Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Captive Audience	By : magentasouth Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 44847 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I neither own nor profit from any part of the Harry Potter universe.

Chapter List
- 1-Ch 1
- 2-Ch 2
- 3-Ch 3
- 4-Ch 4
- 5-Ch 5
- 6-Ch 6
- 7-Ch 7
- 8-Ch 8
- 9-Ch 9
- 10-Ch 10
- 11-Ch 11
- 12-Ch 12
- 13-Ch 13
- 14-Ch 14
- 15-Ch 15 (just edited - no addition)
- 16-Ch 16
- 17-Ch 17
- 12
- 13
- 14
She
couldn�t stay here!
It was
beyond tolerability.� She felt guilty as
hell but she couldn�t stay in this bloody house with her wonderful, terribly
understanding, completely non-comprehending parents for one more day.

If she had to comfort and reassure her mother one more time!� Or argue with
her father about the �best thing for her to do now�.�

Aaaaugh.�

TOO. Much.� It was beyond enough.� It was
getting to the point where she needed to leave or she really was going to kill
them.
She�d
been overjoyed when she�d understood that it actually was her parents � nothing
had happened to them.� She had no idea
how Voldemort had persuaded her to believe she�d really been killing them but
obviously, to judge from Harry�s reactions to the news of the others, he hadn�t
done that for everyone she�d killed. �The
others really were missing or confirmed dead. �She gave up on pondering the various methods
by which she might have been duped when it came to her parents and why he�d do it.

He�d wanted to know whether she would obey.�
That was what he�d said it was about.

And then he�d told her to attack Harry.�

But it didn�t make sense to her even so.�
It didn�t add up.
An
assistant from St Mungo�s had brought her and her parents later that evening to
a door that opened onto a muggle street, where her parents had parked the
car.�

They�d taken her home and she�d walked around like someone in a dream.�

Everything looked unreal � like a place she thought didn�t exist anymore � as if,
by taking her, Voldemort had simultaneously unmade all of the webs of
association she had around her.� All of
it became vague and misty in her mind.�
Dreams of another life.
She�d
looked around and realised just how cruel it was for her to have suddenly
reappeared in her parent�s lives as she had.
It was
just..she could tell that they hadn�t been beside themselves with grief
anymore.�

They hadn�t been stuck in a hell of continually searching for her everywhere,
as they might have been if she�d disappeared in the Muggle world.� Unable to verify the information they were
given, they were forced to accept that their daughter had been a terrible
casualty in a war they did not understand.�

They couldn�t do anything.. and without her, they no longer had any link to the
magical world, so it became a war that they not only didn�t understand but that
had no bearing on their lives.�

While everyone else had fought and struggled, they�d been going about their
lives, working in the dental practice, watching coronation street, eating lamb
roast.� After a year, the intervals
between black despair and angry tears were probably growing longer.�

From the way they had reacted to seeing her again alive, it was clear that they
were still very upset about their missing, presumed dead, daughter.. the joy of
their lives, the most promising little girl in the world � but that before Harry
had called them, they had already begun to deal with her death and move
on.��

She could see it by the way that there was a half completed crossword in the
evening paper, the way that her mother�s knitting was half unpacked in its bag
beside her chair, midway through an aronknit for her father.� She could see that her father was partway
through a new model � a german frigate with hundreds of fiddly little
pieces.� There were books with bookmarks
in them.�

Life was going on at the gentle pace normal to her parent�s house. �
And now that
their daughter was not dead, her
parents were obviously feeling terribly guilty for having accepted her loss..
for not spending every moment of her
absence crying and searching for her - and so were overcompensating.��
Her
father kept trying to persuade her to agree to see a psychologist.� He alternated with discussions about which
muggle university she might like to attend and where she saw her life going now,
after �all that trouble with those
people�.

It became frustrating to have the same argument with him over and over.� She wasn�t prepared to see a psychologist, psychotherapist,
psychiatrist, neurologist, doctor of any description whatsoever, priest or any
kind of new age healer.� She was not
planning on attending muggle
university any time soon and had no plans to leave the wizarding world
permanently either.� She was not certain
in which direction her life would be going now but it would start within the
magical community and would likely revolve around some aspect therein.

For goodness sake � the last time she attended muggle school she was ten.�
There was no way she could go to university.� Her father was delusional!
Her
mother was worse if that was at all
possible.� She just kept trying and
trying to force Hermione to tell her
what had happened.� She seemed to think
it was very important for her to �get it off her chest�
Hermione
was quite happy with it ON her chest where it belonged.�

Yes.. I was abducted mum.. he was a psychotic, brilliant, dark wizard who killed a lot of people I know.. and was responsible for the deaths of
probably thousands more.� He persuaded me to kill several people, including, incidentally, you and dad �
although now that I see you, I�m not sure what to believe anymore. �

I do know that he was absolutely amazing
in bed.. I even liked it a little bit when he tortured me.. In fact � I think I
might love him.. in a weird, sick and twisted way.��

Oh...and also.. I accidentally killed him and I really regret it.� So much so that I spend half my day dreaming
of ways to bring him back.. but I can�t let anyone
know about it or they�ll lock me up for the rest of my life in a prison
horrible beyond anything you can even conceive of.

There..� Feel better now you know?� I�m so glad I got that off my chest.
Her mother�s other problem, aside from her
continuous attempts to �be close� to Hermione and �have a heart to heart� with
her � was her tendency to remain continuously on the verge of emotional
meltdown.� Hermione loved her to bits but
the continuous bursting into tears and clinging to her was getting old.�

She didn�t know what to say to reassure her.�
It had all been �a bit much� for her to deal with on the first day they�d
brought her home and it had gotten progressively worse for her with each
successive day that she was trapped in the house with her mother, unable to
leave, unable to tell her to go away.

She needed to be alone.. needed silence.. needed to think about him.

And her own intolerance for her mother�s pain was making her feel guilty.
If she
was honest with herself - really it was kind of a programming.� She knew that she loved her mother to bits
because she always had loved her to
bits � despite the fact that she couldn�t stand being around her anymore.� In actual fact, she had been drifting away
from her parents for years before this happened.� They couldn�t really understand her and she�d
just found less and less comfort in returning home to them as time went
by.� And that made her feel terrible too.�
Wishing she could spend the holidays at the Burrow or at Hogwarts made
her feel like a failure as a daughter.�

She�d tried hard in the past to persuade herself that she was happy when she
was around her parents.. but she simply wasn�t.�
It felt..oppressive.� It was
emotionally taxing.� There was quite
honestly no real basis between them anymore.�

As Voldemort had said, cruelly, - they didn�t understand her.� At all. ��
After two
weeks of having to deal with more �face-time� with her parents than she�d had
in the last ten years, not to put too fine a point on it, but both of her parents were driving her
barmy.� �She was almost ready to start pulling her hair
out.

