Missing Hermione
The Battle of Seven Potters, is what the Order of the Phoenix ended up naming the brutal battle that occurred in the skies between Little Whining and the Safe Houses. Each Potter traveled with a protector to a different safe house location. Seamus went with Shackbolt and blew up one of the Death Eaters to smithereens. George went with Lupin and Lost an ear. Fred went with Tonks and she ended up crucio'd by Bellatrix. Harry went with Hagrid and Hedwig flew straight into Voldemort's killing curse protecting them both. Mundungus went with Mad Eye and bolted off like a coward, and nearly got Mad Eye Killed but he only lost part of his nose and his magical glass eye. Luckily, everyone else came out relatively unscathed.
Harry laid in his bed in Ron's room at the Borrow, his birthday was tomorrow and he felt exhausted beyond measure. He hadn't slept the past few nights due to all the excitement of leaving his childhood home and now he was ready for Bill and Fleur's wedding to be over. He was ready to go on the mission Dumbledore set out for him and Ron to do: Hunting down and destroying every last one of Voldemort's horcruxes.
"Harry, a package arrived for you, it's from Mione." Ron came into their room and tossed the package at Harry as he plopped into his own bed, face first into his Chudley Cannons pillow.
"Hermione, where is she? Why isn't she here with us, Ron?" Harry sat with his legs crossed holding the medium size package in his lap.
"I'm not sure, but she obviously remembered that your birthday is tomorrow," Ron mumbled into his pillow.
Harry patted Ron on the back, before he cut off the string, and peeled back the paper on the box. "What could it be?"
"Just open it and find out, Harry." Ron rolled over onto his back, and turned his head to face Harry. "I want to know what she got you."
"I'm opening it, Ron." Harry shook his head as he opened the wooden box to reveal a new sneakoscope that sat on top of an old tome that had a snake curled into the infinity sign eating its own tail and a dagger sticking through the loops engraved into a worn cover.
Ron sat up and looked over Harry's shoulder, "Oh wow, that's a useful present…and that looks like a grimoire. Blimey, where did Mione find that, I wonder? I'll be giving you the present I got for you tomorrow, before your birthday breakfast, alright mate?"
"No problem, Ron. What is a grimoire?" Harry pulled the sneakoscope out of the box and shoved it into his pants pocket. He then picked up the tome and flipped through the pages. "This book has so many defensive spells, and look at this…" Harry flipped back to a page and showed Ron, "This one describes how to design your own wards."
"Seems like Hermione won't be joining us, huh Harry?" Ron slumped over Harry's shoulder.
"Doesn't look like it, does it, Ron?" Harry leaned his head against Ron's as he felt the sting of Hermione's absence. "I really miss her."
"I miss her too, Harry." Ron tried to think positively. "Do you think she could be running late?"
"What if it's better for her, that she is away? She could get hurt, if she remained with us." Harry tossed the box on the floor, and the false bottom along with a beaded bag fell out.
"I wouldn't want to see her harmed," Ron sighed as he looked to the floor, eyes widening as he spotted the bag poking out of the box. "Look Harry, she gave you a purse." Ron laughed as he stood up and picked up the bag.
Harry grimaced as he looked at the purse Ron held in his hands. "Why would Hermione give me a purse?"
"Perhaps it's a joke, or maybe this was the bag she planned on taking when we went on the run with us. Could this bag be full of wonders and miracles?" Ron opened the beaded bag and looked inside.."Whoa…what kind of bag is this? I can't see what's inside of it."
"Give it here, Ron." Harry yoinked the beaded bag from him and turned it over, and a mountain of items that couldn't possibly fit into the small beaded bag fell out forming a pile that was over half as tall as Harry: Many books and tomes that could fill a library, kitchen supplies, various items needed for camping, a tent, various canned goods, some chocolate frogs and other candies. "Did Hermione somehow become Mary Poppins?"
Ron scrunched up his nose as he looked to Harry, "Mary Who?"
"Forget it–it's a muggle film reference." Harry shook his head as he knelt down to examine the pile of survival gear.
"She really did send us the motherload, didn't she?" Ron's eyes widened as he examined all the contents that fell out of the bag, stealing a chocolate frog. He opened it quickly and chomped its head off as he looked at the card. "Damn..it's Dumbledore..again."
Harry laughed and shook his head, "It seems to always be Dumbledore with you, Ron. So how do you propose we get all this stuff back into this tiny bag?"
"Very carefully," Ron finished off the legs of the chocolate frog. "Mione's bloody brilliant."
"But scary, that is what she is." Harry grabbed the letter and collapsed back into his bed, holding the envelope into the light. "Should I read this now, or tomorrow?"
"I'd save it for your birthday, mate." Ron patted his leg as he sat next to him.
Someone knocked at the door before the door opened a crack and the voice of Molly Weasley came into the room. "Harry, I've been wanting to ask you how you want to celebrate your birthday. Seventeen, after all, it's an important day..."
