Author's Note: Apologises for such a long delay! This chapter had to be the hardest one to write to date! The whole idea of this story is one that I have had for the longest, but I had to wait for the right wording to come along for it to all come together. I hope you all have enjoyed this story so far! I wish to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, or favourited this story!
Sunlight filters through the opened window causing Hermione to groan at the intrusion. The witch stretches her right hand out towards the other side of the bed and feels the cool empty expanse. Blinking her eyes, she allows herself to grow accustomed to the brightness of the mid-morning sun. Instantly, she realises that she has overslept, 'Why didn't Bella wake me?' she thinks to herself as she quickly crawls out of the bed. As her feet touch the cold tile flooring, Hermione feels a sense of apprehension fall over her. Looking around the room for any sign that would give her a reason as to why this certain emotion passes over her, the young witch finds nothing out of the ordinary. The room, though shrouded in darkness the night before, though eerily familiar, seems as normal as any other room in any other house, yet, the young woman cannot shake away the dread that fell over her.
Hermione shakes her head and attempts to combat the emotion as she walks towards the door. Just as she touches the handle, it hits her. The realisation of what the sense of dread was finally dawns on her. This was not Bellatrix's manor, she was back at the hospital. Hermione lets out a cry of anguish as she crumples to the floor. 'This cannot be!' she thinks as she struggles to make sense of everything that has happened to her. Everything felt real. The intense, unbridled passion that had been last night between Bellatrix and herself. The conversations between Savage, Proudfoot, Bellatrix and herself, even the death of the doctor in the exact same room that she now sat on the floor of, had seemed as if it had actually happened.
She stands up, her whole body visibly shaking as she walks slowly back towards the uninviting hospital bed. Hermione takes another deep breath to steady herself as she stretches her hand out to reach under the starched pillow. Tears stream down her face when she realises that her wand was not there.
"I believe I have seen enough, doctor," Minerva states with a grimace. The older witch shakes her head to push the sight of her once favourite pupil, now in a very deteriorated state, out of her mind. Once she feels she has maintained her composure, McGonagall turns to face the doctor and Kingsley, "How long has she been like this, Doctor Williams?"
"About four days, I should say," he turns back towards the one-way mirror that they had previously viewed Hermione through, "Ms. Granger has her moments of clarity, though brief, but I fear that she has slipped more into her delusional... ah... memories?"
"So you see Minerva," Kingsley says as he touches the witch's shoulder, "we have to do this... for her own safety and others."
"But the Longbottom's..."
"The Longbottom's have never physically harmed a doctor, Minerva," Shacklebolt states calmly but with slight force, hoping that his words would make his former mentor understand.
"You must also remember what happened at the Battle at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall," Doctor Williams suggests softly causing Minerva to stare at him menacingly.
"I remember perfectly well, doctor! I was there when it happened!"The older witch exclaims through clenched teeth. Her demeanour changing instantly as the memory replays in her head, "I remember how Hermione had caused the deaths of her two best friends to allow that miserable woman to escape and I remember how she tried to protect Tom Riddle, that is until the ceiling collapsed. I just wish I didn't remember."
"She was captured... possibly tortured... we do not know all the details Minerva. He could have Imperiused her or could have had Bellatrix do it. We don't know, I don't think she even knows the full extent of what happened to her. Harry was rather vague on the details of how long she had been captured by Voldemort's camp, but from what he did say, it seems as though she had been gone for months before she reappeared right before the battle." Kingsley says as he gently turns Minerva to face him, "Now, Minerva, please, is there anything that you can recall... anything at all, from before the trio had left Hogwarts, that would possibly give us a clue as to why she would have acted the way she did?"
"There are many things that I can recall, Kingsley, but are you implying that she may not have been Imperioused? You just said that she might have been, but now you are not so sure."
"Minerva, I am just looking for any reason at all. I did not know her as well as you did, so I can not dismiss anything. So tell me, is there something that you can remember that would either implicate her or would clear her name?"
"I... I don't know. She was an excellent student, Kingsley. Always punctual, extremely smart and talented," the older witch smiles sadly. "But I will admit, she could be a bit of a loner as well. There was a time, before she befriended Ron and Harry, that she could be found, quite alone, in the library pouring herself over her notes from class or just reading for the sheer enjoyment of a tome. Most of the students made fun of her for that sort of habit, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. I think that is why..." Minerva stops mid-sentence and frowns. Kingsley could see, by the far-off look in her eyes, that she was thinking back to something that had happened in the past. "Dumbledore," the older witch mutters and turns away from Shacklebolt.
"What's this about Dumbledore, Minerva?" the wizard inquires, his brow creases with worry when he sees that his friend and mentor seems not to notice him.
Minerva mutters aloud to herself, completely oblivious to the questioning gazes of Kingsley and the doctor, "I can't believe that I trusted his judgement in this situation. He said it would all work out in the end... I guess he didn't see that the end would be like this, if he did... well, maybe then he would have seen how terribly wrong he was about everything." She shakes her head and sighs, "Of course he couldn't see it, he was blinded by his inane idea that love and friendship would save her soul. He didn't realise that all his threatening would cause her to..."
"Minerva!" Shacklebolt says just loud enough to attempt to get her attention. It seems to work as she stops her murmurings and stares at him. "What are you going on about?" he asks softly, slightly embarrassed at his sudden outburst.
