A/N: Thank you to everyone who had reviewed, especially Monnbeam and Pingn. Oh & Pingn I know exactly what you mean, my dog likes to chew my feet as well and aren't cheeto's great, anyone who hasn't checked out the reviews won't know what I am talking about but that's no different from how things usually are. ok on with the tale. Sadly more angst but with a happy ending I promise.

--

Hermione was emerged in a world of darkness; nothing pierced the complete and utter midnight blackness that surrounded her. Although she did notice that she was herself, wherever she was, she looked down and saw the rest of her body, dressed in the clothes she was wearing when she entered the Hospital Wing, although she could feel something under her feet she could plainly see that there was nothing there, so she assumed that the whole memory process would be like a pensive. 'Well this isn't exactly what I thought I'd be seeing; I thought it would be his darkest memories, not just darkness.'

Suddenly there was a flicker of light and she found herself standing in an opulent entrance hallway. Looking around she realised that this must have been Rags' childhood home 'Well he certainly wasn't skint' she though to herself 'I wonder what was so bad about living here?' she stopped her internal dialogue as a simply stunning woman in her mid twenties, with the same hair colour and eyes as Rags entered the main hall where Hermione was standing, even though Hermione was only viewing a memory, she nearly jumped out of her skin when the woman looked at her.

"Lady Brunehild your driver is ready to take you to the function now, he can leave whenever you are ready" said a rather formal looking man, dressed in what appeared to be a wizards version of a tuxedo, as he made his entrance into the hall, Hermione thought that he looked like a butler of some description so she assumed that Rags' family must be pretty well off, well judging from the hallway and the appearance of someone who appeared to be a servant.

"Jacob, go and see if Ms Svenston is finished, I was a little longer getting ready that I thought I would be, and I don't want to be late." As she finished speaking she turned around and a smile lit up her face, making her all the more lovely "There's my little three year old Angel, looking like a real princess all ready to go with mommy to the ball" she rushed over and picked up a giggling little girl with slightly curly silky blonde hair and clear grey-blue eyes.

"She is all ready to go ma'am and so is little Ragnar, he looks quite dashing if I may say so in his suit, come on out little man and show your mommy how you look" the younger woman who had entered with the little girl, that Hermione realised must be Freya, Rags' sister, the other woman missed the ugly look that passed over Brunehild's face at the mention of her other child.

That was when three year old Rags made his appearance onto the scene, and Ms Svenston was right, in Hermione's opinion, he did look quite dashing in his blue suit, he really was a good looking child, he even had his hair long like he did in the present, but instead of a metallic clasp it was held back with a strip of embroidered leather. He gave his mother one of his little quirky half smiles, and what shocked Hermione the most, not the fact that at the tender age of three he was already doing the same smile he was at seventeen, it was the almost desperate look of yearning on his face as he looked at his mother, almost as if he was hoping for something.

"I told you that I would be taking my daughter, there was no need to get him dressed" the sharp voice seemed to shock the smile of Ms Svenston's face as though it had never been there, little Rags though just lowered his eyes as though this was the norm in this household.

"He will not be going, Freya will accompany me and when we return I expect you to have changed him and put him to bed, as I don't want to see him for the rest of the evening" she didn't even appear to notice when the little boy turned and slowly walked away from the two adults, Hermione was appalled but the scene continued and she forced her attention back to what was happening in front of her.

Ms Svenston appeared to summon up her courage and said "How can you be so cruel to him, he is sweet child a delight to look after, he never makes a fuss or does anything wrong. He even told me that you would say something like this Ma'am; he didn't want to get dressed up but I convinced him that he must be mistaken, he was so hopeful that you would say something nice to him, that's all he wanted, a kind word from his mother." She almost hissed the last word at the other woman, whose face was darkening in rage as Ms Svenston continued her triad, Hermione agreed with her, if she had been there she probably would have slapped Brunehild.

"Jacob please take Freya to the kitchen and get her a drink and a biscuit, I'll sort this out" the butler moved closer and took the little girl in his arms and moved off, presumably towards where the kitchen was located, with Freya looking over his shoulder, her eyes filled with confusion as to what was happening and why her mother was so angry. When the pair were out of sight Brunehild rounded on the other woman, her face flushed with anger and said "How dare you speak to me like that in front of my daughter, and in my own home no less, if you weren't such a good carer for the two of them I would terminate your employment right now" this was the first time that Hermione had heard Brunehild even acknowledge Rags' existence, but the woman continued "as for him talking to you, I know your lying he never says anything, little bastard is probably a mute."

