---------------
"We have captured them."
"Yes, I know. Do you not remember? I have a… hmmm… how would you put it…connection to Potter that you do not. Unnecessary, pesky, but useful."
"I don't understand why you don't let me infest him once he is captured."
"Have you not told me that a voluntary host is much easier to control than an involuntary host?"
"It's true."
"Then let me have my say with him, and I promise you he will come running into our arms."
---------------
My name is Hermione Granger.
It felt like someone had hit me over the head with a frying pan. Not that I actually knew what that felt like, but it doesn't matter. My head was throbbing. I moaned.
The Death Eaters dragged me down the corridor. Two Hork-Bajir peeled themselves from the battle to follow me, just in case I might try to escape.
I moaned again.
"Stun her," said one Death Eater, "She might try to get away."
"No!" I yelled, though it left my lips as more of a whisper. "No."
"Stupefy."
"Ach," I said. Again I felt as if someone hit me on the head with a cinder block. Except, this time, I blacked out.
"Ennervate."
I groaned when I woke up. For one terrifying second, I had no idea where I was. I sat up and looked about me wildly. My heart jumped into my throat. "Harry? Where am I? Where are you? Harry?"
"Interesting," said a voice that sent chills down my spine, "Interesting that he should be the person you call for when you awaken."
I whirled around and gasped. There, in the doorway, stood the person that had given me nightmares ever since I had first looked upon his face. There stood the person who had attempted to murder Harry numerous times. There was the person who had murdered countless people.
There stood Lord Voldemort.
I backed into the wall, panicking. I had no wand. I was defenseless!
I would never be able to fulfill my promise to Harry.
"What do you want with me?" I asked, breathless with fear.
"Lots of things, my girl," Voldemort laughed, a cold high-pitched sound, "Lots of things."
I cautiously skirted the wall. Could there possibly be a door behind me? And, if so, would it be open?
"There is no other door but this," he said, gesturing to the door he was in.
As if he had read my mind.
"You won't get them from me willingly," I said in a much braver voice than I felt.
"I didn't expect to, my dear." He approached me. I pressed myself against the concrete wall.
"What do you want?" I asked, stalling for time.
He thought about this. "Why, I want you to mentally break down the one prophesized as my equal."
Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. My insides went icy. "Prophesized?"
He pretended to look shocked, which was much more a horrid twisting of his face. "Dear me, your beloved Harry never told you? I'm quite sure the Mudblood-loving fool Dumbledore has told him by now."
"No," I whispered.
"Doesn't he trust you, girl? After all, he loves you, correct?"
"Yes," I said, knowing the answer, "Yes, he does trust me. He does love me. And you will never make me think otherwise, even if what you say is true. He was only waiting for the right time to tell me!"
"Are you sure?"
I hesitated.
"See what I mean?"
"No," I said softly, "No. I don't."
Voldemort sighed, agitated. "You are quite stubborn." He stopped. Thought about what he had just said. "I hate that in a person."
I spat at his feet. "Good."
"You will pay for that insolence, girl!" he cried, raised his wand, and shouted, "Crucio!"
My eyes widened. I tried to throw myself out of the way, but I didn't have Harry's reflexes. It struck my shoulder.
I screamed, but the roaring in my ears was so loud I couldn't hear it. Pain beyond pain! Every bone in my body was on fire! My skin was surely burning off! I couldn't see! My thoughts were a jumbled mess. I—was—going—to—die…
I gasped as he lifted the curse. My entire body continued to ache. I coughed and choked on the blood in my throat. Hot bile rose from my stomach. I bit it back. Forced myself to swallow.
"I have a name," I wheezed.
"What?" demanded Voldemort.
"My name is Hermione," I said in a quiet, dangerous voice.
Back rushed the pain. The pain… so horrible… couldn't think…
"Do you wish to die for him?" demanded Voldemort shrilly.
I looked him dead in his snakey crimson eyes. "Yes. If I must."
He looked ready to do so. But then he wiped his face of emotion, so quickly his anger had seemed a farce. That shook me. "No. Not yet, at least. You have a purpose to serve."
He snapped his fingers. Three Death Eaters swept into the room. Two grabbed my arms and pinned me to the wall. The third held a crystal ball the size of a bowling ball. Inside it whirled images, spinning so fast I couldn't tell one from the other. Dimly, I thought, but I'm not a Seer… I can't See…
The Death Eater gave the crystal ball to Voldemort, bowing. Voldemort took it, studying the images inside. "See, you will do as I say, Hermione." He spat my name as if it were a swearword. "For soon you will not remember Harry as the sweet, brave person you think he is. I have crafted a past for you. It is quite an ingenious past, if I do say so myself. No longer will you love him. Everything he has done to make you love him has been changed. Indeed, now you will despise him.
