A/N: I had these first two chapters finished ahead of time, but that's it. Since I have multiple WIPs in other fandoms as well, this story will be updated whenever I manage to get a chapter done. I'm a full-time college student and looking for a job, so I don't have that much free time. I do hope you all are understanding.
Enjoy the next chapter!
The far end of the hallway was where Hermione's old room was and as she approached it she knew her guess was correct. The door was open just a crack. The door knob had had a slight catch in it for as long as Hermione could remember and needed a bit of coaxing to close completely. Anyone who didn't know that would have thought they closed the door all the way, only to have it pop open a few seconds later. Inhaling sharply to calm the sudden surge of adrenaline going through her veins, Hermione paused momentarily before pushing the bedroom door open.
Hermione gasped at the sight in front of her, grasping at the door frame for support as her knees gave out from under her. Like her mother, her father lay on the floor seeming unharmed. He apparently was in the middle of removing clothes from the closet. But that wasn't what had Hermione looking on in horror. What looked like blood was smeared all over the walls, forming words that made little sense to Hermione: Black, Traitors, Max, Cowards, Peverell, Liars. She recognized the three wizard family names but didn't understand what they had to do with her own family. Nor did she understand why the attackers were calling her parents traitors, cowards, and liars. They were simple muggles who never knew about the magical world until their daughter got her Hogwarts letter six years previous.
Swallowing hard, Hermione forced herself forward to check on her father. Right now, his life was more important. It took a little longer to find it, it was so weak, but Hermione did find a pulse in her father's neck. It was a small miracle in the current situation. Hermione let out a shaky breath as she looked back up at the walls, trying to figure out what they could possibly be about. She knew she should probably contact the Auror office at the Ministry. All magical attacks on muggles needed to be reported. But recent Order meetings brought up news that the Ministry was losing control of its own Departments and couldn't exactly be trusted to do any good. It was becoming a useless entity.
Shaking her head, Hermione made up her mind. St. Mungo's would report it, anyway, and they would only report an attack happening in the rooms their patients were found in. Meaning Hermione needed to move her father back to his own bedroom. With a flick of her wand, she set up a magical cover over the walls to make it look like they were clean enough to eat off of and made a mental note to come back after the Auror investigation. Another flick had Hermione's father levitating a couple feet off the floor and she made quick work of getting him out of the room, making sure to close the door properly so it didn't look out of place.
Hermione thought over which Order members to contact first as she rearranged her unconscious parents. They would need to know her family had been attacked. Hermione was thankful the gravity of the situation had her freaked beyond belief, because when she finally sent an alarm to St. Mungo's she knew she didn't have to bother putting up the act of a panicked daughter who had no idea what was going on.
Thankfully, it didn't take long for the Medi-Wizards to show up at the door. An Auror had tagged along with them, telling Hermione that they reported her alarm as soon as they got it. She led them up the stairs to her parents' bedroom, answering all the questions they were shooting at her.
"I found them in their bedroom after doing a search around the house. When the house was silent when I arrived about half an hour ago, I knew something was wrong because my parents are people of routine. They are always doing chores around the house at 5pm when they have a day off work." Hermione explained when one of them asked where in the house she found them.
"Did you move either of them?" The one Medi-Wizard asked as the first one set to looking her parents over.
"Yes." Hermione admitted, nodding rapidly. "My first reaction was to check for injuries and to move them to a flat, hard surface in case I needed to do CPR."
"Muggle treatment." The man stated, recognizing the actions. He went over to his partner to work on her parents, clearly finished getting the required information they needed from Hermione.
"Were there any obvious signs of a struggle anywhere in the house that may indicate their attacker moved them?" The Auror took over questioning her. He obviously wanted questions answered when the details were still fresh in her head.
"No." Hermione's rapid nodding from answering the Medi-Wizard immediately turned into rapid shaking, her actions exaggerated from her growing shock. "The house is as clean as ever. Other than my parents being unconscious, I would never have known anything had happened."
