Chapter 6

Minerva crept stealthily into the hospital ward and settled into the chair abandoned by Ginny. Entwining her fingers with Hermione's, she bent low over the woman's chest, listening to the measure of respiration. Relieved to auscultate a strong steady airflow, Minerva pulled back to better examine Hermione's face. The shadows around the young witch's eyes looked like smudges of charcoal, her pallor was still wan, and there was a peppering of small cuts across her right cheek and forehead.

"Oh, lass…" Minerva combed the hair off Hermione's face with her fingers, tucking strands behind delicate ears. "I am so sorry. I should have seen. I knew there was something amiss."

A reflexive tightening of Hermione's hand elicited a remorseful smile from Minerva. "Ah, if only you were forgiving me. I'm not sure I ever will." Tracing her fingertips along Hermione's jaw, Minerva vowed, "I shan't abandon you again. I will be here with you until we catch whoever is behind this. I promise you, Hermione, I will not rest until you are avenged."

Standing, she tucked the bedsheet tightly around her victimized pupil and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Sleep well. I will be right here." She frowned at the absence of response and, seamlessly morphing into her animagus, leapt onto the neighboring bed and curled into a furry ball determined to stand watch for the night.

Minerva lay awake listening to the sounds of the castle. A windblown rain was buffeting the windowpanes and a fire crackled from across the room, casting heat and an orange glow through the dorm. A breathless, choked moan from the bed next to hers abruptly caught Minerva's attention. The tableau before her froze her heart. Hermione was on the bed, her body bowed off the mattress caught up in a moment of frenzied rapture. Feline eyes detected a hulking dark shadow contorted between Hermione's writhing legs.

Before she was even off her cot, Minerva struck the assailant with three spells. "GET OFF OF HER YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Minerva roared.

A screech of pain and anger reverberated about the sterile space as Minerva's curses hit their mark. Minerva leapt onto the mattress, covering Hermione with her own body, and searched for her opponent. Initially, she had cast an anti-apparition net around the room before blasting the creature off of Hermione with a stunning spell. From her new vantage point standing over Hermione, she tapped into her animagus hunting skills and opened her senses. She turned in a half crouch to face a soft scratching sound and pulled back with a hiss of pain from catching a handful of claws across her jaw.

She shot a curse blindly toward the foot of the bed when she felt Hermione's body start to slide away. Quickly lashing Hermione to the bed with ropes converted from the blanket to keep her in place, Minerva leapt across to another bed, turned, and fired off a number of curses aimed under Hermione's bed. She earned another unholy shriek for her efforts. Catching a glimpse of a shadow skittering across the floor, Minerva lit up the hospital wing in bright colors as she, in a display of inhuman speed and accuracy, threw hexes and curses without pause.

After bludgeoning the intruder with countless offensive spells, Minerva ended the barrage with a transfiguration spell that turned her opponent into a stone statue. She stood atop a mattress, panting and disheveled, watching the block of granite for any sign of spell deterioration.

"Bloody hell! Now I know why Snape ran away from you."

Minerva whirled about to find Ginny standing with her back pressed against the door. Raising her eyebrow in defiance, Minerva agreed with an arrogant smirk, "Indeed." A quick check confirmed no change with the enemy. "Will you go and fetch Madame Pomfrey and then find Professor Flitwick and Professor Corbyn for me?"

"On it."

The door banged shut behind Ginny and Minerva stepped down from her perch. Not willing to take any chances, she transfigured a set of shackles from the ropes holding Hermione and locked them to the limbs of her fallen adversary before attaching them to metal rings she fastened to the floor. She had just stepped back from the task when Poppy flew into the room.

"What on earth happened?"

"A bit of a kerfuffle," Minerva responded loftily. "Will you give me a hand?" she directed Poppy towards Hermione. They worked together to place Hermione properly in the bed before rearranging blankets over her.

"I'm afraid you will need to reevaluate our patient. I interrupted another attack."

"You… who was it?"

"I think the proper question is what was it?" The door banged open again, admitting Filius and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, Professor Reginald Corbyn. "Ah, here you are. I need you to confirm an identification," she instructed Corbyn, "and I need you to add some security measures, Filius."

The men stepped forward together, both freezing in their footsteps at the sight before them. On the floor, encased in stone, was a creature best known through horror stories told around campfires. It was a humanoid form with horns atop its head, large bat-like wings protruding from its back, and a whip tail extending from the base of its spine. Minerva's spell did nothing to precisely preserve the facial features, but what could be made out was hideous.

"By Merlin's whiskers, that's a succubus," Corbyn exclaimed excitedly.

"Minerva, what has happened?" Filius was never one Minerva would consider slow or inept. She watched him closely as he took in the entire scene, his eyes coming to rest on Hermione. "Did it...?"

"Yes, Filius. She was the victim."

"Is she…?"

"No. She is still alive, if barely."

"Headmistress, is it ok…?"

"Yes, Ginevra, you may come in. I believe we have managed to contain the situation."

Poppy sat back from her examination with a sigh, "One step forward and two steps back. She is not as bad off as she was earlier today, but she did relapse a bit." Grey eyes widened as they took in the sight of Minerva listening intently. "What happened to you?"

"What?"

"Your face. You're bleeding."

Minerva wiped a hand along her jaw and came away with fingers sticky from blood. "It got me with its claws." She confessed.

"Well, let's get it cleaned up." Poppy summoned a cloth soaked with a foul smelling liquid.

"Must you?"

"We don't want it getting infected, do we?"

Minerva reluctantly allowed Poppy to treat her wound. When the medi-witch finally stepped away, Minerva questioned, "What about Hermione? Will she come back to us soon?"

"I cannot predict when she might awaken. I expect it will be a long vigil."

"I'll stay with her." Ginny offered.

"I think we will take turns." Minerva amended. "You may stay the rest of the night. These creatures are solitary, so I do not expect any further activity. Gentlemen…" Minerva returned to the subject of the succubus in their midst. "Shall we?"

"Where to?" Filius inquired.

"Control of Magical Creatures. I believe they still have overnight staffing."

"Very good. Will you join us?"

"Aye. I will need to give a statement. Mr. Corbyn, will you assist please?"

"Oh, of course. Yes. I'm with you."

The two wizards, with the help of a levitation spell, hauled the stone demon out of the room and headed towards the Headmistress' office to access the floo network. Minerva followed, leaving Poppy and Ginny with their precious patient.