As Hermione left the Gryffindor dormitory, she could taste danger in the air. It was jokingly said that the Fragments were able to awaken the sixth sense of a witch but she knew better than that. With the magical boost the Fragment in her back, her brain also had developed better, making magic easier to grasp. It wasn't everything, of course, no one would become a genius after the Ceremony. Instead, her perception, her body control and some other subtle parts of her mind were sharper than ever. Her "sixth sense" was just her unconscious mind seeing patterns the awake part of her brain still couldn't grasp.

She moved her hand to the wand holstered on her left thigh. Around her, students laughed and joked, some of them playing with a Quaffle in the common room. Maybe she was being paranoid, jumping at shadows. After her horrible summer and the First Feast, she had been on edge. Trying to relax, she marched out of the tower and took a detour near the red tapestry, bumping on the broken armour and discreetly sliding between it and the wall behind. Instead of getting stuck in the small space, she went through the illusionary stone bricks on the wall, reaching a secret corridor. It was a good secret passage, one only a handful of students knew about, leading directly to a bathroom near the Great Hall. It was pitch-black but she knew the way even in the darkness. She didn't like to use magic in narrow passages like that, as some of the walls were thin enough for someone to sense her magic.

Most of the older years, even those in her Second Year class, ignored the unhoused and their danger. Under the Concordat, they were magically forbidden from killing or even hurting the housed students, professors and other staff. It would be disruptive for learning if they kept making attempts at each other's life. As the First Years only knew a handful of weak spells, their seniors felt safe enough to play around with magic at any time, unabashedly showing their locations. She wasn't like that, as she had become a housed exactly because of such arrogance.

Maybe that's why Hermione still hadn't become friends with anyone. Not only because they had hurt her, threatened her, cursed her black and blue while she was an unhoused but also because she was different from them. Because Hermione never forgot the despair of being an unhoused and the power that could move their hands when they truly needed.

She arrived at a glass door, a common women bathroom on the other side. It was empty, so she pushed the glass and jumped over the sink. Behind her, the mirror closed, looking exactly like the others. With a quick mental thanks to whoever had created such a convenient passage, she exited the bathroom towards breakfast.

Two figures followed her as soon as the door closed, sweat sprouting on her forehead. One was tall and lanky but the other was short and stout, exactly one of the figures she really didn't want to meet that morning. She could feel his smile splitting that horrendous face. The girl fought her desire to touch her wand.

"I can taste your fear, Mudblood," the short boy said. From all of those that called her that - and they were too numerous to count -, she felt Crow was the most hypocritical. His father had been a goblin, his blood was even further than a Pureblood's than her. His mother had tried to kill him when he was a child, setting him on fire. The blind left eye and the half-melted skin on his face would make anyone pity him if not for his arrogant and threatening attitude. The rumour was that he had devoured his mother in revenge and fallen in love with the taste of human flesh.

"Are you sure you aren't just tasting your own bad breath, Crow?" She retorted, without glancing back. He barked a raspy laugh full of second intentions.

"I see you don't know what day is today."

Even if her legs continued marching forward, those words gave her pause. She knew it was Halloween, the night of the Second Banquet but she didn't know why the little monster would feel excited by it. The year before, her first at Hogwarts, she had killed Sally-Ann Perks in the bathroom and spent the whole night trying to find the Fragment in that sack of flesh and blood. She never went to the banquet. He could have been hinting at the anniversary of her first Fragment but it probably wasn't that. Only a few people knew that information and none cared enough about her to make it a special day.

"It's not even eight in the morning and you are already thinking about food, Crow?" She went with the safest option. This time, his laughter made every hair in her body stand up.

"You really know nothing about today, Mudblood!" His short legs exploded in a quick run and he caught her wrist in a death grip, forcing her body to turn and face him. She was a little tall for her age and the half-goblin was in eye-level to her navel. His large smile held triangular teeth sharpened with a steel file into points.

"Release me, Crow," she hissed. "You know what will happen if you try to hurt me."

"Not tonight, Mudblood," he calmly retorted, filling her with dread. "Tonight I will dine on your flesh with my teeth and my dick. And only after I'm sated I'll allow you to die, my little cumdump."

Reigning in on the repulsion churning in her stomach, she yanked her wrist from his grip. Hermione forced herself not to wield the wand, instead she kicked him hard in the chest, sending him flying. Her magic boiled fiercely in her veins, almost tearing a scream from her throat but she resisted. The Concordat made her experiment seven times the pain she had just inflicted, just as a warning. Biting the inside of her cheek until she drew blood, she straightened up and looked down on the half-breed monster.

"Neither your teeth nor this tiny thing you call your dick are coming near me, tonight or any other night. And if you try, boy, you will lose both."

