It\'s All Done With Mirrors

A/N: I\'m going to give you as much as I can over the next 24 hours. Then I\'ve got to go to hospital to have a dirty great tube shoved in my lung. Nice. Should be back out again in no time, but if ther a f a few days between additions, you\'ll know I haven\'t got bored...I\'m just resting!

There\'s some disturbing material in this chapter. You may get a little squicked. Sorry, but it\'s necessary to the plot. But I\'ve made it up to you, I think, by the end of this chapter. :-)) on with the show!

Chapter Twenty-Three
Awakening


Head Girl\'s Room, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts, August 2010


When I awoke it was around four in the afternoon. A cool breeze blew in from one of the windows, and I felt refreshed and calm. I opened my eyes, and let out a shriek, because another pair of eyes was staring back at me!

Cursing Draco \"Trick Boy\" Malfoy and his jolly little japes, I closed my compact and shoved it under my pillow. Time to get up! Typically, I threw the covers back and bounded out of the bed.

I was famished, though. I summoned a house elf, and Winky appeared before me.

\"Winky is very pleased to see Mistress Hermione back in Hogwarts,\" she said, smiling at me.

I was getting wise to all this plotting. This one was a dead give-away, because Winky hates me.

\"Winky. Why don\'t you tell me what you\'r to, to, and I will come quietly?\" I said, softly.

\"Winky has been sent to fetch Mistress Hermione to Harry Potter\'s rooms,\" the house elf replied, in her usual sulky tones.

\"OK then!\" I gave her one of my sickliest smiles. \"There, that wasn\'t too hard now, was it, Winky?\"

She glared at me, wrinkled chin labouring like a clockwork prune.

I still think SPEW was a good idea though.

I Floo\'d to Harry and Ginny\'s rooms, shaking my head. Didn\'t anyone do anything without subterfuge these days?


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Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, September 1997


The blonde girl lying on red Quidditch robes looked up at the face above, and writhed convincingly.

\"You\'re all I ever wanted...all I ever needed...fuck me harder, please...oh, yes...yes...make me yours...\"

The young man on top of the girl panted heavily in her ear as he thrust into her. He was close to coming, he thought with a pathetic gratitude. He was pleasing her! His first time, too! He tried to comply with the blonde girl\'s wishes, but his mind was clouding with his impending release. He started to groan.

\"Ah...gods...oaaaaaagh!\" And, lost in the explosion of stars in his head, he yelled out a name.

But it wasn\'t her name.

Her eyes narrowed as his sweaty body collapsed on top of her cool one. \'Interesting,\' she thought, staring up at the clouds above.

And then she smiled a smile so evil, it caused all the birds in the sky to fly away in panic.


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Harry\'s Home, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts, August 2010


\"I\'m here, folks!\"

\"Hermione!\"

Molly Weasley enveloped me in one of her dusty knitted hugs. Then she held me by the arms and pulled back to get a good look at me.

\"You\'ve got a lot thinner, dear...have you been eating properly?\"

My stomach chose that moment to make a most uncivilised noise, and I went red as a radish.

\"Apparently not,\" came Arthur\'s voice. \"Molly, won\'t you put our daughter-in dow down so we can all give her a hug before she faints with hunger?\"

Arthur, my older nieces and nephew all hugged me thoroughly, and then Cait practically yanked me into the dining room.

\"We decided to have dinner ready for when wokewoke up. Good, isn\'t it? I can\'t wait to do magic like that - just one wave of the wand and it appears on the table, all hot and ready to scoff!\"

\"Auntie \'Mione, we haven\'t seen you in ages! I\'m sure Cait hardly remembers you. Why don\'t you and Uncle Ron come and see us any more?\" Tilly\'s green eyes sparked accusingly at me, and I honestly didn\'t know what to say.

Arthur came to my rescue, however. \"Come along, children. The first one with their bum on a seat gets to sit next to Auntie \'Mione!\"

There was a scuffle, and peals of laughter bounced off the vaulted ceilings as the three children fought to be the first at the table.

*

In the end, I had one either side of me and one directly opposite. They clamoured for my attention all through the meal, and by the time pudding was served, my head was beginning to throb.

Harry finally called for silence. \"Sorry \'Mione,\" he apologised. \"Kids, back off and let your Aunt get some air. And I\'ve got something I want to say.\"

He looked at Ginny, and they shared a loving smile, before they both turned to me and said in unison:

\"Hermione, we want you to be Athena and Ronald\'s godmother.\"

I sat quietly for a few moments, digesting this. The privilege versus the responsibility. Keep old wounds, or make a new start. I had known they were going to ask me today, and the answer came surprisingly easily.

\"All right then, I\'d love to,\" I finally replied, and a great Potter and Weasley whoop resounded in the room.


