Hypnos

HYPNOS

By Ness


Chapter 1


DISCLAIMER:

This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Reviews are welcome.


~

It was Hagrid who found her on the frozen school grounds, close to the gates, lying in a shivering heap, all bloody bruises and torn flesh. Lupin cast the emergency spell which staunched her heavy blood loss, and Madam Pomfrey in the hospital ward took care of her wounds and broken bones, as well as he hhe hideous, more intimate damage. But it was Severus Snape who first realised what was wrong with her mind.

\"She can\'t remember, Albus,\" he told Dumbledore in the emergency staff meeting which was called that evening, as the headmaster stroked Fawkes worriedly. \"She won\'t be able to remember a thing when she wakes up.\"

\"Of course she can\'t remember, poor thing,\" said Minerva McGonagall. \"She\'s still in shock. Her mind won\'t be able to cope with all the traumas she has gone through for some time, I expect. After she rests, though...\"

Snape glowered in impatience and irritation at the elder woman\'s reassurances. \"No, Minerva. You don\'t understand. She can\'t remember because she isn\'t aware of what happened to her.\"

Dumbledore stopped stroking Fawkes\'s golden tail and looked up abruptly. \"What do you mean, she isn\'t aware? You mean, she\'s been Obliviated? Well then, we can always...\"

\"No. If it were a matter of an Obliviate alone, something might be done with a Pensieve, or with a recovery spell. You\'re a wizard powerful enough for that, gods know, and we could all cast a joint spell. No, the problem is worse. I\'ve looked into Miss ger\ger\'s mind while she\'s unconscious, as you asked me to - I couldn\'t find a trace of a conscious memory. None. It seems she has repressed whatever happened since she last left Hogwarts into her unconscious, utterly. That, probably cou wit with an Obliviate from Voldemort, of course.\"

\"Well, then, surely there\'s always Veritaserum we could use...\" puzzled McGonagall.

\"Veritaserum works only when the subject is consciously hiding something. If Miss Granger\'s mind, as I believe, has repressed all that has happened to her in the past few months, then Veritaserum will be of no use.\"

\"Let me get this clear,\" said Lupin, who had been standing by the chimney place all the while, listening. \"Someone has betrayed Hermione and told Voldemort that she was a mole. She has been repeatedly tortured, raped, and beaten to within an inch of her life. And you\'re telling me that she has been through all this for nothing? That she won\'t be able to recall anything that she learnt among the Death Eaters? That she won\'t be able to tell us who from among us betrayed her?\"

\"You don\'t know if it was one of us,\" murmured a stricken McGonagall, turning very pale.

\"It must have been someone on our side, Minerva,\" replied Lupin. \"How else could have they known that Hermione was a double spy except for a leak? She\'s far too clever for them to have caught her otherwise.\"

\"There\'s only one way to find out,\" said Dumbledore. \"Severus, I know how much you dislike resorting to muggle techniques, but this is a matter or life or death. And I think you are the only one qualified to do this. You know what you must do.\"

Snape grimaced in distaste. \"She doesn\'t trust me, Albus, you know that. I don\'t see why...\"

\"You are the only one who has all the required skills - Legilimency, plus potions, plus...\"

\"Plus advanced psychological manipulation,\" Snape finished the sentence for him. \"Albus, it\'s no use. The girl doesn\'t trust me or like me. I won\'t be able to get a thing out of her in her state.\"

\"Miss Granger will trust you insofar as is necessary,\" said McGonagall. \"She may not like you, but I am sure willwill understand...\"

\"And besides,\" mused Lupin, leaning against the mantel, \"one wouldn\'t think that trust was that important for interrogations.\"

Snape scowled at him, although he knew that was precisely what all the other people in the room had in mind. \"Yes. Having a Death Eater interrogator among the staff does come in handy at times, I suppose. Who better to do the dirty jobs?\"

\"Severus.\" Dumbledore looked at him. \"You know this must be .\" .\"

Snape took a deep sigh. \"Well, then. Who\'s going to tell her?\"


~~~~~

He watched her from the threshold, unnoticed, trying to find in her haggard face the child he had once taught, while Dumbledore sat by her side on the bed and explained the situation to her.

The girl had been through Hell, as he had known the very minute he set eyes on her - and he should know. He could see now the damage again in her every movement, the position of her body, almost curled as if after a Cruciatus, the new shiftiness to her eyes while Dumbledore gently spoke to her. Her mind might have forgotten, but her body certainly hadn\'t.

He would have never imagined that seeing a Gryffindor fallen and abject in this way would hurt him so much.

\"You mean - you can\'t recover my memories in any other way?\"

\"I\'m afraid not, Miss Granger, It is not only a matter of an Obliviate spell, but also of your own psychological mechanisms which seem to have reacted in self-defence. You must be relieved of those memories by... other means.\"

Relieved, ha, thought Snape, bitterly. If her mind has chosen to forget, it must have had some extremely good reasons. Gods, but you can be cynical, Albus.

As if hearing his unspoken criticism, Dumbledore turned around and motioned for him to come over to her bedside.

at oat other means?\" whispered Hermione, looking up at Snape\'s looming figure. Her eyes now great pools of fear.

\"Professor Snape, as you know, is a master Legilimens, as well as an expert in
potions...\"an Dan Dumbledore, but Snape cut him in midsentence. He believed in saying things clearly.

\"I will have to hypnotize you.\"

She gulped, visibly. \"Hypnosis? But - but, isn\'t that a muggle thing?\"

Under other circumstances, he would have been amused at the sheer horror which the thought of Snape being involved in anything resembling muggle activities seemed to arouse in her. Not now, though.

\"Both muggles and wizards are members of the human species, Miss Granger. They share the same psychological mechanisms. And your memory loss seems to be an effect of these mechanisms, not of any magical doing. Hence I am forced to resort to psychological techniques - to which wizards are as susceptible as muggles, I assure you.\"

He could see the chill that went through her at those words as she no doubt wondered exactly what psychological techniques he had had the chance to exercise on wizards in the past.

Dumbledore must have seen this too, for he leant forward and patted Hermione on her raised knee in an attempt at reassurance. \"Miss Granger, I assure you that Professor Snape here has only your welfare in mind - as do the rest of us.\" He looked up at Snape and beamed a disgustingly cheery smile. \"Believe me, Hermione. You are in good hands.\"