Ms Svenston jumped in again "No he is not a mute, as for him not saying anything, he does speak, it's just that he doesn't speak to you. Look I know what happened to you" at the shocked look on Brunehild's face she continued "it was terrible, rape always is, but don't blame your son for it…"

CRACK

The sound of the open palmed snap echoed throughout the entrance way, Ms Svenston was stunned into silence her cheek showing an angry red mark where she had been struck "How dare you" hissed Rags' mother "that boy is no son of mine, I have no son" she visibly calmed herself and said "Consider yourself relieved of your position, when my daughter and I return I don't want to see you in my home" with that she swept along into the kitchen, picked up her smiling daughter, and smiling herself left an equally stunned Hermione with Ms Svenston staining in the opulent entranceway.

A few moment later Jacob came out and said "Come on Nikki, I'll help you pack, its no use tempting fate and waiting for her to return later" he put his arm gently round her shoulder and lead her away to another part of the house, presumably where her room was located. Then Hermione heard something that sounded remarkably like a sniffle, she moved round a corner and sitting with his back to the wall was Rags, his suit a little rumpled, and she realised he had heard everything and she understood why this was such a painful memory for him.

It wasn't long before Hermione heard two sets of footsteps getting to the entrance hall and heard Jacob say "Wait here Nikki, I'll call the Knight Bus and give them your trunk; you'd better stay inside away from this rain I'll let you know when it gets here" she heard the man leave and glanced down at Rags, she knew that he didn't know that she was there, and that this was only a memory, but she didn't have the heart to leave the obviously distraught little boy.

Then very quickly he dried his tears and freed his hair from the leather chord shrugged off his suit jacket and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him into the entrance hall. "Nanny N" he called out in a surprisingly clear sweet voice, Ms Svenston turned round and saw him, and her eyes filled with tears.

"Are you leaving Nanny N?" he asked his voice small, almost as if the thought of something so terrible was something he didn't want to think about.

"I'm sorry little man but I am, your mother doesn't want me here anymore" she steeled herself as though she was going to say more, but she didn't, just looked at him sadly.

It was then that Rags did something unexpected; he walked over to her and held out his right hand, as though he was initiating a handshake. Nikki Svenston looked surprised for a moment, but as she held out her hand to take his, he quickly dropped it and brought his left one up, then faster than you could blink he had tied the leather chord, that had bound his hair around her wrist. Nikki glanced at her hand in surprise and then looked into his tear filled eyes, and Hermione heard him whisper softly "So you won't forget me", the words seemed to have the same affect on both Hermione and Nikki, both had tears streaming down their faces, but Nikki was the one to scoop Rags up into a tight hug, one he fiercely returned.

Both of them clearly heard his next words as well "Could you take me with you Nanny N?" the little whisper was so hopeful that Hermione thought that she was going to cry her eyes out at the injustice of it all.

Nikki obviously thought the same thing and hugged the little boy tighter "I wish I could little man, but I can't" she cupped his tear streaked face in her hands and said "But I promise on my honour that I will never forget you, you understand me never" he nodded sadly. Than Jacob's voice echoed through the hall saying that the Knight Bus was here, giving him a last tearful hug Nikki grabbed her handbag and left the house. Rags just went upstairs, followed by Hermione, went into a blue painted room fell on the bed and cried himself to sleep.

Then the darkness swept in just as his eyes closed and Hermione knew she was going to see another terrible memory.

--

She was surprised to see that she was standing in a large lounge room, three sofas were scattered around the room, along with some smaller chairs; all made of expensive looking black shiny leather. She looked around and saw the young figure of Ragnar kneeling on the floor next to an expensive looking coffee table he appeared to be drawing, nothing special just normal child drawings, although his did seem to feature men with long beards, swords and dragon prowed ships, so she guessed that there must be some Viking artwork around the house somewhere. She noticed that the drawings were actually quite good, especially for someone his age, upon closer inspection of Ragnar himself she placed his age at no older than four or five.

She could also hear music in the background, a familiar tune; if it wasn't so muffled by the walls she could have recognised it, looking round she noticed that Rags appeared to hear it as well, but was doing his best to ignore it. Hermione couldn't help but wonder why 'Maybe Rags doesn't like music…wait it's… oh Rags' Hermione felt like she wanted to cry again, the song that she could hear was none other than Happy Birthday, quietly the door to the lounge room opened and a blonde haired girl stepped through carrying something behind her back.

"Freya what are you doing up here, your party is going on downstairs?" Ragnar asked, drawing Hermione's attention away from the girl and back to what was going on around her.

