Hey guys so I was asked as to whether or not this story will continue into Hermione's pre-Hogwarts and Hogwarts days. Well, the answer is yes, the story will go on until Hermione graduates Hogwarts.

Don't forget to review.


Chapter 11: Crash!

He raised his wand at the animal flicking his wand twice before circling it anti-clockwise.

"Infantem et bestia" He stated clearly. Hermione closed her eyes in fear but felt nothing. No tingling, no pain. She opened her eyes staring at a confused Severus before staring down at her paws. Nothing had changed. Thank god.

He said it again. This time flicking his wand once more.

Hermione instantly felt the tingle through her spin and faze into her paws. She looked down noticing her larger than usual paws and jumped in shock.

"MEW!"

Severus groaned staring at the kitten whose paws had only changed, however the rest of her body had remained the same. He sighed throwing the book on the desk before walking out of the room to get the later version of the book, muttering about lack of consistencies in editions.

Hermione threw herself off the desk transforming into her human form before staring down her hands in fear.

'Oh thank god' She breathed a sigh of relief seeing her normal hands.

"Blood Minerva making me-"

The door swung open. Severus still had his head down casted in a book. He looked up to see the animal on his desk. Only this time, instead of cat he saw a tiger. He dropped his book in shock before pacing over to the tiger and picking her up.

"H-How?"

He thought about it. Perhaps the spell just took a while to transfer into the whole body. So rather a delayed spell than an instant onset.

"Mew!"

Severus groaned as he stared at the tiger kitten outstretched in his arms. He had thought it would be fully grown not some unfortunately adorable cub.

"Well, I suppose it's better than Minerva's efforts and you are in fact a tiger" He stood up from his desk and walked over to the fire place. Hermione watched as he stuck his head into the flames.

'What on Earth?'

Her eyes widened in fear as she jumped off the desk and ran over to him. Severus didn't realise the cub had moved until he felt a tugging on his cloak. He turned back seeing the cub trying to pull him away from the fire.

"What are you doing?" He ripped his cloak from the cubs mouth. He tried again but the cub continued to grab him and wrench him out.

He shoved her away one last time before calling for the woman who replied instantly.

"I have something of utter importance to show you regarding out bet, Tabby" He smirked but rolled his eyes feeling the tug of the kitten attempting to pull his head out of the flames again.

He sighed after hearing Minerva sigh and inform him that she would be coming in a minute.

He smirked before turning around to the kitten about to yell at the bloody thing but stopped. He could see the utter panic and terror in it's eyes as a result of him putting his head through the flames.

He deduced that the kitten had been scared at that its' master was in some sort of peril.

"Bleedin' animals" He stood up, grabbing the cat off the floor and plopping her down on to the desk in order to inspect her. She looked like any ordinary tiger apart from the fact that her black strips criss-crossed over some areas of her backs and were more triangular shaped down her front legs unlike her back legs, which only retained maybe three or four oddly placed lines.

Her face even had a asymmetrical black markings that looked very similar to scars. He ran his hands over her left cheek noticing a particular black line that diagonally crossed over most of her cheek. His hand trailed down to another that lied just on her collar bone. A thick black marking. Bear turned away from him, not liking his touch in that particular spot. Still though, Severus persevered down to her paws. Now that he could clearly see her distinct personal markings he could now inspect them. His eyes trailed down to her back in which criss-crossed badly all the way down. He tried to stroke her upper back but she moved away from his touch not enjoying it.

The other problem was that now because of the lack of fur he could easily see her frame and Severus stomach churned. She didn't look healthy. She looked ill despite his and Minerva...and much to his displeasure Hagrids and Mr Weasleys interventions. Though, she had only been with them just a little over two weeks. He could consider the fact that it would take some time for her to be up to full health. Although, now he could understand why she had slept so often. She was a bloody tiny thing under all that ungodly fur.

Severus heard the flames grow higher and instantly lept into action. Grabbing the pup and forcing her to sit on his lap in order to surprise the woman.

