Alright, I'm going to include a bit of a time line here. It's about late August. Luciel is about 5 months old so I'm going to make her birthday April 3 which would put her arriving at Hogwarts around the first of September. Yes, I know I'm cutting it a bit close here, but it can't be helped. This one is intertwined with Colors of Magic by yours truly, it just isn't obvious yet though it will be.
Hermione blinked rapidly for several seconds, she couldn't see anything so she wasn't sure if she was blind or if this was some other torture. She started to sit up and a headache came crashing down on her. She sat up much slower the second time and stared around her. All she could see was darkness. Fear clawed its way to the forefront. When she'd first been taken captive, she'd managed to control it. Now it controlled her. She carefully slid her feet out of what she vaguely remembered as a bed and they met cold stone. She shivered slightly as she stood up.
Hermione had long since lost her wand and found herself wanting it desperately. She put her weight on her legs and stumbled as they refused to hold her weight. She gave up trying to walk and opted for crawling. Yes, that was something she'd done before. Loads of times in fact. After a few seconds, the hair n the back of her neck stood on end. She had lived in the darkened room for what ages, and knew how big it was. She should've run into a wall by now.
With this realization the fear began its attack anew. What new torture did they have planned for her? It terrified her to no ends. Abruptly, she heard voices. Hermione thought desperately of a way to escape, hide, anything but sit here and await her fate at the cruel hands of her tormentor. She crawled desperately away from the source of the noise. A crack of light behind her made her scramble faster and gave her a quick view of the area in front of her. With a last ounce of strength in her failing limbs, she threw herself under the desk that she'd spotted.
Light flared up around her and she shielded her eyes. A dark-headed man and a blonde woman were walking side by side down a spiraling set of stairs. The woman paused midway down. "Where is she?"
Hermione heard her ask and shrank as far under the desk as she could get, while warily looking around her. She appeared to be in a fairly spacious bedroom. Had this been two years ago, she would've examined the bookcases. The Hermione of today would rather not be found, reading or otherwise.
"She's awake. Excellent." The man standing beside her remarked as he continued the journey down the steps. Hermione bit back a whimper of terror at his words. "Child, where are you?" His voice sounded was calm and reassuring. Hermione wasn't falling for that, not again.
The woman carefully looked around the room. She saw a flicker of movement in the shadow under the writing table. "Child." She called in a gentle voice. "Please come out. We mean you no harm."
The man glanced where the woman had been looking and saw the girl's wide-terrified eyes. "She's terrified of us." He murmured softly to the woman.
"I gathered." She dryly intoned. She walked slowly forward, like she was approaching a wild animal.
Hermione tried to go through the desk; she was trying to get away so fast. She didn't care who they said they were, she was not going back into their waiting arms. She had had it up to here with their torture. She watched I terror as the woman approached and scrambled away, or at least she tried to.
The chair was moved out of the way and the woman knelt down in front of the cubby. "Please come out." She pleaded. "We want to help you, little one."
Hermione stilled suddenly as she stared at the man. Now that she'd gotten a good look at the two of them, she wasn't so sure they were death eaters. The woman looked much too kindly, and the man had an aura that even she could sense. She would have described it as being similar to Lord Voldemort's only this man's was much more powerful that. Hermione shivered slightly at that.
"Come out dear, you've spent entirely too much time down here." Helga held out her hand and looked at Hermione expectantly.
Hermione hesitantly took it and was pulled out of her cubby. She flinched slightly, fully expecting the two to laugh at her and tell her it was all an elaborately cruel prank. They did no such thing. She was led up the stairs by the woman and was unable to stop her gasp as she exited.
Hermione recognized the room as the great hall, but it was much larger and much more elaborately decorated.
"Welcome to Hogwarts dear." The woman said matter-of-factly. "Come along. You need food." A bowl of soup was soon shoved in front of her. Hermione took a cautious sip and found it to be quite delicious. Before long she'd devoured the entire bowl.
As she was finishing up, another man and a woman entered. The woman had a five-month-old baby perched on her hip.
Helga smiled as she stared fondly at the child. "I'm Helga." She introduced herself. "That's Salazar, his sister Rowena, and their friend Godric."
Hermione paused in the act of putting her spoon down. She scrutinized the four of them and realized that it was quite plausible. She continued studying them until she got to Rowena. Her eyes wee inexplicably drawn to the child that rested on her hip, gurgling happily. "Is she?" She tried to ask, but it never made it out. Swallowing, Hermione tried again. "Is she yours?"
Rowena met her eyes and seemed to understand what she was trying to ask. She shook her head slightly. She approached Hermione. "I am Rowena, as Helga said I am." She settled into the seat on the other side of Hermione. "Child, you have been in our care for over a year. You arrived mid-summer of last year. You were two months pregnant."
Hermione's eyes widened as realization hit. She gestured at the child.