The little girl grinned and said "I know, I would have come up sooner but the others are starting to leave now, mum is a little busy looking after them all so I was able to sneak up here with your present." Rags made no verbal response but gave a quirky half-smile and stood up, with his right hand behind his back, concealing something from his sister's eyes.

"I hoped you would come up here, now I can give you your present too" he replied, the pair grinned slightly at each other and stepped so they were within arms reach of the other and held out their gifts.

Hermione smiled slightly at the gift given to Rags, it was something that any child should have on their birthday; it was cake. A plate upon which was a delicious slice of what looked to be a several layered chocolate cake, with accompanying fork offcourse. The gift that Freya got was something else entirely, Hermione realised that Rags probably hadn't been able to go anywhere to get a present for his sister so he had done what countless children had done before him; he made a present.

Hermione noted that he handed his sister a rolled piece of parchment bound with a black ribbon, he then carefully placed the cake on the table he had been drawing on and looked back to his sister to see her carefully take the ribbon off the parchment and place it in her pocket, then unravel the rolled parchment to reveal a drawing. Hermione gasped out loud, this was no child's drawing, it couldn't be, it was a picture of a rose sketched with pencil, there was no colour but it looked almost lifelike nonetheless, it even had dew drops drawn on the petals. The girl gasped "Brother this is beautiful, it must have taken you so long to do" she gently put the picture on a nearby chair and threw her arms around her brother in a great hug, a hug which even though, caught Ragnar by surprise, he enthusiastically returned.

He probably doesn't get many hugs Hermione thought to herself sadly as she watched the tender scene. It was then that a voice called up the stairs calling Freya down to open up her presents, the hug ended and Freya gave Rags a small smile before darting out, grabbing her picture on the way out, at the door she looked back and said "Happy Birthday big brother" she then sped out, presumably down the stairs to open her presents with her mother.

Rags, still smiling his quirky little smile, settled down to eat his cake, Hermione smiled at the happy scene, even though it was tinged a little by sadness it didn't seem nearly as bad as the previous memory she had seen. It couldn't have been long after Rags had finished his cake, and had continued drawing the picture he had begun before his sister came in, when an explosion rocked the house, and a woman's scream echoed up the stairs.

Rags dropped the pencil that he was using and ran to the door, he stuck his head out, and Hermione looked out over the top of his head. They had opened the door just in time to see Brunehild, carrying a screaming Freya, come running up the stairs and down the hallway towards a room. Rags seemed to get some form of significant insight to the situation as he took of sprinting towards the other room, the door closed almost at the same time that Rags go to it, he only just go through. Hermione didn't make it, but a moment later she suddenly found herself inside the room "I must be confined to being wherever Rags is" she thought to herself.

She took a moment to look at her surrounding, still wondering what the hell was going on, and noticed that she appeared to be in some form of a wizarding panic room, she recognised it as such because, in true Hermione fashion she had read a book all about it and had considered talking to her parents about getting one installed, especially seeing as the war with Voldemort was setting up to go on for a long time.

Her suspicion was confirmed when Brunehild, still holding her daughter, moved to the closed and bolted door and waved her wand in a complicated gesture, muttered a spell, and the outline of the door glowed a vibrant green for about three seconds. Then Brunehild moved back to a bench that could be converted to a bed in emergency, and held her daughter close and made soft cooing noises sending a spiteful glare in Rags direction as he sat quietly in the corner, trying to make himself as small as possible.

Hermione was watching the scene intently, but as she was the one standing closets to the door, she heard clearly what was said from the other side. A sinister voice, obviously distorted by magical means, said "We only want the boy, give him to us and all others in the house will be spared."

Hermione glanced horrified in the direction of Brunehild, she appeared to take no time at all in reaching her decision, she got up and placed her daughter gently on the bed, made her way over to her son, ignoring his terrified cries, dragged him to the door opened it half way, and threw his into the corridor.

Hermione found herself in the corridor with Rags, as he wept silent tears and looked back at the almost closed door with betrayal in his eyes, it was then Hermione noticed that one of the Death Eaters, for she could see that they all wore the skull masks of Voldemort's followers, had the toe of their boot lodged in the door. That same Death Eater drew their wand and said in the same raspy voice that had spoken originally "There is a girl; we take them both just to be sure."

It was then that Brunehild fought back clawing and battering at the Death Eaters with her bear hands all the time saying not to take her baby, but she was quickly silenced with a stunning spell. Rags just looked on, a lost and broken expression on his little face, that is until a well placed boot quickly immediately rendered him unconscious.

