CW: Hysterectomy
The Daily Prophet wasted no time with their coverage of the Wizengamot's secret session, plastering it all over the front page the next day.
PETER PETTIGREW FOUND ALIVE!
Alleged victim of Sirius Black faked his death!
To Hermione's astonishment, the story was scrupulously accurate, detailing the alleged crimes of Sirius Black. It documented the claims of murder, as well as Black's counterclaims that Peter had framed him and that he was innocent. They definitely had a source on the inside of the Wizengamot – the story detailed Ron's testimony and Peter's appearance under the Homorphus charm on the stand, as well as Dumbledore's questions and Peter's forced responses. They'd even snagged a photo of Peter Pettigrew as the Aurors had taken him up to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, looking short and beady and rat-like, even in human form.
They ran the full story of Black's claims right next to it:
SIRIUS BLACK CLAIMS HE WAS FRAMED
Read his official petition to the Wizengamot here!
As well as the story Hermione was most relieved for:
EDICT OF DEMENTOR'S KISS REVOKED FOR BLACK
Official Trial of Sirius Black currently in the works!
The student body of Hogwarts was in an uproar over the news. The fact that Peter Pettigrew had been hidden as somebody's pet, for years, rocked the student body, and breakfast was filled with first and second years bringing their familiars up to their House prefects, begging them to test their own pets with the Homorphus Charm. It was a difficult charm, one only the Charms N.E.W.T. students really seemed to know, so the 7th year prefects were besieged by requests for help.
The Head Boy, Percy Weasley, was livid, and he seemed to take requests to test pets as a personal affront and a silent snide commentary regarding his own possession of 'Scabbers' for so many years. The Head Girl, Jade Rince, was happy to pick up the slack, testing students' familiars with a sly smirk and sideways look at the Head Boy, and Snape was all-too pleased to hand out points to his house's prefects for going above and beyond for their underclassmen, his eyes glittering all the while.
Ron, to his credit, seemed to be handling the astonishment and horror of his classmates rather well. He retold the story of Peter's appearance on the stand over and over throughout the day, each time embellishing his gnarled appearance and his own horrified reaction. He told the story of him vomiting, but then just described how horrible it was, what terrible things could have happened if Peter had changed back in the boy's dorm, and what unorthodox methods Ron would have had to employ in order to save himself from Peter.
The Gryffindor boys seemed to take to this method of storytelling enthusiastically, and by the time she finished dinner on Friday, Hermione had heard how Ron would have had to strangle Peter with the curtains, smother him in the bed drapes, bash him over the head with a Sneakoscope to stab him with the broken glass to save his dormmates. If none of that would have worked, Ron was prepared: he would have tricked Peter into thinking Ron was a supporter of You-Know-Who too and then push him down the stairs.
The inauthenticity of his recounting of what actually happened annoyed Hermione more than was reasonable, a fact she recounted to Tracey and Millie that night in the Hospital Wing, Millie wearing a cotton medical gown, Tracey sitting at her side.
"—wouldn't stop puking and throwing up, and he wouldn't stop whining that his mum was going to murder him," Hermione complained. "I mean, I understood it once, but he just went on and on and on!"
Tracey giggled.
"I mean, I probably would have been upset too, but I don't think I'd have carried on quite that much," she said. "This is the one who wanted to date me?"
"Ron? Yes," Hermione said. "In exchange for his blood."
Millie rolled her eyes.
"I imagine if you hadn't kept the rat far away from us, we'd have thrown up and murdered you as well," Millie pointed out. "If that rat ever saw Daphne changing, and then her Dad learned he was an Animagus? You would have been murdered as well."
"Well he didn't," Hermione snapped, defensive. She hadn't even considered the risks and dangers of bringing the rat into her dorm room. "He was on the back of the wardrobe, and he couldn't see over the detailing."
"He might not have even cared, you know," Tracey said. She giggled. "He did choose to stay with the male Weasley children and snuggle up to them in bed, instead of Ginevra."
Millie snorted. "That's a fair point."
"Alright, enough, enough," Madame Pomfrey said, bustling in, holding several potions in her arms. "I understand there's a lot to talk about with Sirius Black's trial being planned, but I can't have you straining your diaphragm or abdominal muscles here, Millicent."
