Once again the disclaimer: I bow in awe of J.K. Rowling genius. All characters and things in the Harry Potter world are hers. Please do not sue me. I make no money and you would undoubtedly piss readers off if you delay in continuing the saga as we anxiously await your next book. I have cited other fan fiction articles which have inspired me to incorporate their ideas in this story as well. I encourage you to read them.
As always, thank to the readers who have been sending much appreciated feedback. Please read and review. Thanks ~ Leyna
Chapter 8: The Uses of Sight
Hermione wore it everyday. She attempted to jog in it once but that was a mistake. The outfit did not permit sweating. It was a pain to remove it that day. Her mother had taken her to Gladrags to help her to select a new dress robe for the Ball over the summer. It was a beautiful shade of deep red with numerous tiny crystals sewn into the shiny silk fabric. It flowed to the floor, glittering as she swished. The hem rose barely two inches off the floor, just enough to expose her matching heels.
That night she removed her angry disposition and replaced it with a relaxed one after an hour of meditation and a hot bath. She spent extra time fixing her hair which hung below her shoulders, pulling it back in an graceful twist of braids and curls, carefully pinning each tendril in place. Long onyx studded earrings adorned her lobes.
She had no date. And couldn't care less. She was out for enjoyment and to laugh fate in the face. She felt invincible.
The Professors and Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief at Hermione's poise and composure as she stepped gracefully into the Great Hall, which had been transfigured into an beautiful ballroom. Not every girl could do that with confidence. Severus Snape was relieved to see the girl he had wronged spring back like he hoped she would.
Ron, Neville and a number of other boys definitely noticed the new confidence and beauty which poured forth from the young Gryffindor's slim frame. Hermione Granger seemed taller, she stood a little straighter. Even Draco stole a glance when his date wasn't looking. Harry approached her, he had also gone stag.
"Hermione, you look lovely."
"Thank you. You do too. I mean look handsome." She smiled. "Do you have the map?"
"Yeah." Harry patted his front pocket underneath his cape. Hermione had shared an edited version of her theory with Harry who was kind enough not to press and promised to keep an eye out for Malfoy senior. She was beginning to trust him with more, after all, he did know about her visions. He brought the Marauder's Map just in case and would check it from time to time to make sure no one would crash the party.
"No sign of anything yet. Just enjoy yourself okay? It's totally crowded, and it's supposed to be fun. Let yourself have a good time. Please? You deserve a break."
She did. No denying that. "Alright then."
"Wanna dance?"
"Sure." He took her arm in his as the music started up. That gesture seemed an overly gallant for the usually awkward boy, but as soon as the music started the elegant movements of Harry Potter vanished and he turned into the clumsy friend Hermione had known for years.
The music wasn't really her taste. Wizard music always seemed either to rigid and formal (for waltzes and such) or too disjointed and savagely unmusical. Yet she managed to dance with Harry, Neville, Seamus, and Ron. Ron had practiced over the summer and to her glee had danced with a number of other girls which keep his attention focused elsewhere. Neville was surprisingly better than Harry. Hermione was light enough on her feet that she managed to avoid Harry's toes. The teaching staff, except Snape, danced with each other and looked on in amusement as they watched the embarrassment, laughter and pains of youth.
"It's Hermione, isn't it?" A nervous boy asked. "I'm Phillip Grogan. Would you care to dance?"
"Thank you Phillip, I'd love to." Phillip was Seventh year student from Hufflepuff. She'd already noticed him dancing with several other girls. He was a skilled dancer and wondered how he'd learned. What she didn't know is that he was working up the nerve to ask her.
"You look beautiful tonight," he said taking her right hand and leading her to the floor. Hermione blushed. She'd been complemented before, but it was usually polite mannered phrases from friends. Phillip was handsome, tall with dark hair and eyes. She didn't fancy him, but she was flattered nonetheless.
