Dark Hogwarts

"Tell me, girl, where have you been?"

— Tell me, darling, how are you?

— I was running from death — I had to.

— I shed a lot of tears from the pain!

***

POV of Hermione Granger.

The start of the new school year did not please Hermione at all. Almost immediately, the girl had to endure a whole week of suffering, worries about her own appearance and endless all-encompassing itching.

But the first day was probably the most difficult. When she was publicly set on fire... Hermione hadn't realized before that the pain could be so intense. And even though she could only recall that day in fragments, the characteristic burnt smell and the crackle of burning hair were firmly imprinted on the girl's mind.

The very next day, Hermione was able to be stabilized in the hospital wing and she even regained consciousness.

— Fortunately for you, my dear, the spell used on you did not use magical fire, but ordinary fire. Thanks to this, I was able to quickly cut off pieces of melted clothing and heal even the most severe burns. So now you're medically fine," Madam Pomfrey had told her in a gentle voice.

However, as soon as she saw her reflection in the mirror out of the corner of her eye, tears immediately sprang from Hermione's eyes, and hysteria covered her consciousness. At that moment, the girl's entire body was one continuous burn scar, and her head, without a single hair, made her look like a real freak.

—Hush, hush, hush,— the healer sang next to her, stroking Hermione's bald, disfigured head. "It's nothing scary, what are you talking about?" Don't cry and don't be sad," she continued to lull the girl to sleep, and it turned out, admittedly, quite soothing. — Don't you want to become as beautiful as you were before? "What is it?" the healer suddenly asked, which made Hermione's sobs choke in an instant, turning into fervent hope.

—Y-y-yes, I do, I really do, Madam Pomfie!" Hermione shouted through her tears, clutching the healer's arm with all her might. For some reason, the girl was convinced at that moment that if she loosened her grip even a little, Madam Pomfrey would disappear, as well as the meaning of her last words.

—Take it easy, girl, take it easy," the healer cooed in response, and Hermione's emotional outburst began to fade. "You're going to have to lie here for a while. I will come twice a day and gradually change your skin to a new one — clean and smooth. And then we will restore your hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. You will be pleased with the result, exactly, exactly! — it sounded very convincing. "Do you agree?" — she asked one last time, and Hermione, of course, answered positively.

And even the second black circle, which was located along with the first one on her collarbones, did not bother the girl much.

"I'd rather have an extra mark from Madam Pomfrey than have my appearance disfigured for life. Moreover, it takes as many as five of them to have any effect, and I managed not to earn a single mark in my first year!" thought Hermione, looking at her own "tattoos".

The days in the hospital wing, while the girl's skin was gradually being renewed, were extremely boring. No one even brought Hermione her own books!

Sophie was the only one of her classmates who hadn't forgotten about her existence. During the week, the girl visited Hermione twice, and Hermione was very grateful to her for such care.

But Sophie was a Ravenclaw, which meant she couldn't get into her bedroom, which was in Gryffindor. Well, Hermione didn't have any well-wishers among the Gryffindor girls, so she had to sadly forget about the option of passing the time by reading. And in this form, she flatly refused to leave her room.

And so, it's time to finally remove the remaining bandages soaked in healing ointment and look in the mirror with fear.

"I look good... How's Hermione Granger? Not like a freak from a snuffbox, but exactly the same as she looked in the summer! Uh-oh!" the girl even jumped up and down on the bed from overflowing joy, although she quickly calmed down.

She was discharged on a weekday morning, so a slightly emaciated Hermione hurriedly headed to the living room to prepare at least a little for the upcoming lessons and make it to breakfast.

Her classmates might glance in her direction and whisper something among themselves, but they practically didn't talk to her personally. Only Neville awkwardly congratulated the girl on her discharge, and Kyle Golden verbally appreciated her restored appearance. Although Hermione was pleased to hear this, but after a week of lying in solitary confinement, she missed talking to other people too much, so such single phrases were clearly not enough for her.

