A Girl Named Hermione Granger: Year Four

Gift Chapter: Julie

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter and left fans waiting like this for the real books, I'd probably have been killed by now.

The street outside was quiet, as Julie sipped at her steaming mug of tea. Her hand shook slightly as she set it back on the table, and her gaze drifted to the window; Severus had just left her home in a panic, muttering about a riot. Naturally, she was worried about poor Hermione – the riot was at the world cup.

If she could have, Julie would have been out the door right after him, but her protruding belly had put an end to that silly notion before it had even really formed. Not only would she only slow down the search and rescue, but she would put both herself and the baby at risk, and that would be inexcusable. No, she was much better off staying here, in her kitchen, with a cup of tea. Even if sitting idly was driving her mad.

A dull chime echoed out from the grandfather clock in her living room, informing her in its solemn way that it was half past twelve. The mother-to-be slowly got to her feet, she needed to do something, anything to take her mind off the frightful thoughts swimming through her mind. She settled herself in front of her television – one of the few muggle conveniences she'd seen fit to keep; no more than five minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

"Who in the bloody hell –" Her eyes flickered to where her wand lay resting on the coffee table, "would be calling at this hour?" She shook her head ruefully and stood, she was being silly to entertain the idea of picking up her wand. She did, after all, live in a muggle town, and the odds were far more likely that it was a neighbour at her door, needing assistance. Not every unexpected visitor was out to do evil. Bypassing her wand, she shuffled slowly over to her door and drew her robe tightly around her body. She reached out to undo the lock, but never reached it as the door burst open with a blinding flash of lights.

A crackling fire and a soft, gentle hissing sound were what Julie awoke to. As her eyes slid open slowly, she took in the dank room around her and became acutely aware of the robes binding her wrists and ankles. She was most certainly not at home anymore.

A soundless whimper escaped her as she fought the urge to shift and alert whomever had taken her to the fact that she was now awake. 'Just stay calm, and don't do anything stupid.' She commanded herself silently, as she attempted to get a decent view of the room in which she was being held without moving.

The room, and everything in it, was covered in a thick layer of dust and grime; it was obvious that this building had suffered from many years of neglect. The fire cast ominous shadows about the room, the largest of which, came from a tall backed chair, with clawed wooden feet. Her cursory glance of the room revealed that she seemed to be alone, but the hair on the back of her neck prickled and her gut told her that she wasn't as alone as she thought.

With horror she watched a great big snake slither down over the arm of the chair, stopping to glance at her before slithering out of the room, into the pitch black hallway. She could feel dread building in her gut, as she slowly pieced together just who had taken her, and where she must be. Not that she had really doubted that it had been death eaters.

Footsteps, muffled by layers of dust and carpets, slowly grew in volume as she tried to force herself into a sitting position – if that snake belonged to who she thought it did, then there would be no point in pretending to be asleep. She had only just managed to get her legs folded under her when the door to the dank room opened wide, revealing a short, fat little wizard carrying a bundle swathed in dirty rags, with the snake hissing at his heels.

The worst shock, she supposed, was the fact that she knew the stubby wizard before her. She'd thought him dead a long time, and she'd hesitated to believe Hermione when she'd heard the tale of what happened in June, but there was no mistaking his beady little eyes, and missing finger. "Peter Pettigrew." She wasn't aware she'd spoken aloud until she heard the wheezy laugh emanating from the bundle in his arms.

"Look, Wormtail, the mudblood remembers you." The raspy voice and wheezing breaths did not prepare Julie for what she saw when the rags shifted in Wormtail's arms, and fell away from what they had been protecting. The gnarled, deformed little limbs of a small, decaying body were curled up against a sickeningly thin little body with graying skin, and a seemingly too large head was twisted to face her with dark, sunken eyes.

She was too scared to scream.

"Yes, master." The stubby wizard sounded as though he were trying to hold his breath as he spoke, not wanting to inhale the smell of decay. "Place me on the chair and bring her by the fire so we might discuss a few things." The huddled form shifted slightly as Wormtail drew the rags around it once more to give it warmth, and he placed it carefully on the tall backed chair facing the fireplace.

Julie tried to shift away as Wormtail waddled over to her and grabbed her arms with his grubby hands, but she was feeling dreadfully weak with fear, and could make no protests as he dragged her roughly to the front of the chair, where the snake had taken a curled position on the rug.

She dropped her eyes to the floor, not wanting to see the half dead body on the chair, feeling her stomach try to crawl out of her throat. She didn't yet know why she was here, or what exactly they wanted from her, but she knew it could not be good. Her chances of escaping would probably have been not too bad, if she had her wand and wasn't pregnant – but as it was, she was pregnant and wand-less, there would be no escape.

End Gift Chapter

It's almost painful to give such plot away...but it's only two pages and I cut off just before the best part, so it's less painful.

I decided to post this little snippet because, well, you have all been amazing patient with me - no screaming flames or insults, no emotional blackmail. Such fantastic readers you all are :)

So this is a thank-you. Although Julie isn't a favourite character, it's not something I had planned to post for a few more chapters. Plus it's some more of my straying-from-the-novels path. (which is going to happen a lot more...)

Real chapter eleven will be posted tonight too, in a few hours.