Hermione was beginning to enjoy herself in dancing with Phillip, already observed by many as quite the dancer himself. To her amazement the band selected a tango variation, and she nodded her approval to the Muggleborn student, clearly showing his ballroom skill. The violins sang deeper notes as they performed the daring staccato moves, more intimate and mature than most other students dared. Hermione had let something about herself slip in doing this. They danced passionately, cheek to cheek, hands clasped and outstretched with all of the drama the Latin dance possessed. With his steady hand behind her neck, the young man dipped her deeply. Dumbledore smiled.
She had in fact danced often with her close friend, Jake, during the summer. He had been planning to dance competitively and Hermione enjoyed his company. Jake was a far less serious person than she was and she appreciated the lightening of her spirit. For a moment, she forgot her worries.
Harry consulted the map in a corner and made eye contact with Hermione. She abruptly stopped. She apologized to Phillip, ever the gentleman, and she excused herself quietly to go to Harry. Her hands trembled slightly as Harry said, "I had to cast a spell, but the map shows he's been here hours ago. I missed it! He was here on the map in front of the school, and then he just disappeared. Must have been before the ball."
"Oh God, Harry." No, no…she felt the panic rise with the lump in her throat and her stomach tightened. He doesn't understand. Hermione was safe, but she felt the danger in the pit of her stomach. It was happening. Now, with someone else. She heard the murmuring.
Ginny Weasley was running up to them as they began to notice other Hufflepuff students murmuring in loud whispers, "Have you seen Rose?" "No. You?"
"Rose Levi is gone." Ginny said.
Rose Levi was a fifth year Hufflepuff student who studied well, but remained mostly quiet. Few knew her well, expect perhaps close friends in her house and her own year. She resembled Hermione to a degree, many students had already approached her from behind, mistaking her for Rose. She looked up at Dumbledore with a tear in her eye all laughter gone from her face, replaced with the anger and exhaustion from before. She staggered backwards from Harry in fear and ran from the room and back to the dormitories. Harry followed as Ginny went to Dumbledore to explain.
Hermione threw herself on the floor and willed herself not to cry. She focused on her breathing, which threatened to come in shuddered gasps as she shut her eyes, vainly trying to block out the image of Lucius Malfoy raping that poor girl.
Suddenly, all of the visions and questions organized in her mind… She heard Madame Pomfrey's voice,
"She's alive, Albus, just barely. If I only knew what curses they used…" Madame Pomfrey had assumed it was a they, not a him, not the evil bastard who screamed epithets as a young unsuspecting girl, dressed beautifully in crimson robes for her first ball.
"Oh God, so much blood. Severus, I need more blood replenishing potion."
"Wait! Don't use that Poppy…we have to know what spells were cast first, anything we administer might injure her. Where did you find her?"
" The front steps of Hogwarts, one of the students found her. I can't believe they would have the gall to return her! Why didn't they just kill her?"
He's making a threat. As if to say, 'See what I can do'. Snape thought.
Hermione's eyes popped open and she snatched a piece of parchment, writing carefully, in order, every violent curse and spell she had seen and known by heart in order to defend herself. The garment hugged her and painfully wished Rose had been wearing it. There were several Dark Curses, risky to write so she had to resort to shorthand. They could sometimes be invoked by writing or speaking them and variations of them were different and dangerous. She rolled up the parchment and began writing a list of potions she hadn't already prepared. Hermione boxed up the rest she had prepared in her room and brought them to the infirmary. Her crimson robes were a blur as she ran though the empty halls toward the hospital wing. She left the box in a corner with the scroll and raced quickly to the front steps to find Rose before any other student.
Rose's bloody naked form was lying in an almost unrecognizable heap at the entrance of the school. Her tortured body was strewn across the steps, with blood that trailed far into the grass toward the dark forest. Fang howled in the distance.At least he knew something was wrong. How long had it been…hours? Hermione removed her outer cloak and covered the broken girl, suspending the robe over her mangled body. She levitated Rose through the great doors as Severus Snape looked on in horror from the Hall.
