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Chapter 20: Grandma Isobel
Her chains rattled ungracefully as she pulled herself off the basement ground and looked around.
Where was she?
She placed her back against the wall and looked around, isles of boxes stacked in the far back of the room, a cupboard underneath the stairs, a dusty floor, she looked down at where her scratched and dirtied bare feet were seeing an empty food and water bowl next to her.
Oh no!
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she huddled more against the back of the wall where the tie down point to her chains were.
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
She couldn't be here, this had to be a nightmare. She had escaped she knew she had but then...everything felt like a dream. Nothing about magic was real.
HELP! She internally screamed, quivering and whimpering in pain.
BANG!
Her eyes widened in horror as she saw light coming from the upstairs basement door.
FLASH!
Hermione whimpered in pain as the lights turned on and her vision was blinded. She covered her eyes with her hands trying to stop the pain.
She gulped further as she heard footsteps coming down the stairs, his clunking boots heavy against the concrete steps. Hermione gulped as she tucked herself as much as she could in the corner.
"Dinner" He muttered as he made the final step and walked over to her, spoon and can in hand. Hermione took a quick glance up, noticing the lid peeled back. Bruce had been fed first, she stared back down at the ground as her uncle walked over to her dog bowl and dumped a quarter of the remaining food into her dogs bowl before kicking it to her.
"Well" He grumbled waiting for her to dig in.
She shakingly said her thank you before quickly scampering forward and wrapping one arm around the bowl whilst the other hand began went into the vile food and scooped some into her fingers before it entered her mouth. She was lucky the food was at least at room temperature as Winter was coming upon them fast and it was getting colder and colder to be in the basement without a blanket.
"You disgust me" His lips curled into a snarl as he stared down at his shaking niece, frightened to the teeth. She was nothing more than a feral dog needing to be put into her place from his perspective. Blood, dirt and stains littered not only her clothes but her body, her wild mains of hair reinforced his beliefs and her behaviours didn't challenge his perspective. She was nothing more than a shaking, whimpering mutt to him.
She gulped in a shaking breathe of air before continuing eating, hoping he wouldn't do anything to her this time, rather just leave her alone to finish her meal and sleep in peace but her uncle never made things easy. He liked to scared and terrorize. As she ate cautiously he paced over to the other side of the room where a dog cage was. Hermione had only ever been locked in the dog cage three times. It was small and cramped and could not fit anything other than herself in there, meaning her food, water and her bucket would be left outside the cage that she couldn't reach to use.
He picked up one of the tools from the wooden bench. A power cable, one that Hermione usually wore to keep her pants up as a belt from the significant weight loss. However, it was nearly impossible to stand in the basement with the chain around her neck so low to the floor.
He turned around smiling sadistically at her.
No!
She immediately backed up against the wall in fear for her life.
"Turn around"
"Pweeze, pweeze! I haven't done anything" She begged, tears sprawling small bruised cheeks.
He cracked the whip towards her attempting to scare her. Hermione screamed in fear trying to back further and further into the corner. Her body shook uncontrollably like ice water had been poured down her back...and down her legs. Her legs felt like warm liquid was pooling down them.
Oh no!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk! What have I told you about soiling yourself"
"I..I'm s-sworry I-I won't do it again"
He cracked the whip towards her again earning another shriek from the child.
Hermione screamed in terror as she cried against the wall.
"Turn around"
The small girl cried as she obeyed her uncle, turning and placing her head on the cold, cement wall awaiting her punishment. Her sobs cutting through the night air.
CRACK!
...
Hermione screamed awaking in a bedroom. She looked around frantically, breathing heavily as a cold sweat dripped down her forehead before she felt warm arms holding her small, frail body.
"Oh dear girl" Hermione's head instantly turned towards her father who was sitting down in a chair next to her bedside. His arm was slightly outstretched and was on her back. She jumped in shock before her fingers wrapped into her hair and she curled up into a ball, scrunching her eyes closed as tight as she could.
Albus stared at his only child in concern as she tried to comfort herself in her soiled sheets, he quietly scourified the bed and her clothes without her notice before making his next move.
