Parcheesi
Chapter 3: Living In Color. Red, Really…
By: Keiko
Disclaimer: Check the last chapter.
Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table at breakfast, surrounded by friends. Ron and Harry had not yet found their way to the Great Hall, but she hardly noticed. People on the left, right of her, and in front of her engaged her in meaningless conversation, and actually thought that she was paying attention. They weren't to blame, though, because Hermione put up a pretty good act. As the saying goes, 'Practice makes perfect'. Hermione was proof of that. She'd been putting on an act for a good year and a half. Right after her parents were killed in a car accident.
It was a day after her birthday, and her parents had just bought her a new Boom box. One of the expensive ones that you can only purchase in New York. She was home alone, because her parents had gone out to the supermarket to purchase the ingredients for her favorite dinner. Hermione had been in the living room watching an American sitcom when she noticed the time. It was 7 o'clock, and her parents had left around 3 thirty. Right when she started to question, the doorbell rang, and she jumped up eagerly thinking it was her parents.
When she opened the door, she wasn't greeted with the happy faces of her parents, carrying paper bags filled with food, she was greeted with the sight of her uncle, Led. She invited him in and he gave her the bad news. Twenty minutes later, the police arrived and served her with the details, also giving her a gold cuff that belonged to her father, and a hairpin that belonged to her mother that was found at the scene. The funeral was three days later.
Led moved in to be her guardian, and everything went downhill from there. He began to abuse her, Physically, mentally, and sexually. And it didn't end there. Sometimes he would let one of his many friends have their way with her. The only rule was not to bruise Hermione's face or lower arm. The only place she felt safe was at Hogwarts. That is, until the end of the year, when the Golden Trio has their usual run in with Voldemort.
That's when she began to cut herself. She realized that she felt some kind of satisfaction when she did it. As if she was defying them. To be able to inflict pain on herself meant that she was doing something they weren't. It was the only thing in her life that she could control. After a few times, she became addicted to cutting. The smallest things made her reach for knife. But, it wasn't as if she were trying to stop either.
In an effort to relieve her thoughts, Hermione ran her hands over her face. When doing so she noticed that she was crying. She scolded herself especially for doing it in the open. Anyone could have seen it.
No sooner than a minuite, Harry and Ron came hipping into the Great Hall laughing about something. Ron playfully shoved Neville aside to sit next to Hermione's right, and Harry asked Parvati to scoot over so he could sit on Hermione's left. Ron gave Hermione a peck on the cheek and then turned to fill his plate. Harry nudged Hermione and gave her a small hug.
"So", Harry started "How was last night, with Malfoy?"
Suddenly, Hermione remembered why she was so upset at them.
"Oh my god. I could have sworn I told you." She said sardonically, "Remember last night? When you guys waited up for me, and I told you everything?"
"Oh." Ron said, searching for an excuse "Well, what happened was…um…we got really tired, and we didn't know were you were, or when you were coming back…"
"So you didn't even consider how I would feel?" Hermione asked, getting angrier by the moment.
"No!" Harry tried to patch up, "It was just that we thought that you would be okay with it."
"Merlin, you guys! It wasn't even that late! I left at ten fifty-one, and I returned at twelve fifty eight. Hardly two hours. You guys have been up much later than that." She said, practically pleading with them to understand her side.
"Hermione, we're sorry. We just never thought you'd make a big issue out of it." Ron said, concentrating more on his food than the situation ahead.
"Well, I'm sorry to say this, but you guys have really got to be more considerate of other people's feelings." She said as an addendum.
"Sorry, we will." Harry and Ron both said at the exact same time.
This made Hermione laugh. They had all started completing each other's sentences or saying the exact same thing, just like Fred and George, Ron's twin brothers would do, at the end of fifth year, after the invasion the Ministry Of Magic. It was as if that last battle brought them even closer than they were previously. That didn't even seem possible, but it happened.