"My apologies Severus. I had been in a meeting after being informed by two of my Gryffindores that one of the fourth years was attempting to sell drugs to them"

She growled angrily. Severus arched an eyebrow.

"Oh and who was in fact the perpetrator"

"Marcus Lavendar" She sighed rubbing her temples trying to de-stress.

"Mr. Lavendar has never been the brightest candle compared to others"

She scowled at him.

"We've made an agreement with him that he will not be expelled if he informs us who his other accomplices area"

"And has he?"

"Yes, Argus is keeping his eyes out for the other boys as we speak. The other staff are to inform Albus if they see them and pray-tell they do. In any case, you have something to tell me"

A wicked smile crossed his lips. Minerva knew it only meant bad news.

"Time to pay up Tabby. I won and you lost" He smirked.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Why would you think for a second that you have won"

His eyes glared at her before pulling the tiger out from his lap. Minerva didn't look so surprised. He knew Severus was a capable man. She was even less surprised due to the fact that she had given up trying to turn Bear into a tiger two days ago after she finally bothered spending 20 minutes researching the spell.

"What's your point Severus?" She arched her eyebrow as she brushed her hands through the pups fur feeling the fuzz that radiated from the animal.

"Perhaps you had not noticed this but Bear is no longer a Kneazle" He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. For a lack of a better word; he felt unappreciated.

"Oh please Severus. How do I know this isn't some Slytherin tactic at hand. No, I'd rather prefer a demonstration if you will"

He rolled his eyes again.

"And why would I do that?" He said stubbornly.

"It was a simple enough spell to recreate. Two flicks of the wand in a downwards stroke of less than a 30cm movement followed by a quick flick of the wand of no greater than a 5cm movement. Lastly, anti-clockwise movement of the wand with a no greater circumference of less than 15cm followed by the words 'Infantem et bestia'" He stated from memory alone.

Minerva's eyes lit up.

"That is not the correct spell" She commented, her hand stopped running her fingers through the tigers fur. Her words even set Hermione on edge.

Severus' eyebrow arched.

"Obviously, I think otherwise as you can see by my evidence" He swished his hand at the cat.

She shook her head.

"Severus, the words 'Trigris ut Catulus' are stated first before you are to administer to the wand movements. That book you used is heavily theorectical and only provides a temporary partial augmentation to an individual's features. Such as, if one were to want a fin instead of legs" She opened the book to illustrate her point however he slammed it shut and stood up angrily.

"I knew Gryffindores were sore losers but surely even you aren't blind enough to see that the spell did in fact work, Minerva"

She scoffed.

Hermione's ears peaked. This was bad to say the least.

"Are you really arguing with me boy. I have a masters in Transfiguration"

"Obviously, you are too stubborn of a witch to admit that you don't know everything"

"Well, if you believe yourself so smart Severus, then do the spell again with me watching"

She brandished her wand and trained it on Hermione.

"Finit Incantat-"

'SLAM'

All three of them jumped in shock at the door opening.

"Sorry to interrupt professors but the Headmaster gave me instructions to inform you if there was anything drug related, ma'am. See there's student's smoking in the storeroom. I came as soon as I saw the little rotten bastards"

"Oh for the love of- ... Thank you Argus" She turned to her friend.

"Severus" She nodded for him to follow. He looked down at the pet tiger on the desk still looking quite shell shocked. He scratched his face. Somethings really not right here.

Rather than inviting Bear to come with them he took off on his own accord seeing whether or not the animal would come by its own accord. He figured if the animal had something or was at least smart enough to sense the possible exposure that was going to come after catching the students, the kneazle would simply hide or run away.

Instead it trailed after Minerva's heel still in it's tiger form. Curious.

They raced down to the second floor and caught sight of the storage room.

"I propose we quietly move in, I'd like to catch the dunder heads who think it's appropriate to bring illicit substances into this school" Severus suggested going against the Gryffindore's usual guns blazing technique. Minerva agreed. This school had had a lot of controversy over the years, especially with students dying. They didn't need to add another piece to the flame.

