Written In The Body
Poetheather
A/N: There will be a number of mature things discussed including torture, same sex relationships, violence and others… you have been warned.
A/N 2: I am posting this a little early as I have to crash early and will be busy tomorrow. Have a good read. And fyi… I am working on Chap. 13, so there is plenty of fic heading your way.
A/N 3: This is a reedited version to bring it more in line with the rest of things.
This is a work of fiction using the characters created by J.K. Rowling. They are not used with her permission. All actions follow the events of book six of the series. Any similarity between any person living or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional. If you happen to find your life reflected in this piece I'll be impressed.
Five
They appeared in the middle of a moderately small room, maybe a bit larger than Ginny's own bedroom at the Burrow. The nice looking cream colored bedspread appeared to have quotes all over it. There were a few books stacked up on the nightstand, more books on the desk and even more books filling the two bookshelves to overflowing. The walls had a few framed posters of artwork that did not move which seemed to surprise Ginny some, doubtless because of how used to wizarding posters she was. There were even a few paintings that also did not move but given that they were not of people it was surely to be less of a surprise. Also on the wall there was a noticeboard with several things pinned to it. Hermione's school trunk was against one wall, with a few more books piled on top of it as well. The dresser was tidy with only a few neatly organized stacks on notebooks and books on it. Ginny smirked at Hermione after taking it all in, "I like it. It looks like you."
"Oh hush." Hermione nudged Ginny playfully. "Drop your stuff on the bed and let's go see my parents. They want to meet you again."
"It has been a few years since we met, hasn't it?" asked Ginny trying to think back to when they had met.
"Yes and that was only briefly at Platform 9 ¾. Come on." Hermione led Ginny out of her bedroom and down the hall to where her parents were sitting in the living room, reading, as her room was situated on the first floor. Her father was going through the daily paper and her mother was reading a dentistry journal.
Her mother looked up at the sound of them nearing and smiled when she saw the girls. She gave her daughter a look as she said, "Oh hello. You didn't tell us we were having guests Hermione."
"Ginny needed some time away from her family as they have been making each other extra crazy. Her brother Fred died fighting at the Battle at Hogwarts recently and her whole family is taking it pretty hard. With them all together it seems as if they are feeding on each other. This can give her a bit of a break from all of that and let her deal with things on her own." replied Hermione, gaining a grateful look from the red head.
"How long were you thinking?" asked her mother curiously? Her father had lowered the top of the paper and was looking as well.
"What do you think Gin, will three or four weeks be sufficient?" Hermione smiled happily. This was one of the best ideas she had had in a long time.
Ginny's eyes widened. Her voice sounded kind of small when she replied, "Really? Are you sure that will be okay?"
"Yes, I would be happy to have my best girlfriend spend the time with me. Think of it as a vacation." This was something she was more than happy to offer to her friend. Ginny needed the space and time to grieve on her own and Hermione would be able to be with her friend. It was a win-win situation.
Ginny hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much. This is really wonderful of you. I guess I should owl my mother and let her know how long I am planning on staying?"
Hermione's mother waved a hand, dismissively, "Don't worry about that right now. You just got here. Relax and have some fun first. You both have had a rough several years and should just be kids again for a while without having to worry about some things. It will do you a world of good. You can let your mother know tonight or tomorrow what the plan is without it being a big deal. She does know you are here, right?"
Nodding her head, Ginny replied, "Yes, but I wanted to let her know that I got here safely and all that. She can really worry, despite the fact that we have a clock that can let her know if we are in danger."
Ginny went to write the note to her mother and Hermione stayed there in the living room with her parents. Her dad snickered some from behind his paper but didn't lower it to look at her. Hermione, sensing he was holding back, not telling her something, looked his way and asked, "What?"
"Nothing. She's just a nice, considerate daughter, that's all." replied her father, his tone carrying his meaning quite clearly.
"Daddy!" Hermione was clearly affronted by what he was implying. Her parents were clearly amused with her reaction.
She wanted to huff, but she knew that the good natured teasing was a sign that things were getting better between her parents and her. It was almost as if things were back to normal after the tension that had existed after she had returned their memories to them in Australia. There had been some very tense moments in trying to deal with that but thankfully they had worked through all of their issues before heading home. She could only hope that this trend would continue. Spending her summer here instead of the Burrow was a good call. This was a relationship that needed to be rebuilt and made stronger.
"So what are you two going to do?" asked her mom.
