Power of the Quill

The Power of the Quill.

Chapter 08 Knowing.

Hermione sat down on the edge of her bed after her shower. She held Harry's Marauder's Map in her hands. She set the map down next to her and then brought both of her hands up in front of her face to look at them. She had heard stories about people unable to scrub the blood from their hands after a traumatic event. For Hermione the opposite was true. Only moments after stepping under a warm shower, all traces of Pansy's blood were gone. Everything disappeared down the drain as if it had never existed. Hermione felt guilty that she no longer had any physical evidence of what had happened in the fifth floor corridor. The house-elves had already taken away her soiled robes and clothes.

Lavender Brown was the only other person in the dorm room at the time. She was sitting at her desk brushing her hair. Hermione picked up the map, and then crawled to the middle of her four-poster bed for some privacy. Just as she was about to pull the curtains shut on her bed, she noticed her bedspread and one of her pillows was missing.

"Lav, do you know what happened to my bedspread and pillow?" Hermione asked.

"Nope, they were missing when I came in an hour ago. I figured the house elves must have taken them and haven't brought you clean ones yet," she answered.

Hermione didn't think that was really what had happened. In her six years at Hogwarts, she had never seen the elves get behind on their work. Right now, though, she had more important things on her mind than a missing bedspread. She finished closing her curtains and then lit the three candles in the holder above her bed. She laid the map in front of her, pointed her wand at it and whispered, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."

Hermione opened the map to where she could see the infirmary. There in the middle of the hospital wing was Madam Pomfrey, Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. In between the three dots was one marked: 'P. Parkinson'. Hermione could swear that Pansy's dot was a lot lighter than the other three. She felt a sense of relief at seeing Pansy on the map. She knew the map wouldn't show dead people. Hermione stared at it for it awhile. She watched Snape pacing back and forth in front of Pansy's bed. She wondered if he knew who had done this. She opened the map further to have a look at the Astronomy Tower. There were dots representing Mr. Filch, Hagrid and Fang moving around. Hermione noticed that Dumbledore was nowhere on the map.

Suddenly, one of the candles went out. Looking behind her, Hermione could see that the other candles were pretty low and would go out soon as well. She folded up the map and stuck it under her pillow. She climbed out of her bed and headed for the storage room to get some new candles. She pulled on the door but it wouldn't budge. "Lav, do you have any idea why the storage room is locked," Hermione asked.

"No, I tried to get some shampoo out of there earlier, but it was locked. I tried everything to get it open, even my wand, nothing worked. I swear it's like someone magically locked it from the inside. Luckily I found an unopened bottle of shampoo on my desk," Lavender said sounding a bit bothered by it.

Hermione angrily gave the door handle one last yank, then headed back to her bed and lay down. First it was the missing bedspread and pillow, and now the storage room was locked for some reason. Hermione had already had one of the worst evenings of her life.

These stupid little things were starting to really annoy her. She simply wished she could go back and start the whole evening over.

"Of course!" Hermione shouted as she jumped out of bed. She raced to the front of her bed where her trunk sat. She threw the lid open, then reached into the hidden secret compartment and withdrew her Time Turner. She went back over the storage room door and knocked on it, three knocks, then two and finally three more. She then started to count down from thirty. Hermione climbed back on her bed and closed all the curtains. She picked up the map and put the Time Turner around her neck. When her counting reached zero, she gave the Time Turner two quick turns.

The room swirled around her for a few seconds then was still again. Hermione was now sitting on top of her fully made bed, with bedspread and both pillows. She hopped off the bed and checked to make sure she was alone in the room. She pulled her bedspread off and rolled it up, then she grabbed one of her pillows. With map, pillow and bedspread in her hands, she walked over to the supply closet. She opened the now unlocked door and stepped inside. She spread out the bedspread on the floor and placed the pillow on top. Just as Hermione was about to close the door she remembered something. She reached up and grabbed a bottle of shampoo off the shelf, and then she ran over to Lavender's desk and set it down.

Once she was back in the closet, she closed the door and put a locking charm on it. Hermione sat down in the middle of her bedspread with her pillow at her back. She set the map down in front her. She knew that there was no way to change what would happen to Pansy tonight, but she could at least find out just who was responsible.

She stared at the map trying to locate Parkinson. She and Ginny were just leaving the Great Hall on their way back to the dorm to drop off their wands. Hermione spotted the dot marked 'P. Parkinson' making its way down a corridor that led to the dungeons. Just to the left of the corridor on the map, there were two thin dotted lines, indicating a secret passageway.

