(A/N): Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for their reviews and support! I don't know what I would do without you guys! I would probably still be writing Chapter 3! You guys can be so flattering!
princessgrl: I think it is so amazing how you seem to predict what's going to happen next in the story, even if you don't realize it yourself! This is the second time you've been spot on about something you mentioned in a review and maybe you haven't noticed it! Thanks so, so, so much for the review!
Emi-Bum: Yeah, the story did start out a bit cliché. I totally don't like the first three chapters… Thanks for your review!
Jaejae: Haha… I know, he's insufferable here isn't he:Sigh: But that's why I love him… Yeah, well, I realized he was kinda stupid in this chapter but that makes it easier to hate him… Thanks for the review!
FallenMadness88: Glad to have you back! I had totally forgotten what (I think it was Sirius) said about Purebloods intermarrying and all that jazz. Either way, Ron gets the girl! Thanks so much for the review!
(A/N): Thank s to these wonderful reviewers too! Tacki, SexyDraco04, Nick-Nack-Black, xhaekyu, Flip chick, Lauressa, the singer, and MIDNIGHT-PIXIE. And a happy, happy birthday to –mz chinagurl-! Congratulate me! It's also Diary of a Songbird's birthday! One year since I first posted this story, baby!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters, settings, and terminology belong to the wonderfully genius mind of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Sadly.
What was Broken:
Short puffs of crystallized air emitted from Draco's mouth as he hurried through the freezing dungeons fuming. The farther away from the Potions classroom he got, the more he calmed down but until he found Hermione, he would not stop moving. With only a faint idea of where the Head Girl may have gone, he headed towards the fourth floor and the Head common room. He could feel the weight of both his and Hermione's school bags on each of his shoulders and both of their Potions texts under his arms. His muscles were starting to tire but the fatigue of his body was insignificant to the anger that was warring in his heart.
He had no idea who he was mad at more: Snape for spouting off information that wasn't his own or Hermione for getting herself into a situation where Snape could spout off information that wasn't his own. Blaming her wasn't fair though. She couldn't help that she had been under the influence of a potion that forced her to do or say whatever Snape wanted her to do or say. She hadn't been able to resist the potion no matter how much she tried, and it was her diary! She was bloody well allowed to write whatever she wanted in it! It was Snape's fault that he had read to the class exactly what his unusually large nose shouldn't have been in! By the time he had reached the fourth floor corridor, Draco was able to squelch his anger at Hermione but his fury at his Head of House only grew.
He found her sitting against the wall opposite the portrait hole with her knees pulled up to her chest and her face buried in her arms. The sight set him into a panic. Dropping their books and bags to the stone floor with a clattering echo, he ran to Hermione's side and slid onto his knees.
"Hermione! Are you alright?" he asked breathlessly, pushing a few strands of her hair out of her face so that he could get a look at her. She mumbled a few high-pitched, watery words that were unfathomable through her tears and her hair. Sliding his hands underneath her knees and her lower back, he lifted her sideways into his lap. Her fingers automatically gripped the front of his school robes tightly as she buried her face in his chest. "Would you mind repeating that? I couldn't seem to make it out," Draco teased fondly, relieved that he had found her so soon.
Lifting her head slowly to look into his miraculously pale eyes, she said again, "I've embarrassed you! I've gotten you into trouble! What are you doing here?" Her voice was still high-pitched and watery but this time, her words weren't so mumbled.
"No, you haven't embarrassed me," Draco lied, "and I only lost fifty points for leaving without Snape's consent." His voice was light and teasing again but soft. Hermione tried to smile but could only manage a teary grimace. She hiccupped as she clung to Draco's supportive form. He would always be there for her, she knew, when she needed someone to lean on or to talk to, but the severity of her sobs was making it hard enough to breath, let alone speak.
Draco tried to make comforting sounds. He tried to rock her back and forwards. No matter what he did, Hermione only seemed to cry harder. And then she pushed herself out of Draco's lap and onto her hands and knees, throwing up the contents of her stomach. The Head Boy didn't even have to look to know it was her blood puddling on the floor. He felt a pang of guilt for shielding his eyes from her; ashamed that he couldn't stomach it to look at her when she definitely didn't need his disgust. Once the sounds of her heaving stopped, he opened his eyes and Scourgified the mess away. Hermione lay on her side, weak with emotional stress mostly, the tears still pouring down her face and now running onto the cold stone floor.
