Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Witch and Death Eater. ❯ Fear ( Chapter 1 )

It was almost Christmas time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and everyone seemed to be longing for that time when the Great Hall would be full of the usual beautiful decorations, and of course, the break from all the homework that the teachers have been piling onto them recently -- especially Snape, who told them that his early Christmas present to all of them was a 1,000 word essay on the best types of potions to use when dealing with venom; which was originally suppose to be a 2,000 word essay. Not only that, but they would be able to go visit Hogsmeade on Saturday, which was only a day away.

Harry and Ron were sitting in the squashy armchairs down in the Gryffindor common room, waiting for Hermione to join them for breakfast. Ron was getting rather impatient with waiting. Harry on the other hand, was watching the flickering flames of the fireplace cast small shadows along the stone in which it was enclosed in. "How long does it take a girl to get ready you figure?" Ron mumbles to Harry, who shrugs. "No idea, mate." Ron sighs heavily, "Well I hope she's ready soon, I'm hungry -- 'MIONE, YOU DONE YET?" He yells up toward the girl's dormitories.  "Honestly, Ron! Do you have to yell?" Hermione had just closed the door behind her and she was walking down the stairs toward them; Crookshanks at her heels, meowing softly. "Maybe if you didn't take so long getting ready! We're going to be late for breakfast!" Hermione seemed to be ignoring him, for she merely brushes past him and heads for the portrait hole. Ron looked flabbergasted, and quickly tries to catch up with her to continue arguing. Harry follows after Ron, listening to the two of them go at it, until they finally reached the Great Hall. Harry was used to Ron and Hermione arguing though, they always did, and it was to the point where Harry didn't even try to stop them anymore, but left them to work their problems out themselves.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione found seats at the Gryffindor table next to Neville. Just as they had sat down, the plates on the table in front of them magically filled themselves up with food and the goblets became full to the brim with fresh pumpkin juice. "See, Ron? We weren't late." Ron glares at her before taking a piece of toast and biting into it angrily.

It wasn't until after seconds that Ron had cooled down, and he and Hermione were back to their normal selves again. The owls were swooping in to deliver all their letters to the students in the Great Hall, before they would return back to the Owlery. A handsome ebony owl delivered the Daily Prophet to Hermione, who received a copy everyday. She carefully untied the rolled up paper from the owl's leg and gave it a Knut, before the owl spread it's large wings and took off. Hermione opened the paper up. Black and white photos on the front cover were moving. It appeared to be a picture of someone from the ministry. "Anyone we know?" Harry asks her, as she skims through the words on each page. "No, thank goodness."
"Ugh, you know what class we have today Harry? It's Friday." Ron groans as he changes the subject, and Harry's morning seemed to be now ruined. "Divinations." He replies and sinks back into his chair. He didn't know which he hated more. Divinations or Potions. "No, Potions is worse." He thought as he imagined Snape.
"I don't know why you two are still learning that rubbish. It's pointless."
"Learning? Well, I don't know about Harry, but I certainly don't learn anything in that class. It's more like guessing instead of learning." Ron chuckles, "We just make up stuff.. she believes us though." Harry grins, "Yeah, all I have to do is add in a death omen here and there."
Hermione shakes her head, "As I said before, it's rubbish."
The empty plates and goblets on the table vanish before them once they were done eating, and the three pack up their things and begin to leave the Great Hall.
"So, what class do you have now Hermione? Ancient Ruins?"
"No, I don't have that class until later. This is my free time, until we have Potions together after your Divination class. Instead of going back to the common room, or to the library, I thought I'd go visit Hagrid. He isn't teaching at this time, so it'll be perfect."
"Yeah, good idea, I bet Hagrid will be happy to see you." Harry tells her, and Ron mutters, "Lucky." as they walk down the final corridor together until they'd be going in opposite directions.
"I'll see you two in the next class." Hermione tells them, as they say their goodbyes and head up toward the stairs that would take them to Professor Trelawny's classroom. Hermione on the other hand, went down a different corridor until she reached the entrance to the big oak doors.

