Stolen Child

Weep Not For the Memories

Chapter 10

Hermione was again sitting across from Snape, her arms wrapped around her legs, staring at the floor. This time, though, it was night, the moon streaming down upon her form. She was talking, telling him everything, from the time that Draco pushed her into the ring, till when he found her; but Snape couldn't hear her, she was speaking so softly. He was getting so frustrated, but he couldn't yell at her, who could blame her? She had lost so much.

She reached up and pushed her short, wavy hair behind her ear, still looking down and away. Snape's eyes were drawn away from her face to the exposed nape of her neck, her honey gold skin turned silvery in the eerie light. His eyes traveled back up to the line of her jaw, her cheek, and then to her eyes, she was turned towards him, a look of fright coming over her. For a brief moment, he thought that he repulsed her to terror; but then he heard the distant baying of some unearthly hound, perhaps from the forbidden forest. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she suddenly looked so much more vulnerable than he could have ever imagined.

She was speaking to him again, her voice was barely a whisper, and he strained to hear her, but to no avail, then suddenly he heard her as clearly as if she was right next to him, her warm breath in his ear, "They're coming for me."

Professor Severus Snape awoke with a start and sat up strait in his bed. It was cold. There was no fire in his fireplace, his blankets were gone. He felt his heart pounding in his chest. Slowly, he reached for his wand on his end table, gripping it tightly in his sweaty palm. "Lumos." The tip of Snapes wand lit up instantly, and he pointed it in front of him, shining it around the room. There was nothing, not even a house elf. Blinking, he pointed it up at the clock on his wall and sighed, it was only four a.m., of course the house elves wouldn't have lit the fire in the fireplace yet. Snape sighed sharply. "Nox." The light on his wand went out instantly and he placed it back on the end table then reached down to the foot of his bed to retrieve his blankets.

Sleep did not come easy to him, and his dreams were filled with Hermione's terrified face, but sometimes she wasn't Hermione anymore, sometimes she'd look up and she'd have a long beard, and bright eyes behind round spectacles. When he awoke and found a warm fire crackling in his fireplace and his room bathed in a merry glow, he decided to dip into his supply of dreamless sleep potion the following evening.

His first class went surprisingly well, not a single cauldron was melted, and no one was set on fire. Finding his stock of dreamless sleep potion quite depleted, he decided to have his fourth year class brew the relatively simple potion for him, instead of having to take even more time out of his day to do it himself.

Snape spent the lunch break putting all of his ingredients back in their proper place, anything to keep his mind off of his disturbing dreams. He sighed and decided to take care of it before it became too much. Deep in his supply room he found a shallow stone basin with carved ruins along the sides. The contents were bright silver, cloud like, and constantly swirling about. Snape cleared his throat, and placed the wand to his head. He pulled the wand and a silvery threat emerged, attached to the tip. He placed his wand into the basin, and the put the wand to his temple again and repeated the process until it felt as though an enormous invisible weight had lifted away from his shoulders.

The Professor left his storage room and Dumbledore's pensieve behind, along with all the memories of his disturbing dreams. He took a seat at his desk, looking around at the empty seats, his eyes falling on the one which Ms. Granger had used in her third year. He gritted his teeth and looked at his desk instead, and folded his hands in front of him, just as the seventh years began to file in.

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Hermione Smiled and sipped her tea and look across the small table at the Headmistress, who was enjoying her tea as well. The Professor had only been there for a quarter of an hour, but already they were acting as though they had known each other for years.

"Madame Pomfrey tells me that you'll be fit enough to leave the infirmary by tomorrow, Ms. Granger, we'll have to figure out a suitable sleeping arrangement for you. It should be no problem, though, Hogwarts has many spare rooms."

She nodded and smiled even more broadly, "Thank you, Professor McGonagall."

"Call me Minerva, dear, you're no longer my student, nor are you a child." She grinned and took another sip of her tea.

"Only if you'll call me Hermione."

McGonagall smiles and nodded. "Of course, Hermione. So tell me, how did your first meeting with Professor Snape go?"

Hermione looked down at her half empty cup, not knowing how to respond. It hadn't really gone very well, she still only recalled two very small snippets of her past, but her diary had truly been fascinating and informative. She bit her lip, trying not to blush, remembering what she had read about her childhood crush on Snape. "Well, it went alright, I suppose. I remember a few little things."

"Well it's a start." McGonagall smiled reassuringly. "What do you remember, dear? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

Hermione looked off to the side, and then back at her cup. "It's alright. I remember Professor Snape. Just him, and his black robes, nothing specific." She decided to leave out the part about his scent triggering the memories.

The Headmistress couldn't help herself and chuckled, "I don't suppose that Severus is that easy to forget. He leaves quite an impression on everyone he meets, especially his student. Did he bring you your journal?"