Ignoring the quiver of her muscles, she walked away, at a casual pace, leaving the hall behind and going straight to breakfast. She had learned the hard way to never skip a meal, even when her stomach was doing summersaults in revulsion. She took her place at the Gryffindor table, cheering up a little bit upon noticing the regular settees were absent that morning. As seats were arranged by rank, she was at the end of the table, near the door, far away from the watchful gazes from the Professors and staff. There was a sixth table, just at the door, for those not welcome in any of the Four Tables. It was empty. By October, even the most dimwitted unhoused First Year knew not to show their mug in the Hall during banquets and festivities. While the Concordat forced the Houses to play nice with each other, it was a free-for-all for baiting and hurting the riffraff.

Longbottom was at the very end of the table, unhappily eating his porridge. He didn't raise his head, something that fit her just fine as she despised the weak boy. She propped a book on the jar of pumpkin juice and began her light reading time, the clicks and clanks of dishes and tableware soothing her mind. She was just reaching the end of a nice chapter on fire curses and their inner working.

"Working again, Granger?" Fisher asked, taking a seat near her. From all the friends Hermione didn't have, she liked the young girl the most. While a Halfblood, her family didn't have a spare Fragment to send with her to Hogwarts. That meant she had to obtain one on her own, something Hermione heavily sympathized. Those Purebloods like Neville, who never had to dirty their hands to survive and only knew how to whine about their lives, were scum.

"I'm trying to perfect a spell," she answered, buttering up a scone.

"For tonight? Good call."

If they were friends, she would ask about this thing that would happen later. Unfortunately, she couldn't trust Fisher with her ignorance. Instead, she nodded. Picking the clues so far, it was best to finish her project as soon as she could.

There was a sound like a bell ringing and the students dutifully dropped everything they were doing and turned towards the great table, where the staff was seated.

"Good morning," Professor Minerva McGonagall greeted, her crisp voice carrying all the way to where Hermione was seated without the need for an amplification charm. "The staff wishes you a happy Halloween and informs that classes are going to carry on as normal. Second Years, a meeting is scheduled at sunset in the fringe of the Forbidden Forest, attendance is compulsory. Please leave your books and cloaks in the dormitory and take a shower before. Thank you."

She returned to her seat and the noise level rose up quickly but Hermione ignored it. She wanted to ask someone about the meeting, probably the reason for the strange behaviour that day, but she couldn't. Instead, Hermione shoved food in her mouth and read the book as fast as she could.

She had a feeling she would need every bit of strength and knowledge that night.

As the last class ended, Hermione returned to the Tower, had a quick shower and dried off her hair. She laced her boots and left the cloak on her bed. Some of the girls were still there but she ignored them and the feeling was mutual. As there was a flux of people going down she couldn't use the hidden passage, instead, she marched downstairs with the rest of the older years. Some of the First Years were excitedly chatting about the banquet but Hermione had a feeling she wouldn't be enjoying the pumpkin pasties in a few minutes.

They filed in line in the garden, near the Forest, as the sun was painting the skies a deep red. There was no need for instruction or guidance, they were used to that position. Hermione crossed her hands at her back, thrust her chest forward and kept her gaze straight and chin high. On a high dais, Professor McGonagall was posted in her own straight position. Her youthful white skin was glowing near the strong torch on the wooden stage, her brown hair in a complex braided hairdo and grey eyes icily inspecting their rows.

"Good evening, please stay in post while we take the row call."

At her side, the thin and dark-skinned professor Aurora Sinistra called their names, first by House and then by surname. Hermione answered when asked, feeling dread pitting in her stomach. While such procedure was quite common at Hogwarts, where militarism was practised with gusto, that place and the excited whispers around her the whole day were setting her on edge. She felt even worse when she noticed some names were unanswered.

"This is good," Professor McGonagall surmised. "Thank you, Professor Sinistra. Professor Ainsworth, Professor Leighton, please find those missing and, if alive, expel them."

Hermione broke out in cold sweat. She knew very well those poor sods wouldn't be found alive. Or worse, as she had heard some rumors, the kind only a girl under an invisibility spell could hear in the middle of the night, a rumor about a lab in the deepest level of the dungeons, to where those unable to get a Fragment before the end of their First Year were sent, along with the transgressors and children of the enemies of the Empire.

"Tonight's exercise will be a test on your adaptation capabilities as well as your magic prowess," the young Professor began, her heeled boots clanking heavily against the wood of the dais. "It will take place in the Forest, from sunset to sundown. It's important you return to this place before breakfast time. Those unaccounted by then will be considered dead. Teams will be dispatched during the weekend to retrieve your Fragments, then."

Not the bodies, Hermione thought in her heart of hearts. Only the Fragments are worth the annoyance.

"This is the main goal of this exercise," the Professor continued, raising her arm high. She was holding a large bird by its neck. It was inert, as if dead, and Hermione's sharp eyes saw it wasn't a real bird, but some kind of swan-like golem. Its underside was bright orange while the rest of its body was pure white. Instead of feathers, it had metal scales. "The one who brings the prey after sundown but before breakfast will be crowned the winner and receive a special award. A minor award will be granted to every surviving student. Medical assistance is only for the survivors. Please use caution during the exercise."

Hermione wanted to reach for her wand but controlled herself. The Forest was dangerous in a way that surpassed even Hogwarts itself. Spending the whole night inside it would be certain death. Some of those monsters were excited about it! She fought the need to throw up. Forget the damn bird, she needed to focus her all just on surviving.

