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Mnemosyne	By : alexial Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 1170 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and co. There are a number of made up characters, and they belong to me.
Mnemosyne

Chapter Two: And It Starts
There was carnage everywhere she looked. Blood, dirt. Death. Everywhere.

Very few people were alive and those that were, were still fighting one another. Most of the Death Eaters were gone; either death had claimed them or they had run away.

Yet, there were still the Dementors and the werewolves and the giants and the vampires�all the non-human allies of the Dark whom had not already fled.

Using her wand to scan fignsigns of life, Hermione quickly healed all those she found. It didn�t matter which side the person belonged too, finding a pulse meant they were to be healed, and sparks had to be sent up into the air. Green sparks for the Light, red sparks for the Dark. The Death Eaters and their allies were quickly Petrified and bound tightly, but all those alive were healed.

Looking over the faces of those that didn�t make it through the fight, Hermione�s own face was soon soaked with the silent tears that ran unnoticed and unchecked. These were friends, housemates, teachers, parents�almost all dead. Some torn beyond recognition, bloody and scarred. Others were just lying on the ground lifeless. They looked perfectly healthy but just not there, eyes blank and lifeless; the horrible result of the Killing Curse.

And then, Hermione was in the center of the immense battle-field that used to be the Quidditch Pitch. And there, she found the two bodies she had been searching for, covered in blood and boils and other after-effects of a multitude of curses.

Sobbing and praying that she would be wrong, she raised her wand and scanned them. One dead. One alive�barely.
Hermione sprang up from her bed with a sob, drenched in sweat and tears streaming down her cheeks.

Shaking and still sobbing, she made her way to the bathroom and collapsed into the cushioned chair by her vanity. Laying her head against the cool marble, she let the wracking sobs come until, a good half an hour later, she slowly quieted.

Looking up after finally calming herself until only the hiccups were left, Hermione grimaced as she saw reflreflection. Hair askew from tossing and turning in her sleep, eyes red and puffy from crying, and face blotchy. She grimaced again and flattened her hair, then wentthe the sink to dowse her face in cold water, washing away the tears and swerom rom the nightmare.

Feeling and looking somewhat better, Hermione made her way back into her bedroom and glanced at the clock, which read two-thirty. Groaning, she started looking for a headache relief potion. Finding none, she groaned a and and put on her robe and slippers, grabbed her wand, and made her way out into the hallway.

She walked quickly through the quiet halls of Hogwarts, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. A chill ran through her as memories of the Trio sneaking around these hallways under Harry�s Invisibility Cloak ran through her mind. She shivered, pulling her robe closer about her, and practically ran the last few hallways to get to the infirmary.

Finally making her way inside, she went quickly to the storage cabinets. Deactivating the wards and opening the doors, she searched through the vials for a head-ache relief potion and a mild dreamless sleep potion. Finally finding them, she slipped them into her pockets, closed the cabinet and reactivated the wards.

Before leaving the infirmary, she stopped at the new Medi-witch�s desk and wrote a brief note explaining why two potions were missing. She signed it quickly and made her way out of the office and back to her rooms.

* * * *

�Ah, good morning, Hermione,� Albus said cheerfully as a lethargic Hermione made her way into the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning.

�Morning Albus. Sorry, but I really need coffee,� Hermione answered, her eyes barely open and a painful grimace on her face.

Albus chuckled as Hermione quickly made her way to the single coffee pot on the table, completely ignoring everyone and everything that did not have to do with stinsting the much needed caffeine.

After taking a number of sips, Hermione sighed and relaxed her stance and finally looked around. Noticing the number of people who were watching her in amusement, she smiled sheepishly at them as a she blushed slightly. She quickly slipped into a seat between Blaise Zambini and Neville Longbottom.

�Morning Neville, Blaise,� she said quietly, nodding to both of the young men.

Blaise returned her nod as Neville started talking.

�Hey, Herm! It! It�s great to see you! I didn�t know you would be working here this year. Albus never mentioned that the guy who taught Transfigurations last year wouldn�t be coming back. Never really got his name, kept to himself a lot. Minerva was never like that. Of course, I never got a chance to work with her, cause of the war and everything. But you already knew that. Anyway, I haven�t seen you in years! It�s great to see you! Where did you go off to after the battle? No one heard from you and you completely disappeared! How long has it been now, two year?� asked Neville excitedly, talking extremely fast and completely oblivious to the fact that Hermione had tensed up halfway through his entourage questions.

