Chapter 15: Prisoner of War
The Great Hall slowly became empty as people finished eating and made their way to their common rooms and soon it was just the Golden Trio left, mainly to delay Hermione from having to see the Headmaster. Unfortunately though it was time for Hermione to make her way to the Headmaster's office. She knocked on the door after giving the gargoyle the password to his office. As she knocked the door creaked open. "Headmaster?" Hermione called out as she stood in the open doorway not entering the office. Hermione could hear breathing coming from inside the room, and yet she didn't. It was an illusion, toying with her senses. Suddenly there was a flash of red light from behind her and she fell to the floor with a gasp, stunned.
The next day at breakfast Headmaster Dumbledore stood to make an announcement. "I was informed that after my meeting with Miss Granger, she was seen leaving the castle grounds alone. It is believed she has gone in a search for her parents whose house was found empty early yesterday morning." Harry and Ron looked around the Great Hall in confusion; the Granger's weren't missing, they were safe at Lupin Manor, so why would Hermione leave? "But until we have some more information pertaining to the events of last night, Hermione Granger is simply missing." The Headmaster finished and sat back down. The next few minutes pasted by in what you could call controlled chaos. All the students slowly turned back to their plates before some started to cry while others stared at their plates in shock before they all turned to look at Harry, Ron and Skylar.
After breakfast was over many of the students found the group of friends and asked if they would still continue the meetings. Harry turned to each and every one of them before he told them that even if Hermione was missing, she would still want them to prepare themselves for the war, despite if she returned or not. As the students went to their classes worrying about Hermione, Headmaster Dumbledore was walking through the dungeons. After he took no less an a hundred turns he stopped in front of a muggle painting of a forest. After he said the password and waited for the painting to move to the side he entered the bare room and walked over to the only occupant of the room, a still stunned Hermione.
Dumbledore stood over her for a few minutes before he said the counter-curse to revive Hermione. When the spell took effect Hermione didn't crawl to the other side of the room in fear, but instead she continued to lay on the floor, her eyes staring into his crystal blue orbs. "Headmaster?" Hermione questioned. "What am I doing here?" Dumbledore smiled sweetly at her, "Why Miss Granger, this is where you will be living this year." Hermione looked away from his sickening eyes so she could look around the small room.
In the cramped space were four dirty walls and a dingy toilet, nothing more and nothing less. While Hermione looked around the room Dumbledore had walked back to the back of the painting. "As I said, you will live here the entire year. You will receive one meal a day and attend no classes. You will have no contact with your family and friends…, you won't ever leave this room. Enjoy your sixth year Miss Granger." Dumbledore said before he touched the painting's back which slid aside, and left Hermione alone in the room once more. A week past by quickly, with Hermione receiving one meal a day just like Dumbledore had said, and the Lycan Army meeting in the Room of Requirement everyday to perfect their skills.
On September 14th, after dinner, Dumbledore called a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. During the meeting, Dumbledore told them that one of their enemies was captured at the beginning of the month, which caused all the hidden Lycan Army members to look around, all of them thinking the same thing… 'He has Hermione.' After the meeting ended Remus and
Ambrosial went to their quarters where they called an emergency meeting with the Lycan Army group leaders. Once Harry, Ron, Skylar and Draco, who was filling in for Hermione, arrived Remus quickly informed them of what they had just learned.
"The Headmaster also told us that if we see anyone wearing anything suspicious like a pendant, we are to turn them in to Filch and confiscate the offending item." Ambrosial said as the group looked around upset. "What does this mean?" Skylar asked as she pulled a blood pop from her mouth. "It means that Dumbledore is starting to see the improvement the students have started to show since they joined the Army… he's suspicious of Hermione so he locked her up so she couldn't attack him and fulfill part of the prophecy." Remus said as he stared into the fireplace.
"I want you to get a list of all the members that have pendants and give it to Ambrosial when you've finished, that way if anyone's gets taken we can owl them a new one." He continued as he looked away from the burning embers to the kids before him. "We'll do anything we can to save Hera… the future is depending on her." Harry said which caused nods from everyone. The days went by slowly after they knew that Dumbledore was keeping Hermione prisoner somewhere inside the castle. Any faith that the student's still had in the Headmaster disappeared once the group leaders told them that new bit of information… Hermione would have been proud to witness some of the things done in her followers' rage after they learned that their Headmaster had kidnapped their Savior.
