Visited Upon the Son

Disclaimer: I live in Texas, not Scotland, so I am obviously not JK Rowling. I’m

just playing with the wonderful characters that she created. I promise that I will put them

back the way I found them when I’m done!

AN: Here’s the next chappie!! Thanks to all who reviewed. As always, please R&R.

My muse loves the attention.

Visited Upon the Son

© SparkyCSI

17. Running Away

Hermione stood at the entrance to the castle for fifteen minutes after she could no longer

see Draco walking. Numbness had settled over her, for which she was glad since she felt

like her heart had been ripped out of her chest. Stifling her sobs with her fist, she ran

back to her quarters and threw herself on the bed. Her eyes were dry, but sobs wracked her

body and the depression that she had fought off for close to five years overtook her.

The memories that had returned with the telling of the story were as vivid now as they had

been when she had endured them. With the memories came the unanswered question. How did

Harry and Ron find her?

That simple question had tormented her since she had awoken in the care of Mediwitches. She

had asked everyone in the order and no one knew how they had found her. They just knew that

one day the pair had left and a week later, they were back at Grimmauld place, carrying her

to the first available Healer. They both had rushed out and the final battle had commenced.

It was with those thoughts still swirling in her head, when her body finally succumbed to

sleep.

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When Draco awoke the next morning, he was still feeling shock over Hermione’s disclosure.

He knew that Blaise had made some valid points, but he still didn’t feel like he could talk

to her about it with letting his anger at his father get the best of him. He really didn’t

want to hurt her over something that she didn’t have any control over. So when the House

Elf told him that breakfast was being served, he quickly got dressed and walked down to the

sunroom, where Blaise was dining.

Blaise looked up as Draco walked in; he still looked worried. “Drake? You okay?” he

asked.

Draco smirked at Blaise. “It’s just a lot to take in and I don’t want to go back to

Hogwarts until I’m sure that I can control my anger. Mia doesn’t deserve me yelling at her

when I’m really mad at Father.”

Blaise studied his friend, revelling in the fact that Draco had finally seemed to grow up.

“I understand. You are free to stay here until you have to get back for the start of the

next term. I also have an extensive library here with books that deal with psychology, so

you might want to read those as well. Maybe they can give you a clue about what you are in

for, if and when you can move your relationship to the next level.”

Draco gave Blaise a look of shock. “Why do you have books like that?”

Blaise smiled. “Mama had a friend who was raped as a teenager, so she decided to learn what

she could about overcoming it. That’s why she became a counsellor.”

“I didn’t know that,” Draco said.

Blaise smiled. “Not many people do. Rape victims don’t want the stigma that comes with

being a victim, so not many come forward. Mama actually went to a Muggle university to get

a degree in counselling; she wanted to really help out these women.”

Draco sighed. “I just don’t understand.”

Blaise laughed. “Read the books, Drake. They’ll help you understand. A couple of them

were written by victims of rape and the viewpoint just makes you really hate a man who would

stoop to that level.”

Draco nodded in confusion. “I’ll check them out,” he said rising from the table.

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Hermione awoke to the sound of a relentless tapping on her door. Her heart in her throat,

she threw on her robe and ran to open the door. Her face fell when she saw who was standing

there. “Hi Neville,” she said quietly before standing aside to let him in.

Neville studied her for a moment. “Hi, Mia. Are you okay?” he asked.

Hermione smiled as the lie rolled off her lips, “I’m fine. How are you? Did Christmas at

Luna’s house go okay?”

Neville smile as he followed Hermione’s example and sank into a chair in front of the fire.

“It was great. Luna’s dad is just as crazy as she is; I can see where she gets her penchant

for talking about creatures that we’ve never heard of before,” he said smiling before

studying the bags under Hermione’s eyes. “Don’t tell me that everything is all right,

Hermione. I know you better. You haven’t been sleeping well since Draco came back to

Hogwarts,” he gently accused.

Hermione didn’t look at him or respond in any manner; she just stared into the flickering

flames.

Sighing softly, Neville decided to confront Hermione. “Mia? Why don’t you talk about what

happened to you when kidnapped? I really think it will help you put your demons to rest.”

Hermione turned to him, anger flashing in her eyes. “And what would you know about my

demons!” she exclaimed scathingly.

