A.N.: This is just a short chapter, but I hope you like it anyway. It is a bit angsty, too but nothing explicit is described, so it shouldn't be too upsetting. While writing this chapter and the next ones I really had a big writer's block. I hope this is not showing too much.
Chapter 18: Partners in crime
22th of September 1999
Hermione woke in her bed with a skull-splitting headache and the feeling that something had recently died on her tongue. There was a funny taste in her mouth and when she tried to open her eyes, it was much too bright in her little bedroom and she fell back into the covers with a pained groan. Merlin, what happened to her? She tried to remember and saw herself coming back from the burrow last evening. Then there was an image of Snape sitting on the sofa and welcoming her with a glass of wine. Merlin, she had decided to drink, hadn't she? She had tried to drown her pain of losing Ron, her Ron, with red wine. Could she sink any lower?
She squinted her eyes open very slowly and after blinking a few times, she was able to focus on the room. There was a small vial of hang-over-potion on her nightstand and Hermione snatched it and drowned it down immediately. The headache and the dizziness faded immediately and for a moment she felt, that she might fall madly in love with her genius and thoughtful friend of a potions master.
It took five more minutes until Hermione was finally able to get up and go to the bathroom, but when she emerged there half an hour later, she was feeling almost normal again. Severus was nowhere to be found downstairs, but that wasn't unusual as he was most likely brewing in the basement. But she was greeted by a plate of bacon and eggs on the kitchen table, which her thoughtful friend had left under a warming charm for her. She just wanted to sit down, as a screeching and scratching noise at the window caught her attention. It was a tawny owl with huge dark eyes and brown feathers that waited in front of the kitchen window for her. It was a beautiful bird with brown and white feathers and it looked at her curiously before offering her the letter on its leg with an encouraging hoot. Hermione took it gently and offered the owl some owl treats that Severus had stashed in the kitchen for the incoming birds and after taking a few bites and nibbling at her finger in gratitude the little feathered messenger dashed off through the window again.
The letter was from Harry, Hermione would have known his chicken scratch that he called writing everywhere. The note was short, but Hermione had to read it three times before processing its contents. It was an invitation for tea to Potter Manor in two days time. Harry wanted her to meet his parents and two younger siblings Emma and Grace. It was absurd, almost surreal. Harry's family was alive and well in this timeline. It was out of the question, that she would meet them. And so Hermione hastily scribbled her answer and went to fetch Severus owl.
16th of May 1981
"Merlin, I can't believe we are doing this," Sirius murmured in front of them as they approached his former home at Grimmauld Place 12. "I never wanted to go back to this place again."
"I'm sorry to make you go back. Hopefully, it will just be a quick in and out. Do all of you have their copy of the locket with you? If you find it, just replace it and we leave," she said and held herself close to her two friends.
"We're all set," conformed the twins next to her and Hermione smiled proudly at them. Sirius only grunted an unintelligible answer and kept on walking.
"Are you sure nobody's at home?" Hermione asked and hurried her steps so that she was walking next to the black-haired wizard now. At that, he stopped in his tracks and stared at her with a dark expression. "Would you stop nagging witch? You are driving me crazy," he grumbled and shook his head. "No, I am not sure they're not at home. How could I be? I haven't been to that hellhole of a house for years. But I know their habits and I am pretty sure my mum and Kreacher are in the Black's holiday residence in Italy. They usually spend April and May there, so that mum can meet her delightful little Italian friends. It's kind of a family tradition."
Hermione nodded sternly. "Alright. In the worst case, we can take them down, if we must. Right?"
Sirius blinked at her in surprise. "I guess we could. But we need to watch out for Kreacher. He's dedicated to the house of Black and will fight as viciously as Bellatrix herself."
Hermione shuddered at the mentioning of the name and rubbed her scarred forearm. "Alright, we'll be prepared then. Thanks for the warning."
They looked at each other for a moment, before Sirius started walking again. It only took them minutes, until they reached the front door. Hermione cast a quick notice-me-not charm on them, before looking at the men: "Now what? Will that door even open for you?"
Sirius shrugged. "Let's find out, shall we?" But before he could even move a muscle, Gideon held him back at his collar.
"Not so fast, there are heavy wards in place. Give us a moment, if you don't want to alert the whole neighbourhood." The hot-headed man looked at them with wide eyes before nodding in resignation.
"Alright, Prewetts. Do your worst, then."
And they started. Hermione didn't even know half of the spells they used and had used a handful of them at best. But it was fairly obvious that Fabian and Gideon knew what they were doing and when they finally finished, the door glowed in blue light, before looking totally unchanged again. The twins nodded towards Sirius with a proud smile.
"I swear if the two of you just did that to show off…" he muttered but didn't finish the sentence. Instead, he gripped the handle of the door and turned it. There was no alarm or anything else that disconcerted them and as the door opened without resistance they shrugged at each other and stepped inside. The view that greeted them was much the same that Hermione had expected. The inside of the house was dark, but when she lighted her wand she could catch a glimpse at the black and golden wallpaper of the hallway, that would still be there 20 years later. Also, the dark blue carpet and the large wooden staircase which as decorated with shrunken house-elf heads was much the same, but with Walburga Black still alive things were impeccably clean and in spotless shape. Hermione couldn't suppress the shudder running down her back.