Hermione shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure. Ginny has never been in muggle surroundings for very long, and even then it was fairly safe areas, so I kind of wanted to take her all over to show her, well everything. And given that this will ensure I will not be mobbed by various witches and wizards who think I am some sort of hero, I kind of like the idea."
"Then we will have to think of something fun for all of us to do. Your father and I have to work during the week, but I am sure you can keep yourself occupied on those days." Her mother stated.
Hermione rolled her eyes. Sometimes her mother was so strange. "Yes, I'm sure we can. We can go to the library or the cinema or the mall or even to Diagon Alley if we absolutely have to. I am sure we can find some way stay busy."
Ginny came back with a note all rolled up and ready to go. She then seemed to realize something and looked a bit sheepish, "Uhm… Hermione, do you actually have an owl?"
With a chuckle Hermione replied, "Yes. I picked one up when I was in Australia. I remembered how useful they were and I how I had been missing Crookshanks. Since we couldn't find him when we were at the Burrow after the war, and he hasn't shown up since so I have to assume the worst. The one I purchased is named Perdita. She is really wonderful." Hermione beamed when she said that. Her owl was absolutely amazing in her opinion, but she had to admit that she could be a tad bit biased in that regard. "Uhm… but I should warn you… she is a bit different from the other owls you have seen."
Ginny looked at her a bit funny. "What do you mean, she's still an owl right? Just how different can she be?"
Stepping outside, aware that simply explaining the differences would never do, Hermione patted the roost near the door and called out, "Perdita!"
The large hawk-owl flew over and landed on the perch, its wings beating in near silence as it came to rest. The coloration of the bird was very similar to a hawk, a muted brown grey with white stripes on the body, wing and tail. The bird turned to look from Hermione and bright yellow eyes stared straight at Ginny and the only thing the girl could say in response upon seeing her was, "Woah."
"I know. She is so beautiful and is so distinct over here, since none of her kind lives in this half of the world outside of zoos. They are actually fairly common in Australia, well the genus not necessarily the specific species. Come on; let's send the note so your mother can stop worrying about you being splinched or some such nonsense." Hermione pet Perdita a few times before tying the note to her leg. "Take this to Molly Weasley at the Burrow. And feel free to catch yourself something on your way back. She might want to send a note back so wait a little bit to check, okay?"
Perdita looked at her and then gave her a long slow blink. With a woo-hoo, she launched herself off the perch and flew away. Hermione watched her owl fly off with a proud smile on her face. It really was a nice thing to have a post owl of her very own. The convenience alone was well worth it. She turned back to her friend and asked, "So what do you want to do? You have never really been in a muggle house before so what do you want to see? Any ideas?"
"Do you have one of those movie things? Those sounded interesting when I heard about them. Listening to you and Harry talk about movies, as well as Colin and a few other muggleborn has made me really want to know what they're like. Colin almost never shut up about them honestly. So would you happen to have one of them?" asked Ginny, looking really excited with her brown eyes wide, almost like she was waiting for presents at Christmas.
Hermione had to admit that tough Quidditch player and War Veteran Ginny Weasley looked like an adorable little kid with her eyes like that. She couldn't help but grin at that the sight and said happily, "Yes we do. More than one actually. I guess I should pick something for us to watch."
"Hermione."
"Yes mom?"
"We have some of the films that came out last year that are really good that we figured you would like to see. I mean, I don't expect you managed to see Titanic or Good Will Hunting or Romeo+Juliet or Fierce Creatures while you were on the run from Death Eaters. There is also the rest of our collection you can draw from, so there are a number of options available." offered her mother.
Biting her bottom lip, she pondered this. There were a lot of really good possibilities in their collection for a first film. Should she go with something new that was sure to be dazzling, given the way special effects looked, or should she go with something old that she knew was magical in its own way? Maybe with something that got her hooked onto movies in the first place? That might be a good choice as if it drew her in it might do the same with Ginny. "Maybe later Mom, I think I have the perfect first film in mind for Ginny to see."
"Alright. I will make you girls some popcorn to snack on while you get everything set up. Would you like a fizzy drink as well?"
"Yes please, for both of us." answered Hermione, as she was fairly certain that Ginny had no idea how to respond to this. The beverage options in the muggle world far exceeded the choices in the magical.
"What are we going to watch?" asked Ginny, growing more excited as things drew closer to her first movie. She kept fidgeting on the couch as she was overflowing with nervous energy.
