unleashed

In a dark room in Canton, Hermione Jane Granger sat in her bedroom in a corner crying. She just woke up in a nightmare, no, Hell. She didn’t know what to do or where to go, but she knew that she had to get out of the house. Just as she was thinking of possible ways to get out she heard a loud CRACK coming from the middle of her room. Hermione looked up and cried tears of joy when she saw Albus Dumbledore standing in front of her.

“Hermione, what has happened to you?” he asked looking at the blood on her bed and on her night clothes.

Hermione looked back down to the floor. She couldn’t speak. She knew that Harry must have told her professor what was really going on in the house. She was angry, but she was also feeling very weak. She was clever, but she couldn’t defend herself if someone attacked her. She couldn’t even face Dumbledore as he knelt in front of her, so she just kept quiet.

“Fine Ms. Granger, I will take you to St Mungo’s so we can check if there is any damage and, if you are feeling up to it, you can come back here or to Grimmuald Place. That is entirely up to you.” he reached over, and picked Hermione up off of the floor. “I am guessing that you cannot walk so I will carry you downstairs and we will take the floo, it is safer than apperating. Hermione nodded. Dumbledore took out his wand and conjured a note telling Hermione’s parents where she was and that she would be fine in his care.

**********


Back at Grimmuald Place, Harry, was sitting in his room anxiously waiting for the return of his headmaster and Hermione. Harry refused to close his eyes to sleep, horrified by the image of Hermione being attacked her own home. ‘I should have been there.’ Harry thought with tears in his eyes. If he was there, this never would have happened. ‘How could her father do this her?’ he thought desperately, however, he did not know that her father did this at all. He was growing restless. The sun was coming up on the other side of his window. Soon the house would be stirring. Harry didn’t want to see anyone except for Dumbledore or Hermione.

Harry stood up from his bed and pointed his wand to the door. He put on a locking charm and a silencing charm on the room so that no one would disturb him. As he was walking over to his desk. Dumbledore appeared in the room with a tiny POP. Harry looked at his headmaster waiting for some kind of news regarding Hermione.

“Well?!” Harry shouted.

“Ms. Granger is fine, Harry. I cannot tell you what happened because she will not tell me. She will be here tonight and maybe you can talk to her then. But before she comes, I need to ask you what you do you know about what is going on in that house?” Albus asked as he sat on the desk chair and motioned harry to sit in the other chair that he conjured up.

Harry sat down but in his mind so many thoughts were running through him. ‘I can’t break Hermione’s trust; but she is in trouble! I have to do it for her own good.’ Harry looked at Dumbledore, “Sir, last night at Hermione’s home, she told me that some things happened to her when she was a child. I promised that I wouldn’t tell anyone without her permission, but seeing as this could help her than harm her....” Harry paused and went on telling the headmaster everything that was said last night. Dumbledore’s eyebrows raised more and more after ever sentence was said. Then Harry went on to recount the vision that he had later on in the evening. “Sir, I don’t know who did it, I just knew that she was hurt! I don’t know who did it, but I have no doubt in my mind that it was...her father” Harry whispered the last part, but Dumbledore heard what he had said. Harry looked in to the older man’s eyes and saw that there was no twinkle there, which told Harry that Albus Dumbledore was not happy at all.

Albus stood, and walked to the middle of the room. Then he vanished with a loud CRACK. Harry sat for a moment thinking about what could happen. Maybe Hermione will have to leave her home in Canton. She surely could not stay in a home where she is not safe.

***********

St. Mungo’s, in Hermione’s eyes, has always meant trouble. So many people are here because of one man: Voldemort. Hermione sat in her bed waiting for a healer to come back and tell her what is wrong, if there was anything wrong. Hermione felt lost. She had no one to go to for help. If she told the healers what was going on, they would tell Dumbledore. If she told Dumbledore, he would have her packing that night to go to someone else’s home. She couldn’t talk to Harry, because at the moment he was upset with her because she wouldn’t leave, and she was upset with him, for telling Dumbledore what happened. She knew that he had to tell, because there is no way that Dumbledore could have known that I was in trouble. But Hermione’s thoughts were cut short when a healer came into the room.

“How are you feeling Ms. Granger?” she asked while placing a tray of food on Hermione’s bedside table.

“I’m fine, ma’am, but I would be better if I knew that everything is going to be fine with me.” said Hermione after thanking the healer for the food.

“Well, we ran some spells over you while you were sleeping. It seems that almost everything is fine.” the healer said putting on a false smile.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘almost’?” Hermione asked growing more concerned..

“Well, Ms. Granger it seems that the damage done to you during your attack has left you with the inability to have children. Whoever did this to you gave you quite a beating. It was a strong kick to the abdomen that did it. But we are working with new spells that may fix that in the future.” The healer stopped to look at the hurt on the young girl’s face and felt like she wanted to cry for her. “I’m so sorry. I will leave you to think about all of this. If you need anything just call me, I am Healer Serendipity.” the healer turned and left the room.

Hermione just sat on the bed in complete shock. ‘No kids....ever!’ she couldn’t take it. The hurt of knowing that the one thing that was worth being a woman for was gone. She always wanted a large family seeing as she was an only child. She felt incomplete. She had to leave. Grabbing her wand, Hermione tapped her head to disillusion herself. She crept out of her hospital room and ran through all of her pain until she was outside in the rain. There was a park just up ahead so she ran until she reached the trees of the park. She stopped and yelled, “WHY???!!!!!” she collapsed and cried openly as the rain fell down onto her, running though her hair and down her face. She cried so hard that she didn’t even notice that an old wizard appeared out of no where and watched her cry.

