Disclaimer: The same as the previous chapters.

Chapter 18

Severus Snape had his eyes trained on the witch sitting on the other end of the glass enclosure, her head was still moving, banging against the wall, in a rhythmic fashion. He tightened his grip over his wand. A quick glance at Lovegood, greeted him, with a war-hardened witch, wand ready in hand, waiting for the inevitable.

There was a droning sound coming from the other side this time. He noticed the witch slowly sitting up straight when Bill called her once again. There were very small tendrils of smoke, sprouting from her body, hair, and limbs. Finally, she turned.

In his entire life, Snape could not have imagined Hermione Granger to have looked like a bloodless, colorless, ashen, skeletal reminder of her former self. Her eyes, well, there were none of that exactly. There were two black holes inside her eye sockets. And she was crawling towards the partition. Instinctively he had stepped before Lovegood, his wand ready, but not yet trained on the abomination that Granger had become.

He was still present inside Bill's mind, and the younger wizard, simply reflected back, I got this Sir. Stand down till I don't signal you or till I am not attacked.

It was surreal to watch the Brightest Witch of the Age crawl on all fours, like a huntress, who just spotted her prey. Her clothes hanging, her skin hanging loose, over her bones. He could see the ripples her nerves, muscles, tendons, and ligaments were creating below her exposed limbs.

She crawled within two feet of the eldest Weasley brother.

In a husky voice, she asked, "Bill?"

Severus's breath caught in his throat. Luna, he noticed, had grabbed the sleeve of his other arm, he did not dare look back. It was by sheer luck that he requested Minerva to stay back at Hogwarts. The old Scottish Witch wouldn't have survived the sorry sight of her favorite cub.

Bill Weasley made the dumbest mistake. He relied on his emotions simply because he treated Hermione like a sister. He had reached up and touched the glass wall, tears welling up in his eyes, he coaxed, "Mione, come back…"

The possessed witch pouched on the other side of the glass wall. She was growling like a caged animal, clawing at the glass wall like a wild beast. The 'rogue magic' was awake, tendrils of smoke rose high from her body, the room was filled up with red ominous magical sparks. Severus could sense, it was now or never. Weasley had stumbled back, his shield cracking at several places. She would now, most definitely attack him. The agile headmaster leaped ahead of the shaken man and touched the glass wall. Right where the young woman had pressed her palms on the other side.

He thought to himself, I have faced the Dark Lord, and I can handle this. He strengthened his occlumency shields as an added precaution. Letting his magic flow through his palms, he stared hard at her. He could sense the witch on the other side doing the same. The moment their magic collided, she bounced back. Literally fled back to her corner, swiftly turning to face the wall, she let her hair cover her face, and started rocking vigorously on her hip. Chanting something forcefully again and again.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Snape turned to a thoroughly shaken Bill Weasley and softly murmured "Go, wait outside. Ask Professor Flitwick and Professor Lupin to come in, and tell them to wait near the entrance door. wait for ten minutes. Then ask Healer Norman to signal the junior healers to open the wall, partially for me, so that I can enter. Ask others to be prepared. Mr. Weasley… you did well."

At St. Mungo's Malfoy, Harry and the other professors were received by awaiting Mason. The young healer had finished reading a memo the moment they apparated in the back alley. Without wasting any time, he took them to the spell damage ward. "They are all waiting for us in the Circle. The headmaster insisted we take the Healer's elevator, right across, to avoid being spotted."

When they made it to the main entrance of the Circle, healer Norman had come out and cast a very strong notice-me-not spell all along the deserted corridor. She turned to spell out a glass panel over the main entrance. When satisfied with her spells, she addressed the assembled wizards gravely, "The headmaster wishes to do a little experiment, though he assures he has everything under control."

Through the glass panel spelled into the entrance door, they could see Snape, and Luna right across the other side, and Bill Weasley, standing close to the glass partition.

Pointing at Bill, Malfoy asked, "What's he doing in there?"

"Helping Mr. Malfoy, you might remember, he is a curse breaker."

The former Slytherin just clenched his jaws tight but said nothing in return.

The word 'Shock' could not have described the myriad of feelings the group had undergone when they had seen their much loved and cherished Hermione crawl like a werewolf, speak like a seductress, and then attack like some undead creature coming from the depths of the Underworld. Her hair curling and alive, her eyes pitch black, her skin pale blue. She was just a collection of fresh and bone, with skin almost slipped off her frame. To add on to that, those tendrils of smoke and slime, thin and wiry, raising and swaying on their own made her look more horrifying. They had their roots buried in her, and their branches extended to all directions determined to get hold of anything around. That was all Harry could decipher from the horrific sight in front of him.

Previously, Harry had left the presence of Death, and now he thought he saw a piece of Death alive. Malfoy, being certified as a proclaimed coward, after he had failed to kill Dumbledore, was given the job to get rid of dead muggles and misfortuned defectors who posed a threat to the Dark Lord. He had buried and disposed of too many dead men and women. To this date, each of their dead faces, the ones that would tell tales of fear, pain, anguish, helplessness, and hopelessness, were etched in his mind. They would still haunt him and keep him awake for nights together.

To see Hermione of all the people, a spitting image of the dead from his past, he felt his heart getting ripped apart. Merlin save him, did he not have enough courage to see through her torture by his lunatic aunt? Was this a parting gift to her from his deranged aunt Bella?

To see her recoil at the presence of the Headmaster, was both a relief and a situation that each one of them began mulling over in their respective minds.

Flitwick was the first to comment. He was older and had seen too many mysterious things that he had ever let anyone know of.

"I wonder, how far did he drown himself into Dark Magic?"

When all had turned to the half-goblin in confusion, he continued, eyes still trained on Snape's back, "Darkness attracts more darkness, and only diamond cuts through a diamond."