Hermione was tickled to see this response from her friend. After all the pain and suffering they had been through, to see her happy and excited over something like this was wonderful. "You'll see."
Ginny sat stunned as they watched The Wizard of Oz, drinking her cola and having plenty of popcorn at the same time. She had gasped when it had switched from black and white to color, turning to stare at Hermione for explanation. The longer it went the clearer it was that she was deeply enthralled with the story. Hermione was spending almost more time watching the redhead's reactions to the movie than the movie itself. The girl's almost childlike exuberance over the classic film was wonderful and made Hermione so happy for Ginny. It must be so wonderful to be exposed to such new things on a regular basis. Hermione couldn't imagine a world without movies and technology but Ginny was from a world where Magic did a lot of things and some things that Hermione took for granted just could not be accomplished by magic. She always forgot that for all of its wonder that the magical world had its own failings as well.
Once the movie was over, Ginny just sort of sat back on the couch, stunned, her eyes wide and it appeared that there were tears forming in them. "That… that was…"
"Yeah. I absolutely love that movie. And just think, that film was made fifty-nine years ago. In muggle terms that is a very old film. Since then they have gotten better and better, with the development of some incredible special effects that you would swear are nothing short of magic." said Hermione with a grin.
"And you got to see these all the time before you came to Hogwarts?" asked Ginny, kind of dazed, her eyes still fixed on the television.
"Pretty much. And there was also television programming itself, which is somewhat similar to movies but the shows are shorter. We can watch that too if you want just to give you the full package. But while you are staying with me you will get to see that and listen to music from CD players, and see cars that don't fly, museums, all sorts of things while you are here. You'll have fun." promised Hermione.
"Well, if this is an example of what I have in store for me, I am really looking forward to it." Ginny sounded a touch in awe of things.
"My biggest complaint with Muggle Studies is that it really doesn't convey all these technological wonders well. It gets bogged down in rather silly stuff actually," stated Hermione, trying to not start that particular rant. She had a few opinions on matters.
Hermione's mother came into the living room and said, "I talked to your father and we decided to go out to eat tonight. Does that sound fine?"
"Yes mom."
"We should let Ginny choose a place since it is her first night eating out at a purely Muggle restaurant."
"Oh yes! That will be great." Hermione was excited by that option. "Should I get online and show her the options?"
Ginny looked at her without understanding. "Online?"
Hermione laughed, clearly amused by her friend. It might not be fair but Ginny was such a fish out of water that there was a degree of humor involved. "Yes, come on and I'll show you. Give us a few minutes Mom. We'll find a local place."
They went upstairs and Hermione turned on her computer, waiting for it to boot up. Ginny just watched, trying to figure out what she was doing as the screen blinked on. Hermione was focused on getting everything set and then logging on so she wasn't paying attention to these reactions. When she got online, Ginny was stunned by what she was seeing, as her mind was clearly having some difficulty processing the images before her. This really was far removed from the wizarding world. "Wha…"
Hermione decided not to make an issue of it and to keep going. If she tried to explain things it would take far too long and Ginny might crash from information overload. Best stick to the practical. "Okay, so here are the local options. I'll explain the internet later so don't worry. So there are a number of different restaurants and types of restaurants in London. There are French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, other European, Middle Eastern, Ethopian, Vietnamese, Greek, all sorts of things. So any of that sound interesting to you?"
"Well, I have had Middle Eastern when we were in Egypt, Indian as well thanks to Padma and Parvati. Can we have Chinese? That sounds interesting and I've never had anything from there. That or Greek." said Ginny thoughtfully. "I don't think I have ever had anything like that either."
"Okay. Let's go." She shut down her computer and they headed back to the living room to where her parents waited. "Mom, Ginny was thinking that either Chinese or Greek sounded good to her."
Hermione's mother smiled at the two of them and said, "Great. Let's grab our purses and head out. Shall we?"
They went out to a nice sit down restaurant that was in their community and Ginny laughed at her own awkward attempts to use chopsticks and their fortunes, especially once the 'in bed' portion of the game was explained. That addition made the red head's fortune about 'You like new and exciting things,' really make her blush nearly enough to match her hair. Hermione's fortune of "You will soon achieve your heart's desire" also got her seriously teased, making the two girls match in how red they blushed. Returning to the Granger's Ginny was clearly happy and seemed more relaxed than she had been when Hermione had seen her earlier that day. As the two of them walked towards her room, Hermione asked, "So good day so far?"