"We need to find Sophie. That's someone you can talk to and have a great time with. Maybe we could go to the library with her after school?", Hermione made plans to fulfill her own need for society.

In the first lessons, the girl immediately noticed the differences from last year. Previously, they had been seated in four rows in class, each of which represented a specific faculty, but now it felt as if the children were sitting completely at random. There were groups of girls alone, some seats were occupied by students from different faculties, and some desks were occupied by one at a time.

Previously, Hermione had only sat with Kyle in the first months of her freshman year, and with Neville when she became estranged from the team because of McGonagall. Now, the former was sitting inseparably with Seamus, and the latter, to Hermione's surprise, was happily chatting at the same desk with a diligent Ravenclaw student, Terry Booth.

The girl hoped that she would be able to sit with Sophie, but for some reason Sophie immediately took a seat next to Pike Bletchley, a nasty skinny Slytherin whose voice made Hermione's cheekbones ache.

She had to sit in class alone, because no one else wanted to have anything to do with the "waif."

Sophie, during her last visit a couple of days ago, told Hermione about almost all the sensational innovations in their school days. About the Forbidden Forest and Saturday's incident, about the clubs and their rules, about her new status...

— ..As I've heard, your story is known one way or another by all the top clubs, which is why no one sent an invitation. It's stupid, as far as I'm concerned — just think, I stumbled once, it doesn't happen to anyone. You've been tested! And I got a lot of points for this at the end of last year, which means I made a corresponding contribution. It's also a punishment... You could have been treated more gently, to be honest... Sophie seemed very friendly and sympathetic to Hermione at the time of the visit. "But don't despair either! I didn't get any invitations either, but I was able to get into the club," she blushed faintly.

—And... how did you do that?" Hermione asked timidly then.

— I'm lucky, because I met Jason... He's like that, like that... Mysterious and mysterious, ah," Sophie finally broke down when discussing her secret lover. "He met me after the Devil's ladders ride, had a few words with me, and immediately invited the Director to the Club.

"This club of yours sounds like you work for Dumbledore and tell him everything at school.".. I almost got burned for that, if anything," Hermione shuddered as fragments of memories rolled over her.

—Oh, no, no," he said. It's not like that," Sophie hastened to convince her. — Our club, like all others, was created by students of previous years. And it is run, like all the others, only by students. That is, neither the teachers nor the Director himself have any power in the clubs.

"Then.".. Why is it called that?

"We can't talk," Sophie waved her hand in frustration. — The rules are such that only their members can know some of the features of the clubs. And if I tell them, they'll find out and punish me...

"Don't worry, Sophie... If you can't, then you can't. Don't repeat my mistakes, okay? By the way, who else wasn't invited to the club? Are there many of us, "street kids"? Hermione decided to change the subject as soon as possible.

—Three,— Sophie replied softly, —and Finch-Fletchley and Moon."

"I didn't think I'd be on par with the two of them in terms of importance," the girl chuckled. After experiencing stress, which gradually decreased with the gradual restoration of smooth skin, Hermione could afford to look at the situation not only from an exceptionally rational point of view, but sometimes also from a philosophical one. It helped me to come to terms with everything that was happening.

"I've felt the same way, too. And if you want, I'll talk to Jason and a couple of other guys I know from the club. I'll ask if there are any options to invite you to join us. It would be great if it worked out!

—Ah..." Hermione couldn't even come up with a quick answer, "Well, if that's okay, then...

— Yes, I'll ask at the first meeting! I promise," Sophie said, and Hermione smiled back gratefully.

But after that conversation, Sophie didn't come to her anymore, and she didn't even go to meet Hermione at the check-out, even though she knew the exact date. The girl wondered why she hadn't heard from her friend, and Sophie studiously ignored her at breakfast and the first lesson.

But before the second lesson, she still managed to catch Sophie alone, without the entourage of this trio of nasty Slytherins, and find out what was the matter.

