The week passed at a painstakingly slow pace. What made Hermione go through it were Fleur's letters and their conversations through floo. She missed the blonde more than she cared to admit (she knew Fleur was aware of how much) and was obviously counting the days until Friday. She was dreading the work meeting, though. That meeting meant she had to go through what happened in the Malfoy's Manor (They wanted to follow the timeline and had reached that specific moment, much to her dread). She had hated to remember her friends that they needed to write their reports too. She would keep them from it if she could. It was Wednesday and she was yet to write the report. It was fairly early in the evening and she had already finished everything she had to, except for that fucking report. Sighing, she took off from the library (where she had been since supper) and headed to the Gryffindor tower. Most of the students were already in their common room so the hallways were quite empty. She got to the common room she shared with Harry in no time and put her bag on a nearby couch. Hermione needed to talk to Fleur, only the veela could calm her. She didn't want to remember that nights it was a terrible time for her and her friends. Hearing the blonde would calm her down. She sat in front of the fireplace and flooed only part of her body to the veela's place. As usual, she was sitting on her couch, reading and waiting for her.
"Hi, babe!" Hermione said, earning Fleur's attention.
"'ey… Eet's earlier zan usual, ees somezing wrong?" Concern was clear on the veela's face as she approached her fireplace. Hermione loved how her accent got stronger when she was worried or angry.
"No, everything is fine. I'll just head earlier to my bedroom and decided to floo you. I have to write some reports and it's preferable that I do it in my room so…" Hermione ranted. Gods, she was really nervous. Fleur nodded. The lioness noticed the worry never really left the other woman's face. "I'm fine. Promise."
"Okay. Eef anything 'appens you call me."
"Sure." She smiled.
"I miss you, mon ange." Fleur smiled at her as if she had hung the stars just for her.
"Me too, babe…" Merlin, she loved that pet name.
They talked for a while. She could obviously truly go to her house, but she was fully aware that they would lose track of time and she would be no one tomorrow. That's why they simply talked and rarely they fully flooed. Secretly, she doubted she could ever be the veela's mate sometimes. Not that she thought Fleur had lied, she didn't. Sometimes the years she had suffered bullying came to her and made her doubt herself. And sometimes she simply couldn't believe her luck. So she low-key thought that if Fleur missed her, she wouldn't be able to see she had been mistaken (Fleur basically thought the same, not that Hermione knew that). When they said good night, Hermione went to her room. She was indeed calmer. Not much, but still…
Hermione had been thanking every possible muggle God that she never really felt the consequences of the torture she had been through. She had read about it, before the event. And saw Neville's parents. Now that the war had ended, she had been able to think about it. She was absolutely lucky to figure out how to lock that memories and experiences out of their minds, knowing they still had a long way through the war. She had read about this kind of trauma after it was all over. And that's why revisiting them was scaring her so much. There were few cases documented about that and basically none about what she was about to do. No one knew about what happened there, except for Harry, Ron, Luna and herself. And obviously, they were all in the same boat. She hadn't explained any of it to the others but was sure Luna had figured it out too. Merlin, she was scared as fuck.
She changed once she entered her room. Since Sunday she had been sleeping holding the shirt Fleur had used as the pajamas top while there. She decided she would wear it this time. Her smell was still in it and obviously helped her relax a little. Merlin, she was completely utterly in love. She moved to her desk and begun the report. If the minister took all her reports, he would basically have a continuous text ever since Cedric's death. In two hours, she was writing about Bellatrix's torture. She was actually describing it in a very technical way, saying how long each strike took (until the moment she couldn't count anymore) and how many there had been. She wasn't sure. After she described the third one, she started shaking. By the sixth, she could almost feel them vividly. Her whole body was aching when she got to the moment the mad witch started writing on her arm. When she finished writing, Hermione was shaking. She had written until the moment Luna left them and went back to school. The lioness took the sleeping draught she had gotten with Madam Pomfrey and got to bed, hoping she wouldn't be in so much distraught the next morning. She woke up the next morning just in time for breakfast, she tried to focus on the day she had ahead instead of thinking about the report. She sat in front of Ginny and focused on eating and then going to class. She was eating her second croissant when her ginger friend noticed something was off.
"'Mione, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." She said, training her eyes on the plate in front of her. She had obviously hoped for the best and it hadn't happened.
