CW: Off-screen sexual assault of another person


The rest of the week was abuzz with twitter and gossip about who had asked who to the Yule Ball. Tracey somehow always had the latest updates about whatever drama was going down with whomever, as well as the other gossip about the ball.

"I've confirmed the Weird Sisters rumor is true," she said smugly. "I owled their agent under the ruse of trying to book them for a private party, and he apologized that they'd already been booked for a gig Hogwarts that evening."

"You could have just let it be a rumor," Blaise commented, and Tracey made a face.

"Where's the fun in that?" she complained.

Their professors seemed to be ramping up their classes for the end of the term, as if to combat the frivolity in the air. Each teacher significantly increased their students' workload, and though Hermione knew it was to help them prepare for exams, she was rather aggravated by it all. She didn't mind homework when it involved learning something new, but she preferred to review and study in her own manner rather than be assigned more coursework.

Hermione managed to get a big chunk of her homework done on Saturday morning to her delight, and she was feeling confident about knocking out the rest that was due at the end of term by the end of the weekend. She was in high spirits at lunch, and her good mood continued as she met Theo and Neville outside. To her surprise, they were waiting alongside Susan Bones.

"I want to check the tree growth and health," Susan explained without prompting. "And Theo said that the first attempt at detoxification might have done something. I want to help check."

"Suit yourself," Hermione said with a smile, shrugging, and she withdrew her landlord Portkey and handed it to Neville. "On three?"

Exmoor was surprisingly warm for December, and with an exchanged glance, Hermione and Susan both took off their cloaks, leaving just their winter robes. Theo and Neville hadn't bothered to bring their cloaks at all.

"Well!" Hermione exclaimed, looking around with wide eyes. "At least we know something happened."

And indeed it had.

In each of the places where Neville had instructed them to dig up dirt and bury different dirt, a patch of mushrooms had popped up – mushrooms that were a mottled mix of vibrant neon blues, yellows, and greens. Looking at them, Hermione was reminded of poison dart frogs, and she'd wished she'd brought her dragonhide gloves with her.

Theo and Neville had brought their gloves, apparently prepared for this outcome.

"This is excellent!" Neville said, beaming. "We'll have to test these, and I want to check with Professor Sprout, but it looks like they actually ate the poison from the soil!"

Hermione frowned.

"How do we know if they're done eating the toxins?" she asked. "Do we have to wait until the mushrooms gradually turn normal mushroom colors? How do we know if they ate deep enough?"

"I don't know that yet," Neville admitted. "But this is a good first step!"

"I have an idea about that," Theo told Hermione. "If we can get the spores to go under the ground, I think they'll grow a network and keep working. I think it stands a better chance of working than us depending on carefully potioning acres and acres of land."

Hermione bit her lip, considering.

"It's not a bad idea," she said. "Especially for the ground. The Fae wanted more mushroom circles, anyway, so this seems to work well with that idea. But that will take a while. Is there anything we can do directly to detoxify any water reservoirs we know? I think that would help a lot."

"That will probably need a different approach," Theo conceded.

"Still! This is positive so far," Neville said, his optimism not to be deterred. "Can we test these now? If the mushrooms show they've successfully ingested the toxins, we can at least spread more of the substrate to get more mycelium going today. It'd be good if we could get as much as we could done before the ground freezes over."

Theo obligingly hopped a line back to Hogwarts and retrieved a small cauldron and testing kit, which he and Neville quickly huddled over, bickering quietly. Susan and Hermione busied themselves with the trees, examining their growth.

"Trees do not normally grow at this rate, right?" Susan asked Hermione, amused. "I'm pretty sure they maybe grow a foot in a year, not in a month."

"I'm not complaining," Hermione said, smirking. "Are yew trees supposed to look like this?"

Susan had brought with her a couple arboriculture books, and she and Hermione went around to each tree, examining the trunk growth, leaf growth, and terminal buds on each branch. At Susan's direction, they weeded the base of each tree, yanking up the plants that had popped up there.

"Weeds will bring bugs," Susan explained. "The last thing we need is bugs eating the trees' roots while they're still getting established."

When they had finished weeding, Theo and Neville were done with the next part – the mushrooms were successfully pulling the toxins from the soil. Susan and Hermione were immediately drafted into helping with the beginning of a large-scale terraforming project, with no chance to protest or escape.

Over the next several hours, Susan and Hermione would use their earth elementals to move a large amount of dirt. Neville and Theo would then blow mushroom substrate and some of the ground-up mushrooms they'd just harvested into the new pit, and then Susan and Hermione would put the dirt back. Originally, Hermione had been vaguely concerned about the grass being ruined from all earth being moved, but she got over it quickly – the grass was all scrubby and terrible, and she'd much prefer wildflowers or clover growing once the ground was safe again to wild grass.

By the end of the day, everyone was tired, sore, covered in dirt, but highly satisfied.

"I'll try to get more substrate," Neville told them all, his eyes bright with excitement. "We should come back next week, if we can, just to see how it's going. I want to know how fast the fungi grow."