"Sophie?" Hi," said Hermione, inadvertently blocking her way, "can we talk?"

Sophie looked around, then shyly replied:

"I'm sorry, Hermione, that I didn't talk to you. When I asked the club about your joining, they told me that it was possible and that they would consider options. But in return, I have to stop all communication with you for a while, since you are not a member of the club yet... I'm really sorry, but you need to wait for your chance to join us, and then everything will be fine," Sophie lowered her head and hurriedly left the place of the short conversation, as footsteps could be heard at the far end of the corridor.

Hermione could only trust her friend's words and bide her time. Until then, she had to spend all her time surrounded only by books and notes.

"I'll just have time to catch up on my missed classes and explore new sections. It's a pity, of course, that there's no place to practice new spells... But being alone is not so bad. Isn't that right?" she asked herself, but she still didn't dare answer it.

***

It was a very ordinary day at Hogwarts for Hermione.

After being discharged from the hospital wing, she improved her academic performance as much as possible due to the missed week. The girl still had access to the library, so while the others spent their free time in clubs, she studied and binge-read a wide variety of publicly available literature there.

The attitude of the other students towards Hermione didn't seem to have changed a bit since the first year. After her "punishment", the upperclassmen became kind of uninterested in her, and her classmates actively copied this behavior with a "homeless" fellow student. After joining the clubs, they quickly gained more senior authorities, whom they looked up to. Not all of them, but most of them were.

To some extent, Hermione began to feel invisible at Hogwarts.

"I'll finish reading later, I have to catch dinner...", Hermione concluded, looking at the library clock on the wall.

After putting the Hogwarts books on the shelves, and putting her own in her bag, the girl headed to the Great Hall. She didn't pay much attention to the fact that two undergraduates came out of the next section right behind her.

"Like me, they're going to dinner. It's not surprising," she concluded, and put thoughts of the students walking behind her out of her head.

However, they apparently weren't going to have dinner.

After she had covered most of the corridor, Hermione felt a hand on her shoulder.

—Granger, we need to talk,— they told her when she froze in disbelief.

I must say, the speaker almost immediately removed his hand, so the girl relaxed at least a little.

"Excuse me?" She turned around and saw two Gryffindor students looking at her with some kind of hidden interest.

"We're friends of your friend, Sophie,— one of them said, smiling, "do you still want to join the club?" Then come with us," he pointed in the opposite direction and made an inviting gesture.

Hermione's heart began to beat faster: "That's it!"

— Can I really join you?.. I know a lot of things and I have a good memory. And I also..." Hermione wanted to tell the boys about all her achievements and qualities, but she was interrupted.

"Don't do that. We already know everything we need to know, either from Sophie or from publicly available information.

Hermione realized that communication was premature and needed to be silenced, so the next minute of their movements from one end of the corridor to the other, less frequented by students, passed in complete silence.

The girl thought that she would be taken to the shelter of their club or to some kind of meeting, but suddenly, two undergraduates stopped her right in the hallway, going with her into a separate nook between the columns.

— You can fix your status as a waif right now. All you need is to read and sign this," the tall, dark—haired man who had been talking to her all this time showed her a parchment on which ink was magically shimmering.

— And-and-and... What's it? Hermione asked blankly.

"Read it yourself,— the previously silent companion grinned.

"It's a contract," the friendlier senior replied anyway. — Thanks to him, we will be able to accept you into the club. Just be careful, don't tear it.

Hermione had only heard about contracts out of the corner of her ear when Mr. Lockhart mentioned their existence at one of the dinners at his house. Then he told Sally-Ann about them in more detail, but the strained relationship with this girl did not allow Hermione to find out the details.

"I know how to handle parchment," Hermione muttered, and began to read.

But with each line, after reading which they changed their magical light from blue to green, her interest turned more and more into fear.

"The duty to follow the instructions of a subordinate... Operates at school... Termination of the action upon graduation from Hogwarts by one of the parties... This is some kind of slavery!", Hermione came to a disappointing conclusion and looked at the faces of the two seniors who were standing and watching her reaction in a completely different way.