Leaning forward more, Draco cleaned off her mouth as well, then, lifting her up again, he rose to his feet.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked in alarm as the corridor around them moved too fast for her liking.
"I told myself a long time ago that if I thought you would become endangered by these reactions, that I would throw you over my shoulder kicking and screaming and take you to see Madam Pomfrey myself. We're going to the Hospital Wing," he replied as he completely passed up the bags and books he had discarded to the floor moments earlier. Luckily, the Hospital Wing was right around the corner.
Hermione had nearly fallen asleep in his arms as he reached the door. With his arms full, he slightly shook her to wake her up a bit. Her red-rimmed eyes opened blearily and Draco spoke softly.
"Do you mind getting the door?" Hermione lifted her arm weakly and rapped her knuckles on the wood. The sound was faint and could hardly be heard.
"You could have just opened it…" Draco grumbled, but he was more irked by the whole situation than her. He didn't think he'd be able to carry her for too much longer. His muscles were already tired from carrying two heavy book bags and now his arms were getting stiff from staying in the same position for a while.
Apparently her feeble knock was enough because the door swung open to Madam Pomfrey's stern face. Upon seeing Hermione in Draco's arms and her tear-stained face, the mediwitch's eyes widened in shock.
"Mr. Malfoy? What's happened!" She threw the door open to let Draco through.
"It's a long story, but first I need to put her down."
Madam Pomfrey ushered the Head Boy towards a bed at the end of the infirmary. Draco saw a half boy, half pig-like creature sitting on a bed through one of the curtains.
"A fourth year boy thought he would practice human transfiguration on his first year brother," the mediwitch explained at Draco's look of disbelief. "Here we are. This should do." She had led him to the very last bed on the left side of the room, farthest away from the door. He placed Hermione down over the sheets. Her eyes were closed and she whimpered as he released her, refusing to let go of his neck.
"Hermione, you need to let go of me. You're going to get help," Draco said softly. She opened her eyes and reluctantly removed her arms from his person. Lying back on the bed, she turned her head away from the two people watching and continued to cry with embarrassment and shame.
"What's happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked again urgently. Draco sat down in the chair at the bedside and rubbed his face tiredly.
"Snape happened," he said, his words muffled by his hands, "Life happened." Before the mediwitch could ask for clarification, Draco began the story of how he and Hermione had come together in truce. He told her the story of Hermione's reaction—what he knew of them—and what Snape had done today in class. Madam Pomfrey listened quietly and unbelievingly, and by the end of his story, she didn't know what to say.
"I think she's under a curse," Draco said, gazing directly into the woman's eyes, enchanting her with his own dark orbs. "This just doesn't happen to people. It has to be magical, and it's just too much of a coincidence that she hasn't seen a Healer for this."
Madam Pomfrey turned to look at the girl on the bed. She had been lulled to sleep by the sound of Draco's voice, calming down enough to rest. Now the wizarding nurse went to the side of the bed and drew her wand. Holding it parallel to the sleeping girl's body, she waved the wand from the top of her head to her toes and back again. With a flick of her wrist, gold statistics leaked from the wand where the older woman could read them. Draco could make no sense of the numbers, words, and charts (not to mention they looked backwards to him because of where he was sitting), but it seemed as if she could.
Sighing, she said, "There is physically nothing wrong with her, Mr. Malfoy. I can find nothing. No ulcers, no infections. If there is a curse upon her, I must give her a potion and try again."
Draco nodded as he rubbed his bottom lip. "Do whatever you have to. I want this to stop. For her." He glanced at Hermione's sleeping body and remembered what she had looked like at his side in his bed. He wished he could have more moments like that with her but hadn't wanted to push her into anything after that night.
As she went to her stores cupboard, Madam Pomfrey noticed the fond look in the Malfoy heir's eyes as he gazed at the Head Girl. She and the rest of the staff knew of the Granger-Malfoy relationship. When it had first begun, everyone had been startled and slightly suspicious of Mr. Malfoy's motives on the brightest student Hogwarts had seen in nearly two decades. Since then, there was no doubt in anyone's minds that the two really cared for each other. Professor Dumbledore was the happiest of anyone over the proceedings of the relationship. He made sure to gloat about the success of his plan any time someone brought up the pair or one of the pair in conversation.
