Inside

Chapter Five: Accident

Hermione's POV

"Glass you say?" Ron asked as we made our way further down the path towards the castle, having missed the carriages with a handful of others. "Had no idea it could leave a scar like that."

"Well its glass Ronald, it can be sharp just like anything else," I explained as I looked down at the thick pink scar shining freshly up at me. "Daggers, swords, needles, scissors, push-pins, nail- Ah! Violent curses shot off by stupid idiots on the first day back! Bloody hell Malfoy, what the hell was that for!?" I gasped as I looked down at the sleeve of my tan jacket, staining with bright red blood.

"What's the idea you bastard!?" Ron shot as he pulled out his own wand. "What the hell!? You'll pay for that one!"

"It was an accident! I swear! Believe me, if I'd of meant to do that I'd of aimed for her gut! Damn Granger, where did you come from? I didn't even see you! Talk about bad luck, I was only practicing the curse; didn't mean for it to actually hit anyone!"

"Fucker!" I cursed under my breath. "Shit, bloody hurts! Damn! What the hell did you do!? Ow!" I cried, closing my eyes and attempting to cup my hand down tightly against the gashes now gushing blood down my pants and along the gravel path.

"Look guys! Real Mud-blood!" Malfoy laughed with his goons as Ron made ready to lunge for him.

"MISTER MALFOY!" McGonagall boomed as she came forth from the shadows. "That language is entirely inappropriate! And Miss Granger, what on earth happened?"

"How dare you call her that!" Ron screamed as he raised his hand, wand at the ready.

"I don't care what he calls me Ron, it just won't stop hurting!"

"Miss Granger! What happened? Who did this to you?"

"It was Malfoy Professor!" Ron told her furiously as I felt the warmth leaving my cheeks. "He did it to her!"

"It was an accident!" Malfoy squealed. "As I told them, if I'd have meant to do it to her I'd have aimed elsewhere!"

"Professor McGonagall," I said weakly. "I don't feel so- so well."

"These are gashes I've never seen before," McGonagall said as she began examining my arm after violently ripping off my sleeve. "What is it you hit her with, Mister Malfoy?"

"I don't know exactly. I came up with it myself over the summer."

"Wonderful, an underage invention! This ought to be a synch to cure!" she proclaimed. "This way Miss Granger, you'll need to see Professor Slughorn for this one, I doubt Madam Pomfrey would have anything for it as it isn't supposed to exist. Detention, Mister Malfoy! One month! And fifty points from Slytherin!"

"Oh! Horace, Horace thank goodness I found you so quickly! We need your help, there's been an accident," McGonagall said as we approached the small gathering of a few staff members. "And Severus, I've taken fifty points from Slytherin and given Mister Malfoy a weeks' detention."

"Whatever for, Minerva?" he asked as he looked over at her both judgmentally and suspiciously. "The first day, and already you are punishing Slytherin. Dumbledore hasn't even said the start of term speech, and you have already taken it in your hands to-"

"He attacked one of mine, Severus!" she shouted as Ron and I stood back, in a way unable for anyone but McGonagall to even know we were there. "Miss Granger is seriously injured because of an idiotic invention of his! And you are blaming me for harassing your house!? How dare you even assume what happened! Let alone accuse me my actions towards Mister Malfoy are for no reason! Reason! Just look at her!"

Ron shoved me forward forcefully, swaying back and forth with my hand still pressured tightly around my forearm and Ron's hand holding my back to support me from falling over. "It was an accident," I said weakly to Professor Snape, speaking to him for the first time since summer, and to Professor Slughorn, to whom I had never before seen, let alone met.

"Yeah," Ron scoffed. "Says he! We all know he meant to do it! He's hated on you, Harry and me for years! Waited till he finally got an opportunity to strike without any teachers around!"

"Ron please just stop it!" I shouted. "I don't care if he meant to do it or didn't! It just hurts really badly and I want it to stop and I want you to just shut up! Please! I don't care who or what makes it stop, I just want it to stop and to forget it ever happened! It was an accident and I don't blame him for it; he was just practicing and I was standing in his line of fire and got hit, that's all, Ronald. He wouldn't have acted the way he did if he meant to do it, nor would he have said what he did!"

"She's right Mister Weasley, it doesn't matter right now," McGonagall said. "Now Horace, can you help us or are you just going to stand there like a mute child?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "Minerva, but that is quite a lot of blood, isn't it?"

"Yes!" she shouted. "Yes it is! And the longer we stand here discussing it she's just becoming weaker! Now, will you please help us?"

"You should take her to Madam Pomfrey, I am sure she will be a better help than me. I don't do to well around blood, other than my own, that is."

"She can not help here, Horace! This was done by a curse that is not supposed to exist! That doesn't exist!"

"I'm sorry… I ca-"

"I'll do it," Professor Snape cut him off. "As I can see Professor Slughorn can not work under pressure."

