June 24th 1996
Hermione awoke from the nightmare with a start as she sat bolt upright in the darkness. She looked around in panic before she realized where she was. She was in a bed in the Room of Requirements not at Malfoy Manor. She was at Hogwarts and she was with Harry, she was safe. As her adrenaline ran out of her she felt Harry's arms wrap around her.
"What's wrong?" He asked in a concerned voice. He already knew since the remnants of the nightmare had already bled into his thoughts. It hadn't been the first time, nor, he knew, would it be the last.
"Nightmare...or I should say memories," She replied as she shuddered. "Bellatrix."
Harry knew it was their time at Malfoy Manor she had relived. He put a little more pressure into his hug as he whispered. "She's gone. She can't hurt anyone anymore," He knew what she felt though, not only by sharing her thoughts but by having had similar nightmares after the graveyard and Cedric's death.
"I know," Hermione replied softly. "It's just in the nightmare I...I could actually feel the dagger at my throat..." Her hand rose to the spot the blade had touched her neck as she paused for a breath. Another breath and then a sigh. "I was barely conscious at the time and couldn't move. I...I just knew I was going to die," She turned to look at Harry. "Though you should never have put down your wand. If Dobby hadn't shown up we'd all have been killed or worse...and I don't mean expelled."
"I had to," Harry said. "I couldn't let anything hurt you."
"I'd have preferred to die than be given to Greyback," Hermione replied in a hoarse whisper as a tear escaped an eye and ran down her cheek.
"No..." Harry started.
"Harry I'm serious," Hermione cut him off as her voice grew stronger. "I love you and I know you love me, but if you ever are faced with that kind of decision again, promise me..."
Harry's eyes seemed to glow in the darkness before he cut her off. "NO..." He exclaimed. "I can't promise that. I will not promise that. As long as there is time, there is hope."
"And if time runs out and I'm given to Greyback or something just as bad?"
"I...we'll see, but I will not promise it," Harry replied determinedly. He sighed as the memory of the event leapt into his mind. Bellatrix with the knife to Hermione's throat. The crazed witch demanding they drop their wands. "I had to drop...my...wand." Harry's last few words were slowed as an idea ran through his mind.
"I know and that..."
"No…you don't understand, she told us to drop our wands, they took our wands," Harry said. "Even before when we were captured, they took our wands but they never searched us...I mean Ron still had the deluminator and I had my pouch."
"So?"
"Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have knives for ourselves," Harry replied. "Small ones that'll fit in our pockets."
"What good would they do?" Hermione asked. "I don't plan on cutting anyone's throat."
"No but..." Harry started before he looked into Hermione's eyes. "How do you think we can get goblin made ones?"
"Why?" Hermione asked before her eyes narrowed. "You're thinking about basilisk venom on them aren't you?"
"Yes," Harry admitted with a nod. "I...I don't think I could actually stab someone unless we're desperate..." He shrugged, "but maybe it'd be easier if all I had to do was cut them."
Hermione stared at her husband for a few seconds before slowly nodding. "I agree, but not our pockets. I'm not carrying around something like that in my pocket. Not if a single scratch could kill," She furrowed her brow before continuing. "I wonder where Hagrid got the mokeskin pouch he gave you? That would be perfect."
"I don't know but he said they were rare," Harry replied as he remembered his seventeenth birthday that was still over a year away.
"We can ask him; maybe he can tell us where to buy them. If not I can always make a couple of smaller pouches like my bag."
"I wonder..." Harry started and got up off the bed. He was gone for a couple of minutes and brought back several knives and daggers they had found. "I wonder if any of these are goblin made," He started pulling one after another out of their sheaths only to put it back. "I wouldn't know how to tell."
"I don't either," Hermione said as she eyed the weapons. "I mean it's obvious the ones with rust are probably not Goblin made, but the only other thing we know that are different is that they absorb..."
At the same time they both said "we could try a drop of venom on them."
"Yes, if it absorbs the venom, it's goblin made," Hermione finished.
"We can run down to the Chamber in the morning," Harry said with a yawn. "Let's go back to sleep."
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