Chapter 9: Wake Me Up (When It's All Over)

For some the way to consciousness after a nightmare is slow and winding, Hermione's road on the other hand was abrupt. She jumped up or tried to at least. Heavy weights kept her body anchored to the bed. The witch's breathing became laboured. Panic set in. Instead of opening her eyes, Hermione shut them tightly, trying to keep the horrible truth from entering her peaceful world. They had caught her. They were going to do what they promised, and she would never survive. She tried to keep her breathing as even as possible and wriggled a little to check the tightness of the restraints.

As gently as her panicked state allowed, she started to move her body, the restraints seemed to tighten. Her body was pulled into another one. Another thrill ran up her spine as she felt someone's soft breathing down her neck. Hermione knew she was going to have to open her eyes to find a way out of this.

Hermione opened her eyes to very little slits and blinked a couple of times against the bright light. She tried to hold in her gasp as the sight in front of her shocked her to her core. She could not believe it. It was Sirius. He looked exactly like he did in her dream. Alive, healthy. His black hair looked soft as silk, cropped short to his head, his fringe covering his forehead. The many tattoos the witch could remember him having were peeking from beneath his clothes. Hermione breathed in a large gulp of air and tears sprang to her eyes as she took in his handsome sleeping face. He had to be a hallucination.

Without thinking about it, Hermione freed her hand from the strangle-hold she was currently in and brushed the hair from his face. On their own accord, her fingers traced the almost non-existent frown line on his forehead. Hermione could not remember the last time she saw Sirius look so relaxed and happy. It seemed like he even looked younger than the 36 he had been when he died. Even as she touched his warm skin, she could only remember his death.

A shiver ran down her spine when she remembered the death chamber. Goose pimples peppered her flesh as she tried to ban the images from her mind. That moment had been when the war had really started. Hermione took a shuddering breath, when suddenly someone nuzzled her stomach.

Once again Hermione tensed. She was not out of the woods yet. While she was pretty certain Sirius was a friend, she could not be certain the other was as friendly. As the tension seemed to rise through her body, many things started to happen at once. A hand started petting her hair, a thumb started gently stroking the top of her hand, and the nuzzling against her stomach continued.

In the background, Healer Abbott could be seen sending an urgent patronus to Harry. He needed to get here as fast as he could. He would be able to calm her. Healer Abbott had noticed from the moment she entered the room that Hermione's magic had grown exponentially, and this panic attack could practically level the whole ministry if they could not get her to calm down. It was already hard for the healer to stay in the room with the swirling magic, she could not understand how the three men could withstand the pressure.

Hermione knew the torture had to have driven her insane and she let a cackle, which sounded suspiciously like a giggle, escape her lips. She flung her hands up violently to cover her mouth and her eyes shot open wide. Now she had done it. Her captors would surely be awoken by the noise. Her heart rate spiked, and a healer bustled closer to her. The petting, nuzzling, and stroking stopped at once. Hermione glanced in Sirius' direction, expecting the comforting hallucination to disappear now that her captor had returned, but instead he was looking at her with worry and great big eyes. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but the person on the other side of the room started speaking instead.

"Ah, Hermione, it is good to see you awake. I will call for Harry and Luna immediately. They will be so glad," Healer Abbott started as she tried to step right up to the witch. She was stopped by the weird configuration of the beds and whisper-shouted: "Boys, what in Merlin's name have you done to my beds? Care to explain yourself, Severus?"

At the mention of Professor Snape's name, Hermione's head whipped around so fast the two other men winced almost imperceptibly. "Professor Snape," Hermione stammered, "How? Why? What?" She took a deep breath and tried to start again, but instead of her voice a croak slipped out, followed by a cough. If Hermione had been able to focus on anything else than the dead man in front of her, she would have noticed that someone had once again taken her hand and started rubbing soothing circles upon it.

Without considering the implications, she drank the water that was handed to her without checking it. She studied Professor Snape intently. His hooked nose, dark eyes and black hair seemed the same as when she knew him, but here too Hermione could see differences. Just like Sirius, the man had never looked more alive. He looked vibrant, younger than she had known him and shrewdly intelligent. As she was studying him, his beaded-black eyes followed her every move, studying her in return.

