Chapter 12: Sinistra Strikes
Harry Hermione and Ron gapped at the amazement of the Great Hall of New Hogwarts. The layout was no different then the original but it was so much bigger, the ceiling was much higher, everything felt new and fresh.
They quickly found the Gryffindor Table, and sat down beside Ginny and Neville. "Attention! May I have your attention please?" Professor Dumbledore said loudly standing to his feet. "I have many announcements. First of all I wish to inform any who do not know, the Head Boy and Head Girl this year are both from Gryffindor House, they are Neville Louise Longbottom, and Martha Hermione Granger."
Applause filled the room, as well as a few snickers from Slytherin table directed toward Hermione, who was trying to crawl under the table at the mention of her first name.
"Next," Dumbledore continued after the group calmed down, "I wish to introduce the first Defense of the Dark Arts professor of New Hogwarts, Doctor Steven Strange." The Headmaster said, waving a hand as Dr. Strange stood and gave a small bow, making the students go into a stunned silence.
"Finally, enchanted maps will be given to all students, they will show the locations of available lavatories, your next class, and your respective house' commons and dormitory," Dumbledore explained, as Professor Snape burst in, and stomped toward him quickly. Dumbledore listened as Snape whispered in his ear.
"Attention, you will all remain here in the Great Hall until I return," Dumbledore instructed, "Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, please come with me. It is of the utmost importance. Thank you."
Harry and Hermione glanced at one another worriedly, but quickly got up and followed Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, and Dr. Strange out of the Great Hall
X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Harry and Hermione were both surprised to find Professor X, Cyclops, Rogue, Wolverine, Beast, and Psylocke waiting in Dumbledore's office all in their mission uniforms.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, a serious expression crossing his face.
"We … we examined one of the bodies of Sinistra's victims," Beast stated, his voice trembling slightly. "We found some foreign tissue, and believe it belongs to Sinistra. We did a DNA test and determined exactly who this … person really is."
"You know who Sinistra is?" Harry asked, his mood suddenly lightened. "That's the best news I've heard all day!" he said excitedly, "We can finally stop her before she hurts anyone else."
"Yeah …" Beast said unsurely.
"So who is it?" Harry asked, but was met with unsettling silence.
Professor Xavier took a deep breath before continuing, "Harry, Hermione, Albus, Severus, Steven, we have determined that Sinistra is …" He closed his eyes tight not wanting to see nor sense Harry's reaction to his next word.
"Hermione."
Harry's jaw dropped and he stared at the mentor of the X-Men as if he had grown a second head. "There … there must be some kind of mistake."
Dumbledore looked just as flabbergasted as Harry, "These are very serious charges, Charles, are you absolutely certain?"
"It wasn't me," Hermione shook her head rapidly, stepping closer to Harry as if seeking protection. "I swear, it wasn't me, please Professor Xavier, Scott, Harry, please believe me, you have to believe me!"
"We … believe Sinister may have done to you as he did to one of our own a few years ago, sweetheart," Beast said softly, approaching Hermione slowly, "Do you remember Morph, the first Morph and what happened to him?" (A/N see original X-Men cartoon series. More below.)
"No! I'm not crazy, I don't hear voices like Morph did, I would never hurt or kill anyone, you know that, Uncle Hank!" Hermione pleaded, gripping Harry's arm like a safety blanket.
"Hermione … maybe," Harry choked, not able to look his girlfriend in the face. "Maybe they're right."
"No … please no, Harry," Hermione whimpered letting go of Harry's arm quickly and stepping away from the group, her eyes wide in terror. "Please believe me when I say I wouldn't and couldn't do anything that monster's done, I need you to believe me, to believe in me, please."
"You did kill Sinister," Harry stated softly, "Hermione, you're not in trouble. We only want to help you through this."
"Yes, my dear," Xavier said, "We aren't going to take you to prison or Azkaban, we only want to help you and end Sinister's influence on you before its too late, like it was with Morph."
"Harry, that was different, I … k-killed him to protect you, it was the only thing I could think of that would stop him from hurting you! I didn't enjoy it, so why would I want to hurt anyone else? I didn't hurt anyone else, you have to believe me, please …" Hermione back pedaled.
"Ms. Granger, Hermione, you won't be taken from your classes until we are sure of the situation, but you will be watched carefully and you are to surrender your wand to me. Please hand me your wand," Dumbledore said softly, "At least until this is settled, for your own and everyone else's safety."