Harry looked up as Molly poked her head in through the door, "I don't want all the fuss. Really, Mrs Weasley, just a normal dinner would be great... It's the day before Bill and Fleur's wedding... Please, don't go into loads of trouble over me."
Molly smiled warmly, "It's no trouble dear. We can have a nice lunch and we can invite all your friends from school. I'll even make you a cake."
"I really don't need a cake, Mrs. Weasley." Harry smiled.
"Don't tell mum that, Harry!" Ron smacked him on the back of his head with one of the books from the pile of stuff. "I like cake."
"Oh fine, Ron. Uh…how about…Chocolate?" Harry wacked Ron back.
"That's perfect, Harry. I'll be sure to make you a special chocolate cherry cake that your mother used to make whenever someone had a birthday in the Order." Molly closed the door, and left them before Harry could respond.
The aftermath of the Battle at the Woolworth Building was tearing into the psyches of Ororo, Scott, Xavier and Logan. They couldn't believe they were bested by the Brotherhood of Mutants and Magneto so effortlessly. It tore at their morale to the point of madness.
Ororo got so angry that she went off to search for Hermione on her own. She took to the skies, and caused a massive storm to cover her as she flew across all the skyscrapers in New York City. She started at the Woolworth Building, and branched out searching for any trace of Magneto, his brotherhood or Hermione she could find.
Logan was forlorn but he was determined to find out how the Brotherhood obtained their information. He tore up the mansion, searching for bugs that Mystique may have left hidden around. He hadn't found any and that only made him more angry.
Scott felt completely drained. He was lucky that Hank was able to patch him up after literally being crushed by the fattest mutant alive. He clutched his aching ribs, as he followed Xavier in his hover chair into the spherical room. "I can't believe Magneto and his brotherhood just kicked our asses and kidnapped Miss Granger like that." Scott paced on the levitating pathway as Xavier hovered over to the controls of Cerebro.
"I hadn't realized Erik had known I had retrieved the lil miss." Xavier sighed as he closed his eyes as he put on his helmet and expanded his mind, searching for any trace of Hermione within New York City. "If I had, I would have made sure his people were nowhere near the Woolworth building, my lack of oversight has cost us."
Logan entered through the sliding bay doors smoking a cigar. "I'm just glad you got the police to let us go, Charles."
"Logan, my tolerance for your smoking in the mansion notwithstanding, continue smoking in here and you'll spend the rest of your days under the belief that you're a six-year-old girl." Xavier spoke sternly as continued to expand his search.
"Can you do that?" Logan grimaced thinking about what that would be like.
Xavier smiled whimsically as he tilted his head back. "I'd have Jean braid your hair."
- X2 (2003)
Logan put out his cigar into his hand as he walked over and stood next to the pacing Scott. "Where do you think he has brought her?"
"Knowing Erik, probably one of his many offices, warehouses or safe houses within New York, he can't have gone far. I believe he is seeking information, and he believes she will provide it." Xavier sighed, as he kept searching through thousands of people, seeking a hint of the brotherhood, Magneto himself and Hermione. It was harder to lock down on Hermione, but he tried anyway. If her subconscious could reach out to him all the way from London to New York, there had to be a way he could reverse engineer what she had done.
Magneto and Hermione walked quietly from Tribeca to Union square and it took a little less than an hour. Magneto led her through the back entrance at the Flatiron Building, and when he noticed her dragging her feet, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the elevator, up to the top floor and into his metal office space.
Magneto placed Hermione down in the shorter metal chair on the side of the metal table that was furthest away from the exit. He then walked to the other side of the table and sat down in a much taller metal chair that blocked the exit. A strategic psychological form of intimidation that Hermione had recognized from one of the many books she had read over the years.
"Don't you think it's high time we stop playing this silent treatment game, lil miss?" Magneto cracked his neck as he placed his gloved hands on the table as he straightened his posture.
"I don't have anything to say, Mr. Lehnsherr." Hermione stated as she felt the hum of the metal rings around her wrists tightened ever so lightly. They pulled her arms out from her lap and slammed them down against the table in front of her. Then she felt the hum of the metal on top of her thighs as the rings grew slightly tighter as they held her down to the chair.
"It seems Charles has been telling you stories," Magneto raised one of his hands, as he forced her hands to slide across the table into his open palm that had remained on the table. He then smirked as he placed his other hand on top of hers. "Hasn't he?"
Hermione swallowed the lump that grew in the back of her throat as she tried to turn her head and look away, but the metal ring around her neck tightened, halting her actions. She closed her eyes as the heat of her embarrassment spread from her cheeks to her ears. "No, I just recall the last time I saw you, Mr. Lehnsherr."
Magneto narrowed his eyes, as he examined her hitched breathing. "You were such a precious lil thing, how did you manage to convince Charles that you hadn't hurt that wretched bully?"
"I never said if I did or didn't hurt him. Xavier determined I didn't have the mutant gene so he determined I hadn't hurt the boy." Hermione opened her eyes and locked her gaze with Magneto's, causing his eyes to dilate as her irises' started to dial into his brain's frequency.