Finding the potion she was looking for, she returned to Hermione's bedside and asked Draco to help her wake Hermione. Once her eyes had opened, the older woman motioned to the flask of potion in her hand. Draco had helped ease Hermione up until she was sitting while Madam Pomfrey poured the potion down her throat. The Head Girl spluttered but swallowed all that was in her mouth.
"What is this supposed to do to her?" Draco asked nervously, his eyes watching Hermione as he skin began to glow blue. The light surrounding her woke her up more; she was staring at herself, at her arms and legs and stomach, in astonishment and with a bit of fright.
Keeping her eyes on Hermione as well, the mediwitch answered. "No worries, Mr. Malfoy. The potion runs through her body, searching for any magic. Whatever parts of her the magic controls will glow a different color. Red for spells, green for potions. If there is no potion or spell influencing her, it won't harm her."
Just as she said that, Hermione's head, heart, and stomach began to glow red. Hermione could only watch with wide eyes as her body gave off two different colored lights.
"It seems as if your suspicions were correct," the nurse told Draco. "There's no way for me to tell what is wrong with her but I can at least tell you that it is a spell affecting her."
Draco looked thoughtfully at Hermione. The glow was dimming and a few seconds later, had disappeared altogether.
"So you can't tell what the spell is?" he asked even though he already knew the answer.
"No, I'm sorry. I don't recognize the symptoms. Either it is an obscure magic or it is a Dark Art. Not until I know what the curse is can I find a cure."
Draco nodded in understanding. Hermione stared at the fingers she was twisting around in her lap, biting her lip in the awkward silence.
"If you'll excuse me, I have another patient I need to attend to. I must ask that you remain here, Miss Granger, for observation. I should ask the Headmaster what he makes of this," Madam Pomfrey said, returning to the stern demeanor she was known for. "And I would ask that you return to class, Mr. Malfoy, but I can see that you would not heed me." Draco smiled at the back of Hogwarts's resident nurse and turned to look back at his girlfriend.
Grabbing his hand into her cold ones, Hermione took a good look into his eyes and said, "I'm sorry about all of this. You don't have to stay. I don't want to be a bother." Even though she didn't want to be a nuisance to him, Hermione hoped that he wouldn't leave. The silence grew awkward again and she released his hand from hers, staring at her lap.
"Hermione…" He didn't speak again until she looked up at him once more. Moving to sit on the bed beside her, he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her tenderly; trying to show her everything he refused to tell her she was to him. Both of them were breathless as he pulled away; he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, rubbing her cheek with one hand while the other stroked her hair. "What are you talking about, you silly girl? You are not a bother and I want to stay with you. You have no reason to be sorry. I …" but his voice faded as he refused to let himself say what he wished he could.
Weakling… his mind taunted him in the form of Lucius's voice.
'Never,' he thought back to the voice.
Even without the weak feelings, you'd be too weak to express them!
'No, there's just no need to get her hopes up and then break them when I marry Pansy.'
Surprisingly, Lucius's voice gave him some sound advice that the real man never would have offered.
If you really love her, you would find a way to get out of your imminent engagement…
Draco removed himself from this line of thought. This was not the time to be thinking these sorts of thoughts. Graduation was still ages away.
Hermione rested her cheek on Draco's chest, both of them sitting on the bed with their eyes closed. The only sounds that could be heard were the shufflings and murmurs of Madam Pomfrey with her other patient. A few moments later, a door shut as she pulled aside the curtains around Hermione's bed, stopping when her eyes fell upon the scene before her. She cleared her throat and Hermione and Draco looked up. The Head Girl looked sheepish as she crawled off of Draco's lap and back to the bed but he was expressionless as he sat back into the chair.
"I'm going to have to speak to the Headmaster about this, Miss Granger," the mediwitch said. Hermione nodded, her shoulders slumping. After Snape had thrown her secret into the public, she knew that it would be secret no longer. "Is there anything you need?" the older woman asked before leaving, but Hermione didn't need anything except Draco.
