Chapter Three
Dumbledore led Hermione down the corridor, away from the kitchen and into the small library the house possessed. Hermione felt her body relaxing with the comfort and familiarity the room bought to her. She had spent much of her time here during the previous summers, when she wasn't helping Mrs Weasley with the never ending cleaning requirements that is, and the cosy atmosphere surrounded her like a warm blanket.
Looking around Hermione noticed that McGonagall and Tonks were already present in the room, seated in the comfy armchairs around the large lit fireplace. With a hand at the small of her back, she found herself being guided towards them by Dumbledore. "Please sit down Hermione." He told her, indicating towards one of the vacant chairs.
Seating herself, Hermione looked across to where Dumbledore was taking his seat and offered a small smile to the two women near him. A small pop to her left caught her attention and she turned to see the small house elf that had frightened her yesterday, standing there; a tray piled high with many different foods floated beside her. "Misty brings you breakfast" the little creature squeaked, grinning broadly at Hermione. The tray floated down to the coffee table which stood between the chairs.
Hermione offered the elf a smile which seemed to please the creature no end. Bowing down in a low curtsey, Misty grinned again and then disappeared with a pop. "Well Hermione" Dumbledore spoke, "please help yourself to the food." Looking towards the vast array of foods on offer Hermione settled on just a piece of toast, while the others in the room filled their plates.
"So, Hermione, how are you feeling?" Tonks said around a mouthful of scrambled eggs.
"Fine, I guess. I've just got a headache." Hermione answered, nibbling on the toast in her hand.
"We want to make this as easy as possible for you Hermione, so I feel that it may be a good idea for you to temporarily place your memory of last night into a pensive. This will mean that what you show us will be more accurate than you just retelling the story may be. Do you wish to do this?" Dumbledore asked.
Thinking about it, she nodded deciding this would be the best way to do this, especially as she wasn't even sure she could describe what had gone on in her bedroom last night. A pensive suddenly appeared in her lap. Hermione placed her unfinished toast on the table and looked at the three adults that sat across from her.
They gave her reassuring smiles and she turned back to the pensive. She looked back up suddenly as a realisation hit her. "My wand, I don't have it."
Tonks frowned, "I assumed you had it on you last night when we bought you back here. I didn't see it in your room when I packed your things."
Hermione bit her lip then breathed in sharply. "He took it." She said angrily, "He stole my wand."
For the first time she could ever remember, Dumbledore looked surprised. "Voldemort stole you wand?" he asked, confusion clouding his voice.
"Why would he do that?" McGonagall asked. "Although it's not impossible to use another's wand it will not usually work as well as it will for its proper owner."
"And he already has a wand, and if he really wanted another he surely could have got one of his Death Eaters to procure one for him." Tonks added.
Sighing, Hermione explained, "He might not have meant to actually take it." At the blank looks she received she explained further, "Voldemort picked up my wand when he first came into my room, I assume so that I had no chance to use it."
Dumbledore nodded slightly as if agreeing with her assessment, "Well, I can extract the memory for you. Just concentrate on the events of last night and I can do the rest." Hermione nodded her assent, and closing her eyes recalled the events of last night. She knew it didn't matter if she didn't remember the event exactly as it happened, what Dumbledore extracted would be an accurate account, more accurate than she would be able to recall any other way.
"Hermione, he's finished now." She heard McGonagall's voice call to her gentle. Opening her eyes she saw the pensive now sitting on the table where the food had been, the three adults gathered around it. The older woman looked at her kindly, "Do you wish to come in with us, or for us to go by ourselves?"
Thinking it over, Hermione decided she would rather they saw it without her presence and told them so. She sat back and watched as the three leaned forward over the low table and entered the pensive. Their bodies were still as statues while they were immersed in the memories and it was a decidedly eerie sight. Their faces all within the bowl touching the swirling silvery substance held within.
She got up out of her chair and browsed the books on the shelves. Many she was already familiar with, but a few new tomes caught her eye. Taking one down on animagism, Hermione returned to her seat. After another couple of minutes the others in the room returned from the pensive.
Hermione marked her place in the book with her finger and looked up. All three wore similar expressions of confusion. "Hermione, what did you feel after Voldemort cast that spell on you?" Dumbledore asked.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders, "Nothing, I assumed something had gone wrong."