Neville didn’t flinch at her tone. If anything he was pleased that she was obviously

letting herself feel again. “More than think I do. I know enough to know what Voldemort

and Lucius Malfoy did to you, but you never seemed to want to talk about it, so I left you

alone with your memories. But, obviously, those memories are beginning to manifest

themselves in your dreams due to Draco being back at Hogwarts,” he returned calmly.

Hermione stared at him, shock clearly written over her face. “How?” she asked.

Neville leaned forward. “Did you think that it was just Ron and Harry that strove to find

you? The entire DA worked hard to locate you.” He settled back before calling out for

Dobby.

Dobby popped into the room within seconds. “Yes, Professor Neville?”

Neville smiled at the small Elf fondly. “Can you bring us some breakfast, Dobby?”

The Elf smiled as he nodded. “Of course,” he said before snapping is fingers. Tea and

porridge appeared on the table separating Hermione and Neville quickly before Dobby popped

out again, leaving them alone.

Hermione stared at Neville, confusion evident in her eyes.

Neville returned her gaze whilst pouring the tea. “I think it’s time you hear the story of

how we found you,” he said as he picked up his tea cup and settled back into his

chair.

April 30, 1997

After Hermione had given them their assignments, Seamus, Neville and Luna quickly walked

towards the Whomping Willow, feeling nervous about what they might face. Neville studied

Luna and Seamus, feeling his heart racing at the danger they were in. He knew that he

couldn’t be in better hands. When he had fought with Luna in the Ministry, he had seen what

a powerful witch she was. He knew that even though she talked about crazy things, she was

probably the most observant of anyone in the sixth or seventh year. Seamus had picked up on

a lot of things whilst living in the same dorm as Harry and Ron, so Neville knew that he had

skills that could be put of good use.

As they got into place, Neville settled down on the ground and looked around. The only

place that had a good line of sight while being out of sight of the Willow was in the

Forbidden Forest and all three had reservations about waiting in there.

Luna took control and quickly cast a Disillusion Spell on all three of them. Both of the

men gazed down in amazement, since neither of them had been able to perfect the

charm.

“Bloody amazing job, Luna!” Seamus exclaimed.

Luna smiled a mysterious smile. “Thank you, Seamus. It also helps to guard you against the

Midnight Crymple Snorks. They are very prevalent this time of year,” she said in a

breathless voice.

Seamus couldn’t control his laughter and Neville just smiled softly in admiration for her

talents.

They hadn’t been waiting long when they saw the Whomping Willow stop moving. Drawing their

wands in readiness, they watched as black figures began to emerge from underneath the

immobilized tree.

Neville quickly pulled out his coin and sent the message that there were Death Eaters coming

from the Whomping Willow.

Confidant in their concealment, the three students began to creep up behind the group of

disguised figures. Neville drew a deep breath, concentrating on the fact that some of these

people were responsible for the fact that his parents were in St. Mungo’s. Quickly, he

shouted out, “STUPIFY!” and watched as one of the Death Eaters feel immobile. Gaining

confidence, he quickly shouted out other spells as the Luna and Seamus followed suit.

The battle raged for what seemed like forever, all three getting wounded with cutting

charms, but none of the three seemed to notice the blood flowing freely. Finally, all of

the Death Eaters had been immobilized and Neville bound them with a rope spell and left

them. He looked at Seamus and Luna and nodded. “We need to get back to the castle. The

Death eaters must have entered more than one place; otherwise, the others would have come to

back us up.”

Luna nodded, losing all pretence of being scatterbrained. “Let’s go,” she said simply

whilst taking off in a sprint for the doors of the castle.

When they arrived, they found chaos. A multitude of Death Eaters were firing spells towards

a group of students. Neville studied the situation and saw Ron and Harry at the forefront,

firing spells right back. From what he could tell, the Death Eaters were doing a bit

better. Where are the teachers, he thought. Turning he looked at Seamus. “Seamus,

go to the teacher’s quarters and get them down here!” he yelled before turning back and

joining Luna who was already firing spells at the Death Eaters.

From out of nowhere, more Death Eaters joined the fight and quickly the students were

becoming overwhelmed, until a group of teachers dressed in night clothes and robes joined

the fight. Quickly, the tide turned and within moments, the remaining Death Eaters fled in

retreat.

The mingled group of students and teachers milled around the entrance hall, with the

teachers being shocked by the attack. Neville looked at Harry and Ron who were searching

frantically for Hermione. “Where’s Hermione?” Ron called out. He looked at Professor

McGonagall. “Professor, she was supposed to go get you? Where is she now?” he asked

frantically.

