Written In The Body
Poetheather
A/N: OY! Yeah, I've had a week. Between therapy kicking my ass and my messing up my knee yesterday really badly I have had a tough time getting this chapter finished in time. I am hoping I can get next week's chapter ready in time. This is a warning that it may not occur thanks to life whelming me. I have part of it written but life has been crazy. But Hobbitpalooza is over and I don't have to clean all the things. And with my knee jacked up I guess typing will be all I can do. Here's hoping.
Enjoy this one folks.
Still not JKR.
Forty-Six
Hermione lay there in bed, still fairly asleep and just looking over at Ginny who was still sleeping. The redhead was snoring softly, her hair tousled, and a slight trail of drool trickling down from the corner of her mouth yet despite that Hermione was certain she had never seen anything more beautiful. This was a great thing to wake up to. It wasn't just her girl's face, but the utter peacefulness of her sleep that made things even better, filled her with calm, contentment. And she was blessed enough to be able to wake up to this sight for the rest of her life. That was the best thing ever and filled her with love. She pulled her left hand free from under the covers to look at her ring, the stone sparkling slightly in the morning light. Just seeing the engagement ring sitting there on her left hand, just thinking about what it meant, all the love and devotion implied made her heart swell in pleasure. The simple ring even made up for the scar on her arm, providing an extreme contrast. That bit of beauty sitting there on her hand overran the ugliness that Bellatrix had carved into her, as if she were some sort of tree or something.
Closing her eyes to help her center herself, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling her heart rate slow again. She was not going to let that dead bitch ruin her morning; she simply wouldn't let that happen. It was too perfect a morning for that. The woman and memories of her still haunted Hermione but the frequency was far below what it had been at the start of summer last year when that witch was omnipresent in her thoughts. It did make her unhappy that Bellatrix had attained a perverse type of immortality thanks to the word cut into her. So long as she lived she would never be able to forget that bitch and what she had done to her. Every day, every single day that psycho was in her thoughts, each and every time she caught sight of her forearm and that damnable scar. Sure she could have hidden it under a glamor but what was the point? The way she saw it, she could either hide it away, letting Bellatrix make her feel shame for how she had been marred or she could ignore it and move on, not letting that scar define her life. She had chosen the more difficult path however it was so hard to get past this.
Answering the insistent call of nature, Hermione slid from the bed and crept to the bathroom, the soft pad of her footfalls nearly silent. Her thoughts were still running around that topic while she finished her business and then brushed her teeth. As the child of two dentists it was a practice that she had never forgotten. Heading back into the bedroom she was careful to remain quiet while she got dressed, glad that there were silencing charms on the drawers to make sure they didn't squeak as they were either opened or closed. Once dressed, she carried her books in hand to her desk and took a seat. There was reading she needed to get done and there might be less of a chance to wake Ginny if she were downstairs while she was doing it. Gathering her stuff, she wrote a quick note to let her fiancée know where she would be, kissed Ginny on the forehead, and left the room.
There was an alcove she liked to sit in on early mornings to read. This was some place she liked to read ever since first year when she had discovered it. The view was wonderful and it was quite comfortable, with a fairly gentle light that did not hurt her eyes reflecting off the page. Getting settled, she pulled one of her new DADA books from her bag, one of the ones that Harry had recommended to her over the holidays. The last several days, she had been focusing more on that topic in preparation for her hunt of the Slytherin bullies. Her training sessions in the Room of Requirement the last few days had also gotten her back into fighting trim, her casting speed for stunners and the like was much faster, half-forgotten shortcuts coming back with practice. She had also gotten more used to dodging and the like. At this point she was about as ready as she could get without engaging in actual combat again. There were a few more spells that she was trying to pick up; as it was always better to have the tool you needed instead of constantly using a hammer to fix things. She liked having a full tool kit at her disposal.
No, she was prepared for this and she would show them. Moreover Merlin help them if they hurt Lucy at all because she would really go after them with a vengeance in that case. They really did not need her to be any more irritated with them than she was already. So long as nothing she did to them was permanent she should be able to do as she liked with them, given the odds that she would be facing. That did give her a little smile, anticipating the harm she would cause them. They would think thrice about ever doing something like that again. Between daydreams of smacking them down or going back to reading her DADA book it was not long before Ginny came downstairs, moving her book aside to make it easier for her to lean in and kiss her.