Severus cast a Silencio on the door allowing it to be opened quietly. The storeroom was quite large. It held extraneous materials that were usually more suited to the Groundskeepers duties. The storeroom was dimly lit and his three rows of large shelves that were possible double the size of Severus himself. They silencioed their feet as they heard the voices.

"20 grams is 60 galleons" They heard the teenage voice. From sound alone, Severus could deduce that their was at least three maybe four student's with one rather fat boy that was pacing. They moved slowly around the bend about to corner them but in the split second they were too slow.

"RUN!" The fat boy screamed his lungs out. Severus tried to pull swiftly around the bend but was knocked back by the hufflepuff fat boy who had practically speared Severus' rather skinny body to the wall. He groaned in annoyance angry that a mere child had gotten the better of him. There would definitely be hell to pay. In his slight seconds of distraction, glaring the boy down as he ran out of the storeroom along with another shorter blonde haired boy Minerva's voice came out of the blue.

"SEV-"

'CRASH'

'Oof'

All the air had practically left his lungs as he was forcefully shoved. Needless to say, he felt woozy as soon as he lifted his head off the ground. Feeling fresh liquid run down from his upper temple. He dabbed at it with his fingers feeling woozy and not understanding what had just occurred. Taking in a gulp of air he tried to sit up with the help of Minerva who was attempting to help him of course.

"What happened?" He grunted as he was leaned against the wall.

"I'm not sure, I thought you were going to get crushed and then...I don't...and you came tumbling towards me and the bleeding shelves came down" She stared at the amount of dust and mess.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Severus questioned feeling his head once again then his eyes widened in fear.

"There was movement. I think it was Bear but then she got bigger. It all happened so fast" Minerva stated worried that she had actually seen a human form as oppose to a tiger.

"Oh god, Bear" He struggled to stand up still concussed from the fall.

"What?" Minerva noticed the man's complete panic.

"Bear. It was Bear. Stop asking questions woman help me" He growled using his wand to move items and the broken shelving now smashed to pieces.

Minerva moved quickly in fear thinking of the small animal trapped under the weight of both the shelving and the gardening instruments.

"BEAR!" She called out hoping to hear a howl or a whimper or anything to tell if she was alive.

Severus threw another piece to the side and his eyes lit up in utter terror.

"M-Minerva I-I see a hand" a small hand and wrist streaked in dirt, blood and scarring stuck out from the rest of the material. He lifted a few more seeing an unruley amount of tangled hair. Minerva moved round to help him and was able to levitate the small child's body out of the wreckage.

"What on Earth?" Minerva placed her down and immediately checked for a pulse.

"Oh thank god" She placed a hand over heart in relief.

"She still has a pulse..and she's breathing" He told her as he worked to try and severe the bleeding that was emerging from several wounds along her forehead, arms, legs and stomach.

"Send a patronous to Poppy. We'll move her to the infirmary immediately" He levitated her body out of the room attempting to stabilize her as much as possible.


Albus had immediately met them at the infirmary, stating that Poppy was currently attending to a boy who had just fallen off his broom at a rather large height. He took the small child from them.

"She's seriously injured. I need to go and get some additional potion supplies from my store room" Severus stated as blood leaked down his head. Albus watched as the man immediately dashed off.

"Minerva will you please go with Severus in case he collapses. I'll take care of the child until Poppy is able to see to her"

Minerva reclutantly agreed and caught up to Severus in her Animagus form.

As Albus turned to the row of beds, he selected the one in the furthest corner, opposite Poppys desk. He then quickly raced to the potions cabinet trying to find anything could help the child. He decided on a numbing potion and an calming drought. He returned back to the girl just in time to see her eyes fluttering open. He gulped. She didn't need to be awake. Not for this. Not for her injuries.

He poured half the potion into a goblet before bringing it to the girls cut and bleeding lips.

