FACE DOWN

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, J.K. Rowling does.

AU Harry Potter. Written completely from memory.

Summary: What if Harry and Ron never saved Hermione from the Troll in first year? Never became her friend and instead continued to make fun of her? What would happen then?

Year 2- Mudblood, Mudblood, Dirty, Dirty, Mudblood


"Cover up with makeup in the mirror

Tell yourself it's never going to happen again

You cry alone and then he swears he loves you"

--Red Jumpsuit Apparatus


Summer had been ok, if not slightly more boring than school. Having been left to her own devices a good portion of each day Hermione spent her time doing homework and reading, completing everything before the end of her first week home. After the second week, in which she had just slept most of each day, she was told in no uncertain terms by her parents to get out of the house and "do something productive".

That next day she had found herself woken by her mother and told to get dressed for the day. Once dressed, showered and fed she was given a backpack filled with a notebook and pen, 20pounds, a water bottle and some lunch.

"Get out and explore the neighborhood, we don't expect to see you back here before dinner." and with that her parents had locked her out of the house and left for work.

Hermione spent the next week just aimlessly walking around her neighborhood, exploring the different areas and sometimes stopping to draw or write about something she had seen. It came to be that she enjoyed the time she spent doing this, and would gleefully leave the house to wander, staying at home only on days where it rained.

It wasn't until nearly a month had passed of summer when Hermione first ran into the local bully and his gang. A fat whale of a boy and his followers all nearly the same age as herself. She had been at a park located a few kilometers from her house, resting under a tree as she drew, when the boy had come up to her and started to annoy her.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my park?" She ignored him as best she could, and got up to leave. It hadn't mattered in the end as the boys had ganged up on her and beaten her silly for ignoring them. "You had better remember me, and next time answer when I ask you something."

After that she had stuck to areas that were further away from that park, though on occasion she still walked through that neighborhood in her wanderings. The few times she was found by the gang not enough to keep her from enjoying her summer wanderings on a whole. 'I've been beaten up by worse bullies than they'll ever be.'


It was now, as she was boarding the Hogwarts Express for her second year of school, that her happiness began to wane. Armed with a thick sketchbook and a large pack of pencils her parents had given her as a present, she set off hoping that this year would be better than the last. 'Even if it isn't any better this year, there's always the next.'

She managed to find an empty compartment and sat curled in the corner writing in her sketchbook the whole ride to school, letting out all her fears and worries as had become her custom over the summer. It wasn't until she was sitting in the great hall during the sorting that Hermione felt the loneliness of last year begin to set in.

'Tomorrow will be a good day.'

And indeed, tomorrow was a good day, seeing as it was a Saturday and they had no classes. While no one seemed to be friendly with her, no one had been mean either, and she spent the day out wandering on the grounds. Taking the time to draw some sketches of things she found that interested her, Hermione explored her home away from home until curfew, only stopping for dinner.

It wasn't until she tried to go to bed that night that she realized the others in her house still hated her. Her second night back and already she was forced to start sleeping in the common room. Remembering all those months last year that she had slept on the floor because others had charmed the furniture to kick her off it at night, she quickly decided to search for a safer place to sleep.

Every day she spent her free time searching for hidden rooms near the tower where no one would go to find her, coming back to the common room just before curfew every time. It wasn't until the second week of exploring that she ended up being sidetracked from her search.

Marcus Flint, who was now a fourth year student and her own personal bully, had finally caught up to her. At the end of the last year he had started to beat her up instead of just insulting her, and it looked like he wanted to continue where he had left off. The first time she was cornered by him this year, she had ended up in the hospital wing to mend several broken bones.

When asked she had simply said that she had 'fallen down the stairs when they had moved'. It hadn't been a lie either, Flint and his cronies had pushed her down the stairs after beating her up first. "That's what you get for being an uppity mud blood bitch!"

She still hadn't found a safe place to sleep when she had run into Flint for the second time that year. That time they had cast a silencing spell on her first before using some minor painful hexes on her, several of which she were sure had to be dark magic as they were extremely painful. A couple of kicks to the stomach and back as she lay crying on the floor helped them to accentuate their warning.

"If you tell ANYONE, next time will be worse." She had a hard time with classes for the next several weeks as she was sure at least one of her ribs were cracked, but was far to scared to go to the nurse and get it healed.

The third time she saw Flint and his gang, she took off running, her ribs still aching from her beating two weeks ago. They managed to corner her in a dead end corridor on the 8th floor, leaving her coughing up blood and barely conscious in their anger and hate. She had ended up laying at the end of the hall for hours before she had gotten up and tried to leave. In her pain she fell against the tapestry covered wall, only to hit a hidden door.

