A/N:

This is a test scene for a fic that I have ideas for. Once fully written out, it will be a Vikmione multi-chapter, with at least five chapters and an epilogue. The concept of this fic is that Hermione is part creature, and that she wears a glamor necklace to cover it up. As is explained in this scene, Hermione is being written as a Gorgon, a Greek Mythological creature with snakes for hair. Since her hair was always described as wild and everywhere, my brain somehow connected that image description with Medusa, a Priestess of Athena who was turned into a Gorgon by Athena after Poseidon sexually assaulted her in Athena's temple. Since the Greek gods were highly misogynistic and the power struggle often tipped in male favor, Athena cursed Medusa into a form that in some eyes was ugly and demeaning. In others' eyes, however, Athena gave Medusa the power to protect herself from anyone else who wanted to force themselves on her. Some circles called the transformation punishment, others called it a blessing.

As such, some things will change from canon, but a majority of it will stay the same. One important factor is that, in the main story, events will happen that cause Harry to not be entered into the Triwizard Tournament. That event (or lack thereof) also ends up directly causing this scene you are about to read. If you have any questions or comments on this scene, please share them (constructively, if you could. Flames are just gonna be deleted. I'm too old to deal with drama and hurt feelings). I'll keep them in mind when I rewrite this to fit into the main story.

I hope you enjoy this little ficlet. I know I had fun writing it :)

Summary: When someone tries to kidnap Harry from Hogsmeade during their fourth year and Hermione is dragged along with, she uses her magical inheritance to make sure their kidnapper never bothers them again; creature!Hermione; One-shot;

Warnings: Kidnapping, death

Words: 1829

Prompts:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)

ASSIGNMENT #5 - DUE 18th MARCH 2022

Amulets and Talismans: Natural Properties–Task #1: Stone

Prompt: Write a fic about something or someone being turned to stone

"Set in Stone"

As she and Harry ambled down the streets of Hogsmeade, Hermione nervously fiddled with her glamor pendant. It was being stretched to its limits this year, what with the Triwizard Tournament going on and all. With her forced participation in the Second Task–without the permission of her or her guardians even!–her necklace that hid her natural looks had actually begun to short out when she was held underwater. Thankfully Viktor had gotten to her first. Once at the surface of the water, Madam Pomfrey, one of two other people at the school who knew of her heritage, threw a towel over her to cover her suddenly moving hair. Viktor hauled her out of the water, and Hermione was bundled up until only her eyes and nose were visible. Between the cold lake and the chilly February air, no one thought twice about the towels and blankets being piled onto her.

She and Viktor had to have a long conversation about everything afterwards, as they wandered around the lake for some alone time. Viktor had been so understanding and accepting, and at the end of his walk, kissed the back of her hand like he always did, much to her blushing delight. The conversation only seemed to strengthen their relationship, and even the Rita Skeeter articles afterwards calling her plain and ambitious couldn't put a damper on the good feelings she had for the Bulgarian Quidditch player.

Since then, Hermione had to be especially careful that her glamor didn't slip an inch. After all, she had Gorgon blood in her, and she didn't want anyone to know or be affected by her. Gorgon petrification was different from Basilisk petrification, and wasn't so easily reversed with a Mandrake solution. The only known way to revive a Gorgon petrification was to make a potion with Gorgon blood. It was why she kept her natural self a secret. In the olden days, potioneers would hire adventurers to slaughter her people and harvest them. Laws went into effect to protect them, but not everyone followed the law in the Wizarding World.

Hermione had this pendant to glamor herself since she was very young for her own protection. In her natural state, she still had two legs like a regular human, but scales covered parts of her body, her hair was a wild mass of venomous snakes, and her gaze could petrify any man. The glamor made her seem human, her snake-hair like a mass of brown bushy curls, her skin smooth and clear, and her gaze safe for anyone she locked eyes with.

It made her time at Hogwarts rather lonely.

But now with Harry at her side–whom she had informally adopted as a younger brother–as well as Viktor, who was inching deeper and deeper into her heart, Hermione wasn't as alone anymore.

Ron had been one of her best friends after Halloween her first year, but after all of the hateful comments and jealousy over the Yule Ball and her decision to go with Viktor, she knew she couldn't forgive him until he apologized. And she wasn't expecting that anytime soon.

Knocking her out of her thoughts, the snakes that were her hair hissed a warning at her quietly, careful of Harry's parseltongue ability, however at his furrowed brow and the worried look that he shot her, he must have heard her hair.

"Hermione, wha–" he asked, reaching for her. Noticing a man creeping up behind him through the crowd, Hermione reached out and clutched at his hand.

"Come on," she said, trying to pull him away mere seconds before the cloaked figure reached them and grabbed onto Harry. There was a pull behind her navel, and Hermione wheezed as the portkey transported them all away. As they landed, Harry knocked into Hermione, who ended up knocking their abductor down. From his scream and the tugging on her locs, Hermione knew her snakes must have bit him. His hand was suddenly in her hair to push her away, but that only gave her snakes more surface area to bite. He continued to scream.

