Hermione's joy lasted for about five seconds. That's how long it took her to wave the guard's wand and cast an experimental Lumos... only for nothing to happen. Actually, that wasn't completely fair as light did appear at the end of the wand as expected. The problem was how faint that light was! Not even while learning the spell had Hermione ever managed to do so subpar. Panicking now, she quickly tried several other simple spells only to get similar results – they all more-or-less worked but were pathetically weak compared to her usual, high standards.
It was at that point her tears of joy turned into regular tears. Being unable to use magic properly was going to seriously complicate her escape if not make it impossible. But honestly, what worried her more were the reasons behind this mysterious and completely unexpected bout of magical impotence. There were several options she could think of and none of them were good for her. The simplest one being she was out of practice after being unable to use any magic for months. But Hermione quickly dismissed that theory as every single summer between her Hogwarts years was like that and she never had any problems afterwards. Some of her classmates did seem to have trouble the first few days, but not her. Never her.
The second possibility was definitely the worst and scariest. And that was that Daphne Greengrass might have had done something to make her unable to use magic properly. The evil witch had repeatedly mentioned the option of breaking Hermione with brain surgery and Hermione had no reason to doubt Daphne's ability or willingness to make good on her threats. Back in school, the two of them used to be tied for the first place every single year with Hermione usually ending up victorious despite Daphne's unwavering faith in the superiority of purebloods. Therefore, it would doubt give the pureblood girl a great joy to humiliate and finally defeat her long-time academic rival by taking away Hermione's magic and intelligence.
Fortunately, besides tricking her into absorbing the so called physical magic, nothing had been done to her body so far, at least as far as Hermione knew, which wasn't saying much considering the trivial nature of memory spells. Every time they forced her to undergo medical examination, Hermione would afterwards check her body carefully, looking for anything unusual. But again, magic could easily mask scars from any incisions made. They also could've secretly placed magical devices on her and make them imperceptible. Hermione had been at their complete mercy for so long practically anything was possible!
In the end, Hermione soundly rejected the second hypothesis. Not because she had any evidence to rule it out, but rather because of how overwhelmingly hopeless it would make her situation if it were true. If Daphne Greengrass had somehow crippled her magic, then Hermione was doomed and nothing mattered anymore. She did not see any way how she could ever free herself without full access to her magic.
Finally, Hermione concluded the third possible explanation had to be the correct one. Namely, the guard's wand was grossly incompatible with her. She knew there was a good chance the stolen wand wasn't going to work for her as well as her old one did but this surpassed even her worst expectations! Hermione hated personifying magic and magical items but there was no other way to say it – the wand hated her.
In that moment, she experienced a brief but strong pang of sympathy towards Harry for apparently having gone through that after the destruction of his old wand. Hermione had been supportive at the time but privately doubted it was really as bad as Harry made it out to be. Even after Mr. Ollivander reiterated to her the importance of carefully matching wands with the right person, Hermione thought the problem exaggerated. A sales pitch strategy of the wandmakers, perhaps? But now she was wondering whether Harry might have been justified in complaining as much as he did. In hindsight, her traitorous former friend had always been a pathetic whiner and Hermione hated the idea of him being right about anything. But to have a wand resisting you with even something as simple as the Lumos spell… it felt absolutely awful!
Hermione collapsed to her knees and cried in despair, the full magnitude of how utterly fucked she was rapidly dawning on her. All her planning, all her scheming to catch her guard by surprise and take his wand… only to end up with one that was barely functioning for her! It put her original escape plan straight out of window as she couldn't possibly risk apparating. Having perfectly functional and reliable wand was like the first rule there was for apparition as it wouldn't work at all otherwise and at worst she could splinch herself.
Hermione always knew there was a good chance she could die during her escape. She still went ahead with it because she strongly believed Daphne was going to kill her soon anyway. And if she had to die, Hermione preferred to go down fighting instead of being tortured and having her throat cut while chained up in some cell like Daphne did to poor Griphook.
