center Harry Potter and the Amulet of Power /center

Summary: Harry Potter is in his 6th year at Hogwarts. Right off the start of summer holiday he is captured by Voldemort. There is a mysterious new student at Hogwarts this year that transferred from Durmstang and she holds some interesting secrets. Harry is a sixteen year old with all of the love problems that come with his age. He struggles with the meaning of love and has some tough decisions to make. And if he chooses wrong, everything could come crashing down around him…

Genre/Category: Action/Adventure/Romance

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to JK Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment. I have no wish to claim it as my own. Yet, the plot and original characters of "Harry Potter and the Amulet of Life" are all my own.

Ships: HPHG HGSS HPGW GWDM (Love triangles all around!)

A/N: Be a responsible reader and review!

Chapter Nine – Trouble at St. Mungo's

"Really, Madame Pomfrey, I'm fine. Can you let me go now?" Hermione asked, frustrated that she continued to deny her.

"Miss Granger, if you ask me again I'm going to have to sedate you." Madame Pomfrey replied, pursing her lips so tightly that even McGonnogal would have a run for her money.

"But you said I had a remarkable recovery!" she whined.

"Miss Granger! You may have had a 'remarkable recovery' but I just want to be sure you're alright. You need your rest. And that is that. Take your potion and go to sleep, you are NOT leaving."

Hermione grimaced and decided to stay another night. She was restless. She was so worried about Harry it nearly drove her insane. She wanted to be by his bedside and talk to him and hold his hand. Snape had come to her earlier that day to tell her that Schwartz said he was getting stronger rapidly and that it looks good that he won't have severe brain damage. This held her for a while, but she couldn't help but feel worried about him.

Snape had come to visit her a few times while she was in the Infirmary, Hermione suspected this was because he felt it was his fault for her being hurt. No one had yet told her who those people were or why they were torturing Severus and she became very irritated. Now she understood why Harry had been so pissed when people kept things from him, like how his godfather was an escaped murderer who was coming to kill him in his third year.

Her and Severus were actually getting pretty friendly. She couldn't recall one snide or sarcastic remark he had directed towards her in the past week. They also shared a few interests, such as Potions and Alchemy. He had told her not many students were interested as her in Potions and that she should follow that and make a career out of it. She wasn't really sure what she wanted to do once she was out of Hogwarts. There was always the Auror training…but for some reason she didn't think she was cut out for that sort of work. She thought of a Ministry job, like being one of the Unspeakables. That could be interesting! She couldn't wait until she got her OWLS results.

Then someone entered the room, cutting off her thoughts of the future. Her parents came in with a bouquet and a satchel filled with her books.

"Hello, love! How are you feeling? We brought you some more books that you asked for and some flowers to replace the dying ones." Then Missus Granger stopped and looked at the flowers she had given her daughter five days earlier. "Magic, eh? I guess we'll need another vase then, since those are still kickin'."

"Mom, can you ask Madame Pomfrey to let me go. I want to go home." Well, it's half the truth at least, she thought to herself, knowing that the instant she got home she'd floo to St. Mungos.

While her dad was off negotiating with Poppy she started conversing with her mom regarding their vacation to the U.S..

"Well, dear, do you think you're up for it now? If you're not we can postpone it until Christmas break or maybe another week or so, but not much longer than that."

"Yeah, I suppose in a week we could go, unless Harry's condition gets worse, that is."

"Okay, Dumbledore said to meet with him before we make any new arrangements over in America so I guess I'll call him if Madame Pomfrey lets us use her fire.

Just then, as if on cue, she bustled out of her office with Hermione's father and didn't look very pleased.

"Okay! Okay! You win, Miss Granger. You may go HOME, but you must promise to stay in bed and go no where out of the house." She glared at Hermione suspiciously as she nodded in response.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Madame Pomfrey packed her things with a flick of her wand and Hermione eased herself out of bed.

"Madame, may we use your fire to call the Headmaster?" Hermione's mother asked. She nodded her head and soon enough they were going to visit the Headmaster.

When they were outside his office they could hear a man shouting inside.

"Albus! This is ridiculous! We must tell her! Or shall we wait until she's dead! It will be safer to tell her than not to! She is a brilliant witch and a prefect! Or is this going to be like Potter and the prophecy! And look what happened there!"

"Severus, calm down. We have people waiting outside the door. This conversation is over."

Then, Hermione and her parents walked in sheepishly and sat down by the fuming Potions master.

Dumbledore agreed to let them go on vacation on Thursday and Severus Snape was to go with them, as a safety precaution. Hermione was happy about this; she enjoyed his companionship…when he was being civil. Her parents could seclude her at times, leaving her with nothing to do.