"This.".. It's forbidden! You'll be kicked out," said Hermione, the first thing that came to her mind.

"Did you hear that, Ras? Forbidden! Ha ha ha," the most sociable of them laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, Granger. This is your chance to survive in the castle. Moreover, you will sign a contract with me, and in four years I will graduate and you will be free. In my opinion, it's a great option.

—I don't want to," said Hermione, startled. "I won't sign," she opened her hands, and the seniors had to quickly and carefully catch the contract drifting down.

— I told you to be careful! — they slapped her across the face, so much so that sparks flew out of her eyes, — do you even know how much such a thing costs?!

Hermione leaned back against the wall, and then slowly slid down it, sitting on the floor and holding her dizzy head.

"You don't understand." We don't ask if you want to or not. You have to sign this. Accept our terms. Either you will feel bad now, very bad later, and it doesn't matter in the end, because you will end up in the next world," she heard threatening words from one of them.

"You've hit her hard." We need to bring the girl to her senses, otherwise she doesn't seem to hear us," some kind of spell went off in Hermione, she was painfully electrocuted, but her consciousness stopped being cloudy because of the blow.

— Well, are you ready to sign your name? Eh?

— no! "Help!" she shouted angrily. Help!

It was a slim chance. It is unlikely that anyone will respond and come to Hermione Granger's aid. But she wasn't going to just leave her fate in the hands of these scoundrels.

—Fuck you, you fool,— she was slapped this time, and then another, harder one. Hermione's eyes had been wet before, so now she was crying softly because of the pain.

—Well, well, well... Another voice came from the hallway.

"Did I succeed? Has someone come to help me?" thought Hermione hopefully.

"Golden?" What do you need?

"Kyle?!"

"I won't let you do that." You'd better go about your business," her classmate suddenly said.

Hermione wiped her tears with her sleeve and looked at him hungrily. Kyle Golden, on the other hand, paid all his attention to the seniors, with whom he stood and exchanged threats.

"He's so brave with them... He mocks them, threatens them, as if it wasn't him who was two years younger, but on the contrary, them... And all this for me?" thought Hermione, silently watching their exchange.

She had a difficult relationship with this boy. Once they sat at the same desk, protected each other from the dangers of the castle and were quite friendly. Then he turned his back on Hermione along with everyone else, and a little later offered redemption if she would help Harry Potter pass the tests.

Hermione, without thinking twice, agreed, but this idea did not end with any redemption. On the last test, she clearly saw the face of Ron Weasley, who was clearly considering sacrificing her by dropping her into that ill-fated trapdoor. She wanted to live very much, so she decided to stun both him and Kyle, with whom he had already shared his insidious plans. After such a feint from Hermione, there was no question of any "communication as before", even though they then spent a whole month of summer holidays together — under the same roof of the guardian.

And so, Kyle Golden decided to go against two seniors to save her.

It didn't come to using spells, even though Hermione was ready to pull out her wand in case of a confrontation. The duel turned out to be just a verbal one, and Kyle won it, and the seniors retreated with a hidden grudge.

- thanks... Hermione said, putting all the appreciation she could into the word.

"He's going to help me up now, examine the bruises and take me to a safe place... I'll apologize and everything will finally be the way it was before last year's Halloween...", she enthusiastically presented the further development of events.

"You're welcome,— Kyle replied and left.

"But... but... Why did he leave? Is that why it's like this?! Helped me and left me?!", Hermione was indignant.

Both Kyle's appearance and departure were unexpected. And when his footsteps were far enough away, Hermione really burst into tears.

***

The next day, when the passions inside Hermione had subsided a little, Kyle Golden reawakened them.

It was a lesson in Charms, and while the boys were sitting down, and Hermione was habitually sitting in the far corner all by herself, she was suddenly sat down.

