Narcissa awoke with a start after hearing blood curdling screams coming from the guest room that Hermione was using. She ran into the room and noticed that the alpha was in the midst of a nightmare. She jumped onto the bed and slowly tried to wake the alpha up, but also stayed mindful of the brunette's arms and legs so as not to get hit by a stray limb. "Hermione, you're dreaming. It's okay. You're safe now. You need to wake up. Hermione, please, you're safe now. No one is going to hurt you."
While Narcissa tried to wake her up, Hermione whimpered nonsensically, except for a few phrases. "Please, I don't know anything."
Narcissa looked at Hermione in shock at what she had said and started to become anxious. "Oh no, not that night. Hermione, please, you're safe now. No one is going to hurt you. Come back to me," she slid her body up against Hermione's back, pulling her close. She nuzzled into her neck while she rubbed her hands up and down Hermione's arms and legs.
Hermione's eyes snapped open as she continued to breath heavily, taking in the familiar scent of Narcissa and slowly coming back to where she was. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting to have a nightmare while I was here," she breathed out trying to fully wake up.
"Do you have them often and that severe?" Narcissa asked while still holding the distraught alpha.
Hermione nodded with a sigh, gripping her arm to her chest out of habit. "It's always the same scenario, too. I always black out at the same point: right after she's marked me. It's like I have no memory of what happened after that point. Narcissa, I've been meaning to ask this, though I guess I've never found a good time to do so, but what happened that night? The only thing I can recall is ending up at Shell Cottage with Harry and Ron after everything was already over."
Hermione turned in the omega's arms to look at her. Narcissa had a sad look in her eyes as she contemplated what to say to the brunette. "If you truly want to know, I'll tell you what happened. However,I feel we should have some calming tea for this conversation," Narcissa let go of Hermione and stood up walking, toward the door as she waited to see if Hermione would follow, which she did. They made their way to the kitchen and Narcissa flicked her wand, summoning two cups from the cupboard and filling them with chamomile tea. Both women sat at the kitchen table with their tea. Narcissa took a deep breath to center herself, before telling her what had happened that night.
As Narcissa and Peter escorted the boys down to the dungeon at wand point, they could hear Hermione's screams of agony all the way down in the dungeons. "At what point did it become a necessity to start torturing children?" Narcissa thought to herself with a sigh before she winced from hearing another scream from Hermione. She looked at Peter. "Stay here and watch them," she ordered. He nodded while she turned on her heel and walked back up the stairs. "Honestly, I wish I could take Draco and run away from all of this, but that will not end well with that mad man in power."
She neared the top when suddenly, she smelled a scent she was not expecting: feral alpha. She ran up the rest of the way, witnessing the moment that Hermione snapped. While screaming, a pulsing wave of accidental magic flung Bella across the room, causing her to hit the wall hard enough to blackout. Narcissa stopped her ascent up the stairs as she continued to watch from the side of the room in horror as Hermione stood quickly and apparated to sit on top of Bella's chest, where she started to punch the woman in the face, repeatedly, with no signs of stopping her assault.
Hermione paused her movements to sniff the air.
Narcissa began to walk up and away from the stairs, keeping a close eye on the now feral alpha. "Salazar's snake, I couldn't even smell alpha pheromones on the girl. How is that possible?" Narcissa thought to herself as she took a closer look at the brunette in question, taking notice that she looked malnourished, unkempt, and exhausted from many sleepless nights.
At this point, Hermione scented an omega in the room and looked at Narcissa.
With wide eyes, Narcissa took notice of her black, void eyes and automatically dropped to her knees. She swiped her hair to one side, bearing her neck to Hermione, hoping that she wouldn't attack her as long as she didn't appear to be a threat. "Oh Morgana, this poor girl doesn't even know that she's an alpha and has already been triggered into a feral state. Nimue, help me! I hope this works enough that I can get through to her." Narcissa pleaded in her mind as she made herself seem small on the floor. She tried not to smell of fear as the alpha stood from the now broken witch, grabbed Bella's wand mindlessly, and walked over to the blonde, sniffing the air.