Rowena handed the child carefully to Hermione. "She's a girl." She explained. "We have been calling her Luciel, but you may rename her if you wish." Rowena watched mother bond with daughter. She'd been slightly worried that Hermione wouldn't want anything to do with the child that had obviously been conceived through less than honorable means.
"Luciel." Hermione croaked softly. "My Luciel."
Rowena smiled with relief and settled down to eat breakfast.
"I worry that she my not be able to care for her adequately." Rowena murmured to Helga as she took her seat beside the plumper witch.
"I know what you mean." Helga replied, "I do not think her body could spare the extra nutrients that Luciel needs." She stood, walked to the other end of the table and sat next to Hermione who was lovingly holding her daughter. "Child," She said gently as she tapped her on the shoulder.
Hermione flinched at her touch but otherwise did not react save to turn to look at her.
"We have hired a wet nurse for Luciel. I think you should continue feeding her in that manner. You need all the food you can get and I do not believe you can give Luciel what she needs." She tried to break this as gently as possible, fearing the girl's reaction. She surprised her yet again by nodding her agreement.
With that settled, Helga continued her meal in silence. After breakfast, she led the younger girl up to her suite. "I think I shall put you in this room, next to mine for the time being, just in case." Hermione said nothing, but looked slightly worried as Luciel started to cry rather loudly.
Helga took charge of the situation and showed Hermione how to remove the cloth and put a fresh, unsoiled one on in its place. The soiled one was cleaned, folded, and neatly stored with a dozen or so of others. After that, little Luciel giggled contentedly and settled in for a long nap.
Days turned into weeks for the five living alone in the large castle. Hermione found that she could still speak, but not at the rate she use to. Gradually she began to put on weight and her daughter was gradually weaned from the wet nurse back to Hermione. And then Hogwarts opened her doors to students.
"You don't have to, if you don't want to." Rowena told her firmly at breakfast the day before Hogwarts was to open for students. "No one would blame you, Hermione if you chose not to. You have a lot to deal with, and heaping more might not be a good idea."
Hermione debated a bit before making a compromise. "I'll take the first half off. I will continue the half."
Rowena nodded her assent. Besides, they had already determined that as long as she was in this time period, she would live in Hogwarts. Nobody knew how long her stay here would be. Hermione was still not comfortable being in any room alone with either Godric or Salazar, so she usually spent her time by herself with only Luciel for company or in the company of one of the other witches.
They also had not pushed her overly much about her past, or in this case future. As Helga said, she would need time to come to terms with what happened to her before she could come to terms with anybody else. For now, they would have to suffer not knowing.
The morning of the first day of school dawned bright and early with her being roused by the cries of her daughter. The wet nurse, a middle-aged slightly portly woman with graying hair, took care of the problem. Hermione dutifully took care of the rest of the problems such as soothing her daughter and changing her cloth.
She went downstairs to find that there was a hustle and bustle of people. She started to back out of the room.
"Relax Hermione." The emotionless voice of Salazar came from behind her. "They are locals hired to come and clean the castle. They will not harm you in any way."
Still holding her daughter, she turned around to face him. "Sorry," She mumbled, cheeks red with embarrassment.
He rolled his eyes before sweeping past her. "There is nothing to apologize for, m'dear. I do understand your fear."
Hermione blinked at him for a moment. She suddenly found herself wondering what exactly she was supposed to do while these people cleaned. "Come along." Salazar directed. She stayed a good three feet away from him, as they walked, not that he blamed her. She was doubtlessly still suffering from her ordeal wherever it was she'd come from.
"Ah, there you are Hermione." Rowena caught up with them. "And where are we going?" She asked pleasantly. She had caught the undercurrent of unease coming from Hermione as the two had passed by her.
"The library." Salazar answered shortly. "Our young friend seems to have taken a liking to it."
Hermione blushed slightly. How could she tell them that most of the library was inaccessible to her in her own time period?
"Salazar, once you have escorted her to the library, I think Godric was looking for you. He mentioned the staircase seems to not be working right." Rowena commented to Salazar.
"What's wrong with it?" Hermione asked curiously as she shifted Luciel from one arm to another. Her daughter was currently amusing herself by sucking on Hermione's hair.
It keeps sticking to the North wall," Rowena dryly answered, "making passage beyond the third floor nigh impossible."
"That could be a problem." Salazar mused. He changed direction and headed back to the Main Hall.
Rowena shrugged apologetically. "I thought you might like feminine companionship since men still make you uncomfortable."
Hermione blushed again from the older witch's correct observation. "I'm trying to not do that." She mumbled incoherently.
Rowena seemed to hear what she'd mumbled. "Go at your own pace, Hermione." She said gently. "We're not pushing you beyond what's necessary." Hermione nodded gratefully as she turned into the library. She soon found herself immersed in books after reading her daughter to sleep using a book on the properties of dragons.