"Well, the part where you told me about Harry was not very nice, but the rest has been brilliant." She smiled at her curly haired friend.
Once behind the safety of the door and with a Muffliato cast to ensure them a degree of privacy, Hermione sat down on her bed and said, "I'm glad. I've been worried about you Ginny."
"I'm doing okay." said the girl, rather unconvincingly.
"Really?" Hermione raised an eyebrow and brown eyes met brown eyes, until the younger pair looked down and away, unable to hold her gaze steady.
"Okay, truth is not so well. I was doing okay while you were there but when you were gone… it's been tough, and Mom… she's been doing her best but this has been tearing her up. Dad and Percy are working hard trying to fix things at the Ministry. Bill is busy with Fleur and his work at Gringotts, trying to fix things there. Charlie had to go back to Bulgaria for work and so it has basically been George who has tried to do his own work but not doing great and Ron trying to help him and pining over you. So I have been basically keeping to myself so no one noticed how I've been doing. It's been very hard. And now this crap with Harry… yeah… I'm doing fine." Ginny sounded fairly bitter there at the end.
"Ginny." Hermione's voice was filled with compassion. She reached out a hand toward the other girl but she wasn't ready to be comforted yet.
The red head shrugged. "Well, Harry has worked really hard constantly pushing me away for my own safety. And I can't say I'm really all that hurt about it this time nor surprised. Besides, I've had over a year to get used to the idea of being without him, so I guess I can just give him up and try to find someone who won't treat me like I'm a fragile thing that will break under the slightest amount of pressure. I mean, bloody hell Hermione, it's like he constantly forgot that I grew up with six crazy brothers, played Quidditch harder than he did since I was a Chaser, fought alongside him at the Ministry, and was almost killed by Voldemort in my first year. So yeah, I was more than capable of fighting at his side the whole time but no, we can't let Ginny go, she's the baby of the family. She might get hurt."
Hermione could hear the resentment and barely masked pain in the girl's voice as that last bit was almost spat out. It kind of broke her heart to know that Ginny had been feeling this kind of anguish, clearly for a while, and no one had noticed. No one had taken the time to take care of her. "I'm so sorry Gin. You know the only reason they let me go with them was that they wanted to live, right? And even then Ron had to point that fact out to Harry."
Ginny snorted and nodded. "Yeah, Ron mentioned that a few times. Said they wouldn't have lasted two days without you. You know, in all honesty, I think he was over estimating their chances."
"Even with knowing that, Harry and Ron wanted me to stay behind because I was a girl. Guys are like that, trying to be noble and stuff even when it doesn't make any sort of sense. Despite the fact that I know more spells than they do, can cast non-verbally and even cast some things without a wand they think I need protection because Harry is better at Defense than I am. Honestly!" She huffed and crossed her arms, getting a bit riled up herself the more she thought about this. This had been an issue that had bothered her for years and had never really gotten resolution. "Seriously, no one is better at Defense than Harry so that excuse should have kept Ron out of it as well. Gah, I can't even begin to tell you the number of times I saved the two of them by being prepared for most any contingency we could ever face. I had thought out everything and was completely prepared. Those two would have left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. So I know you got left out for no good reason Ginny and you're right it wasn't fair to you, but it was more Ron and Harry being boys and trying to be noble more than anything else. Even I know that despite how irritating it is, it was never personal."
Ginny smiled slightly in understanding. "I get that, I really do, but it doesn't make it hurt any less."
Hermione looked down at her left forearm, thoughts of just how bad things had gotten out there running through her mind, and replied softly, "Yeah, I know. I'm going to change for bed. Want to join me?"
"Sure."
The girls changed and when Ginny saw Hermione's uncovered forearm she stared, goggling at the still reddish scar that stood out plainly on the pale flesh of her inner arm. Hermione was confused at first with what Ginny was doing and then she followed the girl's gaze. She shook her head slightly and sighed, resigned to the fact that she needed to take care of this issue at the moment before it got worse. "Yeah, it's pretty gruesome, isn't it."
"Merlin 'mione, what the hell happened to you?" Ginny was clearly upset by this, far more than she had been by the revelations about Harry, probably because this was right in her face.
"Bellatrix wanted to make sure I always knew who I was." replied Hermione with a bit of a sardonic laugh. "It worked out so well for her in the end and clearly took hold."