"Delightful," Gideon muttered behind her as he closed behind them.
"A home full of happy memories," Sirius replied dryly before moving further into the building. But as Hermione tried to follow him she found, that she wasn't able to move her feet.
"Something's wrong," she whispered urgently and looked around in despair. But there was nobody except them in sight.
"What is it?" Gideon asked and hurried back to her. He looked at her with concerned eyes, while his brother started casting detection charms around them.
"I can't move," she said and looked at them in despair. Sirius cursed.
"You're muggle-born aren't you?" he asked and Hermione confirmed this with a nod. "That's bad then. Should have thought of it. Look, my family is one of the most extreme pureblood supremacists that can be found in Wizarding Britain. They will not let you inside the house and I don't have the slightest idea what else they might have for you in store. I think it's better when we leave and make a new plan."
But Hermione shook her head vehemently. "No, we need the necklace, no matter what. I'll just have to stay here and wait, while you are looking for it. Don't worry about me."
The black-haired wizard stared at her in disbelief. "Are you sure?"
She nodded in determination. "Go. Just don't waste too much time. The sooner we get out of this place, the better."
And they went, all of them, and Hermione waited and listened into the empty house. Time seemed to tick by ever so slowly and apart from a scratching sound to her left and the thumping of heavy steps upstairs no sounds could be heard until suddenly…
"Mudblood."
There was a whisper, right behind her left ear and she could have sworn that she felt the tickling of somebody's breath in her neck.
"You will die mudblood," the voice promised again and this time Hermione could have sworn that it was Bellatrix' voice whispering to her. She shivered and gripped her wand faster. But when she tried to raise her arm to look around with the illuminated wand tip she found, that her arms were now frozen, too. And the feeling of numbness seemed to slowly extend through her body.
"Boys? Could you please hurry?" she shouted upstairs and could not hide the panic in her voice. "I do have a slight problem here."
But there was no answer, except: "Are you scared little mudblood? You should be scared. Because this is going to hurt…"
Her heart was hammering faster now like it was willed to keep her alive, no matter what. For a moment nothing happened, but then the pain started. At first, it was just her arm, right there were Bellatrix had left her with the cursed scar. It started with the feeling of ants crawling under her skin and creeping up her arm. Hermione wanted to thrash, to scratch, to do anything, but she realized that now her whole body was frozen in place.
She wanted to call the boys again, plead them to come back, but not a sound left her mouth as she wasn't even able to open it any longer. This was bad, very very bad.
"You never should have come here… never should have sullied this place with your dirty little feet."
The crawling under her skin intensified and then suddenly her flesh was aflame and the pain of it was agonizing. And suddenly she knew that the voice was right, she was dying. Whatever curse had befallen her after entering, it was slowly killing her.
"Hermione?" Gideon's voice suddenly sounded from upstairs and a moment later she heard heavy footsteps pounding down the stairs. "Hermione? What's wrong?"
But she couldn't answer couldn't even think a coherent thought any longer. There was only pain now, eating her slowly from the outside and sinking into her bones.
"Hermione!" Gideon's voice sounded again right next to her. "Merlin, this isn't good. Guys, I need to bring her out, now!" He was shouting now and Hermione could clearly hear the panic in his voice. It was mirroring her own.
"Alright, I'm sorry love. I'll need to touch you for this, even though this is likely going to hurt you. But we need to get out." His voice was full of apology but Hermione didn't care. She couldn't be in any more pain then she was now. That's at least what she thought. But as Gideon's strong arms wrapped themselves around her she found out, how wrong she had been: being touched by him felt like pure torture. But Hermione couldn't take the pain any longer. And so she passed out on his arms.
19th of May 1981
When Hermione's world shifted back and the darkness around her faded she felt like her body was floating. It was a funny feeling, weightless and light and most important without pain. It was pure bliss, but it didn't last. The pain was slowly creeping back into her body, seeping through her flesh like coldness that took hold of one's body without mercy, without rest. And Hermione started to feel the fingers of death pulling at her again. She moaned.
"Hermione?" At first, she didn't know the voice calling her, but then she realized that it was the professor… the moody, black-haired one. "Here's something for the pain…"
There was the cool feeling of glass on her lips and Hermione carefully opened her mouth, which was promptly filled with the bitter and salty taste of a potion. She gagged.
"Sorry for that one, but it seems the only one helping you right now…" the voice apologised just as the pain seemed to fade away again. A relieved sigh left her lips. "Better now?"
Hermione waited for a moment before she carefully nodded her head. A moment later she tried opening her eyes, but they refused. She groaned.
"It's alright Hermione," the professor tried to soothe her, which was odd, but she'd think about that later. "You will get better, I promise. But it will take time. This was a very close call."
She wanted to say something, ask him what happened to her, but the darkness started pulling her into its arms again. And after a moment of struggling against it, Hermione finally surrendered.