�Three, actually. That�s how long it�s been since I�ve been back in Scotland,� she answered quietly, looking into her coffee and praying that Neville wouldn�t ask anymore questions or keep talking about the past.

Her prayers, however, went ticeticed by the gods, as Neville kept up an ongoing chatter about events that had taken place in and around Hogwarts and her students during the previous three years. He was completely and utterly oblivious to the fact that as he talked, Hermione was sitting completely still, not paying attention to anything he was saying. He also didn�t notice the fact that she had drawn into herself like a hermit-crab, so far removed from the surface and the events going on around her that she was scared out of her mind when someone roughly shook her shoulder, accompanied by a loud �Hermione!�

She looked up into the worried face of Blaise Zambini, someone who she had never really worked with or gotten to know during her years at Hogwarts. He had been a strong asset to the Cause, however, when he openly admitted his intentions of aiding the Light and denouncing the Dark Lord, something very rare for a Slytherin.

Lost in her thoughts once again, she was jolted out of them by another rough shaking.

This time, she found herself staring into the kind eyes of Albus Dumbledore. �Hermione,� he said softly, taking her elbow in his hand and forcing her to stand with him. �Would you please join me for tea in my office?�

While this may have sounded like a request to those around them, Hermione knew better, thanks to the iron-rod grip Albus had on her elbow. He all but dragged her after him as he made his way out of the Great Hall.

Wheey wey were out of the Hall, and safely out of earshot of all others, Albus loosened his grip on her arm somewhat and turned to her with a concerned gaze.

�Hermione, Neville was talking for almost five minutes before Blaise realized that you weren�t responding. And it took him almost two minutes to finally get you to snap out of whatever trance you were in. Even then, you still didn�t respond to him. What is going on?� he asked her, face and voice laced with distress.

�Nothing, Headmaster�Albus. I�m just tired, that�s all,� she answered quietly.

He didn�t seem to by it however, by the straightening of his shoulders and the way hice cce contorted into grim determination.

He didn�t say anything else, however, until they had reached his office and were sitting in the armchairs in front of his fireplace.

He silently regarded her with his hawk-like gaze for several moments, making her increasingly uncomfortable. He finally broke the silence when she began fidgeting and playing with the edge of her shirt.

�Hermione, something is not right, and I need to know what it is. Something is bothering you, you have some sort of problem, and if it cannot be fixed then I don�t know what will happen. If you were to space out like that during one of your classes and an emergency occurred, there can be serious repercussions that I am unwilling to deal with right now,� he said, voice grim with resolve yet still, concern was present.

When she not nothing, he continued, slightly less harsh.

�Hermione, child, you need to tell me what is wrong. Not only could this endanger the students, but it is damaging you as well. That much is already obvious, even to an old dodger like myself.�

Hermione gave an unladylike snort at that statement, receiving a small smile from Albus in the process.

When she still said nothing, Albus sighed in frustration.

As he was about to speak again, Hermione suddenly started talking.

�It has been extremely�more�difficult�to come back here than I thought it would be,� she started, slowly and haltingly.

She paused. He was silent, giving her time to gather her thoughts, knowing that she needed to speak.

After several minutes of silence had passed, she continued. �After�that day�I couldn�t stay here. I couldn�t be here, where they�we�had spent all those years together. It�it was like torture�but I know deserved it. I should have stayed and suffered the consequences of my actions. I deserved to be tortured by them�to remember what had happened�what I had done�and hadn�t done. I just�couldn�t. It was too much after�,� she stopped, tears streaming silently down her cheeks as she painfully swallowed, trying to keep her emotions from bubbling over.

Albus stared at the girl in front of him in shock. For the most part, he knew what she was talking about. Yet, there were things�what did she deserve? Why did she think she deserved torture?

�Child, what torture do you think you deserve?� he asked kindly.

She looked up at him sharply, almost angrily. �What do you mean, think I deserve? Of course I deserve it! I don�t even know why you gave me the job here, knowing what I did!� she spat angrily, swiping viciously at her cheeks and eyes to try and stop the tears, but to no avail.