"Here, my girl. You need to drink this immediately. It'll help with the pain" He held her head in his hands as he poured the drink down her throat hoping that it would help. She whimpered choking lightly but managed to swallow the potion. The changes happened within a few seconds. He saw her whole body relax despite the uncomfortable position she was in.

Albus took a few seconds to leave quickly in order to speak to Poppy who was working a few beds down.

"Is she stable?" Poppy asked, sweat pouring down her face as she finished up with her patient as quickly as possible.

"Yes Poppy. I believe she's just awoken"

"That's no problem at all Headmaster. I will only be two minutes at most. Please make sure she's comfortable as possible" Poppy was hard away working on an unconscious fifth year Slytherin who had an unfortunate tumble of his broom during the latest Quittage match. Unfortunately, he had two broken ribs, a broken wrist, a moderate level concussion and a tibia and fibia that had been shattered on impact. He had profusely bleeding out when he was brought in. It was lucky enough that Hooch was there but it was still enough to make the boy look close to deaths door.

Albus came back into the room just as he spied the girl attempting to sit up in bed but failing miserably in doing so. Albus could instantly see that she was both too weak and her body was too injured to agree with her. Despite the numbness that surrounded her.

"Ah, ah, ah. My dear. You've had a very nasty accident and I need you to remain still for me until Poppy can see to you?" She was hesitant and stared up at him in fear instantly wanting to hide. He could see her body visibly shaking and took it as a sign of shock.

He sat down beside her, wanting to try and give her as much company as needed. He removed a blanket from the nearside cabinet and gently placed it over her legs before rolling it up to her neck.

"How's that my dear?" She didn't say anything in return. Rather, she looked as though she was ready to pounce and leave like a cat backed into a corner. He breathed a sigh of pain. Never before had he seen a child so broken and scarred by him.

To say the older man was shocked was an understatement. Now that he could properly inspect her figure, he could see why everyone was in a state of panic. Sunken eyes with scars covering her face from abuse. She wore a white long sleeved shirt covered in blood, dirt and stained yellow from sweat. Her black track pants were ripped. He noticed that she had no shoes on. He took a breathe watching as the young girl's lower jaw shook and her eyes rimmed red with tears as she remained laying, curled up on her left side.

"Would you please speak to me, dear. I don't wish you any harm. You're safe here" He told her hoping it would calm her nerves. His words seemed to have helped a little. He noticed her shoulders at least trying to relax down but she still looked rather tense.

"I've given you a numbing potion for your body. However, I still need to ask if you are in any pain at all" She looked up at him and gulped before shaking her head.

He smiled merrily at the girl.

"That's good" He moved over to the calming draught and placed a half into the goblet before bringing it over to her lips.

"Now do you think you can be a brave girl and take another gulp of medicine for me, please?" He asked in a genuine manner. The girl was still hesitant and shaking but nodded in any case. She had known Albus for two weeks and he had never made any approach to hurt her. She tried to move her hand towards the drink but her body wasn't complying. Her whole felt stiff. She whimpered in fear, tearing streaming down her face. She didn't want to cry in front of her man who had raised her for the fortnight. She tried to keep her sobbing to a minimum hoping he wouldn't react to her crying in the same way her uncle did. Instead, he just smiled down at her and helped bring her chin down so she could sip on the drink.

It tasted slightly lemony. Not sharp but more like a honey lemon. He smiled as she drunk the rest of the potion before allowing her head to rest back on the pillow.

"How does that feel?" He asked whilst placing the goblet back onto the side. She licked her lips, enjoying the taste before nodding. She felt her body relax a lot more enjoying the warmth that encapsulated her.

"Now Poppy won't be more than a minute longer but do you mind telling me how you got here, child?" He said as calmly as he could. She sniffed before looking down at the blanket.

"I-I didn't want to hurt Mimi. I lost my home and she was... only... t-the only person who had been nice to me s-since...since, my p-parwents passed away" She avoided looking at him, tearing streaming down her cheeks.

