Chapter 10

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Thank you for betaing this, LadySunflower. Thanks also to anyone who has or will review this.

Chapter 10

Harry hadn't seen anything of Hermione over the weekend. Neither had Ron or Ginny, but the latter had told them that she was most likely shut in the Room of Requirement with books on Necromancy. Apparently the library was severely lacking in a How to Be a Necromancer guide.

They had attempted to get in to drag Hermione off for meals, but the door refused to appear. Harry had finally reasoned that the room would provide food and lodgings for Hermione when needed and dragged the others off for a game of Quidditch. As the new Gryffindor team captain, he'd have to hold Quidditch trials soon to replace the graduated Chasers and Beaters (not that Fred and George Weasley had actually graduated; more like absconded). While he'd rather keep the team members like Ron, Ginny and Katie Bell where they were, they all insisted that they try out again too.

Hermione finally emerged from her self-imposed exile, slumping down at the Gryffindor house table on Monday for breakfast. Dark circles lined her eyes and her hair looked a little wilder than usual, but otherwise she was no worse off for her forbidden reading session.

"Find what you needed?" Harry asked.

"Was it written in blood?" Ron managed between mouthfuls of bacon.

"Did you sleep?" Ginny enquired.

Hermione didn't answer the shower of questions until she'd forced down a goblet of the foul sludge that she called coffee. "Yes, no and a bit. That kind of book isn't exactly conducive to a good night's sleep."

"Did it include everything you need to know?" Harry muttered, recognising the need to keep this conversation hushed.

"I think so." Hermione sounded a little uncertain.

"It's a book, 'Mione. Surely you'd know so." Ron scoffed.

Hermione raised her head, glaring at Ron until he ducked his head, his ears flaming a deeper red than his hair. "It's no ordinary book. I think rather than me reading it, it read me. I certainly feel a little odd."

"How so?" Ginny whispered, blood draining from her face. After the disaster with the diary, she was more than a little paranoid of magical books.

"I don't know how to describe it. Stretched, maybe. Violated, because when I try to remember what I read, I draw a blank. That's never happened before."

"Maybe you just need to reread it." Ron offered, nervously glancing at his pallid sister.

Hermione scowled. "I've never needed to do that before."

Harry stared at her. He was vaguely aware of both Ron and Ginny doing the same. "You've never had to reread anything? But, how? I mean, that's impossible."

A slow smile crept across Hermione's face, together with a blush. "No, Harry. It's just unusual. If you'd ever read Hogwarts: A History, you'd know that there have been other people with a perfect memory." The smile faded as she looked away.

"You have an eidetic memory, just like Tom," Ginny stated. Both boys stared at her, causing her to roll her eyes. "A perfect memory, like Hermione said. Having one enables you to resist Memory Charms and amnesia." It was a little creepy the way Ginny seemed to have absorbed some of Tom Riddle's knowledge, but at least she had gained something from her near-death experience.

"How's that fair? No wonder 'Mione's top student. If I had a memory like that, I'd be just as smart."

"No, because you wouldn't read. Hermione's only on top because she makes an effort." Ginny pointed out.

"It's not as if Hermione doesn't help us, either, so don't talk like that," Harry said, backing Ginny up.

"It's also not as if Hermione's memory is infallible, as her experience with The Book proves."

Harry blinked. He'd never heard Hermione refer to herself in third person before, or talk in quite such a sarcastic tone. It was almost as if she'd morphed into Snape.

"The Book?"

"I think it deserves the capitalization. I need to get to Ancient Runes now." Hermione jumped up and made to hurry off.

"We'll go with you; we're going back to the common room," Harry said as he gave Ron an encouraging kick to stop stuffing his face.

Leaving Ginny to the rest of her breakfast, they followed Hermione up the main staircase, only for them both to almost walk into her as she suddenly stopped at the door to the fifth floor.

"Hermione, what..." Harry started to ask, but Hermione ignored him. She sped off, leaving the boys to exchange mystified looks. Rather than follow Hermione through the maze of corridors, Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Ink spread rapidly across the surface of the map, revealing that Hermione was fast approaching the fourth door to the left of the statue of Boris the Bewildered: the prefect's bathroom. A flickering dot was inside.

"Harry, why is that dot flickering? Can you see the name?" Ron asked, peering at the map from over his shoulder.