Albus was completely bewildered. What was she talking about? What thought was so ingrained her that brilliant mind of hers that was causing her so much pain, forcing out so much animosity towards herself?

Before he could ask any more questions, she rose and turned towards the door. He rose to stop her but her hand halted him.

�Albus, I am fine, really. What happened at breakfaill ill not happen again. I will see to it,� she said, her voice once more hard and cold. She straightened her back and turned her head to face him. �If there is nothing else?�

Not knowing what to say, or if he should say anything at all, Albus simply shook his head and watched, distressed, as the once vibrant witch made her way quickly out of his office.

After the door had closed once more, he sat back into his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. Absent mindedly stroking his beard, Albus tried to figure out what was troubling the girl, and what could possibly have made her act the way she had.

He sighed as he realized that the conversation had seemed too familiar for his taste. He stood up slowly and made his way to the mantle above the fire. Grabbing a hand-full of Floo powder, he threw it into the fireplace, yelling �Severus Snape!�

* * * *

�Mmmmmm.� The noise came from the large four poster bed in the middle of a room decorated in rich hues of blue.

Miles Raine rolled over and stretched contentedly before sitting up and looking around with a smile.

he thought with a mental grin.

Getting out of bed and quickly making his way to the bathroom in a leisurely pace, he stripped at took a quick morning shower before getting dressed for the day.

Completing his morning rituals, he left his rooms, located somewhere between the Ravenclaw common room and library, and made his way to the Great Hall.

Not having been a student at Hogwarts, he was awed by the size of the castle, not to mention its many oddities and eccentricities. He was fascinated by everything about the ancient fortress, and found pleasure in getting lost in its many passageways. Finally finding his way to the Great Hall, he realized that even though he had gotten htlyhtly lost on the way to breakfast, there were still many empty seats around the round table.

Nodding a greeting to Albus, who was conversing quietly with that cheerful dark haired wizard Hermione had greeted warmly the night before, Miles found a seat facing the entrance the hall and quickly poured himself a cup of tea and helped himself to some breakfast.

He quietly observed those around him, noticing the lack of elder professors on the staff. Most of his colleagues, he was surprised to see, were around his age, give or take a few years. The man talking to Albus looked to be about fifteen or twenty years older than Miles, along with that other black haired man who was talking to�Flitwick, the small white haired Professor.

Miles silently wondered what had happened to all of the older staff at Hogwarts. His father had gone here, and used to tell him countless stories of all the older professors; Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, Vector and many others. He had recognized only one or two of those names from the night before, and wondered what had happened to those that were no longer there.

he thought.

He knew, mostly from his father�s stories, but also from experience teaching, that many teachers were fiercely protective of their students. The teachers here were probably even more protective, since they live with their students almost all year round. He would bet good money on the fact that a number of the teachers that were missing had died in the battle trying to protect the students here at Hogwarts.

His musings were interrupted when the doors to the Great Hall opened and Hermione walked through them. He hadn�t realized that he had been watching the doors, waiting for her to enter. He laughed at himself for not realizing it before.

He smiled when he saw her, his smile widening as he saw her politely snub Albus and ignore everyone in the room, opting to head straight for the coffee pot.

He almost laughed at her bashful expression once she had ingested some caffeine and realized what she had done. He was more disappointed than he thought he would be when she didn�t see him and instead sat down between two men whom she seemed to know.

Not realizing that he was blatantly staring, he watched as the slightly chubbier of the two men started chattering away, not noticing the affect his words were obviously having on Hermione.

He glanced around the table, looking to see if anyone else saw the obvious change in the woman. He was surprised to see that he was under the observation of one of the older dark haired men�the darker one, with the hooked nose. He was shocked when he saw how intense the look he was receiving from the man was. It practically radiated with dislike, distrust, and something that Miles couldn�t put his finger on.

He saw the man�s eyes flicker between himself and Hermione. He idly wondered if the unknown emotion he saw in the man�s eyes was jealousy, but he wasn�t sure. He tried to remember who the man was, but couldn�t remember anything other than the fact that Hermione had greeted him as a Professor.

He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard someone call Hermione�s name quite loudly. He realized that it was the quiet man sitting next to her, not the one who had been talking incessantly. Miles was disturbed when he saw Hermione�s reaction when he shook her shoulders. His brow furrowed with concern as he realized that she still wasn�t really responding and was about to get up to lend his assistance when he saw Albus make his way over to her and almost forcibly escorted her from the Great Hall.

