It was a few days after the events in the great hall that Harry, Hermione and Ron managed to at last find some time to visit their friend, Hagrid. School work had kept them busy and in order to not lag behind on their classes, the three had been forced to spend the majority of their time in the library. There, they had managed to study for a few hours after their lessons, working on their assignments and practicing the spells which the professors had requested they learn. Hermione had not been sleeping soundly as she often woke up in the middle of the night due to the nightmares that hounded her, though that had a simple solution. She required a sleeping tonic and could easily prepare it though after the catastrophic backfiring of her potion, Hermione did not feel comfortable brewing anything to use on herself. Being logical, she of course knew that there was nothing to fear but every time she looked at her cauldron she felt the twisting clench of blame in her gut.
She firmly believed that Amelia, despite all the bad she had caused Hermione and the feelings that she had hurt, did not deserve to die. Right now she was in St. Mungo's, the wizarding world's most advanced hospital, being treated by a team of extraordinarily qualified surgeons and nurses; all of them gifted witches and wizards. Amelia would not die, but that did not make it any easier to accept how close Hermione had been to involuntary manslaughter. She knew that murder was a very serious crime in the muggle world and in the wizarding community. To take a life was seen a serious transgression by the Wizengamot and even the lightest of sentences for the crime would send the accused to no less than a year in Azkaban. Hermione shivered as she thought of the terrible name and the horrors that were its guards; dementors, creatures of darkness and unholy magic. How the Ministry was capable of controlling them was beyond her though she doubted that the dark beings accepted galleons as payment for their services.
Out of morbid curiosity, Hermione had read up on the subject of the dread magical prison and learned a great deal more than she had wanted to know, particularly about the life expectancy of its residents. She shook her head; it would not do to scare herself when she already felt so afraid. To Hermione's credit, the concoction she had brewed had been impossible to trace back to her and thus the investigation conducted by the Ministry had been dropped though there was still a sense of unease around the female Slytherins that had been part of Duchess' close group of friends. It was their belief that whoever had caused this to happen would target anyone of them next and, somewhat comically, they had all gotten into an argument as to why each of them would be the next due to their closeness to Amelia, highlighting the favor they had with her and why they should be the next to catch the attention of the attacker.
To Hermione, this seemed like complete madness. Why would any of them want to suffer such a fate? It was a ludicrous situation and it drove home to Hermione that she was not in a normal school, with normal students or normal teachers. A normal school would not have students learning something as dangerous as magic, nor would it have the ingredients to dangerous potions available for anyone to pick at their hearts content. This was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There was no 'normal,' despite how many of the students tried to see it like that. It was all extraordinary and as much as Hermione loved the opportunity to learn about spells and potions, she did not believe that the actions she had taken were justified.
That was the logical half of her mind speaking. It relied on logic, cold facts and hard evidence with which to provide Hermione with the correct information and the right answers to her problems. It had seen her through many problems which, thanks to her agile mind, she had managed to solve successfully and avoid unwanted attention. Now that she had magic, at least a means with which to properly use it, she had developed another half, one of emotion and instinct. While logically she knew that having bullies was a normal occurrence for children like her, the emotional half had given her the idea of concocting the potion with which to enact her revenge. And much to Hermione's own personal shame, she had somewhat enjoyed the shrieks of her bully, delighting in causing the same pain that Hermione had felt for her school life, as far back as she could remember.
Still, she felt that it was wrong. Or was it? The girl who had so relentlessly bullied her for her parentage had been the one in the wrong and no one had batted an eye at it. Was Hermione to blame for defending herself? She did not think so, but such a claim before the magical courts would be as useful a shield as trying to bail the Titanic with a plastic cup. She just had to hope that suspicion did not fall on her and all would be alright… Just then, Harry waved a hand before Hermione and she startled back to the present. Harry had been trying to get her help on one of the assignments given to them by professor Flitwick and he had asked her the same question for a few minutes only now realizing that she had a faraway look in her eyes and was not at all with them at that moment.