"FINE!" Hermione yelled through a sob, before throwing her wand at Harry's feet, "After everything we've been through, you believe I'd do this?" Hermione waited for a response but when none came, she turned and dashed out of the office.
"Hermione! Wait!" Harry called, but Rogue grabbed his shoulder.
"No, Sugah, she's just rattled," the Southern Bell said softly, "Let me go see if ah can calm her down a bit." With that the X-Woman moved quickly out the door behind the girl.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Rogue finally caught up to the girl in the nearest girls' lavatory. "Mione?" Rogue asked softly as she approached the only closed stall in the restroom.
"Go away!" Hermione snapped from the other side of the closed door, "I might go crazy and kill you too!"
"Ah thought ya didn't believe ya did all of that stuff?" Rogue asked leaning against the door.
"I … I don't know," Hermione whimpered, "Morph, Sinister hurt him too, and he didn't know when he did bad stuff, but I … I think I'd have some idea that it was me."
"We're not pointing our fingers, and sayin' ya did somethin' wrong, Darlin," Rogue said softly, "And Harry wasn't doin none of that either. We just wanna help ya get back to the Hermione we all know and love. Harry didn't mean nothin by what happened back there in the Professah's office, he's just worried about ya because he cares about ya. Ah know he ain't said it out loud yet, but he's said it plain as day with his actions, he really does love ya Mione. We all do too, so c'mon out of that stall and lets face what eva ya facin' together?"
The door slowly opened and Rogue smiled till she saw the face of the girl stepping out of the stall.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Harry felt low.
No, he felt as if he was the moss growing on the underside of the ruins of the Chamber of Secrets.
He found himself just roaming the halls of New Hogwarts, remembering the times Hermione has stood by him when no one else would. When everyone thought he was a monster but she never …
"Potter, you're an idiot!" Harry cursed, slapping his forehead. "You hypocritical bastard! She'd believe you were a hero even if you WERE in league with Voldemort, and as soon as a few clues point that she's trouble, you automatically agree, IDIOT!"
He ran down the hall stopping in every Lavatory and classroom along the way in search of her. He finally reached one of the girls' lavatories and heard a small whimpering sound coming from the back stall. He ran as fast as he could and used his telekinesis to tear the door off its hinges. "Hermione, I'm … OH MY BLOODY GOD!!!"
Harry stumbled backwards, falling on his rear, and crawled back, till he hit the wall, then seemed to try to climb up it. He stared wide-eyed at the inside of the stall, his mind not able to grasp the concept of the sight. Ginny Weasley, the girl that has come to be Harry's little sister, was snogging, making out, KISSING, the one and, thank God, only, Draco Malfoy.
"Ginny … you said … boyfriend … but …" Harry stammered, shaking his head rapidly, "boyfriend … guy … any guy … why … Malfoy?"
All three were shocked by the sudden revelation, and stared in complete confusion at one another.
Harry's heart slowly steadied and he noticed something very different about Malfoy then the Draco Malfoy he had seen the previous year.
Draco's usually slick back golden hair was now unruly not unlike Harry's and also showed a lot less shine. His face wasn't as spotless as it used to be, and now had a slight shadow as if he has missed a few days shaving.
"Harry, Draco's changed a lot," Ginny stated stepping toward the flabbergasted young X-Man. "He's … he's like you now Harry, his father's disowned him, and I helped him as much as I could just to live. He barely had enough money to pay his way into Hogwarts again for his final year and also to pay for his books."
"He disowned you? You're like me … how?" Harry asked, still trying to understand what Ginny was saying.
"Yes, Potter, I'm a Mutant, a filthy stinking freak just like you!" Draco cursed, "Don't look at me like that, Potter, I don't want your pity or friendship. I'll see you later, Ginny, and you, Potter … just stay the hell away from me."
Harry watched as the once proud Slytherin walked out of the lavatory then turned his shocked eyes to Ginny.
"Harry …" Ginny choked nervously, "Don't tell Ron …"
X-X-X-X-X-X
A short while later, Harry sat by himself at the Gryffindor table, thinking about his two objectives, find Hermione and apologize for being a git, and get the image of Draco and Ginny out of his head. Both at this time seemed impossible.
He gave a faint nod as Ron sat down beside him and began feeling his dinner plate, "Hey, Harry, pass the jelly please."
"Ginny? I haven't seen Ginny! Haven't seen her all day, no sir, not once," Harry stammered staring at Ron in shock and fear, "What about Ginny?"