The darkness rushed in again as Rags perception of the world was stopped by him being unconscious, but Hermione had the distinct impression that this memory wasn't over. Clarity and sight returned slowly, as though Rags had trouble waking up, getting kicked like he did in the head Hermione couldn't really blame him, but he woke up eventually and Hermione was able to see the whole of her environment, and she was a little afraid herself, eve though it was only a memory and would not be able to hurt her.

She was fairly sure that they were underground, the walls and ceiling were all made of the same rough hewn rock, and the door was made of solid wood and bound with steel and bronze, which gave of a faint glow no matter how you looked at it, indicating that it was magically bound.

Hermione watched as he looked around the room himself, noting to two beds a single pillow and blanket on each, a small room with washing facilities in the corner, and that was it. Freya was sobbing on one of the beds, Rags got up from his bed and rushed over to her, only to be pushed back and screamed at "Go away, its your fault that I was taken away from mommy, just leave me alone, I don't want to see you again, I wish you weren't my brother" Freya then turned around, pulled her blanket over herself and curling up in a ball cried herself to sleep. Rags just stood there stunned, he slowly walked back over to his bed and sat down; he appeared to shake every few seconds like something was trying to get out, but he wouldn't let it.

Hermione's heart went out to him, alone and friendless in this dark place, but then he did something strange, but from what she knew of Rags in the present day, in complete keeping with his character. He looked over at the sleeping Freya, picked up his own, rather threadbare blanket and draped it gently over her sleeping form, went back to his bed and picking up his pillow made his way to the stony corner of the room and curled up and wept.

Things just got worse for the young twins though, it wasn't long after Rags had sat down when the door burst open and two masked Death Eaters came in, both with wands drawn. The first one said "So it's confirmed, the boy is the eldest, we won't get in trouble for this?"

His companion turned to him and said "You heard what McNair said, the boy is the only one they really need, so we can have some fun with the girl." With that both men advanced on the now awake and terrified Freya she clutched both blankets to her body and looked on at the two approaching grinning men, with terror evident on her face, and in her eyes.

"Get away from her" a shrill cry echoed throughout the room, and Rags was there, the little boy was not especially developed or strong, but when a man is punched in the guts, or lower, even by a boy it still hurts. He was there little fists whirling all the time screaming for them to not go near his sister, the same sister who hadn't moved, even to run away so great was her terror. All it took was one strike too many from the enraged little boy for the Death Eaters to begin to fight back, he was quickly subdued, but that wasn't enough for the men who thought that they could get away with doing god knows what to a scared little girl.

It was then that they started kicking him, Hermione watched as a boy of four was brutally beaten by two grown men, who thought that they were better than most other wizards, especially those of 'lesser' bloodlines. One actually took off his belt and was whipping the now still prone boy, but his companion soon pulled him away and whispered something in his ear, they both looked down at the still prone boy with fear in their eyes before they fled the room.

Hermione was horrified, not only that the two men would stoop so low as to attempt to torture, or do anything more, to a young girl, then beat a young boy in retribution for his interference. But also that seeing as she could stills see her surroundings, Rags must still be conscious.

His sister though appeared to come to her senses she quickly got out of the bed and rushed over to her fallen brother; Hermione was standing close behind her. Close enough to hear his small whimpers of pain, she noticed that his eyes were swollen shut and his left arm was at a wrong angle, she thought to herself that had she been awake she would have emptied her stomach of all the food she had eaten to boost her strength for this task.

Rags even flinched away from the gentle touch of Freya, and whimpered something that sounded like "Please stop", in a voice that nearly broke Hermione's heart, it was so bad that she wasn't sure how much more she could take, she wondered how Rags was able to function with theses terrible memories floating around in his head. The scene thankfully came to an end with Rags being embraced by his sister.

--

The horrifying images continued and Hermione saw everything, heard every painful word, she saw how he was punished when he wasn't able to do things for the first time, how he was awoken from his sleep by kicks and punches, and sometimes things that resembled the wizard version of a muggle tazer or shock stick. How as the years progressed he was taught more and more Dark magic by the Death Eaters, and how again and again he stepped in to save his sister from being abused by some Death Eater or another, she was there when he began his sword training in Kuro-Uindo, and how his diminutive half goblin half wizard sword master, Hirohito Yamatada, scarred him for every perceived transgression or mistake.

