Chapter 7
"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training". Anna Freud
"Oh thank God!" Cried McGonagall, "Poppy, She's awake!" Hermione opened her eyes and blinked, she couldn't believe it, she was at Hogwarts. She was in the hospital wing, and she didn't hurt anymore.
"Hermione dear" said McGonagall, "How are you feeling?"
"Err... Confused, I can't remember what happened after... how'd I get back here?" She asked pressing a hand to her head, trying to force herself to remember a memory that was just out of reach.
"Hermione dear, you've been through a truly terrible ordeal, though you are safe now. Shortly into the holiday, your house was raided by death eaters, Hermione, I'm sorry, but your parents were killed, and you, you were captured" McGonagall gulped. "You were tortured and raped repeatedly. We have given you vast doses of Dreamless Sleep potion, your memory will be a little foggy, maybe for the best at the moment." Hermione's face paled, and then recognition flared in her eyes, and the professor knew that her memory (or at least some if it) had returned to her. She swallowed back the sob that threatened to escape from her throat, and tried to force her voice to remain calm, as she asked:
"How long was I there?"
"Nine days, and nights"
"How did I escape, I can't remember...?"
"Professor Snape dear, he, err used a portkey to get you out. Hermione, you understand he had no choice don't you? He had to do what he did, or you may still be there"
"There is always a choice" whispered Hermione. Her response shocked McGonagall, Hermione was normally the first person to see logic and necessity. For the first time McGonagall realised how much her ordeal was going to affect the girl, she had hoped, rather stupidly, that they would have the same old Hermione back when she woke up. She had been very, very wrong.
McGonagall didn't know what to say, so she said nothing, she placed a reassuring arm around Hermione, only to see her flinch and pull away. She looked into Hermione's eyes, what could she say to this 15 year old child to comfort her? Nothing. She settled for;
"I'm here if you need me dear" Hermione nodded and asked:
"How long have I been here?"
"Two weeks dear, you were very badly injured , very badly, we thought for a while that you might not... but never mind, you're awake now. Hermione, there are two weeks left of the holiday, do you wish to remain here?" McGonagall asked "Arthur and Molly Weasley know what's been going on, and they've said you're more then welcome to go and stay with them, but I think-:
-"Do Harry and Ron know?" Hermione asked urgently,
"No dear, they knew your house was raided and your parents killed, and that you were staying here. But we did not think it wise to tell them what was really happening, we thought they'd be better off not knowing."
Hermione nodded her head in agreement. Harry and Ron had become very protective of her over the years, and even more so recently. In the first week of the holiday they had gone to Diagon Ally, Hermione would be lying if she said she hadn't noticed the male attention she got. She had blossomed into a beautiful young lady, her perfectly proportioned curvy figure, stunning brown eyes, and glossy cinnamon curls were the envy of many women. Harry and Ron noticed the attention she got, although they were not pleased by it. Hermione had to admit that sometimes she wasn't, the problem was she looked older then she was, it was worse in the muggle world, with all the sleazy builders and van drivers who were old enough to be her father whistling and staring at her, she was just glad Harry and Ron weren't around to witness this. In the Leaky Cauldron Harry had had to hold Ron back from hitting one guy who offered to buy her a drink! She remembered with a slight smile just how protective they were of her. She could see them doing something really stupid, not to mention dangerous, if they knew what the death eaters had done to her. There and then she swore that she would never tell Harry and Ron, as much for their safety as her pride.
With a jolt, McGonagall's voice calling her name snapped her back to reality,
"Hermione dear, are you listening?"
"Sorry professor, I was just thinking"
"Oh my dear, no need to apologise, it's understandable after what you've been through"
"I think I want to stay here" she said. She couldn't stand the thought of Mrs. Weasley fussing over her,
"That's fine dear, you'll be saying here," she motioned to the hospital wing "I'll have your things sent for, we managed to salvage quite a lot."
"Good" said a blank faced Hermione. McGonagall moved to go, "Professor?"