"Mmmmm… morning love," purred Hermione, very pleased with this distraction. She closed her book and concentrated on the second kiss.
"Hey there Kitten, good morning. Shall we head down to breakfast? I saw Lucy while I was coming downstairs and she said she would be heading down to breakfast with her friends. So, ready to go?" Ginny asked, offering her a hand to make it easier for her to get out of the alcove.
"Sure." She took the hand and stood, giving her a kiss on the cheek. As they walked, Hermione slid the book into her bag.
"So do you think Harry will let you borrow the Cloak?" Ginny was curious about that. Hermione had to admit she was as well. This was especially worrisome since it was a family heirloom that made the whole thing a potentially touchy situation. And it wasn't like she would really be that upset with him if he told her no.
"I hope so. Any other invisibility cloak or spell I could use wouldn't be as good, as complete, opening up the possibility that my plan would fail before it really began. Also, I don't want Lucy to get hurt because I failed her." Hermione said softly, her heart aching at the thought of her sister being wounded like that one Ravenclaw had been. That boy had been in the Hospital Wing for a few days to heal from all that had been done to him. She felt like she had failed him to a degree because she had not caught them earlier.
"I suppose Luna and I can try to get some Demiguise cloaks or maybe just delusion ourselves while we follow behind you both." offered Ginny. "That way we can be near at hand when everything goes down."
"That would be okay. If we don't have to move much early on that should work. So long as that can be managed I would love for you guys to at least be close. Having support near at hand is always best. Let's figure out the best way to do that once we can confirm the Cloak. Otherwise we have to come up with some other plan to best go after them."
There were people already seated at some of the tables in the Great Hall by the time they got down there, but being a weekend, they were mostly scattered about the room in small clusters. The two girls went to their usual spot towards the end of the Gryffindor table and sat across from each other. Hermione did like looking into the eyes of her girlfriend while she ate or anything else for that matter. It made a lot of things better. However, today Hermione's first order of business was a mug of tea or perhaps two, so she had a better chance of waking up fully, since even with the reading she was still a touch sleepy. That would be a good start.
As she and Ginny ate, they heard the noise at the tables grow and change. That drew their attention and they looked into the Great Hall, seeing nothing of note so they turned back towards the front doors where they were able to see the source disturbance sauntering their way. Harry grinned and waved at them with Luna walking alongside him smiling quite happily. Hermione's eyes went wide in surprise seeing him and she got up, running towards them yelling, "Harry!"
Harry's grin got broader and they two hugged tightly, with him actually lifting her off her feet. He set her down and said, "Hey Hermione. I missed you."
"What are you doing here?" She really was confused as to his presence. She hadn't expected anything like this when she had asked for his Cloak.
"Well, you said you needed some help from me so I had to come up to see you. Besides I get to see and spend some time with my girlfriend as well, so there is a bonus to it as well." He chuckled and hugged Luna to him. She kissed him on the cheek.
"Well, it does make sense that you would rather see her than me." Hermione's eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Of course it does. I mean, kissing you would just be wrong." Harry's tone was light and playful.
Before Hermione could retort, Luna chimed in helpfully, with a big grin on her face, "You don't know what you're missing then. She's a great kisser."
They both gaped at her in disbelief and protested loudly, "Luna!"
Ginny guffawed, and tried to hold back her laughter with her hands over her mouth, her crinkled eyes leaking tears as her body trembled. Hermione sent a glare her fiancée's way, though there was little heat in it, while Luna went around the table to sit next to the redhead so she could look at her boyfriend. Harry shook his head, amused at the way things were playing out, and took a seat next to his sister in all but blood, reaching for some rashers of bacon with a smirk on his face. Hermione rolled her eyes at this very typical behavior and sat back down, knowing that it was useless to fight. "So Harry, just wondering, did you bring what I asked?"
