Chariots Rise

A young woman in her mid twenties with rather untidy flyaway hair stepped out into the wind and sunlight after exiting the hospital lobby onto the street outside of Purge & Dowse Ltd department store. She looked back at the CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT signs and sighed wistfully. It was nice to finally be out of the long term psychiatric wards at St. Mungo's and had been a long time coming. Just in time for two of her best friends' wedding. They had specifically waited until she was ready to be discharged to have the ceremony.

As she waited for her friends who had not seen her in five years, she subconsciously ran her hands over her loosely robed forearms. The long scars underneath the heavy fabric were not visible, but affected her no less. The results of a well-placed razor blade, they would always serve her to remind her of the high personal cost of the defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort. She nervously handled her newly returned vine wood wand wondering if she would ever be able to perform even the simplest of spells again.

"Oi! Hermione!" yelled a familiar voice, stirring her from her thoughts. Her head turned into the direction the wind was blowing, her hair whipping about and momentarily obstructing her view. She gasped at the sight of a group of mostly red-haired people moving towards her and dropped her bags. She quickly became enveloped by the mob as Ron, Ginny, George and Fred Weasley attacked her with bear hugs first. Arthur and Molly soon followed along with Neville Longbottom and Remus and Nymphadora Tonks Lupin. Harry limped towards her with a small smile on his haunted face.

As she grinned at them and exchanged hearty pleasantries, she was amazed at the changes in them. Arthur, Molly, and Remus seemed like they had aged twenty years each at least since she was fifteen a decade ago and almost everyone bore a physical scar or mark from the final battle efforts. The emotional scars proved far worse as all still mourned the losses of Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Minerva McGonagall, Percy Weasley, Rubeus Hagrid, among a laundry list of others.

The Weasleys and company didn't seem to be treating her as damaged goods yet, but what exactly happened to her in that last battle was not universally known. Captured as bait by Lucius Malfoy and tortured for hours into near insanity like Frank and Alice Longbottom by Voldemort himself, she had lost her magical abilities. No one had been able to explain why, but the Cruciatus Curse affected people in different ways though it was universally unbearably painful. For two years after the battle and the downfall of the Dark Lord, she was not able to perform the simplest of charms, spells, or transfigurations.

Having the title of Honorary Head Girl greatly improved her chances of finding a job as the wizarding world tried to rebuild, but she was as functionally useless as a Squib. As a tribute to the memory of her Muggle parents, she took a job with the Muggle Liason office at the Ministry, but sunk lower and lower into a deep depression at not being able to perform what she loved most: magic. As the rest of the world slowly started to come back to the way it was, Hermione felt more and more out of control of her own universe as months passed. She continued to put on a brave face as others who had suffered equally or more, like Harry, withdrew into themselves and became even more aloof and reclusive, but helplessness gripped her hard. Harry (although he wanted nothing more than to quietly retire to a seaside cottage and live frugally for the rest of his days) at least slowly regained his sense of purpose in the world through Ginny. Hermione, on the other hand, slowly drifted apart from Ron. The murder of her parents paired with being perpetually teased with the same magic at the Ministry she could no longer do simply served to sink her deeper into her funk. Disheartened at the state of affairs and not knowing quite what to do or say, Ron gave Hermione space when she probably needed love and support most.

After one night of drinking alone in her flat in London, overindulgence in Ogden's Firewhisky and the need to release the physical and emotional pain left her carving her wrists and forearms to pieces as she took a warm bath. By sheer luck, her flatmate Tonks found her after coming home from an evening outing with Remus. Sliding and slipping over the blood-soaked bathroom floor, Tonks was able to haul the very nearly dead Hermione out of the bathtub and immediately side along Apparated her to St. Mungo's.

She did not remember any of the hours the Healers worked to restore her ashen body back to life, but awoke alone the next day in a bed with bandages binding her arms and the Petrificus Totalus curse on her body in a closed psychiatric ward. Not able to see a light at the end of the tunnel, Hermione's repeated attempts at both suicide and escape were deemed reasons she was a danger to herself. She remained in the ward for five years after intensive counseling. While she would probably never be her old self, at least the last year of therapy had been especially productive and the Healers in charge of her case decided to let her try her hand in the real world once more.

After a trip via the Underground to an accessible Apparation spot, the whole entourage returned to the Burrow for the prenuptial dinner before Harry and Ginny's wedding. Over Molly's famous meatballs, Ron gently, if awkwardly, tried to converse with his former love. The old jokes and laughter was a bit forced at first, but they eventually warmed to each other once more despite the five year sabbatical. The next evening, Hermione smiled to herself as she felt the potential of the old spark during the wedding reception as she danced with him. Though still not conventionally handsome, he was at least much more coordinated than he was as a teenager at Hogwarts.

Later that week, she decided that employment would be essential in getting her life back in order. Rifling through the classified advertisements in The Daily Prophet, she came across the following:

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Immediate opening for assistant potion maker at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Absolute attention to detail a must. Send curriculum vitae via owl to Headmaster S. Snape.

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Even though I no longer have my magical powers, with my Outstanding in the Potions O.W.L., this could be a great opportunity for me, thought Hermione as she circled the ad with a new quill and began to work on her resume. Calling down her new tawny owl Linnaeus (a welcome home gift from Tonks and Ginny), she attached the parchment with instructions to arrive with the headmaster. The next morning, she received the following note from Hogwarts:

Miss Granger,

Thank you for your resume. I would like to meet up with you at Hogwarts this weekend to discuss the position. I will expect you at 8 AM sharp Saturday morning in my office.

Regards,

Severus Snape

Headmaster

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Order of Merlin First Class

She grinned. Things finally appeared to be looking up for Hermione Granger. Little did she know, despite what she had already been through, she was on the precipice of what would be the most emotionally tumultuous time of her life.