Three dots moved quickly down this passageway from Pansy. Once they got about fifty feet in front of her, they enter a small room off the corridor from the backside. The dot marked 'D. Malfoy' moved quickly across the room to the corridor. Just as Pansy was about to reach the spot on the map that indicated the doorway with the 'D. Malfoy' in it, she began to slow down. Finally, she came to a complete stop right across the corridor from the small room. Hermione wondered why Pansy had stopped. If Draco called out to her, why hadn't she gone right to him or turned and run the other way?

Hermione watched as the other two dots marked 'V. Crabbe' and 'G. Goyle' joined Malfoy's dot in the doorway. She saw the three dots rush into the hallway and surround Pansy. All four dots moved as one back into the small room.

The sound of someone entering the dorm room broke her concentration on the map. "Stupid spoiled Slytherin brat. That blond-headed cow deserves to meet a very dark and bloody end. Preferably sooner than later."

Hermione was shocked by the words that were spoken on the other side of the closet door. She knew it was herself out there putting up her wand before heading to Mr. Filch's office. Huge waves of guilt flowed through her body as she heard a door slam after her other self had left the dorm room. "Bitch," Hermione said as she turned her concentration to the map once again.

Two more dots appeared on the map, one at either end of the hallway. At the dungeons-end was a dot marked 'S. Snape' and at the other end of the corridor was a dot marked 'A. Dumbledore'. They both slowly made their way down the corridor towards each other. A quick movement in the room with the four dots caught her eye. Pansy's dot had suddenly shot backwards on the map. Draco's dot quickly moved over hers. A chill ran down Hermione's back as she realized the attack on Pansy had started.

A moment later, Draco's dot moved slightly away from Pansy's. Goyle and Crabbe's dots moved until one was on each side of her. Draco's dot moved up again until it was overlapping Pansy's once more. Meanwhile, Dumbledore and Snape's dots met up together in the corridor right outside the small room's door. 'There must be a silencing charm on the room,' she thought to herself. The dots in the corridor stayed stationary for about a minute, then they both started to move. Dumbledore's dot headed back in the direction of the school, while Snape's headed back towards the dungeons.

The Draco dot slowly moved away from Pansy, and then both Crabbe and Goyle's also moved away. After a few seconds, Draco's dot moved back to Pansy. Hermione watched as something strange happened. Draco's dot seemed to start vibrating. It was as if the map had trouble keeping up with his movements. A few minutes later, Draco's dot stopped vibrating and moved away from Pansy again. Hermione could definitely tell that Pansy's dot was now only half as dark as the other three in the room.

A short time later, Goyle and Crabbe moved over to Pansy. Then all three dots moved together toward the rear of the room. When they reached the spot on the map that indicated the entrance to the secret passageway, Draco moved to intercept them. A moment later they entered the passageway while Draco headed back across the room to the door that lead to corridor. Draco left the room and headed for the dungeons.

For the next ten minutes, Hermione watched as Crabbe and Goyle slowly made their way through the passageways with Pansy. Both Dumbledore and Snape had returned to their offices. Suddenly, Dumbledore was gone. From the position his dot was located before it disappeared, Hermione speculated that he had just used his fireplace to floo somewhere.

She watched as two other dots entered the fifth floor corridor. It was herself and Ginny. It took another couple of minutes for Crabbe and Goyle to reach the Astronomy Tower. Once there, they took Pansy to the staircase that leads to the fifth floor corridor. Pansy's dot began to rock back and forth between them. Hermione could almost hear Goyle say, 'On the count of three; ONE, TWO, THREEE!' Sure enough, Pansy's dot ricocheted, like a pinball, down the lines on the map indicating the stairs. Hermione realized that the loud thud she had heard echoing in the corridor was the sound of Pansy's body hitting the floor after Goyle and Crabbe had thrown her down the stairs.

For what seemed like an eternity, Hermione watched as Pansy's dot slowly made its way down the corridor. The dot grew lighter and lighter as it moved. By the time it reached her and Ginny, it was almost transparent. Once she saw herself and Ginny finally react to Pansy's presence, Hermione closed the map. There was no need to continue watching because she already knew what happened after that.

