Hidden; Dramione
by: villalpandoisbae
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Chapter two «Hermione's Memory»
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Hermione almost fell in her way to the great hall. Her nervousness made her feet clumsy and her head dizzy; even her lungs needed a moment and she had to stop a few meters before reaching the entrance of the dining area.
She tried to keep her composure at all costs and braced herself, ready to feel the lions glances all over her and containing the desire to say the truth: that she'd been somewhere she shouldn't be.
The witch took a deep breath, feeling as a consequence that pleasant smell of freshly made lunchtime food and that somehow managed to calm her. Granger had learned throughout these 6 years that trying to reach academic perfection was technically impossible (and the least of your worries when you're friends with the chosen one), but she couldn't help but try. She had a clean record –or even the best of all Hogwarts– and that had cost her tears, effort and patience ; a mere outburst of curiousness wasn't going to ruin it.
She cleared her throat just to make sure the tone of her voice remained in the same neutral tone she would use in a normal conversation, and decidedly she entered the hall. Her stomach clenched as she saw Harry and Ron at Gryffindor's table, and she couldn't identify if it was because of the butterflies or the guilt; fortunately, her feet were less clumsy by then and she made it to the table without any stumbling in the way. Ron, who was right in front of her, smirked as he lifted his eyes and saw her approaching. She felt goosebumps but refused to in none of the thoughts that crossed her mind in that precise moment. The brunette approached from Harry's back, and when close enough, she proceeded to press his shoulder gently as a greeting, something that Weasley's didn't enjoy at all.
The wizard tilted up his head to look at her and his lips formed a sincere smile. "Great, you decided to join us then. How's study going?"
The mage stiffened. The guilty feeling invaded her from head to toe again, but tried to not show it.
"Has Hermione Granger left the library to keep us company?" The ginger interrupted, with a slight of sarcasm in his voice. "I feel honoured."
The named one shrugged with a hesitant gesture and sat next to Potter. "I thought it would be a good idea to put that aside. There are more things to do."
«Like sneaking into forbidden places by accident», she thought.
"Who are you and what did you do with Hermione?" Neville Longobttom, who was listening to every detail a couple of seats away, joked. That made her teeth show in a smile that faded in a couple of seconds.
"And then? Which potions have you mastered for the exam?" Harry tried to keep the conversation going, even when she noticed his friend's awkwardness. "You're not going to fail like me, for sure." They laughed.
Granger lifted both shoulders again, insecure; she'd never been good at lying. If there was something that she did perfectly, it was saying the truth and ensuring the justice if it was necessary, but… lying? Her mind couldn't even understand why still gave weight to it, she hadn't broken a strict rule, had she?
She almost told everything. That bewitching song that reminded her of who knows what, flawlessly played on the piano; the conversation between Dumbledore and McGonagall; blaming herself for hearing all that by accident.
The words tripped at the tip of her tongue and she had to bite it to keep them from coming out. She thought it was convenient to talk, because who knows what secret Hogwarts might be hiding at that very moment.
Her scared soul decided to keep it like that, for some reason; as a secret.
Maybe it was the shame she would felt by telling them she had been in a place that only should be visited by teachers and delegates, or even worse, have to explain that an attempt to avoid her feelings took her there. Maybe it also was the mystery that invaded her body when she played the moment in her head once again; that thirst for curiosity, to discover which was that precious song that had delighted her ears before and specially who performed it, that could not satiate.
"I-I'm doing good", was the only thing she could say, feeling pressured by the expectant glance Ron directed her from across the table.
"Fine." Weasley murmured before giving a grotesque bite to the piece of chicken he was helding for an hour, waiting for Hermione to finish talking.
"Bon appetit" Granger whined in a slightly violent way. Harry stifled a chuckle but she was already lost in her thoughts by then to keep her attention in those two.
Something ran through her chest when she remembered the first notes of that song. If she only would have studied something related to music she would know which ones were those, but there was nothing close offered in Hogwarts. She asked herself how a couple of minutes were enough to relieve all the tension of the week, forget about the exams and even Weasley and her own swirling mix of emotions. Those were beautiful sounds undoubtedly, but she knew there was something else hidden inside her.
Feeling musically ignorant, she reviewed that moment over and over again in her head. From time to time she gave sideways to her friends and responded trivially to their chatter, which she wasn't paying a bit of attention to. "Yes." "Very funny." "Oh I'm not hungry, thanks."
Something had connected inside Granger half an hour ago, and it wasn't the fact of wanting to know who hid behind such exquisite melody, or that there was a musical instrument in Hogwarts and she hasn't found before; those aspects no longer mattered. She rummaged in her memories like a computer, fast and precisely, until she finally found it: the memory she most desired to find.
She must have been about 5 or 6 years old. Hermione used to wait outside her parents' dentist office, who ended their working day late at night by then. They accepted to work a couple of extra hours to get a higher salary, so they could pay their daughter a private school.
The yellow-painted waiting room seemed to be a comfortable place to snuugle and sleep when the tiredness exhausted the little witch. She always used to fight against her dizzy eyes closing up while waiting for her parents to finish with their patients and be able to go home early. Impressively, people seemed to have dental issues twenty-four hours a day, and she didn't like that at all.
There was a TV in the corner close to the ceiling, which played nothing but silly, boring programs to entertain patients most of the day. The young lady usually took the remote and changed the channel into something more entertaining for Hermione, but she used to fall asleep before could even pay attention to them.
"Get some sleep, Hermione. Your parents will finish soon so you can go home."