She wept her silent tears as he was forced again and again to go back with a Time Turner to repeat, weeks, months and years of the same cruel and gruelling tasks. She saw how he became colder and harder, from the first time they strapped him to the whipping post as an eight year old and he screamed with every blow that was landed, to the last on his sixteenth birthday where no sound past his lips, every year it was as though a piece of his soul was ripped away and he became harder and harder, harder and colder.

--

Hermione was the most horrified however when she saw the baby form of Voldemort, Rags appeared to be about fourteen at the time, although it appeared that the creature had spent his time between England and his base in Norway 'It must be how he evaded capture and detection for so long' Hermione thought to herself as she watched a strange scene unfold before her. Peter Pettigrew was holding the infant Voldemort in his hands as a group of Death Eaters were assembling some form of magical chair, it had leather restraining straps and appeared to be made of bolted together planks of wood, all together Hermione thought that it was a crude looking instrument.

But she was not going to be seeing another training session or even a torture session, as she had come to call them. A fourteen year old Rags was lead into the chamber, his eyes a cold steel grey blue, never stopped moving, looking at everyone and everything, his expression hard and unreadable, but once he noticed the presence of Voldemort in the room, his entire demeanour changed. His eyes grew even harder, his already large muscles tensed under the plain grey robe he wore, and he crouched slightly as though he would be expected to fight.

It was then that the Death Eater behind him drew their wand and hit him in the back with a stunning spell; they dragged his large form over to the chair and strapped him in. What next surprised Hermione like nothing else she had seen, the Dark Lord began by explaining the plan for the contraption to Wormtail, who as per his nature appeared to be completely clueless as to what was going on.

The thin raspy voice of the infant Dark Lord echoed around the stony room "You see Wormtail, I am not happy with the progress the boy is making. Yes he is magically strong, and his abilities at the forge and with a blade are beyond compare, even Master Yamatada can barely keep him from taking his head when they spar these days." Voldemort looked over at Wormtail and gave an evil cackle "You haven't figured it out have you Wormtail, the boys magic manifests itself through his hands that's how he can do what he does."

Wormtail nodded his head in agreement with his Lord, and Hermione herself, although horrified at what was happening thought that it was an interesting concept, that a persons magic concentrated at a certain part of their bodies, but quickly brought her attention back when the scene progressed. Voldemort had his servant carry him over to the prone form of Rags, who must have still been conscious throughout the whole ordeal, she watched as he was handed a shining knife and slowly drew it down the left side of Rags' face, which brought him back to full alertness and explained the scar he bore in the present time.

"Now boy" the Dark Lord said "you remember that conversation we had the other day, you have to agree to go through with the ritual, or it won't work." Rags just sneered and spat in his face, Voldemort hissed with fury and had Wormtail strike him on the injured side of his face. "Remember what I said, agree or my Death eaters will take their sport with your precious sister."

It was then that Rags' eyes widened in terror, but he nodded his head in acquisition, Hermione noted that he didn't speak, in fact he hadn't spoke in many of the memories that she had seen; it appeared that he still only spoke to the people that he cared for or trusted. "Very good, now take that potion" Rags was forced to swallow a disgusting looking brown potion that looked a little too much like swamp mud to be healthy, he shuddered as his eyes rolled back into his head and his back arched like he was in pain. "Ah good it is working soon I will be able to transfer my knowledge over to him, then if our plan for this year fails, I will have a better chance of taking his body instead."

Hermione realised that this was when Harry was in his fourth year during the Triwizard Tournament, she paled thinking that if Voldemort's plan to be resurrected had failed then he would have tried to posses his only son, and she hated to think what would have happened then. But her attention, as it so often in the past few hours, or days, she wasn't really sure, by a scream. The infantile Voldemort had put his tiny child hands on each side of Rags' face and was chanting something in a low guttural hissing language.

There was a sickening flash of green light and the Dark Lord sat back, an evil smile on his childlike face "There it is done, I don't know how long it will take for the knowledge to be assimilated by his conscious mind, but it should make him more powerful and a much better weapon if all my plans bear the fruit that they should."

Wormtail spoke for the first time "My Lord you really mean to put him up against Potter, what of the prophecy?" the man winced as though he was expecting to be struck or cursed. Indeed Voldemort had his wand raised in his childlike grip but stopped short for some reason.