Whatever Harry had done to keep the Aurors and reporters off her back seemed to
be working.� Not one person from the wizarding
world had turned up at the door of her parents respectable little suburban
home.�

But that only meant that she was entirely cut off.�

She couldn�t send an owl.� She didn�t
have a wand anymore since Draco had broken hers and she didn�t know how to apparate
anyway.� Her parents weren�t connected to
the floo network.�

She didn�t even have any money to speak of � so even if she could elude her
mother�s hawklike supervision and escape, she couldn�t take a bus, couldn�t get
to the leaky cauldron and back to the wizarding world.. where she might..

Might what?!
She didn�t
even know what she would do if she could get back.� Getting back seemed to be the end of her mind�s
desperate calculation.
Owling Harry
when she got there was out of the question.�
The best he�d be able to do would be to invite her to come and stay with
him.� No doubt with him and Ginny.. and lord knew probably Ron as well.�

She couldn�t face that!��

Owling Draco was still as horrible an idea as the first time she�d thought of
it.�

Seriously.� He�d cruciated her for
several minutes.� He�d broken her wand.� Almost six years of her life had been spent
with him insulting and humiliating her at every available opportunity.� Going, of her own free will, to his ministry
impenetrable manor, while unarmed and recently recovered from serious injury,
was a bad idea.
She didn�t
really know where else she could go though.

And she needed to go somewhere.

Somewhere that was not here.�

Somewhere where she didn�t have to alternate between feelings of terrible guilt
and responsibility for the pain her parents were in now, and feelings of terrible
guilt and responsibility for raising her wand and, without a second thought,
killing them both.�
Even if
it hadn�t been real.. whatever he�d done to trick her into believing it was
true � it had been real for her. �She had killed
them both.� With barely a
flinch.�
It was
impossible to look at them now without seeing them die.� Over and over again.�
She
couldn�t stay with them here.

No matter how much it might hurt them if she left, she just could not
stay.�� She�d go mad.
But she
had no idea what to do now and no one who she might turn to.

At least... no one who she was willing
to turn to.
So when, on
the sixteenth day since her parents had brought her home from the hospital, as
she was sitting in her room, revelling in the entire half hour that she�d had without her mother coming in and having
yet another emotional moment all over her, there was a familiar tap at her
bedroom window � she didn�t care who
the owl might be from.� She�d accept an
owl from Ron.. Hell.. she�d accept an owl from Dolores Umbrage at this point.�
She ran to the window and let
it in.�
Her
mother burst in only moments later, wild eyed and she was forced to actually
tousle with her for the letter she�d just taken from the panicked bird.� The owl fluttered skittishly and would have
flown away if Hermione hadn�t had the presence of mind to slam the window
quickly.� Then she turned to subduing
Jane Granger who was reacting as if the letter that had arrived, which she had
managed to get her hands on, was anthrax tainted and liable to kill them both
if not confiscated and destroyed.�
�MOTHER!�
Hermione
resorted to the word only in the direst of circumstances, much as with Ron�s
full name.�
�Stop
being so ridiculous at once!� That is my
letter.� I am of age and you have no right to try to take it from me.� Give it back right now!�
Jane Granger
promptly burst into tears.
From the
emotional wailing and carrying on, Hermione divined that her mother believed
that she would end up dead and/or in a gutter if she had anything more to do
with the wizarding world � and as there was clearly a brown owl sitting on her
dresser looking at them both with intelligent yellow eyes, this letter
constituted �having something to do with the wizarding world� and was thus the
enemy.
Hermione�s
fingers itched for a wand.� She actually considered whether incarcerous
might not work wandlessly because she really,
really wanted to use it on her.
Having no
other option, and knowing that if the drama went on until her father came home
this evening then the letter would definitely
be destroyed, Hermione took a deep breath and went about the wretchedly
annoying business of calming her mother down and persuading her to see reason.
If that
failed, she had decided that she would brain her with the desklamp.� Enough was enough.

As it
turned out, the letter was not from Harry, Draco, not even from Ron Weasley,
Rita Skeeter or Dolores Umbrage.� It was
from Gringotts.
Which
really made little sense to Hermione.
Not only
that but it was very vague and uninformative.�
It simply said that she should come in at her earliest convenience and
speak with a Goblin named Grovgut regarding several different matters of urgency.
And that really changed very little in her
situation since, she�d started out by wanting to get to Diagon Alley and having
no means of getting there.. and now she needed
to get to Diagon Alley.. still having no means of getting there.
But she
had an owl now.�
After
persuading her mother that the letter didn�t portend wizards descending upon
them suddenly to abduct her, she sat down to pen a letter.� She had only two hours until her father would
be returning from the practice so she needed to have it done quickly.
And she
wasn�t sure who to write to.� If she sent
it to Harry and Ron intercepted it.. or perhaps even Ginny if Hermione was
going to be an absolute cynical realist.. it was possible that it could be
destroyed.
On the
other hand.. owling Draco Malfoy for help was in and of itself an unreliable
prospect and she only had ONE owl.� It
wouldn�t come back.
In the
end she wrote the letter to Harry, asking for help reaching Gringotts as she
had neither wand nor money and her parents were being a bit silly about
everything and refusing to let her outside the house.

She tried to word it neutrally but she had the feeling that it still came out
sounding like a plea to be saved.
Harry liked saving people.
The
response came back less than an hour later with a brown owl that she didn�t
recognise.� In the letter, Harry was effusively
apologetic for not realising that she had no way of contacting anyone.� He�d thought that her silence was due to the
fact that she didn�t want to talk to him.�
He promised to take her to Gringotts in the morning and asked whether
she wanted him to come by that evening and talk to her parents about how they
were treating her.
The tone
was slightly strange, Hermione thought.�
She answered that there was no need for him to speak to her parents, she
would explain things to them herself tonight before this went on any longer.
It did
not go well.
It in
fact went so far from well that she
ended up climbing out her bedroom window and running away down the dark
suburban street after her father had locked
her inside her room to �protect� her.
And that
left her, when she�d stopped running, on a different
suburban street a mile from her parents house.�
In the dark.� Without any money or
means of contacting anyone.