He cut his eyes over to her and said, "What do you think? You said it was important so of course I brought it. I also brought a couple of others that I got from the Auror corps as I guessed that you wouldn't want to do this without having these two there to watch your back and to provide extra coverage. You can't keep them forever mind you and I will need them back, preferably unharmed. Between using these and the map it should be a breeze, right? So hopefully this issue of yours can get resolved fairly quickly."
"I'm hoping so. Everything is planned out as best as I can make it so now all I can do is try to make this work," said Hermione. "I just want to make sure we can do this in a way that ensures that no one gets hurt."
He nodded and was about to answer her when a voice cried out in surprise from the entrance to the Great Hall, "Harry!"
The four of them all turned and spotted Lucy running towards them, eyes wide. She threw her arms open and Harry caught her as she leapt into his arms, which made him fall back into Hermione. They hugged each other tightly as she squealed quite excitedly. Hermione eyed him, with one brow raised, given that he had learned about all of this through letters. Just how would he react? Harry set her back down and said quite normally and with his usual warmth, "Hi Lucy."
"What are you doing here?" Her actions were so much easier to interpret as a crush now that the cues were more traditional and Lucy wasn't trying to hold back nearly as much. Luna could not stop her luminescent beaming at the whole thing. Hermione had to admit that it was adorable.
"Your big sister needed something from me so I came up to see everyone," said Harry, with a grin. He sounded so casual about everything despite this being the first time he had seen her post transformation. From the way he was talking you would think nothing had changed. Given the additional gleam in Luna's eyes, someone was going to be rewarded and kinkily for that. "Besides, I heard you were a bit under the weather so wanted to come check on you. Are you doing okay?"
Apparently the fact that he might come up because she might need something never occurred to Lucy. She blinked a few times and then gushed, "Cool! You're going to be here all day?"
"Well, certainly for part of it." Harry smirked a little and then turned to look at Hermione. "I mean, I brought stuff for you and Luna so I figure we can just hang out and enjoy ourselves, maybe in the RoR so we don't have to deal with anybody else."
The girls all looked at each other, taking a silent consensus, and nodded. Luna answered for them, saying, "That sounds like fun Harry. Besides it's too cold outside to do anything else unless we were hunting Grinklepinks. I suppose we could make snow angels but then we would be all wet and cold and then we would have to get naked and you wouldn't be allowed to hang out with us at that point due to school rules so perhaps simply avoiding that complication altogether would be for the best."
Harry just nodded in understanding and his smile grew larger. "Well, if we did go hunting, I can keep you warm. As for the other… you have a point."
Ginny and Hermione locked eyes for a moment in commiseration then rolled their eyes, groaning a little. Ginny gave him this disappointed look and said, "Really Harry? Really? How cheesy was that?"
"What? I've been working on this for a while. I know I'm smooth." protested Harry, looking slightly affronted at her doubting him.
Ginny scoffed a little at that. "You? Smooth? You have got to be kidding me Harry. I mean sure you are more open and playful then when we were together, but smooth? Not even remotely. You're no Ron or even Percy, I'll give you that but you're also no Bill. Smooth? Are you serious?"
"Nope, he's been gone for a while, I'm Harry." Harry winked at them, giving them a big grin that would have looked in place on Sirius's face.
Hermione and Ginny both gaped at the black haired young man in some disbelief. Had he really just said that? Hermione blinked a few times, trying to process his words and confirm what she had heard, and then tentatively asked, "You… just made a joke about…"
Harry nodded looking a touch thoughtful as he replied, "Yeah, he's gone and it sucks more than you know but after seeing him and my parents before confronting Voldemort in May I've been a lot better about it all. Knowing he's okay and with my parents helps. And besides, knowing that the Marauders are back together as well, while sad, does help. That there is something after this makes me more able to accept his loss. It gives me hope and eases the pain."
Hermione leaned over and hugged him tight, having an idea of how important a statement this was. Harry letting go of some of that pain and loss was a thing to celebrate as it was a sure sign that he was getting better as he had never really let anything like that go before. "You are an amazing young man Harry James Potter."