"You actually asked an intelligent question Wormtail, how intriguing. Very well I shall indulge your curiosity this once, I don't know the full prophecy so I shall have to wait until I am whole and fully returned to my former strength before I go after it, also Potter will not be expecting someone like the boy to get close to him and kill him, I just need a more effective way of controlling him, the imperious curse no longer has any effect on him, those fools used it too much when they used the Time Turner, and although he would do much to save his sister, die for her yes, but killing to ensure her safety is another matter entirely." The pair slowly left the room and Hermione noticed that the colour at the edges of the room was slowly dissolving as though Rags' perception of things was slipping away, looking back at his slumped figure in the chair, she saw him fighting to remain conscious, a fight he lost and the world dissolved once again.

--

The next set of memories were a sick parody of the Triwizard Tournament, Voldemort had obviously liked the idea of putting up a wizard against magical tasks, that tested their strength, cunning and magical intelligence. One of the tests that Hermione saw was one that involved Rags pitting himself against Wyverns, smaller wingless dragons that looked more like a dinosaur than a fire breathing beast, he did not have to retrieve a golden egg, but had to survive until the end, instead of outflying a dragon, this was where he got the large 'S' shaped scar on his chest.

She also saw a memory that took place just after his sixteenth birthday, it was his and Freya's attempted escape from the estate upon which they were held.

She saw how Freya lured one of the guards into the cell like room in which she and her brother were kept, when he wasn't being trained, and she wasn't being used as a servant to assist the estates small army of house-elves. Hermione was shocked, but not as much as she would have been before seeing all of the memories, at the ease of which Rags stepped from the shadows while the Death Eater guard's attention was elsewhere, and neatly decapitated him with his sword, that Hermione immediately recognised as Matsuro, the coldness in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine.

She watched the twin's flight from the place of their imprisonment, and was once again astounded at Rags' fighting prowess, he moved like a dancer, no movement wasted, every flicker of the sword in his hands either moved down the enemy in his path, or disarmed them; literally, it was like watching a living piece of quicksilver. She saw him, in only three moves defeated his sword master and run him through, moving on without so much of a backward glance.

She saw as Ragnar moved first down the corridor taking care of any Death Eater that got in their way, the rounded another corner and a small elf jumped into Freya's arms, the twins seemed to expect it, Hermione realised that they must be conforming to a pre-discussed plan. Freya stayed close to her towering sentinel of a brother, her beauty matching his fierceness, and even though she knew better Hermione thought that the two of them might make it out of the dungeons of the estate and escape.

But offcourse this was not to be, the three fugitives had barely gotten out into the moonlight when they were surrounded by the Death Eaters, Ragnar fought bravely, but his skills and power were no match for sheer force of numbers. He was lagging behind the other two when a sinister voice said "Drop the sword boy. You cannot defeat all my servants, and you are too valuable to kill, this one though…" he trailed off ominously as Rags whirled round and then Hermione saw that Voldemort was holding a struggling Freya by her hair.

There was a metallic sliding sound as the magnificent sword Matsuro was roughly stabbed into the ground "There now let her go", Hermione was shocked at how his voice sounded; it was rough, deep and filled with anger. Nothing like the soothing deep voice he had during the present day 'And this wasn't very long ago either, barely a year' she thought to herself.

Time seemed to slow down then, Rags' eyes widened as he realised almost a full second before it happened, his sword once again in his hand and grey mist swirling around him he surged forward, only to see the green light of the killing curse take the light away from his sister's eyes. Hermione was then treated to something that she hadn't seen before, the edges of what she could see became blurry, almost like what happened when Rags was falling asleep or unconscious, but they were tinted with red this time, she realised that it was the all consuming rage that he felt at the time.

Fortunately for Hermione the memories became fragmented from then on, only vague images, sensations more than true visions of what happened. She saw him and Dizzy standing on a rocky outcrop in front of a black marble headstone overlooking an enormous fjord, saw the two of them in a small boat heading out to sea Rags standing defiant at the prow, almost willing for someone or something to try to strike him down. She saw how he and Dizzy were found washed up on the beach by members of the Order of the Phoenix, how he was taken to the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Ally and healed back to some semblance of being a human being. The last painful memory that she saw was the confrontation in the Headmasters office and the pain was so much clearer to see now that she could move closer to him.

Then she felt herself lurch and a blinding white light filled her vision, and she came to realise a few things about Rags that she had seen in his memories, firstly he had a deep ingrained fear of being alone, or more specifically being alone at the end and having no one to remember him, and also that he felt that he deserved what happened to him, and thought less of himself than he did of other people and sometimes thought of himself as a monster, and most shocking, he didn't sleep, he hadn't slept since he had been found on the beach, he had survived on meditation and concentrated Pepper Up Potions, and then she found herself back in the Hospital wing.

