The Contract (Hermoine/Voldemort story)

Chapter 12

When Hermione woke up, she was back in her own bed. She turned her head to her right and saw Voldemort sat reading in an armchair next to her. She took a deep breath and he looked up and smiled. Why did he appear so relived?

"You are awake," he noticed. He leaned forward and placed a hand on her forehead. "And the fever is gone. Can you speak?"

She had to clear her throat before she could answer "Of course I can."

"Excellent. You gave me quite a scare. However, it seems like you and the baby are stronger than I thought." He placed a hand on her stomach and caressed it.

She frowned. Why was he being so nice?

"What happened?" she asked.

His hand travelled up to her head again and he stroked her cheek. "You touched a book about the Dark Arts. A very, very dangerous book. You would have died if it weren't for Miss Radcliff, Snape and I. You have been unconscious for almost a day. I was a little worried when you got a fever, but I suppose it's understandable…"

"Why?"

He smiled as though he was talking to a small child. "Well, there are always complications when someone is hit by such a powerful curse. You were lucky, however…" He gripped her left hand and showed it to her. "Once the curse reaches the body, there is little one can do. Let this be a lesson for you to be more careful." He kissed her cheek and rose from the armchair.

Hermione stared at her hand. It looked perfectly normal… except that half her middle finger was missing.

xxx

Hermione tried to tell herself that it wasn't a big deal. Unfortunately, there was no way to grow her finger back because it had been ripped off by Dark Magic. Nevertheless, it was just a small part of her left hand. A hand she hardly used. She was right handed.

However, through the next couple of weeks, she found herself staring at what was left of her finger. It looked quite appalling. Ginny started to cry when she saw it. Hermione didn't cry. She just tried not to think about it.

In the middle of December, Voldemort grew tired of finding her staring at the finger instead of reading about the Cups. He charmed her finger so it appeared to be whole, even if it wasn't. Hermione didn't have any feeling in the finger, but at least it didn't look so revolting. She could finally concentrate on her work.

The raid in Switzerland had been a success and she found herself with hundreds of new books. Voldemort removed all books which could be mortally dangerous, but she couldn't help but to be extra careful. Every time she reached for a new book, she touched it with a quill before she touched it with her own hands.

The book she found most interesting was the book written by Helga Hufflepuff's grandson. He wrote everything there was to know about the famous fonder. He even mentioned the Cup some times. Helga used it to provide food for everyone at the school. She also used the Cup for Healing. The school rules hadn't been clear those days, and with so many young wizards and witches, accidents were doomed to happen. Thanks to Helga and the Cup, almost everyone survived.

xxx

Late one night, just a week before Christmas, Hermione was sitting next to the fire in the library. It hadn't begun to snow yet, but it was very cold in the room. She had been reading the book all day.

She turned to the next page.

My grandmother often told us about her friends; Godric, Rowena and Salazar. My mother told me that grandmother was the only one who cried when Salazar left them. Grandmother always loved everyone. That is why I wasn't surprised when Salazar on day appeared on our doorstep. It was just before grandmother died and she was too weak to get up form the bed. Surprisingly, they had an argument about grandmother's magical Goblet. He accused her for hiding it from him. She told him it was because she wanted to save him from himself. Immortality is a curse, not something to yearn for, she said. He laughed at her and ordered her to give him the Goblet. She told him the truth, that she had already given it to my sister Marion so she could help the helpless Muggles in our country. He left her. I took my horse and rode to Sherwood Forest to warn my sister. Thankfully, Salazar never found her.