It was Friday, and Hermione again went to see Madam 
Pomfrey. The healer was not busy that day - no one was 
in the infirmary, and she was catching up on her notes.

Madam Pomfrey was a very experienced and wise healer. 
She had been dealing with students and their problems 
for decades. She listened as Hermione went through her 
story, following the line that Marietta had dreamed up 
for her. She noted with interest that Hermione's 
demeanor did not match her reported symptoms. While 
reporting the classic signs of depression, and on the 
surface seeming rather down, Madam Pomfrey detected the 
hope and optimism that lay beneath. Nobody's fool, 
Madam Pomfrey knew she was being had - she only was 
unsure as to why. 

Hermione reached the point in her narrative where she 
hinted at some terrible secret that was weighing her 
down. Hermione paused, waiting for the inevitable 
invitation to continue with her story, but none was 
forthcoming. Madam Pomfrey maintained her attentive 
silence. Hermione stumbled over her words, and again 
alluded to being troubled. Again silence from Madam 
Pomfrey. Hermione felt uncomfortable, and finally said 
she was reluctant to tell all to Madam Pomfrey - she 
was embarrassed. Would Madam Pomfrey keep this a 
secret?

"That depends, my dear," said the healer to Hermione's 
dismay. "If what you are about to tell me is for the 
purpose of getting medical assistance, then of course. 
But if there is some other purpose, well, that's 
another matter entirely."

Things were not going according to plan. The healer 
noted a change in Hermione's demeanor. There was no 
longer any hint of optimism. Instead, Madam Pomfrey 
could detect signs of panic. This was interesting - the 
problem wasn't the so-called depression, but rather the 
secret itself.

Hermione tried to think, but she was having trouble 
figuring out what to do next. She had never imagined 
that Marietta's plan would not work. She had not 
thought through what she would do if her discussion 
with the healer did not quite go as expected. Hermione 
was in the highly unusual situation (for her) of being 
unprepared. Madam Pomfrey waited patiently as Hermione 
collected her thoughts. 

After a long pause, Hermione decided to proceed as 
planned. The goal was to cure Marietta, and saving her 
own skin was secondary. Once she had established this 
in her own mind, she knew what she had to do.

Now Madam Pomfrey saw a genuinely distressed Hermione, 
tearfully launching into what was a sad tale indeed. 
Sad for Hermione, but entirely familiar to Madam 
Pomfrey - "The Story of the Curse Gone Bad" was not 
unknown at Hogwarts, and every now and again she had to 
deal with the consequences of a hex or a jinx that got 
out of hand. She was amused that she hadn't seen this 
coming - Hermione was one of the best students she'd 
ever seen, and it hadn't occurred to her Hermione would 
do something so foolish.

But as the story continued to unfold, Madam Pomfrey's 
mild amusement changed to alarm as she listed to 
Hermione explain in some detail the unsuccessful 
attempt she and Marietta had made to cure the curse. 
The whole story unfolded, and it was much, much worse 
than Madam Pomfrey had imagined. Finally Hermione 
finished.

Madam Pomfrey was enraged. She'd tried so very hard at 
the end of term the previous year to cure Marietta, but 
had made no headway whatsoever. If only Marietta had 
given her some hint about who was responsible - the 
problem could have been solved so easily.

"You foolish, headstrong girl! Yes, you are the most 
powerful witch of your year, but there is a tremendous 
amount you do not know. Everything you have done has 
been a mistake, other than your decision finally to 
come to me for help. Among your many errors was your 
assumption that I, like Marietta, was a snitch. No, 
Hermione, you have no need to fear - I'm not calling 
the Ministry, nor would I if you'd come to me at the 
end of term last year like you should have. Your next 
error was deciding that you would tackle this on your 
own. Your third error was assuming that your new 
indexing charm would give you access to all the 
materials you needed."

"What?" said Hermione. "But the entire library of 
Hogwarts is now in the cube! And Hogwarts is the 
biggest library in the wizarding world!"

"Yes, Hermione, we all know that. After all, it's in 
'Hogwarts - A History'." Hermione blushed, knowing that 
she was being mocked. Madam Pomfrey continued. "It is 
quite evident to me that a large section of the library 
is missing from your searchable index. It is a section 
with which you are no doubt almost entirely unfamiliar. 
It is commonly referred to as -"

"The Restricted Section!" gasped Hermione in horror. 
"Do you mean that my charm didn't manage to index 
that?"