--

Madame Pomfrey rushed forward and put her hand on Hermione's shoulder to steady the girl as she swayed where she sat. "Hermione dear just take things easy alright, you have been sitting like that for two days straight you may need to wait a minute to let your balance readjust." Noticing all the signs she quickly conjured up a bucket, into which Hermione threw up the contents of her stomach, Poppy had dealt with many cases of being sick so she knew what to do, and gently started rubbing Hermione's back in soothing circles as the girls stomach settled.

Hermione looked up at Madame Pomfrey with tears shining in her eyes and whispered "How could they? All they did to him, how? Why?" Madame Pomfrey just pulled her into a gentle hug, something that she didn't normally do, and both of them looked down at the peaceful, pale form of Ragnar Valerian.

--

Sleeping her own bed did Hermione the world of good, even though her dreams were centred on what she had seen inside Rags' head, she still felt much better the following morning, she thought back to what Madame Pomfrey had said to her before she left the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey had said that the memories would soon fade, not disappear completely, but become almost like a muggle film that she had seen a fairly long time ago, its affect on her would fade, but she would be able to recall the events that she had witnessed. Madame Pomfrey had also told her something that she had been wondering for a while, ever since she knew that Rags was a victim of what Wizarding Medics called Time Turner abuse, she wanted to know how old he was mentally, that is how old his mind was because even though the body doesn't age the mind does, and she had gasped in surprise, Rags was a seventeen year old with a twenty four year olds mind, he had been trapped in a living hell for twenty years.

She had been told to take that day off, that day being Thursday, Harry and Ginny were also with her, having been given the day off as well. Hermione had told them all she felt that she could about what she had seen inside of Rags' mind including what she called her revelations, the insights that she had just before she returned to consciousness as well as his mental age. Harry and Ginny had told her that they had been able to get everything on the list they had made in the Common Room before Hermione had gone to the Hospital Wing, they each had at least one gift to give to Rags, all they had to do was wait for him to wake up.

--

Sound was the first thing that came back, there was a faint almost imperceptible sound of a voice, it sounded like it was far away perhaps somewhere in the distance. Then came smell, a clean strong disinfected odour, 'The Hospital Wing…Hogwarts…' thoughts filtered around his mind names 'Freya…Harry…Dumbledore…Ginerva no Ginny…Hermione'. Everything came crashing back to Rags, he remembered Draco casting the curse at Hermione and him taking it for her he was about to leap from the hospital bed and find Malfoy and kick the crap out of him, but two things stopped him.

Firstly Hermione, Harry and Ginny hated him; if he rushed in on them he would probably find himself straight back here with more curse injuries. He sighed and lowered his head and then noticed a second reason for not rushing about, he was dressed only in flannelette hospital pyjama bottoms. "Ah" he said to himself and immediately started looking round for his clothes, when a squeaky voice called out to him.

"Master Rags, Master Rags youse is alright again" it was then with a soft pop that the little house-elf Dizzy popped onto the scene. She sat happily at the end of the bed and looked at Rags with adoration and happiness in her eyes.

"Hey there Dizzy" Rags said back, smiling at the little elf, who he considered much more like family than a friend "You can stop calling me Master you know, we're friends you know."

Dizzy had a strange look on her little face and would not meet his gaze this set alarms ringing in Rags' head, he could always talk to his little friend, but this was the first time that they had talked about this particular issue before, "Dizzy look at me, is there something that you aren't telling me?"

The little elf looked up and said "Yes Master Rags, there is" at his patient look she tearfully went on "It was after, after youse…" she pointed at his left wrist where three symmetrical scars that ran along the skin, the thing that set these scars apart from the rest on his body was that these were self inflicted. Rags glanced down at his wrist and looked back at Dizzy, his expression became slightly more thoughtful; he motioned for Dizzy to continue.

"After that… youse was in a bad state, I didn't knows what to do. I didn't have a master and Elf magic can be used to help their masters when they is in a bad way. So when youse was unconscious I… I is bonding youse as my master." She flinched away as though she was expecting to be struck, although Rags had never so much as raised his voice to her, any wizard who had been bonded without knowing was well within his legal rights to kill the elf in question.

He lurched forward and grabbed Dizzy in a tight embrace; there were tears present in his eyes, "You thought that I would be angry about this?" Dizzy nodded her head against his bandaged chest "Dizzy don't you see?" the little elf looked up into the blue grey eyes of her master and shook her head, to indicate that she didn't understand, he continued "This…this makes us family" they held each other tight taking comfort from the fact that they were part of a family again, no matter how faint the connection.