"It's alright dear" Her father sat on the bed next to her before attempting to wrap his arms around her but she yelped in pain. She breathed a shuddering breathe before apologizing to him but he hushed her and gently pulling her arms away from her hair so she wouldn't hurt herself.
"There, there" He cuddled her into his arms feeling her freeze and tense before relaxing into his arms. He held her for half an hour listening to her sobs and asking her to recount what had happened in her dreams. He kissed her head tenderly as she finally calmed down and settled into his arms. He picked her up and gently carried her into her bathroom before sitting her down on the seat and flicking his wand over to the bath filling it up within seconds. He opened the child-locked cabinets underneath the sink before giving her a small vile of calming drought before placing some lavender into the bathwater.
Hermione slowly drank the potion before placing it onto the side, she knew her new grandmother was coming over in two hours to see her. She felt a kiss being placed on her forehead before her papa addressed her.
"I think you need a bath dear, do you need any help getting undressed?"
She shook her head before her father let a small concerned smile grace his lips. He turned around placing a new towel on the rack before telling her that he'd be back soon if she needed anything. Hermione could only nod, still shocked about her dream. It felt so real, he was so real. She pinched herself, checking that she was still in reality. She had to always check as of late, it didn't seem real that she was living in a castle surrounded by magic and she, herself, could transform into different types of creatures.
In fact, she had pinched herself so many times of late when she rolled her red, long sleeved shirt up, there were small bruises near her elbow where she had been pinching herself.
She scratched the scar on her cheek before removing her clothes and sitting into the luke warm bath. Good, she was absolutely sweating in her bed. She began to scrub herself clean but the images of her being covered in blood, dirt and urine. She scrubbed harder, breathing heavier and grunting as her vision flashed back to the basement cell that was basically her home for six months.
Albus had been patient and called for an elf to bring clean sheets to Hermione's bedroom. It wasn't as if the scourifying charm didn't do it's job it was more for the fact that it never really did feel clean. After that he decided to take a small walk into his on-suit to grab a second calming drought to restock her cabinet. He then returned back to the girl's room only to hear the sounds of water splashing and heavy, frantic breathing.
His eyes alighted with fear wondering if she had had another panic attack. He knocked gently but when he opened the bathroom door he was deeply troubled. She was having a panic attack, he was correct but that wasn't what concerned him. The bath was red. Hermione's arms were scratched raw and bleeding.
Albus immediately grabbed the girl out of the bath before waving his hand and emptying the bath water. He took one of the white towels off the rack and wrapped it round her. She huddled into her papa as he cuddled her, sobbing into him.
"Dear, what have you done to yourself?" He asked her catching her eyes. He subtly used Legitimacy on her to see what had happened and was shocked.
She was in the belief that she was covered in dirt, blood, vomit and excrement from when she had been chained to the walls and trapped in a dogs cage.
"It won't come off" She whimpered staring down at her arms still feeling the dirt and muck hidden under them. He breathed out, grabbing dittany from under the cabinet before walking into her room and placing her down on the bed. He called for his wife as he wrapped the towel around his daughters chest and body before gently taking her cheeks in his cold hands trying to cool her down.
"Nice deep breaths for me, dear" He told her as her fingers twitched from the blood running down her fingertips. Back to square one, Albus thought to himself as his wife came into the room and almost screamed in terror at his daughters appearance.
"What happened?" She raced over to her daughter who had red, swollen eyes from crying. She stared down at her daughter's arms and immediately grabbed the dittany from her husband as he wrapped his arms around the girl trying to comfort her.
"Hermione, you need to hold still for me dear, this might sting a bit" Minerva told her daughter who could only nod and scrunch her face as she felt the drops sizzle away at her skin. She whimpered biting her bottom lip in agony as the same happened to her other arm. Minerva then took out her wand and continued to heal the raw skin down the red of the girls arms and legs.
What was she thinking?
Hermione's sobs fell silent as the woman healed her body.
"I believe we have some soothing cream in the on-suite" Minerva muttered staring down at the redness that laced Hermione's skin still. She accioed the bottle before massaging it into her daughters skin as her husband held onto the small child in his arms.
"You didn't leave her in the bath by herself, Albus"
Her husband gulped, he knew Hermione was more than capable of having a bath by herself and didn't need to be supervised.