Letting go of Harry's hand to let him get to his feet, Hermione lingered a moment longer to give her hair extra time to incapacitate the cloaked man. Harry, his wand in his hand, was at the ready, and Hermione rolled out of the way to get to her feet.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry exclaimed, and the cloaked man went limp on the floor. With her own wand whipped out and trained on the man, Hermione joined Harry in drawing closer to the paralyzed man. Pulling his hood off, the man's face was unrecognizable to either of them.

"Do you know who that is?" Harry asked, keeping his voice low in case there were other people near where they were. Hermione shook her head.

"No. He looks a little bit like Nott from Slytherin. Same nose shape and eyes," she said. Harry nodded his head, seeing the resemblance.

"What do we do now?" he asked, looking around. Hermione did the same, taking in the nondescript faded yellow room around them.

"We have to get out of here. Get back to Hogsmeade. I'm sure someone noticed we were snatched out of the crowd," she replied.

"The Knight Bus!" Harry suddenly exclaimed. Hermione looked at him warily. "The Knight Bus, suitable for any stranded witch or wizard!" he repeated the slogan Stan had greeted him with last year. "And we're a stranded witch and or wizard, right?" he then asked slyly. Hermione snorted in reply.

"Alright, let's find our way out of this house and then get out of here," she said, directing him out of the room with a hand on his back, slightly pushing him forward. It was a small two room house, with no one else around. The main room held a small kitchenette, and the walls were the same faded shade of yellow as the room they had portkeyed into. There was a table that leaned to one side, and the sink was empty, besides a single dirty coffee mug with something growing in it. Hermione grimaced to herself, contemplating how long this house had been abandoned when Mr. Nott had found it.

The front door was unlocked, and the two stepped out into the drizzle that blanketed the area. Hermione lifted a hand up to her necklace to try to protect it from the rain, however slight it was. "Okay, you call the bus, I'll be right back. I forgot something in the room," she said and Harry nodded.

"Be quick. These guys are fast," he warned and Hermione grinned.

"It'll only take a moment," she promised before heading her way back inside.

Slipping back into the room with Mr. Nott in it, she could see Harry's spell starting to wear off, his arms gaining some mobility. Mr. Nott had already stiffly put his arms down to brace himself against the floor in the attempt to sit up. A scowl stretched Hermione's lips as she stared down at the man, who only glared heatedly at her through the remnants of the petrification spell.

Hermione drew closer, her hand clutched around her necklace tightly. "If only you could warn your friends to leave us alone," she whispered, her hair biting him on the face, on the neck and shoulders once she was close enough. She saw the pain in his eyes, but his mouth didn't seem to be working just yet. Her other hand lifted to her necklace and she closed her eyes as she removed the glamor keeping her and others safe. She felt her emerald green snakes spring forward, feeling their euphoria at being released, even if just for a moment. "You won't feel a thing, I promise," Hermione then said before opening her eyes to stare him down. Mr. Nott's breath hitched as his eyes locked onto her muted yellow ones. She knew the snake slit pupils were unnerving, but kept her focus on him. This man kidnapped them with the intent of nefarious deeds. Hermione wouldn't let that action go unpunished. "It'll only take a moment." His eyes petrified first, they always did, and then the curse of flesh to stone progressed down from there. His breath hitched as his lungs began to seize, and Hermione smiled sadly at him.

"I hate doing this, you know. But I can't let anything happen to my little brother. You understand, I'm sure," she added, watching as the stone-like texture headed down the rest of his chest, freezing even his clothing in place. When the petrification looked to be settling into him, a matter of only seconds going by as he turned into a stone statue, she slipped her glamor necklace back on, her visual looks reverting back to that of Hermione Granger, perfectly normal human with perfectly normal, bushy brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin.

She left the room without another word, and closed the door behind her. Joining Harry outside, he looked at her, relieved.

"I just called them. They should be here in a moment," he said. Hermione nodded her head just as a loud gunshot rang out down the street. Suddenly the purple double decker bus appeared before them, and a pimply young adult came down the steps to greet them. He stopped short at seeing the two of them.

"Where would ye like to go?" he asked curiously.

"Hogsmeade," Harry replied, taking the lead. After paying the fare, Harry and Hermione were let on, and they took two squishy armchairs near the back of the bus. It was deserted this time of day, and the two relished the solitude.

"Wait, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed in a hushed voice, grabbing her arm in alarm. "What about Mr. Nott! My spell should be wearing off soon–"

"I altered his memory," she replied, the lie slipping off of her tongue easily. "He won't remember our encounter, and won't be able to tell anyone about us," she added. Harry visibly deflated in relief.

"Good. We'll have to be more careful from now on. If Nott's father was willing to kidnap us, who else would?"

All too soon, they arrived back in Hogsmeade and merged back into the general crowd. At the Three Broomsticks, the two of them got a table, just in time to meet up with their friends.

"Where were you? Someone said they saw you two disappear from the crowd!" Dean said before sipping from his Butterbeer.

"Oh, that? No, someone threw a prank item on us and it teleported us several feet away behind a building. It took us a moment to get out of the alleyways," Hermione replied nonchalantly. "It would have been a fascinating piece of magic if it hadn't been used on us." The rest around them nodded their heads, agreeing. Hermione went to take a sip from her drink and she and Harry shared a look.

No one would know what really happened. Not before they could tell Professor Dumbledore.