Professor McGonagall looked at him. “I don’t know, Mr. Weasley. Seamus is the one that

alerted us to the attack,” she told him.

Neville could see the panic that filled Ron and Harry’s eyes. “She went for you when we

first saw that the Death Eaters were attacking from three directions!” he yelled in panic

before turning to Harry. “Harry, look at the map? Is she on there?”

Harry quickly withdrew the piece of parchment from his pocket and tapped his wand against

it. He scanned the map and he face fell. “She’s not on it,” he murmured, thinking the

worst. “Either she’s been captured or…”

“No! She can’t be dead!” Ron interrupted him.

Neville shook his head, feeling his heart begin to pound in dread. “We need to search the

castle,” he said quietly to Professor McGonagall, who nodded her head in agreement.

“Professors! Search the castle! All you students please return to your common rooms.”

The members of the DA got thunderous looks on their faces and shook their head. “No,” Harry

stated baldly. “I warned you that the attack was coming! I warned you and the Order and

you didn’t listen! The nine of us are the ones that stood here to fight against the Death

Eaters. We are not returning to our common rooms! We will help you search.” He stared

defiantly at the remaining professors.

Finally, Professor McGonagall shook her head. “All right, Harry. You eight can join the

search, but the rest of the students,” she said motioning to the other students who had

bravely come out to the battle, “will return to their common rooms.”

Harry shook his head and the DA split up once again to begin the search.

Neville, Luna and Seamus began to make their way towards the Great Hall, walking carefully

and studying everything carefully. It was Luna who found Hermione’s wand. She walked over

to it, picking it up carefully. “Oh dear,” she said. “This is Hermione’s wand.”

Neville closed his eyes, already thinking the worst. He knew that the Death Eaters could

have easily killed Hermione after they disarmed her, but the fact that there was no body,

made his blood run cold in terror. He knew that since she was muggle born and one of

Harry’s best friends, she would be tortured for any information they could get out of

her.

It was with a heavy heart that they returned to the entrance hall and waited for others to

arrive.

Neville studied Hermione, who had grown pale during his story. “Mia? Of all of us, I

probably had the best idea of what kind of torture that you would face, after what had

happened with my parents. I can tell you that Ron and Harry beat themselves up every day

for letting you go on your way alone.” He gazed at Hermione, who had begun to tear up as

her memories returned. “All of the DA worked hard to find you. I can probably tell you

anything you want to know about your rescue, if you want me to.”

Hermione looked at him, shocked for the countless time that day. “Really? How did they

find me?”

Smiling, Neville leaned back to continue the story.

May 1, 1997

After a short night in which very few members of the DA actually slept, the eight remaining

members gathered in the Room of Requirement. Harry and Ron had thunderous looks on their

faces. Neville met their eyes and nodded, understanding their anger. “What’s the plan,” he

asked quietly.

Ron looked to angry to speak, so Harry is the one that answered him. “We find her, without

the bloody Order. They refused to listen to us and I refuse their help now.”

Ron nodded emphatically acknowledging his agreement.

Neville looked to Luna and Ginny, who both were pacing nervously, but Dean is the one that

dared to ask the question. “What makes you think that she is still alive?”

Neville watched as Ron’s face turned bright red, almost matching his hair. Ginny jumped

forward to restrain him. “Ron! Don’t hurt him! He has a valid question. Hermione is

Muggle born and you know that the Death Eaters thrive on killing anyone that is not a

Pureblood.”

Neville nodded. “Ron, it’s more than likely she is still alive, but Death Eaters will

torture her for information on Harry and how to get close enough to kill him.”

Ron seemed to calm down a lot at but Neville continued, “But they will and probably already

are torturing her. I want to warn you that she might not ever be the same if we are able

rescue her.”

Ron looked at him. “How do you know that,” he spat out.

Neville drew a deep breath, knowing that only one person in the room knew his secret. His

eyes rose to meet Ron’s, his gaze unwavering. “I know because both of my parents are in St.

Mungo’s in a permanently catatonic state due to being tortured by Death Eaters,” he returned

quietly.

Gasps filled the room and he looked down at his feet, the pain of losing them yet not being

able to mourn them cutting him deeply. He felt a soft hand on his arm and looked up into

Luna’s clear blue eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said so softly that he was the only one who could

hear her words. “We’ll find Hermione before that happens.”