Both she and Draco listened as she opened and closed a door closest to Hermione's bed; supposedly the nurse's office.
"Nervous?" Draco asked, squeezing Hermione's hand supportively. Her body was shaking almost convulsively, from cold or nerves he couldn't tell.
"No," she replied, even as her hand tightened around his so much that she could have snapped his fingers off. "Embarrassed mostly." She wiped some stray tears from her eyes hurriedly with her free hand. "Everyone's making too big a deal of this."
"Maybe you're making too little," Draco muttered in turn, but before he could say anything more, Madam Pomfrey had returned with Professor Dumbledore. His face was grave but he gave his Head Girl a smile.
"What seems to be the problem, my dear?" he asked, taking his seat on the bed beside her.
"There's no problem, Professor. I just have an overprotective boyfriend," she replied, wiping away the rest of her tears. She stared back into his eyes, almost daring him to tell her otherwise.
"Of course there isn't," the Headmaster said just to placate her, patting her hand. He stood from the bed once again and guided the nurse outside of the curtains. The sound of their whispers and murmurs could be heard but were unclear. A moment later, the sound of departing footsteps and then silence. Madam Pomfrey came back to Hermione's side but she had nothing to do or say.
"Well, I suppose you might as well change," she said finally, after an awkward silence. Retrieving a hospital gown for the Head Girl, she said, "Come along, Mr. Malfoy." Draco stood from his chair to leave but Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Can't he stay?" she asked. The older woman arched an eyebrow but her face was cold and stubborn.
"I should think that is highly inappropriate," she said sternly, crossing her arms in disapproval.
"Oh, but he won't look!" the Head Girl pleaded. "I just don't want to be left alone." Her voice softened.
"It will only take a minute!" the nurse retorted. "Out with you, Mr. Malfoy! Out!"
Hermione's eyes were still pleading as she gazed upon Draco about to leave the curtained area around the bed.
"I'll be right outside," he said, pointing just outside the curtains. Hermione only nodded. She knew Madam Pomfrey wouldn't give in. As she was left to her own devices, she changed from her black school robes to the white cotton night gown given to her. She pulled the sheets back from the bed and settled herself in between them, getting comfortable. Everyone was making her reactions too big a deal. Why did they all have to get in her face? She was even angry at Draco for carrying her to the Hospital Wing in the first place. She felt better now... Why couldn't she just leave? Why couldn't she be left alone?
Rifling through the pockets of her discarded robe, she pulled out the pen she always carried with her and the diary she had shrunk again before Draco had found her in the hallway. Opening to a new page, she began to release all of her emotion back onto paper. This diary was a friend. These written words were much kinder to her than confrontation with people had been lately.
She was so engrossed in her writing that she didn't hear the sound of a door, footsteps pounding on the stone and coming nearer, or Draco's voice saying, "What are you doing here." What she did hear is what Snape replied to that comment.
"You will address me with respect, Mr. Malfoy. It doesn't matter what house you're in, I should always receive that gesture."
Hermione's eyes widened. What was he doing here? Closing her diary as fast as she could, she shoved the leather book and pen under her pillow and pulled the sheets up to her chin.
"Hey! You can't go in there!" Draco called just before Snape threw open the curtains and crossed his arms at the foot of the hospital bed. Dumbledore and Draco followed right after, standing on either side of the Potions master.
"Worked yourself into a fit, I see?" Snape said with a sneer. The Head Girl's blush could not be concealed as she looked away from the three men standing in front of her. She didn't even notice the look of rebuke the Headmaster gave the younger man.
"If it's all the same, Professor, I believe it is your fault I've "worked myself into a fit" and Draco's that I am here," she replied to his snark.
"I was just trying to help, Hermione!" Draco very nearly yelled in frustration, throwing his arms open at his sides.
Before either teen could get too worked up, Dumbledore said in his soft, reasoning tone, "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure Miss Granger knows you only care for her."
"Oh, shut up! This is all your fault! We never would have gotten together if you hadn't forced us on each other!" Draco turned to the old man and yelled.
"Is that such a bad thing, Draco?" Hermione whispered, staring at her lap once again. Snape could only stand in the commotion, smiling at the devastation he was arrogant enough to believe he caused.
"Of course it isn't," he replied back, his voice and body slumping in defeat. "It just feels like you don't want my help!" he said with a touch more anger.