"Yes, ma'am," Millie said obediently. She sat back against the pillows she'd been leaning up on. She glanced at the pile of potions. "What are those for?"
"Blood Replenisher, Infection Impeder, a pain potion, a lubricant, and a disinfectant," Madame Pomfrey said promptly. She raised an eyebrow. "This isn't a simple procedure, you know."
Madame Pomfrey set about getting several things set up, while Hermione and Tracey moved to be out of the way, one of them at each of Millie's sides.
"I'm still surprised you're even doing this procedure," Tracey said, watching as Madame Pomfrey withdrew a large yellow gem. "It seems like the sort of thing Saint Mungo's would want parental permission for."
"This isn't Saint Mungo's," Madame Pomfrey said succinctly. Her eyes were sharp. "Care of patients is under my judgement, here. And I've determined this procedure is medically necessary for Millicent's health."
"Really?" Hermione said, surprised. "Her uterus removal?"
"Yes," Madame Pomfrey said. "Or else she will die."
Tracey and Hermione recoiled in horror, but Millie just looked stubborn as Madame Pomfrey glanced down at her coolly.
"That's an exaggeration," Millie grumbled.
"I've been treating you all term," Madame Pomfrey told Millie. "Now that I'm fully aware of what your goal has been and what's been happening to you, I am fully convinced you would kill yourself trying to end your fertility."
"I was getting better at it," Millicent argued. "I was going—"
"You were going to bleed to death, is what you were going to do," Madame Pomfrey snapped.
"Well, so what?" Millie challenged, eyes flashing. "At least then I wouldn't have to marry that oaf Fionn Yaxley—"
"And that," Madame Pomfrey said pointedly, her eyes cutting over to Hermione, "is why this is a medically necessary procedure."
After the potions were uncapped and ready, along with an odd yellow gem sitting on Millie's chest, right below her rib cage, Madame Pomfrey went and retrieved a small glass jar that was etched with runes in gold.
"Professor Burbage assures me this will keep your womb preserved for you for hundreds of years," she told Millie, unscrewing the top. She poured one of the potions into it, a clear one that had an odd sort of iridescence. "She modeled it after the Egyptian canopic jars they used during magical mummification."
"Lovely," Tracey said, distaste dripping from her tone.
Madame Pomfrey gave her a dark look as she set the jar aside on the table nearby, before picking up her wand. "Ready?"
Millie hesitated. "…can you go over what's going to happen again?"
Madame Pomfrey nodded, sitting up.
"We are going to be removing your uterus and fallopian tubes through your birth canal," she told Millie, her tone no-nonsense and very matter of fact. "The topaz is going to help project a visualization of what's going on inside of your body to me." She gave Millie a frank look. "This is going to be painful and very uncomfortable. I have no idea how the speculum is going to feel to you, given how much you've already damaged your tissue, and the process itself is going to hurt."
Millie looked away. Hermione took her hand and squeezed it, while Madame Pomfrey pulled down the covers that had been overtop Millie's bare abdomen and legs.
"Should we get a sheet or something to go over Millie's legs?" Hermione asked, thinking back to her gynecological exam.
Madame Pomfrey snorted. "Absolutely not. That's a distraction I don't need, and I'm already doing a very finicky procedure. If she wanted to maintain her modesty, she shouldn't have gone about destroying her feminine parts in this way."
"It's fine," Millie assured Hermione. "You've all seen me change a million times. And I really don't care."
"Changing is a bit different than looking at you naked with your womanly parts being pulled out of you," Tracey said dryly, looking a bit green.
"Well, yes," Millie said, starting to grin. "It's much cooler, isn't it? How often do you get to see inner organs on the outside?"
Tracey gagged, and Millie and Hermione giggled.
"I'm ready to begin," Madame Pomfrey announced. She gave the girls a sharp look. "Once I begin, do not stop me or interrupt me. This is going to be difficult, and if I slip, Millicent could be at significant risk."
"What if someone else comes to the Hospital Wing?" Hermione asked.
