Inside the Blackest Heart (Edit, Not Update)

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 17 ~ Strange Things are Happening

“The bastard!” Hermione growled as she headed up the dungeon corridor. It was obvious that the Professor was completely unaffected by their interlude, and would treat her as unfairly as ever. There was actually a bit of comfort in this knowledge, though Hermione was too pissed at the Potions Master to consider her feelings about it. Imagine, giving Filch more ideas on how to make her detention even more miserable. She was glad he wasn’t able to write the list, though it had been rather strange how his quill and ink kept drying out. The ink probably came from a bad batch that reacted to the open air.

She turned into the main hall and headed for lunch in the Great Hall. She was still very hungry. It seemed her appetite had increased three-fold overnight. As she was walking, someone suddenly bumped into her, staggering her sideways.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Hermione,” said a rather dreamy voice, “I didn’t see you.”

Hermione righted herself and looked into the protuberant eyes of Luna Lovegood, who had a magazine in her hand, turned upside-down. She had been walking and reading, bumping into people the entire way and not registering it at all. Luna brushed her dirty-blonde hair out of her face and looked calmly but intently at Hermione.

“Oh, that’s okay Luna,” Hermione replied, straightening her backpack and starting off again, Luna at her side.

“I’m reading a really interesting article about Crumple-horned Snorkacks. It says one’s been spotted in the Carpathian Mountains. They almost caught it, but it tore through the magical nets.”

“That’s really interesting, Luna,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Luna had a Snorkack fixation for as long as Hermione could remember. Crumple-horned Snorkacks were the wizarding equivalent of the muggle Bigfoot, often seen running through forests and mountainsides, but never caught. Luna was fascinated with the creatures, even accompanying her father on an expedition in search of the elusive, if not mythical creatures in the snow-covered Alps. They didn’t catch any but “they came close” according to Luna.

Luna looked at Hermione intently, her face turned toward the witch as they walked. This resulted in Luna bumping into several students, but again, it didn’t register.

“You know, it’s funny how people change,” Luna said dreamily, “they’re one way all their lives, then suddenly something happens, and they’re just…different.”

Hermione looked at the witch and stopped walking.

“What are you talking about Luna?” she asked her.

The blonde witch raised her faint eyebrows.

“I’m just saying that we all change, Hermione. Some more than others. Some for the good and some for the bad. But you know, we need both good and bad to get by. They’re only degrees of each other, after all. Sometimes, they’re even the same. Gotta go. ‘Bye ” the strange witch said, drifting off into the stream of passing students and disappearing like a wraith.

Hermione looked after Luna, blinking. She certainly was an odd duck. How could good and evil be the same? The Ravenclaw certainly had some radical ideas. Hermione pressed on toward the Great Hall.

Ron and Harry were already at the table. She slipped in between them, and reached for a platter of sweet rolls. Both young wizards looked at her. Ron was scowling.

“Hermione,” he asked her with a frown on his face, “Did you spell our polish?”

Hermione had bitten into her sweet roll.

“Wha?” she said around it.

“Did you spell our polish so it dried out? Harry and I opened our tins after you left and the polish was all dried out. Hard as a rock,” he said, “You had just finished chewing us out about polishing our brooms in the common room…”

“Ronald Weasley. I didn’t spell your polish. I didn’t even have my wand out!” Hermione said indignantly.

Harry ducked his head. He had told Ron not to say anything about the polish. He was such a pig-headed prat sometimes. Now he was going to get Hermione started again.

“Well, something happened to it. And you were the one who didn’t want us using it,” Ron continued, trying to force a confession out of the witch.

Hermione’s face went black. She watched as Ron selected a big jelly-filled donut.

“I didn’t do anything to your stupid polish, Ron!” she spat.

Ron’s brows dropped and he was about to say something else to her when his donut exploded, covering him in gooey jelly. Not a drop got on Hermione.

The entire hall burst into laughter as Ron spluttered, his face splattered with red, dripping goo. It had even shot up his nose, and he snorted, the jelly shooting out. His shoulders shaking, Harry passed Ron several napkins. Hermione was laughing hysterically.

“You did this!” Ron shouted at Hermione, wiping his face with the napkins. “I don’t know how but I know it was you! And you spelled the polish too!”

Hermione stopped laughing.

“Ron, you are a fucking idiot,” she said. The witch gathered up several ham sandwiches and wrapped them in napkins, then hoisted her backpack on her shoulder and rose. She glowered down at Ron, who was having some problems cleaning off the jelly. The napkins were sticking to the mess and tearing off in little pieces, adding more bulk and color to the mess on his face. Hermione pulled out her wand.

“Scourgify,” she said, flicking it at Ron and cleaning him up.

“I’m leaving,” she announced. “If you don’t believe me Ron, fine. But I didn’t do anything to that donut or your polish. I need a wand to work magic. Wandless magic doesn’t work for me. I’ve been trying for years.”

Ron looked at her skeptically. Hermione sighed and put her watch down. She looked at the plate of jelly donuts.

“Fine. Watch,” she said.

Hermione thrust her hand out.

“Reducto!” she cried. The donuts wiggled a little

“See! See! They moved!” Ron cried out triumphantly, “You can do wandless magic!”

Everyone in the Great Hall was looking at Hermione. Including Dumbledore and Snape.