Albus Dumbledore sat and watched as a broken girl cried to the heavens out of anguish. He slowly walked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ms. Granger, it is not good for you to be out in the rain. You could get sick.” Hermione raised her head and looked into the eyes of her headmaster.

“It does not matter. I just want to die!” she cried some more.

“Hermione, I am sorry to hear your bad news, but things happen for a reason. In the times of heartache, people persevere. You can get through this, but you must not think that you have to do this alone. Don’t push away the people that can help you.” Dumbledore said.

“I’m sorry, professor, but I wish...I wish I could believe you.” said the young witch

“Well, while you think about it, let’s get you out of the cold. I cannot take you back home, so I will take you back to Grimmauld Place. Don’t worry, no one will see you if you do not want to be seen. I will place you in an unused room there and have Dobby bring you food when you need it.” Hermione nodded in agreement. Dumbledore helped her get up and they disappeared back to Grimmauld Place.

********

Harry entered the kitchen of Grimmauld Place expecting to see everyone awake and enjoying breakfast, but was surprised when he walked into the room ad no one was there. Dobby appeared next to the table.

“Harry Potter sir! Is there something that Dobby can get master Potter for breakfast?” he asked wagging his bat-like ears.

“Sure, Dobby, but just call me Harry.” he said looking down at the elf.

“Right away, master Harry, sir.!” and the elf left as quickly as he came.

Harry sat at the table waiting to hear anything from Hermione or from Dumbledore. Not only was he upset that he was in love with someone that does not love him, but he was also not on speaking terms with his other best friend. It had hurt Harry so much when the Ginny and Ron decided to head back to the Burrow. For Harry knew that the Burrow was not a safe place to be staying. But if Dumbledore said it was alright, then Harry wasn’t going to start up another fight with his friends. Harry would have continued to brood if it wasn’t for Dumbledore walking into the kitchen, followed by Dobby who was balancing a large tray of food to the table for Harry.

Harry muttered his thanks to Dobby, who retreated back into the kitchen. Dumbledore sat down across the table from Harry, looking into his eyes. Harry used all of his will power not to look up into the wise eyes of his headmaster but he failed miserably. What he saw in the light blue eyes was enough to scare Harry to death. There was no twinkle that was bright enough to see from across the room, the headmaster was not smiling benignly, in fact, Dumbledore was showing his actual age to Harry, which didn’t look so good.

“Harry,” he whispered, which was so quiet, Harry had to strain his ears to him properly. “I brought Hermione here to stay, but I must ask that you do not go looking for her. She has been through a great deal last night and throughout the morning. She needs time to think and recuperate from all of her injuries. Let her speak to you first. It may take a while, but she will come around. I’m assuming that she is feeling very used and upset. Give her time.” he finished allowing a single tear to run down into his beard. Harry knew that this was big news for he had only seen Dumbledore shed a tear once in his life and that was when Harry was in his office last month after the adventure to the ministry of magic.

Harry took not of this and decided that he was going to follow Dumbledore’s wishes and nodded to the older man. Dumbledore rose from his chair and left Harry to think about the events that were playing in his mind from last night. He knew that Hermione’s father had done something to her, but he needed proof. He needed Hermione here to tell him what was going on. ‘That’s it!’ Harry thought. He was going to send her an owl. Sure, it seemed pretty ridiculous to send an owl upstairs, but her knew that Hermione needed to know that he still cared for her, no matter what was said last night at her parents house.

Harry rose from his chair and ran upstairs to his bedroom and strait to his desk where he pulled out a quill, some parchment and ink. Harry paused. He was wondering how he was going to put into words that he still cared for her. He chuckled to himself when he thought about the times he had turned away from Hermione fearing that she was going to be hurt, now he was begging for her to come back to him. Harry frowned, his eyes were getting misty. ‘I pushed her away and she got hurt. I wasn’t there to protect her.’ he thought. Harry dipped his quill into the ink and began to write his heart out into a poem.

I had locked the door upon my heart
And wouldn\'t let anyone in
I have tried and loved only to hurt
But I would not let that happen again

I took the key and tossed it
As hard and as far as I could
Love would never enter my life
My heart was closed for good.

Just when I thought that that key
Was impossible to find
You came along and found my heart
And you made me change my mind

You held out your hand and proved to me
That I was very wrong
For inside your palm was the key to my heart
You had it all along

Hermione, I know that words will never truly express how I feel about you. I know that you went through some difficult times, but I want you to know that you are not alone in this world. I am taking the words that you said to mean at the Dursley’s. You made me remember that I am not alone in trying to deal with the problems in my life, and for that I truly thank you.

Right now I am pretty sure that you are thinking that I probably told Dumbledore about you being in trouble. I just wanted you to know that I did tell him, but that was only when I had a vision in my sleep about you being hurt. I sent him there to help you and that is all. When he came back he asked me, and I figured that you needed the help even though you can be stubborn to ask for it, much like myself. I am sorry to have hurt you. But not as sorry as I am that I could not have been there sooner for you.

I know that you need your rest, but I will be in my room if ever you need to talk to me. Oh and don’t worry about anyone seeing you, Ron and Ginny went back to the Burrow, yeah, they are still upset with me about what I did to you. Remember Hermione, I love you.

Harry

Harry looked up to the top of the wardrobe and called for Hedwig to fly down to him. “Alright, girl, this is for Hermione. I know it may seem weird but she is somewhere in the house. Please deliver it to her....it’s important.” The snowy owl hooted to let it be known that she understood as Harry tied the letter to her leg. Harry watched as the owl took off out of the window. He walked over to the bed and waited. That was all he could do in a time like now.