A boy and a girl tiptoed down the corridor leading away from the Ravenclaw
common room. The girl, short but petite, with her blonde hair in a ponytail
tied with a pink ribbon tried to hush her giggles as the boy held her hand
and led her to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
"What are we doing here?" The blonde Ravenclaw asked.
"No one ever comes in here. It's safe, I promise," he said before kissing her in that awkward, childish manner and pulling her in the bathroom.
The girl followed sheepishly with her lips locked to his. They closed the door behind them as the boy continued to slurp at her face and tried to lay her on the floor.
"No!" she protested, "It's dirty!"
The boy took a wand out of his robes as he stood at an odd angle in order to conceal his most obvious erection.
"Ok," he said, trying to focus his concentration on the task at hand, "Alright, we learned this in Transfiguration, and I can take something like um-" he looked around the dark and dreary bathroom before laying his eyes on a bathroom tissue dispenser. "Right, all I need is one of these and then, hmm." He pointed his wand at the piece of the toilet tissue he had laid on the ground before him and muttered something under his breath. Immediately, the tissue was larger than the two of them put together and much resembling a blanket if it weren't for the quilted, two-ply give-away.
The young blonde giggled as the boy kissed her necked and allowed her to lay down on the oversized, two-ply toilet tissue. He attacked her neck with his tongue, making her squirm as he played with the buttons on her blouse to no avail.
"Argh," he growled, sitting up and beginning to un-button the white blouse under her robes. The girl giggled as she watched him fumble as his slightly chubby fingers tried desperately to get inside her shirt. She looked over his shoulder for a brief second and jumped up as she screamed.
"What's wrong?"
"Over there, look!" the girl screamed, muffling her mouth with her hands. The young boy looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a pair of black shoes sticking out the farthest stall and an arm dangling loosely out of the side.
"Oh god," he exclaimed, rushing over to the stall. He pulled it open and looked back at his girlfriend, his eyes wide and his skin ghostly white.
"Who is it?" she asked excitedly
"Hermione Granger...."
"Are you serious?" she exclaimed, rushing to his side and putting her hand over her mouth again. The body on the floor was badly beaten, bruises evident on the skin between her lifted skirt and her white knee socks.
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know, I don't know," the boy responded, looking at the Head Girl's body in shock. "We need to go get someone, now!"
"No! We can't! How are we supposed to explain why we were in the girls' loo? If my father ever found out about you- Oh, Merlin, he'd kill me, he'd absolutely kill me!"
"Well, what are we supposed to do? Just leave her here? Gods!"
"I don't know!" she screamed and flung her hands to her sides, "I can't be caught here; I have to go."
"What do you mean you have to go?" the boy asked as he saw his girlfriend dart out of the bathroom and run back to the safety of Ravenclaw common room.
"Argh," he mumbled to himself, "just- stay-" he said pointing at her comatose body, "Just stay there, I'll go get help."
He ran out of the bathroom in the opposite direction of the Ravenclaw common rooms and towards the Hospital Wing.
Madame Pomfrey was carefully stocking her storeroom, trying to keep busy despite the lack of students in her ward when an impatient knock at the door startled her. She flattened her white apron and busily walked towards the door to find a young boy she hardly recognized with a flushed face and panting.
"Madame Pomfrey... in... Moaning... Myrtle's... bathroom..."
"What is it, boy?" the nurse asked, concerned.
"Granger.. in.. there..."
"Is she okay?"
The boy shook his head no.
"Oh my," Madame Pomfrey whispered, "show me," as she followed the young boy down the corridor and across a flight of stairs until they were at the entrance. The boy slung open the door and pointed to the limp, bruised arm dangling from underneath the last stall.
Meanwhile, Remus Lupin was hanging around the outside of the infirmary, wondering where Madame Pomfrey could have gone. The full moon was approaching, it would be there the next night and his headaches were getting worse. The noise of shoes against the hard stone floors caught Remus' attention. He looked up and saw the Madame and a young boy floating a girl towards the infirmary. At first, he assumed it was some young lad, hurting himself with a silly stunt as was the case so much of the time, but something caught his eye- the glimmer of a Head Girl badge.
"What's going on?" Lupin asked in his deep voice, surveying the body of his student. "What happened?" se asked again, following the witch as she lay the body on an empty bed.