Hermione lay back on her pillow and got comfortable on top of the bedspread. She knew now that it was Draco, Crabbe and Goyle that had attacked Pansy. But what was she to do about it? The only reason she knew was because she used an illegal map and an unregistered Time Turner. She might not be able to tell Ministry Aurors anything, but she could still tell Dumbledore what she had seen. Hermione was determined that Draco, Crabbe and Goyle pay for what they had done. Not just for Pansy, but for her and every other Muggle-born witch as well. If she couldn't get Ministry or Muggle justice, than she would settle for good old-fashioned "Eye for an Eye" justice.

Hermione didn't know how long she lay there before she fell asleep. She was abruptly awakened by the sound of someone knocking on the door. Three knocks followed by two and then finally three more. She got up and started counting down from thirty. She gathered up her bedspread and pillow, and then put the map under her arm. As soon as she reached zero she removed the locking charm and opened the door.

Lavender turned around as soon as she heard the door open. "Did you just.... I mean didn't you.....I could have sworn you just.....," she said with a confused look on her face. "How did you get the door open?" she asked, still looking very puzzled.

"I just gave it a really hard yank. I remembered that I threw my bedspread in there just after dinner. The corner must have gotten stuck in the doorjamb, that why it wouldn't open," Hermione said.

"Why did you throw your pillow and bedspread in the storage closet?" she asked.

"I was really mad after the fight with Parkinson. I just needed to throw something," she answered.

Lavender continued to give her a suspicious look; she was a very bright girl and not easy to fool. But without an alternative explanation, she would have to accept Hermione's lame story at face value.

Still sleepy, Hermione climbed into her bed and pulled her bedspread over her. She continued to peek at the map about once ever hour. At about two in the morning, she was finally convinced that Pansy's dot was just as dark as everyone else around her. She pointed her wand at the map and said, "Mischief Managed."

......................................................................................................

Ron entered the Great Hall late for breakfast. Harry had decided to stay in Gryffindor Tower with Hermione. Professor McGonagall had given Hermione and Ginny permission to eat their breakfast in the dorms. She also told them they would be allowed to skip their classes for the day, which of course, Hermione declined.

Ron would have stayed with them, but he was afraid Hermione would want him to go to the infirmary with her. He had been trying to avoid Pansy ever since their marriage announcement. He had never liked Parkinson, even before Hogwarts. While in primary school, she had treated him and Ginny like poor wizard trash. He knew, even as a Muggle-born, she would still treat him as a second-class citizen. He didn't want to give her any more opportunities to degrade him or his family, a least not until the wedding.

The attack had changed everything. If he went to see her now, would she blame him for what happened, maybe? Would the same thing have happened if she were betrothed to Neville? Somehow Ron didn't think so, or at least believed it wouldn't have been as bad.

After Hermione left the Common Room last night, Ginny told both he and Harry everything that had happened. She went into great detail about how bad Pansy looked. As mean and cruel as she been over the years, even Pansy didn't deserve to be beaten almost to death. Ron knew, sooner or later, he would have to go see her, but right now a strong sense of guilt was keeping him from doing that.

Ron took a seat between Neville and Seamus. He looked around at the rest of the students in the Hall. None of them seemed to be upset about what had happened last night. He wondered if they even knew. McGonagall didn't say anything when she opened the Portrait this morning, she simply said it was a private matter and shouldn't be discussed or gossiped about.

The staff table was once again nearly deserted, only Hagrid and Professor Vector were there. Hagrid didn't look his normally cheerful self. He seemed to be staring suspiciously at the Slytherin table. Ron, and most everybody else who knew about Pansy, had the same set of suspects in mind. Ron looked over at Draco, who seemed to be enjoying his breakfast without a care in the world. Just the sight of the platinum- haired Slytherin made his blood begin to boil.

After trying to cut a piece of sausage with his knife and fork, Draco grimaced and set down his utensils and began to rub the back of his right hand. Ron could see the small white marks that went across all of Draco's knuckles. He had played enough Quidditch with his older brothers and had used healing charms often enough to recognize the marks for what they were. A professional Mediwitch could heal a wound without leaving a scar, but most people ended up with the white marks on their skin for a least a day.

When Draco turned to talk to Goyle, Ron could see four more thin, white lines on the side of his face. 'The arrogant son of a bitch isn't even trying to hide the fact that it was him,' Ron thought to himself. He looked at both Crabbe and Goyle's hands. Neither had any marks on them. That just meant they didn't do the actual beating, but Ron would bet his broom that they were right there when Draco did it. Ron's hands began to shake with anger as he watched the Slytherin trio. When Draco began to laugh out loud at something Goyle said, Ron felt something in him snap.