Theo and Neville took Hermione's Portkey back to the school, while Susan and Hermione finished cleaning up. With an easy goodbye, they both stepped into the ley line to get back to Hogwarts.

Hermione had no sooner appeared outside Hogwarts than Millicent Bulstrode was upon her, as if she'd been waiting for her to reappear at the side of the school in her usual spot.

"Hermione!" she said, her voice relieved. "Thank Merlin – Hermione, you've got to come. It's Daphne—"

Alarmed by the urgency in Millie's eyes, Hermione followed Millie quickly inside and into the dungeons, her dirty state forgotten.

"Daphne came in practically catatonic," Millie said, anxious. "I honestly was worried she'd gotten her soul sucked out, she was so unresponsive for a while. She finally burst into tears when Pansy asked her what was wrong for the millionth time, and after that all we could get out of her was 'Get Hermione'." She shot Hermione a look. "I have no idea why she's asking for you."

"I've got no idea either," Hermione protested, hurrying after Millie as she gave the password and opened the common room door.

Millie's response was grim. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

They practically ran through the common room, returning to the dormitory as fast as they could. Hermione followed Millie inside, closing the door and locking it after she entered. Daphne was sitting on her bed, tear-stricken, with Pansy on one side, Tracey on the other. Tracey looked relieved for a moment as Hermione entered, before her face morphed back into anxiety.

"Daphne, Hermione's here," Pansy told Daphne. "We got her, like you asked."

"She'll help you," Tracey reassured her. "It'll all be okay, okay?"

Daphne nodded, tears still streaming from her eyes, and Hermione crouched down in front of her. She glanced at Tracey.

"What do we know?" she asked.

"She won't tell us what's wrong," Tracey said promptly. "Just she 'doesn't know', and asking upsets her more. She shook her head 'no' when we asked if she'd been cursed, but then she started crying harder, and at that point we decided to wait for you."

Hermione nodded to herself, before moving closer to the crying blonde, setting a gentle hand on Daphne's knee.

"Daphne, can you tell me what happened?" Hermione asked gently. "Are you hurt?"

Daphne choked on a sob. "I don't know!"

Hermione hid her confusion, keeping her voice calm and even. "That's okay. Let's start at the beginning with what you do know, and we'll work through it together, alright?"

This seemed to reassure Daphne somewhat, and she took a gasping breath before speaking.

"I—I was heading—the library, maybe? The common room? I don't even remember anymore—"

"That's okay," Hermione assured her. "You were going somewhere. It doesn't matter where."

"Yes," Daphne managed. "I was walking somewhere— it doesn't matter—" Daphne's words were erratic, choked and abrupt. "What does matter is—is— Cassius found me in the hall, and he pulled me into a closet."

"Cassius?" Tracey repeated, exchanging a wide-eyed look with Millie. "Cassius Warrington?"

"Yes," Daphne said, sniffing. "Ever since he asked me to the ball and I said yes, he's been—he's been less… appropriate... than he should be. And like—it was—it was okay, I didn't mind that much—"

"When you say, 'less appropriate'," Hermione said, doing her best to keep her voice even and calm, hiding the dark flame slowly growing in her chest, "what do you mean?"

"He's been—well, you're not really supposed to properly snog when courting at this stage," Daphne explained, sniffing. "Some kissing is okay, but like—he was using his tongue, and it was indecent, really, but I could handle it, I thought. He was so insistent, and I didn't want to upset him—"

"So he pulled you into the closet," Pansy reminded her, getting Daphne back on track. "What happened then?"

"I—I thought he just wanted to snog some more. And we did a little–snog, I mean. We snogged a little – but then—he told me he had this truffle—a chocolate—and he wanted to eat it from my lips and have chocolate-covered kisses—" Daphne bit her lip, her eyes watering, and she hid her head in her hands. "And I—I didn't really want to, it sounded too sensual and kind of weird, but he pushed the chocolate into my mouth, and I bit into it, and—" she broke off, choking on a sob "—and that's where it all goes fuzzy."

"Fuzzy?" Hermione repeated, a feeling of dread mounting.

"I—I don't remember everything that happened," Daphne admitted. "I remember being dizzy, like I wasn't in my body—I remember him kissing me lower, on my neck—he was messing with my robes—but it all goes blurry after that." She pressed her fists in her eyes. "I knew I shouldn't have eaten the chocolate—it was just too weird, too random—and I didn't want to—"

Daphne started crying in earnest once more, and Tracey wrapped an arm around her, holding her as she sobbed. Hermione slowly stood, turning to Millie, who straightened immediately and came over.

"I need you to go to Madame Pomfrey's," Hermione told Millie quietly. "Get some of that tea we learned about before, during that lecture with all the girls last year."

Millie's eyes were sharp. "Do we think she needs that?"

"I don't know," Hermione said, her voice low. "But better safe than sorry. If she doesn't need it, it's just tea – it won't hurt her. But if she does…"

She trailed off, and Millie nodded grimly. She left promptly, and Hermione returned to her place in front of Daphne.