There was a slight blush growing on his cheeks and he looked down at the table. She knew he had a difficult time accepting praise thanks to the Dursleys but that didn't make him any less worthy. She tightened her hug again, letting him know he had her support. "Thanks 'mione. I've gotten a lot better about a bunch of things thanks to you, Luna and Teddy." Harry looked off, a faint smile on his face as he thought about his godson. "He is so sweet that he really makes me feel better, even if he is in the same boat I was only he had a lot less time with his parents than I had. At least he has people to love him and remind him every day about how amazing his parents were and how much they loved him. Andromeda talks about Remus and Tonks every day, even if he is too young to even understand what she is saying."
Luna beamed at her boyfriend, her eyes promising something… special when she got him alone. "I think Edward is quite lucky to have the family he has now. Being surrounded by that much love is a good thing and will make dealing with the truth that much easier as he gets older."
While Lucy looked a bit confused at this turn in conversation, the three older ones nodded in understanding. Hermione realized that Luna was exactly right; having all that love and caring would make what had happened to his parents easier to bear. Dumbledore was correct about the power of love and its ability to make things better, stronger. It was a healing force and she knew it had made her torture and PTSD easier to deal with because she had so much love around her what with Ginny, her parents and even Ron and Harry. Harry was probably finding out the very same thing, though the two of them did not have the same amount of time together that she and Ginny had. She really did not want to think about where she would be right now if she hadn't had the love of her fiancée to rely on as she healed. Given the depths of her pain those prospects looked rather bleak. Would she have gotten this far alone this fast? It was a sobering thought.
Headmistress McGonagall walked up to the group of them and said in a very pleased voice, "Mr. Potter, it is good to see you once again in these halls."
He turned to face her and his smile was full of happiness. There was no doubt how he felt about her. After all, he had Crucioed someone because they had spit on her so there was little doubt just how much he cared about their former Head of House, despite all the times they had butted heads. "Thank you Headmistress. It is nice to see the castle again."
"It would be nice to have a chat with you at some point today if you have the time. I wouldn't want to distract you from your time with your friends and girlfriend but if you had the time to chat I would appreciate it." Headmistress McGonagall smiled impishly at him as she said that.
"Certainly Headmistress McGonagall." Harry's grin was huge.
As the Headmistress walked off, Harry seemed to recall something as he turned to the others and said, "Oh, did I tell you I got a letter from Narcissa Malfoy?"
The trio looked surprised and Lucy looked confused. She really was not up on all the details of current Wizarding history and this dealt with all of that so there was little wonder she was a bit lost. Hermione wasn't sure what to say but Ginny clearly had her feathers somewhat ruffled when she asked, "You did? The gall of some people. What did she want?"
He chuckled a little, apparently amused by the vehemence in her response, and said, "Believe it or not she wanted to thank me yet again for speaking at their trials and supporting the decision not to send them to Azkaban. All they had to do was pay a huge fine and that was it. Well, her husband is no longer allowed to mingle with members of the Government in anyway or donate money except to official charities or fundraisers but otherwise that was it. However, she was unsure if she should contact me or not, seeing as there still is bad blood between her son, husband and I. Apparently those two are still a bit shell shocked over the way things turned out and are having trouble coping. Anyway, she and I met for lunch last week and I suggested to her that Senior Healer Bainsley might be of some assistance. I mean, if he was able to help us he might be able to help them. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right?"
More blinking occurred and Hermione said cautiously, "So let me get this straight, you two had a nice chat through letters and in person? You and Narcissa Malfoy."
With a nod he said, "She is still trying to come to grips with how things have changed herself but if I were you I would expect something fairly soon from her apologizing about the Manor. We talked about that as well over lunch. She deeply regrets everything."
Hermione felt a twinge of fear inside and her left forearm ached with remembered pain. Could she do it? Could she accept an apology from her? Andromeda had apologized for her dead sister and that had helped some even though she looked very much like Bellatrix, but could she listen to Narcissa and not want to hex her within an inch of someone else's life? She was unsure about what she would do and that made her stomach churn in its displeasure. "I… see. I'm not sure how that will work but if you were able to come to terms with her I should at least be willing to give it a try. She said something to me at the award ceremony but I am still unsure how to take it. If you think I should at least listen to her I will be willing to give her a chance."