Yet splinching herself was still unacceptable. Dying in a fight was one thing but to have her body actually end up in two helpless pieces, rewarding the pureblood girl with one final laugh at the embarrassing manner of her pointless death? Or worse, being saved only so the blonde could take her sweet time with ending her? That Hermione couldn't bear.
She sniffled and wiped her tears with the sleeve of her dress as she wondered what to do next.
The little trick she pulled off with the goblin shield was unlikely to work again or against greater numbers. And the chances of her defeating anybody in a straight up fight were negligible with the awful wand she had. Even Crabbe and Goyle would dispatch her with ease right now! With a barely functional wand, Hermione really had precious little options. Her only advantage was that so far, they didn't know about her escape. But she'd be detected eventually and then it would be all over.
So what could she do?
The logical answer to her problems was simple – she needed to obtain another wand. And it had to be a wand that was realistically within her reach without having to fight anyone. And to Hermione's knowledge, there was only one such wand in the Greengrass manor, although the degree of it being within her reach was up for debate. Anyway, the wand she had in mind was 10¾ inches long and was made out of vinewood with dragon heartstring for the core. And the best part was Hermione was one hundred percent certain this wand was fully compatible with her.
It was Hermione's good old wand that chose her when she was eleven! It's been her faithful companion for years until Daphne Greengrass took it away from her, just as she took away everything else. To add insult to injury, her old wand was now lying on top of Daphne's office table these days, serving as a paperweight and a trophy...
Hermione had to have it back.
"Are you saying my mom was... was..." Harry stuttered, trying to find the right word. "... she was popular among the purebloods?" he finally managed to say but still felt like he'd failed to use the right term to capture the essence of the story his future mother-in-law was regaling him with.
Julia Greengrass was never friends with either of his parents and had relatively little to tell him despite being schoolmates with them for a few years. But the stories she did have about Lily and James, she was happy to share with Harry.
"Not popular as in liked or respected," Julia clarified and took a sip of her tea before adding, "But in some ways... yes. Many of my peers were very interested in her," she told him while looking at Harry, searching for his reaction. "And I expect you to know the reason why by now," she suggested.
Harry did know. Or at least he had a pretty good idea. Months ago he would've been horrified to learn of purebloods having once been interested in his muggleborn mother. The old Harry would instantly suspected nefarious intentions on their part. And from certain point of view, he would've been right. "They wanted to make her their servant..." Harry spoke quietly, the idea not sitting well with him.
He was in a relationship with a staunch pureblood supremacist and as a result, had to re-evaluate many of his previously held convictions. Just as he knew his girlfriend changed a lot of her opinions too now that she was in love with a half-blood. The ritual they did smoothed things between them even more. But there were still aspects of Daphne's philosophy Harry wasn't comfortable with. Like grooming muggleborns into serving purebloods. Intellectually, he could see the validity of Daphne's arguments speaking for the practice. But when he tried to imagine his mom going through it...
The older woman noticed his discomfort and smiled at him sympathetically. "Take it as a compliment of her person," she advised. "A well-adjusted mudbl- I mean muggleborn..." she quickly corrected herself. "... especially one with such high intelligence and magical aptitude, is a rare thing indeed. And Lily Evans was such a person," she finished.
Harry nodded and smiled back at her weakly. To be honest, he was unsure why Julia's revelation shocked him as much as it did. Of course Lily Evans would've had been a prime candidate for muggleborn subjugation! According to Daphne, the best and brightest muggleborns were always targeted first. Not only did it provide the purebloods with capable servants, by claiming the cream of the crop in each generation, they also made sure no effective opposition would come from the rest. It was hard for muggleborns to form a unified political cause against purebloods when the best of them were being turned into devoted pureblood supremacists. The highly successful individuals serving the pureblood families were also good role models for average muggleborns to emulate.