The entrance door to Hogwarts was usually open for the students so that they could go out onto the grounds during their free time between classes when the weather was nice, but today, they were closed because of the cold weather. Hermione stops and gets out her Gryffindor scarf from her bag, and puts it around her neck. She places both hands upon the large door and pushes it open.

The sky was light gray. Snow was falling rapidly from its endless depths. The chilly wind that swept back and forth was kicking up loose snow from the ground and was swirling it into mini tornados that brushed against the surface. The Hogwart grounds were covered with a thick blanket of snow, and the lake was frozen over.
Hermione held her school robes together to keep warm, and readjusted her scarf, which was swaying in the wind, as if it were trying to get away. She could see Hagrid's cabin in the distance. It wasn't that far of a walk.
The snow was crunching beneath her as she went, and her breath was turning into mist with every breath she took. She knew that Hagrid would have his fire burning and would offer her something warm to drink. He always did. She couldn't wait to get out of this cold. Hermione's thoughts of Hagrid's cozy cabin were cut off. The wind had caught her scarf, and it fell off and onto the ground. The wind was powerful, and blew her scarf into another direction. Away from Hagrid's and a little distance away from the castle.
Hermione went after her scarf, trying her best to see it through the snow. Then, the wind died down, and she saw the scarf stop. She quickly made her way over to it, and bent down to pick it up, but her heart stopped -- she wasn't alone. A shadowy figure was standing in front of her scarf and was hovering above her. It all happened so fast, Hermione barely had time to react to anything. 
She saw his cold gray eyes; they had this horrible gleam, and the mark; it was on the arm he used to raise his wand.
"Filthy Mudblood! CRUCIO!" Rang out a familiar voice. Hermione felt as if she were suddenly on fire. Pain was surging throughout her whole body as she fell limply to the snowy ground. She couldn't stand it any longer, her body couldn't take it. Almost as quickly as it had happened, Hermione screams out in pain.
Hermione's screaming seemed to have triggered her attacker to stop the unforgivable spell. It was as if her screaming had brought him back to reality, as if he suddenly knew what he was doing. He quickly lowers his wand and turns away into a run, leaving Hermione unconscious.