The receptionist was a young woman —about her actual age, now that she thought of it— very amiable and with an amazing finesse with children. The lady had become her friend, after living together all night from the comfortness of the couch in the waiting room; although rather getting along for Hermione meant exchanging a few words.
That night she was struggling to stay awake. For some reason, she didn't want to sleep until her parents finished. The rainy weather made the window glass fog up.
"Hermione, I'm gonna have to turn off the tv then."
The little girl nodded with her head. "No, Brenda, please."
"Fine." The receptionist chuckled. She took the remote again and flipped through the channels until she stopped on a music one. "I hope you enjoy the music, Hermione."
The child snuggled into the soft couch, trying not to close her eyes with the calm music that was playing. It was very relaxing and she was really enjoying it, even in her light sleep.
The office was supposed to be closed by 11, half an hour ago, but someone was waiting outside. Hermione couldn't distinguish who was that, because her heavy eyelids couldn't resist being open anymore and she fell asleep.
It was a man, standing outside in the very rain without even flinching about it, and which silhouette was illuminated only by the lights of the cars on the street. The girl behind the counter tensed and directed her glance immediately to Hermione, innocently lying on the yellow couch. She looked back at the door and the dark silhouette was closer and bigger. The lighting of the storm behind drew it's contour clearer: A tall man, who was wearing a cardigan and a hat, and in his right hand, he held what was clearly a wand.
The piano classic was still playing in the background. Along with the rain and the song of the wind hitting the door's glass, it seemed like a great duet of melodies that Hermione was enjoying in her now deep sleep. The man came closer and held the door handle as Brenda left his desk and ran in front of little Hermione, simultaneously. The girl's eyes seemed to be about to open, but they didn't.
A thunderous sound invaded the small space and woke her up abruptly. Brenda was in front of her, and behind her back the glass of the door flew out in tiny pieces with a green light. The girl leaned towards her to protect her. Hermione was already crying by then, she couldn't understand anything. Brenda pulled out of her pocket her wand and pointed the man in a defensive way.
"A dentist's office? Seriously?" the man spoke with a raspy deep voice and let out a bloodcurdling laugh. Her eyes fell on the scared little girl behind her. "Oh Brenda, you used to be one of the strongest witches I've ever known and now... you're a nanny?"
"Stay-away-from-her." She replied calmly, word by word, still pointing her wand at him. "Alex… war is already over, please stop doing this…"
"Brenda Brenda Brenda, just as foolish as the day I fell in love with you. Oh…" He laughed again. "I was so freaking wrong…"
"Muggles don't have a shred of blame in what happened between me and you Alex, and far less with you and the Dark Lord. They're innocent."
The man denied with his head and giggled, but Hermione knew he wasn't happy at all. She had stopped crying then to listen to the conversation, but fear was invading her from head to toe.
Mr. and Ms. Granger ran downstairs with a knot in their stomach that intensified when they saw the scene in the waiting room: the receptionist pointing an intruder with a stick, breathing heavily and apparently protecting Hermione from him, the broken pieces of glass on the floor and the rain entering the office.
The man looked at the new muggles in the room and smirked. Mr. Granger stood in front of her spouse instinctively.
"Alex, please, go. Now." Brenda's voice almost trembled.
"Brenda, my love… Come on, we both can be invincible in hand with with Vold…"
"SHUT UP." The witch screamed regardless of the muggles watching her. "HE'S DEAD. I'd never be part of something so… abhorrent…"
"Fine then." His calm tone scared the Grangers even more. "They'll pay for it."
He lifted his wand again, pointing to Hermione's parents. Mr. Granger leaned forward to his wife and winced, expecting the worst. They were both muggles and didn't know what was happening or what even a magic wand was, but they knew for sure they were in danger. Hermione let out a loud sob.
"AVEDA…"
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Brenda screamed out loud.
The man's wand, whose tip had begun to flash a green light, flew far away violently. He fell to the ground a few meters away from the office.
Brenda ran to Hermione's parents and could hardly speak to them. "Mr. and Ms. Granger, I… I'm so sorry…" She apologized, and pointing her wand to their heads, quickly murmured: "Obliviate." Both fell to the ground, unconsciously.
The witch approached the little girl crying on the corner, slowly, so she could understand she was not going to hurt her. "Her, my little one…" Her glance went to her cheeks covered with tears and her hand was already up to wipe them. "I'm gonna get you three out of here as fast as possible, I promise…"
Granger felt Brenda was directing to her in a different language; however she was so confused and scared…
The tv was still on. The song that worked as a lullaby for her minutes ago was giving the scene a slight of terror. Like a scary movie, she thought. The girl could see an escaped tear running through the witch's cheek. «What a beautiful song», she thought.
"I'm sorry."
Brenda placed the tip of her wand over Hermione's forehead; her fine innocent features made her look so fragile, so vulnerable…
Her ears decided to pay attention to the background noises: the piano playing that endless song, the rain hitting the street pavement. She closed her eyes tightly; it was all she could hear.
«What a beautiful song» she repeated again and again in her mind.
The wizard had already risen outside and was approaching the office again. Brenda murmured quickly one last thing, the last one and more vividly Hermione could remember from that night:
"Obliviate."
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Hi! It's Jil here :)
so this is the second chapter and I'm very excited to post it! I really enjoyed writing it. It may have some grammar mistakes such as repetition but I will be constantly checking and correcting cause as I've said I'm not a native speaker so it's a challenge for me o.O -
Also I wanted to say this fanfic timeline is situated somewhere before the half-blood prince (with a few changes as you can see) and before the war. I don't want to follow the exact timeline of the book/movies because I want to focus more on Draco and Hermione questioning their hate for each other :p.
Thanks! Enjoy! 3