The weeks at Hogwarts went by slow without Hermione at Tanner's side. The Carrows, the death eaters in charge of discipline, would look for any excuse to punish students, and Tanner was one of the students they always chose. Every week Tanner would have a new injury among his body, some of them even turned to scars. This week of punishment started off early.
Tanner was walking in the corridor alongside his sister when he came across a group of Slytherins beating a second year Hufflepuff student. Tanner intervened.
"Get off of him!" He yelled as he threw one of the Slytherins to the ground. Tanner stood in-front of the helpless boy as the four Slytherins inched closer.
"What are you going to do about it?" Said the Slytherin who was thrown to the ground, Tanner noticed it was Asher Flint, Marcus Flint's brother.
"Leave this boy alone."
"Or...what? You'll teach us a lesson?" the group chuckled.
"I guess you could say something like that." Tanner turned around to help the boy up, his face was bloodied with black and blue bruises all over. The biggest one of the group went to reach for the Hufflepuff boy, but Tanner put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Touch this boy again and I'll end you." The Slytherins all laughed at this, and the big guy threw a punch in Tanner's direction.
"Tanner don't!" Screamed Marissa.
But it was too late, Tanner dodged it and slammed the base of his hand upwards at the kids nose, completely shattering it. The others went to attack him when a voice stopped them.
"Chambers!" It was Amycus Carrow. Tanner knew he was done for and so did the Slytherins. "It seems we are starting the punishment early this week." He said with a malicious smile. Tanner turned to the Hufflepuff boy and nodded for him to move, and he did just that, along with his sister. Amycus walked over and grabbed Tanner by the collar and dragged him through the corridor to his office, the Slytherins laughing in the background. Once in the office he slammed Tanner into a chair and shackles wrapped around his feet, hands, stomach, and shoulders.
"You seem oftly troubled for a Ravenclaw. It's a shame you turned out to be such a disgrace to your father."
"My father is the disgrace!" Tanner said powerfully.
"Crucio!" Tanner screamed in agony, this was not the first time he had experienced the Cruciatius curse, but it seemed to get worse every time. Red hot daggers were coursing through his body piercing every inch of his skin; the pain was so unbearable he had lost track of where he was. The only thing Tanner could hear were his own screams, he couldn't even hear the evil laughter of joy Amycus was displaying. The pain stopped suddenly.
"You are worthless boy." Amycus drilled his balled up fist into Tanners gut, knocking him breathless.
"A worthless," he punched Tanner across the face, "little," he punched his stomach again, "waste, of a Pure-Blood." He drilled Tanner in the face one last time.
"Crucio!" The pain came back. Millions of hot knives were clawing at the inside of his skin, he writhed and screamed bloody murder while held down by his shackles. Amycus cackled with glee. The pain stopped and he seized Tanners hair a pulled his head up.
"You see boy, bad things happen, to people who don't listen. And it's such a shame that you beat up a poor little Hufflepuff boy and an innocent Slytherin by-stander."
"I didn't hurt that boy and you know it." Tanner said back. Amycus delivered a backhand to Tanners face.
"DON'T YOU TALK BACK TO ME!"
"Those Slytherin did it." Tanner received another blow to the head.
"And that maggot by-stander deserved every bone shatter he got." Amycus punched Tanner so hard in the mouth his lip split and blood dripped down his chin.
"Such a shame. I destroyed your pretty face" He said as he pushed Tanner's face up with his index finger. The glee in Amycus' eyes faded. Tanner was taking every punch he got yet he still fought back with words.
"Just admit to beating that Hufflepuff boy and I will let you go." He said dryly.
"No." Tanner received another blow to the gut.
"You know I didn't do it." Another hit was thrown at him. Amycus bent down so he became level with Tanner.
"The more you lie to me, the more worthless you become." Tanner spat in his face, he wiped away the water and blood with his robe fiercely then delivered a knock out blow to Tanner's head. Everything went dark.