--

Rags knew that there had been someone in his mind with him, at least at the end, and he had informed Dizzy as such, Dizzy had shocked him by saying how they had been so concerned for him and what Hermione had done to help him. "What day is it Dizzy?" he asked the little elf sitting on his bed.

"It is Saturday morning Master Rags, exactly seven fifty five" her eyes widened a little at the small quirky grin that appeared on his face.

"Dizzy can you do me a favour and get me some clothes, I have someone I need to see" Dizzy returned his grin snapped her fingers, and a clean school shirt, trousers, underwear, socks and his shoes were sitting on the chair next to the bed.

Getting dressed he grabbed his wrist holster off the bedside table, fortunately it still had his wand in it so he didn't have to go looking fore it. He kept the sleeves rolled down and tied the holster to his left arm, he checked himself in one of the Hospital Wing mirrors noticed the new scar on his face and said "Well that's new, just another scar", disposed of the bandages that covered his torso nodded to Dizzy, who promptly disappeared, and left the Hospital Wing.

He was able to get back to the Gryffindor Common Room without too much trouble, someone who could break out of a secure Death Eater facility didn't have a lot of trouble getting around in a large castle, especially early on a weekend morning. He snuck through the corridors, avoiding anyone he met, for some reason he wanted to see Hermione before anyone else 'That's a lie and you know it' said an annoying little voice in the back of his mind 'You like her' he stopped short and shook his head, he didn't want to bump into someone while his attention was elsewhere.

He got threw the portrait hole, thankfully the password hadn't changed in the eek that he had been in the Hospital Wing, and he settled down in his customary spot, relying on the fact that people rarely saw anything that was just under their noses, and waited to see who would come down first Harry and Ginny, or Hermione.

--

Hermione got up and ready for the day with slow sluggish movements she had been sure that their would have been some improvement in Rags' condition, but sadly there hadn't been, she got dressed in a warm jumper and her comfy jeans, put her hair up in a ponytail, she had discovered how to keep it smoother than it had been for the last six years, now it was smooth, shiny and slightly curly, as shown by the ingle strand of slightly curled honey-brown hair that came down over her face, and which she persistently kept tucking behind her ear.

Ready to face the day she went down the stairs to the Common Room and she heard a voice that she hadn't been expecting to hear that day, and was secretly scared that she would never hear again. "Hi Hermione" she whirled around and there he was, a little paler than he was at the beginning of the week, but there was Rags getting up from his traditional place sitting on the couch.

Rags was glad to see her, from what Dizzy had told him it appeared that any animosity between the two of them had dissipated, but he was still scared that some would remain. But he needn't have worried no sooner had he finished standing up then he was hit with a brunette missile and he found himself wrapped in one of the tightest hugs that he'd ever had, one that he returned just as tightly.

'He's alright, this isn't a dream, he's here' Hermione kept repeating over in her head as she hugged Rags, and she noticed that he was hugging her just as fiercely, something that she didn't have a problem with at all. Then she noticed something different, normally Rags wore his robes, or at least his school jumper when he was in uniform but today he was just in his school shirt, and she could feel the thick ridges of muscle, and scars, that criss-crossed his back through the thin cloth, she just buried her head in his chest and let the tears flow.

Rags was trying hard to keep his own composure, he didn't want to break down in front of the girl he was so attracted to it hurt sometimes. It took the two of them a while, and thankfully no one else came into the Common Room, but they each compose themselves as best they could. Rags looked at Hermione and was about to say something when she did something unexpected, she put her finger to his lips effectively silencing him, removing her finger their heads began to inch closer together, until their lips met in a gentle kiss. It wasn't impassioned or needy, it was gentle and loving, it lasted less than ten seconds, but to the two people involved it spoke volumes, but it didn't stop them moving in for another kiss after the first ended.

A/N: WOW NOW THAT'S A LONG CHAPPIE, AND I WROT ROMANCE YIPEE, sorry the damn thing took me so long but I had laryngitis for a week so that threw my writing schedule right out the window. Thanks to all who keep on reading and reviewing. Oh yeh quick explanation on a couple of things, firstly the grey mist run that Rags does to move at incredible speeds, isn't my own invention it is taken from the fifth HP film when all the people arrive in the DOM, and no it isn't apparating, more will be explained in later chapters [so u have to keep reading don't u], secondly a more in depth description of the escape will be given but it will be told from Rags' point of view, and I stopped writing the bad memories casuse if I didn't this chapter wouldn't be finished till Christmas. Thanks again pls Read and Review, Cheers TBK