When We Were Beasts

New Magic Wand

Hermione sprinted down the hallways of Hogwarts.

It was a façade of Hogwarts, not the real thing. She knew that. Not a single portrait moved or spoke as she flew down the halls. The atmosphere was heavy with something tainted, like the magic of her beloved school had been warped and abused. Dust collected on the statues and pillars as she turned corner after corner, trying to escape the giant snake.

There were no rooms to slip into, and Hermione worried that the staircases would slow her down too much, allowing the serpent to snatch her up and devour her.

The familiar doors to the library came into view.

Hermione forced her legs to move faster, for her arms to work harder. Sweat poured off her brow. Fatigue, dehydration, and hunger slowed her down, a sinking weight that pulled her back. But the sound of scales slithering on stone was too close for comfort.

Hermione ground her teeth as she crossed the threshold, the school she called home fading away behind her.

****

The snake transformed into a monster made of violet nightmares and silver terror.

The creature rose to stand at least three heads taller than Hermione, with claws that curled well past its knees and a tongue that slapped its chest as it opened its mouth and smiled at her.

She felt weak with fear. The room held nothing - no weapons, no hiding places. Hermione couldn't see a single exit point in her peripheral as she stared at the creature.

Saliva dripped off its tongue as it spoke.

"Do you think running will work?" It took a step towards her. "Do you think there is a place where you will go that I will not find you? I am your night terrors. I am the very thing that makes you weak." Before her eyes dark shadows wrapped the monster in ribbons, shrinking it down until it was even with her. The shadows faded away, and Hermione let out a wet gasp as she stared at her own reflection.

Was this what she looked like? Skin pale like frozen milk, under eyes darkened by blue crescent moons and no life in her coffee brown gaze? Her curls were limp and greasy, her clothes crumbling to frayed pieces on her thin frame. She could count all of her bones, they protruded so much. The loose buttons on her blouse showed her the three puckered lines from the vampires claw marks on her chest.

"Stop this," Hermione whimpered, her stomach in her toes. "You're not me. This isn't real. I'm not-"

"Not what?" The Other Her murmured, cocking her head. "I told you, I am you. Your eyes haven't deceived you, Hermione Jean Granger." It smirked, the expression too vicious to belong on her face. "Or should I call you that nickname we cherished so much? What was it father called us? His little duck?"

Something snapped in Hermione as she remembered the memory that rose with the nickname. Her father, jumping rain puddles with her as she swung her rubber duck up into the air.

My my, little duck, you're covered in muck!

"I said stop it!" Hermione screamed as she threw herself at this perverted version of herself. They tumbled to the ground, but the creature did nothing but cackle as Hermione slapped her own cheek again and again and again.

"Does it bother you, how easy it is for people to leave you? First Ron, and now Draco-"

"Get out of my head!" Hermione gripped the blouse of Other Her in her fists. "Don't you dare bring them up!"

"I see everything, Hermione. I see the loneliness eating at you, the magic desperate for release. I see the rage that burns inside us, desperate for escape. I know how hurt you are."