"In fifteen minutes we will begin the exercise. You will enter the Forest by one of the fourteen entrances, according to your rank number. After five minutes, the Concordat will be suspended until breakfast. All rules are rescinded inside the Forest."

Only the brutal year of training she had gone through maintained her standing up instead of fainting. The Concordat was the only thing keeping her alive in that hellish world. Even if those monsters were still just Second Years like her, some of them had two or even three Fragments, not counting the amount of knowledge they must have received from their families.

"Before we begin, a word from our esteemed Headmaster."

The chief monster, Professor Albus Dumbledore marched forward, posing with his hands to his back as if he was just another soldier in their army. Unlike the Professors, he didn't carry rows upon rows of medals and awards in his chest, instead, he had a single armband on his right arm, a piece of deep white cloth with the Hogwarts coat of arms and four stripes, one of each House colour. His auburn short beard loaned his face a more mature look while his long hair tied in a ponytail gave her an indolent air, his electric blue eyes twinkling under the dimming light.

"Good children, thank you for coming! Tonight we go through a rite of passage, a tradition held by Hogwarts for almost four hundred years. Tonight, we will challenge your magical skills, your wit and even the strength of your bodies. On the night when the doors of Death are the closest to our world, you will walk into the Forest as children and come back as adults!"

Or as corpses, Hermione dutifully completed in her mind.

"Alas, in the last few years this challenge was met with lacklustre performance. We've lost most of our Second Years in foolish skirmishes and the prey was ignored by the competitors. That's why this year we've decided to up the ante. To the boy or girl who brings the prey... not only an award will be given but also... a Fragment."

The tiny glass case on his hand was the size of a jewellery box but she didn't know to see inside to know what it was. A Fragment, a beautiful Fragment. She wouldn't be in the last ranks anymore, she wouldn't be afraid anymore. Greed stirred inside her as she looked at the damned bird in Professor McGonagall's hand. If only she could track it... She was sure she would be able to create a small wizard space inside her pocket and hide the prey inside it... She would just need to hide until sunset...

"Oh, finally some sparkle in those eyes! Do you see that, Minerva dear? There is no apathy, there is only a lack of the proper incentive. Let us begin, then. Please, remove your clothes and leave them along with your wands here. Proceed to the gates as soon as you finish disrobing."

The glee in his eyes was evident. Every thought about chasing after the bird left Hermione's mind upon hearing that. Even so, her body was moving before her head could catch up, unbuttoning her shirt and untucking it from her long skirt. There was no shame to be felt, most of the beatings the Professors inflicted on the students during detention was preceded by that same order. However, to enter the Forest, without their wands, without even their magically reinforced uniforms?

She efficiently folded her uniform as if it was inspection day and place the bundle on the grass, her vine wand over it and her boots on the side. She shivered a little as the night breeze flowed between the rows of nude boys and girls. None were looking at her, every student just assumed back their positions. Hermione's eyes were on the back of the tall girl in front of her in the row. The large tattoo on her back depicted Hogwarts coat of arms, the motto written on a red banner. The same drawing Hermione sported on her own back, her first award, placed during the Ceremony to hide the Ritual Circle previously carved on her back to place the Fragment. Every student had the same tattoo in the same spot in their bodies, the only change was the colour of the banner, each following the main colour for their House. A Professor passed by her, depositing a small folded parchment on her hand. She looked at it. A number 14 was printed on it.

Professor McGonagall dismissed them and they marched towards the entering points. Some were feeling no tension at all, a boy was doing something unbecoming with his... man parts while making an annoying whirring sound with his mouth. Some other boys laughed at it. There was a commotion on one of the middle entrances and Hermione caught a glimpse of golden blonde hair. Probably one of the Veela girls then. They were a close-knit group, all from Slytherin.

Standing on the entrance, she saw a boy from Ravenclaw called something Browning and his girlfriend and Hermione's roommate Lavender Brown. As she approached them, acutely aware about the difference in bust size between the other girl and her own small mounds, the boy whispered something in her ear and Lavender produced an annoying high-pitched giggle. He slid his arm over her slender body and rubbed his hand between her legs while staring at Hermione with a smile on his face. Lavender gave out a soft fake moan while her eyes were full of sorrow. Hermione matched her gaze, trying to transmit her forgiveness. She knew there were many ways for the weak to survive in a place like Hogwarts.

The tiny Professor Flitwick tapped his wand to a cannon on the dais. A sizzling sound filled the evening as the last light of the day died behind the tree line. With a booming sound, the cannon fired blue and bronze sparks, the backslash sending it crashing out of the wooden platform.

Hermione didn't waste time, her strong legs pumping her forward full speed. The sinister smile on Crow's face clearly in her mind's eye, she reached the fringe of the Forest before everyone in her group, the oppressive shadows and dense vegetation gifting her with a sense of security. How strange was that, after hearing the Concordat would be voided for the night, any horror hidden in the Forest seemed a lot more bearable than what her esteemed yearmates could be planning.