The room was quiet for several seconds after Hermione and Albus left the room. Miles noticed that the older staff members, those who had obviously been Hermione�s professors, were shocked by the lack of response in the girl and quietly talking with each other. The younger staff members also looked worried, and he saw that the two men she had been sitting with were talking quickly yet quietly. He wondered what was wrong, and resolved to talk to her about it the next time he saw her.

Conversation around the room picked up once again and Miles finished eating, engaging the pretty woman next to him, Lavender Brown, in a rather interesting discussion about Divination.

As people were starting to leave, he excused himself from the conversation and made his way ode, de, preparing for a morning of roaming the castle.

* * * *

Sirius was definitely worried. He had never seen Hermione act like that before. Not that he had seen much of her these past three years, but she had never acted like that before.

Sirius had been shocked when he discovered that she had left Hogwarts�left Scotland altogether, without so much as a goodbye. He was even more disturbed when he had contacted her mother, only to find out that she had fled to America, returning to London for enough time to pack her things and retrieve money from her Gringotts vault.

He had been too shell-shocked after that, both from the battle and the abrupt loss of his companions, to go after her.

After the trio�s fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry and Sirius had become closer. As Harry got older, Sirius spent as much time as possible at Hogwarts, and the two would sneak of to the Shrieking Shack for night-long conversations. Soon after Harry and Hermione had started dating halfway through their sixth year, she and Ron had been invited to these late-night chats. Remus had joined them in their seventh year when he returned as their DADA professor.

After their graduation, the five had continued these meetings, seeing each other twice or even three times a week for dinner and to catch up on their separate lives. The five had formed a sort of family, Sirius and Remus playing a type of patriarchal role in the group. Sirius had grown quite close to all three youngsters, and the abrupt leaving of Hermione had surprised him.

It had been quite a shock to suddenly see her standing in the doorway of the Great Hall after not seeing her for three years. The time in America had treated her well, physically, anyway. Sirius was extremely worried about her mental state, given what had happened during breakfast.

He had been discussing with Albus several creatures that needed to be transported to Hogwarts for his classes when they had heard Blaise�s voice from halfway across the table. Both had been stunned by the lack of reaction on Hermione�s part, and immediately knew something was wrong.

He vaguely heard Albus mutter, �Oh dear, I feared as much,� under his breath, before the elderly wizard was out of his chair and making his way to Hermione�s side. Sirius watched with trepidation as Hermione refused to acknowledge Blaise�s and the Headmaster�s presence until he saw Albus physically pull her out of the chair.

His worry increased as Albus silently led her out of the room and, assumedly, to his office. He would have to talk to the old man later, to find out what was wrong with Hermione. And then he would talk to her.

* * * *

Severus made his way out of the Great Hall deep in thought. He knew that everyone�s thoughts were on the old Head Girl. Everyone was worried about what had happened, or the lack of anything happening on her part, at breakfast.

The sight of her being so distant and unresponsive brought a shiver down his back. It disturbed him greatly to see her in such a condition, for it was a condition he knew well. If she was traveling down the same path that he had�he didn�t even want to think about that.

Severus idly wondered if the result of the war was the cause ofmionmione�s condition. Not that it would be such a selective case, since hundreds of people had been affected in such a way by the war against Voldemort.

He didn�t know why he was even bothering with the Gryffindor anyway. She had been an annoying chit, one of the three compromising the bane of his existence for seven long years. And even though she had saved his life during the final battle, she was still the same annoying know-it-all.

he thought sardonically to himself.

By this time, Severus had made his way to his quarters in the dungeons. He walked into his personal library and perused his shelves looking for something to read. Picking one of the old, worn out potions tomes, he settled down in a comfortable chair in front of a smoldering fireplace.

He opened the book and started to read the familiar text. Or at least he tried to read. He found he couldn�t concentrate, his mind alternated between replaying seeing her the night before, and what had happened at breakfast.

Finally slamming the book shut ten minutes later, Severus stood up in a rustle of robes and replaced the book on the shelf in the library. As he was about to throw himself back into the chair, the fireplace burned green and Albus�s head appeared, floating in midair.
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Mnemosyne