Hermione was in the hospital wing; the strong smell of potions was as much of a clue as the lack of perfume. A page turned next to her, then a quill scratched a note on parchment. It was a sound she loved and she suspected she had a pretty good guess as to who would be the only person in the school who would still be researching after exams.

'Gellert?' She asked, blearily opening her eyes. She blinked to clear them, then kept blinking. The blackness didn't clear and she began to panic, the events at the ministry flooding back to her. Had Voldemort done something permanent to her? That icy maelstrom of magic leaned over but she was too hyperventilating too hard to hear him speak. It couldn't be permanent, she wasn't even sixteen.

Then suddenly a liquid was being forced down her throat. She choked and gargled for a couple for seconds until she managed to cough up the liquid she'd breathed in.

'You should never be a medi-wizard.' She eventually managed to splutter. She suspected that potion had just been a calming draught. Everything suddenly felt much easier to deal with.

'They didn't manage to heal your eyes; the healers think it might be the price of a gift somehow. How are you feeling... otherwise?' He asked, sitting on the edge of her bed. He was a silhouette of darkness, a torn mess of scar tissue and half healed damage, around him drifted an aura of icy magic, carrying the metallic scent that was always around him.

'I think I'm seeing you.' She commented. 'Inside. Like your magic.'

'Really?' He sounded genuinely interested.

'I can see your magic for sure, like this blue around you.' She waved her hand at the blue aura that surrounded him, then looked at her own silvery fingers with some surprise. 'I'm silver!' She declared, shocked. She jumped to her feet, Gellert's scarred black hands caught her, again surprising in their warmth.

She hurried out of the bed, determined to see the others, and ran straight into some fabric. It wrapped around, suffocating and trapping her. She couldn't find her way out, batting at the fabric until suddenly those warm hands were pulling her out, fresh air blew from his direction and she allowed him to pull her back to the bed where she dropped back to sitting.

'Is it going to be like this forever?' Her excitement had worn off quickly as the reality of the situation sunk in.

'We don't know. We think it's an effect of the unicorn blood you got from biting Voldemort. But we can work through it.'

'Can we really?' She asked uncertainly and she could hear the smile in Gellert's voice as he next spoke.

'Stand up.' She obeyed and she felt him press her wand into her hand. 'Keep hold of this. You should always have it with you.'

'Constant Vigilance.' She muttered. She did feel better with her wand in her hand, so she let Gellert lead her out. She felt the swoosh of the curtain as it fell behind her, then she could see the gold light that was Harry, those black tendrils dormant again. Ron was a clear, bright red lying next to where Harry sat. Unlike Gellert, there was no difference in the silhouette and the aura of their magic.

A whimper drew her attention to someone with a brown aura, their silhouette streaked with black. Umbridge.

'Hermione!' the boys chorused as they saw her standing there. The gold that was Harry stood up and made it way over, wrapping her into a hug, then between him and Gellert she was led over to Ron.

For a couple of minutes they updated her on what she had missed. She had apparently been out for just over two days and the boys had discovered a very amusing trick in the meantime. Ron called out Grindelwald's name and Umbridge squeaked in alarm, sitting bolt upright. Madam Pomfrey called out her office, asking if Umbridge was okay. The group of students giggled among themselves – no, not giggled. Something had changed, a kind of solemn maturity had woven through them.

The boys carried on talking, updating her on all sorts of menial things, but she was more interested in her new found gift. Ron wasn't as simple as he first seemed – different colours flashed through the red. Flashes of white sparked in his magic, occasionally orange spiralled around him and a slight brown accented his silhouette. Harry's had similar flashes of white, although the streaks of orange were much more pronounced, however his silhouette had a thick, foggy swirl of grey.

As the topic moved onto Gryffindors current status of 0 house points, Hermione finally shifted her eyes to Grindelwald. He was by far the most interesting, now that she looked closer, the rune that was carved onto his right hand was also there in his silhouette, a deep purple that was almost invisible against the black. His silhouette was almost solidly black with the occasional, rare flash of blue. She was pulled out of her observations by Harry calling her name.

'So everyone knows you bit Voldemort, you're famous.' Ron said to her. She winced and Harry touched her shoulder reassuringly.

'They'll all forget about it soon enough.' He said reassuringly.

'When are we all going to be released?' she asked into the awkward silence.

'Well, Harry's free to come and go as he wants; he only got a couple of scratches. Grindelwald didn't even have to get new robes of course. You're meant to be coming back for a check up every night I think, but you're good to go too. I'm stuck here for ages still – something about how thoughts are the worst injury.' He popped something into his mouth and she heard him chewing loudly.

'Hagrid's back too.' Harry added, as though he knew she hadn't been paying attention.

'Really?' Gellert spoke up for the first time since they had emerged from the curtained bed. 'Are you okay here for a moment, Hermione?'

So much for getting through it together she thought bitterly as he disappeared out of the hospital wing. Her disappointment must have showed on her face, because Harry reached out comfortingly.

Gellert didn't get back for days and in them, Hermione learned several things about her new condition. Parvati Patil, despite how annoying she was usually had suddenly become incredibly helpful. The girl specifically took the time to help Hermione dress each morning, making sure her clothes were the right way out and clean. Ginny and Harry could be relied upon at breakfast to help with her food, Ron and Dean liked to sneak things she didn't like onto her plate.

Surprisingly, Luna had become the best as Hermione liked to sit at the top of the astronomy tower and observe the fascinating array of colours as students wandered among the grounds. Sometimes Ginny would join them, flying up on her broom and lounging on the pile of pillows Hermione had conjured. The red-head would usually bring the prophet, reading the latest story about Harry's heroism. Unfortunately they hadn't been lying; the fact that she'd saved Harry Potter by biting Voldemort was famous. It irritated her to no end that after all her academia and her fantastic spell-work, this was what made the newspapers.