"I only left her alone for a few minutes for her to settle and to get her an extra calming draught"
Minerva tsked angrily. How could her husband had left their only daughter alone after she had experienced a night terror.
"We might have to cancel dinner this evening" Minerva muttered worried to hell and back about her daughter's mental health. It seemed to be worsening more and more each day. She gulped, there was no way they were waiting for another week for an appointment. Hermione had to go and see somebody as soon as possible.
"Pweeze don't be mad at me" Hermione sobbed feeling as though it was her fault that she had ruined the evening.
"Ooch, don't be ridiculous. You haven't done anything wrong deary; we're just wondering if a quiet evening would be more preferable for tonight. You can always meet your grandmother another time" Minerva cooed her daughter but Hermione wouldn't take it. She didn't want to be the reason for cancelling her parents evening.
"Nwo, I'm okay. Pweeze don't cancel 'cause of me. I'm sworry, I'm sworry, I-"
Minerva's eyes brightened in concern. The girl was definitely a Gryffindore, even by a young age Hermione was making sacrifices for others. Minerva brushed a lock out of the girls face and pulled her into her chest and hugging her tightly. She rocked her back and forth, shushing the girl as she whimpered into her arms.
"I'm s-swowwy"
"Hush dear, that's enough. No more panicking. You're going to be fine, everything's fine. I think it would be in our best interest to just have a family night tonight. How about a story, ay?" Minerva brushed the tears from the girls cheek as she sobbed.
Hermione looked up at her mother and sniffed before nodding. Minerva smiled back before looking at her husband who was rubbing a soothing lotion gently over Hermione's legs to get them to cool down before pulling Hermione's arm over to see the bruises near her elbow where the girl had pinched herself. He wondered if it was self-harm but decided to leave it for now. The girl was having another panic attack despite the calming drought.
It took a few minutes to finally be able to rock the golden eyed girl into a somewhat calm state before her mother helped her dress for bed and carry her out to the living room before wrapping her up into a blanket and grabbing a book to read to the small girl. She carried her daughter over to the couch before placing her on her stomach and rocking her back and forth and kissing her forehead as Hermione listened happily to her mother's heartbeat. She sighed in relief not feeling the need to pinch herself when she heard the lub-dubs pulsing next to her ear.
Albus decided to make his family some hot chocolate in the kitchen in an effort to settle the commotion.
It wasn't until some 20 minutes later they heard a knocking at the door. Minerva's eyebrow arched, she was sure she sent her patronus to inform her mother that Hermione wasn't feeling well nor up to visitors. It seemed however, the woman disagreed with Minerva's warning and opened the door to the quarters without a second of hesitation.
"Knock, Knock" A dyed black haired, green eyed woman wearing a black pointed hat and black robes walked through the door.
"Mother!" Minerva said sternly unhappy that she had blatantly gone against her warning. The younger woman stood up unhappily as she faced the slightly older woman, "I thought I had informed you not to attend this evening as Hermione is unwell"
The young girl was spooked by her mother's disdain and instantly pelted for it, turning into her kitten form and hiding under the couch.
Isobel ignored her daughters stand-offish attitude and walked around the room trying to find her granddaughter "Ooch, where is the wee girl?"
Minerva crossed her arms in anger.
"Mother I have-"
"Oh enough dear, I got your message. I only wanted to meet my granddaughter. Honestly, Min I was worried I'd never see the day. Do you realise how long I've been waiting for this moment, almost 35 years I have and I will not let you take-"
Minerva almost felt like rolling her eyes as the stubborn woman drabbled on and paced around the room trying to locate a small girl. Minerva had sent pictures of the bright young girl to her mother in an effort to show her Hermione's progress. Her mother had been eager to see Hermione ever since the first letter and it appeared she could no longer contained herself. She had to find her immediately. The tall, slender woman transigured herself into a slim, old and green-eyed black cat before sniffing about trying to find something foreign. Her nose led her to underneath the couch. She poked her head under to see two beady golden eyes staring back at her. Isobel smiled internally before moving over to the shaking animal.
