A Long Way Back ~ Editing

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 8 ~ Two Kinds of Treatment for One Needy Witch

Adam was having a hissy fit. Nothing he tried on Hermione was working. He shampooed her dry, brittle hair, applied his very best conditioner, let it sit for more than half an hour, then rinsed it out and dried her stringy locks. Hermione's hair looked exactly the same after the treatment. It was as if her hair was too damaged to absorb the conditioner. Adam decided to work on her skin instead. He exfoliated her face first, then applied a mask. As Hermione reclined in the beauty chair, Adam put Victor to work on her feet.

Victor removed the witch's trainers and stared at her feet.

"Gods, my feet don't look this bad when I transform to my full vampire form," he muttered, looking at the long yellow toenails and hardened calluses on the heel and sides. Transformed vampires had notoriously long and very ugly hard feet.

"Have you ever heard of a pedicure?" Victor asked Hermione, who couldn't answer because Adam had some kind of cut juicy plant resting on her lips. "My Queen, I'm going to need pruning shears and a metal file for these feet."

Tentatively, Victor touched a forefinger to Hermione's heel.

"It's hard as bicorn horn my Queen," he commented.

Adam, who was fidgeting with Hermione's unresponsive hair scowled at Victor.

"Don't be ridiculous, Victor. They couldn't possibly be that…oh my," Adam said, looking at Hermione's ill kept feet. He had never seen such toenails on a human, man or woman.

Adam shook his head and looked at Hermione speculatively. How could a woman let herself go like this? She must have very low self-esteem issues. Well, he had something in the back that could handle those feet. Adam had purchased them on a whim, sure he would never have occasion to use them. It just went to show anything was possible in the world of beauty.

"I'll be right back," Adam said as Victor continued to stare at Hermione's feet.

The vampire thought she had to be the most unappealing female of the human species he had ever seen. Even if he were starving he doubted he would bite her.

Adam disappeared in the back and presently returned with the biggest, hardiest toenail clipper Victor had ever seen. They were made of a magically enhanced iron alloy and had a very heavy spring mechanism. They were the size of Victor's entire hand.

Victor stared at the huge clippers.

"These were made to clip Mountain Troll toenails. Toughest clippers in the magical world," Adam said, handing the heavy instrument to Victor. "Be careful. They'll remove actual toes too, sweetie."

Victor studied the clipper for a moment, then carefully applied it to the toenail on Hermione's big toe. It was curled under, so Victor had to adjust the jaws to get the clippers around it. Then he applied pressure. The powerful jaws snapped and the toenail popped away in a clean cut.

"This will work," he said, rounding off the nail neatly. It looked a hundred percent better, but the toenail itself was still an unhealthy yellow color. Well, they could always cover it up with polish.

Victor finished clipping Hermione's toenails. Now he had to grind down the thick calluses to the skin beneath. He looked up at Adam, who had removed the plant pods from Hermione's lips. They looked full and luscious for all of ten seconds, then deflated to their previously dry condition.

"Damn," Adam said, scowling. "I've never seen anything like this in my life or death."

"I need a pumice stone," Victor said, "Preferably something for trolls."

Adam produced a large pumice stone from his pocket. It was a normal one.

"You're going to have to use your vampire strength, Victor. Maybe if you accelerate while buffing them, it will wear away faster," Adam suggested.

Victor sighed and grasped Hermione's foot by the arch and placed the stone against her heel. He began to buff at an amazing speed, his hand blurring. Powder began falling from the callus.

"It's working," Victor panted.

"I'm glad to see something is," Adam said, starting to remove the mask, scraping at the edges of it, then expertly pulling it from Hermione's face in one piece.

"Ow!" Hermione exclaimed.

"No pain, no gain darling," Adam said stepping back to look at his handiwork. Unbelievably, Hermione's face showed no change.

Adam scowled.

"Honey, what's your name?" he asked her.

"Hermione. Hermione Granger," she replied.

Adam paused, thinking. He had heard that name.

"You're not the Hermione Granger that killed Harry Potter are you?" the vampire asked her excitedly.

Hermione's heart pulsed with pain so powerfully, Adam felt it.

"Uh oh. Sensitivity issues," the vampire thought.

"Yes. I am," Hermione said sadly.

"That was a very brave and generous act, Hermione. You saved him from a lot of suffering," Adam said soothingly. "That crusty snake-bastard Voldemort was a real asshole. And if there's one thing I know…it's assholes."