When Hermione and her parents got home she started to read her book on ancient Egyptian magic and was stunned. The lot of it seemed dark and incredibly complex. After flipping through the pages a bit she came to see the picture of the amulet she had. It was called 'The Amulet of Life', roughly translated, and could be used in dozens of spells. One of them was for bringing back the dead and another for making a kind of voodoo doll. Even though half of the spells were dark and murderous the other half were bloody useful. There was little information on how the amulet works but it did say that the bearer was someone who had a line of blood drawing back to Ancient Egyptian Royalty and the more powerful the relative, the more power the amulet has for you.

The other book seemed to be more of a journal that was translated into English years ago. It had a lot of history in it and in the back, royal genealogies. It seemed to stop being kept about one hundred years ago, so Hermione thought it was a slim chance she'd figure out who was her relative. As she read over the names, one of the latter got her attention, Beismen. That family line was a direct relation to a ruler by the name of Phoenix. He was a ruler for a short period and had two offspring, Almaretta and James. Almaretta did not marry and died of a young age and James married an English woman by the name of Elizabeth. Down the genealogy last names started springing up and eventually led to Beismen. Hermione remembered her great great great Grandmother's last name was Beismen from a project she did in muggle school when she was nine. She figured she'd need to look him up when she got to a proper library.

She noticed it was getting late and her parents would probably be asleep so she put on her robes and grabbed her wand and walked down the stairs.

"Saint Mungo's!" She said clearly, after throwing some powder into the fireplace. She felt like she was whirring around and then she came to a stop and nearly fell over. After bushing the soot off of herself she strode up to the front desk.

"Hello!" The perky blonde said. "How may I help you?"

"I've come to visit Harry Potter."

She suddenly looked very suspicious, "And who may YOU be?"

"I'm Hermione Granger." She raised an eyebrow at Hermione and started shuffling through the parchment on her desk and then looked very surprised.

"I'll be right back, Miss." She got up and left Hermione and came back a few minutes later with the Healer she recognized from the night they had brought Harry in.

"Just give your wand to Miss Allridge and come with me." He instructed her. The Healer led her down a corridor and murmured a spell and touched the wall and an elevator appeared.

She stepped in and soon found herself on floor twenty once again.

"Why 'ello Hermione! Didn't expect to see you zis early! Ablus had told me that you would be coming later in zee week, missus."

"Yeah, well I was very worried about Harry and it would be nice if you didn't mention this to the Headmaster…I'm supposed to be at home getting rest for the sickness I don't have."

"Well, I'd say you should just keep yourself to a short visit. Some problems sometimes occur after a person has not fully recovered yet and they are walking aboot. You may not feel it, but whatever was plaguing you may still be zerr." She looked down at her feet and recalled all the times Dumbledore had been right but they were too stubborn to see it. "Now, I suppose you would like to see your friend?"

Hermione followed him behind a white curtain and saw Harry in his white bed with his white sheets brought up around his neck.

'He's looking a lot better, sir."

"Yes, he iz recovering wonderfully."

"How did he survive it, sir?"

"First of all, please stop calling me sir. Call me Ebenezor. Second of all, I'm really not sure. It could 'ave been a number of zings. It could 'ave been a magical bond he had with someone at that particular time. It could ave been the arranging of the stars. Or it could have been someone performing a spell to protect 'im. Personally, I zink it iz probably the latter, that someone intentionally performed a spell to protect 'im."

"I have another question, sir, I mean, Ebenezor."

"Yes?"

"What is this floor for?"

"Ah. It iz for supernatural research and we also specialize in old and/or dark magic."

"Do you know what spell it could be?"

"Probably an old magic. I'm zinking it'z from zee Marletos classification. It'z a group of old magic used to protect zose in battle. So, ven a vitch's husband vent off to war she could do one of zee spells to 'elp protect him. But zey are all very difficult and whoever was doing it was eezer lucky or knew the time and day ven Harry would be up against Voldemort."

"And I'd imagine that since they performed it on his birthday it was a great deal stronger."

"I agree. Most of the spells often require outside forces such as important dates or a certain alignment of stars in order to have it work completely."

"Does this have anything to do with what happened to Professor Snape and I a week ago?"

"Per'aps. Melvana may have let the date when Harry was being captured slip to zee wrong person, you know." Hermione made a mental note of the name Melvana in order to look it up later. He seemed to be the only person telling her anything about this whole situation.

"Why did they capture Harry on his birthday? What were they trying to do with him?"