"Ah, found you" Isobel said as she took steps underneath the couch towards the shaking golden eyed kitten. Bear licked her lips before staring at the opening of the couch and bolting towards her mother. Isobel instantly followed and transformed back into her human self to see her daughter picking up the shaking kitten in her hands.
"Mother I'm serious, Hermione's already had enough excitement for one day and she doesn't need-"
"Nonesense, I only want to meet her" Isobel tried to grab the kitten out of Minerva's arms but she moved away protective of her baby. Isobel rolled her eyes unhappily before removing her wand and aiming it at the kitten. In an instance, Bear turned back into Hermione who was in shock at the act and so seemed Minerva as she held her now full size daughter in her arms.
"Ooch, she's adorable" Isobel instantly pulled the five year old into her arms and sat down on the couch to take a good look at her.
"Ay, you're still a wee bit light for your age but that's okay, grandma's here. Ooch and look at your beautiful eyes, how lovely" Isobel cooed her granddaughter in her arms as the girl wriggled trying to get out.
"Hermione!" Isobel called stopping the girl instantly before becoming transfixed on the woman's bright green eyes, "Such a wonderful name" she brushed her hand over the girls cheeks.
"And such brilliant abilities. Minerva said you were talented but I had no idea how fast you can transform. You truely are wonderous"
Hermione stopped struggling after that, feeling calmer and allowing Isobel to continue to reel over her. Minerva huffed making sure Hermione was alright before sitting next to the two near Hermione's legs and stroking her thigh gently to provide her with some comfort as the matriarch paraded over her.
"Let's see those teeth deary" Isobel pulled her chin down to see Hermione's growing but still present baby teeth. She was missing about six, including two on the bottom left and one on the bottom right and three other's up top. She wondered if Hermione had any difficulty eating before she moved down to see Hermione's scarred hands and wrists. Isobel had been informed of Hermione's previous life and made no effort to pry into the girl's mind, no matter how badly she wanted too.
Hermione noticed her grandmother's wondering eyes and tried to curl her hands up and pull her sleeves down to hide her pain but Isobel stopped her immediately.
"There's no need to hide your scars, kitten. Those marks show that you are a survivor" The woman brushed her cheek trying to make the girl more comfortable with her. Instead, the girl nodded and allowed Isobel to inspect the rest of her. She reached the girl's toes noticing her bare feet.
"Dear, where are your socks. It must be freezing for your feet?"
Minerva noticed the sudden growl in her mothers voice hinting of the passive aggressive tone.
"Hermione doesn't like wearing socks...or shoes. It is rather difficult to convince her otherwise, the scarring it still quite thick on her feet and are currently very sensitive to fabrics" Minerva explained and Isobel touched the girls feet feeling the warmth. It was likely that Minerva had placed a warming charm on her to ensure that she was comfortable. Isobel kissed the girls temple before asking to see her back. Hermione whimpered and wriggled out of her grandmothers grasp towards her mother to curl up and hide.
"Ooch dear" Minerva pulled her into her lap allowing her to have her back to Isobel.
"It's alright, your grandmother's not going to hurt you. She just wants to see if you're okay" Minerva whispered to the girl as she rubbed her side. Hermione curled up more as Minerva asked for Hermione to have her shirt lifted up. She bit her lip but nodded, scared at what her grandmother would think of her. She had already had a tough nap and was still not feeling well. Minerva allowed her mother to gently pull up Hermione's red and gold striped shirt. The older woman stiffened her gasp as she saw her granddaughters back.
It was awful.
Who would do this to a mere child?
The small girl whimpered attempting to crawl away from the woman as she ran her fingers down her terribly scarred back.
"Hermione needs to have her back massaged with lotion every night for at least 20minutes to reduce some of the scarring. If you'd like to do that for me mother" Minerva usually did it before Hermione went to bed, however it seemed like the perfect time for Hermione to at least try to have some bonding time with her grandmother.
Isobel couldn't help but smile as Minerva pulled Hermione's shirt back down and passed her back to Isobel who gladly took the girl in her arms. The golden eyed girl tried to grab her mother as she came out of her grasp and went to get Hermione's lotion, blanket and bear. Meanwhile, Isobel spent her time telling her granddaughter how much she intended to spoil her rotten. She was in fact her most favourite and only grandchild after all.
