The days blended together for Hermione. She barely noticed the strange gazes from Cissa and the knowing grins from Luci and of course the death glares from Potter. Instead she was more focused on staying sane through the day and not being overly jumpy. Just a few days after the party, Hermione started having these nightmares, nightmares that were bad enough to cause her to wake up screaming in the middle of the night. After the first night however, Hermione started putting privacy charms because she couldn't take the worried look Cissa shot her way when she woke her up.
And given the nature of the nightmare? That look of worry put a sour feeling in her stomach and a twist of anger throughout her entire being. She spent the whole first day after the nightmare trying to avoid Cissa and Luci, and when she was stuck being around them she didn't even give them a second look. That first day was the first day she spent truly alone since falling back in time and, it hurt, but she couldn't look at Cissa and Luci, not with the nightmare fresh in her mind.
The second day wasn't much better, or the third, but at least with the privacy charm she didn't get that look from Cissa. Or maybe she just didn't notice because she was exhausted by the third day and when it carried into the fourth day she was just ready to try taking dreamless sleep. But she didn't fall to that after the war, there was no way she was going to now, she was stronger than that. At least she thought she was, until she stumbled into the common room barely conscious in time to hear a wonderful conversation.
"Cissa, she's fine, leave well enough alone."
"But she's not sleeping."
"And how do you know that?" He crossed his arms against his chest as Cissa looked completely defeated, "Exactly, if you confront her, you have to tell her exactly how you noticed and I don't think you are ready to spell things out quite yet, right?"
"No, but she needs help!" Cissa actually looked desperate.
"Then be a Slytherin-" Luci turned and shot his usual smirk towards Hermione, he had finally noticed her in the room, or maybe he noticed the moment she was in hearing distance and he wanted her to hear. There was no real way to know exactly what he was thinking.
However in this case it was almost easy to read Cissa, there was a sense of panic etched on her features. She wasn't sure how long Hermione had been standing there or how much she had heard. Cissa knew that Hermione was an independent type and wouldn't take kindly to her saying she needed help, and of course she didn't want to explain how she knew that the other girl wasn't sleepy. She was a Black, and Blacks were known to be a bit obsessive over certain things that were close to their heart. And Hermione was close to hers.
Cissa knew that Luci knew, just by the smirk he was sending her way before Hermione showed up. She also knew that he was hinting at her helping Hermione without being obvious; by being Slytherin, like maybe a sleeping drought in her beverage tonight? Wouldn't be hard with how exhausted she was. But back to the important bit-
Cissa didn't have to worry because Hermione looked between the pair without the words registering, fours days with barely any sleep and that nightmare. It was all she could take to function in classes and not jump whenever she heard Cissa's voice. A voice that was too much like her sister's, a voice that thankfully wasn't as crazed as Bellatrix's.
Hermione blinked a couple of times and mumbled something about breakfast before moving out of the common room, breakfast that she would probably pick at. But she had to go through the motions and hope the dreams passed again, they had to, though before she didn't have reminders around every corner.
That night at the evening meal Cissa did manage to slip the drought into Hermione's drink and she was certain the other girl would sleep. And she did. Hermione barely got through her evening routine and into bed before sleep claimed her, the bad thing about a drought that forces the user to sleep is that there is no real way to wake up from the nightmare. She was stuck in it, there was no way out and for some reason it was so much worse.
She could feel Bellatrix's hot breath on her cheek as the older witch spoke to her, questioned her, insulted her. Hermione could hear her own screams echoing through the manor, she could hear the echos of Bellatrix's mad laughter, she could hear Ron calling for her. Fear radiated through her being as she told the story over and over again, how they never broke into her vault, how they found the sword in the woods, how it was a fake, but Bellatrix didn't by it.
Bellatrix cast curse after curse and when that wasn't enough she could feel the white hot pain of the knife digging into her flesh, forever marking her with that horrendous word. It was something she would never get rid of and she tried. She tried counter curses, potions, creams, charms, everything. The best she managed was a charm to hide the word, but she could still feel the letters on the fingertips.
But that wasn't what echoed through her mind at that moment, no it was the pain of the knife, the tears stinging her eyes, the tremors racking her body. Her nightmare didn't end until she relived the memory completely until she was in shell cottage with Fleur caring for her. And when she woke up she felt refreshed and awake for the first time in days, and there was this sense of ease, like a weight had been lifted.
Her hand moved subconsciously to her arm where the word rest on her flesh but she didn't feel anything. Confused the young witch looked to where the scar should be and muttered the counter charm but there wasn't anything there. She frowned and tried a different spell, but nothing. She then ran her finger tips over where it should be and nothing.
Hermione's heart raced in her chest as she looked around the room, everyone was still asleep, so there was no one to see her alarm as she raced from her bed and got dressed and ready for the day. She needed to speak with Dumbledore, and she needed to speak with him now. Irremovable scars didn't just vanish.
Since she knew all the nice little shortcuts, she managed to get to the Headmaster's office in no time, and before she knew it the stairs were revealed and she was headed up to his office. She was lucky that he was an early riser and more than willing to meet with students, or maybe she was just a special case since she was a time traveling student. That could be it.
When she made it to the top of the stairs he was already sitting behind his desk with some caddies and a cup of tea, "Miss Granger, or should I say Miss Blishwick, what has roused you from bed this early on a Saturday?"
The way he spoke she swore he already knew why she was there, and she was surprised it was Saturday, had the week really blew away so quickly? "Sir, it's gone?" Her voice quivered as she took a seat across from him.
"What is gone?" He asked before offering her some candies.
"My scar, I had a scar carved on my arm with a cursed dagger and it's gone, completely gone."