"So how come my mom never became anyone's servant?" Harry asked then, wondering whether Lily had simply refused to serve the purebloods or if something else happened. Few months ago he would've categorically refused the notion his mother (or any other muggleborn) might ever said yes to such an offer. But now Harry knew the lure of money and cheap housing combined with unique study, travel, and work opportunities was difficult for many young people to resist. The only thing they had to permanently give up was their sense of personal equality, accepting the inherent superiority of those they served. A deal-breaker for some, a bargain for many.
"None of us had a chance to even make her an offer," Julia explained after a while. "Your mother's... associations... prevented that," she said, choosing her words carefully.
At first Harry thought she meant Dumbledore but as far as he knew his mother had no significant contact with the old man until well into her seventh year. This left only her classmates and friends as Lily's potentially problematic 'associations' in Hogwarts. "I don't understand," Harry admitted in confusion, thinking Lily's muggleborn and muggle-friendly friends couldn't have been a serious obstacle. "Hermione Granger was my friend by our third year... and Daphne still wanted to make her a servant," he pointed out.
Some time ago, Harry expressed a curiosity about what would've happened to Hermione had she actually said yes to Daphne's original offer. In response, his girlfriend shamelessly admitted she would've had secretly invited Hermione to spend the summer in Greengrass manor, where she could be taught about her place in magical society. At that age, after being intensely worked over for two months, Hermione Granger would've no doubt entered her fourth year as a fanatically dedicated pureblood supremacist. True to her Slytherin roots, Daphne wouldn't have made her openly act that way or forced her to end her friendships either. Instead, she would've used Hermione to spy on Harry and Ron and influence them in the right direction...
Harry had to admit that would've been his doom as he'd never see that coming, not in a million years. The only plus side would be that with Hermione completely under her control, he might've ended up in Daphne's exquisite hands far earlier. Harry truly regretted not meeting the blonde years ago but as much as that prospect enticed him, they both agreed it would've been a bad idea as long as her father was still alive.
"You're thinking in the right way but opposite direction," Julia declared mysteriously and then asked him. "Who were Lily's friends... or rather who desperately wished to be her friends?" she said and chuckled.
"Marauders..." Harry finally realized before exclaiming, "My father protected her!"
It made a perfect sense to Harry a pro-muggleborn liberal like James Potter wouldn't want the girl he had a crush on to end up as someone's muggleborn servant. He must have either warned Lily about the danger, convincing her it was a bad idea to accept, or used his influence to somehow prevent any offers from reaching her in the first place.
"You're getting warmer," Julia said with a mischievous smile, clearly enjoying the process of leading her future son-in-law to the right answer. "House Potter is certainly ancient and respected. But not powerful enough to have permanently deterred the likes of Greengrasses, for instance."
Once again, Harry frowned in confusion. If it wasn't his father, then who was it? Julia mentioned he was getting warmer, so... then it dawned on him. James Potter alone might not have been influential enough. But his best friend in the world happened to be the heir to the oldest and most powerful pureblood family in British history.
"Sirius Black... Sirius somehow stopped them," Harry gasped in shock. He knew he was right when he saw the woman's approving smile. It reminded him of Daphne a lot. Both mother and daughter preferred Harry to always reach his own conclusions, under their gentle guidance of course, but still using his wits.
"I'm few years older than your parents were so I wasn't there personally," she admitted before taking a deep breath and saying, "But from what I was told, someone approached young Sirius and asked him if House Black held an interest in the mudblood or if they could have her..."
Harry almost spilled the tea he was just sipping. "Using those words?!"
Julia smirked. "Yes, I believe so, dear," she confirmed.
"And his answer?" Harry asked with burning curiosity.
"I believe Sirius sneered at them before insisting Lily wasn't theirs for the taking. He then told them to stay the fuck away from her or risk the wrath of his House," Julia recited and then chuckled again. "Again more or less exact words."