In other words.. it left her up excrement river without a means of
propulsion.�
Stubbornly
she walked on even though she knew that she was extremely far from London, where the only floos she knew of were
located.� It was cold and she wished she�d
thought to bring a warmer jacket.� She�d
been more concerned with getting away without being caught at that moment.
At one
point she hid in some bushes when a group of rowdy teenaged boys passed down
the street.� They were laughing and
joking with one another and, although she told herself that they probably
wouldn�t have bothered her, the last thing she needed right now was to go from
a bad to a worse situation.� After they�d
moved on, she climbed out and continued on down the road that she knew would
lead after another few miles to the motorway.��
She was wondering whether she might have the courage to hitchhike.�

She didn�t have her wand and the thought of being helpless and getting into an
unknown person�s car terrified her.�

Logically, she could tell herself that muggles did it all the time, but it didn�t
change the fact that she felt intensely vulnerable out here in the open without
her wand.
Or maybe
it wasn�t just the fact that she was
without her wand that was giving her the uneasy feeling.
She walked
a bit faster.� It might be better to be
in the car of some muggle than out here on the street where it was so still and
silent.
After
another couple of minutes, with the hairs standing up on the back of her neck,
telling herself that she was being ridiculous, she began to run.

She
reached the motorway without any untoward occurrences and found that there was
a reasonable intermittent traffic of cars, thankfully. �
A soft
chuckle from somewhere behind her made her whirl around, wide eyed,
defensively.
There was
nothing there.� The street was empty.
That didn�t
mean anything though, she knew.� Whoever
it was could be disillusioned; they could be under an invisibility cloak or
even using an invisibility potion.� There
were probably half a dozen other means of rendering a person unable to be seen
that she didn�t know about.
She
glanced back at the motorway.� There was
a car coming.� Keeping her eyes trained on
the dark street, trying to catch the merest flicker of inexplicable movement..
the slightest haze in the air.. a shadow out of place.. she stuck out her
thumb.
Several
things happened in quick succession then.�
First the approaching car threw on brakes with a screech, at which point
she realised that it was her father�s car
and that he was behind the wheel,
looking furious.�� Her gaze, then
shifting warily to the dark street, caught a haze of movement in front of her,
and she leapt backward from the pale blue incarcerous that was suddenly heading
out of nowhere toward her, only to be nearly run over by the Knight bus.

She had no money..but she scrambled up onto the bus even so and hoped to hell
whoever had been following her hadn�t gotten on.
The
conductor was a young man with an overabundance of acne.� He asked her �where to, miss?� and waited
impatiently while she dithered.�

After about ten seconds of idling, during which time her father raced out of
his car to the side of the bus and started banging on the door and frantically yelling
for her to come out, while she sat stonily, trying to pretend that the
commotion had nothing to do with her, the conductor yelled to the driver to
drive on and tossed himself down on the bed opposite her.
�Scuse me
for saying it, but don�t I know you?� he asked after a couple of minutes of awkward
silence, his brow furrowed and eyes narrowed as if trying to work out from
where her face was familiar.
�No.. I�ve
just got one of those faces� she told him, making her decision.� It had really only been between two places
anyway.� There was nowhere else for her
to go.

�Can you take me to Grimmauld Place in London, please?� she said firmly.� �I don�t have any money on me, but someone
there will be able to pay my fare.�
The
conductor laughed.� �Oh there�s no fares
on the Knight bus, Miss.� It�s a ministry
service now!��

He looked at her again as if he were trying to place her and then shook his
head and got up, returning to the front of the bus to stand next to the driver.
Hermione
glanced around nervously, hoping again that whoever had cast upon her hadn�t
gotten on with her.�

There was one wizard lying in a bed at the back of the bus under the covers,
apparently asleep.� Otherwise the cramped
space full of beds was empty.�

After a few minutes she decided that she was probably ok and looked out the
window, watching the landscape flash by at a speed only attainable by
magic.�

A relief settled in her that she hadn�t felt for two weeks.� She was going back to the real world.� Maybe everything wouldn�t be alright,
necessarily, but it was better to be not-alright in the wizarding world than
locked in her bedroom in muggle suburbia.
She
experienced a moment of worry when she got out of the bus to find that 12
Grimmauld Place was not visible to her.�
Obviously they�d gotten a new secret keeper since Professor Dumbledore�s
death.�

Uneasily she shifted from foot to foot.�
Telling herself that she knew that there was a house at 12 Grimmauld
place did not make said house appear.�
In the
end, not knowing what else to do as there didn�t seem many options, she
resorted to yelling out �Harry� once at the top of her lungs.�
Several houses
switched on their lights and in 10 Grimmauld place a middle aged woman twitched
aside her curtains and peered out at her, but, to her relief, it worked.� Harry soon appeared out of nowhere in pajamas
with a blue bathrobe, more than a little confused at seeing her there.�
�Mione?!� How did you get here?� What�s happened?!� You look awful!� I thought you were going to stay at your
parent�s place till tomorrow morning.��
He seemed
to remember himself and stepped up to her quickly, putting an arm around her
shoulders and whispering in her ear �Harry Potter lives at 12 Grimmauld Place�

She flinched away slightly, uncomfortably.�
His breath on her ear like that felt..strange.� She told herself that her stomach hadn�t
performed a tiny flip.

No not at all.� It was just awkward.�
That was all.
Harry
dropped his arm from her shoulder, probably not even realising her discomfort,
and turned back toward the pavement, where the familiar dark old house was
squeezing itself out from between 10 and 14 Grimmauld place in her vision.�

She thought it looked like someone had cleaned the grimy old windows
finally.� Probably Ginny�s influence she
assumed.� Harry had never much cared
about those things.
He led
her up the steps and opened the door for her to enter.�

She smiled uneasily, finding Ginny standing halfway up the stairs in a knee
length nightgown that only served to emphasise the gentle bump on her belly.�� She was wearing a look of concern but Hermione
wasn�t sure whether she was concerned for
her or about her.� She mumbled a soft hi Ginny and followed Harry
into the kitchen, where he put on a jug of water and got out some tea.�
Half an
hour later, on her second cup of tea, she had just finished explaining to her at-one-time
close-friends how she had spent the last sixteen days and just what had
happened earlier that evening. �Harry was
more than a little worried when she told him about someone throwing a spell at
her before the knight bus came.�
�You were
safe when you were in your parent�s house.�
The Order put a lot of wards and protections around the property.� You shouldn�t have just run away like that,
Mione.� I would have come in the
morning.� They wouldn�t have stopped me
from getting to you.� It was really
dangerous for you to go out by yourself � especially without a wand.�
�I know that� she responded
agitatedly.� �But.. you don�t understand �
I had to get away.. I couldn�t stay there anymore..and then he ..he locked me in.. as if I were a
prisoner..� Harry.. I know I didn�t
think.� But I had to leave!�
�Yeah.� He
said softly, his eyes on the tabletop as he scratched at a nick on the edge of
the table.� �Yeah.. I know the feeling.�

The verdigris eyes slid up and caught her own.�
He smiled in the weary way she was getting used to from him.� �I guess.. I�m just glad that you�re ok.� If you stay here.. you�ll be safe.� Tomorrow we�ll go to Gringotts and then I�m
taking you to get a new wand.�
A sudden
frisson of panic shrilled through her.�
What if her magic had changed so much that she needed a different wandcore?!..
what if she needed a wand with runespoor or..or thestral blood or.. something
that only dark witches tended to be able to use.� She didn�t want Harry to wonder whether
anything had happened to her magic while she was in captivity.