Adam's asshole comment went right over Hermione's head, she was so self-absorbed.

"But he was my friend. My best friend and I killed him. It's hard to live with," she replied.

Adam patted Hermione's shoulder. Now he understood why she was in such a state. Guilt. It was as if her body wouldn't respond to any pampering because it was so riddled with guilt. Harry's death happened over five years ago. Adam was still human then and remembered reading about it. The poor witch must have been punishing herself for her act ever since.

Adam knew all about guilt. He remembered trying to hide his sexual orientation from his parents and the guilt he felt about it…then the secret trysts with other wizards, quick hard fucks and blowjobs in alleyways and other out of the way places that always left him drained, emotionally damaged and even more filled with guilt. He had tried to suicide twice. It was only after becoming a Queen that Adam embraced who he was.

"I imagine it is very hard to live with, sweetie. But I don't think your friend would like to see you in this condition. He would probably be unhappy to know he was the cause of it. You are the worst case of physical neglect I've ever come across. I simply can't let you out of this shop looking like this. If anyone saw you, I'd lose customers," Adam said thoughtfully.

Suddenly the Vampire Queen's eyes lit up.

"I think I have a solution," he said to Hermione excitedly. "Wait here. Victor…come with me."

Victor obediently rose and followed his Queen a short distance away where Hermione couldn't hear them.

"Victor, this witch requires dramatic measures," he said to his consort.

Victor nodded. He thought it an understatement. Personally, Victor thought the only way to help Hermione was to put her out of her misery.

"I'm going to give her my beauty treatment," Adam said.

Both of Victor's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.

"Your treatment, my Queen? But…but she's human. You don't know what it will do to her," the consort said, looking back at the witch who was looking at her reflection in the mirror half-heartedly.

She looked horrible. If she brought Harry back like this he probably wouldn't even recognize her at first. She had to get herself up to par. Hermione hadn't been concerned with her appearance in years, and now with Severus making comments and the two vampires talking about her like she wasn't even a person, the witch felt like a leper. She certainly looked like one.

Hermione hoped the vampires could help her a bit, make her look a little better until she got herself together. She would start a regime of self-improvement immediately. She wanted to be restored before she resurrected Harry. She wouldn't start work on the elixir until she was physically ready. Severus would just have to be patient.

"Any side effects would dissipate after a while," Adam said enthusiastically, "She's alive after all. The restorative effects would only be temporary, but they would help immensely. She could come back for treatments when they began to fade. It would certainly shore up her blood."

"But she's human, my Queen. She might balk at the procedure," Victor said.

Adam's eyes glowed red and Victor dropped to his knees immediately.

"There will be no balking," Adam said to his consort, "There is no pain involved. I can't let her leave the shop without some noticeable improvement, Victor. As I said if any customers got wind of it, I would lose some. I will not lose customers."

"Yes, my Queen," Victor said submissively.

Adam's eyes ceased to glow and he looked down at his consort, whose eyes rested on the floor.

"Oh, get up Victor, and go prepare the tub," Adam said. Victor slowly rose, his eyes anxiously resting on Adam's face.

Adam sighed, stood on tiptoe and kissed Victor gently on the mouth.

"I'm not angry at you, sweetness. I just want to help the witch. Go along now," he said, smoothing his hand on the consort's cheek.

Victor bowed.

Yes, my Queen," the vampire said, walking through a door at the back of the shop.

Adam took a deep breath then walked back over to Hermione, whose eyes were very wet. He spun her in the chair so she faced him.

"My dear, we are going to try one more thing. It's a bit different, but I'd bet my tiny right nut that afterwards, you'll feel like a new woman," the vampire said.

"I don't care how different it is. I need to do something, Mr. Sweetmeats," the witch replied.

Adam patted her hand.

"Call me Adam, honey and come with me. We are going to do something drastic and daring. That dreamboat you were with won't know what hit him when he sees you next," Adam assured her.

For the first time in a long time, Hermione smiled. The vampire sounded so sure this would work. She hoped he was right.

Adam helped her from the chair, wrapped her arm in his, and daintily walked her to the back of the store, through the back room and to a wall made of stone. An iron door with a huge pull ring hanging out of the nose of some hideous demonic face was embedded in the wall. It looked quite out of place.

"An add-on," Adam explained.

"Oh," Hermione said, looking at the heavy door.

What was behind it?