"I … said pass the jelly, mate," Ron said carefully, looking at Harry worriedly. "You ok, Harry? You look a little pale? Maybe you need to find Hermione and have a little snog session to make you feel better."
"Ron, please don't say snog around me for a good long while, please," Harry rubbed his face.
"Please tell me you didn't catch Ginny and Hermione snogging?" Ron gulped, wondering where this combination would upset Harry like this, "I'd rather see her shagging Malfoy then seeing my baby sister with my best friend!" Ron said with a shiver.
"Ron! Don't SAY that!" Harry yelled, bring the attention of the great hall on him.
"Sorry, mate, so what's eating at you?" Ron asked, blinking in confusion.
"Just … eat your food, Ron," Harry said, trying to calm his breathing before his telekinesis blew something up. Harry sighed, and looked up, "And stop staring at me like that!" he said but got no response whatsoever.
"Ron?" he asked, waving a hand before his face, "Ron, what's wrong?" He asked then glanced around the room to see all the students frozen in space.
"Harry, something is amiss," Dumbledore stated as he, Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall all stood to their feet.
"That's Miss, Miss Sinistra," a voice from the front of the hall sounded. Sinistra slinked into the large hall in her usual skintight overly revealing outfit and her bushy black hair bouncing with her steps. "Hello, Love," she purred as she approached Harry.
"Hermione, whatever you've done to the others, let them go," Harry said in a pleading voice, "We won't hurt you, we just want to help you."
"Indeed, Ms. Granger," Professor Dumbledore said approaching the pair.
"One question," Sinistra mused, removing her mask to reveal a pale face almost identical to Hermione's, only with pasty white skin and blood red eyes. "Why do you call me Hermione?"
"Ms. Granger, dear, lets all just calm down," Dumbledore said as he finally reached the group.
"Something else I want to know," Sinistra stated, before in one fluid motion, firing an energy-blast from her palm into Dumbledore's chest. The impact sent the elder Wizard flying across the hall, hitting the far-wall with a sickening thud. "Do you just talk to hear yourself speak, you old windbag?"
Professor McGonagall quickly went to the unconscious Professor Dumbledore's side, while Professor Snape literally melted into the shadows along the wall.
"Now then, Harry, dear, if we don't have anymore interruptions," Sinistra continued, but stopped with a sigh, before spinning with a kick toward the shadow from the table, just as Snape appeared from the very shadow, and knocking the Potions Masters tumbling to the ground knocked out. "A shadow traveler? So grease ball's a mutant too, hmm who knew?"
"Now then, where were we, beloved? Ah yes, I was going to avenge my father," Sinistra said sweetly.
"Hermione, I don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to," Harry stated, reaching for his wand.
"Hermione, Hermione, Hermione," Sinistra repeated shaking her head, "Would that little girl wear something like this or … do something like this?" the red-eyed girl asked, before grabbing both sides of Harry's face and literally shoving her tongue to the back of his mouth.
She pulled away from the stunned Harry, and stepped back, twirling a wand with her fingers, "I do believe this belongs to me, doesn't it?"
"Accio Wand!" Another voice called from the doorway of the Great Hall and the Hermione's wand jumped from Sinistra's grasp and shot toward the doorway. "No, I believe it belongs to me, thank you."
Hermione Granger looked over her wand, before glancing up at the stunned Harry and Sinistra. "What, didn't know I knew how to do wandless magic? Honestly, Harry, I thought you knew me much better then that!" She then twirled her wand and stated the counter-curse to Sinistra's paralyzing spell, causing the students returned to their normal states.
"One problem solved, now for the other," Hogwarts and New Hogwarts' cleverest Witch and Wolverine's star pupil said, adjusting her school robe, then rolling her neck to stretch before saying in her usual serious, studious tone: "Hands off my man, bitch."
To Be Continued
C. Cowboy: another chapter down, sorry for another shorter one, but the next one I promise will be longer. I would have made this one longer, but that was the perfect cut off point. Heehee I had you all going didn't I? I mean, seriously? How many believed I would make Hermione Sinistra? Do you believe after everything, EVERYTHING I've put that poor girl through, I'd do that to her too? Well I almost did, it was kind of going back and forth for a good long while. But I decided to show mercy on the poor girls already fragile psyche. Next chapter the truth about what Sinistra is, and also it will be Hermione's shinning time and moment of closure on the torture that she received at the hands of Sinister. Don't forget to review!