"And that's all it took?" Harry asked with disbelief. The entire story felt surreal to him. He was barely able to handle the fact more than one pureblood family had apparently been interested in owning his mother. Not only that, it was his godfather who had stopped them from fighting over Lily like she was a piece of prime meat. Harry was proud of him for having exercised his pureblood authority like that despite being fundamentally opposed to the system. Granted, a large part of Sirius probably did it for the pleasure of saying 'fuck you' to the supremacists. He also no doubt wanted to keep Lily for James. But regardless of his motivations, Harry was still grateful to him.
"Yes, that's all it took," the older woman confirmed. "Sirius Black was the official Black heir at the time... when heir of the House Black declares a mudblood off-limit, everyone obeys," she declared with finality. Then she remembered she used that word again and was about to apologize but Harry stopped her.
"It's alright, I'm getting used to it by now," he told her and smiled weakly.
For his sake, Daphne had tried really hard to stop using the m-word. Harry really appreciated her efforts but he could also tell how much it disgusted the pureblood girl having to habitually use muggleborn instead. In Daphne's eyes, being associated with muggles was far far worse than any negative connotations associated with the word mudblood. In the end, Harry offered her a compromise – he told Daphne he was okay with her using it as a generic term to describe muggleborns as long as she didn't use it as a slur.
For a while there was slightly uncomfortable silence before Harry broke it and asked, "So if Sirius hadn't told your classmates to stay away..."
"... Lily Evans would've been ours for sure," Julia finished for him. "Even my husband, Daphne's father, was interested in having her."
Harry sighed as he imagined that scenario – Lily Evans agreeing to serve one of the pureblood families, perhaps even the Greengrasses. She would've achieved great things under their guidance, perhaps even go to become one of the most famous magical researchers of all time.
Harry realized he was perhaps turning his mom into a too perfect image in his mind. But his fantasy couldn't be far off as even someone like Daphne spoke kindly about Lily's accomplishments. And she spoke about them earnestly and not just to trick Harry into falling in love with her, as Hermione had immediately accused her of doing. So yes, there was no doubt in Harry's mind his mom would've been amazing in anything she set out to do, even as a servant of the purebloods. The only sad thing was that in this scenario, she wouldn't have been his mom...
Even as a servant, Lily would probably be free to marry James Potter but Harry seriously doubted they would've been together in the first place. Among the things that had attracted his father to Lily were her independent nature and strong-will. If those had been tempered by making Lily accepting of her place in magical society, the spark between them might've never happened.
So no, had Lily Evans fallen into muggleborn servitude, Harry Potter that was sitting here today would never have been born. Lily wouldn't be his mother... and she would still be alive. It was a soul crushing thought but he couldn't stop it from spinning out of control in his mind – his mother only died in order to save him, meaning if Harry was never born, she'd still be in this world.
"Don't," Julia suddenly spoke as she stared at Harry intently. "She's not dead because of you, you poor foolish child!" she chastised him but still in kind and sympathetic voice.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Are you reading my mind?" he asked, much to the woman's amusement.
"A simple deduction," Julia clarified, "Daphne tells me you tend to blame yourself for the entire world's misfortune on a daily basis," she explained and Harry chuckled at her paraphrasing Daphne's words. It was almost like he could hear her right now.
"All I can say... don't. There's limited usefulness in blaming yourself for your own choices. There is none in doing so for others," she insisted and Harry could hear the wisdom in her words. The pain in his heart somewhat lessened.
"Yes, had Lily Evans submitted to serving purebloods, she'd probably still be alive," the older woman acknowledged the unavoidable truth instead of lying to him and pretending otherwise, something Harry was incredibly grateful for. "But your mother made her choices freely and I think without regret... and that is something inherently precious no matter where it leads you."
Harry sighed. "I know... and I'll be fine, don't worry," he assured before smiling at her gratefully. "Thank you, Julia."