On September 25th, it was the night of the full moon and Hermione wasn't supplied with any Wolfsbane potion so after curfew howling could be heard coming from the dungeons. Throughout the night Hera clawed at her fur, the walls and anything she managed to reach in the room until she finally tired herself out and laid down and cried herself to sleep, howls and whimpers escaping her mouth periodically.
Meanwhile in the Slytherin Dormitory, Draco had woken Skylar and had taken her to the common room where they listened to the haunting howls of their leader. "We have to find her." Draco said before he led the way out of the common room and into the dungeon corridor. They followed the howls and whimpers for over an hour; they could tell they were getting closer but it seemed like they were just running around in circles. Twenty minutes later they had arrived back in front of the Slytherin Dormitory. They looked at each other before they ran to Severus' office where they were yelled at for waking him up and then thanked for their information.
The next few weeks were spent with all the Lycan Army members trying to find where Hermione was being kept prisoner in the dungeons, but no one managed to find her. On October 9th Headmaster Dumbledore walked into the bare room to see Hermione lying on the floor making swirls in the cold air above her. "Hello Miss Granger, having fun?" Dumbledore asked as he conjured a chair out of the air. Hermione sat up before she put her wand away. " No, not really." Dumbledore just smiled at her. "Very well. Now Miss Granger, can you tell me anything about the secret organization that has started here at Hogwarts?"Hermione looked at him, her expression remaining neutral. "No sir, I don't have any idea what you're talking about."
"Come now, surely you must know why your friends are always seen meeting with the Slytherins and younger years? Their obviously trying to teach them something…" Dumbledore said again. Hermione shook her head. "I really have no idea…" Dumbledore never let his smile fall, "Oh well, I thank you for your time Miss Granger. Until next week" Dumbledore said before he stood up and pushed the painting open, leaving Hermione back to her thoughts. 'If it's a secret organization, then how did you find out about it?'Hermione thought as she lay back down on the floor which served as her bed and pulled her wand back out.
"A girl born of a wolf will hinder the rise of the Dark ones." Hermione wrote in the air above her. She smiled before whispering to herself. "Check." "One of two she will be born with a curse that has haunted both worlds for ages." "That happened when I was born." She whispered as the two lines of her prophecy met and joined.
"She will live a life of lies and deceit until the truth falls from her own mouth." "Check…" Hermione murmured as she continued. "She will be hunted by both sides once they find out what she will become." Here Hermione stopped and looked around the room, "I guess this is Dumbledore's way of hunting me, trying to convince me not to go to war against him… well, this certainly wasn't the way to do that…"
"With the help of her friends the final decision will be made to fight them." "Decided that last year…" "Once accepted nothing will change her fate.""You got that right…" She whispered as she looked at the dingy toilet. "No one will stand in her way, for if they do, they will meet her fury." Here Hermione laughed, "You have no idea."
"She will be known as Hera." Hermione finished writing with a smile, "You better be ready Dumbledore; your end is coming." She said as her prophecy finished combining before it disappeared completely. A week pasted by after that and more students were being taken to the caretaker because of the pendant's they were proudly wearing. Luckily Filch didn't give them any detentions, he just told them to be more careful searching for Hera.
On October 16th, Dumbledore made his way back to the dungeons, not noticing that he was being followed by a small black and green snake. As he pushed the painting aside, the small snake slid up the wall and waited on him to exit the room. "Hello Miss Granger." Dumbledore said as he walked straight into the cramped room, not caring that he almost stepped on her. Hermione sat up from her position on the floor. "Headmaster"
Dumbledore smiled at her. "Miss Granger, are you certain that you know nothing of this secret organization?" Hermione cleared her mind before she answered him. "I'm certain Headmaster…. But why do you think I know anything about it?" Dumbledore didn't answer her; he just stood and walked back out of the room. As the painting moved to the side, the small snake that had waiting slid in and out of the room quickly, without the Headmaster noticing. Once Hermione was sure that the Headmaster was a considerable distance away she moved over to the fleshy string that was now laying next to the painting's back.