"Yes, he did, it was really informative." Hermione could hardly suppress a laugh. Yes, indeed it had been informative. By her last entry on January 3rd, all she could write about was how much she adored Severus Snape. Her journal pages were adorned with hundreds of embellished 'S.S's, and doodles of Snape, it would have been sickening if Hermione couldn't have seen where her younger self was coming from.

McGonagall smiled, "I'm glad to hear that. Did it help you remember anything else, dear?

"No, not really, but it helped fill in some gaps. The yearbook he brought helped, though, along with him I also recognized Professor Dumbledore, the same thing as Professor Snape though, incredibly vague, more of a feeling than anything else." She looked up at the Headmistress to see her reaction.

McGonagall nodded, and Hermione could see her eyes becoming a bit shiny. "Indeed." Her usually firm voice cracked and she cleared her throat. "He was a wonderful man, a wonderful Headmaster; he holds a special place in everyone's heart here at Hogwarts."

Hermione swallowed hard and looked away once again. "Professor Snape didn't seem too interested in talking about him."

Professor McGonagall nodded once. "He.he feels responsible for Dumbledore's..condition." She took a quick sip of her tea, her hand shaking.

"Oh." Hermione decided it would be best to drop it; clearly it wasn't something that ANYONE wanted to discuss. "I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the school." She smiled, trying to brighten up the atmosphere once again.

"I think you'll enjoy being out of the infirmary." McGonagall swallowed hard and smiled affectionately.

There was a slight awkward pause. "Minerva, I was curious about something. Last night when Professor Snape showed me the yearbook, I saw a picture of me with two boys, Harry and Ronald, and a girl named Virginia. Where are they? Maybe if I met them, it would make something click?"

"Ah, well the last we heard from that particular trio, they were in Canada hunting down the last of Voldemort's followers. That was last month. It's rather difficult to keep in touch with them; it takes so long for the owls to get back and forth."

"Do they know that I'm back?" Hermione wasn't sure if she should be hopeful or apprehensive. They could, of course help her remember, but how would they react when they found out that she didn't remember them? She had talked about them so fondly in her diary, if they still cared about her what would they think if she didn't recognize them?

"No, Ms. Granger, I haven't sent an owl to them yet. Madame Pomfrey and I spoke on the matter, and decided that you should decide when we'll owl them, seeing as once they find out, knowing them, they'll be here as quickly as they can apparate. We've also kept this quiet around the school. The only people that know you have returned are Madame Promfrey, Professor Snape, and myself." Minerva chuckled and took a sip of her tea. "The young man who carried you upstairs for Professor Snape, Jacob Byers, was told that you were a muggle who had gotten lost in the forest, and that you've already been sent back home."

Hermione nodded, but suddenly felt nervous. Would Professor McGonagall tell everyone before tomorrow? She didn't want to run in to someone that knew her, without them first knowing that she had returned. It was then that her next question hit her. "What about my parents?" She couldn't help but worry her bottom lip, what would they think when they found out that she'd returned? Did she have any brothers or sisters now?

Professor McGonagall's smile faded. "Hermione. There's something you need to know."

Before she could go any further Hermione cleared her throat and nodded, she knew the answer before it had been spoken. She looked away feeling light headed, her thoughts swirling about wildly; everything suddenly had an unreal quality to it, like a cliché novel.

McGonagall sighed, "I'm sorry, Hermione. They passed away two years ago."

Hermione pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging herself. What was she supposed to think? She knew she should be devastated, her parent's were dead, and she was an orphan. She wasn't sad, not as much as she should be at least, how can you mourn for someone you don't know? Through all the thoughts racing through her mind, though, the one that repeatedly resurfaced in the rolling sea was, "How did it happen?" She looked across at Minerva, her eyes misty.

Closing her eyes, Professor McGonagall gathered her thoughts before speaking. "When Lord Voldemort began his second rise to power, the first thing he did as an example to us all was capture as many parent's of mixed blood children as he could. Your parent's weren't the only ones, and it created chaos and near anarchy amongst the students. It was exactly what he had wanted, the students became frightened, angry, rebellious, but there was nothing we could do. It was obviously a trap. I'm sorry Hermione. I'm so very sorry." McGonagall used her napkin to dab at her eyes, and took a sip of her tea, trying to compose herself.

"Who is Lord Voldemort?" Hermione's voice was dull as she continued to look away.

"Voldemort was the most powerful wizard in the world. Not long ago, about twenty years, he lorded over the wizarding world, those were dark times indeed. We lived in constant fear. No one faced him and lived, once he had his eyes on you, there was nothing that could be done. Then Harry, your friend from school, stopped him, he was just a baby, but somehow he stopped him. No one is truly and honestly sure what happened, but we do know that Voldemort killed Harry's parents, but when he tried to kill Harry as well, the curse back fired on him and he was nearly destroyed. It was just a few years after you disappeared that he was reborn, and if you'll pardon my language, all hell broke loose. That is until he was finally defeated, but victory came a great price, many wizards and witches died, others were ruined by it."