"You're welcome, dear," she told him and winked. "But I'm sure Daphne would've said it better than I. She's inherited her father's powerful oratory."
Harry's smile turned dreamy at the mention of Daphne. He didn't know about better but the girl's reaction would certainly have been more forceful. Harry knew exactly what Daphne would do if she could hear his self-deprecating thoughts right now – she'd yell at him for daring to insult her boyfriend (never mind he was her boyfriend) and for suggesting that she, Lady Daphne Greengrass, would ever lower herself to dating some loser. That usually did the trick and made Harry admit he was worth something. And if it didn't... the blonde would simply sit on his face until he changed his mind.
He loved her so much for that.
Being humiliated by their girlfriend was perhaps a strange type of therapy for someone struggling with self-worth. But for Harry, it worked without a hitch as his feelings of insecurity actually stemmed from the ridiculously high expectations placed on him. The magical world saw him as some kind of messiah – strong, mighty and capable of handling any situation. From day one there was a deep fear inside Harry he wouldn't be able to be that person everyone wanted him to be. He feared the world would reject him as worthless the second they realized he was just Harry.
Both he and Daphne quickly recognized the only way forward, the only way for him to heal, was for Harry to accept that fear as part of himself instead of trying to suppress it. In essence, Harry had to learn he had his own inherent worth independent of anyone's expectations, that just being himself gave his life value and didn't make him a trash.
And this was why Daphne's domination was such a blessing to him. In his submission to the pureblood girl, he was truly throwing away all the society's expectations of him. All that remained was who he'd always struggled to be – Harry Potter. By demeaning and humiliating him, Daphne was allowing him to actualize his paralyzing fear of inadequacy in a loving and safe manner. Harry knew he could surrender everything he had to her, everything he was. He could appear as worthless and weak as he'd always feared of being... and still feel like the king of the world. And how could he not? The most beautiful woman loved him with all her heart, no matter whether he was a powerful indomitable wizard or someone so weak and pathetic she could crush him under her heels. With Daphne, he was always free and he was always loved.
"I have an idea, Harry," Julia suddenly spoke, interrupting his day-dreaming as he focused his attention on her. "Why don't I bottle up some of the memories I have of your parents so you can view them in a pensieve?" she offered while Harry's eyes widened and his heart gave a leap. "I realize you must've seen them from others already. But perhaps mine could provide you with a different perspective," she suggested, oblivious to Harry's internal reaction.
"Actually, not counting a freak incident with Severus Snape, I haven't seen a single pensieve memory of my parents," he told her and frowned as it was something he only just realized.
There were so many adults who knew his parents well. Why had none of them offered to share their memories of James and Lily with him? Granted, perhaps such action would've been unwise while he was still a child. Dumbledore's 'it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live' immediately came to Harry's mind and he honestly believed there was wisdom in those words. But surely in the last two years he had matured enough to be able to handle seeing few memories?
Honestly, as angry as he was with the others for not offering this to him, Harry was far more furious with himself for not asking. Why... why didn't he ask them for it? Especially after the incident with Snape had clearly demonstrated the proof of concept?!
Only Daphne's repeated insistence he wasn't stupid stopped Harry from naming himself as such once again. That... and the last time he questioned his intelligence, his girlfriend decided to use him as her chair. Harry had enjoyed that punishment but preferred more active participation than being kneebound, told to remain still, and then essentially forgotten. Not to mention what a torture it was to feel Daphne's perfect ass pressing on his back and be unable to even touch it. But Harry had quickly realized that had been her intention all along as when he begged her to kiss it, the blonde denied him, claiming only smart people were afforded the privilege of worshipping her butt. Naturally, Harry immediately tried to take back his previous words and insist he was smart. But his pureblood owner wasn't that forgiving and would make him eat his words before she ever allowed him to eat something far more pleasant. It took Harry hours of begging and promising he was smart before he was allowed to plant his lips against the perfect white skin of Daphne's ass. But only once she was satisfied Harry truly believed what he was saying.