Harry gripped her shoulder and tightened his grip in understanding. There was something in his eyes, something familiar and haunted that spoke directly to her. If he thought it was okay then maybe she could take that chance. Harry gave her a supportive look, "I know what you mean 'mione. We are going to meet again at the Cauldron in a few days as she wants to speak with me some more. I can talk to her for you then, maybe set something up if you wish?"
Ginny reached across the table and took her hand, giving it a slight squeeze. She said nothing but was just there, present and giving her unequivocal support. Hermione favored her with a brief smile before saying, "Thank you Harry. That might be nice."
"So, where do you want to go and talk? I want to hear about this plan of yours before I hand over the Cloak." Harry seemed completely calm and relaxed. She had to admit that it was a valid question and he had a lot of experience in the field. "Maybe I can add something to what you have."
"Let's go to the Room of Requirement like you suggested. That should work out nicely and will assure that we have complete privacy while we talk things over. Besides, when we're done Harry and I can stay there and… chat," said Luna with her blissful grin, her eyes twinkling mischievously.
While Harry's face reddened the others snickered some, Ginny nudging Luna. Hermione cut her eyes over to her brother and said, "Sure. That sounds good to me. Besides, I'm sure that Harry loves to… chat."
His face grew even redder and he looked down at the table as he grumbled, "I hate you."
Hermione leaned in and kissed him on the side of his head. "Love you too."
Finishing up their meal, they then headed up to the seventh floor where Luna opened up the Room of Requirement with a dreamy look on her face. They sat around in a near replica of the Gryffindor Common room only with comfier cushions talking for a while, going over the plan, with Harry adding in his two cents, as well as just chatting, catching up with each other's lives. Eventually Ginny, Lucy, and Hermione left the room, leaving the two lovebirds to their privacy cuddling on the couch in front of the fireplace. Hermione was so very happy for Harry because Luna and he really did mesh in a way that surprised her. She was so glad to see that their relationship was growing in leaps and bounds. The look in their eyes as they stared at each other reminded her a bit of her and Ginny and Harry really had earned that kind of love. He deserved every happiness that he could get his hands on and if she could help him find it she would do her best to make it happen. When the three of them got back to the actual Common Room, Hermione ran up to her room in order to stash the Cloak there. The last thing she wanted was for something to happen to it while she was carrying it around with her. The Hallows did deserve a modicum of respect after all.
Now that she had the one thing in hand which she really needed from Harry as well as some excellent advice on her plans everything was ready to go. She had great hopes that it would work out as there was nothing further that could be done in the planning stages to make things go better. Having done all the prep work she could it was time to move to the next stage of the plan. A few days later, after talking about their roles in this and bringing the Head Boy up to speed in things, they all spoke with the Headmistress, making sure she understood the plan from their end. Harry had given her two extra cloaks, which were far less effective when compared to the Hallow but they certainly had their uses in terms of being able to tail someone surreptitiously. Cameron had been very surprised to hear what the plan was and agreed that it was not a bad one over all. He was very happy to take part in things as he was tired of these prats ruining his Houses second chance by beating up younger students who did not have the skills needed to fend them off. He would be disillusioned and following along with the other two as support. No one was really pleased with the fact that Lucy was to be used as bait but no one could come up with a better plan, since brewing Polyjuice took too long and there was no telling just how long the hunt would go on. McGonagall gave her final approval on the plan and they were planning on starting the hunt on the next day.
After classes everything started and Hermione followed Lucy as she went about her afternoon, taking some time apart from her friends and moving through the castle on her own, not really paying attention. It was clear from watching her that she was nervous but Hermione could tell that the fact that she was right there to protect her seemed to help her nerves. That first day nothing happened, no one came near, except a few of the friends she had in other Houses that were not troubled about her change. Day two had similar results and they called it a day after a few hours, fading off to meet up in a safe place. Hermione sat in the library afterwards frowning at her textbook, it didn't make any sense that they hadn't gone after her. It just didn't make any sense. She was the best possible bait to draw them out and she was right in the open, ready to be attacked, why weren't they going after Lucy?