But she could hardly refuse to go with him.�
That would be suspicious in and of itself.�
�Thanks Harry�
she mumbled, not meeting his eyes.
�Its..
getting a bit late now� Ginny offered quietly.�
�maybe.. we should go back to bed?�
Hermione can sleep in the spare room that�s made up for Ron.�
She wasn�t
sure whether she�d actually seen the sharp narrowed-eye look that Harry shot Ginny
before it was replaced by a more neutral, friendly, expression.�

�Yeah.. You go on up.� I�ll join you in a
minute.� he said lightly.
Ginny
didn�t move.� She gave him a long, even,
look that Hermione thought held a definite element of challenge in it.�

�I can wait for you� she returned just as lightly.
�Well.. I�m
going to make up a room for Hermione on the third floor, Gin, so you might as
well head to bed.� I don�t think Hermione
or Ron would be very comfortable if I
put her in his room and he turned up out of the blue.

...Especially when she�s wandless� he added pointedly.
Ginny�s
expression sharpened and she sniffed.� �I
don�t think I like what you�re saying.�
Ron is my brother and supposedly
your best friend.� If you think-�
Harry stood
up sharply and picked up the teacups and pot, turning away to the sink.

�Ginny.. There are almost a dozen bedrooms in this house and it takes exactly
two spells to make any one of them up.� You were the one who wanted to put Hermione
in Ron�s bed.� ...Just..go upstairs.� I�ll be in soon.�
Hermione
tried not to frown at Ginny and kept her eyes fixed neutrally on the woodgrain
of the table.� After a moment she heard a
huff from the redhead and the girl stomped out.�
She could hear every step she took up the stairs.
�You
know..� she said softly �I really think there must be such a thing as a Weasley
temper.� I�d never seen it before with Ginny..�
Harry
snorted, annoyed.� �You have no idea, Mione.. God.. Sometimes....�� He seemed to bite off his words and growled
under his breath in frustration.�

�This was what I wanted.. wasn�t
it?!� To be with Ginny.. to have a
family..�

He turned around and Hermione saw the sad look on his face again that she�d
seen at St Mungo�s.

�I shouldn�t say this.. especially not to you.. Godric knows she has such a
short temper when it comes to anything related to you.. but..I don�t think I really knew Ginny at all until she was on the run with Ron and me and I
think.. maybe I saw what I wanted to
see, most of the time.� By the time the
scales started to fall from my eyes, it was already too late.�
Hermione
felt a dangerous little shift in the atmosphere of the room.� Something in the way he was looking at
her.� She stood up from the chair
quickly, tucking it back under the table and avoiding his gaze.

�You�re probably just tired, Harry.� You�ve
been under stress for so long.. and you�re still under stress.� This is
what you always seemed to want.� I�m sure
that whatever problems you two are having are just related to hormones with the
pregnancy or-�
Harry
closed his eyes and tilted his head back as if in exasperation.� �yeah.�
Right.� That�ll be all it is.� Nevermind then.�

He walked briskly past her to the door and then hesitated.

�I�m ..sorry.. Mione.� You�re probably
right.� I�m just..stressed.. or something.�
Come on.� We�ll find you a room on
the third floor.�� He set off again.
She
followed, hurrying into step a couple of paces behind him.� He climbed the stairs quickly but slowed and
seemed to be paying attention to her.�
She assumed it was in deference to her recovering health.��
�Ron�s on
the first floor.� He told her in a hushed voice as they climbed, gesturing
toward the room in question as they passed the landing. �He doesn�t like
climbing stairs.� Gin and I are on the
second floor.��

When they reached the next level he pointed to the first door which was half
open.� Hermione spied Ginny sitting up in
bed looking more than a little upset.�
She glared at them both as they continued walking up the next flight of
stairs.�
Harry
didn�t speak any more as they ascended to the third floor.� It was darker up here.� Hermione remembered that she had been a
little bit scared of coming up to the third floor in Grimmauld place when she
was younger.� Now she found that she
preferred the darker heavier atmosphere.�
Harry led
her to the very end of the corridor, the last room on the third floor.� The corridor was dark and the room, when he�d
opened the door and ushered her in, was pitch black.� She stopped just inside the door and fumbled
for the light switch, forgetting that in a magical house there wouldn�t be
any.� Harry stepped in after her, perhaps
not realising she�d stopped.� For a
moment she was overbalancing and about to fall over at the sudden knock from
behind and then there was a hand on her abdomen steadying her and a breath
beside her ear and she couldn�t stop herself from shuddering in pleasure at the
sudden visceral memory of Voldemort behind her in the dark of the
dungeons.�

The moment lasted just a fraction too long before Harry removed his hand and
stepped back.�
�Sorry..�
he whispered guiltily.� Candelabras at
the far end of the room lit, throwing a soft yellow light around the large
room.�
She
wondered why he hadn�t done that before following her into the room.�
The room
in question was lovely.� Or at least.. it
was dark..and a bit odd.. and
lovely.� There were large unusual windows
at the far end of the room with pale green triangular panels on top and many
irregular thin dark blue vertical panels below.�
No doubt the room would not get a lot of light in the daytime.�

Beneath the window there was a small antique desk with a green lamp upon it and
a wooden chair pushed in beneath it.� A
bookshelf was set into the wall beside the desk although it held no books.�

In the centre of the left wall, pressed between bedside tables in a dark wood,
there was a large four post bed.�

Unlike Voldemort�s bed and the bed�s at Hogwarts, the posts on this bed only
reached shoulder height and tapered into spiral carved points.� The bed itself was made up in a dark blue
silky covering with actual throwpillows.�
Nothing was dusty.�

The room looked nothing like she
remembered rooms in Grimmauld place looking.�
It was too.. polished.. too new. �Everything in here was far too nice.� The rooms she�d seen were kind of old and
worn and tattered at the edges.�
Furniture was battered or disturbing.�
Everything.. absolutely everything..
had been layered in dust or didn�t invite one to touch it.�
�This was
going to be our room� Harry explained
softly, noticing how she was glancing around curiously. �I prepared it as a
surprise.. but Ginny didn�t like the furniture.. and refused to sleep on the
third floor.� She said it was too dark
and creepy.� She wanted a view out onto
the park.
Hermione
snorted wryly.� �More fool her then.� This room is amazing.�
The
bright smile Harry offered suddenly was somehow reminiscent of the boy he�d
been when they were still in school.�

�I�m glad you like it, Mione�
He wandered
over to an area of the wall that looked no different to any other and pressed
his hand to it.� Abruptly it popped out
toward them.� A door.� It was cleverly hidden.
�It�s a
wardrobe� he said sheepishly. �I was experimenting with a dimension charm.�� He opened it wide to display an empty double
wardrobe with three hangers dangling forlorn on the rail.