"Daphne," Hermione said, her voice soft. "I know this is hard, but we need to figure out if you're hurt—"

"I don't want to go to Madame Pomfrey," Daphne said immediately. "I don't want to—no one can know, Hermione—no one can know, the shame of it—"

"No. Do not feel ashamed. None of this is your fault," Hermione said viciously, taking Daphne's hands in hers. She looked her square in the eyes, determined. "This is Cassius Warrington's fault entirely. You are blameless. You are just a victim here, do you understand?"

Daphne's lip quivered. "Other—other boys won't see it like that—"

"No one has to know," Pansy promised Daphne. "No one else has to know. We don't need to go to Pomfrey. We just need to know if you're injured—"

Daphne sniffed, sitting up slightly and wiping at her nose.

"I—I don't think so?" she ventured. "I'm—it's a bit sore down there, but I don't think—I think maybe just his fingers were prodding around? But—I'm—I'm not sure—"

"What was it like when you started remembering things again?" Hermione asked. "Was Cassius still with you?"

"…Yes," Daphne said, after a pause. "He was—he was messing with his robes, buttoning them back up. There was—there was a bad taste in my mouth, lingering – the closet smelled bad—" She paused, cringing "—and I think he Vanished something off my face, too—"

"Your knickers were still on?" Tracey asked, and Daphne's eyes welled up.

"Yes, but they were—they were damp, and I don't know if it was him or me—"

"Let's leave that for now," Hermione coached. "What else happened when you came to?"

Daphne paused, taking a deep breath.

"I was on the floor," she said slowly. "Not lying down or anything – crouching, maybe? – and my—my robes were unbuttoned to my waist, and my—my stays were undone—"

"Did Cassius say anything?" Pansy asked. There was a venomous note in her voice that Hermione could hear, but Daphne didn't seem to pick up on it.

"He—he said something. Something about it being good? Me doing a good job? I don't know—but he said that we should leave separately so we wouldn't get caught – he left, and I just kind of sat there in a daze. It took—it took a while for me to stop feeling so dizzy, and once I wasn't—" Daphne started crying again. "I—I didn't know what to do. It was like I was under Imperio, numbly doing up my laces and buttoning up my robes, and then I just came here…"

"It's okay now, Daphne," Hermione promised her. "You're here, you're safe, and we'll make sure he pays for this."

Daphne looked up, alarmed.

"I'm—I'm practically engaged to him," she said, anxiously. "Hermione, I can't—you can't—"

"Do you want to be engaged to someone who would do this to you?" Hermione demanded, her voice hard, and Daphne winced.

"I—I mean, no, but—" Daphne looked like she was going to puke. "I—I can't break off the engagement—the scandal, Hermione—and everyone would know what happened—"

"Nobody is going to know what happened who you don't want to know," Hermione said viciously. "No one. This is an internal issue within Slytherin, and all anyone else will know is that Slytherin justice was meted out, if they know anything at all."

Daphne sniffled, looking up at Hermione with watery eyes.

"Can you—can you make sure my courtship is broken?" she asked Hermione quietly, her voice broken. "I'm—I'm not strong enough to duel him. But you are. You could duel him, or… something. Just something. I don't want him—he's my date to the Yule Ball, and I can't—Hermione, I can't—"

"I'll take care of it," Hermione promised her, her tone dark. "Don't you worry about a thing."

Daphne bit her lip, looking like she wanted to ask a question, then seemingly thought the better of it. Pansy, Tracey, and Hermione exchanged dark looks, collectively vowing vengeance for Daphne in silence. Daphne's sobs steadied out so she was crying more gently, and Tracey was still rubbing her back to comfort her when Millie returned.

"I got it," Millie said, bearing a cup and saucer. She looked at Hermione. "I've got a large flask as well in my pocket, just in case—I don't know the dosing, really, and I didn't want to answer Pomfrey's questions—"

"That's fine," Hermione assured her. "Daphne, here. Drink this."

Numbly, Daphne took the cup and saucer from Millie, steam still coming up from the cup. The feel of a teacup in her hands seemed to help center Daphne, steadying her, and she blew on the tea before drinking deeply.

"Mmm. Thanks, Millie," Daphne sighed, setting it down. "That's better than I thought it'd be. Tastes like home."

Tracey said something kind to Daphne, helping her drink more tea, but Hermione had frozen in place, her eyes wide. It was as if her ears had started ringing, but there wasn't a sound to be heard – just a non-sound drowning out everything else.

"Daphne," she said slowly. "When you say it tastes like 'home', what do you mean?"

Daphne looked up at Hermione, confused.

"The tea?" she asked. "I mean, it's not raspberry, but it tastes a bit like one of my mother's favorites. It's nice."

Hermione felt like her heart had stopped.

As carefully as possible, trying not to betray anything, Hermione asked, "Do you think your mother would send you some if you asked nicely?"

Daphne blinked, then shrugged. "I think she'd do that." She looked up at Hermione. "Do you want me to ask?"

"Yes," Hermione said, feeling like she couldn't breathe. "That would—that would be good."