"What class do we have after breakfast?" Ron asked
"Potions, with Slytherin." Hermione answered, having memorized each Harry, Ron's and her own schedule the first weeks back.
"I wonder what Dumbeldore was drinking when he was doing our schedules. Honestly, Potions with the Slytherins right after breakfast, on a wenesday?" Ron cried.
"Ron, Dumbeldore doesn't do our Schedule's. Professor McGonnagal does them." Hermione said, exasperated.
"Well then, what was she drinking? Fire Whiskey isn't allowed at Hogwarts." He said, making Harry squirt pumpkin juice through his nose because of the intensity of his laughter.
Hermione scowled at the crudity of Ron's joke. "That's not right. You shouldn't talk about her that way."
Ron and Harry both laughed at her comment.
Hermione looked at them, wondering what was so funny. "Why are you laughing?"
Ron looked at her, "It's like McGonnagal is your bloody idol, or something."
"She is not my bloody idol!" Hermione countered.
"I can see it now" Harry joined, "Hermione with a bun as tight as a knot, face taut, scaring the shit out of innocent first years by turning into a cat right before their eyes."
Ron and Harry laughed, Ron the hardest "I can definitely see that!"
Malfoy's words came pouring in like a waterfall. 'Do you want to know what I know about you? I know that you are a pathetic McGonnagal wannabe…'
Hermione served the boys with and unnoticed glower, grabbed her bag and left the Great Hall. They didn't notice she was gone, until after they stopped laughing.
"We were just kidding, Hermione. Her-Hermione?" Ron looked at Harry. "Where'd she go?"
Hermione walked close to the wall, running her hands along the sides of the hallway. She sighed, and looked at he watch. There were still twenty minutes left until the first class, and she was hungry. She had unknowingly neglected her breakfast when Harry and Ron had arrived.
Speaking of Harry and Ron, she couldn't believe she got so upset when they were teasing her about the McGonnagal deal! That's all they were doing. Teasing. And she got all bothered, and worked up over nothing.
What were the going to say when they saw her in potions? They were probably going to shun her and consider her weird. No, Harry and Ron weren't like that, they'd simply ask why she left, and she'd make up some fairly believable excuse, and they'd fall for it. They always did.
Never once had Harry or Ron notice that she wasn't herself. True, she didn't really want them too. She preferred her little façade. But they were her closest friends. They were supposed to notice. They were so shallow. Once, Ron had caught Hermione crying. He asked her what was wrong, and she told him that they were just allergies. He believed her, and never brought it up again. Come on, allergies? You don't sob when you are suffering from allergies. And your back doesn't shake when you're hunched over, with your head on your knees and your knees to your chest. Yet, he didn't notice.
Hermione hated the way everybody thought of her as perfect. The perfect little mudblood Gryffindor bookworm, with a perfect life. Perfect? Ha! If they knew her secrets, all their petty beliefs would shatter. But that would never happen, because they would never find out. Not if she could help it.
Hermione looked at her watch once more, and found that she had three minutes to get to the potions classroom, and think up a good excuse for Ron and Harry. My how time flies when you are wallowing in self-pity…
Hermione reached the dungeons a minute after class had begun, the class hadn't even settled yet.
"Ms. Granger", Snape drawled "How nice of you to grace us with your know-it-all presence. Will you set a new record for the amount of times you raise your hand today?"
Hermione apologized for her tardiness, and turned to go to her usual seat, sandwiched between Ron, and Harry.
"Whats up?" Ron whispered,
"Yeah, why'd you leave like that?" Harry joined
Hermione prided herself on arriving well prepared, and answered them "Oh, I forgot something in the dorm, and I needed to retrieve it. I tried to tell you, but you were laughing to hard to notice."
Once again, they fell for it. "Oh, okay."
With a wave of his wand, Snape posted the notes on the board. Hermione took out a piece of parchment from her bag, and began scribbling wordlessly.