“That was hardly magic, Ron. Someone could have kicked the table or something. I didn’t cast a “donut wiggling” spell. They should have exploded, and they didn’t,” she said, picking up her wand. She was shaken, but she didn’t want it to show. The donuts had moved. Even if they didn’t do what she wanted, there was some reaction.

“That was magic all right,” Ron said, looking at her accusingly, “You probably held back or something.”

Suddenly, something in Hermione seemed to snap.

“You’re an ass, Ron!” she yelled at him, turning and running out of the hall. Harry rose to go after her, and Ron caught his arm.

“Let her go, Harry she..e..e.eeeeee AWWWW!” Ron brayed. Harry looked down at him in shock.

Ron’s head was elongating and turning gray, while his ears were lengthening growing straight up and becoming furry. In a moment, Ron had a full-fledged donkey’s head sitting on his shoulders, with a small tuft of red mane on the top.

The Great Hall came apart with hysterical laughter. Students were rolling and falling off the benches, wracked by mirth. A few of the staff members held back, their lips thin with restrained laughter. Only Dumbledore and Snape weren’t exhibiting any signs of laughter. While everyone else was laughing at Ron’s state, they both realized that Hermione had changed the wizard, and hadn’t used a wand or even wandless magic. She simply made a statement and left. Then the young wizard had the head of an ass, just as she had pronounced. She wasn’t even aware she had done it.

Dumbledore looked worried. Very worried. This was not good.

Snape on the other hand was very glad she hadn’t evidenced this power last night. He could have been in a very bad way. He thought back to the Potions class, when he couldn’t write the list for Filch.

“She did that. Not consciously, but she didn’t want me to write that list,” he thought. He suddenly looked down the table at Dumbledore, who was gazing at the doors Hermione had departed from with a dark look on his face.

In an instant, Snape knew Albus knew. The old bastard knew Miss Granger had this kind of power in her all along. That’s what the Headmaster was really after, controlling her power. But what kind of magic worked like this? Without a wand, without the use of hands? Without a spell for gods sake? If Miss Granger could work magic without the necessity of spells…

The Potions Master felt woozy. He had just brutally fucked a young woman who was most likely the most powerful witch in existence. A witch with the potential to be more powerful than Voldemort and Dumbledore combined. A witch who could bend magic to her will. Shit!

He had to find out more about this. He rose from the table and glided out the staff exit, heading for the library. He needed to talk to Madam Pince.

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“Wandless magic, Professor?” Madam Pince asked the Potions Master, looking over her glasses at him with interest. She knew he had quite a formidable library of his own. He rarely utilized hers.

“No Madam,” he replied impatiently, “I want to know if there were any instances of witches or wizards that could perform Spell-less magic.”

“Ah,” said Madam Pince, “Spell-less magic. Yes, I do have a very old book that broaches that subject.”

Snape followed Madam Pince to a glass cabinet that contained one large and very old text. The librarian made a number of intricate motions over the glass case, and it unlocked. She opened it and reverently lifted the tome out, cradling it in her arms as if it were a baby. She carried it over to a table, and set it down gently. Snape pulled out the chair and sat in it, pulling up close to the book.

“Be careful how you open it and turn the pages. It is very old, and VERY delicate,” Madam Pince chided, hovering over the Potions Master. He turned and gave her a scowl so black, she turned completely white.

“I’ll leave you to it then, Professor,” she said hastily, and retreated to her counter. She still watched him closely however.

The Professor carefully opened the book and leafed through it. It contained a lot of information on the theory of Magic and its uses throughout the ages. It also listed different kinds of magical beings. In the human section it listed, witch, warlock, sorcerer, sorceress, enchanter, enchantress, magician and so forth, with definitions of what their powers were. His eyes fell on a term he wasn’t familiar with. Primordial.

The Professor read voraciously, his eyes widening. A Primordial was a witch or wizard, most often a witch who could channel raw magic and bend it to her will without wands, charms or spells. They were a direct conduit to original magic or the magic of creation. Primordials were extremely rare, and in most cases were unaware of and unable to use their powers until they came into full maturity or adulthood. The last recorded Primordial was Lilith Oftgood, who lived over twelve hundred years ago, and ruled a great portion of the world for over two hundred years. She had quashed opposing forces battling for dominance, and ruled with a velvet-covered iron hand. During her reign there were no wars or power struggles. People lived a life of peace and prosperity that had never been equaled since.

Snape took out his wand and duplicated the passage. He folded it up, and stuck it in his robes pocket. Feeling rather stunned, he closed the book.

If Miss Granger were indeed a Primordial, she could be the one to stop all this madness permanently. Both Voldemort and Albus could be taken out of the equation. And he could be free of the both of them, forever.

The Potions Master left the library hurriedly. He wasn’t sure what to do, but he needed to talk to Miss Granger, show her what he’d found. He was absolutely sure she wasn’t aware of what was happening to her.

Primordials are extremely rare, and in most cases unaware of and unable to use their powers until they come into full maturity or adulthood.

Snape paused as the passage went through his mind. He paled.

Shit. He was the one who had awakened her powers. She had become a woman overnight. He had taken every bit of her innocence. He had sped up the process.

He had to find her.

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A/N: Wow. A lot happened in this chapter. Poor Ron. Lol. Well, the cat’s out of the bag now, even though Hermione doesn’t really know what’s happening to her. Yet. What will Albus do? And hmm, Voldemort has to sense a new power in the making. And Snape, how will he work this to his advantage? He better be careful. Currently he is the one most dispensable. Please review.