"In fact, you will now be desperately in love with his best friend. Ronald Weasley will not be your friend, but your lover. Do you know how much that will pain him? You will make him believe he has lost everything, and he will give up on life.
"I have also changed Mr. Weasley's past. He's the sweet, clever boy everyone but you has underestimated. He sees goodness in Harry that there never was in your fictional pasts. Which is why you came here in the first place. Won't it be wonderful?"
My heart nearly stopped. Tears blurred my vision. "No," I whispered.
He smiled, lips curling over greenish-yellow teeth. "Kiss your memories goodbye, Hermione."
He said the spell.
I suddenly had a very nasty, throbbing headache. In my mind's eye, I could see my life in reverse. Knowledge of what had happened during those years disappeared.
I was losing everything… I was losing myself… It was slipping away, disappearing…. I couldn't stop it… NO!
Everything stopped at the point where I received my Hogwarts letter. Then everything was on fast forward. A new past, nothing more than a yarn, weaved itself in my mind. Alien thoughts invaded my head.
For one last moment, I grasped at my true self. Harry… I thought tenderly. My mind caressed the very idea of him. I pictured him, the sweet, brave boy that had lost everything but me. The boy who loved me as I loved him. The boy I had promised to be there for, for all eternity.
And then all was lost.
~*~
My name is Ron Weasley.
And I was being dragged to my doom.
How the Hork-Bajir managed to carry me without gouging me with his blades is a mystery to me, but that was the last thing I my mind. I had just seen Hermione being dragged away by Death Eaters, and Harry Stunned on the floor.
"Let me go! Let me go!" I screamed, struggling. I wanted to kick him, but my legs wouldn't move. All they did was shake with the effort. It was still months before they would totally heal over. I yelled an impolite word at them.
"Stop, dapsen human!" growled the Hork-Bajir in a guttural voice.
I ignored him, so he beamed me in the head with a hard fist.
Then, to put it shortly, I went unconscious.
When I awoke, the vilest man currently on the planet stood above me. I shuddered when I saw his face.
"Voldemort," I hissed, struggling to prop myself up on my elbows.
He smiled malevolently. "So you recognize me? I'm touched."
My head was throbbing as if I'd been stunned by twenty people. I closed my eyes and groaned. I didn't want this. I never did. But that came with the price of being Harry's friend. Sure, our friendship had our rough patches sometimes, but I was his friend to the end. Nothing would ever change that.
"I just came from seeing your friend… Hermione, I believe?"
My eyes snapped open. Hermione was my friend as much as Harry was. She wasn't… dead, was she?
"No, I haven't killed her… yet." Voldemort said nastily.
He'd read my mind! "Why not?"
"Because you two are of use to me."
My heart froze. "What?"
"Well, let me put it this way… Hermione has had a change of heart—excuse me, a change of mind. And I believe that you are about to have one, also."
"Never."
"Oh, contraire. You will be an aide in my plan. I'm sure the girl would be happy to explain to you before she dies. But I will tell you one thing: I have made you a new past. Do you like that?"
I struggled to move, but Voldemort put his booted foot on my chest and pinned me down. He snapped his fingers. The door behind him opened and a Death Eater came in, carrying a crystal ball the size of a Quaffle. Images swirled around inside it. My stomach knotted.
He smiled again. It didn't reach his crimson eyes. "Luckily for you, I have no need for anyone to hold you down. You are quite helpless on your own."
I closed my eyes and grit my teeth. "Do your worst."
"It'll be my pleasure," he said, and whispered the spell.
My life went into reverse. I saw it flashing by, saw it disappearing into the crystal ball that Voldemort was holding. Suddenly, I had no idea where I was and what I was doing. My life… my memories… the things that made me, well, me… were unraveling, spinning away into nothingness.
Then, everything was rushing forward. Images, things I have never seen before, whirled by at alarming rate. For about a nanosecond, I held onto myself but that, too, fell away from me.
And that's what scares me.
It took seconds for me to become someone else.
~*~
My name is Harry Potter.
And I'm scared.
Yeah, big surprise. I still get scared. In fact, I wasn't scared, I was terrified. I was about to lose the only things that mattered most to me: my girlfriend and my best friend.
Though I was Stunned, the spell wasn't a very effective one. I could still think and see, but I couldn't move. Not even my eyes. But out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Tobias breaking his wing. I could see Hermione being taken away. I could see Ron being dragged down the corridor.
And I was afraid.
What would the Death Eaters do to them? Would they be tortured? Would they be killed?
And if they were, wouldn't it be my fault?
I was dimly aware that I was being dragged into the room with the Anti-Magic Ray. My fear upped two notches. Not only would I lose my friends, I would lose my magic!