"I 'ave no idea, Miss. They may have been oblivious to the fact it waz 'is birthday. Or perhaps they were doing some magic involving it on their own. But I doubt it was more Marletos, probably dark."

Hermione thought about this and walked over to Harry's bed and moved the hair off of his forehead. His scar was still red and his skin was still a bit cold.

"When do you think he'll recover, Ebenezor?"

"I'd guess a week or two at the rate he's going. But, I remind you, zer iz still the chance of death and him coming out of zis with brain damage." He reminded her.

"You really know how to cheer up a girl, huh?" Hermione said sardonically.

"Work through this Harry, I believe in you. I…I…need you. I need you to come back. I need to see those beautiful emerald eyes again. I don't know what I'd do if you died. I…I…I love you…" Hermione whispered to Harry, revealing the secrets of her heart. She kissed his brow and turned to the man in the white coat standing beside her.

"Love can be the best remedy sometimes." He said to Hermione, making her color. She hadn't realized he could hear her. "I think it vould be time for you to go? I don't vish to see you ending up here, hmm?"

"Yes, sir. I mean…Ebenezor. Good night."

He nodded to her and smiled as Hermione got into the elevator and was swept down to the first floor. When the elevator door opened she walked to the front desk where the blonde was to retrieve her wand. Except, the blonde didn't look so perky anymore. She looked dazed.

"Miss Granger. Here is your wand." She said mechanically. Hermione gave her a strange look and thanked her. As she was walking away to the fireplace to floo back to her house she felt a the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She turned around curiously and saw Miss Allridge pointing her wand straight at her.

"Avada Kedavra!" She yelled, sending a green flash of light at Hermione. Hermione dove out of the way and jumped up quickly, ready for whatever else she dished out.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted, but Miss Allridge was too quick and dove under her desk.

"Crucio!" Hermione felt the spell hit her like a thousand knives carving her skin off. She held back her screams and bottled it up inside. The spell seemed to dissipate until she felt it again in her chest and it moved through her wand arm.

Hermione got up and automatically said "Expelliarmus!" sending multicolor streams of light towards the blonde receptionist. She was hit with the spell in the chest and screamed out. Her wand flew out of her hand and across the room and was sent back into a wall twenty feet away. When she hit it she was knocked out, and then several Healers came running out to see what the commotion was.

"Stupefy!" One of the healers yelled. Hermione easily dodged the spell. "Call security!"

"Listen, stop trying to stun me! She attacked me!" Hermione pleaded.

"Then drop your wand!" Another Healer with graying hair yelled to her. Hermione dropped it to the ground and raised her hands above her head innocently.

Just then around ten Aurors ran into the room and one of them shot a spell at Hermione and before she knew it she was on the ground with magical ropes wrapped around her.

"WILL ANYONE LISTEN TO ME!" She yelled.

"Why did you attack Miss Allridge!" A Healer yelled at Hermione.

"I disarmed her because she tried to kill me!"

"Oh, likely story indeed. I can see it tomorrow morning in the papers 'Perky, Receptionist Tries to Murder Girl at Saint Mungo's!'" An Auror added, sarcastically.

'Well, maybe it wasn't her. Maybe someone put her under Imperious! She was acting very strangely!" Hermione retorted.

"Why would someone want to kill you through Miss Allridge?" A Healer asked her calmly.

"I don't know! Maybe someone wanted her to be convicted of an Unforgivable."

"Sounds like you know just what they're up to, eh? In the league with You-Know-Who? How about you show us your Dark Mark tattoo!"

"I am not a Death Eater. My best friend is Harry Potter. And all I know is that she shot a Killing Curse at me and I dodged it. I tried to disarm her and she dodged my spell. She shot a Cruciatus Curse at me and I threw it off and then I disarmed her."

All of the Aurors looked at her open mouthed and contemplated what she had said.

"And how exactly did you throw off the Cruciatus?" An Auror asker her suspiciously.

"I've been studying up on it." She lied. "If you concentrate and practice it some people can actually throw it off. I'm not saying it's easy. It did take me a while to throw it off."

"How can we even be sure you're speaking truth?" An Auror yelled at her, an angry look on his face.

"Well, you could do Priori Incantatem on both our wands and figure it out for yourself, dumbass." She spat at him in a fury she rarely felt.

The Auror started to approach her. "How dare you! You little bitch I'll…"

"Now, now. Step away from the girl. Let's test the wands." An Auror with an authoritative and strict tone said. The other Auror backed away from Hermione and soon enough she was unbound.

They took her name and then let her go home. Before she left she reminded the Aurors that she was acting strangely and was probably under Imperious.

When Hermione got home she threw herself into bed and settled in for a long night's rest.