He sighed considering the girls' situation.

"My dear, how long were you planning on masquerading as a cat for? Eventually, Minerva would have found out"

She shrugged her shoulders hopelessly looking away from him and staring at the wall.

"I wasn't t-thinking long-twerm" Hermione gulped hugging herself and rocking. She closed her eyes wanting her mother to hold her, or Minerva.

"A-are you going to t-tewll her?"

He thought about it, taking in the girl's state. Minerva had seen the girl's fall from grace as she pushed Severus out of the way. To be honest, he really didn't have to tell her. Minerva had already likely figured it out and was probably coming to terms with the fact that an orphaned child had been literally sitting on their lap the whole time they searched for a child to adopt.

"No my dear"

She turned to him in surprise. Perhaps she could still get away from the situation in the end but her hopes crashed like waves on the beach as the next words spilled from his mouth.

"I believe you should be the one to tell her...Only when you believe the time is right of course"

More tears streaked down her face in fear. She would be abandoned again, left to rot on the streets or worse. In a basement chained to the floor. No, no she couldn't go through that again. Ignoring the numbness that encapulated her body, she grabbed her hair pulling it in fear now wanting her teddy so badly.

Where was he?

Where did I leave him?

Oh gosh! He was in Mimi's room. Hermione wanted to scream.

She began to whimper and sob into her hands. Albus could instantly both arms were practically broken even without casting a diagnostic spell.

"Sh, Sh. It's alright dear. Everything is going to be okay" He tried to comfort her not wanting to touch her seeing the state that she was in. He wanted to give her a second dose of calming drought immediately so she wouldn't cause herself anymore pain but he didn't want to overdose the poor girl.

"Headmaster" He turned seeing Poppy with weary eyes instantly staring down at the sobbing girl.

"And who is this?" Poppy asked concerned taking in the girls form.

"My dear, do you mind telling us your name?" Albus asked gentle.

She stared at them before nodding.

"It's...it's Hermione"

"Hermione" Albus tried the foreign name on for size.

"What a beautiful name. Poppy will you please assist our dear Hermione with a diagnostic examination. I believe Severus and Minerva did all they could to try and sever the bleeding and keep her stable"

"Of course Headmaster" She waved her wand producing a list of all her current injuries.

- "Bones: Stable, transverse fractures of the two floating ribs and most distal true rib on anatomical right side. three ribs on the right side are feactured but stable. tibia in her right leg has a compound fracture. It appears so does the distal radius in her right forearm. She has several abnormally healed fractures throughout her humerus, radius and ulna that looks like an older injury. The bones will have to be reset in order for her to grow properly".

-"Muscles: Grade two tearing of the distal section of the rectus femoris, Grade 2 tearing of the soleus and gastrocneumus. Grade 1 tearing of the two heads of the bicep in her left arm".

- "Malnutrition: Looks as though Hermione suffers from Osteomalacia, Protein-energy malnutrition, Vitamin K deficieny, Vitamin D deficiency".

-"Pertaining to the skin: she currently has a few cuts an abraisons down her body, however Severus and Minerva have done a good job in healing the internal and external bleeding so that's not to worry about too much. You've got quite a list of injury to the epidermis and dermis"

Hermione hadn't realised understood too much of what she said but she could instantly tell it was bad.

Poppy stared down the long list of injuring that had happened to her pertaining to whippings, burning of the skin, cuts by sharp instruments. She thought better of reading it out and passed the sheet onto Albus to read through. As professional as Poppy was she had to take a moment to breath before turning to the poor little girl who was now her newest patient.

"I believe we'll begin with cleaning you up first so we can get a better look at you" She lifted her wand up. "No doubt that you would like to be removed of that dirt covering you" Poppy flicked her wand casting a scourify so she could finally the girls face, now riddled with clearly marked scars and new cuts. Poppy gulped trying to put on a brave face.

