over-developed ego. Maybe he was deeper than she had first thought - if only she gave him a chance to show it.
He grinned down at her, his eyes filled with lust. It was odd, but Hermione felt like she'd seen this look on his face a thousand times before, directed at dozens of different girls. It felt...impersonal. "I think you know," he whispered in an attempt at seduction, trying to recapture her lips while they stood under the mistletoe at Slughorn's party.
She gently pushed him back a bit, resolute to get a straight answer. "No. I don't. Why do you desire me?"
He let out a strangled breath, clearly getting annoyed at her interruptions. It reminded her of when she first became aware of him at Gryffindor tryouts earlier that year. He'd been so nasty when he hadn't gotten his way.
He must have decided to change his tactic because suddenly he grinned, as if he were indulging her. "All right," he said heartily. "I desire you because..." His eyes dropped to her chest. "You've filled out quite nice, Hermione."
It took her a minute to process this - but when she did she was livid. That was it? That was the big reason why he was interested in her? Because of her chest?
She completely stepped back, not even bothering to hide the contempt from her voice. "I need to use the lavatory," she said as she turned her back to him.
"All right," he said, a little perplexed.
She dodged him for the rest of the night and made an early escape from the party.
Hermione felt completely wretched.
She dabbed at her eyes while she walked aimlessly along the shore of the lake. Her light brown, caramel colored hair was wild and free and tumbled down her back while she strode around in her pale pink dressing robes that she had worn in occasion of the Christmas party. Her only regret with leaving so soon was that she had forgotten to pick up her shawl. Her arms were bare and she was freezing in the chilly winter air.
She couldn't believe her luck. If Cormac McLaggen was the one that desired her most - then that really wasn't saying much, was it?
Hermione stopped walking all of the sudden to glare up at the moon. Not for the first time she wished for simpler times, when all she cared about were books and cleverness.
It was so much easier than dealing with the mess of hormones, feelings, and boys that were also jumbled in her head now.
She changed her direction to look down at the ground, saw a pebble, and viciously kicked it towards the nearby Forbidden Forest.
It landed somewhere not too far off with a splash.
Hermione whipped her head in the direction of the splash, her eyes going wide.
Could it be?
With a little spark of hope building in her chest, she picked up the trailing hem of her gown so as not to get it stuck in brambles and branches and headed into the forest. She was greeted with enchanted little silvery streams that flowed like a beacon towards a destination she was awfully keen on getting to. With a determined gleam in her eyes she set into the direction that the streams were flowing towards. With any luck she was going to cancel her old wish and make a new one that would be for the betterment of wizarding kind this time around!
When she made it to the silvery lagoon she gave out a delighted gasp. It was just as she remembered it! As she neared the bank she watched as a slender glass bottle bobbed and meandered its way over towards her, gently floating into her grasp.
However, when she caught a glimpse inside she noticed something most peculiar... It looked as if the parchment was already written on, and there was also a tiny glass vial containing a silvery liquid held within the glass bottle.
A bit hesitantly, she uncorked the bottle. The parchment and vial slid out seamlessly into her palm. The parchment was inked in dark emerald green, and it read in slim and spiky, yet elegant, script:
Make me forget.
Hermione furrowed her brows in confusion at this odd request...
Well, demand really. It was three simple words that spoke volumes. Whoever wrote this was desperate to forget something, but not so desperate as to obliviate themselves - which was a bit comforting.
Her attention was drawn to the vial. At this point her clever mind had figured out what the liquid contained inside of it was - and she was itching to find out about it...
The silvery substance within the vial was memories. Someone wished to forget their memories.
A movement within the lagoon ripped her attention away from the vial and she looked to see the water swirling. It started out slow but it picked up speed until it was a silvery, glimmering whirl pool.
It looked a lot like...a pensieve.
Hermione looked to the vial again and worried her bottom lip with her teeth. Her conscience only made her pause for another moment before her overwhelming curiosity had her uncorking the vial and pouring the waif-like silvery memories into the magical lagoon.
Miraculously, like a muggle waterworks show, the instant the memories touched the water it was as if the surface had turned into a screen bursting with color and crystal clear, moving images. At first they shimmered and were so layered and warped that Hermione couldn't tell one memory from another, but after a few moments it honed in on one image. Hermione was startled to find herself staring into a larger than life memory of Draco Malfoy.
So engrossed in this discovery was she that she didn't realize that she had let go of the pale pink hems of her gown until she stepped closer to get a better look and tripped over herself. She landed in the lagoon with a splash.
To Be Continued...
