Chapter 2: Getting used to things
She heard the outside latch on her door open and her uncle appear, standing tall over her small frame. How long had she been asleep for. It felt like a long time. She had felt like forever being in the room, maybe days. Her lips were parched from thirst and her stomach rumbled. She had spent so much time screaming, crying and begging to be let out that it had severely dehydrated her. That alone and being left in the cupboard for such a long period of time would do that. She licked her lips as she removed her head from her teddy bear and looked up at him. His face angry with her lack of movement.
She felt him grab her arm, forcing her to stand before dragging her up the stairs, barely awake.
She bit her lip from the pain remembering her retorts from yesterday not ending well. He pushed her into the kitchen before grabbing eggs out of the fridge. Hermione winced her eyes from the sudden onslaught of light that she wasn't prepared for. She rubbed her eyes in pain attempting to get used to her surroundings. The cupboard she had slept in for over 2 days was pitch black. She was able to make out the bucket to do her business from feel only.
"You are to learn to cook" He threw a cook book at her before stepping off into the living room and turning on the t-v. "I want it done in less than 10minutes, you little brat" She gulped before flipping the book open to eggs and toast. She gulped opening the first page and beginning to prepare his breakfast. By the end she was quiet proud of her achievement, she plated the food for him and one for herself before walking into the lounge and calling for him.
Needless to say, she had not completed the task to his standard as he stared at the slightly overcooked toast and over-cooked eggs.
She bit her lip as he took a bite before spitting it onto the plate.
"It's tastes like shit!" He told her. She gulped. She had never heard that word before but she knew it instantly meant bad. She turned to her food and began to pick up her slice of buttered toast. She felt a surge of pain in her wrist at the instant she picked her food up.
"No food for the rest of the day" She stared up at him confused and angry as he tightened his grip around her small wrist.
She had tried her best. She had never cooked before and he was punishing her.
"THAT'S NOT FAIR" She screamed at him, her cheeks flushed. She had not eaten in so long. The last meal being lunch at a small diner on the travel to his house and even then it wasn't much. He gritted his teeth, launching over the table and grabbing her by the hair. She yelped as he pushed her forward slamming her into the side of the fridge and breathing into her neck.
"Disobeying means punishment, you little swot. I think you need to learn now what happens when you're bad" He hurled her down the stairs into the basement again before throwing her into the centre. The basement was pretty much empty apart from a few boxes stacked in the corner. He reached into one of the brown boxes pulling out an electrical cord. Hermione gulped backing away from him. He grabbed her, forcing her to turn her back to him before he stomped on her back. She yelped in pain thinking he was only threatening. That was before the first of the whips hit her back causing her to see stars. She screamed in agony, her face going red from screaming.
He had continued to 10 before dragging her back up the stairs. She barely moved, still shaken and sobbing from the event. He tangled his fingers in her hair before bending down next to her.
"I'm leaving for work. It's six now. You have until four-thirty this evening to get this place cleaned up or you can expect a worse punishment when I get home, understand?"
She breathed heavily, tears sliding down her face.
"I want mommy and daddy" She cried. He punched her face getting her to snap out of her histerics.
"Understand?"
She nodded, her head rolling to the side as her broken nose bled on the floor.
He spat at her before walking off.
Hermione had spend over an hour sobbing to herself before making a move. Dragging herself over to the cupboard under the sink in search of cleaning supplies. She prayed for the social worker to come back. For anyone to find her but she knew it was false hope.
She was all alone.
Days turned into weeks. Each day was the same. He would come into her room in the morning, unlock the door and force her to cook him breakfast. Depending on her cooking, she would either face and quick beating from her uncle or be left alone. She would then shower quickly, change, do all her chores before finally sitting down with her school books and learn.
She would then prepare dinner and serve it just as he walked through the door. At his beck and call, she would serve him as he ate until he had finished. Only then would she be allowed some food, dependent on her level of cooking that day. Finally, she would clean up before walking into the cellar and using the light from the door to to read. When she felt too sleepy, she would then walk down the rest of the stairs to her bedroom and sleep on her dirty clothes which he had at least let her keep.
Every day she would be beaten and abused.
Everyday she would end up screaming her lungs out for mercy but no one heard. She began to think no one cared. That she deserved this.
It wasn't until the May that she began to experiencing wild outbursts of magic as a result of the beatings. Glasses would break, furniture would tip over, lights would flash. He began to think of her as a freak, blaming her immediately. The beatings got worse to the point where she would fall unconscious from the pain.
She didn't understand what was happening to her. Why she was making things happen without her command. She didn't understand why had accused her. She still remembered the first day it had happened.
She was preparing dinner for her uncle and two of his mates who were at the table playing what she assumed was Poker in the living room. For the sounds of her uncle groaning, she knew he was losing and losing meant he would be angry. She gulped, removing another beer from the fridge hoping he would drink himself into unconsciousness tonight. She had picked up on the tendency after a month of living with him. If she got him too drunk he would forget she existed and would crash on the couch. If he was only a little drunk he was still capable of taking out his anger on her.
She had walked around the room placing a beer on everyone's side being as quiet as she could in order to not interrupt the game. A white haired man with twinkling eyes stared at her happily as she placed a beer to his right.
"Quiet the little helper you are. Ain't ya" She nodded solemnly careful to avoid eye contact.
He laughed, his puppy dog eyes scrutinizing her every movement.
Her uncle sat there unhappy at their interaction. He had explicitly told his niece to stay out of trouble and now she was causing a scene with his friend/enemy at this point. The way he had been robbing his money tonight at Poker he might as well be. He gritted his teeth into his cigarette before straightening his back deciding that the girl was just like her parents; a traitor.
