The Darkness Within the Castle Walls
Chapter 2
When Hermione woke up the next morning her body was sore. Every muscle was contracted into knots and her bones ached. The nightmare she had was still fresh on her mind; she could not shake it. Every time she thought more on it the more her body ached.
She opened her eyes and looked around. Lavender was out of bed. "She must be in the shower," Hermione thought. Parvati was still asleep. Every now and then Hermione could hear her whimper and groan when she would toss and turn in a restless sleep.
Hermione looked around the room inspecting it, looking for something although she did not know what. She looked at the walls. The pictures that were there the night before were missing and the curtains around the four-poster, including her bed sheets, had turned from maroon in color to black. Hermione thought this strange and her stomach gave a twist, almost making her sick, yet she ignored it once again thinking it might be that she was just hungry. That was when she saw it, the rule manual.
She picked it up and opened it to the title page. It read:
"The rules and regulations for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"
Hermione flipped the page once and read: "Rule number one: you will not use magic outside school until you have reached the age of seventeen." Ok, Hermione thought. That's easy enough to remember. As she read further down her stomach twisted and turned and gave her many jolts telling her that this was not right. She should not be here. She had to leave Hogwarts and go back home.
"Rule number forty five: You will not write your parents, your head of house will do that for you. Your name will be signed at the end of the letter." This brought tears to Hermione's eyes.
"Rule number fifty: you will learn to use the CruciatusCurse. You will perform this on other students with full co-operation." Hermione had read about the Cruciatus Curse and she knew that it was a form of torture; she knew this was bad.
"Rule number sixty two: you will drink the potions that are being created." The more she read the more she wanted to run, the more she wanted to leave the school. What kind of place was this?
"Rule number sixty six: each holiday and end of term before returning home you will have your memory modified."
One of the last few rules taunted her. "Rule one hundred and two: you will be stripped of emotions, leaving none left. You will not show happiness, you will not cry, you will not love, you will not be passionate, you will not laugh or care for others, the only feelings/emotions you will be allowed to demonstrate are pain, anger, fear and hatred."
But the last rule made Hermione break into tears. "Rule one hundred and five: if you try to runaway, defy the staff, or break a rule you will be taken into the forbidden forest and be used for the other students to learn the killing curse."
Hermione finished reading the rules and wiped her eyes, there was one page left, where she would have to put her signature.
"After reading this, all of the rules will be put into effect. You will obey the rules. Your need to escape will be broken." Something in her brain clicked and she wiped her face, confused. Hermione looked around her room and went to the desk across from her bed. With the rulebook in her hand, she picked up a quill, dipped it in some ink, and signed her name at the bottom of the page.
She gave a deep sigh and felt slight anger course through her veins. Hermione moved almost robotically, she went to her trunk and got out the clothes she was to wear for classes.
A small movement was made in the bed next to her own. Parvarti Patil was beginning to wake up from her nightmarish night. Parvarti sat up and groaned, looking for some sign that what happened in her dreams did not happen in reality, but when she looked to Hermione for some type of answer, some reassurance, all she got was a cold glare. Parvarti had silent tears rolling down her cheeks as she wrapped her aching arms around herself, wishing her twin sister, Padma Patil, were sitting here with her instead of in Ravenclaw tower.
A cold chill ran threw Hermione when she saw the girl so scared and sad, a tinge of sympathy came over her, but it left as quickly as it came. Hermione picked her clothes off of her bed and went to the ladies shower, stopping to look out the window at the rain falling softly outside.
When Hermione came back out of the shower she looked at the two girls huddled on Parvati's bed crying together. Anger warmed Hermione's body as she looked on the two.
"You two need to get up, read your manuals and get ready for class- it starts in an hour."
Lavender only cried harder at Hermione's sudden coldness. They huddled closer, more for feeling safer rather than comfort. Hermione turned away from them. Her stomach gave a jolt and a twist, a familiar feeling to Hermione but she just could not put her finger on it.
Harry and Ron were in the common room waiting at the bottom of the stairs, both dressed and ready to go, smiles plastered on their faces and a sparkle in their eyes. At the sight of Hermione, Ron's eyes lit up more, if that was at all possible.