Divinations was finally over. Harry and Ron didn't hesitate leaving. They left as soon as class was over, and began to head down toward the dark and gloomy dungeons where the Potions classroom was held.
"Great, now we have to put up with the Slytherins." Ron tells Harry bitterly as they enter the classroom and take their seats next to each other.
"I hope you all finished your essay," began Snape once everyone was seated. "Because they're due -- Ah, Mr. Malfoy. You're late."
Draco Malfoy had just entered the room. He seemed more pale then usual, and had a sickish expression on his face. He glanced around the room nervously before taking his seat next to Crabbe and Goyle, his mindless and faithful cronies. "Sorry, Professor." His voice was shaky. "It won't happen again."
Snape collected the last of the essays when he turned back to him, "See that it doesn't. Now, turn to page.."
"Wait a minute!" Ron blurts out, "Where is Hermione?" It had just occurred to him and Harry that Hermione was not seated next to them in class. Snape did not take kindly to this outburst, however. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
"But, Hermione!" Ron began again, but Snape cut him off by saying, "Another ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley, do you enjoy taking points away from your house?" Harry gave Ron's sleeve a tug, to warn him to keep quiet, and Ron didn't bring it up again.
"Before we were rudely interrupted by Mr. Weasely, if you would all turn to page 481, we will be studying how.."
But Harry and Ron never found out what they were going to be studying because they weren't paying attention to Snape. They were whispering back and forth to each other.
"I know you're worried, Ron. I am too. It's not like Hermione to miss a class."
"You don't think that she lost track of time and is still at Hagrid's?"
"No, Hagrid has a class right now.."
"--The Hufflepuffs."
"Right. So she would have left."
"Hermione wouldn't be that careless either."
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. That's twenty more points from Gryffindor."
Snape had caught them whispering to each other, and this seemed to be the last straw.
"You both will receive a detention and serve it tomorrow."
"But, sir. Tomorrow is our trip to Hogsmeade. Can't we serve it after Christmas break?" Harry pleaded.
"No, Potter. You and Mr. Weasley will just have to miss Hogsmeade." He smirks down at them, and Ron curses under his breath. "You should have been paying attention. Maybe this will teach you." He returned to the front of the room and started to write down a list of ingredients on the board. "Get out your cauldrons. The completed Wit-Sharpening Potion will be due at the end of class. Place it in a spare bottle and cork it, then place it on my desk so it can be graded."
Harry and Ron got out their cauldrons and look up at the board.
"Scarab beetles, Ginger roots, Armadillo bile.." Harry read off the list. "We better get started, or we'll be in even more trouble." He gave Ron a reassuring smile, "We'll find Hermione after class, and I'm sure she's okay. There has to be a good reason why she's not in class." He grabbed a ginger root from the small pile of ingredients that Ron fetched from Snape's cupboard and started to chop it into fine slices.
"Yeah, you're right." Ron started working on his potion too.
Halfway through the class, there was a loud crashing noise, and everyone turned around to see what happened. Harry thought for sure that Neville Longbottom had added a wrong ingredient, which caused his potion to backfire on him: it always happened. But to Harry's surprise, he was wrong. It wasn't Neville who messed up, it was Malfoy.
Malfoy's potion had backfired on him. He was standing up, and he was covered in a dark purple liquid and Harry noticed that he was shaking. Snape got up from his desk and went over to the Slytherin; his black cloak like robes trailing behind him. "What happened Malfoy?" He demanded. It wasn't like Malfoy to mess up in potions like this.
"I-I, uh, I t-think I added too many Scarab b-beetles." His voice was quiet, and he refused to meet Snape's eyes. Snape raised a brow, as if in question, but decided that he had to take care of the mess he made first. "Very well. Clean up, then."
Ron made a 'hunh' sound and turned away to finish what he was doing. "If that were anyone from Gryffindor, Snape would have taken away tons of points, but no, he always favors --"
"Ron." This time Harry cut him off.
"Huh?" He turned to look at him.
"Don't you find this weird? Malfoy turns up late, and his behavior is strange. He didn't even taunt us when Snape yelled at us. I think that something happened to him."
"Who cares about that foul git?" Ron mutters.
"I know, but.." Harry decided not to think too much into it, and dropped the subject before he could finish.

"Excuse me, Professor Snape." Professor McGonagall was standing in the entrance way of the classroom, and Snape who was still helping Malfoy clean up the spilled potion, looked up at her. She continued, "I need Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley right away." Snape gave the two a cold glare as they stood up and went to McGonagall, confused. "In more trouble, are we?" Snape murmurs after them as they leave, Malfoy looking even more nervous than before.
Harry and Ron ignored Snape's comment, even though they were scared. What did they do now? They followed their house leader out of the dungeons. It looked like they were heading for the hospital wing, but why? "Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall said at last, "Something has happened to her."
Ron and Harry looked at each other and became panic stricken. Without waiting, they took off ahead of McGonagall, running as fast as they could to the hospital wing. McGonagall didn't even bother yelling at them to 'slow down' or 'no running down the corridor'.
Panting hard, the two made it to the hospital wing moments later. Peeves was outside, grinning wide at the sight of them. "Granger wanger is in danger!" He began to sing happily. Peeves always had to turn up when things went horribly wrong. Ignoring the poltergeist as well, they entered.
Madam Pomfrey was standing near a bed, Dumbledore was next to her. As they approached, Dumbledore turned to face them and signaled for them to come closer. There, lying in the bed was Hermione. She was slowly beginning to wake up as Madam Pomfrey gave her some sort of antidote.
"We found her outside in the snow." Dumbledore told them. "A first year found her on the way to Professor Sprout's greenhouse. They heard her scream. We're not sure what happened to Miss Granger, no one seemed to witness it, though we're hoping she could tell us once she comes around fully." There was silence, then he went on, "But I was hoping that you two could tell me what she was doing outside in the first place?" Professor McGonagall finally entered, and came to stand next to Ron.
Harry looked up at Dumbledore, then he spoke softly, "She was going to visit Hagrid. She didn't have class at that time."
Dumbledore nodded and focuses his gaze back upon Hermione, who was slowly starting to open her eyes. "I see."