Ron got up out of his seat and started walking down the length of the Gryffindor table. His anger continued to grow as he rounded his table and headed for the Slytherins. He stopped only three feet away from the blond-headed teenager. Both Crabbe and Goyle sprang out of their seats, ready for whatever move Ron made. With food still in his mouth, Draco turned to give Ron a contemptuous look. After swallowing his food he said, "Something bothering you Weasel?"

Ron glared down at the Slytherin pretty-boy. He wanted more than anything to ram his fist through the back of his skull. "Malfoy, you really didn't think I'd let you get away with it, did you?" Ron asked with a cold expression on his face.

"What are you on about, Weasel?" Draco asked with smug look on his face.

"What I'm on about are those marks on your hands and face," Ron said in an accusing tone.

"Oh, you mean these?" Draco said arrogantly as he looked at his hands. "I got these from a stray that wandered into Slytherin last night where it didn't belong. You see weasel, we only keep Purebreds in Slytherin, and I wasn't about to let some mongrel little pussy hang around and disgrace the rest." It took all of the self-control Ron had left to not jump Draco right then. "I don't see why you're so upset Weasel. You always wear shabby, worn, hand-me-down robes. All your books are used, and even your first wand use to belong to someone else. I almost admire how you can take someone else's garbage and make use of it. So why should your wife be any different?"

Ron continued to glare down at the blond Slytherin. He wasn't sure, but he thought Draco meant more than he let on when he talked about something being used. "I wonder about those scratches on your face, Malfoy. Three against one and she didn't even have a wand, yet she still fought back. I guess you were so pathetic you couldn't even scare an unarmed little girl."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes at Ron before saying, " I guarantee you that little stray was more scared than she has ever been in her life, Weasel. She saw true power last night, a power you will all see soon enough."

As cryptic as Draco was trying to be, Ron had a pretty good idea what Draco was talking about. He felt now was as good a time as any to see if his guess was right. "Why don't you show me this true power, Malfoy, right here right now," Ron daringly said. "Here, I'll make it easy for you," he said as reached into his robes and, with the tips of his fingers, pulled out his wand. Crabbe quickly pulled out his own wand and pointed it at Ron. Goyle moved up closer from behind, so close Ron could almost feel his breath on the back of his neck.

Ron gently set his wand down on the table between himself and Draco. It was two feet away from Ron, but only a foot away from the blond. "There we are Malfoy, all you have to do is reach out and take my wand and I'll be as helpless as she was," he said boldly. "But of course, you won't, you're too big a bloody coward to take on anyone that's not weaker than you."

An evil smile stretched its way across Draco's face. Just as Ron had hoped, Draco reached for the wand. Instead of reaching for the wand himself, Ron threw a powerful left hook into the wide-open left side of Draco's head. The blow caused Draco's head to crash down into his breakfast plate, shattering it. The wand flew out of his hand and rolled off the far side of the table. Ron quickly reached out and grabbed hold of Draco's left wrist with his left hand. With his right he pulled back Draco's sleeve exposing his forearm. For just a brief second he saw it. In a flash it was gone, but he had seen it, the Dark Mark.

Suddenly, Ron felt two tree trunk-like arms wrap themselves around him. Goyle had grabbed him in a powerful bear hug and pulled him away from Malfoy. Ron could see Crabbe aiming his wand, ready to throw a hex at him. He bent his knees and leaned forward, taking Goyle's great bulk on his back. Ron turned sideways just as Crabbe shouted, "Stupefy!" The hex struck Goyle in the side of his ribcage. Ron grabbed hold of the table so that he wasn't thrown from his feet as Goyle was torn off his back. After Goyle landed behind him, Ron turned back to face Crabbe.

Crabbe seemed to be slightly shocked by what he had done to Goyle. Ron looked down for something to shield himself from Crabbe's next curse. Draco was still leaning over the table with his left hand pressed to his eye where he had been struck by Ron's punch. With his right hand he was fishing in his robe pocket, apparently for his own wand. Ron reached down and grabbed a fist full of Draco's hair. He heard the most girlish scream ever as he pulled Draco to his feet by the hair.

Crabbe was once again training his wand on Ron. Just as Crabbe bellowed out his next stunning hex, Ron pulled Draco's head back so that it was between him and Crabbe. The hex struck Draco in the right ear and sent him flying down the Slytherin table until he slid off the end in a pile of breakfast dishes.