"Understood." The Auror took out a small item that, after a small tap from his wand, began to glow a light yellow. "You'll be happy to know that the Cruciatus wasn't used on your parents. Small blessing, I know, considering the variety of other spells that could have put them in this state. But at least they don't have to remember such an experience."
"Wha...what do you mean, don't have to remember?" Hermione asked. Muggle attacks usually meant memory charms were required.
"Your parents will be treated but their memories won't be wiped. They already know about the magical world, so maintaining the Statute of Secrecy isn't required in this instance." The Auror explained slowly, eying Hermione with a tad bit of worry. He turned his head towards the Medi-Wizards. "Hey, do either of you have a Calming Draught on you?"
"One second." The second Medi-Wizard said, waving his wand over Mr. Granger as he performed a diagnostic spell. Seemingly pleased with the white mist that appeared over Mr. Granger, the Medi-Wizard turned to dig something out of his bag and tossed the bottle over to the Auror. The bottle was quickly transferred to Hermione's hands and she was prompted to drink it. One large gulp drastically dropped her level of adrenaline, stopping the shaking.
"After they transport your parents to St. Mungo's, Miss Granger, I'm going to need you to remain here a little bit longer as I test for any magical residue here in your parents' bedroom and the outside of the house. It shouldn't take long but regulations do dictate that you be present to formally give me permission to test your parents' home since they are related to a witch."
"Of course." Hermione agreed to the Auror's request. St. Mungo's could be trusted to treat her parents. And since she knew they were going to live, part of her wanted to know a general idea of who attacked them.
"That'll be now, Auror Brownwell." The first Medi-Wizard spoke up as he stood. "Miss Granger, your parents will be treated on the Fourth Floor. There's been mild damage, but nothing too severe for you to worry too much. Depending on how well they respond to treatment, I would expect them to remain in St. Mungo's a week at the longest."
"Thank you." Hermione replied weakly. She watched as the Medi-Wizards prepped her parents for transport and left with them a few minutes later. Auror Brownwell immediately started testing the bedroom for magical residue, giving Hermione time to take in everything that had happened in the last hour.
Her mind kept on going back to the words smeared on her old bedroom walls. She recognized the name Peverell from the Tale of the Three Brothers. An odd reference, but that wasn't what stood out to her the most. The names Black and Max caused more concern. Those families were far more recent. While Hermione knew very little about the Black family, and even less about the Max family, she definitely knew someone who held a lot of knowledge about one of them.
"Auror Brownwell. Do you need me to supervise everything you do or do I need to simply remain on the property? I would like to notify a friend about what has happened." Hermione spoke up. He turned from doing an incantation over the place her parents had been laying, shaking his head.
"As long as you remain on the premises I do not need you to oversee every single thing I do. Feel free to do things in other rooms of the house."
"Thank you." Hermione nodded, turning to leave the room. She mentally thanked whatever God that was listening that she talked her parents into getting their fireplace connected to the Floo network. It made contacting others for help that much easier. She really didn't want to explain to the Auror upstairs how she could communicate with a Patronus. Grabbing a handful of powder from the vase next to the fire tools, Hermione started a small fire in the fireplace with her wand before throwing the powder in. "Spinner's End!" When the flame flared green, Hermione knew it was safe to stick her head through.
"Ah, Miss Granger. I was wondering who decided to interrupt my evening." Came Professor Snape's voice before she fully registered the room in front of her. She took a few even breaths, prompting a raised eyebrow from Snape, before speaking.
"Professor, I need your help. Someone attacked my parents. The Medi-Wizards have already taken them to St. Mungo's, but there is something you need to see here after the Auror leaves." Hermione summarized, knowing the man hated it when people elaborated needlessly. A shocked expression appeared on Snape's face for a few seconds before he cleared it, setting his cup of tea down as he stood up from his seat.
"Back up, Miss Granger. I'm coming through." He ordered. Hermione didn't hesitate to return to her parents' living room, scrambling to stand up just as Snape came through. She began wringing her hands together as he took a few moments to glance around the place. "I take it this attack did not happen down here."