I could vaguely feel myself being shackled onto the platform beneath the Anti-Magic Ray. I wanted desperately to be able to fight back. I wanted to go save Hermione and Ron. I wanted to keep my magic!
"Ennervate."
I sagged against my bonds, head hanging. My scar seared with pain. It throbbed, screaming at me that my greatest enemy was nearly bursting with happiness. I forced myself to look up into the face of the person who had reversed the Stunning Spell.
I forced myself to look up into the face of Voldemort.
"We meet again, Potter," Voldemort said evenly, masking the triumph he felt.
I spat at his feet. It soiled the hem of his robe. If he had had a nose, he would have wrinkled it.
"You don't seem pleased at seeing me again," he said coolly.
I scowled up at him. "You killed my parents," I snarled, "And probably my best friends. My hate is as strong as ever. Possibly stronger."
"Well, as you might want to know, your friends have not perished. Yet."
Silence.
"What have you done to them?" I demanded.
"You shall see."
"What are you going to do with me? Infestation? Termination?"
Voldemort smiled. "Worse." He said. He turned, robe snapping, and strode away. I watched as he reappeared on the platform overlooking the room. He gave the signal.
The Anti-Magic Ray thrummed. I struggled against the shackles, but they didn't budge. I closed my eyes and thought of something that made me angry. Maybe—just maybe—if I got mad enough, something would blow up.
Things tended to explode whenever I got angry enough.
I thought of Aunt Marge. I thought of Voldemort. I thought of Visser Three.
Nothing happened.
But then the Anti-Magic Ray released.
I screamed when it struck me full in the chest. Instantaneously, I knew that the Anti-Magic Ray was, in fact, powered by magic. It flooded my body, grasping every particle of magic I possessed.
It was pain enough to challenge the Crucious Curse. The magic in the Ray was countering the magic in my body, forcing it beyond its limits, pushing against the walls of my skin. My back arched against the cold metal.
Then, suddenly, the process reversed. I shrieked. All my magic was being dragged out of my skin into the huge metal contraption. My skin burned. My heart seemed to slow. It felt like they were pulling out my insides with magic!
Quite abruptly, it stopped.
I slammed against the metal platform, gasping. The tingly presence in my chest that I had been aware of all my life was gone. I felt like an empty shell. Emptiness… I was completely empty…
My heart was gone, it seemed.
"No," I whispered.
Two Death Eaters came over and released me. A third handed me my wand. I stared down at it blankly. What was I to do with it now that I had no magic?
The Death Eaters took my by the arms and lead me out of the power plant. Was Voldemort letting me go? Why was he letting me go?
I stood shock-still in the fading sunlight. A part of me was missing. There was a hollow space where my heart should have been. I stared at the sky, a new horror occurring to me. I wouldn't be able to fly.
I walked into the woods and sat down on a rock. The Animorphs were gone. Where were they? Why hadn't they tried to help? And then I remembered how wounded everyone was. I couldn't blame them. This wasn't their fault. It was all mine.
I heard footsteps and jerked at the sound. There were Hermione and Ron, approaching me. I couldn't believe my eyes. They both looked complete and whole and normal… except for the soft expression on Ron's face and the twisted look on Hermione's.
Immediately, I was up and running. I slammed into Hermione, holding her close to me, lips searching her face. I found her lips and kissed her deeply. Tears streamed down my face. She was all right! She was all right! I hadn't lost everything!
I let go and fell back when she struggled against me. Her face was even more twisted then when she had first come out. Fiery ire radiated from her eyes. I looked at her, confused and hurt.
And that's when she slapped me.
The sound seemed to echo through the forest. Pain seared in my cheek, worse than even the Crucious Curse. The hollow feeling in my chest pounded.
"W-what?" I stuttered. "Hermione?"
"Don't you dare touch me like that again!" she shrieked, her cheeks blotched. "I'm not your girlfriend, you fool!"
"Hermione!" I cried out, angry and sad and confused at the same time, "What did he do to you?"
"Voldemort did nothing to me," she said haughtily.
"Why did you just kiss my girlfriend?" Ron asked softly.
My heart froze. My stomach began to do various acrobatics.
His girlfriend?
And then I knew what Voldemort had done to them. He had changed them, taking them away from me, changing their image of me. No longer was Hermione the person who I had loved. No longer was Ron the person I would trust with my life.
He had changed them.
He had taken them away from me.
He had hit me where it hurt most.
He had made my life my own personal hell.
A/N: Uh-oh! What's gonna happen now!? Heh, heh, heh. That's for me to know and you to find out. Yes, I've planned for Harry to lose his magic from the beginning. No violence please. Hermione and Ron being changed? New addition to the plot! Squee! Now I must leave you. See you in "Chapter 7: Freaky Feelings-Radar (Cassie)"!!