Say You Won't Let Go (Fremione)

Chapter Seven: Who Am I?

Hermione lies awake in her room, her fingers twitching, eager to create more of that fluid magic from earlier.  She sighs.

Hermione what is wrong with you?  Just sleep.  Worry about that tomorrow.

She feels the cold rush go through her chest and down her arms, resting at the tip of her fingers.  Hermione groans and rolls over, reaching for the bedside table to flip the lamp light on.  She sits up in bed, looking out the window to see a faint light on the horizon, signaling the dawn.  She then looks around the room at the array of books that are scattered across the hardwood floor.  Hermione sits there, almost in a trance, with her eyes glued to the door of the bathroom that she shares with Fred, her mind elsewhere.

"You're...You're my brother's best friend."  He had said.

Hermione pulls her legs in close, resting her chin on her knees, never breaking her eye contact with the door.  

Why do I feel like this?  Why did it seem like he wanted to say something else but didn't?  Why did my heart feel like that?

She shakes her head, as if to scold herself for thinking about something so inconsequential.  Hermione shifts her gaze to the mountains of books and she sees her worn copy of the Book of Spells located in the middle of a rather tall tower of books.  She smiles at the torn edges, thinking of the many times she read that book before her first year at Hogwarts even began.  Although her conscious is unsure as to why she feels so drawn to that book, Hermione moves closer to the stack.  With an instinct that she has never had before, but an instinct that feels so natural nonetheless, Hermione raises her hand to the stack of books and gently makes a sweeping motion upwards, lifting the books that were on top of the Book of Spells into the air.  With her other hand Hermione lifts the book off of the stack and draws it closer to her.  The book finds its way to her hand and gently rests there.  Hermione raises her eyebrows and her jaw drops.  

How did I do that?  Where is my wand?  Why didn't I need my wand?

Hermione gently releases the other books from her hold and lays them to rest back on the stack.

She looks down at her hands and at the treasured book in her hands.  

Why did I want this book?

Hermione opens it carefully, flipping through the pages, skimming over her scribbled notes in the margins.  As she is flipping the pages she notices that her notes are disappearing, they are becoming less and less frequent.  Hermione flips another page and suddenly she sees a section of pages that she had never seen before in her life.  Hermione drops the book in her lap out of surprise and furrows her brow.  

"What is this?"  She whispers to herself.

Hermione reads the title of the unknown chapter.  

"Wandless Magic."

What does that mean?  Hermione asks herself.  I know wandless magic exists.  Why is it in this book though?

Her eyes skim the words below the title and she sees strange topics that she never even knew existed but are familiar to her somehow...

"Suppressing abilites, fluid, colored magic, glowing wands..."  Hermione gasps.

Hermione looks around the room, scared, and then down at her hands.  She stretches her fingers and then makes fists with her delicate hands.  The pages of the book start to flutter, first gently and then they begin to furiously shake.  Hermione jumps and pushes the book away from her, her wide, terrified eyes watching the book shake at the edge of her bed.  And then all of the sudden the pages turn, and the shaking stops.

Hermione takes a deep breath and moves closer to the book to examine the new pages contents.  

Her eyes fall on a paragraph of words.

"Wandless magic is perhaps the most powerful magic that can be mustered from any witch or wizard.  Often times, wandless magic comes in the form of fluid colors, perhaps red or transparent, but the most powerful witches and wizards are able to emit colors such as gold and silver.  In almost all cases of the gold and silver colors, physical signs may appear in these colors, signaling that the magic is very much present in the witch or wizard.

Hermione gasps, her heart beating more rapidly than before.  She continues reading:

"Many witches and wizards do not discover their full potential with wandless magic until they have begun to heal from whatever significant event caused that kind of power to enter their being in the first place.  In the very few wandless magic cases that have been studied, usually the witch or wizard would report their wand glowing after using it to perform spells and in some cases their wands would burst and be dissolved like fluid into their being after touching it."

Hermione begins to feel dizzy.

What is happening to me?

She reads further:

"All witches and wizards who demonstrate this kind of power need not fear losing their wand, for the wand only channels the power that comes from the individual.  Take note that this power is very rare and can be dangerous if it is suppressed.  Wandless magic is not like the magic taught in schools, or even the magic that witches and wizards were born with.  Turn to the next page for a list of abilities that coincide with this magic..."

Hermione stops reading.  She pushes the book away from her again and sits there with her hands open in her lap.  She looks down at her hands and then at the book.  Her mind has turned into a liquefied mess as she tries to wrap her mind around this.  Hermione feels her fingers tingle and the cold rush come back.

"No, no, no..."  She groans, then gasps.  "Where is my wand?"  She asks herself.

Hermione frantically looks around the room and sees it at the opposite end of the room on top of the chest of drawers.  How did it get over there?

Hermione stands up and slowly walks closer to her wand, standing in front of it, wondering whether or not she should pick it up for fear that it might burst like the book said.

Hermione what's the worst that could happen?

She takes a deep breath and reaches her hand out and picks up her wand.

Nothing happens.

Hermione raises her eyebrows, wondering whether or not this whole wandless magic thing was true.

Suddenly, the wand grows warm in her hand and she stares down at it with wide eyes, her arms and legs shaking.  The wand begins to emit a light that makes Hermione shut her eyes because it becomes so blinding.

In an instant, Hermione feels a thud on her chest and falls to the floor as if the wind has been knocked out of her lungs.  She opens her eyes to find the light, and her wand, gone.  Only a cloud of silver and gold magic rests above Hermione's head.  Hermione realizes what has happened and she stares at the cloud of magic, knowing, but fearing, what will happen next.  She reaches her arms above her to touch the essence, and shudders when she comes in contact with what feels like a cold, watering fluid.  She raises her eyebrows quizzically and then, as if she had done this before in another life, she begins to guide the magical substance to her chest.  The fluid-like cloud dissolves into her chest, bringing back the cold rush as it disappears.  Hermione stares down at the spot on her chest where the substance disappeared.  

She shakily attempts to stand, grabbing onto the edge of the chest of drawers for support as she pulls herself off of the ground.

She stands and faces the mirror, staring at her chest and then into her own eyes.

They are pure gold.