"Run along, Crown," she said, shooing the boy out of the infirmary.
The bustling witch quickly closed the door and looked at Lupin. In a hushed voice she said, "Crown found her in the bathroom, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It looks like she's been beaten."
Lupin went to Hermiones' side as Madame Pomfrey quickly gathered a tray of ingredients. His emotions were mixing in a fashion that he had never felt before. He had seen injured students before, even good friends in his years right after Hogwarts, but this girl, she was something different. Emotion was a concept new to him; he had never allowed himself to get too attached to anyone. He preferred books and their inability to be judgmental. But, Merlin, he felt a tear in the corner of his eye. He clenched his fists, feeling his nails dig into the soft flesh of his hands. The mediwitch rushed around him in a surge of robes, and he tried to help, to offer his medical knowledge, but he was only getting in the way. Instead he took a chance to go to the lavatory.
He walked to the loo attached to the infirmary and immediately turned on the water faucet and splashed his face with cold water to relieve his throbbing head. He ran his damp hands through his hair before resting them on the edge of the sink and taking a long look at himself in the mirror before him. He had gotten old, his hair was greyer than it was at the beginning of the year, and the shadowy bags under his eyes had failed to disappear. He looked down at his hands, wondering why this was affecting him so much.
Hermione was the most intelligent girl- no- woman that he had ever met and so full of potential. Her mind wasn't the only thing that was beautiful, she was. Despite the fact that she pulled her hair back in tight buns highly resembling those of her Head of House, her skin was silky white, her cheekbones high, and her eyes were a dark brown window to her mind. Just like her, they shone brightly whenever she was excited or whenever she knew the answer to a particularly difficult question. In his mind, he could picture the younger Hermione Granger from her third year and watch her transform into this woman of great intelligence and presence who had been pulled down by Duplexplicis.
The fact that someone could actually hurt her dumbfounded him. Of course, he suspected Snape at first, but he had no evidence and didn't think leaving her for dead in a bathroom would be his style. Yes, Snape was cruel, but as far as Lupin knew, not cruel enough to practically beat the girl to death.
Remus gathered himself and walked back into the infirmary to find Madame Pomfrey in a fuss in the corner, wagging her finger at three figures in the doorway. On closer inspection, he recognized them as Harry, Ron, and Ginny.
"Madame Pomfrey, let them in, I'll make sure they won't disturb anything."
She sighed heavily. "Professor, with all due respect, it's after hours, they shouldn't be out of their rooms."
"Madame, with all due respect to /i, this is their best friend. I think they have the right to see her."
The mediwitch gave him a sharp glare and hurried off to busy herself.
"Moony, what's going on?" Harry asked, peeping over his professor's shoulder to get a look at the figure on the white hospital bed.
Remus couldn't think of anything to say and let them by so they could see for themselves. He heard loud gasps and saw Ginny go pale and cover her mouth with her hands. Harry looked over at Remus for answers.
"We heard from the Ravenclaws that she was found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, but who- who would have done this?" he said, pointing at the bruises and dried blood on his friend.
"I don't know, Harry."
Ginny couldn't take her eyes off of Hermione's body, and he could see tears swelling in her eyes. Remus gestured to the girl's brother. "Come on, Gin. It's going to be okay," her brother said soothingly, leading her to a set of chairs on the opposite wall.
At first glance, Harry looked dumbfounded, but as he turned to face Remus, his furious expression was evident.
"It was Snape," he spat. "I'll kill him, that fuck."
Remus grabbed his shoulders with a tight grip. "Harry, you need to calm down. We have no proof that it was Snape."
"I saw him in Hermione's quarters the day before yesterday. I know it was him. He's mad because everyone knows he was the one drugging her."
This was new information to Remus.
"We have no proof," Remus repeated.
Madame Pomfrey, who had been busily working on Hermione, came around and tapped on the professor's shoulder.
"Professor, I need to speak to you."
He turned back to Harry. "Stay here."
Remus followed the mediwitch to a secluded section of the room, out of hearing range of the students.
"I'm afraid she's unconscious for now. She's suffered severe trauma to the head. I've tried various potions, but she's not coming out of it. Remus," she said, taking a deep breath, "I'm afraid she's-"
Lupin stopped her in mid-sentence. "I don't want to hear that," he said harshly.
