Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

37

Hermione was walking down the gravel road to a Miss Delores Bickerman's house... all alone. Of course, her parents would have but with their busy jobs, they couldn't take a break and her Grandma Elka had been trying to convince Hermione it was a bad idea to go visiting her sister's house. Grandma Elka also stated that Delores was furious with her. Apparently, they had some fight with each other and weren't talking. She had invited her friends to come along with her, but she hadn't received their letters and she was determined to see Delores. 

Actually now that she thought about it, she hadn't been getting any letters from her friends all summer. Even when she wrote to them, her owl would come back empty handed. She feared that maybe they didn't really care about her anymore. But she knew she'll get her answer when she went back to Hogwarts, which she missed dearly. She enjoyed practicing magic and spells and seeing the wonders of the castle. 

Her thoughts were cut short when she heard billowing from a small distance. She held out her wand. She knew it was against the law for underage magic, but she didn't want to go into something without protection. She headed down the road a bit faster till she saw what was making that noise. Crocs and gators. She knew Delores loved gators and crocs, but there were hundreds of them around the small farmhouse. Hermione carefully made her way pass them when she was startled by screaming. 

"I haven't broken any laws!" Hermione shot her head up to see Delores walking around her farmhouse with a couple of officers walking behind her. 

"Oh but you have!" one officer shouted, "You lied to us about the fact you let your gators roam these waters and because of your silence, a man has been killed. And on top of your reckless endangerment, I'm sure PETA will be annoyed with how you treat your cows." 

"Is it my fault to let them live as naturally as they do? Besides no one lives out here and barely anyone swims in these waters! It's really the gators and crocs' lake, now." Delores explained to them.  

"Ma'am you put people's lives in danger because you let these animals live out and about." another officer said. 

"I put up signs warning people that there are gators and crocs out here. Is it my fault people are stupid? If they want to take the risk, then let them. There's a reason for Natural Selection, now let it do it's work and kill off the idiots!" Delores said without an ounce of remorse. 

"Ma'am I'm going to put you under house arrest," the officer started. 

"I don't think so, Officer Fuckmeat," Delores said before pulling out her wand. Before anyone could stop her, Delores held the wand up as strings of silver-blue slowly made their ways up towards the wand. Delores toss the ball of light onto the ground then stomped on it. The officers shook their heads as Delores told them 'to have a good day' and slipped passed them and towards her house. Hermione quickly followed behind while the police were still trying to remember what had happened. 

"Miss Bickerman!" Hermione called out as she walked up the front porch just as Delores was halfway through the door. 

"Can I help you?" Delores asked. 

"Hi, you don't know me, but I'm Hermione Granger and I--" Hermione started when Delores laughed. 

"Elka's Granddaughter. Of course that makes you my granddaughter. Why are you here? I figured Elka would want you to stay the hell away from Psycho Delores?" Delores asked.

"She tried, but there are somethings I want to ask but Elka is trying to avoid telling me." Hermione explained to her. Delores chuckled. 

"Not surprising. Come in," Delores told Hermione as she made her way into the house. Hermione followed behind. The first thing Hermione noticed was all the Ravenclaw colors. The blues and bronzes and a few banners hung from the ceiling. 

"Have a seat on the couch." Delores called from the kitchen. Hermione sat down on the couch. A few seconds later, a floating tea tray came into the living room followed by a tray of cakes and cookies with Delores following behind. The trays set down on the coffee table and the tea set began making her a cup of tea while Delores sat down in an old sofa. 

"So where do you want to start?" Delores said. 

"Well, first of all I was wondering about a gift I seemed to have. A gift of..." 

"A gift for animals both magical and nonmagical? That's what all the ladies of our family have. That's why when you look at our family tree all the women have an animal next to their photo." Delores stated. 

"Okay, do you know why do you and Grandma Elka have a problem..." Hermione was cut off by Delores laughter. 

"Why am I not surprise I'm the one to tell you? She's too embarrassed to admit I was right!" Delores chuckled. 

"About?"

Delores sighed. 

"You see, the two of us went to Hogwarts. We both got into separate houses. I went into Ravenclaw and Elka went into Slytherin. I knew she was going to go to Slytherin whether she wanted to or not. She was so cunning and ambitious she was drowning in a Slytherin vibe. And I promised myself, I was going to be in a different house than her. Not to compete or anything, but because I knew that if we were in the same house, I would be blame for some of the shit she pulled. Especially when she hanged out with those Death Eaters." 

"Death Eaters?" Hermione asked. 

"Of course they weren't Death Eaters then, but she still hanged with them only until she knew for a fact they were. But those guys stuck together like glue. I would tell her off for hanging out with them and that she should have better Slytherin friends. Of course she would pout and claim I was jealous. Ha! Me? Jealous of her being foolish! After my third attempt for her to see her mistake, I gave up. If she wanted to screw her life up, fine with me. I stuck to my studies and let her party to her hearts desire... at least that was before the incident. Boy, did she wish she had listen to me when that happened." 

"What was it?" Hermione asked before sipping her tea. 

"I don't know the whole story. But something happened where a kid got murdered and Elka had tried to cover it up for the murderer... and she tried to get me to help her with the cover up." Delores stated as she took a bite of her cake, "It was then she got kicked out of Hogwarts. It was completely pointless since they caught the guy." 

Hermione sat stunned, unable to grasp what she had just heard. She was now wishing she had someone there to comfort her.