She blinked, surprised and unaccountably impressed by the neat little piece of
magic.� Harry closed the wall again
gently.�
�I�ll let
you go to bed then.� What time do you want
to go to Gringotts?� Shall I wake you up?��
She
considered it.�

�I don�t really have a time that I need to be there.. I guess.. it doesn�t
matter.� Whenever its convenient for you.
�

Er.. and Ginny of course.� I don�t know
what you have planned tomorrow.�
She felt
guilty suddenly.
�....um...Harry..
Thank you! �I�m..sorry
that I haven�t thanked you yet.� For..
for helping me.. and ..rescuing me�

The last part she didn�t feel thankful for.. but it had to be said even
so.�

�I don�t know what I would have done tonight if not for-�
She found
herself suddenly embraced and stiffened automatically.� Harry didn�t let her go this time though. �He hugged her harder for a moment till she
stopped fighting it.
�You don�t
need to thank me, Mione� He said quietly, with his face turned against her
hair.� �and you never need to think you
might be in the way.� I�ll always be there when you need me.

...After all..� you�re my best friend..�

He pulled back slightly and looked down at her from a few inches away.� The expression... he was looking at her
strangely again.� Like he had in the
kitchen.�

She swallowed and extricated herself as politely as she could from his embrace.� Her withdrawal didn�t seem to bother him much
though.� He turned and headed casually
for the door.�
�You don�t
need to worry here, Mione.�� He reassured
her quietly.� �Not about Ron turning up
and coming up here.. or whoever attacked you earlier breaking in.� I sleep lightly and the stairs up to the
third floor creak.� If anyone tries to
get up here, I�ll know about it and they�ll regret it.�

In the dim shadows near the door, his smile became quite a dark smirk.� It both suited him and looked entirely alien
on his face.� Harry didn�t smirk darkly
in her experience.�

Uneasily she wished him a good night, and received a goodnight in return, then
he had let himself out and closed the door behind him.
She
sighed closing her eyes and shaking her head at herself.
Would Draco
Malfoy have been any worse than this!?�
She�d been here for maybe an hour and she�d already caused a fight
between Harry and Ginny.� Harry was
behaving very oddly toward her and it would no doubt make the problem with Ginny
worse.

Still.. again.. it wasn�t as if she had an enormous wealth of options.� She didn�t have anyone else except her
parents or Malfoy to call on for help and no means of her own.�

It would be very difficult to find a job without NEWTs she realised.

Maybe.. she could still take the exams..

The thought of going back to Hogwarts to take another year of classes was
wretched.� She didn�t want to go back
there.
And yet..
it would solve most of her problems.� She
wouldn�t have to worry about where she lived or how to get by..

On the other hand.. her parents had always paid her fees and she doubted that
they�d be willing to do that now.� So Hogwarts
was probably out.
Well..
she still had to do something with her life.
Musing on
the fact that Lord Voldemort had asked her this very question only days ago, she started to peel off her
jacket and clothes and get ready for bed.�

By the time she�d pulled down the covers and gotten in, she�d come to the
conclusion that she needed to sit her NEWTs to have any choices at all..�� Crawling deeper in the large comfortable
bed, she determined to find out what was needed to sit her NEWTs externally and
whether Harry...and maybe Ron... would be doing the same thing.
Surely Harry
couldn�t just do without them if he wanted to be an Auror.

After
breakfast she actually considered whether she might not be better off being
tortured in Draco Malfoy�s dungeons than staying with Harry.� Even her parent�s house seemed preferable.
It had
been nice at first.� She�d woken early �
it seemed like the smallest natural light in the morning affected her now, and
her room, although the windows were stained glass, lacked curtains.�

She�d risen and reluctantly put on the same clothes she�d worn the night
before.� The bathroom was on the second
floor and she hadn�t wanted to risk waking Harry and Ginny.� Creeping down the stairs, she had tried to
keep to the banister side so as not to creak.�
The
kitchen was cold but shortly after she�d entered Kreacher had popped in with a
glower and his standard nasty muttering.�
He�d warmed the room and set a bowl of cereal per her request on the
table before vanishing again, leaving her in the quiet restful shadowy room in
peace.�
Harry had
come in after no more than five minutes, dressed in his pajama bottoms and the
blue bathrobe.� He�d wished her a good
morning brightly and put on tea before opening the window to let in the owl
that was waiting with the morning�s Daily Prophet.�

She�d accepted a cup of tea and stared vaguely at the back article of the paper
Harry was looking at while he drank his tea and waited for Kreacher to bring
him buttered toasted muffins.�

They hadn�t said a word to one another after �good morning� and it felt
perfectly wonderful.� Relaxed.. pleasant.

The article on the back of the paper was about a wizard in surrey who�d been
caught running a pest removal scam involving intentional infestation with fertility
enhanced gnomes.� The photo showed a
short, portly balding man trying to cover his face with his robes as aurors led
him away.
Just as Harry
took his first bite of muffin with melting butter, Ginny had walked in wearing
a dark green velvet dressing gown with empire waist.� If she was ostensibly �not up�, it was odd
that she�d apparently taken the time to style her hair and apply beauty
charms.� She had looked...radiant.� Hermione wished her a good morning and
continued eating her cereal.

Ginny responded �sleep well?�� Her
expression suggested that Hermione sleeping well would somehow be a direct act
of aggression.
�Yes.� Thank you.� She�d answered honestly.�
�Don�t
you find the atmosphere up there a little...well.. dark?!� Ginny had asked critically.�
�I try never to go up there.�
Sirius and Remus and Professor Dumbledore all commented on the dark
magic practically ingrained in the walls on the third floor.� Oozing out of the cracks, I think was the way
they put it.� They said it wouldn�t be
healthy to be around.� Especially not for
the baby.�
Hermione had
paused with a spoonful of cereal halfway to her mouth.