"You haven't, oh well..." the woman mumbled awkwardly. His turmoil reaction clearly caught her by surprise but he quickly reassured her.
"It's alright, Julia. I love the idea!" he told her honestly and she smiled.
"Very well, Harry," she said. "I'll make the selection soon," she told him and her kind smile faltered for a moment as she added, "Just when you view some of them, don't judge me too harshly. Your parents and I... let's just say we always belonged to different social circles. And no matter how brilliant your mother was, she was still a muggleborn... I'm sorry to say at times I judged her far more by the latter than the former."
"I understand, it's alright," Harry told her automatically in conciliatory tone.
Julia shook her head. "No, it's not alright, but thank you for saying that, Harry," she said and her grey eyes looked straight at him. "I'm really glad you came to our lives. At least one good thing to come out of my husband's death," she told him pensively.
"You don't have to say that..."
"It's the truth," the older woman insisted. "And you're so good for my Daphne... she can't stop talking about you when we're alone, you know."
Harry smiled at that, both at Julia's vote of confidence and the cute idea of Daphne gushing over what a great guy he was to her mother. "I don't think she'd want you to tell me that," he said and laughed.
Julia shrugged and then laughed too. "And I don't care! We pureblood women often don't find happiness in our marriages and I had always feared Daphne would have even less of it. You've changed that, Harry, you're perfect for her," she told him and Harry swallowed nervously as Julia's voice turned serious and she asked, "I just need to ask this once... are you happy with her?"
"Yes," Harry replied immediately before adding with absolute confidence. "She's just as perfect for me."
"Good... that's good," the older woman told him with relief. "Young people sometimes make the mistake of expecting their partners to change."
"I know Daphne won't change... I don't want her to," he told her honestly.
The woman shook her head. "Oh, she could change. And in many ways, she's already changed. My daughter loves you... I believe there are very few things Daphne wouldn't do for you. You will always have her heart in your hands."
Harry didn't know what to say. "If that is true, then I'm touched," he finally mumbled. "As long as I have Daphne's heart, I can honestly say there are very few things I desire as the greatest treasure is already mine," he finally said what were probably the most poetic words of his entire life. He suddenly wished Julia would change the topic as he really didn't want to cry in front of his future mother-in-law. Fortunately, the woman either thought the same or had sensed his desire as she smiled mischievously.
"There's a reason I started talking about this. Daphne doesn't share the details with me, of course, but I know my daughter. I have a very good guess about what kind of relationship you two have," she said and Harry went right from deeply sentimental mood to mortally embarrassed, especially after the woman grinned and added, "And frankly dear, sometimes the two of you simply forget to close the doors."
Harry merely smiled with embarrassment while making a firm mental note to always close the damn door.
"My point is, if you're happy with your relationship so far..." she continued.
"I am... we are."
"... then you're both in for a very good life, because this isn't some fad for Daphne that she's going to tire of. It's who she is," she told him and Harry smiled as Julia just managed to assuage another one of his deep worries he hadn't even admitted to Daphne yet. Namely, he had been worried the novelty of having Harry Potter as her halfblood toy would eventually wear off for Daphne and she'd become bored with him. Harry probably had no reason to think that as if anything, the pureblood girl seemed to enjoy playing with him more and more, and so did he.
"Just always remember she loves you and cares about your happiness. You don't have to feel pressured into doing whatever Daphne wants fearing you'd lose her interest otherwise... that's just not going to happen," the older woman gave her final advice.
Harry considered her words carefully for several moments before saying. "I- I don't think I ever failed pressured with Daphne, but thank you," he told her honestly before long silence settled over the room as they finished their teas.
Before Harry could even think of a new topic of conversation that wouldn't feel totally out of place after the last one they had, he felt something. A pulse and a tug at the edge of his consciousness he definitely wasn't expecting to be feeling today. His emotions rapidly shifted, starting with confusion before giving turn to worry and puzzlement...