She felt it in her bones, a shiver made of fire and ice as the Concordat dissolved around her. She jumped to the left, an instant later a spell crashed on the tree in front of were she was standing, a trail of fire marking the bark with a long gash. Hermione tossed a tripping hex behind her without even look back, she heard a swearing and considered her options. An idiot who would fall to such a child's play would be easy to murder but she would need to stop and turn back. As the night was early and she didn't know where her enemies were located, the girl decided on running forward.

There was a shallow stream ahead of her, the cold breeze picked up the coldness of the water and blew on her naked skin. She decreased her speed, from a full sprint to a light jogging. The breeze reminded her that she was still naked and unprotected. One of the trees had low-hanging large leaves, Hermione reached for one, intending to at least make some kind of skirt.

As her hand lifted the leaf, vines sprouted from under it, wrapping around her wrist with such force she immediately knew it had fractured. Locking her teeth to swallow a scream, she grabbed the bundle of vines and tugged, the muscles in her arms bulging with the effort. Hermione dug her heels in the mud and pulled, a flush painting her face while the veins in her neck became prominent like ropes crisscrossing the skin. The entire tree groaned and something snapped high in the treetop. Hermione tore the vines from the tree, feeling them slacking as she pushed. The girl freed her wrist, examining the angry red welts on her skin and the possible hairline fracture in the bone. Pushing the pain to the back of her mind, she collected the broken vines and ran away from the clearing, fearing the sounds of her fight with the tree would bring enemies to her.

Between jogging, running and walking, she went deeper into the Forest, perking up her ears to detect pursuers or other dangers. She had found another stream but had left it behind already, looking for a good place to rest and treat her wound. The wrist was throbbing, her feet were bleeding and she had a large gash on her right tight from a fall. On her shoulder, she carried the vines and a bundle of leaves and sticks she had collected during her run.

Two boulders were propped against each other, forming a reversed V. Bushes covered the entrance and Hermione used her good hand to break them apart. She risked a very low-powered illuminating spell, basically a bluebell flame she could carry around in a jar. As she had no jar, she held it in her palm, its warmth soothing a little bit of her pain. There was no wild animal or poison plant in the small space so she crawled inside, avoiding putting weight on her wrist. She curled up and let the bluebell flame fall to the ground, flicking merrily and filling her hiding spot with blue light.

She could move her fingers but the time she had spent wandering around the Forest had let the wrist swell up, the welts were covered by cracking skin. Hermione knew infection would be easily as deadly as a confront with a three-Fragment student. However, she had no water and no potions. They had learned a handful of healing spells during the First Year but Hermione had read a book or five about it on her own, in the Library, her safe haven in that hellish place. However, remembering a spell from a book and putting it to work on her own wounded body, in a risky situation like that... She took some deep breaths before she started working.

The slashes were coaxed to close, burning all the time. The flaky skin shredded but she had no way to clean it, as conjuration was way beyond her wandless skills. Instead, she devoted her concentration to perform a spell on the wrist.

"Episkey," she muttered, feeling the magic seep into the bone, mending the fracture. Relief poured on her as the spell didn't fail or blow up. While Hermione only had a single Fragment in her back, she had used that magic boost extensively, trying not to be overly dependent on the wand. It was harder to gather magic, her best analogy would be doing an exercise underwater, the customary movements becoming heavy and unskilled against the pressure of the water. However, her mind was sharp as always and the Stone had boosted that feature of hers even further: as soon as she had enough magic, she could easily shape it like the spell required, performing excellent spells even without her wand. It was still mentally exhausting, just like when performing a spell in class.

She was thirsty and sweaty but it was better to do the remaining work before going out again. While Hermione knew surviving was a reward in itself, she also knew the others would get something from that ordeal, even if just some Fragments taken from their yearmates. If she burrowed herself there the whole night, she could fall to a rank lower than even Longbottom's.

The skirt made of long leaves was crude, but at least it covered the important parts and gave her a sense of security. Even if just psychological, as the leaves were pitiful compared to the protection of her magically reinforced standard uniform, she knew such a sensation could be the difference between life and death.

She left the boulders behind but Hermione decided against walking or running again. Instead, she chose a large enough tree and tested its bark with her fingers. Feeling satisfied, she raised her arms and pressed her fingers into the bark, holding the tree with all her might. Her feet slid a little on the bark but then she kicked the tree and made a good foothold. Shifting her weight, Hermione used her inhumane physical strength to claw the tree as easily as if she was sinking her fingers on soft pudding. Steadily, the girl climbed up the huge tree, doing her best to stay silent. After a whole minute, she reached the top, sliding her body over one of the wide branches, assessing the situation.

The night was pitch-black, her internal menstrual clock informing her it was the waning moon. Dark clouds covered the sky. Things could become even worse soon if it started to rain. Something caught her eye, a glimpse of yellow light.

To build a fire in the middle of the Forbidden Forest could only mean a huge idiot or a powerful idiot. Both could be dangerous to her. However, her curiosity had been picked and there was nothing she could do about it. Ignoring the dread in her gut, Hermione decided to take a look at the probable idiot.