"Dunno, but it can't be good. It's a long name, whoever it is. C'mon."

There was an explosion that rocked the floor, together with a cloud of dust at the end of the corridor, coming from just beyond the statue of the bewildered wizard. Harry dashed over, the map held tightly in his hand. It seemed that the door to the bathroom wouldn't open when someone was inside, so Hermione had blasted the wall open.

Harry had just reached the hole with Ron on his heels when they heard a splash.

"Is she that desperate for a bath?" Ron demanded.

Through the clearing dust and rubble, they could see that Hermione had discarded her robes and shoes, diving into the full bath (no bubbles) fully clothed. She surfaced, together with whoever it was whose dot flickered on the map.

"Help me get her out, will you?" Hermione called, treading water as she moved herself and the body in her arms to the edge of the swimming pool sized bath.

They both obeyed without question, seeing that whoever Hermione had rescued was larger than her. When Harry got a look at the mystery girl's face, he almost dropped her.

"It's Millicent Bulstrode!"

Ron let go, leaving Harry to attempt to slow the descent of the hefty girl. "Why're we saving a Slytherin?"

Hermione climbed out of the bath, her hair clinging to her. "Because no one deserves what happened to her, and it's the right thing to do." She knelt by the Slytherin's side, grabbing her wrist and feeling for a pulse, biting her lip when she didn't seem to find one. "I don't suppose either of you know how to do CPR?"

Harry shook his head, while Ron looked more befuddled than ever. "One of you go and get a teacher. Preferably Professor Dumbledore, but McGonagall or Snape will do. Go!"

Harry shoved Ron towards the hole in the wall, knowing it would possibly traumatize him to see Hermione perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, especially when he didn't understand the process. Shaking his head, Ron ran off.

"What do I do?" Harry asked as he wiped the dust from his glasses with a damp sleeve.

"Fix that hole and open the door." Hermione then returned her attention to Bulstrode, pinching the other girl's nose shut and leaning in. Harry turned away, glad to have something else to focus on.

He'd got the wall fixed with a swift Reparo and shoved the door open, when he heard footsteps fast approaching. He peered out into the corridor and spotted Ron leading McGonagall and Snape. Ron eyed the missing hole curiously, stepping aside to let the professors enter first.

"Mr. Weasley tells me that the three of you saved a student..." McGonagall trailed off as she spotted the rather soggy and bedraggled Hermione bent over Bulstrode, hands performing another compression. Ron's eyes bugged out rather comically as she once again pinched Bulstrode's nose and lowered her mouth to give the other girl another breath. Snape brushed past the onlookers, wand in hand. He motioned for Hermione to move, waiting for her to be clear before casting a few non-verbal spells. These seemed to restart Bulstrode's breathing (and presumably circulation). After conjuring a stretcher beneath her, Snape began the process of levitating it to the hospital wing.

McGonagall pulled herself together, directing a few drying spells at the three Gryffindors in front of her. Harry noted that Hermione's hair seemed to resist these and absently mused that it always did seem to have a life of its own. After Hermione had replaced her robes and shoes, McGonagall herded them to the hospital wing, wanting an explanation and thinking that Snape and Madam Pomfrey should hear it too.

"Professor Snape tells me that you saved Miss Bulstrode. Good work, although your Muggle technique did crack her ribs." Ron's chest puffed up, only to deflate as he realised that Madam Pomfrey was pleased with Hermione, not him.

"So that was a Muggle method? Rather barbaric." McGonagall commented.

"Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation has its uses for those with little magical medical knowledge."

Ron seemed relieved at the mediwitch's words. The sight of Hermione essentially kissing a girl had disturbed him.

"How did you know something was wrong?" McGonagall asked. Harry had been watching Snape as she voiced her question and noted an almost imperceptible twitch passing through the greasy git. He also noticed Hermione stiffen.

"If this concerns some Necromantic power, don't worry about me. I already know; it's stated on your medical records, Miss Granger. As for the patient, she is still unconscious." Madam Pomfrey's tone seemed to indicate that to her, it was no big deal.

