Hermione Granger's Goddess

Parte 9

Ch 11

Hermione slowly opened her eyes, her head hurt terribly and everything around her seemed to be spinning endlessly. It was dark and the young woman didn't recognize that place, she certainly wasn't locked up in that prison that Pansy had carefully designed for her, yet another humiliation created to destroy every crumb of dignity left in her, to erase even the memory of a winning, sunny and happy Hermione Granger. The young Gryffindor brought her hand to her neck almost instinctively and there she found her usual collar, re-adapted to her new old body. The effects of the polyjuice potion had worn off within minutes of Luna leaving, a small blessing in those terrible days when everything seemed to be going wrong. Her friend hadn't discovered who was hiding behind that fat body that she had tortured for hours, with a sadism that Hermione would never have thought of finding in a sweet girl like Luna, but Pansy had won anyway, as always. Hermione's soul was increasingly broken, in her there was no longer even the slightest hope of being able to be free again, of escaping from that manor and from the leash that her rival held tight like a sort of treasure.

However, something was different, Pansy's collar was still around her neck, but where was the chain that kept her prisoner in that stable, or kennel, that had become her new home? An owl hooted not far away and Hermione abandoned her sad thoughts to try to understand what was happening. Her eyes still struggled to see through the darkness that the moonlight couldn't penetrate, but her ears were far more helpful. Another owl responded to the call of the first one and the sound of some other animal broke the momentary silence that enveloped the young woman like the darkness that made her blind. Hermione began to understand, almost holding her breath it seemed to her that she could feel the woods come to life all around her and the ground beneath her bare feet confirmed to her that she was indeed in a woods, but how she got there was a mistery to her.

The girl didn't dare move, she didn't have her wand and she felt helpless and defenseless among those creatures that could attack her at any moment. Hermione decided that it was much more useful to try to remember, understanding the situation she found herself in was the first step towards getting out of that strange nightmare. Hermione remembered being taken back to her "cage" by Pansy, she remembered licking her feet for the umpteenth time, before her Mistress attached the chain to her collar as she did it every night. But then there was only darkness, and a strong pain in the back of her neck.

"Someone hit me, someone must have brought me here while I was unconscious...but why?" Hermione wondered, touching a large bump that confirmed her last guess.

The young woman didn't have to wait long for answers, a loud "pop" echoed in the air, scaring the closest animals who fled in terror and Hermione, thanks to the light of the newcomer's torch, managed to catch a glimpse of a fawn fleeing with the other creatures. Hermione's eyes stopped on the small body of Tinky, strangely she wasn't surprised to see her there, as if inside her she already knew who was the culprit of that strange kidnapping. The elf looked tired and had bandages covering her long ears and Hermione immediately understood that Tinky must have punished herself for kidnapping her, for doing something against the will of her beloved Mistress. Now it was just necessary to understand the reason for that gesture and what were the intentions of the house elf who had never hidden her jealousy and hatred for the mudblood who was stealing all the attentions of her young Mistress.

- Where are we, Tinky? Why did you bring me here? - Hermione asked in her usual gentle tone, hoping for once that it would work on the house elf.

- Mistake -Tinky replied as she took out from the pockets of the rag that was her dress, smaller but so similar to Hermione's, an old yellowed map.

The elf squinted her big eyes to locate something on the map, but Tinky's difficulties were evident and Hermione jumped at the opportunity to help her and try to obtain other valuable information.