Neville nodded. “We need to start looking for her now. The quicker we start, the more

likely we are to find her.”

Ginny nodded. “I agree. What can we do to find her?”

Dean cleared his voice. “What about some sort of Scrying Spell? Somehow we can pinpoint

her location?”

Both Harry and Ron shrugged in defeat. Dean, Seamus and Ginny looked around the room,

clearly racking their brains for something to help the find their fallen friend, but it was

Luna who answered their question. She bit her lip and sighed. “There is a potion that I

read about for Slughorn’s class, but I don’t know what the ingredients are.”

“Did you read about it in the potions book?” Neville asked.

Luna shook her head. “No, it was only referenced there. I think it might be in a book in

the restricted section of the library. But I don’t know how to get to the book.”

Harry smiled. “I know. I have an invisibility cloak. Two, maybe three people can fit

under the cloak.”

Ginny furrowed her brow. “But what about the spells around the restricted section? How do

we bypass those? We have to get the teacher’s to clear us to go into that section.”

Neville smiled. “Leave that to me. I’ve been talking to Professor Sprout about doing an

internship, so I can become a Master Herbologist. She’s given me access to the restricted

section to research deadly plants. How about I go in with Luna and we can look for the

book?”

Harry nodded. “That sounds like a plan. Neville, come with me to the dorm room and I’ll

loan you my cloak.”

Neville nodded and left the room with Harry.

Less than an hour later, he was in the Library with Luna underneath the cloak beside him.

He nodded to Madame Pince as he walked towards the section, feeling the breeze beside him as

Luna kept up.

Soon they were in the caged off section of the library, with Luna directing him to the

section with the potions books. “What was the book name?” Neville asked quietly.

“I’m not sure. It was Most Potente Potions and how to make them; it was something that

sounded older than that.”

Nodding, Neville walked towards the oldest section of books. Most books in this section

just looked like pieces of parchment that were bound by hand. Both of them scanned the

titles until he heard Luna gasped. “That’s it. Spells and Potions of Ancient Greek. Pull

that one down and let’s scan through it.”

Neville nodded as he carefully pulled the book off it’s shelf, disturbing a great deal of

dust in the process. He pressed his lips together, trying to hold in the inevitable sneeze

as the dust found its way up his nose. Quickly he knelt down, opening the book on the floor

while Luna slipped out from under the cloak.

Luna scanned the pages quickly, the archaic form of English that it was in posing no

problems for her. “Here it is,” she whispered in triumph. “Oh, Merlin, these ingredients

are going to be tough to get.”

“Why? What do we need?”

“Mandrake root, unicorn hair, the blood of a Dragon, hoarsbane, a phoenix tear. And that’s

not even the half of them,” Luna muttered as she began to transcribe the potion onto a piece

of paper to take with them.

Neville cringed, knowing that some of the ingredients weren’t even available in Professor

Slughorn’s stores. “How are we going to get these?” he whispered.

Luna shook her head. “I don’t know,” she returned as she finished writing out the list.

“We’d better get back to the room.”

Neville quickly slipped the book back into place and quickly exited the Library.

When they were back in the Room, the rest of the DA looked at the expectantly. They

exchanged a glance, but neither of them wanted to be the one to break the bad news to the

group.

“Well,” Harry finally said, twitching in anticipation. “Did you find it?”

Luna took a breath. “Yes, we did, but the ingredient list is going to be difficult,” Luna

stated as she handed the list over to Harry. “Most of the ingredients are things that only

Slughorn has access to, and some of them, even he doesn’t have.”

Harry and Ron studied the list, quickly deciding what ingredients they could get at the

castle. “We can slip into the potion stores and get these, but it leaves six things that

are not available here at Hogwarts. Dragon’s blood, unicorn hair, hoarsbane, a tear of a

Phoenix, the skin of a Peruvian dragon toad and doxy bullocks. I have no idea where to get

those.”

Luna smiled. “I have some unusual contacts. Leave that to me. I can probably have them in

about a week. It says here that the potion takes a fortnight to brew. Surely, she can hold

on for that period of time.”

Ron held his tongue, he obviously didn’t think so, but he knew that this was the only chance

they had of getting Hermione back.