"I've locked the doors," Madame Pomfrey said, moving the topaz to sit atop Millie's pelvic bone. "If they keep knocking and banging, it'll be up to you to make them go away." She looked at Millie. "Ready?"
Millie took a deep breath.
"Ready," she said.
And Madame Pomfrey began.
It was apparent that it was very uncomfortable for Millie from the get-go – her expression changed, and she winced several times as Madame Pomfrey inserted the speculum. Soon, her expression changed from one of discomfort to one of pain, and her eyes were pleading as she looked up at Hermione and Tracey, squeezing their hands.
"Hurts," she whimpered. "Help."
Carefully, Hermione spooned the pain relief potion into Millie. She had to pause, making sure she didn't give Millie too much – if she was loopy or high, she wouldn't be able to give Madame Pomfrey the feedback she needed. It was agonizing, watching her – Millie's eyes clenched shut, tears leaking out as she gripped Hermione' hand hard.
Time seemed to crawl by, the tense quiet broken only by Millie's shallow sobs.
"Your cervix is inflamed," Madame Pomfrey muttered from down below. "Bear down for me…"
There was a flash of orange light, and Millie gasped, her eyes going wide as she choked on a cry.
"Breathe," Hermione urged her. "Breathe. Deep breaths. Breath in… breathe out. Breathe through the pain with me."
There were tears in Millie's eyes, and she hiccupped.
"Please," she moaned. "I need—"
"She can't have more pain potion," Madame Pomfrey said grimly. "I have to cauterize these blood vessels as I detach them, and more pain potion is going to mess that up."
"Focus on your magic," Tracey suggested. "Can you find your core?"
"Yes," Hermione said, seizing on Tracey's suggestion. "Find your core, Millie. Settle in it and feel your magic. It will help you through this pain."
Millie was struggling to breathe evenly, sobbing shallowly.
"I can't—" she said, her voice wobbly. "It—It hurts—"
Tracey bit her lip hard, then looked at Hermione determinedly.
"Can you read minds?" she asked quietly, so as not to be heard by Madame Pomfrey.
"I'm sorry?" Hermione said, blinking.
"You know," Tracey said impatiently. "Legilimency. Can you do it?"
Hermione stared at her.
"I know the theory…" she said slowly. "I'm certainly no expert…"
"Can you do it to me?" Tracey said. "Try to read my mind?"
"Right how?" Hermione said, astonished. "Why—"
"Millie was my partner in your protection ritual," Tracey said, squeezing Millie's hand tightly as she gasped aloud in pain again. "If it works how you said it would, she should be 'transported' to my mindscape if my mind is under attack."
Hermione understood. "And you think that'll—"
"It's worth a try, isn't it?" Tracey said impatiently. She worried at her lip, looking down at Millie, who was whimpering. "She's hurting so much, Hermione. We have to do something."
Hermione glanced at Madame Pomfrey, who was fully involved in looking at the odd projection from the topaz and cursing things inside of Millie's body. She was muttering to herself and not paying attention in the least.
It was worth a try…
Hermione withdrew her wand, looking into Tracey's eyes.
"Legilimens."
She felt herself falling, falling, before landing hard onto mossy ground, somehow aware that her body was still in her chair.
Hermione had never been on this side of an Occlumency barrier before. It was fascinating, and incredibly similar to her own mindscape – a fully-realized location that she could see herself in, even as her body remained firmly planted in reality. Tracey's mind was not protected by fire, though; instead, Hermione found herself in a very dark forest, filled with lush moss, dark trees, and thick, creeping vines.
What sort of barrier did a forest present; Hermione wondered. Her own mind had a river of fire, but she didn't think a normal river would present quite the same level of protection. The forest was oddly silent as Hermione wandered through it, glancing around. There were no animals or signs of life, and it made the dark forest far creepier than it had any right to be. After a time, Hermione came to a bramble of thorny vines, and she paused, slowly looking up.
There were vines and thorns everywhere.
The thicket was immense, and impossible to cross without being stabbed a hundred times. On the other side of the thicket was a large, looming stone castle – where Tracey's memories were, Hermione imagined. Was Millie standing on the lookout tower of the castle? Hermione wondered. She was always on the other side of the fire river in her own mind, or the other side of the ice inside of Draco's.