When Ron looked at his fist, he noticed it was still full of Draco's blond hair. At the end of the hair was a one and a half inch square piece of scalp. Looking up he could see that Crabbe was even more stunned by what he just done to Draco. Not, waiting for the Slytherin to gather his senses, he flung his 'Battle of the Little Big Horn' trophy at Crabbe. The chunk of hairy scalp landed right on the bridge of Crabbe nose. He started flailing at it, as if it were a huge hairy-legged blond tarantula that had landed on his face. Seizing his chance, Ron rushed forward and hit Crabbe with a straight right to the face. Ron winced in pain after striking Crabbe's rock-hard face. Instead of falling down, Crabbe had merely taken a single step back and grabbed his nose. Ron quickly brought his foot back so that he could go for the one place all male's were vulnerable, no matter what their size.

Before Ron could throw his kick, he felt a large hand grab him by the back of the robe and lift him two feet in the air. "Oy then! Tha' will be enough outta yeh two," Hagrid angrily said. "Looks like yeh'll be spendin' detention wi' me in the Dark Fores', tonight."

"It wasn't my fault Professor Hagrid. Weasley came over and attacked us," Crabbe defensively said, as he too dangled from Hagrid's other arm.

"Tha's not wha' I saw, Mr. Crabbe. I believe I saw yeh hex two o' yer own housemates."

"That was accident, Professor," Crabbe innocently said.

"One I'd've believed, Mr. Crabbe, bu' two? No one'd be tha' daft," Hagrid challenged as he lowered both boys back to the floor. Crabbe didn't respond he just gave Ron a murderous look instead. The sound of moaning made everyone turn. Both Draco and Goyle were slowly getting to their feet. Draco had a large bloody spot centered in the back of his head.

Just as Goyle got his feet under him, Hagrid said, "Crabbe, since yer the one tha' did all o' this, I wants yeh ter take Malfoy 'n Goyle ter Professor Sprout in the Herbology classroom ter ge' checked out."

"Shouldn't I take them to Madam Pomfrey in the infirmary, Professor?" Crabbe asked.

"No!" Hagrid said shortly. " Madam Pomfrey has a very contagious studen' in there and has closed the infirmary until further notice. Spout'll be takin' care o' all studen' needs fer now."

"Yes Professor," Crabbe said, sounding guilty as he passed by Hagrid and finished helping Draco to his feet.

"Crabbe, yeh've forgot'en somethin'," Hagrid said, as he leaned down and picked up Draco's piece of scalp. Crabbe hesitantly took the piece of scalp and held it away from himself as if it truly were a deadly spider. Putting his arm around Draco, Crabbe and his two wounded companions limped their way out of the Great Hall.

"Wha' in Merlin's name is goin' on?" Hagrid asked, as he escorted Ron back to the Gryffindor table. "Firs' Harry, then Hermione, 'n now yeh, Ron. Three fights in three days, righ' here in the Grea' Hall. This isn' the Roman Coliseum yer know."

When they were far enough away from the Slytherin table, Ron leaned in and whispered, "Hagrid, he had the Mark."

"Who had the Mark?" Hagrid asked with wide eyes.

"Draco Malfoy," Ron answered.

"Are yeh sure, Ron?" Hagrid asked seriously.

"I saw it with my own two eyes, Hagrid. It was on his left forearm, a skull with a snake just like the one we saw at the World Cup."

Before they reached the Gryffindor table, Hagrid stopped and said, "Lis'en Ron, I don' wants yeh ter be tellin' anyone abou' wha' yeh saw. It'd be bes' if we let Professor Dumbledore handle this."

"He was one who attacked Parkinson. He practically admitted it," Ron said, his voice sounding of aggravation.

Hagrid gave him a look of concern. "Ron, I don' wants yeh, Harry or Hermione in any classes today wi' the Slytherins. At leas' not until I tell Dumbledore abou' the Mark," Hagrid said, still looking apprehensive.

"We only have Care of Magic Creatures with them today," Ron informed him.

"Tha's good. I believe I'll cancel tha' class 'cause of an unwanted nes' of Bog-Imps," Hagrid said with a wink.

"What about Pansy? We're not going to let him get away with it," Ron frustratingly asked.

"No, we're not goin' ter let'em get away wi' it. But we have ter let Dumbledore handle this. We jus' can' go attackin' people wi'out any proof, someone else could get hurt if we do," Hagrid answered. "Now, yeh go 'n finish yer breakfast, Ron. I'll go 'n see the Headmaster now." With that, Hagrid left Ron at the Gryffindor table and headed out of the Hall.

............................................................................................................

.