"I don't want your help! I don't want anyone's help! I am fine how I am! I've been coping and dealing with this long before you found out! Why is this such a big deal to everyone? Harry and Ron giving me worried glances when they think I don't notice; you, grimacing every time I write in my diary. Potion or no potion, curse or no curse, I am fine!"
Draco couldn't stand to see her being so unreasonable. In the years before, when he hadn't liked her, he knew she had been a reasonable girl. Maybe this was another effect of the potion or spell? To deny the problem so the victim doesn't get treatment?
"Obviously there is something wrong with her," Draco said to Dumbledore before stomping away from the bedside. Hermione stared guiltily at her lap, tears forming in her eyes. She hadn't wanted Draco to leave. God! She loved him so much but was so clueless as to how to deal with him! Letting her head fall into her hands, she allowed the tears that had built up behind her eyes to fall. Her whole body shook with her quiet sobs and both Snape and the Headmaster were left to feel somewhat uncomfortable in her presence.
Madam Pomfrey bustled through the curtains and looked around in uncertainty.
"What is going on here? Why is Mr. Malfoy sitting by the door and what did you do to upset her?" she added when she saw the Head Girl crying in the bed.
Dumbledore conjured a poofy chair and sat down tiredly. Snape continued to stand with his arms crossed over his chest but no one spoke. Madam Pomfrey looked furiously at the two professors and tapped her foot impatiently on the floor.
"If someone doesn't speak right now, I am kicking everyone out!"
"It's nothing, Madam," Hermione lifted her head and said. "Just fix me already so I can get out of here." Wiping away the tears in her eyes, she stared at the three adults defiantly, waiting—no, daring—one of them to tell her she wasn't allowed to leave.
The Headmaster sighed and said, "I've brought Professor Snape because I thought he would know more about any potions or Dark curses—no offense, my boy—"— Snape grunted—"than anyone else in this school. I hope he can be of some aid. As for me, I have an important meeting I must attend with a disgruntled parent. I'll check back in on you later, Miss Granger," he said as he stood and vanished his chair. Without another word, he had left the infirmary. Now that the Headmaster was gone and unable to watch Snape, Draco sidled back into the curtained area and sat down in the only chair by the bed. Neither he nor Hermione spoke to each other or looked at each other. Instead, Hermione focused on the words Snape was forming now.
"What are the symptoms?" he asked Madam Pomfrey.
"Well, I'm not quite sure. There seems to be extreme emotion followed by throwing up blood. That's all I can gather from this mess." Hermione just nodded at the words but no one was really paying attention to her. "I gave her the Magic Locating potion to see whether she was under the influence of a spell or potion."
"And?" Snape prompted.
"Maybe you should see for yourself." The mediwitch handed the still half full flask to the Potions master. Unstoppering the vial, he handed it to Hermione and told her to take two sips.
Hermione took the potion, shuddering in remembrance of the last time he had told her to take "two sips". This time as she drank, she didn't splutter but her face screwed up at the abhorrent taste. Again, her body began to glow blue, her heart, head, and stomach glowing red. Snape leaned down to peer into Hermione's eyes, rubbing his chin softly in contemplation.
"I'm going to use Legilimancy now," he said but he was already pulling memories from the back of her mind forward. All of them were just flashes, quick images that she had forgotten about or wouldn't want him to see. A shirtless Draco pinning Hermione to the wall of their common room—hanging by one hand from Ron's broom at the Quidditch pitch, Draco smirking—cowering in the back of the store Fixation while Harry, Ron, and Draco had it out at the front of the store—the pale grey eyes from her dreams, looming so close to her vision—flying on a hippogriff with Harry and Sirius Black—a man in a Death Eater mask pointing his wand at her, a flash of purple light, and then blackness.
Snape paused here, opening up the memory like a file so that he could watch from outside of Hermione's body as Antonin Dolohov shot the spell at her and the faint look of surprise on her face before slumping to the ground. In the darkness of the memory, the faded sound of her name being called was heard but before she could try to identify the voice, she was looking back into Snape's black eyes again. Both he and Hermione noticed the tears that were pouring down her cheeks for the first time but Hermione had no idea why she would be crying. As she wiped away her tears, Snape stood and stepped away from the bed, unsettled by everything he had seen.