He went back to Hermione's bed, where the three students were standing, and he smelled the variety of usual odors. The dirt of the boys' shoes, the scents used in Ginny's hair, but there was something different, a light musky smell that he couldn't quite recognize.
"She's shaking!" Ginny screamed. Lupin rushed over and saw Hermione's body convulse heavily. Harry, Ron, and Ginny backed away, allowing Lupin access. Lupin held his hands against the side of her head, holding it down so she wouldn't injure herself.
"Get Granthum Syrup, now!" he barked across the room to Madame Pomfrey, who ran to her stores and then toward the bed with a small vial. With steady hands, she unscrewed it and pressed it against the lips of the convulsing girl's body as her arms and legs trashed.
It dribbled down her chin, allowing only a small portion to enter her mouth. Madame Pomfrey stood back while Lupin still held on to the convulsing girl's head and putting a hand on her chest so she wouldn't injure her neck with her seizure, but Harry could see it in his eyes, something was wrong.
Lupin exchanged nervous looks with the mediwitch who appeared for the first time, nervous herself. The girl kept convulsing, to the point that her hands and arms were flying astray and knocking over glasses and vials on the bedside table.
"Its okay, Hermione. It's going to be okay." He whispered to the thrashing girl.
"Something is wrong, isn't it?" Ginny asked through her tears.
Madame Pomfrey nodded grimly and the convulsions continued, seemingly gaining more strength.
"It should have worked by now," the Madame whispered more to herself than anyone else.
After a few moments, the convulsions subsided. The thrashing and noises of things falling to the floor came to a halt. Everyone was silent as Ron and Harry backed away.
Hermione's brown eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling. Her body was limp and motionless and her mouth was parted morbidly.
Ginny's sobs were the only sound in the room as the two boys looked at their best friend. Ron wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his red sweater and Harry collapsed in a chair, holding his head in his hands.
Lupin looked down at the girl, his heart fallen to his stomach, and wished her back a thousand times to no success. He pushed her hair out of her face and behind her ears, admiring her sweet face one last time. Two circular sores on her forehead protruded grossly, but Lupin still thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. He kissed her forehead lightly before walking out of the infirmary solemnly. Nothing more could be done, Hermione Granger was dead.
"What are we doing here?" The blonde Ravenclaw asked.
"No one ever comes in here. It's safe, I promise," he said before kissing her in that awkward, childish manner and pulling her in the bathroom.
The girl followed sheepishly with her lips locked to his. They closed the door behind them as the boy continued to slurp at her face and tried to lay her on the floor.
"No!" she protested, "It's dirty!"
The boy took a wand out of his robes as he stood at an odd angle in order to conceal his most obvious erection.
"Ok," he said, trying to focus his concentration on the task at hand, "Alright, we learned this in Transfiguration, and I can take something like um-" he looked around the dark and dreary bathroom before laying his eyes on a bathroom tissue dispenser. "Right, all I need is one of these and then, hmm." He pointed his wand at the piece of the toilet tissue he had laid on the ground before him and muttered something under his breath. Immediately, the tissue was larger than the two of them put together and much resembling a blanket if it weren't for the quilted, two-ply give-away.
The young blonde giggled as the boy kissed her necked and allowed her to lay down on the oversized, two-ply toilet tissue. He attacked her neck with his tongue, making her squirm as he played with the buttons on her blouse to no avail.
"Argh," he growled, sitting up and beginning to un-button the white blouse under her robes. The girl giggled as she watched him fumble as his slightly chubby fingers tried desperately to get inside her shirt. She looked over his shoulder for a brief second and jumped up as she screamed.
"What's wrong?"
"Over there, look!" the girl screamed, muffling her mouth with her hands. The young boy looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a pair of black shoes sticking out the farthest stall and an arm dangling loosely out of the side.
"Oh god," he exclaimed, rushing over to the stall. He pulled it open and looked back at his girlfriend, his eyes wide and his skin ghostly white.
"Who is it?" she asked excitedly
"Hermione Granger...."
"Are you serious?" she exclaimed, rushing to his side and putting her hand over her mouth again. The body on the floor was badly beaten, bruises evident on the skin between her lifted skirt and her white knee socks.