There was another tree near her, so, instead of going back down and climbing up, she stood up, balancing graciously on the wide branch and ran.

Her body soared in the air, a feeling of exhilaration drowning even her old fear of heights. She knew it was fast but for her over sharpened mind, it was like watching a roll of film frame by frame. She waited until the last nanosecond before she raised her good arm, her hand gripping the new branch while her body curled in the air, the inertia dispelling as she did a barrel roll around the branch, her feet touching it and landing her in a crouch. She twirled her right wrist. It was fine even with the impact. The left one was still hurting a bit and the swelling was holding up.

Jumping from tree to tree, she moved towards the glow of the fire as silently as she could but it was quite unnecessary. She could hear voices shouting and even the sound of some music! Maybe she had mistakenly found some sort of Centaur settlement?

After landing again, she went higher on the tree, digging her fingers on the bark. That one had a fuller treetop, hiding her body from view. She slid on a narrow branch, trying to get as close as possible.

There was a handful of children around a large bonfire, some were dancing around the flames. Hermione narrowed her eyes, trying to identify them under the blinding glow of the fire.

However, she was shocked when a spell light crossed the clearing and hit a tree.

"Who comes there?" A boy shouted, the source of the light. Hermione felt a shiver in her bones. Spells powerful enough to produce visible light needed a wand to be performed.

"Easy Marcus boy, it's me, Charlie Browning."

Hermione saw another boy come out of the foliage, tugging a blonde behind him. Browning and Lavender Brown. The other children returned to their dance as the boy with the wand approached the newcomer.

"Did you brought something for us, Charlie boy?"

"You mean, besides my whore?" Browning asked, prompting a boasting laugher from the boys around the bonfire. Lavender was smiling but Hermione could see her whole body tense up.

"We have enough whores already," Marcus pointed at a group of girls curled up together. At his gesture, a raven-haired one approached them. "Does yours suck well?"

"Like a Veela," Browning answered, reaching for Lavender's hair and harshly pulling her head back. "And she looks at you as if you were god himself while gagging on your cock."

Hermione could see they were still naked and she hardly believed Lavender could gag on something like that or else she would choke to death every time she put a grape in her mouth. The discussion, however, took another turn as Browning showed two dead rabbits.

"Fuck, more rabbits? This fucking Forest only has this shit, it seems. Go on, give it to one of the girls, we are going to roast it as soon as we finish with the barbecue."

Lavender snatched the rabbits and ran away from them, under the pretence of delivering their offering to the other girls. Browning watched the bonfire after that comment and Hermione copied him. With growing horror, she saw a small figure inside the roaring fire.

"Who was that?"

"Some wanker we caught. Dunno about his name. Sent him to sleep with my wand and we prepared this warming reception to him. Of course, we woke him up before cooking!"

"So you brought a wand to this..."

"My father warned me about this shit. One of the guys missing from the roll call? I locked him inside a cabinet. When I went to check, he wasn't there anymore, vanished completely... But I had his wand. This one here brought it for me."

There was pain in her eyes. There weren't many ways to carry a hidden wand while naked, even for a witch. She pitied the poor girl who was being roughly groped by both of them.

Another boy came from the foliage, he carried a moaning and bloody body over his shoulder. Hermione decided it was time to go and put some distance between those monsters and her. She slid back on the branch and stopped when the sound filled the quiet Forest.

A whole tree crashed into the clearing, toppling the bonfire and spreading the flames. One of the dancing boys was enveloped by the fire and screamed in unbearable pain. A second group of boys invaded the camping, leisurely walking towards the destruction they caused.

"Stupefy!" Marcus yelled, sending a red bolt towards the boy in the middle of the group. Looking bored, the blond answered in kind.

"Protego!" He brandished his own wand, the red spell crashing on an invisible barrier and dispersing. "Expelliarmus!"

His own spell was invisible, the effect not immediate enough to be considered a charm, so it was probably a hex or something similar. Marcus' wrist was impacted by an invisible force and his wand flew into the night.

"I see we had the same idea," the blond said. "Crabble, Goyle, don't kill him."

From behind the boy, two thugs charged forward. Hermione could see they had at least some measure of giant or troll blood, their Fragments probably activating that inheritance and gifting them with a heavy set of features as if roughly sculptured in stone, a height no twelve-year-old boy could have and impossible strength. Each lunged behind them a log easily as tall as them and twice as large. The first bat crashed on Marcus' torso, sending him to the ground. The second one crushed his legs, his screams tearing his throat.

The girls, closer to the tree line, ran away, while the idiotic boys remaining attacked the group. The blond incapacitated two while the rest was wrecked by the two half-bloods. The smell of blood and the gore painting the trees made Hermione's stomach churn and she wanted to throw up.