"I don't buy it." The redhead insisted. But before Hermione could answer, she felt more than saw Luna sit by her. "Lun?" Ginny's tone made the brunette look at her blonde friend. The girl lacked her usual smile and her eyes looked shallow. She saw a weak smile be formed on her face as if she was trying to reassure the redhead she was fine. "Why are you like that?" None of them answered but both looked at their friend this time. Harry wasn't with her, that was odd (to state the obvious). The blackhead sat beside his girlfriend as soon as Hermione noticed his absence. He clearly wasn't in his best days but was better than Luna, as far as she could tell. The older lioness saw the younger look between the three of them and realization came to her face instantly. "Shit! That's why you said you would stay up late and told me that you didn't want to disturb me?" She said to Harry, who simply nodded. "You three are going to the hospital wing as soon as you finish eating." She stated.
Hermione opened her mouth to argue but received a glare from her friend. After Harry finished his meal (which was a simple cup of coffee), they followed Ginny sheepishly. As they entered the room, the nurse approached the group with obvious worry.
"Uh, I think they are… I don't know how to explain. They had to write reports about a specific moment of the war, apparently, they did so yesterday and are obviously not feeling well." Ginny tried to explain as much as she could. The redhead had no idea of what had transpired there. Madam Pomfrey simply nodded and guided them to three different beds.
"I hoped they wouldn't need to come. They came in individually, explained that they had to write these reports and asked for a sleeping draught. I gave it in hopes it wouldn't be as bad as they thought it would. To be fair, Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood were quite concerned. Mr. Potter only came because Miss Granger apparently told him so." Ginny nodded, not knowing any of this. "I would recommend full rest but I'm aware they won't accept it and it would be to no avail. I'll just give you some calming potions so you will be able to go to class and Miss Weasley, thank you for bringing them. I'll leave three more with you, make sure they take them after dinner." The nurse said, after attending to the three.
Hermione instantly felt better after taking the potion and made sure to thank the nurse as did her friends. She knew Harry didn't suffer any torture and that calmed her quite a bit, she didn't wish that pain on anyone. Well, maybe that crazy witch. She had no idea of what Luna had endured as she had been there for longer than them and never talked about it. The lioness forced herself to focus completely on the classes they had and did everything that was possible to keep her mind from wandering. After dinner, she took the calming draught. When they reached the common room, Ginny insisted that they shouldn't do any chores that day and insisted on making them playing exploding snaps for some time. Hermione flooed Fleur for a while and the other three started to get ready for bed.
As soon as she saw Hermione's face on the fireplace she knew there was something wrong. She asked the brunette, the girl dismissed it saying she was simply tired because she hadn't slept enough. Fleur felt like there was something off but didn't press her. A few minutes later, Hermione said good night. She knew the lioness would come to her when she was ready so she wished her a good night and sweet dreams. When she was left alone, thinking about what could be happening to her mate, the talk they had the night before made her realize something.
"Merde!" She got up and went through the papers she had, the reports they had been revising their last meeting. Reading Hermione's she realized that the brunette was probably like that because of the next one she would have to write. Calming herself enough, she sent a Patronus to the only person she could think of, Ginny. The whispered message was a simple question. If the brunette was being taken care. The response was also simple: 'yes'. With that, she managed to calm down enough to fall asleep.
Ginny woke up to the sound of screaming. It took her a while to understand what was happening as she had woken up and grabbed her wand immediately. She was fully awake, so was Harry, obviously. He had managed to sleep when she held him, it apparently kept him from reliving the mansion in his dreams. The two girls she heard screaming had no such luck. Luna insisted she could sleep in the common room and made them take Harry's room. Obviously, she now saw it had been a good idea.
"Harry, go see Lun." The boy simply nodded, worry obvious in his face. As he left the room, she saw him turn his face towards his sister's room but he did as she asked.
She ran towards Hermione's quarters. Entering, she saw her best friend in the middle of her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. She was obviously having a nightmare. Her eyes were closed but her body moved as if she was trying to free herself. She ran to her as soon as she saw blood on the sheets.