"Hermione?" Asked Harry and she blinked several times before turning to him with a grin, one hand rubbing at her eyes as she stifled a yawn with the other. She had forgotten where she was but now that Harry had helped her back she could concentrate on schoolwork. This essay they had been assigned was proving particularly difficult to research and it did not help that she kept having those intrusive thoughts constantly barraging at her mind. She had to find a way for them to stop. "Hermione!" Not quite a shout, but definitely not a whisper either. Harry gripped her shoulder and shook her gently. "Bloody hell mate…" Said Ron, who was leaning over the table and staring at Hermione's face with intensity. "She's paler than Nearly-Headless Nick…" They both seemed concerned for her and while she found it both nice and touching, she had to finish the essay that was due the very next day as another late assignment would force her to take extra-work and with the stress of exams looming she knew she would buck beneath the weight of it all.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, mildly concerned. Something was wrong with Hermione and they did not know what they could do to help. Perhaps a visit to the infirmary and a check up by Madame Pomfrey would help their friend? Either way, they had more pressing matters to attend; after all, maybe Hermione just had a cold and they were making a big deal out of nothing. Best to keep their eyes peeled and see if anything went wrong. If it did, then they would tell the nurse and she would help Hermione; though if nothing happened then there was nothing to worry about and they could continue on with their day. The overall plan was to meet up with Hagrid and ask him about the gigantic dog; why it was there, where it had come from and what was it doing in the castle? Ron wanted to know as he felt rather upset over the fact that his Hogwarts career could have ended in a very painful death. He was not bitter, no.
"I left a note for Hagrid to read, telling him we'll be visiting tonight." Said Harry, who had decided to take matters into his own hands and organize the day so that they could make profit of their visit to the groundskeeper. Knowing more about the monstrous dog was good but the three had a feeling that Hagrid knew more about what had been stolen from the Gringotts vault than he let on. So, they continued through the day and with their studies; after all, they had classes to work on and homework to do and it was not like they could use their visit to Hagrid as an excuse for not doing their work.
The day carried on and the three met at the Slytherin common room, dressed in some more comfortable clothes and a coat each. It was near the end of November and it had rained for the last week and a half which caused the air to be humid and cold enough to give the impression of having invisible daggers thrust into ones bones. They had eaten and gotten through some more of their homework before the large enchanted clock in the common room clanged its bells and informed all present that it was time to go to bed. Or in the three's case, time to go visit Hagrid in the relatively illegal activity of staying up past their bedtime and going to the grounds at night. The act carried certain risks but if they were know more it was the only option.
Harry and Ron were both ready and waiting by the entrance to their common room for Hermione to join them. They had followed the rest of the male students to their dormitory but instead of changing into their sleeping clothes, Harry and Ron had actually grabbed their coats and thicker pants in order to keep at bay the chill of the night. It was likely that their visit would go one of two ways. Either Hagrid would dismiss them as technically, they were not supposed to be going out; or, he would let them into his cottage and they would finally learn more about why in the hells there was such a defense system inside the castle. Harry was betting more on the latter though Ron, who did not know the groundskeeper as well, was sure that they would be dismissed without further argument. Finally, Hermione joined them, a wool cap covering her head and brown coat engulfing her. She hated the cold.
Glancing about the room in order to make sure no one saw them exit, they left stealthily through the lower dungeons, the ancient pathways that supported the enormous castle allowing for an unnoticed departure and a clean getaway. Their footsteps echoed in the stone walls though they tried to be as stealthy as they could be, the sounds bouncing off the walls like invisible sound pixies. Harry and Hermione began a quiet conversation as Ron listened, still deep in thought from their earlier work. Snape had assigned them each to concoct a potion that could turn ones blood inedible to mosquitoes and Ron still could not even think of a way to start the brew. So they went, relatively silent until the cold hit them like a wall and caused them to gasp, clutching their coats tighter over them.
"T-this way." Stuttered Harry, who had underestimated how cold it was during the night. So close to the lake and it being November, the humidity in the air was great and the cold was great exacerbated by it. They rushed, running almost, to the small shack and quickly knocked on the door. Nothing, not a peep. The lights were on though, so they knew Hagrid had to be awake. Hermione shivered and raised a trembling fist before quickly pulling it back. Hagrid towered over them, the door having been wrenched open so hard it left a few splinters of wood to flit down from the jamb. "Wha… Oh is you three!" He slurred and swaying, stepped back in order for them to come inside. "Yer… Yer not suppose to be out so late… Are ye?" He asked, sitting down on a large wooden chair, the trio choosing to stand. They did not want to risk being exposed by having one of the teachers coming to visit Hagrid. Harry stepped forward. "Hagrid, we have a question." Hagrid looked at him with a look of uncertainty in his eyes. "Wha?"
Harry took a breath. How could he ask the groundskeeper about the dog without giving away that they knew more than they should. "Are there any… Big creatures in the castle?" Hagrid blinked once… Twice. HE groaned and grabbing a large tankard, pouring a great quantity of some foul smelling liquid. "S gonna be a lon' noight…" Muttered the half giant before noisily emptying his glass.
Apologies for this inexcusable delay. I will make up for it by posting as often as I can. This chapter was short, as I wanted to get back into the flow of things with the limited time I have right now. I trust you will enjoy this and I look forward to continuing this story. I'd like to thank all my beautiful followers for sending me such positive messages and I'd also like to thank those that donated to my . You guys are improving your writing skills beautifully.