"You are stupid, Marcus, that's your problem," the blond squatted in front of the mauled boy, cheerfully slapping his cheeks. He raised his hand, showing a silver ring on his little finger. "See this? My Father is Chief Warlock, Marcus. While you have to beg your daddy for clues, I can easily buy my way through this whole thing. I could easily by thirteen Fragments and become an existence akin to the Emperor himself! But I won't do it, you know why, Marcus my chum? Because I like the feeling of taking your hide apart, the taste of blood in my mouth while I take each and every Fragment of mine from the cooling corpses of those under me."

Hermione saw a glimpse of metal, Draco took a knife from the pocket of his bathrobe. He was the only clothed (even if poorly) boy in the clearing. Hermione pressed her palms against her ears, ignoring even the sharp pain from her wrist, muffling the screams. The blond raised his bloodied hands and one of his servants washed them. The boy examined something under the light of the spreading fire.

A black flash crossed the night and heavily impacted on the blond's hand, making him lose the Fragment.

"WHO THE FUCK DID IT?" The boy roared, cradling his injured arm.

"Give me your Fragments and leave, I'm not in the mood tonight," a voice floated from the threes. Hermione moved on her branch, so she could see him.

The boy was tall and lean, a hint of muscle on his broad chest and upper arms. He was still completely bare, standing on a low branch, playing with a small stone. His hair was a raven-coloured mess and his eyes were a gorgeous shade of green, like cut emeralds under the sun. While that wasn't the most handsome face she had ever seen (those boys with a little Veela blood had no special powers but she would be damned if they don't look like some sort of Ancient Greek marble statue made alive), those eyes enraptured her for an instant.

"Fuck off, Potter," the blond retorted. "Goyle, kill him!"

The half-blood thug scrambled forward, lugging his crude bat. Potter was unfazed, almost bored by it. When the boy came close enough, Potter's arm became a blur of speed and Goyle toppled backwards like a puppet after cutting its strings. He had a wound on his forehead and a small stone embedded in it, his eyes still open and white, his legs twitching. Hermione gulped, she hadn't been able to follow that movement. That meant he was one of the few students with more than two Fragments, to be able to achieve such speeds.

Crabbe ran towards his fellow bodyguard, falling to his knees near the gigantic head.

"Draco, Draco, he breathin'," the boy grunted but Draco, the blond, ignored him.

"You will pay for that, Potter, when my Father-"

"Your father will have to explain about your illegal wand, knife and servants, Malfoy. I don't know about you, but I think he won't like that kind of attention. I won't say it again, give me the Fragments you collected and leave. Now."

Draco hissed and spluttered like a wildcat, his companions looked uncomfortable while Crabbe gently caressed the other boy's hair.

"SUCK MY BALLS, POTTER!" Draco yelled, a fire spell pouring from his wands. Potter jumped from the branch, vaulting over the stream of flames. The remaining sycophants used that chance to run away. Crabbe swung his bat with all his force.

Instead of aiming at Potter, the larger boy hit Malfoy instead, sending him flying with the force of his hit, crashing him on the ground few feet away. Potter looked confused.

"Fragments..." The boy grunted. "One..."

"What?" Potter exclaimed. "You were boasting so much and only had one Fragment! What were you guys doing!"

"...lost."

Potter spluttered and Crabbe gently lifted Goyle's unresponsive form in a bridal carry. He thumped heavily towards the passed out Malfoy and tossed him over his shoulder.

"...leaving."

It took almost a whole minute but the clearing became empty again, except for the dying cries of Marcus and his boys. Potter rummaged on the ground, took a stone and threw it with enough force to break limbs, directly at Hermione.

Even if she couldn't see the stone, Hermione could sense the danger and rolled away from the branch, her body free-falling in the night. She raised her wand hand, still throbbing, and sent her new spell towards him.

The crackle of lightning tore through the night, forcing Potter to jump away. Hermione landed while rolling on the ground, a new bout of lightning surging from her hand and almost reaching him. It was difficult to aim while in movement and the damn thing forked up in different directions, she needed to perfect it!

He sent her a stream of fire but she dodged, preparing a new lightning. The boy skid away, his hand raised. She thrust her arm forward, the air smelling heavily of ozone and the end of her spell finally caught him, throwing him in the air while a smell of burning flesh filled her nostrils. However, as he was tossed away, a strong wing burst into the clearing, throwing earth, twigs and leaves on her face, blinding her for an instant.

The turned her back, trying to scape it while furiously rubbing her eyes. Something impacted her from behind and she toppled, falling on her butt. Pressure bore heavily on her chest and her back sunk into the mud when a foot pressed her down.

"Electricity, that's an uncommon choice," he pondered, his heel digging in her stomach, provoking enormous pain. She couldn't breathe. "I felt something in the air, what did you do? You removed the moisture and did something, I could feel the air dancing around me... I would say static electricity but that damn lightning bolt almost bored through me..."

"You..." She grunted, trying to fill her lungs even as he pressed her further down. "Know... about.. electric..city?"

"Muggle-raised, if you want to know."

Her eyes were burning but she could finally see him properly. His face was kind of handsome this close and she really liked the eyes. There were markings on his chest, faded scars, probably from beatings or punishments in the dungeons. Something inside her finally clicked.

