Broken But Beautiful~Dramione

Chapter twenty one*

"I got it Poppy." Professor McGonagall said gently. 

The patronus was sent and in less than a minute the room was full of people with somber faces. Madam Pomfrey only revealed Hermione's neck, legs, and arms. She refused to let anyone else see more.

"How could this have happened?" Humfrey asked softly and looked down at Hermione.

"Whoever did this will pay for it." Kingsley looked furious. He may not support the best ideas sometimes, but he can be very protective of the ones he cares about.

"The tournament will go on." Andrea said importantly.

"No. We won't tell the students right now, but for the time being there will be nothing related to it. No announcements or anything. And their classes will proceed as they have been." Kingsley decided.

"Now be mature and help us handle this." Professor McGonagall snapped.

"How could one so gentle...be so hurt. And on top of that, keep it all inside." Remus touched the top of Hermione's hand tenderly.

"We need to start bringing people in for questioning." Kingsley said. "Let's make a list of people to interrogate. Starting with Hermione when she wakes up."

"Poppy." Professor McGonagall said sharply and pulled the woman back a few steps. The two women stared at Hermione whose body ceased movement and her skin turned ghostly pale. Yet vitals still continued.

"It couldn't be..." Remus whispered.

"I think it is." Madam Pomfrey said in shock.

"What could've caused it? She would've had to come in contact with something as powerful as this by accident; she's a smart witch. Brightest of her year." Professor McGonagall said worriedly. 

"I'm sorry can someone explain what's going on here?" Andrea stepped forward to see Hermione better, but was pushed back by Kingsley.

"She's been cursed." said Madam Pomfrey.

"Well that's fine you can just undo it right? " Andrea asked dumbly.

"Ms. Granger has been cursed by a dark object. One so dark that she may never wake up." said Professor McGonagall.

"There has to be a solution. Something we can do?" Humfrey frowned.

"This cursed object called a helare is very rare to come by. The world has only seen a few cases of this condition and haven't been able to figure out a cure as far as I'm aware. It causes the victim to fall in a deep sleep, and be as still as a statue. It's like you die without actually dying. There may be a way to bring the victim back, but there's only about one case a century and if we don't figure out a cure within the next two weeks..." Remus trailed off.

"So she's doomed then." Andrea shrugged. "May as well call in her family to say their goodbyes."

"Do you want me to fire you?" Kingsley looked at her with disgust in his eyes.

"I suppose we better gather a team together to work on finding a cure. Remus I'm sure you wouldn't mind leading it?" Professor McGonagall inquired.

"Of course not." Remus confirmed.

"Gather your team. Feel free to use whoever you want, they'll be compensated by ministry funds for time off their job." Kingsley inputted.

"What will we do in the meantime?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Continue the Tournament of course." Andrea scoffed.

"I am going to send you back to the Ministry and blow up your office if you keep mentioning the stupid tournament." Kingsley threatened.

"I suppose we'll need to begin bringing people in for questioning. We should call Molly and Arthur to come in first." Professor McGonagall sighed.

"Once I assemble my team we'll need to do extensive study on Hermione's body. I'll do my best to respect her privacy." Remus said.

"Thank you. Poppy will watch over her at all times, except for meals if she'd like to go to the Great Hall for those?" Professor McGonagall turned inquiringly.

"I'll stay by her side and eat my meals in here." 

"Very well. Kingsley I'll need you to bring in the right people for interrogating. This is a very serious matter that Hogwarts staff can't deal with alone." Humfrey decided.

"I'll go collect them and come back within half an hour." Kingsley nodded.

"Alright I think that's everything, so please go do what you were asked to do. Kingsley, Humfrey and I will be waiting outside the hospital wing." Professor McGonagall ended. 

Everyone nodded and left to do what was needed, with Madam Pomfrey going to tend to Hermione. 

"Who will reprimand Theodore Nott?" 

"Minerva, there's nothing we can do as of right now. I suppose we'll just have to wait unless we have concrete proof that that crash wasn't an accident." Humfrey said gently.

"There's nobody we can call to watch over her. Both of her parents passed away last year, and the closest family she had was the Weasleys, but they're all to be questioned as they spent the most time with her over the summer. She has no legal guardian and I suppose she's an adult right now and doesn't need one but-"

"Are you trying to ask something right now?" Humfrey had a glimmer of curiosity in his eye. 

"I'll need a little more time to think it over but...I think I want to adopt Hermione." Professor McGonagall finished softly. She hadn't grown so fond of a student since Lily Evans went to Hogwarts, and had always wanted to be a mother. Due to her strict personality and inability to have a child, she never had a child or a husband.

"I support it wholeheartedly." Humfrey smiled. "Let me know once you decide, and if you do end up wanting to adopt her I'll help move things along as fast as possible."

"Wouldn't I need her consent before I would be able to adopt her?"

"I'm sure exceptions could be made. You'd probably have to ask Kingsley about specifics." Humfrey shrugged.

"I'll think about it. And we'll continue classes tomorrow as usual, and pull students out for questioning as needed. We may have to call someone in to be a substitute for me during all of this."

"Don't worry I'll take care of that. Just focus on Hermione for now." Humfrey placed a comforting hand on the old woman's shoulder.

"Very well. Please find someone capable enough to teach all levels of transfiguration. For now, I'll call Molly and Arthur." Professor McGonagall conjured a patronus and sent it off with the message. The two left Madam Pomfrey to tend to Hermione, and they stepped into the hall outside.

Kingsley arrived with a small group of two and said "I brought a few people from the Wizengamot. This is Brandon Lowery, Senior Undersecretary."

"Nice to meet you." A man with light colored skin, short brown hair, and kind blue eyes smiled. He looked to be in his sixties.

"And over here is Leah Lee." Kingsley indicated to a severe looking Asian woman who had long black hair, and dark brown eyes. She nodded respectfully to Humfrey and Professor McGonagall. "She's the person that will be interviewing everybody. One of our best interrogators, if not the best. They've both been fully briefed on the situation and know as much as we do."

"Nice to meet you both." Humfrey shook both of their hands, and got a disdainful look from Leah when he shook hers. He didn't know why, but there was something oddly familiar about her face.

"I will need to see the full condition of her body." Leah gestured to Hermione.

"But-"

"Poppy she has to. It'll only be her." Professor McGonagall cut her friend off and took her hand reassuringly.

"Alright." She conceded.

"Minerva?" Molly's voice could be heard echoing from around the hall.

"Here we go." Humfrey murmured. He knew they were all going to be in for a long night.