Curious to see what would happen, Hermione tried to get through the vines. Two of the vines withered and decayed under her magic, but others surged and wove into place in front of her, strengthening the thicket, preventing her from making her way.
It felt like something from a dark fairy tale, from Sleeping Beauty come to life, only there were no animals or sounds as Hermione prodded at the vines with her magic; instead, just the eerie stillness from the dark forest around her.
What secrets did Tracey have to protect so fiercely, Hermione wondered as she wandered around, looking at the brambles. The protection was Millie's magic, but if Hermione had managed to get up into that tower... what memories or thoughts would she find? Tracey seemed to be fairly transparent with her friends. Hermione hoped Tracey didn't feel like she had to hold part of herself back from them, that she didn't trust them enough. To protect her memories so fiercely... was that instinctive, or something to hide?
Or, Hermione thought dryly, maybe it was just memories of Tracey's amorous activities with Adrian.
Hermione kept prodding and poking at the thicket of vines with her magic, as if she was attempting to get through, but very carefully, for what seemed like forever. Time dragged on as she carefully went through the thicket, taking care to not get impaled by the thorns. Hermione didn't want to get through to Tracey's mind, but she needed to do enough that Millie's magic still felt there was a threat, to keep Millie there, aware. She felt a moment of longing to get closer to the castle's outer moat and walls; maybe once she got close enough, she'd be able to see and talk to Millie, much like Tom Riddle had approached the river of fire to talk to her.
It didn't matter, in the end – Hermione was abruptly yanked out of Tracey's mind by a loud sound and losing her balance on her chair, her body crashing to the floor of the Hospital Wing and bringing her back to the present fast.
"It's done," Madame Pomfrey said, sounding harried. There was a plopping, wet noise as something was dropped into water, and Madame Pomfrey wiped her hands off on a bloody towel before taking her wand and Vanishing the muck from them. "One magical hysterectomy, all complete."
Hermione stood up from the floor to look into the jar, where a reddish organ now floated. It looked about the size of a pear, with little hands floating off to the sides.
"Is that it?" Hermione marveled. "It's so small."
"That thing can hold a baby?" Tracey asked, astonished. "I thought it'd be much bigger."
"Yes, well. The human body's a marvel," Madame Pomfrey said, smiling thinly. "Hand me the healing potion, will you? We're not quite done here, but she can have the rest of the pain potion now."
Hermione helped Millie drink the pain potion while Madame Pomfrey rinsed out Millie's insides with the healing potion. Millie made a face, but she didn't seem to be in pain anymore. It probably wouldn't hurt, anyway, Hermione imagined – though it probably felt very odd, to be full of liquid down there.
"I think she's high again," Tracey said, amusement in her tone.
"'M not," Millie said, her speech slow and slurred. "I was Rapunzel, up in the tower…"
"I thought it was Sleeping Beauty," Hermione said, suppressing a smile. "Wasn't that the fairy tale with the cursed castle and thorns?"
"Whatever, does it matter?" Millie groaned. Her eyelids fluttered. "''t'd be nice to have a castle like that. Could get all kinds of meat and dead things from magic thorns…"
"Just let her sleep," Madame Pomfrey advised, standing up and stretching her back, casting a critical eye over her. "She's got a lot to heal from, but she'll be able to walk a bit in the morning."
"I think she's already out," Tracey said. "Um. Maybe we gave her a bit too much."
Hermione looked to Madame Pomfrey, who was screwing the lid onto the pre-prepared jar. She moved the enchanted jar that now held Millie's womb out of the way, the gold runes glowing slightly, and Hermione felt a rush of gratitude toward the nurse.
"Thank you," she said earnestly. "Thank you. When I learned that Millie—I didn't know what to do—"
Madame Pomfrey's expression softened.
"It wasn't quite my pleasure, but I was happy to do it to help her," she said quietly. She looked at Millie with a sigh. "Forced marriages are a terrible thing. Douching with fire to destroy one's fertility is far from the worst thing I've seen a girl do to escape her fate."
Hermione shuddered. She didn't want to imagine what worse things there were.