"You!" She roared with the rest of her breath, he was so surprised by it he almost fell down. "YOU ARE HARRY POTTER!"

His face scrunched up in pain, his eyes fading a little. He offered her a somewhat cocky, somewhat awkward smile.

"Yes, I'm Lily's-"

"YOU ARE THE DAMN HOGGER!" She grasped his ankle with both her hands and forced it away from her chest, her arms straining by the effort. The mental blow was stronger than her arms and he hopped in one foot like some idiot.

"THE WHAT?"

"YOU! EVERY TIME! I FIND AN INTERESTING BOOK IN THE CATALOG AND THERE IT IS! LENT TO HARRY POTTER! YOU NEVER BRING THEM BACK, YOU NEVER PUT THEM IN THEIR CORRECT SHELVES! ALL THE BLOODY TIME!"

She forced her arms to the side, removing his foot from her chest and also firmly gripping it. With a roar and an explosion of strength, she swung the boy as a cricket bat, sending him crashing towards a tree.

"YOU HOGGER! BRING THEM BACK, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Harry scrambled to his feet, surprise colouring his face. While he didn't look worse for wear from the impact, he looked at her as if she had popped straight out of a book or something. She felt a little awkward at it. He smiled at her, a genuine smile. Then she noticed something.

"YOU ARE HARD?!"

He yelped and covered himself. Something dangled in front of her eyes, white and orange.

"T-This is a... natural response!" He stuttered. "You were kind of soft and-"

"Is this the bird?"

Harry closed his mouth mid-speech, looked down at his hand and offered her another smile while using the prey to cover his privates.

"I... found it?" He lamely answered.

She considered for an instant to fight him for it. But her aching body and throbbing wrist convinced her to give up. Instead, she forced a last bout of magic out of her body, a ball of lightning hovering over her hand.

"Get out of my sight," she sighed. He stumbled backwards a little, trying to put some distance between his cute nose and the crackling electricity.

"You know," he said, the bird dangling in front of him. "I understand you are angry and everything but... well, what can I say? I like them small too."

She hurled the ball at him but he was already running away full speed. The spell crashed against a tree and exploded in arches of electricity, burning the immense trunk to a crisp. Hermione crouched down and threw up spectacularly, the stress and her magical exhaustion forcing her guts out. She cleaned her mouth with the back of her hand and assessed the situation around her. There was no chance of finding the Fragment Malfoy had dropped and she was getting tired of the moribund cries and burnt smell.

Instead, she marched back to Hogwarts as the first rays of light painted the sky. As she got closer to the edge of the Forest, she could only despair at the disaster that the whole thing had been. She finally reached the first stream she had found, ages before.

Someone was drinking from it. Her blonde hair was muddy and limp, the once flawless fair skin covered in tiny scratches, bruises and dried blood. She was on her knees, using her cupped hands to take water from the stream. Hermione sighed upon seeing Lavender Brown in such a sorry state. It seemed it wasn't their lucky day.

Hermione walked towards her, undoing the knot of her makeshift skirt. She could hear Lavender crying. She pitied the younger witch. The dark sky was lightening up, soon it would be sunrise. She still had a long way to go.

The vine circled Lavender's neck and the girl let out a sob, Hermione's stronger arms bulging up as she strangled the blonde from behind. Lavender fell on the stream, her legs wildly kicking and splashing water around. Hermione unrelentingly tightened the vine, the smell of mud, blood and shit making her nose wrinkle.

Lavender tried to attack her, her hands fighting to get a grip on Hermione's curly hair. It was a good thing she had used a piece of vine to tie it while under the boulder. Lavender's face was gaining colour fast. Her hand reached Hermione's face and she clawed her, hard enough to draw blood.

Hermione ignored that pain as she had ignored all the others. The sky was lightening up fast and her emptied stomach groaned in hunger. The blonde's limbs were losing their strength. Hermione gave a last almighty pull.

She lifted the body on her shoulder, the long trek home becoming more tiresome with the added weight. It was a pity she had left Malfoy's knife back at the clearing. Marching forward, she quickly found her way back to the dais.

"Good morning, survivors!" Professor McGonagall greeted, a tiny smile on her thin lips. She had changed her clothes but her figure was the same as always, tight and full of danger like a whip. There were two freshly built tents behind the wooden platform. "Bodies to the left, wounded to the right, please remember to tag your body, the Fragments will be delivered to you tonight. Breakfast is being served in half an hour!"

Hermione entered the tent and tossed Lavender's body over Fisher's. She signed her name on the appropriate tag and trudged towards Madam Pomfrey's tent.

The woman clicked her tongue upon seeing her wrist but her eyebrows shot up in surprise as her wand coloured the arm with spells.

"Who did this bone-mending charm?"

"I did, Madam. I read about it in the Guide for Magical Maladies."

"Hmm," the woman hummed, forcing her to drink a vile concoction that took all the pain away in an instant. Hermione slumped on her chair, feeling as if she could sleep for an entire month. "Did you ever try to read the Anatomé?"