Leaving the exploration for another day when she was less hurt, Hermione made a note of where she was as she set off for the Hospital wing, or at least the nearest teacher. She wouldn't manage to come back that hidden door until after Halloween.

'If I just smile and ignore them, one day they will stop hurting me.'


It wasn't until after the Chamber Of Secrets had been opened that Hermione managed to go back to the 8th floor corridor. Opening the door behind the tapestry, she found a small room with a window facing towards the black lake. It really wasn't more than a large broom closet, just big enough to fit her trunk and mattress if she had to. Not that she had any plans to move in while the Chamber was open, it was far safer in the common room even if she ended up sleeping on the floor again.

That wouldn't stop her from hiding there during the day though. A couple of cleaning charms and a warmth charm she had found last year would make it a perfect place to do her homework, and if she had to a place to sleep if they kept her out of the common room again, though hopefully not.

Other than her new hide away, things continued like normal. Teachers upped their patrols at night and curfew came earlier to keep the students safe. Flint and crew sought her out no less than once a week to beat on her, while the rest of the Slytherins hoped that she would end up the next petrified.

At this point she was mostly ignored by the other houses except for the few who were jealous of her grades, or genuinely hated her. Though her fellow Gryffindors tended to be the worst, many openly bullying her in front of the others. Her roommates were some of the worst, vandalizing her belongings and continuously putting her down and locking her out of the dorm at night.

"You're the only muggle-born in our year, we don't want you luring the monster to us while we're sleeping!" After that she had transfigured a fake trunk to keep in the dorm and had moved her stuff into her private room, afraid that they would destroy it all or keep her from it when she needed something.


Everyday she would wake up, either on her own or as someone decided to hurt her, and she would force a smile with the thought, 'Today will be a good day.' She would continue to smile through the threats, and the beatings, and the taunts with the thought 'If I smile, eventually they will have to stop.' And as she was isolated and hated more every day, she would smile and think, 'I exist, and one day they will all see that.'

Even at night, as she lay curled against the wall she would cry and wonder why she stayed there, thoughts of her hideaway dancing in her head. 'Because the Chamber has been opened and even though I hate it, here is still safer.'

Day after day, bruise after bruise, she would smile even as the light in her eyes continued to dim so slowly that no one would notice. Week after week, she would lie to the nurse and do so with a smile, the thought 'If I learn how to heal myself, maybe it will stop hurting so much' drifting behind her eyes.

Time passed and soon Christmas would be there once more. Finally Hermione knew what the monster from the chamber was. She had been browsing the library on her day off and had begun reading a book about deadly creatures of the wizarding world. She had only been on the B's when she had read the passage about Basilisks, and once she had seen that, knew without a doubt that it was the creature. Taking care to procure a small hand mirror to keep her safe, and writing a letter to the Headmaster letting him know what she had found, Hermione set off to find the nearest Head of House.

The last thing that she saw for a long time was a large, vicious, yellow eye, leaving her petrified right near the library with the letter to the headmaster clutched in her hand.


'Nightmares aren't forever, they just feel that way.' It was the first thought she had once she became aware again, though still petrified she could make out what was happening around her. And if she could Hermione would force herself to smile, because 'at least I'm still alive and one day I'll be cured.'

It took a month before she stopped trying to think. To be aware but unable to move is akin to torture, nothing but thoughts to distract you between visits from people who care for you, unable to even sleep as your body keeps you awake against your will. How much worse is it when no one visits at all? To spend months alone with your own thoughts and not even the nurse will visit except to make sure you haven't died on her?

The only visitor she had gotten had been the teachers as they were given the details, and her note. At least they knew what was happening now, and could work together to destroy it. The night she is freed from her petrification she cries like she has wanted to all those months. She is the only one of the five who had been freed to do so, and when asked why she was the only one besides the ghost who had been aware the whole time. She is the last to return to the school as they keep her for observation, her nightmares worrying to the Madame.

"If your nightmares continue through the summer, contact me via owl and I will help you."


The night of the leaving feast she is released from Madame Pomfrey's care, spending the night in the common room after having retrieved her trunk from her hideaway. She does not join the celebrations the rest of the Gryffindors partake in as she is fully aware of exactly how alone she really is.

'One day I will exist to them.'


AN: How did you like chapter 2? Next chapter will take longer to get out as it will be much longer than this, that and I only have up to Christmas written for 3rd year. After that it gets way more detailed as it becomes a present tense story.


I want to thank all of the people who have already reviewed this story.

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