"'Mione! 'Mione! Wake up!" She shook her friend until the girl opened her eyes. After she focused her eyes on her, Hermione started crying. She managed to calm the brunette down a little. As she saw she was calmer, she started to check her for injuries. She was sure she saw blood. When she touched Hermione's left arm, the girl flinched. Carefully, she calmed her once again and moved to take a look on her arm. She gasped as soon as she read what was written there. She was right to think the brunette had an injury. The word 'MUDBLOOD' could be read on her arm. The letters her bloody. No word was spoken as she cast a cleaning spell and summoned bandages. The blood wouldn't stop running. Slowly. Fleur was so going to kill her. She said Hermione was being taken care.
"Oh shit! It reopened?" She heard Harry from the door, holding a wimping Luna. She never saw the blonde in such state, ever. Hermione nodded.
"I guess the blade was cursed so that every time I revived the moment the cuts would reopen." Hermione managed to say, between her sobs.
"What the fuck happened there?" She asked, feeling left out.
"Bellatrix." She heard Luna answer in a weak voice. The older lioness simply nodded.
"I'll get Lun to our bed," Harry said softly.
"Can we not talk about that? You can read what I've written…" Ginny nodded and smoothed her hair as she closed her eyes once again.
Deciding she should get Fleur because she was sure she would be even more mad at her if she didn't, she kissed the brunette's head as she noticed her breathing get deeper and evener. Getting out of her bed, she noticed a shirt tossed aside and guessed it was the one the veela used while she was there. She retrieved it and placed it over Hermione's arms, she instantly smiled.
Ginny opened the door of Harry's room and saw him soothing the blonde. "I'm going to call Fleur." The boy nodded.
She needed to go fast. She knew how this kind of nightmare worked and she didn't want to have Hermione screaming once again. Not that the scream really bothered her, but seeing her best friend in such pain did. She stepped in the fireplace quickly and soon she was inside Fleur's apartment.
"Right, she is sleeping." She moved towards where she remembered the veela's bedroom was. As she raised her hand to knock on the door, it opened. The light she conjured with her wand flickered and made the eyes she was looking into sparkle. She was quite sure Fleur's eyes were blue. She was staring at orange ones.
"Que s'est-il passé?"
"Uh?" She was shocked, she was indeed talking to Fleur? Or some other veela?
"What 'appened?"
"Fleur?"
"Oui. I guess you've never seen my veela so closely… What 'appened, Ginny?" The blonde seemed slightly annoyed but also understanding.
"Right. Come, she had a really bad nightmare and woke up screaming, thrashing around and crying. I guessed it was better to call you because Lun is currently in the same state…"
They flooed back to Hogwarts. As soon as they stepped into the common room, they heard the brunette start screaming once again. Ginny saw Fleur run towards the screaming.
"Merde! What zee fuck?" She heard the French woman exclaim as she reached the top of the stair.
"Apparently, Bellatrix carved her arm with a cursed knife." She explained, trying not to flinch at the memory of what was written.
"I got 'er, Ginny. Zank you. Go look after 'arry and Luna…"
Their names startled her and she got to her room. She found Harry in the exact same position he was before she left. Without saying a word, she cleaned the ashes from her pajamas with a quick spell and got to bed. Harry had engorged the bed so the three of them would fit, but she decided she would hold them both. She made the boy move to his side a little and laid in between them Harry didn't complain and simply understood her gesture. She made Luna move closer to her in order to make sure she could hold her and keep her nightmare away and Harry moved closer to her, kissing her cheek. They fell asleep that way. The three of them smiling.
AN: Some angst here... Brace yourselves cuz the next one we will see some more. I really hope you liked this one (well at least my writing. I don't really like seeing Mione distraught)
Please review!
Thanks for reading!
;3 Luv yah
see you soon... Sorry about the cliffhanging...
For those who live in the USA, I hope you are alright after these hurricanes and all that! (to anyone anywhere affected by them actually...)
PS: Tori: Thanks! I really love Fleur! Glad you like it!
wk: Right? It's surprising they didn't get it on yet! LOL
PPS: Oh, right, my other story is up. So go read it (I managed to keep it shortish) hope you like, please review it!
PPPS: So, I'm reviewing the chapters because of gramatical errors, one of the readers is literally an angel and decided to help me...
PPPPS: If you feel like sending me requests suggestions or prompts, feel free to reach me by PM or email me: celticdaughterfics (gmail)