"Dumbledore caused this!" she exclaims, "Don't you understand? Without his meddling, we would never have to deal with this sort of thing."
The wizard places a comforting hand on the older witch's shoulder, "No, I do not understand, Minerva, please... I beg you, tell me what happened."
Staring off in the distance, as if she was peering through time itself, Minerva starts to speak, "It all began when he visited the Granger's house seven years ago. She was a young child, but very powerful already and Albus could sense her strength. By then, as you know, he had known of the prophecy about Harry and knew that the child would need all the help he could get. I was furious when I found out that he had threatened Hermione with the thought of taking her parents away from her. I didn't speak to him for months afterwards, but he insisted that it was the only way for a child of Hermione's nature to be corralled into a protector for Harry. No other child that Harry could have possibly met at Hogwarts could have been the most help that he needed. Albus had often mentioned that no child that passed through Hogwarts was as logical and precise as Hermione, that wasn't a Slytherin, I should say. Do you know that she was actually supposed to be in Slytherin, Kingsley?"
"No, I didn't."
"Well, she was. Dumbledore told her that the Sorting Hat would try to place her in Ravenclaw, but it was a lie. Everything he told her was a lie. She was a child that was destined for great and terrible things, but he hoped that under the guidance of Gryffindor House, she would overcome what was to be her future," the older witch sighs, "I guess it didn't work out in the end after all."
"Minerva," Kingsley says after he realises his friend would no longer speak, "I am still a bit confused. So Albus changed the outcome of Hermione's sorting, but what does it have to do with anything? And also, wouldn't have been best for her to be sorted into a House that wasn't obsessed with blood purity?"
"She was adopted, Kingsley."
"What? How did..."
"No one was supposed to know," Professor McGonagall states, "The records were destroyed shortly after the adoption took place and the Grangers were Obliviated as well, so no one was to know of the deed. Honestly, the only way I found out was from Albus."
Shacklebolt stares dumbly at the professor as the gears in his brain slowly turn, "Do you know who her real parents are?"
"That I do know," the older witch replies with a sigh, "I wish I didn't know, but it is something that burrows deep within your mind and does not let go, even after all the years that pass. Her mother was a pure-blooded witch named Alicia Bennett... her father was none other than Tom Riddle. Tom wanted a legacy, most people did not know that of him, but he did. After all, where would his dynasty go if he was without an heir? He had studied the family trees of many pure-blood families to see which one would provide him the strongest heir and it was Miss Bennett's family that had came out on top, so to say."
"How is none of this in the records? How did no one ever find out about all of this? And where is this Miss Bennett? Why did she not want to keep her child?" Kingsley fires question after question to the Headmistress.
"Would you have wanted to keep a child that you were forced to conceive?" Minerva asks as she stares sullenly at the wizard. "I know I wouldn't and that answer leads to the answer for the question of the location of Alicia. Once her family and Tom heard that she had put the child up for adoption, they questioned her for the location of the child. She refused to tell them. Even after a long torture session, she held her tongue. He was so outraged by her silence that He killed her and her parents. His actions caused the secret to die with the only people who would ever tell anyone about His child. Or so he thought," Professor McGonagall pauses momentarily to collect her thoughts before continuing, "He never knew that Alicia had went to Dumbledore to seek advice. If he had, maybe, just maybe, things would not have happened the way it did. He would have perished before any of this would have happened and Hermione would have never known the harsh threats of man who thought he could control the outcome of the future and she would have never had to endure any of this."
"Do you think Voldemort told her that she was his daughter?" the doctor who had been quiet the whole time suddenly asks.
Before Minerva can speak, a shrill laugh echoes throughout the room causing them to shudder uncontrollably. Its point of origin: Hermione's hospital room.
"You should never speak his name! He doesn't like when you speak his name!"
"Doctor, are you sure she can not hear us through these walls?" Kingsley asks in a hushed voice, afraid that the young witch next door would hear him.
"I- -i am certain she can not hear us," stammers the doctor, "the walls are built with soundproofing and I had cast a Muffliato as soon as we entered the room. She has to be hallucinating again."
Shaking his head gruffly, Shacklebolt states, "Well, at any rate, something has to be done. We can not have her in here. Maybe she was cursed, maybe she did it all of her own volition, but whatever the case may be, we have to get on with this. The Wizengamot demands that this be taken care of."
"I will not be a part of this Kingsley," Minerva exclaims, "Hermione is not in the right state of mind for them to cast such judgement upon her!"
"Minerva, we have been over this before. It is out of my hands. Hermione has caused too much damage to just simply walk away from all of this. She allowed Bellatrix to escape and caused the deaths of several Order members in the final battle. This can not go unpunished! You said it yourself a few days ago, 'she is a danger to herself and others'."
The older witch sighs as a tear falls from her eye, "She had attacked a doctor and nearly escaped from here, what else would you have had me say after hearing that man she had attacked had perished?" She takes a stagger breath to reign in her emotions, "Do what you must... as I said before, I will have no part in this." Minerva turns away from the two men and walks towards the door.
After the door slams behind her, Kingsley Shacklebolt sighs, "Best get this over with. I wish that it hadn't come to this."