"I find that hard to believe, your eyes are showing me the opposite is true." Magneto squeezed her hands between his. "How did you tamper with the blood sample he took from you, lil miss?"
"I hadn't. I'm not a mutant, Mr. Lehnsherr. I'm a witch." Hermione felt all the metal rings humm and tightening. The rings squeezed her wrists, ankles, thighs, and biceps. Her irises kept turning back and forth seeking the signal of his brain.
"I've had enough of your lies to last your lifetime, lil miss!" Magneto stood up and let go of her hands, yet the metal rings on her wrists kept her pinned and leaning over the table. "Speak the truth."
"You found my wand in the alley, I am a witch…not a mutant." Hermione cried out, as she felt the rings grow tighter and she looked down to the table, giving up hope she would ever find his mind's frequency. "I'm not lying, I can prove it if you just give me my wand, please…Magneto."
Magneto slammed his hands down on the table on either side of her hands that were at the edge of his side of the table. "How sweet it is to hear you beg using my true name… like such a good girl." He smiled more fondly as he watched her tremble and her face, neck, and ears burned a darker shade of red.
"Please…Magneto," Hermione whined, as she felt all the metal rings begin to twist and grow tighter and tighter. "I presented the Mutant Registration Act problem to the Board of Magic Creature Department of MACUSA, while I was at the Woolworth Building."
"MACUSA? Is that an acronym for something?" Magneto kept his eyes locked on hers.
"Magical Congress of the United States of America." Hermione gasped out, when the rings continued to tighten, causing her flesh to hug around the rings.
"And why did you present it to the Magical Congress' Board of Magical Creatures?" Magneto spat out the word creatures like it was a curse word.
"Because mutants should be classified as magical beings and therefore be protected by the Statute of Secrecy. Muggle–I mean no-maj borns could be mistaken for mutants and considering magical DNA differs from mutants, that would breach the statute and cause a war that would make World War II look like a picnic." Hermione said through gritted teeth.
"What is the Statute of Secrecy?" Magneto stood back up to his full height.
"It's what separates the magical world from the no-majs. We've kept ourselves and other magical beings hidden from the no-majs for centuries in order to prevent them from hunting us." Hermione's breath hitched as she felt the ring around her neck start to slowly rotate.
Magneto paced while keeping his eyes locked on Hermione."What other magical beings does the statute protect?"
"Dragons, vampires, banshees, unicorns, fairies, goblins, trolls, giants, hags-"
"Are you saying that all myths and legends are true?" Magneto stopped mid pace and turned his entire body to face her, resting his hands on the edge of the table as he towered over her.
"They ARE true." Hermione tightened her fists to resist the pain as all the metal rings now cut through her skin and caused her to bleed. "MACUSA's Board of Magical Creatures will be presenting their case against the Mutant Registration Act to the International Confederation of Wizards, the magical version of the United Nations, and they will devise a plan to resolve this issue, please just give them more time to find a solution."
Magneto stood back, waved one of his hands over her and loosened all the metal rings. He smirked when she collapsed back into her chair. He then walked around to her side of the table and pulled her wand out of his pocket and placed it on the table before her. "Show me what you can do with all that power you possess, lil miss."
Hermione licked her lips as she picked up her wand and twisted it in the air. She transfigured the table into a gray donkey that looked like a realistic Eeyore. Then she waved her wand around herself, healing the wounds the metal rings inflicted upon her.
Magneto's jaw dropped as the donkey hee hawed, shoved his nose under his hand, as if wanting to be petted. "You can create life?"
Hermione shook her head, "Oh no, that is simply a transfigured table that looks and acts like the animal I had in my mind when I cast the spell." She waved her wand again and the donkey transformed back into the table it was once before.
"Is that all you do to transform inanimate objects into animate non-beings?" Magneto asked as he placed his finger under her jaw, forcing her to look up at him.
"Oh no, there are plenty of different types of magic I can perform," Hermione bit down on her lower lip, and Magneto stuck his thumb on top of it and pulled her lip from between her teeth."I think the only law one cannot break is the ability to create food out of nothing."
"I imagine you would solve world hunger, if you could create food out of nothing." Magneto lifted her chin. "Wouldn't you?"
"You know me, fighter of the downtrodden–" Hermione closed her mouth, when Magneto leaned his head towards hers as if to kiss her.
Magneto's lips hovered over hers,"You don't fight for them, you hide them from their oppressors. Why do you allow fearful inferior beings to limit your power, when you can be so much more?"
"If you want to know what a man is like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." Hermione tried to take a step back, but the hum of the metal rings held her in place.
"Look how the inferiors treat us," Magneto traced his index finger along her cheek. "We have to hide from them or they will kill us, and yet you want them to be in charge?"
"They won't be in charge of us, Magneto. We are magical beings. We do not fall under the jurisdiction of the no-maj government. The International Federation of Wizards will come up with a plan to change Mutant citizenship to the magical side of things and you will never have to deal with the no-majs again. Mutant kind will only be remembered as a piece of fiction."