Thanks to this frustration it made it tricky for her to focus on her schoolwork. She kept looking at her notes and they just stared back her, almost mysterious. Why would she want to focus on her homework when there were questions of actual relevance to be answered. She wanted to pound her head on the table to see if that would give her any relief despite experience telling her that it wouldn't help. What was she going to do? This was the best plan she had to catch those bastards and even Harry was certain it should work. Growling to herself she stood and headed to the stacks to find another text that might help her with her Magical Theory essay. She still had another foot to foot and a half to go on it for her to be content with her work and another reference or two might just be what she needed to finish this up. When she came back from the stacks holding the book that she had been looking for, she noticed that there was a folded note sitting on her table, folded in a way she hadn't seen since her days in elementary school. She looked around quickly to see if she could spot who had left it but there was no sign of anybody about.
Unfolding it quickly, she noted that there was only one word written on it, tomorrow. She looked around again and frowned even more when she still couldn't spot anyone who might have done this. Could she trust this? It seemed to imply that Lucy would be attacked tomorrow while they walked around but where had this come from? Given that there had been no other hints as to who was responsible for any of this how could she disregard it? She analyzed the writing, anything she could to try to make sense of it and nothing leapt out at her. Given the slight shakiness of it and the fact that the writing looked unskilled had this come from Mallory? She was the only Muggleborn in Slytherin and the writing showed a degree of unfamiliarity with the quill and then there was the way the note had been folded up into a little packet, not something she had seen from any of the kids from Wizarding families. In fact it was something she had not seen at all since she had come to Hogwarts. But that still made no sense.
The next day, primed and ready for anything thanks to the note, Hermione was wandering around with her wand out and ready underneath the Cloak. Lucy was humming to herself, swinging her book bag as she walked, doing her best to seem nonchalant. Not wanting to take a chance, Hermione hadn't told anyone else about the note, unsure about its veracity. Why let anyone else get wound up over this whole possibility when she was unsure if it were true. Her nerves ramped up when they moved into an area where there were no other students about, Lucy's heels clicking loudly on the stone. At that point she was very glad that she had the foresight to ensure that her feet had been silenced to ensure that her footsteps made no noise. The last thing she wanted was her presence to be given away by something that small and controllable. She also ensured that she had no perfume on and wearing non-school clothes so she had a better range of motion. In fact she was dressed very similarly to how she had been through the entirety of the Horcrux hunt. This was as ready as she could get for this sort of thing.
Suddenly Lucy was flung into the wall, slamming in shoulder first, making her sister yelp in surprise. Hermione froze briefly and crouched as she scanned the area while another spell hit Lucy. This time she had heard the person casting, a binding hex this time, and turned. The disillusionment ended on eight upper year Slytherins who had been stationed against the walls, both boys and girls as another spell, a blinding hex this time, hit Lucy right in the head. She recognized one of them as a Sixth year Prefect which only got her blood boiling even more than it already was. That explained a great deal about why they hadn't gotten caught and only served to increase her anger. Using a disillusion spell would certainly make hiding and escaping easier. Closing her eyes, aware that she had to make sure that she kept the bullies bottled up even though it meant that Lucy would be open for attack, since they had three possible directions to flee in at the moment. Grumbling about that fact she silently cast barriers over the entrances, wanting to make sure there was to be no escaping her. Meanwhile, Lucy slammed into the wall again, crying as stinging hexes slammed into her, her hands flailing as she was unable to see where the attack had come from.
The Prefect, whose name eluded her at the moment, walked up and slapped Lucy quite hard, snapping her head to the side. The girl leaned down growled at her sister, "Filthy Mudblood. It's not enough you defile these sacred halls with your presence but you also add your ridiculous perversion to the mix. You are a disgrace to the wizarding world."
A few more hexes hit Lucy, making her scream in pain, her head snapping back into the wall, dazing her. That was sure to raise a pretty serious bump. Hermione snarled to herself at that, these idiots had hurt her sister, more than she had anticipated they might and closing off the escape routes quietly and without notice had taken longer than she had expected. No, she was done. This would not stand. She would not let them hurt her any more. As another bully came running up, preparing to kick Lucy, Hermione snapped off a petrification spell, making them fall to the floor, their arms and legs snapping together. She threw the cloak from herself as she launched a stunner off at the Prefect. The girl was barely able to summon a shield, the spell dissipating on it, shrieking a bit in surprise.
