Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does. I'm not her.
A/N: So I came home from school earlier than I normally do and had nothing to do. So, here I am writing the second chapter for Yellow Ribbon. Huzzah!
Hermione was still crying when the sun rose on the empty London alleyway. As it turned her tears into golden fire, she started contemplating about the tattoo. Staring at it, she began to trace the outline of the griffin. Think about it, come on and think! She hit herself in the forehead harder than she thought she would, causing her head to collide with the cardboard-covered stone wall. Fuck…that really hurt. She began to rub her head gently, and then pulled her hand away. Staring at the griffin on it, tears welled up again. What is it about this…this thing! Why do I always cry when I see it?
A shuffling man began walking down the alleyway and then turned into a shabby door on the left. There was nothing particular about him, except for his gait, but it sparked an idea in Hermione's head. Maybe someone else will know about this symbol! Or maybe…who I am. She immediately got up, brushed the dirt off her rags that she considered clothes, and set off down the street. She couldn't remember ever being outside of the alley, so this was a new experience.
Hermione walked onto the sidewalk and was instantly bumped into by a man in a pinstriped suit and tie. "Ouch!" Hermione yelled. "Sorry, Miss." said the man. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am. Thanks."
"Apologies once again." The pinstriped man started to walk down the street when Hermione yelled, "Wait!" The man turned around perplexedly as Hermione asked him if he had any idea what the tattoo on her hand was. He looked at it, then at her and chuckled. "I bet you were pretty drunk whenever you got that tattoo." He looked at it closely, grimacing at the dirt caking her hand. "I have no clue what that is. Sorry, miss." He promptly turned and walked away, leaving Hermione in his wake, sighing deeply.
Not having given up yet, she began walking down the street once more. "E-Excuse me ma'am," Hermione stuttered. "Do you know what this is?"
"No! Damn Hobos! Leave my children alone and go beg somewhere else!
Hermione's cheeks turned red as the rotund woman grabbed her bratty kids and pulled them away. She plucked up her dignity and asked a curiously dressed man if he knew what the symbol meant. He looked at her strangely and pulled his violet cloak closer to him. "Who gave you that tattoo, young lady?" he asked.
"I-I don't remember."
"Oh. Okay." The man pulled out a long stick and muttered quietly, "Cajolius" (A/N: since I don't know any Latin, a word put in spell-ish form will just have to do. Hint: Cajole)
"Sir, what did you just say?"
"Oh, nothing. Now, that is an extremely interesting tattoo. Say, are you hungry?"
"Um…yes…but what is that?"
"Obviously a victim of a memory charm…" The violet-cloaked man muttered to himself.
"Huh?"
"Well, since you are hungry, how about we go get something to eat?" The man asked.
"Well…ok." The man grabbed her arm as soon as she assented to the meal. He led her all through the streets of London while Hermione looked around in awe. She couldn't remember ever seeing anything quite like it. All of the sudden, they stopped in front of a telephone booth. What the…? I thought we were going to get food… The man pulled her in a booth, dialed some weird number, then they began to drop.
Hermione instantly began screaming! The man in the cloak simply sighed and then muttered, "Damn muggles. Silencio." Hermione instantly shut up, and grabbed her throat, clawing at it. The man gave Hermione a cold look and again pulled the stick out of his cloak, but before he could make a move, Hermione started slamming her fists against the wall. CRA-ZACK. The glass windows broke. "You are becoming such an annoyance, girl. Reparo." Instantly the glass flew back into place. As soon as that had happened, the telephone booth door opened.
A guard put his face in curiously and then asked, "What is that?" The violet cloaked man replied, "A muggle. Seems as though she has been tortured by some wizardly force, normally it would be no big deal, but you see that griffin tattoo on her hand? That's his symbol. See why I need to take her to the Aurors?"
"Yeah... sorry I asked. But, speaking of cruel,aren't you the one who put a Silencio on her?"
"Humph. I forgot about that. Besides, she was screaming. Now, I need to go. Are you going to let me through?"
"Sure. Here you go." The violet-cloaked man walked through, dragging Hermione behind him with an eagle grip on her arm.
"Now, don't you worry, little lady." said the guard, but Hermione shrank away from him in fear.
The violet cloaked man kept pulling Hermione through the hall ways while people in cubicles peeked over the top to see what poor muggle victim was being rescued now. Hermione looked perplexedly all around, and every time the violet-cloaked man gave her arm a jerk, tears began running down her face. Finally, the man stopped and entered a cubicle, pulling Hermione's arm one last time to face a man sitting down in an office chair. He had black hair with green eyes and round glasses. Hermione began to sob at the sight of him, sitting down on the floor. He looks so familiar…who is he? The violet-cloaked man bent over to Hermione and as he did so, his cloak hood fell off, revealing his red hair andblue eyes. At the sight of him, Hermione began to sob even harder, heavy, racking sobs of pure sorrow. Who are these men? Why do they look so familiar? Why am I so sad?
"Well, what's up with the homeless looking muggle?" asked the man sitting in the chair.
"Well, you see, I was walking towards St. Mungo's to check on our invalid spy, you know, when this girl came up to me out of nowhere, asking me if I knew what this dirt-covered tattoo on her hand meant. I took a look at it for curiosity's sake when, whaddya know? She's got his symbol tattooed on her hand. I wouldn't be surprised if she also had a tattoo of a serpent on her back, too. I'll check on it in a bit. Oh, also, it looks as though she has had an extensive memory charm put on her."
"How can you tell?"
"I asked her if she was hungry and she didn't know what hungry was."
"Oh."
"Yeah, Anyways, about that serpent tattoo…" The red haired man bent over and pulled up her shirt in the back. He took about a second's look when Hermione (who was still crying) realized what he was doing. Then she turned around and slapped the red haired man in the face who exclaimed, "SHIT! Listen, girl, it's not like that, I swear."
"Well…ummm…ok." Hermione said. She looked the red-haired man in the eyes and then started crying again.
"Weird. Well, anyways, She's got it." Said the red haired man.
"Fuck! Are you sure about that? Maybe I should check it out."
"Be my guest."
The black haired man walked over to Hermione as if she were a deer who might bolt at any second. He looked at her hand, then walked around and looked at her back. "Yep," said the black haired man. "You are right." The black haired man walked back to Hermione's face and bent down. "Hey, can you try and remember who did this to you?" Hermione continued crying. "Hey, girl! Pay attention! Try to remember who did this to you!"
The red haired man blushed. "Sorry man, I forgot. There is a Silencio charm on her. Let me just take it off….Dissendio."
"Yeah, it's a good thing to remember stuff like that. Now, girl, can you try and remember who did this to you?" The black haired man asked. No dice. Every time the black haired man grabbed her hand, Hermione started crying again.
"Hey, girl, stop that! Look at me!" The black haired man reached out and pulled Hermione's chin up, forcing her to focus on him. Once again, tears began to run down Hermione's face. In fact, all of Hermione's crying had washed the grime and dirt off of her face.
The black haired man looked at Hermione strangely, looked over at the red haired man, and then did a double take of Hermione. Realization slowly began drifting into the black haired man's eyes.
"Oh shit." He whispered. "Is that really you?......Hermione?"