"Where am I?" Hermione was weak, and could barely talk at first.
"You're in the hospital wing, Miss Granger." Dumbledore said softly.
Hermione saw Harry and Ron and tried to sit up, but Madam Pomfrey pushed her lightly back down, "Don't try to get up!" She told her firmly.
Hermione did as she was told and looked up at them.
"Do you remember what happened?" Dumbledore asked her.
Hermione thought hard. What was she last doing? "I was going to visit Hagrid." Then she remembers her scarf falling off and getting carried away by the wind. "I went after my scarf, and, and then --" Hermione thought of Malfoy. He was outside in the snow by himself, but what he was doing, she didn't know. "The mark." She suddenly thought. "The dark mark was on his arm. That means that Malfoy is a death eater." She winced at the pain that she was feeling. "He probably thought I was spying on him. He attacked me because he must have figured I found out his secret." She thought of Malfoy's eyes; how they seemed to be so full of hatred, and Hermione began to shiver out of fear. "He would have killed me if he hadn't stopped the spell sooner." She looked up at Dumbledore, who was smiling faintly down at her, still waiting for an answer. "But Malfoy is a death eater! He knows that I know now, and he's expecting that I tell Dumbledore on him, which means, he'll want revenge on me for giving his secret away. He'd be expelled, yes, but knowing Malfoy he'd come after me. He'll, he'll kill me!" She told herself, as tears began to flow from her eyes. Malfoy had always been their bully, and he always made Hermione feel discouraged, as if she were nothing. But now, she had gotten herself into something she wished she hadn't. This was something more than just name-calling. Malfoy was no longer going to be a bully to her, he was going to be her murderer.
"I can't tell anyone what really happened. I don't want Malfoy to kill me." She wipes away her tears, and meets Dumbledore's gaze again. "I can't remember what happened, sir. I don't remember a thing. I was going to Hagrid's, that was the last thing I remember. Then when I woke up, I was in the hospital wing." She lies, but did her best to sound as if she were telling the truth. 
"Is that so? You can't remember why you're in so much pain? Surely something like that would leave an impression on someone." The headmaster replied, but Hermione stuck to her story.
"Maybe someone hexed her into forgetting. Maybe they wiped her memory away." Ron suggested, but Professor McGonagall shook her head.