Minerva came back into the room a minute later with her stuff before pulling Hermione onto her stomach on Isobel's lap before taking Hermione's shirt off and wrapping part of the blanket around her.
"Gentle circles" Minerva directed her mother as Minerva gave her daughter her teddy. Isobel began to massage her granddaughter's back as Minerva read the girl a story to help settle her down. After half an hour Hermione had fallen asleep on Isobels lap. Albus had come in a while ago to see how the three were doing. It had woken the new family member up instantly when her father came in. She was still very hyper alert despite her exhaustive states. Once Isobel had finished massaging her scars, Hermione had immediately leaned over and sipped on her now luke warm drink before crawling over the couch to where her father was curl up on her father's lap.
He definitely wasn't as bony as Minerva nor her new grandmother and had the best hugs, although her mother rivaled and Severus was still very hesitant with her.
Isobel rolled her eyes at Albus as he helped his daughter place on her shirt before buttoning it up. Isobel had never particularly agreed with her daughter's and Albus' relationship, especially when it had first started. Especially concerning the age difference. Despite the fact that Minerva had had two relationships prior to her marriage to Albus. And Isobel had never been very much impressed with all three of them. Except maybe, now that her marriage to Albus had finally produced a grandchild and she was now head over heels in love with the girl.
The two women watched as Albus bounced his daughter on his knee and cooed her enough to make her giggle.
"So, whose the godparents?" Isobel asked to Minerva curiously.
"Well we've decided that Severus is Hermione's godfather and Poppy is her godmother"
Hermione couldn't help but smile and chuckle further as Albus created a floating bunny in front of her.
"Eileen Prince's child? Well I'm surprised. Her being married to an abusive muggle and all. Not to mention what they did to their son" Isobel whispered harshly. The room suddenly went quiet. Isobel shifted her eyes to her granddaughter staring back at her worried.
"What happened to Sev-wus?" Hermione asked numbly.
Isobel was shocked that Hermione knew who they were both talking about until Minerva explained that Hermione had been named after Severus' mother.
"Well deary, Severus grew up in a rather unfriendly home. His father treated him rather terribly" Isobel explained causing Hermione to feel the hairs on the back of her neck prickle with fear.
"Is he-"
"Tobias Snape is still alive and currently living in Blackpool. Severus' mother passed away when he was a teenager" Isobel stood up and walked over to Hermione to see the fear in her eyes.
"There's no need to worry dear. He's unable to touch Severus nor you. You won't be exposed to any more bad things. You've suffered enough" The green eyed woman pinched her cheek earning a small yelp from the girl.
"Now, I believe a nice, happy story and then off to bed" Isobel flicked her wrist accioing a fairytale story book to read the girl. She then picked Hermione up off her father's lap, much to Hermione's shock at being pulled around, and carried her into her room. Hermione looked worriedly over to her parents who only smiled gently at her and tell her that they would be in in a minute to tuck her up and kiss her goodnight.
Isobel cooed her new granddaughter into bed singing her a song in Gaelic Hermione didn't quiet understand but it still soothed her. She brushed the small girl's hair with her skinny, piano like fingers as she hugged her close. Hermione was hesitant at first, weary of new people but eventually snuggled into her new grandmothers chest as she was gently rocked to sleep in the matriarchs' arms. Albus and Minerva walked in an hour later after spending some much needed time together.
However, much to Minerva's annoyance it looked like her mother wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon. The black cat with steel green eyes was cuddled right against the sleeping girl's side daring the woman to wake the girl up.
Albus snickered at the woman and cat having a stand-off but decided against them having an argument via placing his hand on the small of his wife's back and ushering her out of the door. They could wail and argue in the morning but tonight their daughter needed some much needed rest and comfort.
Albus lowered the candles so that they acted as night lights for the small child before slowly closing the door seeing the small smile and relaxed features on the girl's face.
As much as Minerva and her mother didn't get along, Albus knew that Hermione having a grandmother, even one so like Isobel, was good for their daughter.
Smaller chapter compared to the others. I wanted to extend the fact that despite the fact that Hermione has been saved she's not particularly coping and at times, thinks everything around her is a dream.