"Hermione, your ready for breakfast?" Harry asked impatiently, his smile bright and full of sickening happiness.
Hermione still wore no expression on her face but her heart beat a bit faster when she looked into Ron's eyes, at the sparkle that shined so bright.
"I guess Harry. Did you two read your manuals? I have and it is signed and ready to be handed in. You two better hurry with that, you should never put it off till the last minute."
Hermione walked passed the boys into the common room. Seamus, a boy in Ron and Harry's dormitory, sat in an armchair, just as happy as Harry and Ron. As soon as he noticed the three of them heading for the portrait hole he jumped up and followed them quickly, not wanting to be late for breakfast. Seamus talked with Ron and Harry but Hermione stayed at a fast pace ahead of them, not looking around as she did yesterday, not wanting to hear their happy conversation, Hermione's stomach gave another uneasy deep jolt, making it harder to ignore this time.
A teacher, the one from her nightmare, was standing in front of the group of first years. Hermione remembered him but felt nothing for him, but Ron and Harry the looks on their faces, scared and confused.
The man had a weird eye; Hermione had thought there was a patch was on it before. It was a deep ocean blue and it spun around in its holder. It gave Hermione the feeling he could see right into her soul, into her mind and read her thoughts. She had caught both of his eyes now, but once she noticed that he was looking at her she felt chills run through her body. She quickly put her head down and began to walk a little faster down the staircase towards the Great Hall, with Harry and Ron shortly after her.
Hermione was not afraid, but she was angry and when she looked at that man the pain she had last night in her dreams came back; her bones felt like jelly and her stomach gave another jolt which made Hermione think that maybe, just maybe, she would throw up right there and then.
Ron and Harry quickly found an empty seat at the Gryffindor table and sat down to eat their rotten eggs and drink their spoiled milk. Hermione tried to eat- she really did- but her stomach just would not let her. Harry and Ron both grimaced at their food but ate all the same.
Ron looked around the table. There were some first years with looks on their faces just like Hermione's, and his older brothers Percy, Fred and George made Ron homesick for some reason.
Seamus Finnegan saw that Ron was looking down at the table at his brothers with a saddened look so he looked down the table as well but he could not understand the look on Ron's face. As Seamus kept looking at the people at his table he noticed something strange about the girl he had shared a compartment with on the train.
Lavender Brown last night on the train was giggly and happy. Today she was stone faced and looked angry, the same face most of the people in the room wore.
"Right so our first class is Potions and it starts in 15 minutes so hurry up and finish eating. We will not be late on our first day Ron." Hermione broke Seamus and Ron's thoughts.
Ron looked at Hermione, who wore an unreadable face. It made the tears in Ron's eyes grow more, but he quickly blinked them away.
"Ok, I'm ready. Let's go."
Harry, Ron and Hermione got up from the table, grabbed their bags, and set off looking for the Potions room.
They went down two staircases leading to the dungeons; the farther they went down the darker and the colder it got. The Potions classroom was a dark room with a small window to the far right; a green light was coming through the window. We must be underground with the green light coming from the Lake, Harry thought.
Ron took his seat next to Hermione with Harry on her other side. All around the ceiling was a rail, full of bottles of potions. Most bottles or jars had some sort of body part being preserved. Some you could tell were animal parts, like hooves and tails, but there were some that were hard to distinguish between human and animal, tongues, eyes, hearts, brains, and livers.
The more Ron looked the more uncomfortable he became, seeing jars with fingers and toes, ears and noses unlike he had seen in his mother's cupboards for potion making. He had never seen anything like this; in her cupboards were beetle eyes, plants, caterpillars, all sorts of bugs, that sort of thing, but not stuff like this.
Before Ron had more time to think on it, a man in a black billowy robe came rushing in. His black hair hung in his eyes, a frown was on his lips, and his eyes were as black as his robes.
"My name is Professor Snape and I am your Potions master. In this class you will learn the art that is potion making."
Snape turned to the chalkboard behind him and began to write the ingredients and instructions for the "Draught of Living Death." When Professor Snape finished he called to the class to begin making the potion. Hermione immediately began working on the potion as did Harry and Ron, but Dean Thomas, another boy from Harry and Ron's Dorm, looked confused still.