The bullies yelped in surprise and fear, a few of them even bolting for the corridors, only to slam into the barriers she had constructed. Hermione meanwhile was busy weaving through a few of the spells spat at her, appalled at the quality of spell training that these students had. The difference between her training and their lack of it was quite apparent as she moved with confidence and surety. Harry's work with her and their reliance on the DADA professors was so evident. "Avis! Oppugno!"
The flock of birds she had summoned launched themselves at the bullies, going for their faces to blind and distract, buying her more freedom of movement. Hermione hit one of the preoccupied Slytherins with the Bat-Bogey hex as she came out of a roll, several stunners passing harmlessly through where she had been. She spun, ignoring the screams that had wrought, as a blasting hex headed for her, barely passing by her to tear up a chunk of the wall, shrapnel flying everywhere. Focusing on the caster she yelled, "Titillando!"
That caster fell over laughing, dropping his wand in the process. She had a grim smile of satisfaction at that however apparently she held still for too long as she heard a shouted out, "Mimblewimble!"
Hermione could feel the spell hit her and begin to affect her, inhibiting her ability to speak. She silently cast the countercurse before it could do much, getting even angrier. They had dared to attack and injure her. True it hadn't hurt but they had hit her. It could have been worse. The fear fueled the adrenalin pushing her faster. She dodged another stunner and cast out, "Cantus!"
The Slytherin who had hit her with the tongue-tying curse broke out into song, looking quite upset over this, especially as the girl's voice was particularly horrid. Hermione was getting ready to hit another when the wall next to Lucy exploded from another blasting curse that had missed her, cutting her sister a few times with the shrapnel. A few larger pieces even slammed into her face, gashing her face in a few places on her forehead and cheek. Her sister screamed in fear, cringing and curling in on herself as best she could despite the spell bindings. Hermione understood why and couldn't blame her. She pointed her wand at her sister and took the time to cast, "Protego Totalum!"
The air around her sister shimmered, glistening slightly before it faded as the shield took hold. That should protect her while this battle was ongoing. The problem was that she had been still for a bit too long again as she was hit with both a tripping hex and a stinging hex. Wincing, she rolled awkwardly, her ankle hurting, having twisted it slightly as the first hex had hit her. Given her luck she had probably sprained it, making her ability to dodge in the rest of this fight problematic. She needed to end this and quickly if she were to survive. With a mighty downwards slash she called out, "Flippendo Tria!"
The mini-tornado of the overpowered knockback curse caught two of the bullies, whirling them into the air before slamming them back into a wall, where they crumpled to the floor, barely moaning. There were still two of the bullies up and fighting after that and she refocused her attacks on them. Before anything could connect with them due to dodging and good use of Protego the Cantus spell she had cast earlier ended, making it three on one. Narrowing her eyes as she moved as quickly as her injured ankle would allow, primarily dodging a cutting curse while a stunner and a stinging hex sped by, she pointed her want right at one of them as she called out "Langlock!"
One of them dropped their wand as they were clawing at her mouth trying to free her tongue from the roof of his mouth where she had stuck it. That should help keep the odds where she wanted them. Before she was able to exploit things, she was hit by a knockback curse and slammed into a wall painfully. Groaning, feeling her breathing grow pained, a flush of warmth and nausea roll through her from her back, she rolled to the side, ignoring the screaming of her body as another cutting curse slammed into the wall where she had been, tearing the stone. "Impedimenta!"
That spell left it one on one, her against the Prefect. The girl was at least smart enough to avoid banter, paying attention more to her evading the array of spells being cast against her. Clearly she had paid a bit more attention in her DADA classes than some of the others and Hermione honestly had no idea what had been covered the year prior which might have been helpful, as she knew the quality of training had been spotty at best. The two girls traded a few spells, blocking them with a Protego or dodging them entirely. Hermione fought against the urge to vomit as her back was screaming at her. Something was seriously wrong but she didn't have the liberty to deal with it right then. Suddenly the girl stabbed at her with her wand, roaring angrily, "Crucio!"