"No!" said Madam Pomfrey mockingly. "Of course not. You 
are under-aged. Powerful charms deny you access to the 
restricted section. Do you seriously think your teenage 
magic would defeat these defences?"

"I just thought it would index everything under its 
spell," said Hermione sheepishly.

"Well, you thought wrong. And the result is an 
unmitigated disaster. You stumbled across a description 
of the Reconcilio Ritual. But in the unrestricted 
section, the description of this and other rituals is 
incomplete, even misleading, and deliberately so! I 
have much to tell you, but to avoid having to repeat 
myself, go fetch Marietta. Get her out of class if you 
must - here's a note if you need it (she hastily 
scribbled on a piece of scrap parchment) - and bring 
her back immediately."

Hermione scurried off. She hadn't been chastised since 
first year, when she'd been caught out of her dormitory 
after hours. She could feel her face burning from shame 
as she gave the note to the Ancient Runes instructor.

"What's going on?" asked Marietta as Hermione hastily 
led her away.

"Madam Pomfrey knows everything, and she is not happy. 
She says I really messed up, and was about to explain 
in more detail, when she told me to get you so that she 
wouldn't have to tell everything all over again."

The two girls arrived at the infirmary, breathless from 
talking nonstop about what was going on while at the 
same time running through the halls. During the 
interval, Madam Pomfrey had had time to gather her 
thoughts. She received the girls in her office, 
motioning them to sit down on the couch across from her 
desk. 

"Hermione's told you that I know everything about 
what's happened, and that no one is going to Azkaban 
any time soon?" Marietta's head bobbed up and down. 
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey, I was really worried 
Hermione would get in trouble."

"No need for you to stop worrying, my dear, there's 
plenty of trouble for both of you ahead. No, you're not 
going to be punished, at least not officially, but you 
have quite an ordeal ahead of you. Listen with the 
utmost attention while I explain. 

"You girls are the top two students of your year, and yet never have I seen 
such a botched attempt at fixing a mistake, and I've 
been a Healer for a long, long time. 

"I'm glad you two are friends now - at least you 
accomplished one of the necessary steps of the ritual. 
But due to your failure to gain access to the 
restricted section, your entire method of attack was 
ill conceived. Hermione, the description of the 
Reconcilio Ritual you read is simply wrong. 

"It was written by a wizard who was very popular in his 
day - he sold a lot of books. But that is all that can 
be said of him. He was a dunce. One can only wonder how 
much harm he did before the Ministry forbade him to 
publish. His books are in our library only because more 
knowledgeable wizards find them amusing. Do you recall 
the description in his text of the use of the ritual?"

"Yes," answered Hermione at once. Now she was on 
familiar ground, and with her flawless memory, she 
repeated almost verbatim the description of the Ritual 
she had read. 

"What you don't know is that the author of the text 
himself heard the story of the Ritual only second-hand. 
He didn't know the parties involved, nor did he bother 
to enquire. If he had, he would have discovered an 
important detail. The "cursor" and the "cursee" were 
husband and wife. This is a very significant fact."

Marietta and Hermione sat in silence, eager to know 
more.

"Many, many of our charms and potions are very ancient, 
and were originally intended for domestic purposes. 
Most of the Rituals are rooted in family relationships, 
the Adoption and Disownment rituals being two other 
examples. There is a whole category of spells intended 
to assist in repairing or enhancing the marriage bond. 
The Reconcilio Ritual is one of these. 

"It is very powerful magic, and has enabled many a 
magical couple to recover from what Muggles call 
'irreconcilable differences.' You were correct to 
identify this Ritual as a cure. You were correct to 
understand that punishment had to be meted out to the 
offender, so that forgiveness would follow. But what 
you were ignorant of is the reason why forgiveness was 
necessary."

Hermione protested. "But the book said forgiveness was 
necessary so that the "cursor" and "cursee" would be 
able to work together to perform a number of difficult 
charms!"

"That's what it said," replied Madam Pomfrey, "and it 
is indeed true, but it is a grossly oversimplified 
truth. And the author's description of the charms 
involved is utterly fallacious. I think he simply made 
them up. Shall I tell you now what the parties must 
forgive each other? Shall I explain why the ritual is 
simpler and easier than you ever imagined?"