"I just remembered there's something important I need to do. I have to go now. I'm sorry, Julia."
After exchanging the pleasantries expected given his need for sudden departure, Harry left the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, he took his wand out, threw on his cloak and started walking briskly. His feelings of worry and puzzlement were long replaced with rage... pure incandescent rage.
Surely she couldn't be that stupid?
Hermione's contingency plan in case she needed to linger in the manor for some reason was to conjure ropes, tie the guard up and then hide him under disillusionment charm. But in her current condition, she'd hardly manage to create the ropes that'd last, let alone turn his body invisible. Fortunately, upon frisking the man she found what appeared to be magic suppressing cuffs attached to his belt. Hermione nearly dropped the item in shock once she realized these were likely intended for her. She was likewise shocked and disgusted by the sudden cowardly thought of putting the cuffs on her wrists and just giving up what she was doing while she still could.
Intellectually, Hermione knew her chances for escape were bleak with the practically non-functional wand she had right now. But no matter how hopeless it seemed, she couldn't possibly surrender. It was too late for that. Even falling at Daphne's feet and declaring herself her slave wouldn't save Hermione, not after attacking one of the household guards. Perhaps if she grovelled really hard, Daphne might graciously agree to spare her the worst of the torture. But Hermione would still be executed and she'd die knowing Greengrass had triumphed over her in every way.
It was with these thoughts she placed the magic suppression cuffs on the unconscious guard's wrists while also adding some chains she found on one of the armors and finishing with a gag made out of the sleeve of the guard's shirt. Afterwards, she dragged the unconscious body into one of the alcoves, hiding it behind a table where more of the exhibits from Goblin wars were displayed. Anything more than a cursory search of the room was going reveal the body immediately but Hermione had few other options. As a final measure, she tried casting another stunner on him and after about tenth try felt like she might have succeeded although it was difficult to tell with wand like that.
Hermione seriously considered killing the man using one of the swords in the room but in the end decided against it. She'd like to say it was because she was a better person and didn't want to stoop to their level. But the real reason was she strongly suspected the manor wards were monitoring people's lifesigns and she could be triggering them by killing the guard. Now if Daphne Greengrass was unconscious and tied up before her right now, Hermione liked to think she'd have the strength to just cut her throat. She'd be saving countless muggleborns from becoming slaves by murdering that evil bitch!
With that said, Hermione honestly didn't know how a direct confrontation between her and Daphne might go. Something deep inside her had changed after the pureblood girl left Hermione with no choice but to kowtow at her feet and beg for her life. It's like her brain and soul broke inside during that humiliating act, accepting as indisputable fact that Daphne Greengrass couldn't be challenged. Ever since then Hermione could no longer imagine standing up to that girl without unspeakable dread filling her heart. Only by visualizing Daphne completely helpless and her holding every tactical advantage was Hermione able to contemplate such scenarios and not get a paralyzing urge to hyperventilate. It's one of the main reasons why she scheduled her escape attempt to a time she knew Daphne wouldn't be around. Hermione feared the pureblood girl would otherwise be able to end her escape by simply ordering her to stand down and surrender. At the very least, having a profound mental struggle while facing the evil witch would serve to distract her and assure Hermione's defeat in a fight.
Having done all she could to hide the unconscious guard, Hermione got ready to leave the room and proceed towards Daphne's office. Her brief agonizing over how to get there undetected was quickly ended by realization she was being silly. No one knew about her escape attempt yet, meaning even if she was spotted they wouldn't call for an alarm. In anticipation of her escape, Hermione had purposefully spent many weeks establishing random pattern to her behaviour by regularly wandering all over the manor. Nobody should think twice about meeting her in the corridors or view her presence there as suspicious. All she had to do was behave normally and act like a muggleborn prisoner is supposed to in Greengrass manor – keep her eyes meekly lowered in presence of purebloods, don't get in their way and if given an order, obey it without question. Still, as an added insurance, she grabbed a nasty looking goblin dagger from one of the armors and hid it in her robes before leaving the room.
