Chapter 10: Coming Around
Hermione's eyes fluttered before opening to a small sterile room. She was immediately greeted with pain. Everything on her was hurting, and she began to realize the various tubes going into her body. Two tubes were going into each arm, and as he began to focus through the pain, there was a tube going into her nose. She thought for a moment she must be in a muggle hospital, not St. Mungo's, because she didn't know St. Mungo's to use IV medication. Just then, a chipper little blonde woman came in humming. "Awake I see…thought you'd never come around, seeing as you've been out for days. S'alright though, we're getting you the potions you need intravenously, as well as some much needed nurishment." Hermione's head was spinning, and she could barely form two words. She felt thick, like she couldn't move.
"Everyone…where is everyone?" She finally asked, wondering why she had awoken to such loneliness.
"Who is everyone sweetheart? You were dropped here by Arthur Weasley, but he said he didn't know who you were, said you had been held captive by the Malfoy's, and he had to go hunt them down. Apparently, they all fled when Arthur and the Minister were searching the manor. Now, do you know who you are?" The nurse asked as she carefully wiped Hermione's brow with a wet cloth.
"I'm Hermione Granger."
The nurse looked shocked, but after a moment composed herself, "Hermione Granger died in the war. I think Arthur Weasley would have known Hermione, if he'd rescued her."
Hermione stared at the puzzled look on the nurse's face before asking, "May I see a mirror please?" The nurse walked over to a table and grabbed a mirror, handing it to Hermione. Hermione gasped as she looked at her own face. It was worn, and bruised, and swollen. It did not resemble the Hermione she had been before the captivity, though upon closer examination, her features were the same. She had not seen herself in a mirror for over six months, and it had never occurred to her that she might have changed during that time. "I think I'm going to be sick," Hermione said. The nurse quickly grabbed a bucket and pulled her hair out of the way. She realized at this point that the tube going into her nose must be a feeding tube. "Look," she said as she sat up, "I am Hermione Granger, and you can believe me or not, but I need you to tell the Weasley family and Harry Potter." The nurse again looked at her questionably before turning and leaving the room.
Moments later she returned with a photo in her hand. "We were given this photo six months ago by a young Weasley man, who asked us to keep a look out for this girl…a Miss Hermione Granger. She never showed up. And now, you are telling me that you are the girl in the photo?"
Hermione nodded, before staring intently at the nurse. "Look at me, look in my eyes, look at the photo, look at my ears, my nose, the hair for Merlin's sake." Hermione pleaded with the nurse, and after a few minutes of looking from one to the other, the nurse dropped the photo and grabbed Hermione's hand.
"It is you, isn't it? Oh my Merlin…unbelievable. I…I'm sorry I didn't believe you, it's just that…well, Arthur brought you in, and believed you to be a Jane Doe."
Hermione decided after hearing the shock and disbelief in the nurse's voice to postpone her reunion with the Weasley's She did not want to have to convince them too that she was Hermione. Still, she did tell her parents, who rushed to St. Mungo's and cried for a day at the sight of their frail daughter. Words could not express Hermione's joy at seeing her parents, and feeling their arms around her. The pain was slowly beginning to ease, and through time, the lashing marks on her body would fade. However, it soon came to her attention that although her body might heal, her heart may not. She had nightmares, terrible nightmares…the ones that rattle ones soul. It usually took an hour or so before she could sleep again after having a nightmare. Her parents spent many hours trying desperately to convince her that she was not longer in Malfoy Manor, and she was no longer being tortured. Even then, she felt remorse that her parents had to work so hard with her, that they were in pain…she didn't feel worthy of having her parents. Eventually, her parents had to return to work in the muggle world. They made Hermione promise that now that her face had properly healed she would contact the Weasley's. It was the only way that her parents felt they could leave her. With much trepidation and fear, they left their daughter, as they had found her…lying in a hospital bed at St. Mungo's.