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know, I don't know," the boy responded, looking at the Head Girl's body in shock. "We need to go get someone, now!"
"No! We can't! How are we supposed to explain why we were in the girls' loo? If my father ever found out about you- Oh, Merlin, he'd kill me, he'd absolutely kill me!"
"Well, what are we supposed to do? Just leave her here? Gods!"
"I don't know!" she screamed and flung her hands to her sides, "I can't be caught here; I have to go."
"What do you mean you have to go?" the boy asked as he saw his girlfriend dart out of the bathroom and run back to the safety of Ravenclaw common room.
"Argh," he mumbled to himself, "just- stay-" he said pointing at her comatose body, "Just stay there, I'll go get help."
He ran out of the bathroom in the opposite direction of the Ravenclaw common rooms and towards the Hospital Wing.
Madame Pomfrey was carefully stocking her storeroom, trying to keep busy despite the lack of students in her ward when an impatient knock at the door startled her. She flattened her white apron and busily walked towards the door to find a young boy she hardly recognized with a flushed face and panting.
"Madame Pomfrey... in... Moaning... Myrtle's... bathroom..."
"What is it, boy?" the nurse asked, concerned.
"Granger.. in.. there..."
"Is she okay?"
The boy shook his head no.
"Oh my," Madame Pomfrey whispered, "show me," as she followed the young boy down the corridor and across a flight of stairs until they were at the entrance. The boy slung open the door and pointed to the limp, bruised arm dangling from underneath the last stall.
Meanwhile, Remus Lupin was hanging around the outside of the infirmary, wondering where Madame Pomfrey could have gone. The full moon was approaching, it would be there the next night and his headaches were getting worse. The noise of shoes against the hard stone floors caught Remus' attention. He looked up and saw the Madame and a young boy floating a girl towards the infirmary. At first, he assumed it was some young lad, hurting himself with a silly stunt as was the case so much of the time, but something caught his eye- the glimmer of a Head Girl badge.
"What's going on?" Lupin asked in his deep voice, surveying the body of his student. "What happened?" se asked again, following the witch as she lay the body on an empty bed.
"Run along, Crown," she said, shooing the boy out of the infirmary.
The bustling witch quickly closed the door and looked at Lupin. In a hushed voice she said, "Crown found her in the bathroom, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It looks like she's been beaten."
Lupin went to Hermiones' side as Madame Pomfrey quickly gathered a tray of ingredients. His emotions were mixing in a fashion that he had never felt before. He had seen injured students before, even good friends in his years right after Hogwarts, but this girl, she was something different. Emotion was a concept new to him; he had never allowed himself to get too attached to anyone. He preferred books and their inability to be judgmental. But, Merlin, he felt a tear in the corner of his eye. He clenched his fists, feeling his nails dig into the soft flesh of his hands. The mediwitch rushed around him in a surge of robes, and he tried to help, to offer his medical knowledge, but he was only getting in the way. Instead he took a chance to go to the lavatory.
He walked to the loo attached to the infirmary and immediately turned on the water faucet and splashed his face with cold water to relieve his throbbing head. He ran his damp hands through his hair before resting them on the edge of the sink and taking a long look at himself in the mirror before him. He had gotten old, his hair was greyer than it was at the beginning of the year, and the shadowy bags under his eyes had failed to disappear. He looked down at his hands, wondering why this was affecting him so much.
Hermione was the most intelligent girl- no- woman that he had ever met and so full of potential. Her mind wasn't the only thing that was beautiful, she was. Despite the fact that she pulled her hair back in tight buns highly resembling those of her Head of House, her skin was silky white, her cheekbones high, and her eyes were a dark brown window to her mind. Just like her, they shone brightly whenever she was excited or whenever she knew the answer to a particularly difficult question. In his mind, he could picture the younger Hermione Granger from her third year and watch her transform into this woman of great intelligence and presence who had been pulled down by Duplexplicis.
The fact that someone could actually hurt her dumbfounded him. Of course, he suspected Snape at first, but he had no evidence and didn't think leaving her for dead in a bathroom would be his style. Yes, Snape was cruel, but as far as Lupin knew, not cruel enough to practically beat the girl to death.
Remus gathered himself and walked back into the infirmary to find Madame Pomfrey in a fuss in the corner, wagging her finger at three figures in the doorway. On closer inspection, he recognized them as Harry, Ron, and Ginny.