"No. Upstairs." Hermione glanced back towards the stairwell before stepping closer to Snape to whisper. "My mother was in their bedroom, but my father was in my old bedroom. I...well, I moved him to their bedroom before contacting St. Mungo's."
"Why, pray tell, did you do that?" Snape questioned her.
"You'll see when Auror Brownwell leaves. It's why I contacted you first." She answered. Foot steps started to come down the stairs, causing Hermione to immediately put some distance between her and Snape again.
"Oh! Professor Snape, I didn't realize that you were the friend Miss Granger was referring to when she said she needed to contact someone." Auror Brownwell smiled in greeting to Snape.
"You'd be surprised." Snape said, providing no details for Brownwell.
"Well, Miss Granger, whoever it was covered their tracks upstairs. The traces have been cleaned up. Hopefully I can find one outside so I can connect a wand to the hexes and spells the Healers at St. Mungo's will be identifying as they treat your parents." Brownwell turned to Hermione, explaining what he had found so far.
"Will the outside take much longer? I would very much like to go see how my parents are doing." Hermione asked, ignoring the update.
"I understand, Miss Granger. It shouldn't take much longer. I'll try to hurry as much as I can." Brownwell replied. Seeing that Hermione had no more questions for him, he headed out the front door to check the perimeter of the house for magic traces.
"And they wonder why the public is losing faith in them." Snape commented dryly. Rolling her eyes, Hermione walked over to the couch to sit down.
"I am not expecting him to do much. Just the formal report. What I'm really worried about will need the attention of the Order, I feel." That prompted another raised eyebrow from Snape.
"Short of them being used in a Satanic ritual, what could possibly have happened to your parents to have you so worried, Miss Granger?" Hermione's eyes glanced up at the ceiling. Since the stairwell rose up to the rear of the house, that put the end of the upstairs hallway and her room right above them.
"You...you'll see." Her vagueness obviously irritated Snape, but he didn't push her further. He couldn't disagree with her choice to wait until the Auror left to get into detail on what she had found. That man had already proven to Snape how incompetent he was. True to his word, though, Brownwell came back inside not ten minutes later after a long, tense silence between Hermione and Snape.
"Not a thing out there, either, Miss Granger. I'll be heading to the Ministry now to write up the report. Hopefully the Healers at St. Mungo's can provide a lead."
"Thank you, Auror Brownwell." Hermione forced a smile on her face.
"Not a problem, Miss Granger." Brownwell nodded at her before heading back outside, apparating as soon as he was clear of the door.
"This way." Hermione wasted no time going back upstairs, leaving Snape to follow her. It was probably rude, since she had asked him for his assistance, but her mind was still on getting to St. Mungo's to see her parents. Hermione's bedroom door bounced off the door stop as she flung it open, Snape stopping at the frame as she went to the center of the room.
"And I am supposed to see what?" He rose an eyebrow at her, not caring about the glare she threw in his direction.
"This." Hermione flicked her wand to undo her earlier charm. Snape was unable to hold back the look of surprise as he took in the words written on the walls. "I have no idea what any of it could possibly mean, Professor. Why are my parents being called liars, traitors, and cowards? They're muggles! They haven't done anything in the magical world!"
"Hermione, we need to get you out of this house." The little color that had been on Snape's face had long since drained away as his look of surprise turned into one of mild horror.
"Excuse me?" Hermione did a double-take at the use of her first name.
"Now!" Snape hissed. He grabbed her wrist, dragging her out of her old bedroom and back down the hallway to the stairs.
"Professor!" Hermione gasped in shock as she struggled to remain upright as the two of them hurried down the stairs. "What is going on?!"
Snape remained silent, lightly pushing Hermione in the direction of the fireplace as he grabbed some floo powder. Confused, Hermione stepped closer to the fireplace as Snape grabbed her wrist again the threw the powder into the fire.
"Grimmauld Place!" He yelled, confusing Hermione even further in the split second before they disappeared from her parents' living room.