"Is that why you kicked her?" asked Ginny, clearly thinking back to the Battle and the aftermath.
"Well, yeah. That and the torture." calmly replied Hermione, knowing that if she let her emotions out too much they would overwhelm her.
"Torture?" Ginny's face went white at this and her eyes widened in surprise.
"Yes. She used both Cruciatus and the knife. It took me weeks to heal up completely before I was alright to do anything. We stayed at Shell Cottage with Bill and Fleur while that was happening. Thankfully we were able to do so before the end of things so we could regain our strength and come up with a plan. It… it was not an experience I wish to go through again." said Hermione, with a faraway look, not really seeing inside of her room any more, her mind cast back towards Malfoy Manor and the cold marble floor.
"She cut that into you?" replied Ginny, clearly horrified at the idea.
Hermione nodded grimly, trying to get this out without being pulled under by what she was feeling. She reached out a hand and rested it on Ginny's arm comfortingly. "It's okay Ginny. I'm fine right now. Really I am. She's dead and I'm all healed, for the most part."
Ginny smiled, calming down some before the last part of what she said registered. "Wait what? For the most part?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, chiding herself for that slip of the tongue. It figured that Ginny would catch on to that particular phrase and follow up on it. This was not something she liked talking about but she realized that if Ginny was going to be sleeping here it wasn't like it was going to be a secret for long. No, telling her about all of this might make her sleep a little less terrifying. Sharing this might be for the best in the long run. She turned to look out the window, knowing that she couldn't say this is she had to watch Ginny's reactions. "I… I still have nightmares about it, the torture. They mess me up pretty badly, as I can recall the pain in pretty sharp detail. Not every night, but often enough that it is a bit of a problem."
Ginny leaned forward and pulled Hermione into a hug, holding her tightly and safely. Hermione was not sure how to respond for a moment to this gesture before she relaxed into things and hugged Ginny back. They both shared each other's discomfort for a while before letting go slowly, their hands reluctant to lose contact with each other. They stared into each other's eyes, brown to brown, seeing the warmth and caring reflected therein and they both smiled, drawing strength from the other.
Ginny thought for a moment before she smirked and said, "So given your nightmares and the fact that we should try to do something to stop them, how about we just expand your bed a little bit. It's not like we haven't done that before, shared a bed. And that way I might be able to chase off the bad dreams so you can rest better. It couldn't hurt, right?"
Hermione thought about that for a moment and shrugged. There was nothing wrong with that suggestion as far as she could see and as far as she knew it might just even work. "That sounds good to me. Who knows? It might actually do the trick. Thank you Gin."
They both got a good laugh at that as Hermione wandlessly expanded the bed with a quick gesture. Ginny just widened her eyes some and shook her head in disbelief, saying, "I know you said you could do some spells without a wand, but seeing it still gives me chills. That really is pretty amazing. You are so powerful Hermione."
Hermione looked down at the carpeted floor and sighed, not sure of anything in terms of her own suffering. All the power she supposedly had hadn't saved her from Bellatrix so what good was it? It hadn't kept the people she cared about safe and alive, too many of them falling at Hogwarts. So she could wave her hand and make things happen, so what? "Yeah, well power isn't everything."
Ginny hugged her again, trying to comfort her. "Look 'mione, there was nothing you could do about any of this. From what I remember Ron saying, you were a prisoner. They were in control at that moment and not you. You did what you could and you actually survived. That is still pretty powerful in my book. You are an amazing witch. I'm not sure if I could have gone through that and done half as well as you have."
"Don't sell yourself short Ginny, you are pretty tough yourself." countered Hermione, wanting to make sure that how she felt about the girl was clear to her friend.
"For all the good it's done me." mumbled Ginny, but Hermione still heard her and responded to the self-denigration.
"But it has done you a lot of good. You have done a lot of things and survived a great deal. You survived things that some witches and wizards twice you age or more haven't been able to, so accept that. If I have to accept that I am powerful then you have to accept that you are tough. So deal with it." Hermione fixed the redhead with a mock glare, trying to get her to concede the point.
Ginny started laughing and raised her hands in surrender, already able to tell she had lost this particular battle against her friend. "Alright, alright I give for now. I know better than to argue with you. It never ends well for anyone opposing you. I'll say it, I'm tough."
"And I'm powerful. Now let's go to bed." said Hermione flatly.
The absurdity of that statement hit the girls right after she had said it, with only a slight pause for things to register before they both started laughing as they changed for the night.