"Madame Pomfrey, let them in, I'll make sure they won't disturb anything."
She sighed heavily. "Professor, with all due respect, it's after hours, they shouldn't be out of their rooms."
"Madame, with all due respect to /i, this is their best friend. I think they have the right to see her."
The mediwitch gave him a sharp glare and hurried off to busy herself.
"Moony, what's going on?" Harry asked, peeping over his professor's shoulder to get a look at the figure on the white hospital bed.
Remus couldn't think of anything to say and let them by so they could see for themselves. He heard loud gasps and saw Ginny go pale and cover her mouth with her hands. Harry looked over at Remus for answers.
"We heard from the Ravenclaws that she was found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, but who- who would have done this?" he said, pointing at the bruises and dried blood on his friend.
"I don't know, Harry."
Ginny couldn't take her eyes off of Hermione's body, and he could see tears swelling in her eyes. Remus gestured to the girl's brother. "Come on, Gin. It's going to be okay," her brother said soothingly, leading her to a set of chairs on the opposite wall.
At first glance, Harry looked dumbfounded, but as he turned to face Remus, his furious expression was evident.
"It was Snape," he spat. "I'll kill him, that fuck."
Remus grabbed his shoulders with a tight grip. "Harry, you need to calm down. We have no proof that it was Snape."
"I saw him in Hermione's quarters the day before yesterday. I know it was him. He's mad because everyone knows he was the one drugging her."
This was new information to Remus.
"We have no proof," Remus repeated.
Madame Pomfrey, who had been busily working on Hermione, came around and tapped on the professor's shoulder.
"Professor, I need to speak to you."
He turned back to Harry. "Stay here."
Remus followed the mediwitch to a secluded section of the room, out of hearing range of the students.
"I'm afraid she's unconscious for now. She's suffered severe trauma to the head. I've tried various potions, but she's not coming out of it. Remus," she said, taking a deep breath, "I'm afraid she's-"
Lupin stopped her in mid-sentence. "I don't want to hear that," he said harshly.
He went back to Hermione's bed, where the three students were standing, and he smelled the variety of usual odors. The dirt of the boys' shoes, the scents used in Ginny's hair, but there was something different, a light musky smell that he couldn't quite recognize.
"She's shaking!" Ginny screamed. Lupin rushed over and saw Hermione's body convulse heavily. Harry, Ron, and Ginny backed away, allowing Lupin access. Lupin held his hands against the side of her head, holding it down so she wouldn't injure herself.
"Get Granthum Syrup, now!" he barked across the room to Madame Pomfrey, who ran to her stores and then toward the bed with a small vial. With steady hands, she unscrewed it and pressed it against the lips of the convulsing girl's body as her arms and legs trashed.
It dribbled down her chin, allowing only a small portion to enter her mouth. Madame Pomfrey stood back while Lupin still held on to the convulsing girl's head and putting a hand on her chest so she wouldn't injure her neck with her seizure, but Harry could see it in his eyes, something was wrong.
Lupin exchanged nervous looks with the mediwitch who appeared for the first time, nervous herself. The girl kept convulsing, to the point that her hands and arms were flying astray and knocking over glasses and vials on the bedside table.
"Its okay, Hermione. It's going to be okay." He whispered to the thrashing girl.
"Something is wrong, isn't it?" Ginny asked through her tears.
Madame Pomfrey nodded grimly and the convulsions continued, seemingly gaining more strength.
"It should have worked by now," the Madame whispered more to herself than anyone else.
After a few moments, the convulsions subsided. The thrashing and noises of things falling to the floor came to a halt. Everyone was silent as Ron and Harry backed away.
Hermione's brown eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling. Her body was limp and motionless and her mouth was parted morbidly.
Ginny's sobs were the only sound in the room as the two boys looked at their best friend. Ron wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his red sweater and Harry collapsed in a chair, holding his head in his hands.
Lupin looked down at the girl, his heart fallen to his stomach, and wished her back a thousand times to no success. He pushed her hair out of her face and behind her ears, admiring her sweet face one last time. Two circular sores on her forehead protruded grossly, but Lupin still thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. He kissed her forehead lightly before walking out of the infirmary solemnly. Nothing more could be done, Hermione Granger was dead.