Lucius in his dungeons at Malfoy Manor, towering over a petrified girl. She begged and pleaded for him to stop. "Mudblood scum! Despicable girl! Crucio!" …a glimmer of a knife…Blood covered the floor. "Don't! Please, no more… Oh God, I'm dying…let me die…please let me die…" Hermione collapsing in the Room of Requirement. Her cowering underneath his desk, begging Snape not to reveal her whereabouts. She knew.
Snape shuddered as the terrible flashes of Hermione's vision clicked into place, and he followed the dripping pools of blood which painted a twisted path toward the infirmary.
Hermione released Rose from the spell, carefully lowering her almost lifeless body onto the white bed. The tears began to flow, the harsh reality of her visions hitting her in a choking blow. She turned dizzily to the door. The trail of blood…oh God. This is all my fault. I should've, it should've…
Severus Snape stood in the doorway staring at his shaken student, watching her remove the scroll from the top of a carton of potions and placing it deliberately into his palm. She was placing her in his care. She made eye contact and he was speechless. The look on her face resembled one of pain and fear—the one she bore outside of Flourish and Blotts, hiding under his desk, and too many Occlumency classes... Lucius Malfoy.
'I'm sorry…I failed you,' were the feelings emanating from Severus Snape as he regarded her painfully. She was surprised at the depth of his understanding and his sorrow for pushing her too hard, the complexity of his thoughts revealed to her as he mentally reviewed the past four months. She wanted to say 'Thank you' but realized he had not in fact, said anything.
He let her leave. Snape and Hermione knew this would go unpunished. The Ministry of Magic would never believe the generous contributor capable of such a thing. There would be no prosecution. No one could prove a thing and today Azkaban's prison walls could not hold the slippery beast. Frozen, he unrolled the catalogue of familiar curses used to torture the girl and staggered back to collapse in the nearest chair with the weight of it. She knew everything.
All of the students returned to the dorms upon hearing of the missing student. The cavernous historic halls were empty. She felt no comfort in the familiar surroundings of Hogwarts. Hogwarts the fortress. Hogwarts the safe haven. Hogwarts the sanctuary. She was dwarfed and tiny in the enormity of them. The tall cold stone walls seemed to swallow her and she wanted to be swallowed. Hermione walked wordlessly past a tearful Dumbledore. The Headmaster was only now processing what the paralyzed young girl must have suffered through during these last months of visions.
Hermione child, come here. Professor McGonagall attempted to meet her in the Hall for counsel but Hermione was incapable of any response. Harry met her outside of the common room and they adjourned to a quiet corner where she wept in his arms.
The Boy Who Lived recognized again he wasn't the only one carrying a heavy burden, and scolded himself for not being more available to Hermione since the start of the school year. Hermione sensed his deeper perception and finally opened up to him with a somewhat less edited version of her last months. He listened well, and vowed to keep her secrets, helping with her newfound gifts already intruding on her life. Hermione felt overwhelmed by Harry's emotions as they flooded her mind. Somehow he sensed it, successfully shutting off his thoughts using his Occlumency training. Hermione wondered how she would cope over the school year if she couldn't gain better control over her abilities; it would drive her mad.
In the end, they decided that in certain circumstances, Harry could obliviate specific memories, both to preserve her sanity and protect the many secrets inside these halls. She was glad that the Yule Ball signified the end of the semester. No more classes until January meant that she would not be surrounded by the noisy thoughts of hundreds of students. She avoided the dorms until morning when most had departed for the Christmas holidays.
She wandered to the infirmary to check on Rose, bending down to kiss her hand and whisper apologies. Only Hermione possessed full knowledge of what Rose had felt and endured at the hands of Lucius Malfoy. Privately she vowed to avenge this, not really understanding the how or when, just that she would.
Madame Pomfrey noted her presence at Rose's bedside from a crack in an adjacent door, about to shoo her out. Poppy, having a change of heart, permitted the intrusion, which she accepted as important to Hermione's own healing as for Rose's.
Later Snape would require medical attention from Poppy after he repeatedly slammed his fists into the dungeon wall. He was enraged at the behavior of his former friend, who tonight had gone to lengths previously unreached at dark revels. There was not a thing he could do.
Author's Notes:
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