In the end, Hermione met only two people while walking towards Daphne's office. Lucky for her, the house elves never seemed to walk the corridors on any errands, appearing only at the summons of their owners. Hermione feared the magical creatures would be far more difficult to fool than regular humans. Anyway, the first person she met paid her no attention whatsoever while the second merely sneered in her direction and kept walking. Hermione recognized the second person as one of the muggleborns working for the Greengrasses and she sighed internally. She had such high hopes of one of them helping her to escape, perhaps even to foster a spirit of rebellion among the muggleborns serving in the manor. But countless conversations with her fellow kind quickly dissuaded her from expectations like that. If anything, they were even more fanatical about pureblood supremacy than the purebloods!
Hermione fully intended to take people like Daphne Greengrass down after her escape but that still left the question what to do with the subjugated muggleborns. If given a choice, most or even all of them would choose to stand behind their pureblood masters and mistresses, meaning they couldn't be given a choice about this... some sort of mandatory reconditioning program would have to be established for them.
At last Hermione reached the door to Daphne's office. She took out the stolen wand and started scanning around. It seemed passive scanning was a lot easier with incompatible wand than performing active magic but Hermione was still taking the results with a grain of salt, instead relying more on her vast knowledge. A lot of the preparations for her escape involved secretly learning as much as possible about the protective wards and charms placed in and around the manor. Based on what she learned, Hermione was reasonably sure there wasn't anything magical preventing her access to Daphne's office beyond the door itself. She had witnessed various people walk in there even when Daphne wasn't inside. And even if there was a ward filtering access, there was a good chance it'd be based on wand signatures, meaning Hermione should have access. But still... this was it.
Hermione knocked on the door while preparing to skedaddle in case a voice would respond, inviting her in. But there was only silence. She took a deep breath and pressed the handle. The door opened and she walked in, silently closing the door behind her. Hermione rapidly shifted her wand around, pointing it at various parts of the familiar room. She doubted it'd be of any use in an actual fight but it was better than nothing. Fortunately, nobody was inside and Hermione treaded softly towards Daphne's unoccupied office table. Hermione could see her wand lying there on a wooden stand like a trophy and she smiled in anticipation. Daphne practically laughed to her face when she noticed Hermione's intense desire to once again possess her wand. And now she would finally be getting it back despite the blonde bitch's efforts to keep it from her!
Hermione was almost there when she passed the spot where Daphne had humiliated her so horribly it left permanent scars on her soul. She suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to stop what she was doing. What was she even doing? She couldn't possibly hope to outmatch Daphne! Surely it would be better for Hermione to just get down on her knees, wait for the pureblood girl to come and then receive the rightful punishment for her insolence.
'NO!' Hermione cried in her mind when she felt her knees starting to buckle. She didn't come this far to give up now! She steeled her nerves and reinforced her will by focusing on the burning passionate hatred she felt for Daphne Greengrass.
She reached out for the pedestal...
Hermione's fingertips were just about to touch and reclaim her wand when the world seemed to swirl around, causing an intense feeling of disorientation and vertigo. It was like the room had span in circles a few times without her looking and now it was all coming back to her all at once.
And it was worse.
In split of a second, her old wand she was trying to retrieve was no longer lying on the pedestal, disappearing right in front of her eyes! The wand she stole from the guard was also no longer in her hand. Finally, there was a person standing in front of her and pointing a wand between her eyes. Hermione startled and gasped only to realize she was paralyzed from the neck down. She looked up.
The person holding her at wandpoint didn't have blonde hair but Hermione doubted it made her situation any better, especially with how he was looking at her with absolute hate.
"You stupid fucking bitch," Harry Potter said and scowled. "You just had to go ahead and do it!"