Breaking Hermione

Bloodwork

Hermione

The Dream

I was walking through the Department of Mysteries. I was alone, and the entire building was suspended in a perfect silence. It felt even more quiet in polar contrast to the usual business comute. I continued my bizarre journey helplessly, in a drugged and disorientated dreamlike state. I could feel a deep feeling of unease coiling deep within me. Something was clearly wrong. I was walking confidently yet I had no idea where I was going, or who I might find along the way. I carried onward, and before I knew it I had arrived at one distinctly foreboding door down a long, dimly lit passageway. I paused for a moment.

What could possibly go wrong?

I had a strong sense of certainty that someone on the other side was going to open the door for me. And sure enough, as that very thought passed through my mind, the door opened...

To a pitch black room.

I paused.

"Hello?" I looked around. Asides the sound of water dripping I couldn't hear anything.

"Tom?"

No response.

I knew I wasn't alone. I could sense someone or something standing a few meters away, concealed by impenetrable shadow.

"Tom?" I said clearly. "You're scaring me."

When did he not?

No response. He was was toying with me.

I took a tentative step forward, and had to suppress a scream - my foot touched something cold and wet. Like water, it swelled around the point of contact and I could feel the hem of the nightgown become soaked. There was no light, and I was fast becoming more disconcerted.

I retreated, footfalls splashing as I walked further and further toward my percieved 'safety'. My back slammed against a wall.

The door was gone.

I ran my hands along the wall, desperate to get out.

"No." Someone said. "Don't run."

A light flared, illuminating the scene. Tom Riddle was standing mere feet from me. He looked calm. Patient. He stood sentinel, head to toe in black robes. In his left hand he held his wand aloft, the light flaring out and trained directly at me. He had been waiting for me here in this strange, concealed room.
I wondered what he wanted. He looked the same as I had remembered, down to the shiny Slytherin Prefect badge. As he lowered his wand by increments the light flashed in the dark like a lighthouse.

"Welcome." He greeted me. "To a place you're not going to remember."

"What does that mean?" I said quickly. "Why won't I remember this?"

I clenched my fists tightly yet I couldn't feel as my nails dug into my skin.

"Mind training." Tom explained. "This is just one part of a larger, more multifaceted plan, most of which you're not aware of. If my rituals have been done correctly, which they have, this should all be unfolding within your subconscious. You will wake up when I permit you to. That's the way it works."

He was smiling the way people do when they know something you don't, and just knowing that gave me that familar sensation that the entire floor had opened up and I was endlessly free falling into an abyss.

I tried to look composed, unaffected. There was no point, however. Tom had a sharp eye and no detail was ever going to fall by the wayside with him any time soon, even if this was a "dream". This was another program to break me yet he could've passed as bored if it wasn't for that insatiable hunger in his eyes.