She�d found the atmosphere up there comforting.�
Homey.� She�d felt better in that
room than she had anywhere since the day Harry had pulled her out of the cage

In her peripheral vision the wizard in question had tilted the corner of the
paper he was reading and was looking at Ginny scornfully.
�Really?�
she had answered lightly. �I thought the room was lovely.� I�m not used to so much sunlight yet.� As I�m not pregnant, I don�t think the room
poses a greater threat to my health than the exposure to dark magic I received over
the course of the last year.
Ginny had
looked more than a little put out.� �What
room did Harry set up for you?� she asked, reaching across the table and taking
Harry�s other buttered muffin half.� Hermione
saw his expression darken at the act which could
have come across as affectionate but instead felt possessive, pushy and
demonstrative.
Hermione hesitated.�

�The last room at the end of the corridor�
Then Ginny
had gone red and growled at Harry that she wanted to talk to him in private right now.
It was
clear that Harry was less than impressed
in the way he looked at his fianc� coldly, folded his paper and indicated that
she should precede him out of the room.

He�d paused and placed a hand on Hermione�s shoulder.� His soft, embarrassed apology made her feel
even worse.
She�d
heard them climb the stairs to the second floor and then there had been the
furious high pitched yell in fishwife register before the door slammed and the
silencing charms cut off whatever Ginny was screaming at Harry. Hermione had
only caught the first two words. �What did-�

Really.. she didn�t want to know.
It had
been bad enough sitting there, her appetite for the cereal gone, knowing that Harry
and Ginny were upstairs having a blaring fight again because of her.� But
the morning could get worse it seemed.�
She heard the sound of the floo flaring in the sitting room and seconds
later, Ron strolled in. �Just stopped by for break-��

He�d stuttered to a halt when he saw her sitting there and went pale before
dark red rose on his face like some kind of comical cartoon.
�Does Ginny know you�re here?!� he
growled?!� �I bloody knew it..� I knew you�d be
after him come hell or high water!� Where
is he!?� I�ll kill him!!�
He�d
about turned and raced out of the room roaring for Harry.
Hermione
had pushed her bowl of cereal back and banged her head on the table lightly a
couple of times in frustration before dropping it to her folded arms on the
tabletop.
Surely Draco
wouldn�t actually torture her.� Maybe.. if she had a wand and could defend herself
it might be fine!
Harry had
come down by himself eventually, dressed and with a small tight smile.� The entire house was silent.� Hermione hadn�t asked what had happened but
she had the feeling that Harry had just lost his temper.�

It didn�t happen often but when it did, the walls shook, generally.� He was prone to spontaneous bursts of
wandless magic when he really lost his temper.
�Shall we
go?� he�d asked and she hadn�t needed a second prompt to get up and evacuate
the house as quickly as politely possible.
Harry apparated
them both to the entry point of Diagon Alley.�

She supposed that it was obvious that he�d be able to apparate � he was at Hogwarts
at the end of sixth year when the apparition exams took place and he�d been on
the run for ages.� Apparition was a
necessary survival skill.

It bothered her for the first time that she couldn�t do it.� It seemed such a small thing but it made her
suddenly painfully aware of how much schooling she had missed over the last
year.� The familiar old anxiety settled
in the pit of her stomach.� She wasn�t as
good as the others.� She wouldn�t be good
enough.�
�Hermione..�
Harry had said uneasily. �You.. have thought about what�s going to happen when
people see us walking down Diagon Alley together, right?�
She
looked at him and blinked, her mouth an O as the probable commotion unrolled in
her imagination.�

�Oh my god.� Harry!� No!� I
really hadn�t.� I don�t want to be in the prophet.� I don�t want to have to face people! �Lets..� i�ve changed my mind.. I don�t need to
go to Gringotts.� It�s not important..
lets go-�
�You
need a wand.� I�m going to drag you to Ollivander and Mercer�s and then i�m probably going to force you to
let me buy you some new clothes.� You
might as well go to Gringotts while we�re here.�
Hermione
shook her head.� �I can�t, Harry.� I didn�t think
about this.� Maybe..�
He
smiled a wry half grin. �I can�t believe it.�
You not thinking something
through.� Look.. it�ll be fine,
Mione.� You have to go out sometime and I�m with you.� I�ll make sure no one hurts you.� Trust me..�
I just.. wanted to make sure you knew what we were in for in there.�
She
started to fumble excuses again but Harry was already tapping the bricks,
unmindful of her disarray.

as the wall started to crumble open, he took her arm and folded it through his
own, patting her comfortingly and smiling again.

�Alright then.. Let�s do this.� he said quietly, and she could see him straighten and flex.� He seemed to become somehow indefinably
stronger..more confident.. he looked more powerful.

For just a moment she felt the old twinge of attraction toward him again.
The
first gasps rang out after they�d only taken a couple of steps into the
Alley.� Harry kept them both moving at a
brisk pace as she tried not to cringe closer to him in the face of the parting
seas of shoppers.� People were turning
around to exclaim useful things like �Merlin!�
That�s Harry Potter!� and �Isn�t that.. the girl.. his friend � the one
who was taken by you know who?!� They all stared and remarked and in a couple
of cases snapped photographs. ��

Harry smiled beatifically at them but she could see that his attention was
sharp.� He scanned the crowds constantly
and his wand hand was in the pocket of his robe.
She
tried to turn at Gringotts but he moved her swiftly on.
�Ollivander
and Mercer�s first� he said in a low murmur designed to thwart the nosy ears in
the crowd.� A large number of people had
started to follow them, hero worship in their eyes, desperate to find out what
the wizarding world�s saviour and his rescued friend were doing in Diagon Alley
this morning.�

�I want you to be able to protect yourself.�
Especially after last night.�
She
nodded, still trying to ignore the hoards around them, keeping her eye on Harry,
because it was just less frightening than facing all the blatantly suspicious
and curious faces.
Someone
stepped out in front of them, just as Harry glanced at her protectively,
checking to see she was ok.�� A bright
white flare blinded her for a moment.
�Miss
Granger � Hermione Granger � where have you been for the last year?� What did you do while you were with You Know
Who?!
Hermione
blinked, trying to see more than bluish smears and stumbled as Harry pulled her
a bit faster.�
�Skeeter
� leave us alone.� Harry growled as he pulled her toward what she could now see
was a completely unfamiliar shop that apparently sold wands.
�The
wizarding world has a right to know!� Rita insisted as she kept pace with them
doggedly, her cameraman bobbling along after her, puffing.� �Did you defect to the death eaters, Miss Granger?�� Is that why your former friend is pulling
strings to keep you out of Auror hands?!��
�
At
that Harry stopped dead and whirled on the spot, drawing his wand and pointing
it in Rita Skeeter�s face.� It was held
an inch away from her eye with a hand that did not waver in the slightest.
�Since
you insist, Rita� he snarled.� �I�ll give you what you want and then you can
leave us alone.� When I rescued Hermione
she was in a cage.� She was beaten and cursed half to death.� Doctors at St Mungo�s were horrified by the
extent of her injuries.� She was abducted
in order to harm me. �Before I killed him, Voldemort told me that he
had ordered Hermione abducted and arranged for Professor Dumbledore to be
assassinated because he considered them my two greatest assets.� Hermione is the most brilliant witch of her
age.. you�ll recall.�� She suffered for a
year..because of me.� Because she was my
friend and ally and because her mind
was a threat to Voldemort.�
Rita
seemed shocked but recovered quickly.� �Brilliant
enough to convince the whole world that she was an innocent victim?!� Why didn�t you know who kill her if she was
such a threat?!�
Harry
looked at her as if she were a scab on a plague carrying rodent.