Madam Pomfrey and Draco just stared at him, waiting for him to say something. Hermione couldn't meet anyone's eyes. Finally, when Snape spoke, it wasn't what anyone was expecting.
"I will be back," he stalked to the opening of the curtains but paused when Madam Pomfrey stopped him with the desperation in her voice.
"But, what do you think?"
In an annoyed tone, he replied, "I think I will be back." The older woman stepped outside the curtains to watch as Snape stalked to the door. Draco and Hermione could hear the sound of his boot heels clicking on the stone floor, a door opening and then a pause.
"I think I know what it is," Snape said, before exiting the Hospital Wing and slamming the door shut.
Severus Snape prided himself on many things; one of which was his ability as a researcher. While a successful research didn't give him as much pleasure as say…being the only Death Eater to defect the Dark Lord's ranks and survive the entire war by playing both sides, but it definitely did have its advantages.
Like removing curses from annoying know-it-all Gryffindors.
Though, he really couldn't complain. Hermione Granger was his best student. And he did feel a bit bad about humiliating her so much earlier.
What? He's only human, after all, despite popular belief. Alright, maybe he didn't feel that bad…
Besides, in humiliating Hermione Granger as he had, he had lost the respect of an old ally's son. That was the reason he was doing this research in the first place, to win back Draco Malfoy's respect. Not that it really mattered but Snape just couldn't have one of his own Slytherins hating him. Draco was supposed to set the example of favoritism among the Slytherin students.
Oh, and because Dumbledore told him to and his word is law.
Scanning the shelves of his private library in his chambers, Snape found the book he was looking for: a small green, leather book with silver embossings of snakes all over the cover. The book had started out blank when first bought, but now, nearly every page was filled with scribblings of spells—curses, hexes, jinxes, wards, enchantments—and potions. Most of the scribbles were just interesting things that might be useful later; many of them were of original creation of several Death Eaters. Everything in the small book was part of the Dark Arts.
It had been Snape's prerogative to take notes from his brothers in the Dark Lord's service and steal their ideas and inventions. Not necessarily for his own glory…of course not. Attaching his name to the creation of any of these spells and potions was a one way ticket to Azkaban, and for twenty years, that's exactly what Snape had avoided. No, this collection of other peoples' work was solely for the Potions master's interest and perusal. For emergencies, you could say. Not even Albus Dumbledore knew all of what was contained in this journal. Snape had decided not to share it with him unless it had something to do with the Death Eater's activities. In fact, the ex-Death Eater hadn't even glanced at this book for nearly a year.
So what a pleasant surprise it was that he found exactly what he was looking for in this small, once-blank book that was so very similar to Hermione Granger's own diary.
"Look, Draco, I'm sorry for the way I've been behaving. I know you only care about me and I've been acting like a total idiot. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's about time this spell comes off. I'm glad I have you to share this experience with. I never wanted to do it alone and that's why I've never looked for more help than I needed. Thank you for being with me…" Hermione looked up from the empty chair to the mediwitch standing at the foot of the bed smiling fondly. "How's that?" she asked.
"Much better. I think, Mr. Malfoy would appreciate that apology much more than 'I still don't think you're right but I'm saying sorry anyway'." Hermione nodded.
After his stomach had grumbled rather loudly, Hermione had told Draco to go off to lunch, that she would be fine without him for a few minutes. He hadn't liked being dismissed like that— mainly because he thought she wanted to get rid of him—but after her assurances that that wasn't the case, he had left for the Great Hall reluctantly. Hermione had just finished her lunch of a cheese sandwich and water before she asked Madam Pomfrey what was going wrong with her relationship.
"He cares for you and he doesn't want his concern to be brushed aside as you're doing. You know as well as anyone that Mr. Malfoy isn't used to showing concern. He thinks you just don't want him to care for you," she had said.
"But that's not true!" Hermione had rebutted. "I do want him to care for me, just not about this. He has to see that."
"Unfortunately, Miss Granger, men are usually blind to the obvious. It's not their fault, the poor dears; they were just born that way." Hermione chuckled. It seemed as if her fondness for the older woman was growing the longer they talked. The Head Girl had always known the mediwitch for her stern nature, but never as funny too. "Don't look so surprised, dear. I do have a sense of humor, you know." Both women smiled at that.