"I could only read half of it, the book can't be taken from the Library and Ha- someone misplaced it on the shelf and I couldn't find it again."

"Did you like it?"

"Yes, Madam. The spells for separating the nerves from the muscle tissue without causing damage were fascinating. It was an interesting application of curse versus charm... but why not using transfiguration instead? Wouldn't it be easier to transfigure nerve into something fluid then dispell the transfiguration to its original shape?"

The woman laughed.

"That's something I wondered about when I was your age, too. I can only say... try it and find out why! All set, Miss Granger. Be careful with that wrist for today."

The Second Years were free from classes that day. Hermione had eaten a hearty breakfast, then had slept for some hours. The dormitory was a lot quieter after that horrible night. The Concordat had returned as she was eating, a wave of hot and icy pain reminding her why she shouldn't turn her wand towards her fellow students. She could only hope the number of monsters had decreased after so much infighting. However, she doubted about it. At Hogwarts, monsters were breed faster than anywhere else.

She was spending some time in the Library, reading a correctly-shelved volume of Anatome, curled on one of the overstuffed chairs in the back of the large room. She had been assured by the librarian some of the items in her waiting list would be returned soon and she was anxious to read them.

"Granger?" One older student called her, forcing her to tear her gaze away from the book. Hermione looked at her, trying to remember from where she knew the girl. "Professor McGonagall called for you. Please come with me."

Hermione set the book on the chair and walked behind the girl. Instead of going down to the Second Floor where the Transfiguration Office was located, they went up the stairs, and up and up again, as if going back to the Tower. Maybe she needed something from the dormitory before the meeting? Instead, the girl led her to a statue of a Griffin, gesturing for her to wait. The girl touched the stone with her lips while murmuring something. The Griffin statue became alive, flapping its wings and clicking the huge beak, jumping to the side. Behind it, there was a spiral staircase. Her guide gestured for her to step on it. As soon as she landed on the first step, the whole thing moved like an escalator.

She faced a heavy oak door. Not knowing what else to do, she knocked.

"Please come in, Ms Granger," the Headmaster's voice greeted her and Hermione broke in a cold sweat once again. Cleaning her boots the best as she could on the mat under her, she ran her fingers through her hair and adjusted her uniform before opening the door.

The Headmaster was seated behind an oak desk adorned with clawed feet. There were two chairs in front of it, one of them occupied by her Head of House and General, Professor McGonagall. The woman nodded in greeting. At the Headmaster's invitation, she walked forward and sat down on the second chair.

"How are you, Ms Granger?" The man asked, leaning back on his chair.

"I'm fine, thank you, Professor Dumbledore," she dutifully answered. The man smiled, his eyes twinkling as if he knew a joke no one else could ever understand.

"As I know how tiring last night was, let me go straight to the point," he offered. "Your professors offered me glaring reviews about your performance in class and in your essays. That's why we have decided to keep an eye on you during the Halloween Challenge, yesterday."

Hermione kept her silence even if thousands of questions were swimming in her mind.

"That spell was something very unique... Tell me, child, was it of your own invention?"

Hermione glanced at the other professor beside her but the woman had no help to offer.

"Yes, Headmaster. I used the common fire spell as the base and did the derivations to create electricity instead of flame and also complemented it with some simple calculations to make the shape more fluid and intensify the current..."

"Marvelous!" The man exclaimed, his smile widening. "We had already decided on this after seeing your performance during the challenge, however, after hearing Pomona's opinion too, we have no doubts about it anymore. As you may know from your nocturnal expeditions - don't look at me like that, child, we don't actively encourage this behaviour but it's an acceptable way of gathering information -, there is a not well-known laboratory in the lowest level of the castle. We were looking for an apt student who could assist some of the Experiments taking place in that room. Some of the older students already work there but fresh blood is a must in any experiment using Applied Arithmancy... We are offering you the job, Ms Granger. Of course, you will be paid for it, the work hours are tailored to not impact your grades or study time and there are some oaths involved. It's our hope you will accept it."

Seeing the twinkle in his eyes and the cold smile in his lips, Hermione knew it wasn't an offer. If she refused it, she would find her way to the lab anyway. Her choice was going as the hand leading the experiment or the subject strapped to the table. She felt tired about it, about everything in that hellish school. Not for the first time, Hermione wished for a life in the suburbs of London, blissfully ignoring the hidden truth of the world and fully believing Europe was the continent of peace, tolerance and freedom. To live and die without ever meeting the Emperor or learning about magic.

But she couldn't overwrite the past. She could only move forward, no matter what kind of future laid ahead. She knew the truth of the world, after all. She knew Hogwarts breed monsters and one can't go through seven years there without becoming one.

She smiled back to the man that destroyed her life.

"It will be a pleasure."

So, here it is the Halloween Special One-Shot. As any reader of TFE can notice, this story happens in the past, in the "other world". If you don't have a clue about what I'm talking about, please consider reading The Flamel Experiments to fully enjoy this little piece and also to know to what happens after this! Happy Halloween and a great weekend to you all.

PS. In Brazil, it's still the 31st, so bear with the strange post date!