�That would have been merciful.� Voldemort
was anything but merciful - he wanted
me to see what he�d done to her.� He wanted
me to watch her die.�� Now if I catch you
or any of your vultures sniffing around us again today � I promise you that I will hex you and then I will go to the
current owner of the daily prophet and ensure that you do not write for them
again.� Do we have an understanding, Rita?!�
The
reporter looked at him warily, as if unsure whether he would follow
through.� Hermione, feeling the power
stream off Harry, was suddenly certain that he would..and hoped Rita Skeeter was not stupid enough to push him
right now.

She looked up at him and for a second he glanced down at her solicitously,
exchanging a glance that seemed to reassure him that she was ok.� He turned away from Rita Skeeter, pocketing
his wand again and withdrew his hand from his pocket, placing it on her arm
protectively.� The crowd of onlookers
parted for them in stunned silence as he walked her the rest of the way to
Ollivanders and Mercers.
To
her surprise, he didn�t accompany her inside but instead, caught her and leaned
in close at the door, quickly bowing his head to hers and whispering, his lips
flush against her ear. �You go and take your time.� Tell them to charge it to me.� No arguments please Hermione.� I�ll stay out here and make sure no one tries
to get an eyeful.��

Her breath caught at the sensation.. his lips.. his breath, the arm holding her
in place as he pressed her into the alcove of the doorway out of the sight of
the spectators. �She couldn�t help the
pleasant shiver that raced up her spine or the quiver in her stomach.� She wished
she could help the blush but the best she could do was to avoid his eyes and
hurry inside, closing the door after her and taking a deep calming breath.
�Ah
Miss Granger....� The voice carried out of the back room of the shop through a
narrow arched doorway into a corridor.� Hermione
recognised it as Mr Ollivander.. although she wondered how he had known she had
been the one to enter.� �Ten and three
quarters vine wood with a dragon heartstring core.. I believe it was..��
She
stepped further into the store, peering into the dark of the arch.�
The
sudden presence of a very tall thin man at her side made her jump half a foot
in the air.
�Forgive
me� the man�s voice was strangely deep. �I am Gomez Mercer � I will assist you
today.� Mr Ollivander finds it very
difficult to navigate the store, due to injuries sustained in the war.�
She
had to crane her head right back to look up at the man�s face.� He was tall and pale.. sallow even.. and bore a passing resemblance to Frankenstein.� �Oh� she managed, a bit put off �I�m very
sorry to hear that.�
�Miss
Granger.. Perhaps you could come back here for a moment.� I would very much like to see you before I
advise Gomez upon where to begin trialling wands for you.�
The
Frankenstein at her side gestured expansively with one arm toward the doorway
that was on all sides surrounded by tall walls full of small narrow boxes.
Nervously
she stepped forward, her footsteps echoing slightly on the polished wood of the
floor.
The
corridor was narrow and dark and at the other end, in the room beyond it, she
could see a grey stone hewn fireplace with a small orange fire crackling
merrily.

When she stepped out into the back room she found Mr Ollivander in a deep chair
by the fire.� He looked haggard, she had
to admit.� His white hair was very thin
and he seemed smaller and frailer than he had been the last time she had caught
sight of him standing at the doorway of his store, when she had been in Diagon
Alley with Harry.� �His legs were withered and she thought that that was probably what the strange Gomez
Mercer had meant when he said that Ollivander could not navigate the store
anymore.
�Ah
yes.� I see.� I see.� He said softly, as if observing
her.� In truth, she didn�t see how. �He was clearly blind.� The way he turned his head and the milky hue
of his eyes said it all.
�You
have changed quite a bit since you first came to me� he commented and she wondered
whether she might be wrong about his sight.�

�The death eaters may have taken my legs and eyes, but I can still see the true
nature of things, Miss Granger� he observed with a smile reminiscent of Luna
lovegood.� She felt intensely
uncomfortable suddenly.� She had the
paranoid feeling that Ollivander somehow knew
what she�d done.
�Gomez..
begin on the east wall I think.� Fifth shelf.� Perhaps also under the counter in the left
set of shelves if nothing there suits.�
Apparently
she was finished here.� Ollivander waved
her back out to the front of the shop.�
She stumbled off, glancing back at him.�
He didn�t turn his head to follow her progress but stared emptily at the
fire instead.�
Frankenstein�s
long lost cousin was already waiting for her with a wand box open when she
returned.� She accepted the shiny black
wand within and waved it experimentally.�
It refused to respond.
After
she had gone through half the shelf with relatively underwhelming results,
Gomez apparently decided that the wands there weren�t right after all.� He moved to the countertop and crouched down
to remove wands from beneath.�

�Fitting a second wand is always more difficult than the first� he said
conversationally.� �A witch or wizard�s
first wand bonds very closely.� It is
affected by and in turn affects the bearer�s magical development.� Your first wand was a vine.. a wand of great
turbulent emotion ..but also of balance.�
Light and dark in equilibrium.� It
is a wood of Growth... wielded by one who is motivated by many challenging
goals. �...I do not think you will suit a
vine wand again.. at least not right now.��

Your former wand had a dragon heartstring core. �A core of steadfastness to a purpose �
sacrifices of duty and love.��
Variable.� Suited to defensive
spells, particularly good at charms but also quite easily twisted to the dark
arts.� Perhaps Dragon heartstring may
still suit you.. although Mr Ollivander doesn�t think so.� He is generally right, I have to say.� Try this one for size.�
The
wand that was offered was long and thin with a crisscrossing pattern carved
into it.� She accepted it and flicked
lightly.� Half of the wands on the wall
fell down.
�No..
No.. I think not�

The wand was confiscated from her quickly and another shoved in its place with
similar results.
It
took another fifteen wands before she found one that levitated the wand box
smoothly.� It had felt right the moment
she�d put her hand on it.� �There was a short sharp zing that travelled up
her arm.� She�d pulled it close and knew
even before she�d cast that she didn�t want to let go of it again.
�Ah�
Gomez nodded, probably recognising the look on her face from hundreds of others
upon finding their wand.