The main properties of the Gibson potion are to prevent the common injury. This potion provides a shield much more effective and stronger than the spell 'Sostantivo Schreiben'. The spell Sosantivo Schreiben is only active for an average of thirty minutes, while the Gibson potion provides shield for up to thirty-five hours. This potion is most commonly used when preparing to go into battle or when arresting an out of control magical creature. The spell is most commonly used when in an unexpected raid, or a magical creature invades a workplace or home. The ingredients to make the potion include: Sunflower Seeds; Laureth; Myristate; Lanolin extract; Disodium. If not brewed properly could cause damage, but not necessarily fatal. The Gibson potion cannot block spells such as the unforgivables, and the same with the spell, but they do block against spells such as a disarmers.
The rest of the lesson focused on how to brew the Gibson potion, and Snape even used a student to show the effects. Of course, the student was slytherin, but all the same…
Snape looked up and at the time and said "I want three feet of parchment on the properties of Gibson and Sostantivo Schreiben, with a comparison of the two."
The class groaned.
"Make that four and a half feet of parchment." Snape countered, "Class Dismissed."
Ron took hold of Hermione's hand as they were leaving and Harry slugged his arm over Lavender's shoulders. Lavender turned to Hermione and started talking to her about the store in Hogsmeade village, called Feminity. It contained of striclky girl's things, and you didn't have to run the risk of embarrassing your boyfriends by dragging them in. They simply were not allowed to enter. The same goes for trannys. Hermione laughed with Lavender at that. Ron and Harry were involved in a quidditch conversation, obviously.
Hermione separated from the group and made her way to the Ancient Runes classroom, where she was taking full NEWT classes.
She reached the classroom just as the rest of the class began to arrive. As she sat in her seat, facing the front of the classroom, she looked around at caught sight of a few Slytherins lounging in the seats far off in the back corner, including Draco Malfoy. She felt a sense of fear course through her body as she remembered the threat he initiated the night before. She told herself to relax, that he was just calling her bluff, and that he didn't mean a word of what he had said, but her conscious told her otherwise.
She sat at the front of the classroom and willed herself not to look back when she heard a laugh come from the Slytherins, or somebody called out an answer. She didn't want to look at him.
By the middle of the class, the professor decided that he wanted to pair the students up, and assign them group work, such as locating the different continents in which the Ruins were located, and determine weather it was wizard based, or muggle based.
Unfortunately, the professor paired Hermione with Pansy. Hermione had the bad luck of having to work with Pansy once before, it was like trying to enter Heavens doors with your name on the 'bad girl destined to hell' list. All she would do was call Hermione obscene names, and throw things at her, ad act as if it were an accident. She even snipped Hermione's hair with a snipping spell when they worked together that time. As they were in a small-populated class, Hermione didn't expect the circumstances to be any better; they'd probably just be worse.
Pansy got up and plopped her pug self down on the desk next to Hermione and crowed "Get to it, mudblood!"
Since the abuse had started, Hermione had changed drastically. The most change occurred in her attitude. She refused to be pushed over like a pile of manure in a horse's stall. So, Parkinson wanted to play hardball, did she? Fine, she would contend as the pitcher the catcher, and the fielder. They hadn't worked together since Hermione had changed, and by the time class would end, Pansy wouldn't even know what hit her.
"What do you mean get to it." Hermione fumed softly, "This is group work, and if you're too dumb to understand the meaning of it then maybe I should buy you a muggle dictionary for the Holidays, hmm?"
"Excuse me?" Pansy sneered loudly.
"I know you heard me, because I'm pretty sure you're not deaf." Hermione replied, in a quiet, but strong tone of voice.
"I suggest you watch the way you refer to me, mudblood." Pansy cried, trying to sound scary, but failing drastically. By then the whole class were so quite that you could here a pin drop in the distance, and the professor had stepped out of the room to deal with another situation.
Hermione looked at her and laughed "Or bloody what?"