"Yes dear?" she turned to face her student
"Thank you, and please, please don't tell anyone" Hermione broke down, all the emotion she had been forced to bottle up she no longer could, she still would not let the tears flow, and tried to stifle her sobs.
"Of course dear, though you have nothing to be ashamed of. If anything you should be proud of the bravery and strength you showed, not to mention your incredible loyalty- Severus told us." She added, seeing the blank look on Hermione's face. Hermione wiped her eyes, she somehow managed to regain her composure, and said, quite calmly,
"I don't want to see him, not yet. I can't deal with seeing him now"
"Of course" Professor McGonagall walked towards the doorway, and discretely wiped a tear from her own eye.
A/N
A MASSIVE thank you to you wonderful reviewers, you have no idea how much your comments mean to us, lee74, Mai Gamit, creepiness, Katie, Phelpslover (I really like you, lol x ), Darkraven-04, Avestia, kbluesmom, runaway mental patient. Rane2920072, the lovely hannahslatteryand the wonderful Kyra4.
Thank you, all you reviews were really positive and we are very grateful for them!
X x x Jenny and Fiona x x X
In response to negative feedback from:
"me"
We received a review off "me", which very cleverly stated: "spells are in latin", now, I would like to point out that if "me" had any real grasp of Latin, or was even half as obsessed with Harry Potter as we are, then "me" would realise that not all spells in the books are in Latin! for example, "Alohamora", "Aparecium", "Avada Kedavra", "Obliviate", "Relihio", "Rictusempra", "Stupefy", "Tarantallegra", "Waddiwassi" and most memorably, "Wingardium Leviosa" all have no direct Latin meaning, (although many (like nearly every language in the world) are derivatives of Latin) so there, all spells are not in Latin! (Just so you don't think I'm chatting a load of bull, I studied Latin for four years, and got an A in it at GCSE)
So, Sic, tunc vicis you're iens ut velico nonnullus unus , tendo quod reputo (si vos vel possum) super quis you're vere sententia!
Jibblia
If you take one sip of sulphuric acid by accident, would you down the whole bottle? It's kind of obvious from the fist chapter (if not the summery) that this story is going to contain themes like rape/violence, plus it's rated R so that should be a good indication, if you don't like stories on these themes, don't go looking for them, never mind reading 6 chapters of them! ( 7 if you're reading this!) You said "The death eaters wouldn't rape someone, they are into conquering over good and killing, they aren't rapists. They would use the killing curse and be rid or her quickly or use her as a bargaining chip to extract information form The Order somehow." I feel that the Death eaters seek to cause as much pain as possible in the most appropriate way. I felt that for Hermione the most suffering would be caused by a combination of rape and torture, (we know that deatheaters enjoy inflicting pain- eg:Bellatrix in the ministry of magic (OotP), and that they use torture as a method of extracting information- the case of the Longbottoms). Had Hermione not been rescued by Snape, then they would have gone on to use her as a bargaining tool after they had extracted all the possible information from her by whatever means necessary (ie: rape/torture!). Plus, by hurting Hermione, they will hurt Harry very efficiently, and aim to provoke an impulsive and dangerous response from him. I know that this story may be slightly unrealistic, BUT THIS IS FANFICTION-IT'S ALLOWED TO BE MADE UP! So thank you for your criticisms, but next time try to deliver them in a more constructive way with textual evidence to support them, don't just yell your opinion! Finally there are many, many, many more rape stories out there then this one that are a lot more graphic, and if you didn't notice, Hermione's safe and rescued in the first 5000 words, this story is well over 50,00 words so the rape, while being crucial to the plot line, is not the main theme of the story!
Sorry to anyone else who read those responses, we really don't mind if you criticise us, as long as it's justified, and in the case of opinions, that you have some form of textual evidence to back it up. We can't stand being unjustly criticised, if you were saying our style/proofing is rubbish (and back it up with examples), then that's something we can aim to improve on, but if you don't like the genre of the story, why even bother reading it? If it's your opinion, that's fine, but please remember, no one forced you to read this.