�That will be the one then, I think.� Hawthorn
and runespoor, eleven and a third inches.�
Hermione
looked up in horror.� The worst had
happened.� Runespoor was a core that was
popularly known to be suited to dark
magic!� Harry would find out!!!
The
wandmakers new partner seemed to take in her distress and leaned forward
slightly.� �Miss Granger.. no wand is
intrinsically good or bad.� It is a tool,
nothing more.� The wand in your hand is
suited to you.� It will perform better than all other wands
for you at this time.� Please do not
concern yourself unduly.� I shall tell
you a little about it and perhaps you might see for yourself whether you think
it is suited to you.�

Hawthorn is a powerful wand wood.� It is
used for many other purposes, most of which are associated with
protection.� It guards the way.� It stands against attack.. but is supple
enough to bend when other woods might break.�
It is the wand of one who has something to defend.�� The wandcore is Runespoor.� In this case it contains the powdered left
fang of each of the three heads.� It is
therefore a balance of planning, dreaming and critique.� It is suited to a witch who is intelligent
and logical, perhaps just a tad wistful.. one who indulges in dreams of the way
things could.. or should.. be.� But
also.. one who is critical not only of others, but of themselves and the
choices they make.� One or more of these
aspects will generally take the fore at any given time.�� Runespoor is admittedly extremely good at conveying dark magic.. but not
exclusively so, as would be the case had you drawn a basilisk fang wand, for
instance.�� It is not that uncommon a wandcore in fact.� You would be surprised, and I could never
reveal of course, how many in the magical community use such a core.�

No.. do not let yourself feel concerned about the wand that has chosen
you.� I am certain that you will need it
for whatever fate has set in store for you.�
Were it not the case, you would have gravitated to a different wand.�

He smiled and Hermione felt a very small amount better.
Yes.� Ok.� It
suited her she decided.�

It didn�t change the fact that Harry
would look at her aghast when he learned what wandcore she�d drawn.

And she didn�t want to even think
about what Ginny might say.
God.� If Rita Skeeter found out about this!�

She was suddenly intensely grateful that Harry had remained outside standing
guard.� Not that he could have known..
but it was a relief now that she knew exactly how screwed she might have been
if this had gotten out to the papers.�

Rita had said that Harry had pulled some strings to get the aurors off her
back.� This would not look good for them
if it became known.
She
thanked Gomez and asked him whether he could please charge the wand to Harry Potter�s
account at Gringotts.� He nodded and
smiled again, waving her off.�
�Good
luck, Miss Granger� Ollivanders voice floated out of the corridor, just as she
left.

She couldn�t help the little voice in her head that added with a chuckle �you�ll
need it�.
Wand
in her jacket pocket and wandbox shrunk and safely stowed in the back pocket of
her jeans, she stepped back out to find Harry standing alert guard even after
all this time.� There was a solid half
circle of space in front of the store and the rest of the street was full of
gawping spectators who seemed to just be staring at him in awe.
�You
ok, Mione?� he murmured, looking back over his shoulder at her.� She smiled reassuringly and stepped to his
side, taking his arm without hesitation.
�Thanks
Harry..� she whispered with feeling.� �I..�
He
shook his head slightly and pulled her closer, stepping out into the empty area
in front of the crowd with her.� �Gringotts
next� he told her. �with any luck they�ll get bored of this and leave by the
time we�re finished there�

�Hermione
Granger to see ..Grovgut..please� she said to the goblin at the raised teller
box.� He adjusted his glasses, peering at
her and pulling a displeased face.
�Wait
over..there.� I will call for him� she
was informed with an imperiously pointed finger off to the side by a pillar.
The
goblin leaned down to another smaller goblin who then hurried off through a
small door in the back wall.� A slightly
larger goblin emerged soon after.� He was
a vicious looking little man in a dark grey suit with a long pointed nose and
strings of black wiry hair hanging intermittently on his predominantly bald
pate.� He wore tiny perfectly square glasses
and looked at her with an appraising stare.�
This silent assessment deepened when his eye shifted to Harry.�

After a minute he stated with finality �Mr Potter will remain here.� I believe Ragnok has some news of relevance
to him.� Miss Hermione Granger, you must
accompany me to a case room to discuss the matters regarding which you were
contacted.�
The
goblin turned and shuffled off toward the tiny door in the back wall.�

Hermione offered Harry a baffled shrug and waved goodbye, hurrying after the
goblin and wondering whether she�d have to get down on her hands and knees to
get through the door.�

It seemed she wouldn�t however. �The door
grew to full size as she approached it and Grovgut closed it after her.
He
led them down several corridors to another small door that grew just as the
last had, opening to an office with a desk and several chairs on either side.
�There
are procedures� he grumbled as he wobbled around the desk and climbed into a
small chair that then rose up to the height of the desk by itself.� �I will need blood to confirm your
identity.� Please place your finger in
the finger well� he indicated with a wave toward a small polished brass well in
the front corner of the desk.� It looked
a bit like an ashtray.�

She complied nervously, placing her index finger pad down in the smooth dell of
the cup.� A sudden pain made her flinch
back.� It felt like the thing had bitten
her!� She looked at her finger and found
a horizontal cut across the pad.

�Keep your finger in the well� Grovgut growled in irritation.� She replaced it quickly and the small basin
begain to fill with her blood.� A
tingling started up across the pad of her finger and the goblin gestured for
her to remove it.� She found the cut was
healed and watched as a thin white curl of parchment was ejected from the
shallow pool of blood.� Grovgut reached
for it and read it, nodding approvingly.
�very
well.� I shall proceed.��
He
pulled out a thick ledger and opened it midway through.� The language was unfamiliar to her and she
waited as he read through it as if refamliarising himself with the information
contained within.
�You
are here regarding the matter of several inheritances.� He informed her
dryly.� She furrowed her brows, wondering
who exactly would name her in their wills.�
She had very few relatives aside from her parents and none of them were
within the wizarding world.
�You
are named in the final will and testaments of the following:� Professor Albus Percival Brian Wulfric
Dumbledore, Professor Minerva McGonagall, Professor Severus Snape, Sophocles Ramsgate,
William Groats, Remus Lupin and Rubeus Hagrid.�
Hermione�s
bewildered frown deepened.�

Not only had she killed or been responsible for the deaths of most of those
people but she didn�t even know two
of them!

Author note.
Review replies can be found at
http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/18725-review-replies/
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