The pain the erupted in her body was intense, her nerves an agony from the intense wildfire that ignited there, her skin itching, making her with she could peel it off. Hermione fell to the floor, writhing some under the force of the pain a scream torn from her. The only thing that helped her hold on to her beech wand was the fact that this girl was no Bellatrix and clearly did not have the raw hate or experience to cast the Unforgivable at its fullest potential. The spell cut off fairly quickly and fighting against the squawk of her muscles, Hermione quickly cast, "Everte Statum!"
The girl was thrown against a wall but was surprisingly not out. Too tired to be impressed with that, Hermione pulled herself to her feet with some effort as she cast absently, "Expelliarmus!"
She let the wand fly past her to clatter on the floor as she ran up to the girl who had regained her feet a bit steadier than she was. Screaming in rage Hermione punched the sixth year Prefect in the face with all of her might, not caring about the damage it might cause herself. The girl spun to the floor, her lip split open and swelling quickly, blood sliding down her chin in a crimson rivulet. Hermione regarded at them all with disgust quite evident, the lot of them lying on the floor about her and she simply lost it, yelling, "You idiots honestly think you can fight me? Me? I fought the best that Voldemort had to throw at me and I'm still here. I fought toe to toe against Bellatrix fucking Lestrange and who's still standing? Me!" Hermione pulled the torn and dirty left sleeve up, exposing her scar so that they all could see it. The word Mudblood was plainly evident against her pale flesh. "You see this, this, Bellatrix carved this into my bloody arm, so she could make sure I knew my place like a good little dog. But guess what, she's dead and I'm not. You know what that means you little idiots? It means that a bloody, filthy mudblood like me, the thing you damn pureblood morons despise the most, and are so bloody afraid of, is better and stronger than the lot of you."
Her eyes narrowed, her hair wild, having come free of how she had tried to secure it. She was pacing back and forth, all but stalking them, ignoring the twinges of pain flaring from her ankle and back as she growled at them, a harsh animalistic sound. She wasn't done hurting them. She wanted more and as they were this wasn't a challenge. No, she needed more. With a rough gesture of her wand, she spat, "Finite Incantatum! Pick up you wands. Go ahead. Do it. Give it another shot. There's eight of you and one of me. You won't be surprised this time and I'm right here, tired and injured. Surely you can get it right this time. Do it! Do it!"
The group of them lay there, staring up at her wide eyed, the fear they felt clear on their faces. Snarling as she wanted nothing more than to cut into them, she spat bloody spittle onto the Prefect as she glowered at her, her own body trembling in rage. She so wanted to crucio the bitch for having done this to her, to Lucy. Her eyes bored into the other girl's and the Prefect flinched away, unable to hold her gaze for even a moment. "That's what I thought. Bloody cowards, the lot of you, just like every other Death Eater out there. Pathetic, the lot of them. Pathetic, the lot of you."
"Hermione!" Ginny, Luna, and Cameron sprinted up to them, wands in hand. The bullies slumped to the floor, throwing their wands towards the Head Girl in surrender, drained. Cameron growled when he spotted one of his Prefects there on the floor with these idiots. Ginny reached her and pulled Hermione into her arms. Hermione yelped slightly in pain and then was against her for a few seconds before she slumped slightly and started crying, unable the hold the focus her anger had given her. She was just so tired and sore. It hurt everywhere.
Cameron quickly bound the eight members of his House with spells, black ropes wrapping the others securely. He had already begun reading them the riot act, informing them of just how badly they had screwed up and just what sorts of examples that would be made of them. The DMLE was mentioned more than once. Expulsion was going to be one of the nicer things to occur. Luna helped Lucy to her feet and she promptly ran over and hugged her sister tightly. Hermione shook, tears and a cry of agony wrenched from her body as another wave of Crucio pain rolled through her, mingling with the physical pain to make her need to swallow her bile. When that urge faded she looked down at her sister fondly and hugged her weakly. Her voice was soft when she said, "It'll be alright now Lucy. It's all over."
Another upsurge of pain tore through her nerves, seeming to grow in strength and Hermione shrieked, pulled under by the undertow of memories from the last time that spell had been used on her. Darkness enveloped her and she happily welcomed it with open arms.