"You felt nothing at all? No tingling, dizziness or anything?" Tonks spoke this time, her voice conveying how odd she found this situation. She turned to Dumbledore "Perhaps once you've replaced the memory in her she'll recall if she felt something?"
Dumbledore nodded but did not look particularly convinced. He gathered the memory onto his wand anyway and brought it up to Hermione's temple. She felt the strange crawling sensation of the memory finding its rightful place inside her brain. She looked up to those in the room, "When Voldemort finished his spell I felt absolutely nothing which I was not feeling before and I felt no difference within myself."
McGonagall let out a breath and smiled hesitantly. "Well, that is a good thing, is it not?" She asked no one in particular. "I mean, I would never have expected Voldemort to do a spell incorrectly but that must have been what happened. Poppy said she found no dark magic residues on the girl and if, as Hermione says, she felt nothing happen." Here she lifted her hands up in a gesture that suggested she could not come up with another logical explanation.
"Did you recognise the spell he was trying to cast?" Hermione asked, directing the question more at Dumbledore than the others. He frowned, shaking his head in the negative.
"No, the fact that the words were barely audible did not help, but even the wand movements were unfamiliar." Then as if the thought had just popped into his head he smiled at her, "You were correct however in that Voldemort did take your wand. I also agree that it wasn't planned. We will need to purchase you a new one at Diagon Alley later."
Tonks spoke then, biting her lip as she did so, "You don't think he was trying to cast the same spell on Hermione as he did on her parents?"
"No," Dumbledore said emphatically, "Firstly, if he had been I don't see him not achieving the desired result after already casting it successfully twice on that same night. Secondly, the endless sleep curse calls for a potion to be administered first."
Hermione's ears perked up at this information. "Endless sleep curse?" She asked, "If the curse just puts you to sleep, surely there is a cure."
"That is merely the curses informal name Hermione. It is an ancient curse; hardly any wizards alive today even know of it, let alone how to perform it. The endless sleep name came about from muggle fairytales I believe."
Hermione thought for a second, she didn't really know
classic fairytales, but she knew many of the Disney equivalents. "'Snow White' I guess has similarities, as
does 'Sleeping Beauty'. But in the versions
of those stories I remember they wake up from their cursed sleep."
Dumbledore smiled at her sadly, "Yes, but they are only fairytales, and muggle ones at that. There is one other who has been cursed within my memory and we still have not been able to find a cure. The problem lies in the fact that the victims are not just asleep. Their souls have been driven out of their bodies. We don't even really know where they go." He looked at Hermione as though he expected her to start arguing with what he had said, but she just simply smiled slightly and recalled the dream in which her parents had talked to her.
Tonks rose from her chair and stretched her arms over her head. "Well, I have to say this is extremely confusing but at least it appears no harm has been done to Hermione." She froze slightly and looked at Hermione slightly panicked. "Well except for… I'm sorry about your parents Hermione."
Hermione smiled genuinely at the young auror, "Its okay. I know they're alright and I'm just happy they didn't have to suffer any." Tonks smiled back at her and then turned to the headmaster to ask if they were finished.
"Yes. I can't see anything else that can be achieved at the present." Then turning to Hermione he asked, "Is there anything you would like to ask?"
She laughed to herself at this question. There were hundreds of questions floating around in her head about the curse and Voldemort's activities, but from what Dumbledore had already said she knew he wouldn't have the answers she wanted, so she opted for a more personal question. "Where are my parents' bodies?" grimacing at the final word which made everything sound so final. While she knew her parents were not in pain, it didn't mean she had lost all hope of getting them back, she needed to hang on to something at this moment in time.
"I have arranged for them to stay in St Mungo's Hospital. They are in the same room as the other who has been hit with this curse. If you would like, we can arrange for someone to take you to see them later." Hermione smiled at the old wizard and nodded slightly, although not quite sure if she actually did want to see her mum and dad in that lifeless, soulless condition. She would prefer to remember them as they had been and how they were in the dream. She realised her uncertainty must have shown on her face when Dumbledore spoke up, "Well, no need to decide right now, just ask when you are ready to arrange a visit. I need to return to Hogwarts. If you need anything, just call for Misty and she will come, or there will be others floating around who I'm sure will be happy to help you. I find the kitchen is always a good place to look." With a smile and grandfatherly twinkly, he stood and left the room. Tonks and McGonagall followed behind him both throwing her reassuring smiles. "I'll be around if you need anything" was offered by both as they left.