—Hi,— Kyle smiled at her, —are you busy?"

—No, no," she said some nonsense and hurried to correct herself, "not busy."

Hermione's brain started working in an attempt to find the answer to the question: "Why did he get hooked on me?". Meanwhile, the lesson began, and Flitwick began to introduce them to a new topic.

"I need to talk to you,— Kyle explained shortly.

"Right now?" Hermione asked, looking around the room and hinting at the presence of the teacher.

—Well, yes,— he grinned. — Flitwick, unlike the rest of the professors, doesn't get mad at all when there's a little chat in his class. The main thing is that those students who know his subject perfectly should allow themselves to do this. And you and I, Hermione, are one of those, in case you've forgotten.

 Hermione shifted uncomfortably on the bench. — We can talk.

"That's good. Do you remember what happened yesterday?

— Of course.

— And of course you know that this will happen again soon, and more than once? I'm talking about trying, anyway.

Hermione shuddered at the realization that someone wanted to take over her freedom completely.

"As if I miss the restrictions of Hogwarts and the laws of magical England..."

"So what?" It doesn't depend on me in any way! — she said with malicious reproach, - no one will just take me to clubs, and no one will protect me, because there are no friends, or even friends... Hermione began to pour out her soul to the boy without expecting it. Professor Flitwick even heard her emotional statement, although he did not stop the girl.

—Hush, Hermione. I know it's difficult for you. But there is a way out of this situation," Kyle said confidently.

— What... What do you mean? Hermione frowned.

— There is an option to make the seniors like yesterday lose all interest in you, — Kyle began to count off his fingers. — Plus, you'll be accepted into the Dueling Club. Plus, you'll be joining a group of classmates again. At least you'll be able to make friends with me, Seamus, and Harry again, and we'll be only too happy about it, since our reputation won't suffer from it. Plus," he crooked another finger, "your status will change. Even your neighbors, thanks to the popular club and our society, will warm up to you, and the same seniors from the duelists will help you in word and deed.

He said it all so enticingly, described the prospects so attractively, that Hermione wanted to agree to anything for it right now. But that's what she would have done until yesterday. Now Hermione has become much more suspicious of any free cheese, even from Kyle Golden. From now on, she saw a mousetrap in every sentence.

"And what do I have to do for that?" Sell your soul? "What is it?" she asked with a snort, hiding her interest.

—Not at all. I, unlike anyone else, will tell you everything at once and as it is, frankly. But just listen to me until the end, okay?

Hermione nodded expectantly.

— For all this to happen, you need protection and support. I can become one, and I even want to, but I have very little trust in you after that incident on the test. Therefore, I suggest that you still sign the contract that was shown to you yesterday. But only with me," Hermione's eyes widened and she was about to answer him sharply, but Kyle raised his hand, "Don't interrupt, let me finish." The school contract, so that you know, is one of the most loyal to the subordinate party. I will not be able to deliberately lead you to death, I will not be able to force you to do all sorts of obscenities, I will not be able to order you outside the walls of the school and give you orders that need to be carried out outside. After school, this contract is cancelled. Moreover, I'm not going to use you as a laughing stock, I'm not going to belittle your dignity and give orders for fun. This contract is my opportunity to make sure that you don't stick a knife in my back and tell the teachers about my affairs. And yours is to get out of the deadly situation you're in right now.

"I'm not going to betray anyone or start snitching again,— Hermione grumbled.

— Then my idea is a great way to prove it and finally restore our friendship. I can't just do this because I risk making enemies, just like it happened yesterday. In the case of my idea, while one contract is working, no one will be able to conclude another. That is, they will leave you alone immediately, because their motives will be devalued.

Hermione was lost in thought after hearing everything.

— I understand everything... In this case, you need to take a huge step of trust. And it's not easy to decide on such a thing. But in any other scenario, you will either die or end up in the hands of scum. The only question is, are you ready to trust me? Kyle looked her straight in the eyes expressively, which made Hermione see her reflection in them. "Flitwick's already giving me a disapproving look, so let's get on with the lesson." Well, if you come to a decision, then let me know, okay?