"Hera?" a voice asked causing the string to move slightly. "Vincent?" Hermione asked as she picked the string up. "Thank god I managed to find you, everyone's been so worried…"Hermione smiled in response as Vincent reassured her that her followers hadn't deserted her. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear from you. Tell everyone not to worry; I won't be in here much longer…"
But instead of hearing Vincent's slow voice on the other line, Hermione was shocked to hear the overly cheerful voice of the Headmaster. "Really Miss Granger? Well I beg to differ…" Hermione dropped the extendable ear in shock as she heard something slam into the painting, and then nothing. The Headmaster didn't go back to Hermione's room after his last visit and neither did the house-elf that brought her her food, the only thing she received everyday was a pitcher of warm water. When Dumbledore did come back to her room nearly two weeks later, Hermione was deathly thin.
"Good Evening Miss Granger." Dumbledore said as he opened the painting and the sight before him was not pretty. Hermione's clothes were hanging off her skinny shoulders, which were smaller than a first's years, and she was lying next to the toilet, most likely having just finished throwing up stomach acid. Dumbledore shook his head before he called a house-elf into
the room and instructed them to start bringing Miss Granger two crackers every day until she could keep down bread. Hermione had to admit she was happy when she heard this over the gnawing pain in her stomach, but she still hated the man.
After the house-elf brought her some crackers and she tried to stop herself from throwing them back up, Dumbledore smiled at her. "Now Miss Granger, since we both know you have some information about this group, why don't you tell me about it?" Hermione shook her head as she hung her head over the toilet. There was no way she was breaking, not now and not ever.
Dumbledore's smile faded for the first time since he put Hermione in this room, this prison. He reached into his cloak pocket and pulled out a handful of something, which he then threw at Hermione. Hermione looked down at her bloody arms, to the pendants that her sister had created. "It's time you stopped playing dumb, I know who all the members of this Lycan group are." Hermione looked down at the pendants scattered around her, before she looked back up to the Headmaster, smiling. "No you don't."
Dumbledore looked at her in amazement. Once he realized she wasn't going to say anything else, he turned around angrily and left the room, leaving Hermione leaded over the toilet, her arms and legs bleeding from the pendant cuts. The meeting with Dumbledore stopped altogether after that night, but thankfully Hermione was still getting one meal a day, usually a sandwich and a pitcher of water.
On November 10th, the night of the Full moon, Hermione turned into a surprisingly heavy Hera. Apparently Hera hadn't lost as much weight as Hermione had in the 2 ½ months she'd been held prisoner. Hera clawed at her fur in boredom and rage before she started to run around the small room. She slammed into the toilet, which caused it to pull free from the stone wall. Hera stared at the broken porcelain before she turned to look at the thing that had been keeping her locked in her prison, the back of the painting.
She charged into it, and as her claws ripped it to shreds Hermione had to scream inside Hera to get her to stop destroying the painting and leave their confined area. Hera did and looked around their new surroundings, the middle of a dungeon corridor. She closed her eyes and focused in on her pack's scent so she wouldn't get lost in the maze that was the dungeons. Once she caught a whiff of it she took off running while Hermione prayed they wouldn't run into any students.
Thankfully no student's were roaming the hallways on the way up to her parent's quarters. As Hera's eyes saw their door, she smiled wolfishly before she rammed into the door, causing a large crack to appear. She hit it three more times before it collapsed in on itself. As she climbed over it, Ambrosial aimed her wand at her and fired off a powerful stunning spell which hit her directly in the chest.
Once Ambrosial was sure that Hermione was stunned, she called her family excluding Remus and Ashwin, into the living room. Upon seeing Hera lying on the couch, Skylar and Tawny broke out into tears. "How?" Severus asked his sister as his nieces sat down on the armchairs next to the stunned werewolf. "I was making dinner when I heard her tearing the door down… I came out here and stunned her."