Due to her perusal of the young professor, it took Hermione forever to notice that neither the healer nor Sirius had handed her the water. While the penny was in the air a long time, it hit paydirt eventually. Hermione's head once again whipped around. "But I… Who?" She started stammering, "I know you, don't I?" Hermione's words were barely heard as she frantically tried to get out of bed. "You are Regulus Black." The last sentence was breathed so quietly it could almost not be heard. She pulled her hand free, whipped the blanket off her. She swept her legs over the side of the bed.

Hermione stepped out of bed and tried to make her way to the door. Her legs gave out and the three men reacted on impulse trying to catch the young woman before she hit the ground. Hermione reacted violently to the sudden moves and lashed out with her magic. She was so exhausted still that it was nothing more than a blunt too she could scarcely direct. Hermione's magic was getting more and more out of control. Her breathing was laboured. Hermione looked at her trembling hands in wonder as she could actually see as well as feel the the magic swirling around her. It had such pretty colours. She let out another cackle. This could only be another sign that she was going mad. It could not be normal that her magic was outside of her body. It filled the room and started pumping, ready to explode.

Healer Abbot had been prepared for this. She pushed her way to the witch's bedside by magically pushing the other beds out of her way. She squatted down as to not present a hulking, aggressive target. She knew the men would be back in their original position in no time, but she could feel that Hermione needed a breather. "Hermione, calm down love." She used the voice normally reserved for skittish animals. "Everything is going to be fine. If you'll just let me explain." She held up her hands with her palms open in the least threatening way she could and got closer to the witch. She kept her face and body relaxed as she approached the witch, using minimal magic to get her back to the bed. "Hermione, you know who I am. Look closely love. You just need to breathe and remember." She kept her hands visible as she stood next to Hermione's bed, waiting for the witch to recognise her face. It seemed to take forever, but finally Hermione murmured: "Hannah? I thought you took a position at the Ministry. How come you are my healer?" Hannah let out the breath she was holding and started explaining the situation. "So, you see, Harry thought it would be best to keep you all together, since all this occurred at the same time."

Harry and Luna entered the room, catching only the tail-end of the conversation. "Hey sis, how are you doing?" Harry flew to Hermione's bedside and took her into his arms. He held back a sob as he said, "You cannot believe how worried I have been. Hermione, as your brother, I forbid you from ever doing something like this again." Hermione was nestled against his chest, as he was brushing his fingers through her hair. Some tears slipped past the tight hold Harry had on his emotions as he breathed a sigh of relief. His sister was awake. She was awake and well. Everything else they would handle together at a later time.

Over Hermione's head, he looked around at the mess in the room. He knew she had been powerful before, but this felt different. He could feel the magic swirling in thick waves around Hermione. It was slightly uncomfortable for him to be this close to her, but he believed that the magic would recognise their sibling bond. He would do everything in his power to protect her, he once again vowed to himself. As he continued his perusal of the room, he was that the three men were looking at the magic curiously, while Luna was smiling her serene smile and Healer Abbott seemed to fight against the magic. It was like the magic had put Luna, the trio of men and Harry himself in the category of harmless, while the healer was still in the class harmful.

As Hermione calmed down, so did her magic. It became less violent and less oppressive. "I always knew you were powerful, but this is some next level shit, Hermione," Harry whispered into the woman's hair. "I think we will need you to research the phenomenon." He chuckled as Hermione immediately perked up at the mention of research. She nestled herself against his body and turned towards the three men. "I would love to Harry, but first, can you tell me what it is I am seeing? It is not a hallucination, is it?" Her voice cracked at the end as if she really believed that she was going crazy. Harry's heart broke a little. He would make it all okay. He took a deep breath and started off his explanation.

Hi dear readers!

I know it's been some time, but here's another chapter for you.
I hope you all like it. I implemented some comments about the lack of descriptions.
I had kept it purposely vague, but you were right, emjrabbitwolf, it was time. Thank you for your comment and I hope you like this chapter.

Today's title: Wake Me Up by Avicii!

As always, I hope you are healthy, whole and doing well.

Have a great read!

Saphire.x