Slightly thankful at being left alone, Hermione sunk down into the comfy armchair closest to the fire and lost herself in the book on her lap for the rest of the day.
~~~~~~~
Opening her eyes, Hermione gave a small groan at the ache that seemed to have taken up permanent residence within her head. Lifting her arm, she squinted to try and read the time on her watch face in the dim light that filtered into the room around the edges of the curtains. 'Only just four in the morning' her mind moaned, 'far too early considering how late you went to bed!' She couldn't recall why she had woken up, although something tugged at the edge of her mind, just out of reach. Sighing, Hermione wearily got out of bed and padded to the door of her room. She knew she'd not get back to sleep without help so she decided to get some warm milk from the kitchen.
The corridor was dark as there were no windows to let in even a weak light and most of the lamps had been extinguished, indicating that everyone who had remained was asleep, or at least in their own rooms. Hermione hesitated in the doorway, the darkness giving rise to her childhood phobias, which she had been sure she had overcome due to her many adventures with Harry and Ron.
'Come on Hermione,' she encouraged herself, 'what is there to be afraid of here? Just get on with it!' Making up her mind she slowly crept towards the stairs, her eyes adjusting to the dark with the limited light available from the one gas lamp which was burning low in the middle of the stairwell. Biting her lip to try and keep her emotions under control she slowly made her way down towards the ground floor hallway, the low light reaching no further than the bottom step. Upon reaching the last step a noise caught her attention and she froze, not daring to complete her journey.
Whimpering slightly, she backed up to the wall for security; the silence now roaring in her ears as she tried to hear anything that would indicate danger. Her hammering heart was just starting to slow down when another noise made her ears strain to decipher it, it almost sounded like a wounded animal.
Hermione's heartbeat began beating wildly again and tears slowly ran down her cheeks as she closed her eyes and sank to the floor, her mind feverishly wishing she had her wand so she could light the gas lamps, as well as give herself the protection and comfort she needed. Her fear was slowly mixing with anger; anger at herself for being weak and afraid of an unknown factor. Her brain however, was stuck on just pleading for there to be more light. Her breathing was becoming ragged as her panic increased and a pressure was building up within her. A small sob escaped her lips and at the same time, she felt the pressure release. A second later a new noise was heard, this one making her eyes fly open and her fear abate a little.
The sound of all the gas lamps lighting simultaneously was what had caught her attention this time and Hermione found herself having to blink her eyes to adapt to the new, brighter conditions. She looked around quickly, trying to find the source of the previous noise or who had lit the lamps; seeing no-one she cautiously get to her feet, her legs shaking slightly. Briefly, she considered dashing back up the stairs and hiding in her room but she shook her head at that idea and almost stamped her foot just like a petulant child. She would have to do what she came down here to do; otherwise she would find it harder to get over this fear the next time. 'Besides who says you will be any safer up there.' her traitorous mind whispered.
Gathering up every last bit of courage she could find, she breathed in deeply and stepped down off the last stair and turned to go down the hallway. She froze mid-step when her eyes landed on what appeared to be a large black something lying on the floor further down the corridor. Hermione cautiously moved forward towards the lump of what appeared to be black cloth, then hastened her steps when she realised that the lump was a person. She felt her bare feet step into something wet and sticky; looking down she saw the dark red puddle her left foot had fully landed in. Any fear for herself fled her body as concern for the person in front of her shoved its way to the forefront of her mind.
She quickly covered the last couple of steps to the person and knelt down next to the body. She reached out with her hand intending to find a pulse and was both relieved and worried when she felt a weak and slightly erratic rhythm throbbing beneath her probing fingers. Pulling her hand back from the person's neck, Hermione gently pushed away the matted black hair from the face. Gasping with shock, she pulled her hand back quickly as she recognised the bloodied and bruised face before her. Tears came to her eyes as she took in the broken body of the man lying in front of her.
"Professor Snape" Hermione breathed.
A/N – A slightly shorter chapter, but I thought this was a good place to end it. Thanks to those who reviewed.
More reviews would be great, pleeeaasse. Even if you want to tell me its crap, I just want to know what you think so I can alter any problems, so suggestions for improvements would be great. Also if you tell me what you like about it that would help too. I know my editing isn't great but I don't have a beta. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Next chapter: Dealing (I mean healing) with Snape, Hermione discovers something about herself and enter Voldemort and at least a couple of Weasleys.