"Is there a problem Mr. Thomas?" Snape asked coldly.
"N-n-no, Professor." Dean stammered.
"Good, now get to work."
Snape stared at Dean, intimidating him. Dean was getting more and more nervous by the second. He stumbled over to the store cupboards and took out a jar of wormwood.
On his way back with the small jar, he fell over someone's bag, dropping the jar. It shattered on the floor.
Most of the students laughed or gasped but there were still a few that were completely emotionless, Hermione being one of them. Hermione looked up long enough to look at the mess on the floor and look at Dean but than without any concern for him she went back to cutting up the valerian roots to the exact specifics on the board.
Dean Thomas closed his eyes and got up onto his knees, picking up the glass and the spilt contents of the jar. Professor Snape walked slowly up to where Dean Thomas sat.
"You incompetent little fool. Ten points from Gryffindor and Mr. Thomas, you will test each of these potions next class. Is that understood?"
Dean looked up at Professor Snape, fear making him shake and mute. As Professor Snape passed Dean, he kicked him in the side, making him fall over and spill all the wormwood again.
The rest of class went without any problems. At the end, the class cleaned up their tables, poured a portion of the Draught into a vile, labeled it with their names, and put it on Professor Snape's desk.
The Students all piled out of the class and into the corridors, going their separate ways to their next classes.
Hermione looked at her schedule. "Dark Arts" was next. Her stomach gave a strong jolt. It was painful, and Hermione dropped her books and grabbed her stomach. Her face contorted into a look of immense pain. She lost her footing and dropped to her knees.
Ron quickly grabbed Hermione, holding her steady on her feet while Harry was asking her what was wrong. She could not form words; her mind went ridged with visions of her dream, the man with the one eye pointing his wand at her and making her whole body riddle with pain; she could hear herself screaming along with all the other students in her house.
Hermione opened her eyes with Ron and Harry at her side. Both were scared and concerned but Hermione's brain asked, "Why aren't they affected if the same thing happened to them? What if it really was a dream?"
"Hermione? Are you ok?" Harry asked again.
It took Hermione a few seconds to register everything. The pain in her stomach was slowly subsiding, her bones still aching but slowly starting to relax.
"Yea, Harry, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" She said coldly.
Ron let her go and looked over at Harry. They did not know Hermione very well but they knew something was not right. They watched Hermione walk into the class, Ron's heart beating fast, his breath coming in short, deep gasps.
Ron was scared and he did not know why, he felt his stomach heave as if telling him this was a bad idea and not to go in. This only made Ron more scared. Harry patted Ron's shoulder and they walked in.
The room was full of glass. It was dark in here as well. There were pictures of people getting tortured and families running from their burning homes. Harry and Ron found their places next to Hermione and took out their books, parchment, and quills. Most of the children chattered amongst themselves but a few others, including Hermione.
Ron thought maybe she took school very seriously and when they went back to the common room tonight after all their classes she would lighten up and be more talkative like she was yesterday.
The man from Hermione's dreams came in the door. His leg was made of metal; when he walked it made a terribly loud thunk against the ground; his magical blue eye spun in its socket, watching everything around him; a chunk of his nose was missing and his hair was a dirty blond, shaggy to his shoulders, looking as if he never combed it.
"I am Professor Moody and I will be your Dark Arts teacher. In this class you will learn all you need to know about curses, hexes, jinxes and defense."
Moody went to the board and wrote down the three Unforgivable Curses on it. Ron recognized them but was always told that if you used them then you would be cursed for life and be chucked for death in Azkaban Prison. Hermione looked like a stone stature and Harry was visibly shaking, he seemed to be getting the same bad feeling as Ron. Ron watched the man write and take out his wand; a flash of pain went through his bones remembering a nightmare he had last night.
Before Professor Moody had time to finish all the writing on the board, Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw first year, stood up to throw away his gum, and when he came back to his chair, he hit Michael Corner in the back of the head by accident, but Michael Corner took it personally. Michael stood up and pushed Terry just a little, but it was still noticed by Professor Moody, the man who could see everything. Moody turned around while everyone's attention was still focused on Terry and Michael.