"We have to go to the subterranean level for the treatment," Adam said, releasing Hermione and pulling the door open by its ring. It opened on a long winding stone staircase leading down into the darkness. Torches lit the way. Adam took Hermione's arm again.

"This way my dear, and watch out for torches," he said, his blue eyes flicking to her brittle hair.

Hermione nodded, and with lacewing flies fluttering around in her stomach, let Adam lead the way.

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Andreas was standing behind the counter when Severus approached with two baskets full of ingredients.

"Did you find everything you needed, Professor?" Andreas asked the dark wizard.

Severus nodded.

"Yes I did, and they were all of excellent quality, Andreas," he said, giving a rare compliment.

Andreas set a bag on the counter.

"Your 'other' items," he said, glancing at the door of the shop before pulling out his wand turning the "closed" sign around to face front and setting a ward over it. He didn't want anyone walking in while Severus examined illegal goods.

The Potions Master quickly went through the items, matching them to the list. Everything was there.

"Excellent," he said to Andreas.

"Shall I put this on your account, Professor?" Andreas asked him.

"Yes," the Potions Master replied.

Andreas worked as an assistant in the shop while going to university and knew the Potions Master's preferences. He wrote something down on a slip of parchment, and it winked out. Presently two receipts reappeared from Gringotts. Andreas kept one and gave one to Severus.

"There you go, Professor," Andreas said.

"Thank you Andreas," the Potions Master said, preparing to leave.

"Professor?" Andreas said to him. Severus turned around. "I wonder if I might have a private word with you sir. It is important."

Severus knew Andreas was not the kind of wizard to waste his time. If the young man said he had something important to talk to him about, he did.

Severus walked back to the counter.

"Certainly, Andreas," he replied, looking at the handsome black wizard with curiosity.

"I don't mean to pry sir, but you are aware of my powers. Sometimes they kick in on their own. I know you have something you shouldn't, and are about to do something that maybe should not be done. Maybe. But you have another problem. A woman problem," Andreas said.

Severus nodded.

Andreas took out a small blue bottle and set it on the counter.

"I would like to give you this, Professor. It is Iboga Potion. At full strength my people use this to travel to the Dark Soul of the World to see their connection. It is a very powerful potion. But a lower dose takes a person on an inner journey, one of truth and revelation. It is used in muggle society to help break drug addictions, but as we both know, Professor, there are other addictions that exist. Addictions to self-punishment, guilt and pain," Andreas said carefully.

"In these cases, Professor, it is the person's own mind that causes the addiction. This potion allows one to meet their own mind…the pure untouched whole mind and come to terms with whatever troubles them in a logical way. It is always an enlightening experience. Only when a person comes to terms with their own mind, can they heal, Professor. I want you to take it. It is flavorless and odorless. It can be administered in a drink, and the imbiber will be none the wiser. It will put him or her into a deep sleep, and they will have an inner journey, a dialogue of the mind and awake refreshed, feeling better and thinking clearer than they have in a long, long time. I think you know what to do with it sir," the wizard said, one eyebrow arched.

Severus accepted the bottle.

"I've heard of Iboga," he said turning the bottle in his hand and studying it. Then he looked up at Andreas. "This is extremely expensive. I couldn't possibly…"

"It is a gift, Professor. I will not accept payment from the wizard who put me on my path. Plus you kept the Quidditch tampering incident off my record. If it had been there, it is doubtful I would be in the Ministry today. They would think that my willingness to tamper with a game might indicate my willingness to tamper with Ministry affairs."

Here Andreas' face took on a rather cunning look.

I'm not sure that they would be wrong. Only time will tell. So think of it as a "Thank you" sir," the wizard said. "For helping me get my start."

Severus looked at the young man. He was a Slytherin through and through.

"All right, Andreas…I will. Thank you for this," Severus said sincerely.

He and Andreas shook hands, then the young wizard removed the ward and the Potions Master exited the shop.

"May all that is good in the world follow you, Professor," the wizard breathed after him, his dark eyes sober.

The dark wizard would need all the help he could get.

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A/N: Wow. Adam and Victor had their work cut out for him. Lol at Hermione's body being so unresponsive to beauty treatments. I wonder what kind of treatment the vampire is going to try now? Victor is very subservient to Adam when he's angry. Probably safer that way…the vampire is very powerful. That's some potion Andreas gave Severus. Hopefully it will help. Please review.