"Make her forget only her attack? A powerful wizard could manage that, but not a student, and Hogwarts is heavily protected. No one would be able to get in."
Dumbledore faced the other way and headed toward the exit, "If Miss Granger doesn't remember, then there is no use in bothering her further. We'll watch for anything strange and take it from there. I'll inform Mr. Filch to keep an eye out as well. Oh, and Minerva. I hope that you will excuse Miss Granger from her classes for the rest of the day. She needs to recover, if she wants to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow." He gave Hermione a small wink, and with that, left the hospital wing.
"You heard what Dumbledore said. You won't be taking any more classes today. I'll go and tell the other teachers to excuse you. Potter, Weasley, not too long. You two still have classes."
Harry watched as Professor McGonagall left, and Madam Pomfrey, who went to make the nearby beds.
"So you really can't remember?" Harry asked her, sounding disappointed.
"No, I can't." She lied.
"I'm really glad that you're okay Hermione, and when I found out who, er, or what did this to you, I'll kill them!" Ron told her, and at the mention of the word 'kill' she started to panic and her face became flushed.
"I-it's alright R-Ron. Really. I'm feeling better already." She sat up and brushed her hair out of her face.
"So, Hogsmeade tomorrow. Sounds fun, right?" Hermione quickly tried to change the subject, but to her dismay, Harry and Ron looked at each other sadly.
"No. Ron and I got detention from Snape."
"Yeah, we can't go to Hogsmeade."
Hermione frowned, "Why? What did you do?"
"We were worried about you when you didn't show up for class."
"Snape caught us talking while he was giving the lesson."
"But that doesn't mean that you can't go to Hogsmeade." Harry told her. "You deserve to go, after what you've been through. Hogsmeade will get your mind off of what happened."
Going to Hogsmeade by herself? Hermione thought of going and running into Malfoy. He'd finish her off right there. She wanted to avoid Malfoy for as long as she could. "No, Hogsmeade is always crowded, especially at Christmas. Malfoy wouldn't be stupid enough to kill someone in front of thousands of witnesses. Plus, the teachers will be attending with us this time. There will be so many people, what would be the chances of him even running into me?" Hermione thought it through, and decided that she would go. It would be safe, and maybe some fresh air would help her clear her mind, instead of staying in the school. She needed to get away for awhile and be by herself so she could think.
"You're right, Harry. I'll go, thanks." She said.
Harry smiles, "Ron and I should be going though. We have Transfiguration soon, and you heard what McGonagall said. We'll see you at dinner."
"Actually, Harry, I don't think I'm going to dinner tonight. I don't have much of an appetite."
"That's understandable. I doubt I'd want to eat either after, well, you know." Ron told her, "We'll visit you after classes." He added.
Hermione watches Harry and Ron leave the hospital wing. She sighs as she gets herself readjusted in the bed.
"I might as well be comfortable. Madam Pomfrey will most likely want me to stay the night to make sure I'm alright."
She looks up and stares at the ceiling.
"I want to avoid Malfoy. That's why I don't want to go to the Great Hall for dinner. It's best that I stay here for the night anyway, I don't want to meet him in the halls, or worse, people in the common room asking me what happened."
Her eyes started to get watery again as she thought of Malfoy.
"Why do I have to be so scared of him? Why can't I be brave?"
But she answered her own question.
"He's a death eater. He has Voldemort on his side. He'll kill me."
It honestly scared Hermione to see Malfoy again.
"Why did I have to go visit Hagrid? Why couldn't I just have gone to the common room? And why did I have to go after my stupid scarf? I never would have run into Malfoy if I didn't go after it."

Hermione's mind was racing for the rest of the afternoon, and into the late evening. So many different and scary thoughts kept jumping through her mind. She asked Professor McGonagall to fetch a few books for her to read to help get her mind off of things, also because she felt bad about missing classes. She read Hogwarts: A History over again so many times that she was beginning to memorize it word from word. Reading was also a good way of passing the time, because by her fifth book, Harry and Ron had finished with all their classes for the day and had come to visit her before dinner, as they promised earlier.
"Doing better?" They asked.
"Oh, yeah. Much better now." She tried to smile.
"What have you been doing this whole time? You must have been bored."
"I've been reading, so it hasn't really been that boring."
Ron rolls his eyes. "Maybe not for you."

Hermione ignored Ron's comment and turned to Harry.

“How were classes?”

“Alright. Nothing that you couldn't easily catch up on.” He told her.

“That's good.” She looked up at a magical clock that was hanging up on the opposite wall from her hospital bed.

“You two better get going. I don't want you to miss dinner.”

She shot Ron a look, and he flushed red.

“Don't worry, I'll be fine.” She told Harry, who was giving her a `are you sure?' look, but he seemed satisfied with her answer as he and Ron left to go to the Great Hall.