Three weeks later, the potion was done. All the group lacked to do was add something

personal of Hermione’s so that the potion could seek her out. The eight of them stood

nervously around the cauldron. Luna nodded to Ginny, who carefully dropped a couple of

pieces of hair into the cauldron which caused it to bubble manically.

Then a great cloud of smoke erupted from the cauldron, causing the group to cough. When the

smoke cleared, a house was hovering above the bubbling potion.

“Is that where she is?” Seamus asked. “Whose house is that?”

Everyone shook their head in defeat except for Luna. “That’s the Crouch Manor. Daddy

interviewed Mr. Crouch Sr. when his son was first convicted. He said the place was infested

with gnarly grumps. He said the infestation was out of control and Mr. Crouch refused his

help in getting rid of them.”

Harry nodded. “So how do we get there?”

“Daddy took me out there once. I know how to get there, but I must gather some supplies to

protect ourselves from the gnarly grumps.”

The rest of the group tried to hide the eye rolls at her statement, but was willing to let

her go her way since she was the one to find out how to locate Hermione. They agreed to

meet back in the Room in an hour, so that they could prepare to leave.

Two hours later, the eight members of the DA were standing outside the decrepit Crouch

Manor. It was early afternoon, but they knew they wouldn’t be able to attack until later on

that night. They settled back to study the house.

It was close to four a.m. when the last person finally cleared out of the house and the

lights went out. Slowly the group split up into smaller groups of four. Ginny, Seamus,

Dean and Colin took the back whilst the rest of the group took the front. Harry watched in

amazement as Luna carefully took down the wards on the house and they slipped in unnoticed.

The plan was for Harry and Ron to search for Hermione underneath the concealment of his

cloak, while the rest of them would disable as many Death Eaters as possible.

They crept through the house, thankful for the concealing darkness. Harry and Ron decided

to search the bottom floors, while Neville and Luna strove to keep a clear path for retreat.

They went room to room, searching for any Death Eaters. Soon, they stumbled across a group

of Death Eaters playing some sort of game. The Death Eaters noticed the door opening

slowly, so Neville and Luna began to fire spells back at them.

The fight continued on for what seemed like an eternity until Neville heard Ron yelling that

they had Hermione. Quickly, Luna and him shot off their final spells and retreated, running

for the safety and concealment of the woods.

Panting, the group met at the rendezvous point and together, Apparated to Grimmauld

place.

Hermione looked at Neville in shock. “I don’t remember anything other than believing that

Ron and Harry were hallucinations.”

Neville nodded. “You were pretty out of it. When we got back to the house, Harry called

for Healers to come to the house and put you in their care. Both him and Ron were livid

because they finally knew how bad it had been for you. On the way back, you kept murmuring

in your sleep about Lucius Malfoy and we all knew what he’d done to you.”

Hermione stared at him. “Thank you.”

Neville smiled. “No need to thank me, Hermione. But you should know that Harry and Ron

chose to confront Voldemort the next day. They knew that the Death Eaters were up in arms

because we had rescued you. Ron was the one that confronted Malfoy. He told me when we

were preparing for the battle that he would destroy him.”

Hermione felt a couple of tears roll down her face. “I wish he hadn’t because now I have to

marry Malfoy.”

Neville looked at her, sensing the underlying tension in her voice and realizing that he had

not seen Draco since he’d gotten back. “What happened?” he asked gently.

“I told him and he left. I watched him walk away from the castle, suitcase in hand,” she

muttered.

Neville settled back, thinking over all he had learned about Draco since he became a

Professor. “Did he leave for good, or did he just need some time to process what you told

him. Think about, Mia. You just told him that his father, whom he looks a lot like, raped

you repeatedly. I’d need some space too.”

Hermione looked at Neville in shock. “I’d never thought about that!”

Neville smiled. “Listen, Mia. I watched the two of you interact. He has feelings for you.

Give him some time and I think he will be able to come to terms with it.” Neville glanced

at his watch. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some papers to grade before the students

get back from holiday.”

Hermione nodded, feeling a little of the despair leaving her body as she contemplated

everything that she had just learned.

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AN: Okay, guys. A nice long chapter for you! I will warn you that I do not have

the next chapter written yet, but I’m going to try to do that over the weekend, so I’m

hoping for no lag time between the next chapters!!!!

Avanell – You’re very welcome!!! Thanks for reviewing!

Please, please, review! My muse loves it!