Hermione stepped in front of her and leaned down to sniff her neck. She rumbled deep in her chest from there being no claim mark. Narcissa shivered slightly as she took in the dangerous scent of feral alpha. In a soft, calm voice, Narcissa started to try to bring Hermione back to herself. "Hermione, you're safe now. You've defeated your enemies. You're no longer in danger. Please come back to your senses. I know you are smarter than to fall prey to primal instincts. Please, Hermione." Narcissa exerted waves of calming pheromones, trying to speak to Hermione through the fog in her mind.
Hermione's breathing slowly evened out as she shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "Wh-what h-happened?" Hermione said as she fell to her knees, holding her head in front of Narcissa, who caught the girl in her arms, casting a wandless, wordless somnum charm putting her to sleep.
At that moment, Harry and Ron came running into the hall, wands raised. They took in the scene of Narcissa holding Hermione. The woman healed Hermione's arm—as best as she could since it was a cursed mark—while she looked at the boys. "You need to take her and leave while she's still asleep before Lucius comes back!"
The boys rushed over, picking up their friend quickly. "What happened here and why are you helping us escape?" Ron asked sceptically.
"Because Mr. Weasley, I hate this war as much as you do, but I don't have a choice in the matter if I want to keep myself and my son safe." At that moment Dobby popped in and looked at the scene. "You need to stupify me so that I can't be questioned too harshly and can keep you safe. Now, please. I can hear Lucius coming. Do it quickly and leave!" Narcissa said in a panic.
Harry raised his wand and cast stupify, knocking her out cold. Dobby took hold of the boys' hands while Ron held Hermione in his arms with Bella's wand tight in her grasp. Just before they popped out of sight, Lucius looked on in horror. He picked up Bella's knife from the floor and threw it straight at Dobby's chest as the little elf popped them out of existence, only for the knife to hit the wall behind where they once were.
Narcissa stared at her cup of tea as she finished telling the tale to Hermione. She refused to look at the woman, not wanting to see her face. Hermione looked at her in shock, not knowing what to say. As she processed the information, Narcissa continued to sip her tea, waiting for Hermione to say something.
"That explains why I don't have any memories past the torture. I appreciate you telling me what happened." She rubbed her face as she exhaled. "Alright, well, I'm at a loss for words with this information." She looked at Narcissa and slid her hand along the omega's to get her attention.
Narcissa looked up hesitantly as she took in the alpha's face.
"You have nothing to worry about. From what you've told me, there was nothing you could do that wouldn't compromise you and Draco if you had tried to intervene with your sister. Honestly, I've tried to get rid of this damn thing in so many different ways that I gave up a long time ago. With all the knowledge of other magicks that I've learned over the years, you would think I'd have found a way to get rid of it, but alas, to no avail. No one will even touch it. Which I'm guessing says something about the potency of it. I even tried to get someone to tattoo over it, but again, no one wanted to touch it," Hermione sighed and rubbed her thumb along Narcissa's knuckles.
Narcissa looked the alpha over, subtly trying to see if she could spot the tattoos, all the while taking in the fact that Hermione was wearing a tank top and boxer briefs that were hidden underneath the table. "I wasn't aware that she had tattoos. I wonder what they are?" She nodded in understanding and gave her a small smile.
She eyed the alpha, debating if she should ask the question on her mind. "Mia, I've been meaning to ask this after our conversation earlier today. Whatever happened to Dobby?" Narcissa asked tentatively.
Hermione smiled brightly as she began to tell Narcissa that Harry worked with McGonagall to enstate Dobby as the castle's representative for the house elves that worked there. Helping the elves understand that things would be different on how they were treated by the witches and wizards of the castle. He would also tell McGonagall when there were issues that needed to be addressed with the house elves to make their jobs easier. "From what Harry tells me, the little elf loves his new job and is so happy to be useful, even if it's not for Harry anymore," Hermione said as she rubbed at the still sore scar on her arm.
Narcissa smiled sweetly. "I'm glad that someone is showing him the respect that he deserves for all that he did during the war," she took notice that Hermione's been favoring her arm. "I know there is a book that will help in the library," she thought as she held Hermione's hand, pulling her out of the kitchen back to the library.