"I don't want another dear, but be a lamb and fetch your poor uncle another. I think he needs it the way he's playin' with that shite hand of 'is" He laughed again slipping something into the girls hand and trying to cheer the girl up a bit. He knew that her uncle beat her. Yes, even his parents did when he was little. He concluded that the girl had just never been hit before and was still learning to adjust to a more traditional style of punishment. He egged her on patting her should not noticing the sudden shuddering that lept down her spine.
She was stubborn and continued to stare at the ground refusing to join in on the joke. He gave her a playful smack on the shoulder to move her off. She gently placed another beer on her uncle's side before telling her uncle that dinner was ready. As always, he ate first and she would get the scraps, if she was lucky. Some of the time naught and he would end up feeding the scraps to his dog just to spite her. Every time it got worse. She loaned to be the dog that got the scraps.
She had waited on the cellar stairs for over an hour for them to finish eating. Staring down at the scrunched paper in her hand she noticed it was a $10 note. She stared at it in shock. The man had given her money. Her eyes widened as she moved down the stairs quickly trying to find a place to hide it from her uncle. She concluded with slipping it into a small tear on teddy. Her uncle thought the bear was filthy to the point he wouldn't dare touch it.
A squeak of chairs and she knew they had returned to the living room to continue their game. Hermione had moved off, checking to make sure there was at least something left. In the end she found one of the men had only eaten half his food but had placed a cigarette bit and his dirty napkin on top of the cooked roast. She sighed angrily, removing the dirty napkin and cigarette before cleaning away any contaminants and eating.
After an hour and a half of cleaning the dishes and benches as well as sweeping the floor, it was past 10pm and it was time for bed. She again noticed the squeaking of chairs indicating the men were leaving.
"Better luck next time, Jack" The older man that had spoken to her that night said. She finally bothered to look up at him. He was an older grey haired slight over-weight man who chuckled at her uncle. Her uncle ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
"That's $200 you owe me mate. Try not to skip out like you did last time"
Her uncle grumbled before walking into the kitchen, ignoring his dependent brat before reaching into a cookie jar on the top shelf. He pulled out a couple of bucks before placing it on the high shelf and returning to the man.
"Thank god for child support" Her uncle muttered as he handed the man the money.
"Good on ya boy" The older man held the door open for his brunette haired friend who had been relatively quiet and practically ignored her.
"Oh and do take care of that lovely niece you have there. She really is a great hostess serving ya more beers than ya need" He winked at her in particular before closing the door. Hermione gulped as her uncle turned around finally taking notice of his niece pretending to sweep. His eyes darkened at her.
"This is all your fault" He grabbed her by the back of the neck. She whimpered from his touch, dropping the wooden broom as he dragged her into the lounge.
"Isn't it?"
"P-Please, I-I didn't do anything" She bit back trying to reduce his temper as he threw her to the ground.
"I should've known you were working with that Scottish prick. What'd he pay ya to try and gettin' me drunk"
His leg swung out kicking her in the stomach. She yelped in pain, curling into a ball.
"I didn't. I-I wasn't-"
He kicked her again this time hearing a crack. She screamed breathing fast and very shallow. She scrunched her face in pain sobbing.
"DON'T LIE TO ME. YOU WERE TRYING TO GET ME DRUNK"
He stomped on her leg.
"I WASN'T" She screamed, lying to him as he continued to stomp on her leg until he heard a crack. She screamed again, feeling the severe pain radiating through it.
She screamed in agony, her face scrunching in pain as her sobs got louder. The room began to rumble as the lights began to flicker. He yelped taking a step back from her considering it an earthquake. It had immediately ended when she had finally taken a breathe of air. He turned back to her thinking it was just a fluke of timing. Grabbing her by her hair and dragging her across the room to the basement stairs.
"You cost me two-hundred bucks tonight for your selfishness to please a Scot" He slammed her head against the wall. She screamed again, another rumble of the house occurred. He gritted his teeth now considering the fact that the rumbles may be related to her.
"What did you do?" He whispered in her ear. She panicked, not understanding what he was accusing her of.
"I didn't do anything" She begged him. He struck her again. The house rumbled this time taking some dust with it.
"You must have done something" He hit her again, stepping on her hand. This time the glasses on the side shattered as she screamed in agony.
"You are doing this, you freak. You're the one to blame for everything, you little monster. Know wonder your parents died; you must've killed them"
"NO!" She screamed again, tears pouring down her reddened cheeks. Glass went flying everywhere as she had a meltdown. She would never hurt her family, let alone her parents. How could he accuse her of such thing.
He grabbed her chin forcing her to look at him.
"You're nothing but evil. Probably cursed bringing nothin' but bad luck into this house" He opened the door and threw her down the stairs.
"And stay there" He muttered slamming the door shut and locking it. Her body rested on the steps unable to move.
Thank you to all those who have review (IAmTheDungeonMaster; Lady Layla McGonagall; Crimson Blood20 and Shorty653) I felt like keeping things on a roll and bringing out the next chapter quiet early.
I know this chapter is quiet dark but I felt like without Hermione's background the main story doesn't have enough context and leaves readers to only assume what happens.
The next section gets lighter with the story behind How Hermione managed to get her Animgaus form followed by getting away from her uncle and find Minerva. The story then follows on to Minerva and Severus passively aggressively fighting for a new familiar (i.e. Hermione).
As always, please read and review.