The two girls nodded enthusiastically.

"Forgiveness is the first stage of a two-stage ritual, 
the second stage being this, that
having forgiven each other, the cursed and the cursor 
are then able to complete the ritual by making love to 
one another." This explanation was met with stunned 
silence. After a very long pause, Marietta spoke up. 
"But this means that we can't complete the ritual. 
We're not married."

"I have news for you, you silly girl. You don't have to 
be legally married to use the Ritual. Another bit of 
news for you is that you have come to me rather late. 
Had you come at start of term, there is an entirely 
different cure I could have used, as you know. But I 
cannot commence this course of treatment now - you are 
in mid-ritual."

"What are you saying??" asked Hermione, distraught at 
where the discussion was heading. "It's quite simple," 
replied the healer. "You and Marietta are going to be 
lovers. Not repeatedly, if you don't want to be. But at 
least once you shall make passionate love to one 
another."

Madam Pomfrey could see that Hermione was aghast at the 
thought, whereas Marietta was unperturbed. This was not 
a complete surprise to the healer. A year before Marietta 
had come to her, suffering from rectal pain. - a simple 
fissure which was easily cured. But it was quite odd to 
find such an ailment in one so young and otherwise 
healthy. When questioned, Marietta was unabashed and 
straightforward. The injury was the result of a bout of 
lovemaking with her girlfriend Luna, who at Marietta's 
urging had tried to insert more fingers than usual in 
Marietta's anus. Madame Pomfrey had suggested to 
Marietta that she be a little more circumspect in her 
sexual activities, avoiding anything that might do 
injury. 

Hermione she'd treated as well, when she came to the 
infirmary worried that she was carrying Viktor Krum's 
baby. But there was no pregnancy. Madam Pomfrey had 
diagnosed that Hermione's symptoms were hysterical, 
brought on by her emotional turmoil over the fact that 
Viktor would soon be going home, and her guilt over having,
in her mind, betrayed Ron.   Hermione had given Madam Pomfrey
a brief account of the repeated couplings of the two, which it seemed 
Hermione had  thoroughly enjoyed (had Marietta asked when Hermione 
was under the influence of the truth serum, she would 
have learned that she and Viktor had spent a lot of 
time together after the night of the dance. They'd 
coupled like rabbits the rest of the term, and managed 
to meet over the summer.).

"I cannot stress how important it is for you to not 
only to make a real effort, but to succeed! A Ritual 
can only be completed by success. It is for this reason 
that they are so dangerous, for a wizard who undertakes 
a ritual lightly, lacking the requisite skill to 
complete it, will find himself stuck in limbo, perhaps 
forever."

Hermione spoke, her voice barely a whisper, because she 
dreaded the answer. "Could you tell us what you mean by 
'success', in this instance?"

"Of course, my dear. You and Marietta cannot merely go 
through the motions. You must bring each other to 
orgasm. It is the orgasm that marks the true conclusion 
of the ritual, without which all your efforts mean 
nothing." The larger part of Hermione's mind was taken 
up with the horror of what was being proposed, but she 
had enough of her brain still functioning to ask a 
question that had been nagging at her since Madam 
Pomfrey began lecturing them.

"The Persevero charm - it showed that our first step 
had failed, whereas you're telling us
that our first part of the Ritual was correct. How can 
this be?" Madam Pomfrey smiled. "Hermione, remember 
again the source of your information about the 
Persevero - where did you learn of this?"

"From the same source as the Reconcilio . . ." - 
Hermione's voice faded away.

"Exactly. You learned about it from the same dimwit. 
The Persevero charm is very useful in Rituals, but what 
your source didn't know was that it means different 
things in different contexts. In the context of the 
Reconcilio Ritual, which consists of only two charms 
(punishment and forgiveness, followed by love making 
and orgasm), the Persevero charm assumes a different 
meaning than it does in longer, complex rituals. 

"In the context of the Reconcilio Ritual, the Persevero 
charm is very useful indeed, but not as your stupid 
author thought. You girls are perhaps too young to know 
this, but there are those who fake orgasms. The purpose 
of Persevero when used in Reconcilio is to determine 
whether both parties have truly orgasmed. If either or both 
fails to orgasm, the charm shows red. In this case, you 
had not even started love making, and thus no other 
result was possible."