"So, what do you think I should do?" Hermione asked, looking slightly crestfallen.
"Apologize, of course! The way I see it, Mr. Malfoy has done no wrong."
Well, at the time, Hermione hadn't thought she'd done any wrong either.
"How are we supposed to know who's right and who's wrong?" she asked, becoming more confused by the second. If she hadn't known it before, she knew it now: relationships are hard!
"I'm sorry to say" Madam Pomfrey had replied, "that I am not the right person to ask." At Hermione's look of befuddlement, she elaborated. "I couldn't make my own marriage work so my husband died out of spite."
The younger woman wasn't sure what to say.
"No need to feel sorry for me. We were young when we married; he was young when he died."
"Why didn't you just get a divorce?" Hermione asked. That seemed like the logical solution to an unhappy marriage.
"There is no such thing as divorce in the wizarding world. Marriage is truly 'till death do us part'. That's just something Muggles made up to get out of a problem they don't want to fix."
"Oh," Hermione said, mainly to herself, surprised that this was the first she had heard of this. She thought about Draco's impending marriage. Even though she loved him and he had no feelings for Pansy, after he and Parkinson got married, there would be no hope for Hermione. No place for her, and there was no way she would become Draco's mistress after he married. Draco would truly be lost to her.
"But no more about my life. You still have yours to focus on," Madam Pomfrey said, pulling both women out of their reveries of the past and future as she stood from the bed.
Now Hermione could hear the sound of shoes clicking on the stone. The person grew closer and the Head Girl's face lit in a smile.
"Look, Draco, I'm sorry for—" but the person who pushed aside the curtains was not Draco. Her smile faltered and her words failed.
"I hope you weren't talking to me," Snape said. Hermione noticed the green book in his hand and the resemblance between that journal and hers.
"Well?" Madam Pomfrey asked expectantly.
Snape sighed and opened his mouth to speak but the sound of the door opening had the mediwitch seeing if there was a new patient so he closed his mouth again in utter irritation.
"Oh…it's you, Mr. Malfoy."
Snape noticed how Hermione's head snapped up at the sound of her boyfriend's name.
"Don't sound too happy to see me," she heard Draco grumble back.
"Don't you dare speak to me like that! You're still a student here, young man and you will address me as Madam!"
As soon as he saw Snape though, he scowled. Taking his seat in the chair that would probably leave a print of Draco's bottom from the three hours he'd spent sitting in it, he sighed.
"Look, Draco, I'm sorry that—" she started to apologize again, staring straight into Draco's expressionless eyes, grabbing his hand in hers, but Snape interrupted once again.
"Do you want to be cured or not?"
"So you did find a counter curse, then?" Draco asked, his interest in his Head of House now piqued.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, just as I would have said if I had been allowed to talk." Pulling his wand out from the inside of his robes and opening his green book to a marked page, he began to read—almost chant-like—words that sounded like a different language.
Hermione wasn't sure if it was the magic of the spell that disallowed her from hearing the counter curse clearly or if the words were so mumbled that she just didn't understand. She felt as if her heart began to shed a hundred heavy layers that had been weighing her down for a year and a half. As the Potions master continued to speak his magic, she felt lighter than ever before, her head began to clear, and she felt as if she was seeing the world through different eyes. The whole world seemed to have a positive outlook now when all she had seen for that year and a half was the darkness. But no one was paying attention to her as her face seemed to shine in astonishment. No one noticed that Hermione Granger was being reborn. Or that what was broken was now fixed. She could feel the difference.
Snape closed the book and stared at Hermione with a smirk on his face. Just from watching her expression he could tell that the curse was gone. He could see the look in her eyes. Eternal gratefulness and wonder. Astonishment. Her youth was so easy to see he wished he could laugh at her.
"Hermione?" Draco had finally seen the complete look of shock on his beloved's face. She turned to face him but couldn't speak. Her brown eyes were wide with disbelief and incomprehension.
"What's wrong with her?" Draco asked savagely, fiercely turning to Snape to glare as hatefully as he could.
"She's free," he said simply. "She's getting the first taste of freedom she's had since this curse was put upon her. It was so subtle that she wouldn't even notice the presence of the curse, but now that it's gone, she can feel it."
