Authors notes
The plot thickens! she says as she pecks her fingers together gently, and laughs manically. Just as her laugh reaches the diaphragm, she bursts into cough, and the effect is ruined. Ah well, there'll be plenty more chance for an evil laugh in the chapters to come!
I, regrettably, do not own Harry Potter in any way shape or form.
When Games get Dangerous
Third person POV
Hermione slept for three days, talking every now and again. During those times she seemed semi-aware of her surroundings because she would mumble comments about the conversation. Draco quickly learned that she had taken to calling him: The Voice, and Madame Pomfrey: the Red Lady. When the others came by she collectively called them: the people. No one could understand why she recognized them as their 'nicknames', but not their real names. Madame Pomfrey theorized the induced delirium tampered with her long-term memory, but that her short-term memory was still intact.
Throughout the day the students harassed Pomfrey by dropping in at all hours. They'd bring food up during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And bring homework during breaks, and when their lessons ended.
The first night Pansy had faked a stomachache, quickly followed by the others, in an attempt to stay the night. Madame Pomfrey humored them, but didn't allow a repeat the second day.
Daphne, Terry, Neville and Luna dropped by frequently for the following days, but didn't make themselves live-in's like the others.
At night, when they were kicked out of the infirmary the students felt restless, and decided to look up the mysterious potion. After the first day of research they'd been disappointed not to find anything relevant, so that night they snuck into the forbidden section of the library, to see what they could find.
Apparently, the potion was a form of dark magic that is particularly difficult to brew. Its purpose is to melt the skin and muscle. What makes it so dangerous is that when it enters the blood stream, it is pumped directly into the heart. And when the potion enters the heart there is nothing anyone can do.
They had been lucky Snape prepares complex antidotes during his spare time, and had given Madame Pomfrey the antidote last year. Apparently he had been concerned that students would be forced to brew dark magic potions, just as they'd had been taught dark magic in DADA.
Further research indicated that it was only due to resent development in health care, that Hermione's skin and muscle could even be healed at all. Before then the only other survivor had been a potioneer, who'd accidently dropped the brew on his legs. He had the antidote on hand, but had lost a large chunk of muscle that no healer/or potion could regrow.
The group had been informing Draco of this when Hermione opened her eyes.
Hermione POV
"We think whoever made the potion either hoped it would kill her, or at the very least take away the use of her hands."
Take away someone's hands? On impulse I tried to wiggle my finger, but nothing happened. Starting to panic I opened my eyes and looked down at my arms. They were covered with bandages, and proved immobile.
"Hermione!"
"Your awake!" I looked up to see Draco, Pansy, Ron, Blaise and Harry surrounding my. Looking past them I saw other beds and medicine racks.
"Why am I in the hospitable?" Looking down at my arms I tried to move them again, to no avail. "Why can't I move my hands? What's going on?"
Just then Pomfrey came threw pushing people out of my way. "Hello dear. How are you feeling?" Pulling out her wand she did a series of movement and a number of charts appeared for her to read.
"Just dandy, except the thing about not being able to move my hands." I said nonchalantly, trying not to sound scared.
"Not to worry dear, that's a temporary side affect to the numbing potion." Putting down the charts she used her wand as a flashlight to check my eyes. "Can you tell me my name, and the year?"
"Madame Pomfrey." I heard a 'phewf' just behind me and saw Malfoy run his hands threw his hair. "What –"
"And the year?" Madame Pomfrey cut me off.
"Um. September 7th 2001." I answered. "First day of classes. Did I miss them?" I asked nervously.
"Hermione." Harry said as he sat on the edge of my bed. "You've been asleep for three days. So you've missed a few." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Just then Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape all entered the room. Snape approached Pomfrey, and she handed him her charts. He gave them a quick glance over and nodded without commenting.
Before I could ask him about it, McGonagall told everyone to leave for the moment.
"I'm sorry professor, but I can't do that." Harry spoke up.