Tanner awoke groggy and confused, "Where am I?" he thought.
"The hospital wing." He heard a voice say. Was he hearing voices?
"How are you feeling?" A dark figure was leaning over Tanner, slowly coming into focus.
"Am I dreaming?" he thought again.
"No you're just disoriented." Tanner didn't even realize that he had been saying his thoughts out loud.
Madam Pomfrey was standing above him, "How dare they punish a student like this. What did you even do boy?"
"I stopped a group of Slytherins from beating up a Hufflepuff boy."
"So the good guys get knocked around, while the bad ones run free."
"He's completely mental. Absolutely mental." Tanner heard his sister enter the room with someone.
"I just hope he's alright." Ginny. Tanner went to turn his head to face them but his whole body ached he could barely move. Madam Pomfrey put a potion up to his lips and Tanner drank it. The minty medicine cooled and refreshed his throat, while the sweetness of melon and berries brought back summer. The minty refreshness and melon flavors brought back a cool summers night. He was laying in the grass in his backyard, and to his right Hermione was laying next to him. Tanner was taking in every feature of her, even in his dreams she still took his breath away. She was mouthing something but someone else's voice was speaking.
"You're completely mental, do you know that?" Tanners daydream faded and he saw Ginny standing over him. "But bloody brave." she added.
Tanner smiled but the others could barely see it due to his swollen face.
"Can't you go one week without getting beaten up by the Carrows?" Asked Marissa.
"It's just become a part of my daily routine." Tanner said sarcastically.
"You mean this has happened before?!" Questioned Madam Pomfrey sternly.
"Not like this it hasn't, but yes I've been beaten before." Tanner answered.
Madam Pomfrey scoffed, "Unbelievable. This school has turned into a madhouse!" She stormed off into her office. Tanner was slowly gaining is mobility back, the medicine he received seemed to be helping with his aching body. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, he felt a bruising pain through his abdomen as he moved. Marissa placed her hands in a ready position to help.
"I'm fine," he said. There was a look of fear and sorrow on his sisters face.
"You need to stop putting yourself in a position to get punished. I don't think your body can take it anymore."
"If putting myself in a position to get punished is by helping other students, I will take as many beatings as I can get."
"Spoken like a true Gryffindor." Mocked Ginny, and all three of them chuckled.
"But in all honesty Tanner... how are you?" Tanner knew Ginny wasn't asking about his physical state, she was talking about Hermione.
He sighed, "I'm hanging in there. I miss her so much." Tears filled his eyes. "Three months. It's almost been three months since I last saw her. I see her in my dreams sometimes, telling me everything's going to be okay, her voice so calming and gentle. Then I wake up and she's gone." He was choking back tears.
"She'll be back Tanner, and everything will be okay." Marissa grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Madam Pomfrey came back out carrying another bottle of what seemed to be ointment.
"This will help with the swelling," she started applying it to his face, "once the swelling goes down and you stop moving in slow motion you can leave." The ointment burned on his bruised and swollen face, but his body was slowly feeling better. "You'll be gone within the hour."
"Would you like us to stay with you?" Ginny asked.
"That would be amazing actually." Ginny and Marissa stayed by Tanner's side until he was able to leave. They spoke of happy memories they experienced to lighten the dark mood of the castle, and when the girls noticed the swelling went down Tanner slowly got out of bed and they made their way down to the great hall.
There was still a slight pain in Tanner's abdomen as he walked, but it was bearable. Once they reached the great hall many eyes fell on Tanner, and whispers filled the room. He walked towards his table and he caught the eyes of Amycus Carrow following him with an evil, malicious smile. A sly grin formed on Tanners face as he walked to the Ravenclaw table, refusing to break eye contact with Amycus. As he reached his seat he squared his shoulders towards the table up front and gave Amycus a wink, before taking his seat. The smile faded from his face as fear and bewilderment filled his eyes. Tanner was not through with him and he was ready to deal with anything the Carrow's threw his way.