"I am sorry to hear about the cursed blade, but what have you done to remove the scar, scars from those blades don't vanish."
"That's it sir, I have done nothing, I woke this morning and it is just gone!"
There was a twinkle in his eye as he flashed me a knowing grin, "you had to have done something, think about it."
"But there is nothing, nothing can remove it. The only way not to have a scar is to never have the blade touch you," her words seemed to slow half way through the sentence, "sir?"
"You are correct, the only way not to have a scar from a cursed blade is to never have one touch your flesh, so what have you done young one?"
"I-I haven't done anything, that event is so far from now, and I haven't interacted with the person, I have just blended in like you instructed."
He smiled, "yes but what do you think has changed? Think child."
And she did, she thought long and hard but, she couldn't figure it out. She had to have done something, anything to make it so she never was attacked by Bellatrix. "I cannot think of anything Sir."
Dumbledore chuckled a couple of times, "before you came here Narcissa was guarded and closed off, an ice queen, they liked to call her. James Potter was the golden boy. Lucius was prime and proper, barely even sticking up for Narcissa, though she never needed saving to begin with. Slytherins weren't as bonded together, Gryffindors were more bonded together and not split. Sirius was very close to James. Lilly and James were always together, glued at the hip or so to speak."
Hermione let that all soak in as she took those words and compared them to her version. Narcissa was so warm around her, Lucius was anything but prime and proper, and always saving her. James was falling out from people, she didn't know about Sirius, she didn't pay attention to him. And Lilly? Last she knew she wasn't always around Potter anymore, but was actually getting help with potions from Severus. "I-I'm messing up the past...I've changed things, this is bad!"
"Or good, or neutral. There is no way to know," he popped a candy into his mouth, "the only way for you not to have changed things was to lock you into a closet and wait for you to die or find a way to send you back. There was never any way to know how much you would change things but now you know that your actions have consequences."
Hermione sat there in shock as she realized what he said. Something she had done here and now, it made it so she was never attacked by Bellatrix, but what did she do? Just because she was friends with Luci and Cissa, that didn't mean Bellatrix would spare her, after all they tossed their sister away because she married a muggleborn.
"Now off you go I have another meeting here soon, enjoy the weekend child," and with that dismissal she made her way out of the office and down the stairs and finally into the chilly Autumn morning for a walk. She had to order her thoughts and figure this out. How could so much change? Would her memories change now to? Would she have duel memories? Or would her body just change? Would this change who was born? What if her friends were never born?
A panic took over her as she took a seat on a rock in front of the Black Lake. She didn't want to change things but she did at the same time. She just didn't know what to do anymore, and she knew everything she did now, she would second guess. A sighed rippled from her throat as she wished things were simple once more, but that sigh was cut short when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.
She turned her head to see Cissa and she couldn't help but smile, the weight on her chest and shoulders whenever she saw the woman over the last few days was just gone. The memory was there but it literally felt like a dream now, it was foggy and it didn't feel like an open wound. "Hey."
Hermione watched as Cissa smiled a little bit, "Hey to yourself, you woke early?" She seemed slightly confused by that prospect.
"Yes, it was strange, I managed to sleep through the night without worry, so I didn't feel the need to sleep in." She decided to leave out her meeting with the headmaster.
"Why didn't you wake me?" Hermione swore she saw a flash of hurt.
"Well you like to sleep in on Saturdays," it wasn't a lie.
"You still could have woken me, we could have enjoyed your stroll together," she said as she joined Hermione on the rock.
"I'll keep that in mind, I can always use a reading buddy on those early mornings," she said with a smirk as she nudged the other woman with her shoulder.
Cissa chuckled before nudging her back. Deep down the blonde woman was just happy Hermione wasn't locking her out anymore, That the other girl was actually seeing her and speaking to her, she didn't know what had kept the girl up but she knew that was what caused the separation and it hurt. Cissa just leaned against Hermione's shoulder and was happy to see the girl leaned just a bit back against her. Everything felt right in that moment.
But every right moment had to be ruined. This moment was ruined by a black haired woman walking onto the scene with a knowing smirk on her face. A black haired woman that was always aware of the fact that Narcissa favored witches and Lucius favored wizards; a very perceptive woman. The black haired woman coughed a couple of times before saying, "Well well well, is my baby sister not going to greet me or introduce me to her friend, where are your manners."
Cissa's body went rigged as she turned to see her older sister standing there with a smirk on her face, "Bella, I wasn't expecting you!"
Hermione turned and stared blankly, the fear she knew should be there wasn't. She was confused as to how she should act so she just tilted her head and watched the sisterly interaction. That way she could see what she was expecting. And what she already saw put her on edge, Cissa was moving away from her subtly, they were no longer touching and she missed the contact already. And what was worse, was that Cissa put on her mask, it was disconcerning.
Cissa stood and hugged her sister rigidly before motioning towards Hermione, "This is Hermione Blishwick, a new friend that came to Hogwarts to finish her final year."
"It is a pleasure to meet you Hermione," she spoke with a weird tone in her voice that Hermione couldn't place before the witch nodded to both of them, "Anyway, I was on my way to speak with the Headmaster, I just thought I'd say hello to my baby sister," she flashed a knowing smile at Narcissa, a smile a cat would give to a canary before she ate it.
Cissa and Hermione watched Bellatrix walk to the castle, both with mixed thoughts racing through their minds.
AN:I hope things were explained a bit in this chapter and to the person the person that asked how often this story will be updated, I hope to update once or twice a week. It all depends on my work schedule and my motivation to write. But I do hope to post at least once a week.
I also have the major story things planned, but minor things to fill in the spaces are still developing, so if there is anything anyone wants to see happen let me know.