"Neither can I." Ron agreed
"Well isn't that touching." Snape said condescendingly. "But rules are rules, only family is aloud to be present for meeting like this."
"With all due respect sir, we are her family." Harry said, not one to back down.
Dumbledore sighed, and said "Very well" before the two of them could start a battle of wits.
"I'd like to point out that I physically can't leave." Malfoy said from his chair beside me.
"And I'm feeling queasy. Maybe I should take a seat over here for when Madame Pomfrey's done." Pansy cradled her stomach and hopped up on the bed to my right. When she sat down she winked at me and I laughed.
"It's okay let them stay. You know they'll just pitch a fuss until you do." I croaked.
Smiling, Dumbledore nodded and got right to business. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Yes. I opened a letter, and something came out all over my hands. They started burning, or at least that's what it felt like. I fell over, and the stuff got onto my chest, then um." I looked at Draco blushing. "Draco carried my here, and after that things get somewhat hazy."
"Have you gotten mail like this before? Or received threats similar in nature?" He continued.
I felt my shoulders tense, should I tell the truth?
"Yeah she got that letter in forth year. Remember?" Ron answered for me.
"Hermione?" Dumbledore said maintaining eye contact.
Letting out a long breath, I recognize I've let the lies go on long enough. "The day after I left in the summer." I began to the shock of Ron and Harry. "I was wandering threw a park in France. I had just sat at a bench to have lunch when an owl dropped down beside me. I didn't know whom it was from, so I cast a spell to make sure nothing dangerous was in it. The spell came up clean so I opened the letter." Here I paused and took a deep breath. "The letter was just ranting at first: mudbloods are an abomination, and you're the worst of them all. It said things about how I had gotten off lucky, and that I was an ugly cow."
Shaking my head I tried not to let the words bother me. "I was just about to rip the nonsense when I noticed the bottom paragraph talking about my parents." Having long since memorized the paragraph I recited it without looking up: I'm sure the poor couple in Australia feels the same way. It's ironic really. They survive a war, where they'd been tricked into hiding, and narrowly escaped the bounty over their heads, only to die a week later. And to die in a car crash no less. It really is whimsical. And to think, the daughter they thought had died just a year before them could have saved their lives. If only she had cared enough about them to go find them the second the war was over. I know I would have.
I continued the narration before anyone could comment, "I stood up from the bench and looked around, but the owl that had dropped off the letter was gone. For days I tracked the bird, it was the only thing to have touched the letter, i suppose whoever had written the letter wore gloves. The spells indicated that the owl was flying from one port to the next, and I'd decided it was a dead end. It was then, that i caught the news. I had stopped by a bistro when I heard people talking about a bombing in the park where I got the letter.
"Apparently I had left just in time. And although no one died, thank god, a few had been injured. I altered the tracking spell -with some difficulty- to show me where the letter had been written. It indicated a cottage in the mountains. Whoever lived there had put anti-apparition wards everywhere. The only way to the house was to walk. It took a few weeks, and when I finally got there it was empty. The only thing left was a note warning me not to look for them, that all would be revealed in time.
"But I was angry, so I didn't give up. I decided to brew the identification spell. Whoever had written the letter had used a blood quill. Somehow the person found out, and they sent me a package with a note saying, I warned you." Tears sprang up in my eyes, but I fought them back. I took a deep breath to steady myself; I didn't want to have a breakdown with everyone watching me. "When I opened the package I found Crookshanks with her paws cut off.
"After that I backed off, and returned to Grimmauld Place. This is the first I've heard of them since."
After that everyone fell into a discussion about safety precautions and contacting the aurors, while I started to drift off.
I faintly remember hearing Madame Pomfrey tell everyone to get out; I needed to rest. The last thing I remember before drifting into unconsciousness was someone running a hand threw my hair, and turning my head into their palm.
Hope you've enjoyed! R&R...now please!