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The Quidditch Pitch, Hogwarts, September 1997


As he slept, she knelt beside him, wand pointed at his peaceful face. \'This is going to hurt, arsehole,\' she thought. \'Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow...but soon. And for the rest of your life.\' ***

With several lazy rotations of her wand, she intoned the words of the curse that would cause him to stop at nothing before he obtained the person who was the object of his shitty little fantasies. And on obtaining that person, he would not stop before he had ruined her life. He would disappoint her, be unable to satisfy her, he would always repulse her, cheat on her, hurt her physically and mentally, rape her and, finally, kill her.

The wand finally stopped just below his left nostril. She touched the point to his flesh, and uttered the words \"Destructum Amator.\" * He twitched in his sleep, moaning slightly, as the wand\'s point added merely another freckle to his already dappled flesh.

Pansy Parkinson looked at the moon, and bestowed upon it a mocking expression, before snuggling up beside Ron and falling asleep with a smile on her unpleasant features.


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Hogwarts, August 2010 - After the Naming Ceremony


I disentangled myself from them all; finally deciding it was time I had some time to myself. Going back to my room, I showered, and brushed my teeth in the Head Girl\'s bathroom. Experimentally, I looked sternly at the mirror and said, \"Well?\"

\"Well, dearie, you\'re not going to win any prizes for beauty with that scowl on your face!\"

I rolled my eyes, annoyed but relieved to hear nothing other than the banal drivel of a bewitched Wizard mirror.

I was grinning as I left the bathroom. Someone had obviously been kind enough to put out some of her gowns out for me, and there was a neat pile of new undies, socks and bras on a chair by my bedside.

Bought by Minerva, I was willing to bet, looking at the pure white cotton. With a wave of my wand, I changed a bra and knickers set to the correct size, and transfigured the colour to a peacock blue.

I slipped them on, chose a pale blue gown and strolled down to the Library, plaiting my hair as I walked.


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Knockturn Alley, August 2010


The offices of Opportunity Squibs were closed. The cloaked figure on the stairs outside the rented room put out a hand and knocked sharply three times.

\"Millie! Let me in!\" the figure spoke with a hoarse voice.

A rim of green light shone round the doorframe, and the cloaked figure knew the person on the other side of the door was casting a transparency charm.

\"For the love of Merlin, Millie! It\'s me!\"

The door swung open slowly, and the figure in the cloak limped through the doorway into the office.


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The Library, Hogwarts, August 2010


My heart leapt as I walked dreamily along the shelves and shelves of leather-bound vellum. Books...seemingly for miles and miles...as far as the eye could see!

I had always imagined that heaven would probably look something like the Hogwarts Library...a place to learn, to meditate, to immerse oneself in knowledge...to be left alone -

\"Ouch!\"

\"Sorry!\"

In the gloom I could see a small pale face with large eyes staring up at me. It was a little boy!

\"I\'m sorry, too, actually. I was walking along in a world of my own - didn\'t see you there.\"

I couldn\'t quite tell for sure, but it seemed as if he was blushing. And, looking around, I realised why.

\"You do know that you\'re in the Restricted Section, don\'t you?\"

\"Are you Madame Pince?\"

\"No, I\'m - hang about. What are you doing here? In the Library? In Hogwarts, even? It\'s not even the beginning of term...does one of your parents teacre?\re?\"

The eyes continued to regard me, unblinking.

\"Well?\"

\"I... I don\'t actually know.\"

\"You\'d better come with me, young man,\" I said. I took him by the arm, and started to march him out of the Library.

\"I was brought here this morning...I\'m to start at Hogwarts this term...Everyone\'s too busy to show me around so I thought I\'d go back to the Library...please don\'t tell Professor Dumbledore I was in the Restricted Section again!\"

\"Again?\" I bit my lip, thinking \'He\'s in trouble...\'

\"Hold on a minute...you\'re Hermione Granger!\"

I looked at the dark head, silky fringe flopping to one side, and a little lumos charm flashed on in my head.

\"I\'ve seen you before - you\'re the little boy who was eating a chocolate frog in Diagon Alley...\"

\"I\'ve read all aboou! ou! Miss Granger, did you really get 402% in Potions?\"

\"You were getting up to mischief then as well, weren\'t you - was that your father you were with?\"

\"I\'m really sorry, I know I shouldn\'t have put that scroll in your pocket.\"

What? My heart started thumping crazily.

\"...No, not my dad. That was my Uncle Draco.
I
I slid down the wall, suddenly unable to breathe properly.

\"Miss Granger? Miss Granger! Are you all right?\" he was patting my hands, my shoulder, peering closely at my face.

I could feel my heart pounding fit to burst...he was growing dim before my eyes...

Then suddenly I heard the words \"Anhelitus anima!\" ** and at once I was able to draw in a shuddering breath.

My vision cleared, and I looked up at the face of my son, who was holding a wand in his shaking hand.






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* Destructum Amator - Destroy (your) Love (Latin)
** Anhelitus Anima - the breath of life (Latin)
*** Obviously, I\'ve pinched that from Casablanca.
But there really wasn\'t a better way of saying it.

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