Invictus [Tom Riddle / Tomione]

The Reading

June 2, 1998

One month after the Battle of Hogwarts...

Hermione sat in her bedroom, gazing at the photos of her parents on the wall. A month had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts, and she was still hesitant to seek out her parents and restore their memories. She knew it was high time to bring them back to Britain, but she still felt she needed time to readjust.

It still didn't feel real. Voldemort was dead.

Every night she woke in sweats, battling nightmares. She saw their faces. Dolohov. Bellatrix. Greyback. She sensed Nagini stalking her, she could hear its scales dragging along the floor, its heavy girth an immense rope of muscle that could grind her bones to dust.

Fred. Remus. Tonks. Lavender. All gone . They'd been so permanently disconnected from this world in such a short window of time, that it was surreal. Her head spun.

Was this PTSD? Perhaps she should see a mind healer. Mrs. Weasley had recommended it.

Hermione had lived in deafening silence since the battle.

She was being haunted. Not by the dead, but by Voldemort's ghost. Somehow, the voice that had so deftly penetrated her mind while she wore the locket horcrux all those months, had never quite left her.

Dark magic leaves traces .

He whispered to her at night, playing on her fears, poisoning her with her own regrets.

If she had only been wiser, cleverer. If she had only resorted to using dark magic, perhaps she could've better protected her friends.

So many lives lost.

She almost lost Harry.

She ran quickly to the bathroom and emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

She was barely eating as it was.

No, she couldn't bring her parents back home. Not yet.

Because she wasn't quite convinced the world was safe yet, and because she couldn't let them see her like this.

She needed to heal first. They deserved to return to a daughter who was whole. It wouldn't be fair to make them regret sending her to Hogwarts, to regret allowing her to enter such a dangerous world.

They deserve better , the sinister voice whispered.

"You're dead," she muttered to the air. " Morte . Fuck off."

The meeting at the ministry had gone better than expected. Draco's mother was there, and it was confirmed that Draco's trial was set for sometime next month, and Harry assured her that he intended to testify on his behalf. She had actually hugged Harry, which was unexpected.

"You saved my life," Harry said quietly. "You defied Voldemort. You were brave. That deserves my testimony."

Narcissa Malfoy had informed the Order that the ministry had completed its inventory of the leftover contents of Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. All dark objects and instruments were removed and the contents had been bequeathed to her closest living relatives, Narcissa and Draco. Hermione held her breath, not sure if she should reveal that she had taken an object from the vault when they'd broken into it that summer. While Harry had been seeking the horcrux, an object had slid down the pile of treasure and fallen right in front of her. She could sense a strange magic emanating from the object, and when she touched it, it didn't replicate like the other contents of the vault. That, coupled with the intriguing magic of the enchantments on the object, caused her to scoop it up and shove it into her beaded bag.