Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

83

"Lucky the ground was so soft..." 

"I thought he was dead for sure..." 

"But he didn't even break his glasses..." 

Harry's eyes fluttered opened to see his whole quidditch team and Ron looming over him, staring him down. The moment he figured out he was in the hospital wing, the whole event came rushing back to him. From the thunderstorm... the Grim cloud... the dementors.... everything. 

"What happened..." Harry asked while he pushed himself into a sitting position. 

"We thought you'd died," Alicia said. 

"You fell off your broom... must've been--- what fifty feet?" stated Fred. 

"But the match... what happened? Are we doing a replay?" Harry asked, slightly upset at the thought of losing. 

"Um... We did't-- lose?" 

"Diggory got the Snitch. Just after you fell, he didn't realized what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted the rematch actually, but they won fair and square... even Wood admits it." George explained. 

"Where is Wood?" Harry asked, noticing Wood wasn't even there. 

"Still in the showers... we think he's trying to drown himself." Fred admitted to them, "but don't beat yourself up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had." 

Harry nervously grinned until it dropped when he noticed another figure wasn't there. 

"Hey... where's Hermione?" He asked. Not even a minute after he asked, the doors flung opened with Madam Pomfrey rushing into the room. 

"Out of the way! Out of the way, now!" She ordered. The whole Gryffindor Quidditch shuffled to the side as Hagrid came running in, tears running down his cheeks. 

"I-- I-- I found her on-- on my way to the castle! Bet it was-- it was those bloody dementors! Oh! I hope she's alright!" Hagrid whimpered as he hurried to the next bed next to Harry. Harry watched as Hagrid put someone down on top of the bed. When he moved to the side, Harry looked like he was about to have a heart attack. There laid draped across the bed, peacefully like she was merely sleeping, was Hermione, soaked to the bone. 

"Hermione! What happened to her, Hagrid?" Harry yelled, fumbling to get out of the bed. 

"You stay in that bed, Mr. Potter or else I will strap you down to it!" Madam Pomfrey threatened him while she proceeded to examine Hermione throughly, "Yes... nothing seems to be out of place. If she really was attacked by the dementors, she wouldn't even be alive at this point. She would have died by the Dementor's Kiss if it were them. No-- it's a mere sleeping charm." 

Madam Pomfrey pulled out her wand before giving it a quick wave. A streak of purple ran over her till suddenly Hermione's eyes flung wide open and gasping for air. She pushed herself into a sitting position, her wet hair framing her face. Hagrid blowed into a tissue as he hiccuped a sob. 

"Take it easy, dearie. Do you know what had happened to you?" Madam Pomfrey asked her. Hermione shook her head that she had no clue. Harry sighed in relief, knowing she was at least alright. 

Hermione couldn't tell Ron or Harry yet of what she had witnessed that night she had been placed in the Hospital Wing. They quietly walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts class where the entire class was babbling on complaints about Snape's behavior. Lupin assured them about them not having to turn it in and proceeded to talk about hinkypunks. At the end of class, Hermione headed towards the door when Lupin called both herself and Harry to him. Lupin started off by explaining how he was sorry about Harry's broomstick breaking to pieces before suddenly shifting to Hermione. 

"I noticed you're not looking the best, Hermione. Is everything alright?" Lupin asked her in a caring voice. Hermione rubbed her eye with end of her palm. 

"Fine, just spent up the rest of the night, finishing writing four rolls of parchment on the werewolf essay." Hermione stated to him. 

"Oh, I am terribly sorry about that... wait a minute, I thought Snape said only two rolls of parchment?" Lupin asked, stunned. Harry snickered. 

"You don't know Hermione. If she could, she would have written at least six rolls of parchments." Harry explained to Lupin, who nodded his head. Hermione lowered her head as she fumbled through her bag. 

"Well I didn't just put down how to identify and how to kill a werewolf." Hermione admitted as she pulled out her Great Grandmother Rose's diary, "I read in my Great Grandmother Rose's diary how she did a few studies on werewolves, who embrace their condition, to see the benefits of lycanthropy, so I added that information." 

Lupin took hold of the diary as he chuckled, his fingers running over the cover of the leather-bounded book. 

"I know your Great-Grandmother, Rose. She was there for me when I was younger. She was the closest thing I had to a friend, really." Remus said, sounding almost like he finally was breaking. Hermione's eyes widened as she cleared her throat. 

"Pardon me, sir, but you wouldn't know if she had mentioned any past relatives to you... someone with the name of... Iracebeth?" Hermione asked him. His body seemed to have stiffen as he cleared his throat and handed the diary to her. 

"Sorry, can't say that I remember Rose mentioning about her at all." Remus said as he pushed himself off his desk, "If you don't mind, I need to get prepared for my next class, you two." 

Harry and Hermione shared looks with each other before turning on their heels and headed out of the classroom. However, Hermione paused when she remembered something and she turned around. 

"Um... excuse me, Professor if you don't mind me asking, but your father wouldn't happened to be Lyle Lupin? Rose wrote a bit about him... but not a lot of good things. She blamed him for an incident that happened... involving someone named Fenrir Greyback? Do you know what she might have been talking about?" Hermione asked him. Lupin's entire body began to shake violently as if he was remembering a horrible event that happened to him ages ago. 

"No... I'm terribly sorry, I don't know anyone by the name of Fenrir Greyback... or any incident involving him or my father or Rose." Remus told her before vanishing up to his office.