"Crucio!" Moody boomed and Michael screamed and writhed in pain on the floor.
Moody lifted the curse as most of the class stood in protest, including Ron, screaming at Moody or trying to help Michael up off the floor.
"Now children, this is one of the Unforgivable Curses you will learn about this term. You will learn to perform this curse and many other enjoyable curses. When your parents came to this school, they did not teach these sorts of curses, but now the curriculum has changed with the headmaster. So even those of you that have been raised here in the wizarding world will be learning something new. For those of you that do not know what curse I have just performed, that is the Cruciatus Curse. It tortures the person, gets them to talk. I performed it on Mr. Corner over there simply because he annoyed me with his childish ways," Moody said as he turned back to the board he was writing on.
"But he is simply that, sir! A child!" Harry screamed at the man's back.
Harry did not know what hit him. A jet of red shot out of Professor Moody's wand and Harry fell backwards screaming and writhing just as much as Michael did, but this time he did not put his wand down as fast as he did with Michael. Harry screamed, and Ron tried to help to move him out of the way, only causing Ron to scream in pain as the curse hit him in the back. Ron screamed only for a minute as Hermione sat in her chair watching the scene, not moving in concern for Harry or Ron. But her stomach gave another painful jolt and her mind went back to normal for just a blink of an eye. She thought of Ron; tears came to her eyes as she heard him scream but once she blinked, her mind went right again, no emotion, no concern, nothing. And the tears went with the blink.
The curse on Harry was lifted, but not soon enough; he had passed out. There was blood coming from his mouth and a few drips from his head.
"Let that be a lesson to you! There will be no defiance or anyone speaking out of turn in this classroom! Is that clear?"
The majority of the class nodded their heads in their answer. "Good! Miss Granger, please take those three to the Hospital Wing to Madam Pomfrey."
Hermione stood up, patting Ron on the shoulder. He stood and took Harry by the arm, trying to hoist him up. Hermione took his other arm, with the both of them carrying him and Michael following close by. Ron and Michael were limping making it more difficult for Hermione to take Harry to the Hospital Wing very fast, still trying to figure out where it was in the first place.
The four of them went up and down staircases, around corners, through corridors, searching for the Hospital Wing before they finally found it on the third floor, only two floors up from the Dark Arts room. A woman who looked utterly upset came out of her chambers fussing about it not even lunch and students were already here.
Michael and Madam Pomfrey grabbed Harry and took him to a bed. Afterwards, Michael climbed into one for himself. Hermione put an arm around Ron and guided him to a bed close by. Once she laid him down, she looked to Madam Pomfrey for permission to leave. When she started to leave, Ron grabbed her arm.
"Hermione, stop!" Ron grabbed her with so much force she almost lost her balance and fell; she turned on the spot looking at Ron.
"Hermione, what's wrong with you? You are not like this." Ron kept his hold on her while Hermione's expression did not change in the slightest.
"Nothing is wrong with me, Ronald. What would make you think something was wrong with me?"
Ron stared at her with such disbelief that Hermione the girl he met in Flourish and Blott's could be this cold.
"Hermione, you are not the same girl I met a few weeks ago, you were so eager to help me with my books now you just sit there while people are being tortured and you had this sparkle in your eye- Hermione, where did that go? And your smile, it was always on your face?"
Hermione looked at Ron, her stomach giving her another weird feeling, and for a few seconds she felt herself tear up, but she shook her head as the words from rule one hundred and two flashed through her mind. You will be stripped of emotion. You will not show happiness, you will not cry, you will not love, you will not be passionate, you will not laugh or care for others, the only feeling/emotion you will be allowed to demonstrate are pain, anger, fear and hatred.
"Ronald…that girl is gone."
She sounded almost defeated, taking her arm away from Ron and beginning to walk away.
"Miss? Yes, you bring their homework, will you? The whole lot of them will be here overnight in observation."
Hermione nodded her head and went back to the Dark Arts class. Once on the staircase leading back to the first floor, Hermione saw more of the rules running in her mind, among them flashes of her mother and father and a flash of a row of books and a red haired boy looking lost among them, a kind smile and a flash of blue eyes her way. A tear fell from Hermione's eyes before her mind and her heart shut off again.