Madam Pomfrey stepped closer to the Head Girl as tears of joy leaked from the young girl's eyes. Using her wand again to scan her body, she read the gold stats that flowed from the tip of the wand and vanished them with a snap.
"She's still here. Everything's in order. Physically fine," she said, feeling a bit unnerved by those wide brown eyes staring into nothingness. "What was the spell, Severus?"
The Potions master conjured himself and the mediwitch a chair and both sat down with a sigh.
"I don't know what it is called but it was created by Antonin Dolohov. This spell was meant to be spoken. Most spells can be used nonverbally but in Dolohov's case…his sense of humor was always slightly twisted," this last he spoke mostly to himself. "The true nature of this curse, had it been spoken, would have been fatal for Miss Granger immediately."
Hermione had pulled out of her stupor to hear the explanation of the curse that had plagued her so. Now she looked slightly frightened that she had just barely escaped death. This time was closer than almost being clobbered by a troll, killed by a basilisk's gaze, or anything she had encountered in that last battle that brought down Lord Voldemort.
"What would have happened to me?" she asked, alerting the other's that she had returned to her senses.
Snape seemed to appraise her for a moment, deciding if she could handle the truth or not and then shrugged.
"You would have immediately been wracked with heaves that would have emptied your entire body of all of your blood."
She gulped but Draco's hand snaked into hers and grasped it severely, almost afraid to let go. Hermione was grateful for that contact and support. She drew her strength from Draco.
"But Dolohov made sure that even if the incantation couldn't be spoken, the victim would still be cursed." Now that he had everyone's complete attention again, he continued. "The spell had a sort of side effect, you could say. It didn't kill you right away but if you had stayed distressed long enough, it would have made sure that you died in the same intended way.
"Dolohov considered this as his own personal practical joke, of course, with the joke on you. The side effect was that whenever you get severely distressed, you throw up blood. The joke was in that the spell also gave you the means to throw up."
"What the hell does that mean?" Draco asked cruelly. Madam Pomfrey glared at his use of language but since she wasn't a teacher, couldn't take off points. And since Snape was feeling so much better now that he was in the limelight, he didn't take off points either.
"It means, Mr. Malfoy, that the spell heightened Miss Granger's emotions. Instead of waiting for her to get emotional enough to react to the curse, it increased her distress so that she would react. If she did not have that diary to release her emotions in, she would have died from loss of blood sooner or later."
Stunned silence dominated for most of a minute. Hermione's eyes were wide again in disbelief at her close encounter with death. Draco squeezed her hand so hard that her fingers began to fall asleep without blood circulation. Madam Pomfrey was in the same state of disbelief but she only had the apron of her robes to concentrate on.
"But how do we know it is completely gone?" Draco asked in a quieter voice.
Reaching for what was left of the potion on Hermione's bed side table, he handed the flask to Hermione.
"One sip this time," he told her. As she drank he said, "Do you know much about this potion, Draco?" The Head Boy shook his head slowly. "It monitors all the magic in the body. Whatever is glowing blue is natural magic. Squibs wouldn't glow at all." Snape smirked. "When something glows red, a spell is affecting that area. Pink means the spell is temporary. Green is for potions and a fainter green means the magic has temporary effects. When nothing but blue is glowing," he motioned towards Hermione who watched in astonishment as her body only glowed blue, "there is nothing affecting the person at all."
"I'm free," she whispered as the glowing faded. "I'm really free!" she cried louder.
Throwing herself out of the bed and into her disbelieving boyfriend's arms in the chair opposite, she began to cry into his chest, this time, unafraid of reactions from her emotion.
(A/N): Okay! There you go! The solution to a horrible problem and the second part of that whole diary ordeal! Those of you kind readers who hung around despite the "lame" secret behind Hermione's diary have now been rewarded. Now that that's over, things can start getting nasty…
Oh, and I still need a beta. Check bottom Author's Notes in Chapter 24 for details and blah, blah, blah.
Okay, then! A year after this story started and still going strong! Without the readers and reviewers, this story would be nothing. I mean it. Thanks, all, and as always, quick updates are not guaranteed, but I will try. So, see you in Chapter 26!