—Yeah,— Hermione just replied.

And she was caught in the deepest thoughts that haunted her even at night. They were probably the longest and most serious in her entire life.

"Become subservient to another? Voluntarily? It's scary to even think about it. But Kyle is definitely right about one thing—they won't leave me alone that easily. It's not for nothing that people without a club in high school simply don't exist...".

Her thoughts were tearing her apart. The thirst for freedom and independence, fostered in the girl by books and stories, fought with the desire to live in safety and be a part of society, not its outcast.

"According to Maslow's Muggle pyramid, I have to agree to Kyle's proposal right now. And he himself has built a reputation as an honest student... What should I do? How to decide on this?!".

In truth, Hermione made the right choice for herself pretty quickly. But it was much more difficult for the girl to decide on it.

But no matter how much she looked for additional excuses, no matter how much she suspected additional pitfalls, none of this even came close to interrupting the truthfulness of Kyle Golden's words.

"He really told me everything as it is. I just offered it, not tried to force it, like those two scumbags did... He protected me then without demanding anything in return. Make up your mind, Hermione, don't be a coward!" the girl scolded herself.

Two days later, the girl no longer had the strength to rush around. As soon as she saw Golden, she tuned in and immediately went straight to him before she changed her mind.

—I agree,— Hermione blurted out too loudly, approaching the boy during lunch.

"It seems that all the neighboring tables heard it...".

—Kyle, did you propose marriage to Hermione?" Finnigan asked, and the Gryffindor table of sophomores and some of the third years burst into laughter. Even the first-year student, Lviv, heard this and also laughed softly.

"Fuck you, Seamus," Kyle replied, poking his friend in the shoulder. — Can we talk after class? "What is it?" he asked Hermione, hinting at the unsuitable environment for conversation.

—Yeah,— was all she said again, running quickly out of the Great Hall.

"You should have embarrassed yourself and Kyle so much..."

After the last class, Kyle called out to her and took her somewhere to the upper floors.

— Are the other guys not with us? Hermione asked.

"They don't know anything about it. I'll put them in front of the fact that Ron simply has no choice but to accept you into our social circle.

That sounded reassuring to Hermione. She had already imagined that she would sign a contract surrounded by almost the entire Dueling Club...

— But we need a third person who will consolidate the contract. After all, they came from the foundation of the Immutable Vow spell, and there was definitely someone who would bind the parties to the contract. And I warn you right away, you may not like this man, but he was the one who actually helped you and provided me with the contract absolutely free of charge.

—And who is that?" Hermione asked with interest.

"You'd better see for yourself.".. Kyle jumped out of the answer, but the girl decided not to seek an answer.

It turned out that he was leading her to the Astronomical Tower.

"No one ever goes there. And no one's going to stop us," Kyle replied simply.

—Well, hello, scammer,— Olivia Riley greeted her with a grin at the tower.

"Let's not squabble," Kyle warned. — We're going to do something here, so let's not get distracted.

Strangely enough, Hermione didn't hate Olivia herself, even though Olivia had fried her. After a week in the hospital wing, the girl realized that Hogwarts itself was the reason for everything, where there are such strict rules, and Olivia didn't even really want to use a spell, yielding only to the demand of the head of the school. And the fire turned out to be non-magical, and Hermione still had some guilt in front of the girl...

In general, Hermione didn't hold a grudge against her.

Meanwhile, Kyle took out the contract, and while Hermione was reading her part, he got ink pens and a special box with enchanted ink.

Hermione, having subdued the trembling in her hand, silently and hurriedly signed her name. Kyle did it next, on the back of the parchment.

—Live happily ever after,— Olivia giggled, and then cast the required spell.

The connection had been established, and now Hermione somehow felt that the signed contract was right in front of her.

She also felt that she had a master from now on.

End of the POV.