Damaged Goods by slytherin_after_dark

Chapter 45

- NOT MY STORY!! ALL CREDITS TO @slytherin_after_dark ON A03!!

When she woke again, she heard Harry and Ginny by her bedside.

"Still no news about Malfoy?" Ginny asked Harry.

"Nothing. He disappeared."

"Snape said he had asked him for daily updates about Hermione."

Harry scoffed. "He deserves every heartache he gets about this. If there is a heart in that vacant chest of his."

Malfoy. A fight. He had drugged her. Then forced her to forget.

"Hermione," Ginny said when she noticed she was awake. She rushed to her side and took her hand. "How are you?"

"I feel like I got hit by a truck. How long was I out this time?"

"Just for the day," Harry said. "Snape said he had to sedate you because it was all too much for you, so let's just take it easy."

"I'll go get Snape," Ginny said as she gave Hermione's hand another squeeze before leaving.

Harry smiled at her as he pulled a chair closer to her bed and took her hand.

"Harry, I think I'm missing something. Something important."

He nodded. "Yes, he oblivated you so that is quite a normal feeling to have, I'm afraid."

She shook her head. "I feel like I did something."

"No, Hermione. This was all his doing. You had..." Harry's hands balled into a fist and he took an exhale before he answered. "...bruise marks from where Malfoy had choked you while he obliviated you. And then the coward took off."

"But he's communicating with Snape?"

He looked surprised. "You heard that? Yes, not much. Just through scrolls. He doesn't tell Snape where he is either."

Snape appeared next to her bed and wordlessly cast a diagnostics spell.

"When is the last time you have heard from Malfoy?" She asked.

Snape's eyes snapped to hers with suspicion. "About two days ago. Since then my scrolls have not been going through anymore."

The next day she felt constantly on the cusp of something. Like a word that sits on your tongue but you can't quite get to.

Her entire head felt like it was in a cloud. Bubble wrapped. Nothing felt quite real. Since the obliviate spell didn't go as planned, Snape wasn't surprised by the unusual side effects.

When she was released from the healing quadrant, Ginny walked her to her dorm room.

"Ok, you're going to freak but I'll explain," Ginny said.

Hermione wasn't sure what her dorm could possibly hold in store for her that would be shocking but when she opened the door to an all-green room, her mouth hung slack.

"I dated a Slytherin and decided to make it my entire personality?" She asked mortified.

"Not exactly," Ginny sighed. "You are a Slytherin now."

Every revelation felt like Hermione didn't know who she was anymore. Harry and Ginny slowly walked her through the highlights of the last few months. A murder investigation. She had killed the Minister of Magic, who possessed Voldemort's wand. She found a way to sever the connection with Bellatrix and she was killed.

Hermione learned not to ask too many questions about the hows and whys and rather take in the overview. It was like she was studying for a history exam, but it was her own life.