"Very good, Miss Granger, follow Professor Snape. I need to speak with Mister Malfoy and I'm sorry Mister Weasley but you'll need to come with me and help Mister Malfoy explain to me exactly what happened to Miss Granger."

"I can't," I told her weakly, swallowing. "I can't walk without him, I'm too weak Professor."

"I am sorry as well Miss Granger, but I need him to come with me. Professor Snape can help you along your way," she said as Ron began to open his mouth in protest. "NOW, Mister Weasley, Professor Snape is perfectly capable to help her walk! Now come along!"

"This way, Miss Granger," Professor Snape said as he began walking slowly towards the exit of the Great Hall with my upper arm gripped in his hand.

"Professor, I – can't…" I whispered softly as I felt myself fall forwards, but was prevented hitting the stone floor as his arms caught me. "I'm… sorry…" I added with barley open eyes as my feet were pulled from the ground and I was lifted into his arms.

"It really was an accident," I told him softly as I was set in a thickly cushioned chair across from his with my bleeding arm lying atop his desk.

"That doesn't matter, Miss Granger. What matters is that it happened and you are hurt. Accident or not, Mister Malfoy shouldn't have been doing a spell like that at all, let alone at school. Now you see why I always ask for my class to keep wands away; something could happen.

"Now, what did it feel like when it hit you?" he asked as he took my hand in his and placed his opposite hand under my elbow to lift it from his desk to examine it closer. I winced as he brought my arm further away from the desk and gripped his hand tightly and closed my eyes while curling my toes within my shoes.

"Like fire," I told him softly. "And shards of glass, it was the worst kind of pain I have ever felt… I still feel it, though not as sharp, it's still there."

"Yes, they're deep, quite deep. The wounds themselves are very chaotic, not at all clean. It's nothing I've seen before, as far as curses go. I'll do my best not to cause you anymore unnecessary pain." I nodded as he set my arm back down to the desk and freed his hands from mine, and I opened my eyes to look over at him.

"What are you going to do?" I asked him stupidly as he turned and began gathering supplies from a nearby cupboard.

"Well, I would suggest to put a simple scaring serum over them to stop the bleeding and pain, but, seeing as I don't know what this curse is exactly, I can't know if there are shards of anything in there, and I don't want to risk imbedding them in your arm. So, first I am going to dab on some anti-bleeding potion over it to see if I can better see what it looks like without all the blood; it may sting a little, so be p-"

"Just do it," I told him as my eyes met his. "It already hurts more than you can imagine, I doubt it could get much worse."

"Very well," he nodded as he brought a green colored liquid filled dropper to my arm and pinched the rubber holder atop it to release the liquid. I squeezed my eyes shut and nearly screamed as he continued with three more droplets.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he set the glass container onto his desk and replaced his hand back around mine. When I opened my eyes to look at him he was closer than I remembered, and his eyes looked sad.

"Yes," I told him breathlessly. "What does it look like?"

"Not like anything is in there," he told me, his hand still around mine. "But, looking at the skin just around the gashes, I'd say Mister Malfoy has been practicing some homemade black magic indeed. Does it still hurt?"

"Not as much."

"Good," he sighed. "I am now going to go ahead and put some scarring potion over them, which will stop any pain you are still feeling. Though the new skin will be tender for a few days, all the sharpness will be gone."

"Will it hurt as bad as the other one?" I asked him with nervousness plain across my face.

"No, if anything it won't feel like liquid at all, but solid, because the moment it touches your exposed flesh it will scar over."

"Then I'll be free to go?"

"Yes, and, if you're lucky you'll still get to hear the end of Professor Dumbledore's start-of-term speech," he said with a smile as he looked down at my arm and began dabbing on the scarring serum.

"And um, Professor," I began nervously. "In the summer, when you - after dinner, at the top of the stairs - when you, you, you know…" I trailed as he stopped dabbing at my arm.

"You remembered…"

"Well of course I remembered!" I nearly laughed. "You're my Professor, and it was, well… it was the first time that ever happened to me," I told him seriously.

"You didn't speak to me after," he said back softly. "I tried to speak to you, but you were always-"

"Busy?" I asked him. "Well it was a bit shocking! And strange… I mean, you were being so nice to me, I just thought it was so you could make it up during the school year, you know, by being rude again. But now school's back and you're still being nice… But it wasn't even the… the kiss, that made me react the way I did. I reacted the way I did because of how it made me feel; how it made me feel being against you like that…" I trailed off, knowing I had already said too much.

"Now," he said as he pulled himself back into a proper sitting position and gathered his supplies together. "You'll want to go easy on how often you use your arm for the next week or so, Miss Granger. And if there are any other problems with it, come back to my office and I will look at it. I suspect your friends are waiting for you to see how you are. See you tomorrow in class."

"Yes," I said knowingly as I looked to my side to see Professor McGonagall and Malfoy had just entered. "Thank you Professor."

I left the room holding my arm against my stomach and my heart hammering in my chest.

TBC