Vow
Hermione woke up screaming.
Her recently repaired vocal chords, fragile and still healing, tore again. Her voice disappeared, even though she continued screaming. She clawed at the bandage on her arm until she ripped it and then stared at the wound that lay underneath. As the bandage was peeled away, her wounds began bleeding again.
Then she heard a noise and she scrambled for her wand.
It wasn't there. Her wand wasn't there.
Her magic, bruised and still hurt, surged as her emotions did. Glass around her shattered and Hermione pounced on the largest, sharpest shard she could find and held on to it tightly as the noises drew nearer.
No more, no more, I won't take it anymore, a voice chanted in her head.
Her magic sharpened to a lethal point, even though she lacked a wand to channel it properly.
It was dark wherever she was and she hid behind a curtain, counting on surprise, wandless magic and her glass shard to take down whoever came to get her.
Someone stepped in front of the curtain she was hidden by. She saw long, dark curly hair. Her vision narrowed to that hair and the memory of pain, pain, pain, and she struck as fast as she could, grabbing a fistful of curly hair and smashing the glass shard, and the lethal point of her magic into where the jugular vein should be. Blood seeped into her fingers, the curly haired woman choked on an anguished scream and raised her wand, trying to get away from Hermione.
Hermione was ready. No more, no more, no more, the chanting continued in her head.
She kicked the back of one knee, her magic kicking with her foot. The woman collapsed. Hermione pushed her as hard as she could. The woman used her hands to break her fall and prevent her face from smashing into the hard floor. The wand clattered out of her fingers. Hermione dove after the wand, and then in the same fluid motion, turned to face the woman, with her own wand pointing between her eyebrows.
Her hand shook, as pain began to ravage her body. But Hermione stood as steady as she could.
There were other people, frozen at the entrance, staring at Hermione.
"No more, no more, no more." Hermione gasped. "I'll cast a slicing hex at her head if you come any closer."
The man in the front raised his hands in surrender.
"We mean you no harm." he said, his blue eyes boring into hers.
She felt a niggling in her head. Her magic tensed, and her hands shook again, as she realized what he was trying to do.
"No Legilimency", she gasped, jabbing the wand into the woman's forehead. Sparks bled from the wand- a combination of her agitation, her magic's agitation and the wand's agitation at being pointed at its chosen owner.
The niggling in her head stopped.
They stood frozen, and then someone stepped forward. Dark hair, bright eyes glittering in the dim light, taller than her, with a furrow between brows she remembered from a half forgotten dream.
"I found you in the lawn, do you remember? You were hurt. This is the infirmary. We're trying to help. You're safe here, no one will harm you." He paused for a breath, then continued, "I swear on my magic. "
She felt a blanket of his magic settle over her, gentle as a leaf falling to the ground. The oath between their magical cores connected. She remembered the feel of this magic too, from a half-remembered dream. Her magic surprised her when it stretched like a cat and relaxed as his magic stroked hers gently.
Hermione's hand shook more.
She backed off until her back hit a wall and she collapsed down onto the floor, all energy suddenly leaving her. Her head lolled, his magic continued stroking her and she knew no more.