"Or I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget." Pansy retorted. The class mooed in anticipation, instigating the state of affairs more.
Hermione just laughed again, sincerely amused by how brave the girl was acting, but only because her friends accompanied her in the background. "Dream on, Parkinson. The day you manage to teach anyone, anything on any guideline will be the day muggles can make hell freeze over. Twice."
"How dare you speak to me in such a manner!" she screeched in that annoyingly high-pitched voice
"Oh, but I do dare." Hermione glared at Pansy as if daring her to take action.
As Pansy pulled out her wand, Hermione was a slick as a cat and drew hers just as fast.
"Think you can challenge me, Parkinson." Hermione asked, with a cocky smirk on her face.
"Why of course. Accio-"
"Verrue Weiblich!" When Hermione said those words, a mass of warts appeared on Pansy's face, and Pansy began to scream as if being cursed with crucio. Of course, the warts itch when they first appear, but she was probably screaming more because of the embarrassment than of the irritation.
The class erupted in roars of laughter, and the proffesor entered, alarmed.
"What's going on here?" he asked. Then he caught sight of Pansy's face, and saw Hermione with her wand still pointing at Hermione.
"Miss. Granger? I don't believe it." He sighed in exasperation "At the end of class which is in approximately 35 seconds, you will report to your head of house. Understood?"
"Yes professor." Hermione answered, still sporting a smug look on her face.
"You-you evil little bitch!" Pansy yelled, still in shock.
"That's my name, don't wear it to shame." Hermione sang.
The proffeser dismissed the class, and Hermione ran over to her desk and collected her things. She exited the class in a rush to get to lunch, and see her friends.
At the end of the class, Hermione realized that she was wrong. Pansy did know what hit her. Hermione did.
As she exited the classroom, a strange Slytherin who she presumed to be someone with the name of Blaise, approached Hermione and said something along the lines of " Bloody brilliant, Granger, bloody brilliant." And it didn't sound as if he were being sarcastic either.
Hermione smiled, and went on her way, stopping occasionally to acknowledge people who commended her about the event in Ancient Runes.
As she reached the Grryfindor table, where her friends resided, she heard Ron's voice boom proudly "There's my girl."
Hermione turned and said "Your girl?"
"You know what I mean," he said dismissively.
"Hey Herms." Harry greeted her with a smile, "We heard about what happened with Pansy."
"Things sure get around fast in this school." Hermione mused
"Yeah, and were so proud of you." Ron said, as if he were her parent.
Hermione laughed, but it bothered her that the only time they'd ever said they were proud of her was when she did something 'bad'.
"You guys, I've got to report to McGonnagal. I'll see you later, kay?" Hermione said.
"Sure thing." Harry said.
Ron leaned over and kissed her full on the lips, in pure public, as if showing the world that his girlfriend was the one to put Pansy Parkinson in her place.
Hermione smiled and walked away, finding her way to Professor McGonnagal's office.
Before she even entered, Professor McGonnagal said "Detention dungeons, nine 0'clock for the rest of the week. I'm extremely disappointed in you." Even with those words, the Professor winked at her and kept on her way.
Hermione smiled, and began to make her way back to the Great Hall.
On her way there, she ran into Draco Malfoy, who told her in a rush, "Same time, same place. And you had better not be late."
She followed his retreating form, thinking about why she was so intimidated by such a person. But then, he was intimidating in every way. His walk, his talk, his look…everything.
He couldn't really be serious about what he said the day before could he?
She tried to convince herself that she wasn't really scared, just curious. Very curious. Well, she wouldn't know until later that night right. Motivation wasn't really in her line of scout at that moment. Why would it?
So, at least it was longer right? I like this story. Its been in my mind for ever. Um, again, I ask. Reviews, please? I sound like I'm being a feign I know, I'm sorry. It just seems sort of crucial at this point. Thanks, everyone. Hope you like it.
