Chapter Eleven:
Bone by Ben Chatwin
January 7th, 2000
Hermione curls around herself, hands shaking as she reaches into her pocket, procuring her wand and tapping her bracelet, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
Nothing happens.
No warm feeling, no light from the end of her wand and she's furious. Falling into more sobs she leans her back against the brick wall and closes her eyes, no longer wanting to look at the alley. No longer wanting to be here but too scared to get up.
"Hermione! Hermione! Where are you?" Harry's frantic voice echoes off the walls and all she does is cry harder. "Hey, hey. I'm here, I'm here." He falls to his knees in front of her, scooping her into his arms and smoothing her hair from her face.
The pressure of his hands on her skin makes her want to wretch.
"It's ok, it's ok. We're going home, can you stand?" He's still pushing her hair off her wet cheeks as he helps her to her feet. "We're going to apparate." His arms tighten around her, holding her steady for a few seconds before they touch down in the living room of Grimmauld Place.
She opens her eyes and within seconds Ginny's voice fills the room, her patronus pawing the ground anxiously.
"Harry told me about your SOS! I'm coming home immediately." The horse rears before disappearing into a puff of smoke.
"What happened? Do you want to talk about it?" Harry helps her to sit on the couch, kneeling in front of her as she clutches at her skin. Clenching her hands tightly, nails digging into her palms.
"Malfoy…I-I've been seeing him everywhere…I followed him…he was in London and I followed him and h-he-" She gives a hiccup, closing her eyes and seeing nothing but his angry grey eyes on her lids. "He caught me, he came after me because I was following him…" Harry's jaw sets, eyes flashing.
"He attacked you? Hermione, did he attack you?" His voice sounds furious. Hermione is immediately reaching for his arm and clinging to it.
"Please, please you need to listen to me…he was shaking. Harry I could feel how much he was shaking…" her voice trails and she swallows, "there's something bad going on. I think you're right…I think they're being tortured…" She can feel his muscles relax under her touch, and can see the recognition in his eyes.
It takes her a while to fully calm down, for her body to stop being wracked by sobs, her breathing to return to normal and her heart to stop pounding in her chest.
Her and Harry sit on the couch together for hours, she clutches his hand like it's her last lifeline on Earth.
She wakes what must be hours later to Ginny's soft hand on her face. Her Quidditch uniform is dirty, she didn't bother to take her shoes off when she came in and there's mud tracked all over the carpet.
Harry still sits next to her, holding her hand tightly but he's pulled the blanket over the two of them against the frigid winter outside.
Ginny crawls onto the couch beside her, holding her other hand and leaning against her shoulder. Breathing in deeply, she smells of mud and sweat and leather.
"When you're ready I'll listen…" is all she says as Hermione begins to cry once more.
The next morning she wakes alone on the couch but can hear Ginny and Harry talking quietly in the kitchen.
When she enters, Ginny storms her with a hug before offering a few sausages and eggs from her plate, letting Hermione sit at the kitchen island.
"I didn't know if you'd be hungry," she says and Harry pours her a cup of coffee.
"You should go back to Ireland Gin, finish the tournament." Ginny's already shaking her head before Hermione can get the words out.
"We were knocked out yesterday afternoon, I was only staying to get the extra practice in. I'm here now."
There's a small peck on the window as Pigwidgeon flaps his wings impatiently. Harry lets him in and in a flash he's dropped a letter in front of Hermione.
Ron's unmistakable scrawl on the outside says nothing but her name.
She's about to open it when there's another peck, confused Harry opens the window once more.
The largest owl Hermione has ever seen sits on Pigwidgeon's little perch. Unable to fit through the window, Harry takes the letter and brings it to her.
She opens it carefully, not recognizing whose hand it could be written in.
I need to speak to you.
DM
Her heart sinks, bile rising in her throat. Before she can move, Harry grabs the letter from her to read it.
Meanwhile, Ginny's angrily tears open Ron's letter, her face furious as she mutters profanity under her breath.
"Absolute nobhead…" she says before passing it to Hermione.
Got your SOS, Ginny said she was going. Coming home Monday.
RW
Harry and Ginny don't hover, they know how much Hermione hates it when people fuss over her. Instead they bring her tea, biscuits, anything that gives them an excuse to knock on her door.
"I brought you a glass of water!" Ginny's voice comes from behind the door and before Hermione has a chance to answer she's already inside her room and sitting on the edge of the bed.
She places the glass on her nightstand and looks at her for a long moment.
"I thought he'd come." Hermione's voice sounds foreign to her own ears. She sits up, placing her head on Ginny's shoulder.
"I'm going to murder him when he gets back here," she says, petting Hermione's head reassuringly.
"He said he would come…" She isn't sad anymore, just angry. Angry at Ron for breaking a promise, at the ministry and everything they're hiding, angry at herself.
But surprisingly, she isn't angry at Malfoy. She pushes the feeling aside, deciding she doesn't want to unpack it just yet, and doesn't want to feel those feelings. She isn't ready for them yet, and doesn't think she will ever be ready.
"Here." Ginny holds out her hand and Hermione lets her take her wrist. She pulls her wand out, tapping the light blue gemstone a few times and muttering "Nexum."
The once blue stone shakes, then looks like it's being flooded with water before turning a shade of true green. A peridot.
"Ginny it's…"
"Tap it, let's see if it worked." Hermione pulls out her wand, giving it a tap and Ginny's wand goes off in a bright white light.
"I promise you, if you need me I will be there for you."