"I've been hearing echoes of the past where people have died. That also seems to include people who are dying. I heard Millicent Bulstrode's voice in my head when I'd reached the fifth floor on my way to Ancient Runes. Harry and Ron were following me on their way up to Gryffindor Tower," Hermione explained, her eyes fixed on her shoes as Ron and McGonagall shuddered at her words.

"I didn't have enough time to break the wards on the door, so I blasted a hole in the wall. Millicent was in the water, lying on the bottom of the bath. I removed my shoes and robe, then dived in. When I surfaced with her, Harry and Ron had arrived. They helped me get her out of the bath; just before I started CPR, Ron went to get you. Harry fixed the hole in the wall whilst waiting for you to arrive."

"Well done, the three of you. I do believe that your rescue of Miss Bulstrode warrants one hundred points. Keep it up and we'll be back in the running." McGonagall glared at Snape as she said this, obviously put out that he'd caused Gryffindor to be in negative points. She turned to leave.

"Professor, wait. What I heard of Millicent's dilemma was disturbing. Her voice was not the only one in my head. It sounded like she was arguing with someone; I think this was intended to look like a suicide but was attempted murder."

Complete silence reigned for a moment; then a chorus of gasps, exclamations and questions erupted.

"What?"

"Explain!"

"No way. Who'd want to do her in? She's no one special." Harry breathed a sigh of relief that Ron's outburst was drowned out, or Snape would have seen to it that Gryffindor lost more points.

"It felt like she was trying to fight off the Imperius Curse. I don't know who would cast it on her, though; I'm hardly friendly with her." That was an understatement if Harry had ever heard one. Bulstrode was the largest girl in the school, matching Goyle for size even now. She'd also used her physical strength against Hermione twice in Harry's knowledge.

Snape and McGonagall looked troubled by this. "Do not concern yourself with this. Concentrate on your schoolwork," McGonagall ordered.

"Come with me, Miss Granger. I'll ensure that you are not penalized for being late to your lesson," Snape said. Hermione did as he asked with no complaint.

Hermione yawned widely, covering her mouth with a hand. Her lack of sleep at the weekend was catching up with her. While the amount she had managed the previous night in the comfortable bed provided by the Room of Requirement would have been sufficient for the day, she had not bargained on being called to save Millicent Bulstrode. It had been worth it, if only for the rare treat of being thanked by Severus as he escorted her to Ancient Runes. She certainly didn't expect Millicent to thank her; rather, she expected the heavily built girl to resent owing a life debt to a Muggle-born.

Ancient Runes had been a struggle, forcing her eyes to focus on the complex glyphs. The only reason Hermione had not fallen asleep in Defence was the requirement to stand and duel for the majority of the lesson. It had been pure dumb luck that she had managed to keep casting non-verbal Shielding Charms, although the effort of keeping the power of the resulting spells down tired her even more. Lunch revived her a bit, but by the end of Double Potions she was in a foul mood.

Professor Slughorn had been impressed by her knowledge, flattering her with the repetition of what Harry had said concerning her. 'The best in our year' indeed! But having observed Harry produce a perfect potion (beating her own), Hermione was fuming at the realization that Harry was cheating.

"Harry James Potter!" Hermione pulled the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Cheat aside as soon as they had reached the relative privacy of the common room. "Give me that book."

Harry handed it over. Hermione immediately understood how he was cheating. It had been 'edited' by someone who could only be a Potions whiz. What was more, she knew who that Potions whiz was. After all, she'd seen that handwriting enough to be intimately familiar with it. 'What is Harry doing with Severus's old Potions book?'

It seemed that Harry hadn't expected to be able to continue with Potions, so Slughorn had provided him with this book. He also refused to part with it.

"Harry, I cannot condone cheating. Either ditch this book, or..."

"Or what? You can't make me..."

"Or I won't help you with your work while you use it. Your choice; be best at Potions at the expense of your other subjects. Don't think Ron will help you either. You carry on cheating and he goes without my help too."

Hermione stormed off at Harry's decision to keep the book, leaving a pale-faced Ron. While it was hardly fair to exclude him as well, she also knew that Ron would pass on any help she offered.

'Boys! Cheating dogs, the lot of them. Maybe I should have pointed out exactly whose additions in that book were of such value. Harry hates Severus. Surely he wouldn't accept the book if he knew. The only problem is that now he'll assume that I'm lying to get him to discard it. I could scream!'