"Is he dead?" Cold fear crept down Hermione's spine, if he wasn't, then what was the point of having escaped? She would have simply left one hell for another.

McGonagall nodded. "Yes, thank Circe, he's finally dead." She sighed heavily.

And so were her parents. Hermione looked away, not knowing what exactly to do, or how to deal with what she had be told. And what would happen when, or if she finally remembered? How would it feel then? How could she grieve?

They both sat in silence for the rest of the time, up until Minerva stood slowly from her seat. "I'm sorry dear, but it's time for me to go. I hope that I'll see you in the great hall tomorrow for breakfast, I'll send a house elf up in the morning with some proper clothes. But if you don't feel up to it, it's alright; feel free to just explore the castle." She offered Hermione a reassuring smile and a pat on her shoulder.

Hermione stood as well, and nodded. "Thank you, Minerva; I'll see you in the morning." She forced a weak smile, and then sat back down, once again pulling her knees up to her chest.

McGonagall nodded again, looked back at Hermione as she began to walk away, her heart aching with pity for the poor girl, and then she left, the echoing of her shoes on the stone floor fading down the hall.

Hermione listened to her leave, and felt something awful well up in her. Before she could stop it a wracking sob escaped her lips, and she tightly shut her eyes and buried her face in her knees. Emotions that she had no words for washed over her in enormous waves, and at the crest of each one her mind was screaming for comfort, a familiar face. What had happened to make it so that Dumbledore's warm, grandfatherly had couldn't be on her shoulder now, and why did the only other person she remembered have to be so cold?

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Notes: YAY! I'm in the double digits! Heehee! Anyway, Sorry if this was a little cliché or anything. I really, really didn't feel like bringing Hermione's parent's barging into the picture while I'm trying to hook Sevy up so, HA! They got my official boot to the head...annnd..she's going to be sooooooo depressed over this whole thing, who's going to comfort her? *nudge nudge*..Also, I'm afraid this story was a bit sappy.but who can blame me? I've been listening to nothing but Thomas Newman scores all day! *LOL* (Little Women, Little Princess, The Horse Whisperer, American Beauty, How to make and American quilt, Meet Joe Black, etc, etc.LOTS of good old fashioned sappy stuff) Not to mention a healthy dose of Charlotte Church *LOL*.though the first part was written to the Dracula score *LOL*.Freaky, Sappy, Sappy Freaky..Feh! They're practically the same! ^_-

HunnySnowBunny: HeeHee, hey, it's my password to.I mean, uhhhh...did I say that out loud? And grammatical errors? Shite! I'll have to go back and re read that.hee hee, I said re re. *L* it's ok, the only way I even remotely get by is with the help of those big read and green lines word gives me if I mess up *LOL*. The issue of the appearing journal will also be answered soon, though it's not much of a plot point, and last chapter there of course was the revealing of the childhood crush.not sure if you can call it childhood, though *L*.I was engaged when I was 14, go fig (getting married this may ^_^).and Of course Hermione is pretty dang advanced for her age.anyway *uses a grappling hook to pull herself out of her tangent*. YEEE! *munches down on her cookie* thank you!...But honestly, thank you so much for reading! *L* Knowing that people care about this silly story keeps me warm at night! *LOL*

Risi: Yup, I decided first off not to kill Dumbledore. Personally, I feel like a future without him is almost too bleak for me to read, let alone write (. And I really, really feel bad for Severus on this one, but why wont come up until later *L*.always later. Ron and Harry will be written to in time, as soon as Hermione is ready ^_^.and I'm also planning a visit to see Dumbledore sometime in the future as well. I'm glad to see you're still reading! ^_^

Sweetbabe-101: Thanks so much! I'm glad you're diggin' it! The fate of Dumbledore will be revealed relatively soon, but I haven't set a chapter or anything yet, but I'll try to provide! ^_^

Sweetygirl240: Awesome! Thanks! Two "chapter" update tonight, and some more tomorrow, I promise! ^_^

Jazzylady: thank you!!! :D

Nikki's Stories: Thanks! ^_^ I'll be updating nightly for as long as I can, hopefully until I finish the story! Yes, Hermione had (has?) a crush on Snape, but of course, don't we all? *L*.which is funny when you think about it. He was so unpopular in school and now there are all these swooning fans.of course not in the HP universe..but hey, better somewhere than nowhere *L*!!

Someone28: Thankye! :D I will! Scouts honor!

Magictwinkle: Thanks! I'm glad you like it so far! ^_^ right now I'm kind of stuck between writing long chapters and updating a quickly as possible, but I'll try a compromise! ^_^

YAY! Lot's of reviews this time! *feeds them to the creativity beast so it'll grow up to be big and strong and write lots of new chapters* Thanks everyone!