"Right, we'll need to get you out of those clothes first. Albus could you please give us a minute"

He nodded about to stand up if it wasn't for the door knocking open, alerting them. Poppy opened the blind partially ajar to see who would cause such a loud statement in her domain.

Hermione watched as the two people she had come to know as the closest thing she had to a false family came racing through the door. Minerva carrying her stuffed teddy whilst Severus strutted in with a less than pleasing frown attached to his pale face. She knew he always walked like that but it was even more intimidating now that she was in a human form. Her body began to shake in fear at the revelation at what was to come. Despite her injuries, she immediately jumped off the bed and hid underneath it for safety, no longer caring about the pulsing pain radiating down her boy. She whimpered feeling the shocks of pain push against her body. Something didn't feel right.

"Where is the bloody chit?" Severus harsh tone cut through the air. It sounded awful but the combination of Severus' concussion, a five year old injured under his watch, as well as being tricked by said five year old were mixing with his emotions.

Tears slid down the small girls face as she cuddled up into the corner, hidden by the shadows of the bed.

Albus stared in shock about to raise his voice at the man who had caused the injured girl to hide. He had made some great progress with her in the few minutes they had been chatting and hoped it hadn't been ruined.

"I believe you've just scared the poor girl, Severus. Do try in future not to burst through doors it really does not do well for the Hogwarts staff image. I do try quite hard to recruit new DADA teachers"

Severus rolled his eyes as he ducked his head under the bed scanning. Hermione's eyes widened in fear as he caught sight of her.

"There you are?"

Hermione screamed in panic as he flicked his wand levitating her out from under the bed. The girl felt like her world was going under again. She'd be beaten severely for lying and pretending to be a cat before being shoved back into the arms of her uncle who would no doubt kill her.

As Severus laid her back onto the bed he heard the pathetic mumbles of the girl.

"Pwease, pwease, pwease, I'm sorry. Don't take me back. I won't do it again. I pwomise; I just wanted a home" Her shortened breath demonstrated her state of panic.

"Deep breaths, dear. That's it it in... and... out...2...3..." Poppy tried to settle the girl, breathing with her whilst comtemplating the scolding she was going to give Severus for his blatant disregard for others.

Sharp, weazing breaths brought Poppys attention back to the poor girl.

"Pweaze don't hurt me. I-I just w-wanted a mommy and daddy" She whimpered, black spots blotched her vision as she sat on the bed, staring down at the bedding trying to avoid any and all contact.

Tears were streaming down Hermiones face. She had decided the split second they turned their heads away she was going to make a run for it. She had no doubt over stayed her welcome. She believed that these people were more than likely to deal their punishment out to her as soon as she had calmed down enough to accept it.

"Dear, it's okay. No one's going to hurt you. We just want to ask you a few questions then we'll get you cleaned up okay?"

Hermione shook her head fearful of the interrogation she was going to receive.

"Pweaze, pweaze, pweaze" She whispered to herself trying to calm herself down whilst begging them not to harm her.

"Perhaps another calming draught might be of assistance"

"I'm not sure Headmaster. She's never taken them before and I'm concerned she might overdose if I give her too much" The likelihood of the girl falling into a coma was quite likely but Poppy did not want to state it aloud to the girl.

"Hermione, dear please. We have to know how you ended up in such a state. You didn't have those wounds from the accident"

The girl was still clearly shaking and trying to rock herself to calm down.

Albus sighed knowing that the information was unlikely to come due to the current crisis.

"Come Severus. I believe Hermione needs some time to settle before she will answer any of our questions"

Severus seethed threw his teeth and placed the bundle of healing potions for the girl on the night stand before agreeing.

"Now my boy, lets leave the dear women alone to deal with the poor girl. She's been through quite an ordeal" He placed his hand on Severus' back guiding him out of the room.

Hermione looked up seeing the sad look in the old man's twinkling eyes. She gulped before looking at Severus seeing the glint in his eyes. She knew that look. It was the look of betrayal...and guilt.