Marietta had also been listening carefully. "You said 
that lovemaking and orgasm is a 'charm'?"

"You heard me correctly."

"But that doesn't make any sense! What's magical about 
lovemaking? Muggles do it all the time!"

"All people are magical. It's merely a question of 
degree. Squibs, for instance, are incapable of 
performing magic, yet they see things that Muggles 
cannot, such as ghosts and dementors. Squibs are 
therefore more magical than Muggles, but much less so 
than Wizards and Witches. The act of lovemaking is a 
charm of great power that all the higher order animals 
can perform. Lovemaking and orgasm are a part of 
numerous charms, as you may learn after you leave 
Hogwarts. 

"We can't teach that here, of course - the parents 
would go crazy. But you two are now Hogwart's first 
official exception to the rule." Madam Pomfrey was 
already looking forward to writing a paper on this - it 
would make a big splash in The Healer's Journal, with 
no names mentioned, of course.

Hermione was not taking this very well. She accepted in 
an intellectual sense what she was supposed to do and 
what was expected of her, but at an emotional level she 
was not looking forward to getting into bed with 
Marietta and being with her as she had with Viktor. She 
had difficulty picturing exactly what two women were 
supposed to do with each other. She supposed Marietta 
could lick her as Viktor had done, but the thought made 
her ill.

"Madam Pomfrey," said Hermione, "I don't want to be 
with a woman. I just don't! How is Marietta supposed to 
make me orgasm if I feel sick to my stomach?"


But Marietta interuppted, and after getting Hermione's permission,
repeated what she'd learned of Hermione's sexuality
from their session with veritaserum.

"Hermione," said the healer, "the 
truth potion never fails. You are quite capable of 
making love to a woman and getting the deepest pleasure 
from it. As a matter of logic, one proof is enough, but 
if you want further proof, I shall be happy to supply 
it."

Madam Pomfrey walked over to her cupboard and pulled 
out a few ingredients. She ground them with a mortar 
and pestle, and then tossed them into a small cauldron, 
adding a thick oily liquid from an ancient-looking 
bottle. In a matter of minutes, a potion was ready. It 
was a colourless, viscous solution, translucent and 
heavy in texture. She poured Marietta and Hermione each 
a small glass of the potion, and then gave them a glass 
of water as well.

"Take some water in your mouth, swirl it around, the 
spit it into the potion. The potion will change colour. 
If you are true heterosexual, the potion will turn a 
deep blue, and if you are homosexual, bright pink. If 
you are a true bisexual (which is as rare as being at 
either extreme) the potion will remain its present 
colour. More likely the potion will be a lighter shade 
of blue or pink, depending on your inclination, and the 
depth of the colour being an indication of how far 
along the spectrum of sexuality you are."

The girls followed these instructions, expelling the 
water into the potion, watching carefully as the colour 
changed. Hermione's turned a pale sky blue colour. 
Marietta's was barely tinted blue. Madame Pomfrey 
examined their potions carefully.

"Hermione, you definitely lean towards the 
heterosexual, no question about it. But it is quite 
clear that you will have no problem enjoying relations 
with Marietta. And it is crystal clear that Marietta 
will be more than happy to reciprocate. She is not 
bisexual, and like you her preference is men, but I can 
see that in her case it is a very near thing." Marietta 
only smiled; she had no more forgotten her visit to the 
infirmary the previous year than had Madame Pomfrey.

For some reason, this fresh proof did nothing to allay 
Hermione's concerns. "I accept that I'm supposed to be 
able to do it, but that doesn't mean that I will 
succeed. This is supposed to be natural for me, but it 
makes me sick." She paused for a moment, and then 
rushed on excitedly with a fresh thought. "I have an 
idea - this will work - let's use the polyjuice potion 
on Marietta and - "

"-and make her look like a boy?" laughed the healer. "A 
particularly handsome one that you happen to love? I 
thought you might suggest this. But I recommend against 
it," explained Madam Pomfrey to a crestfallen Hermione. 
"There have been enough mistakes already without 
introducing a potion as complex and powerful as the 
Polyjuice. I am not saying your idea won't work - it 
might. It just might. But it would be a serious mistake 
to take the risk. No, I don't want to give you a love 
potion either," said Madam Pomfrey as Hermione opened 
her mouth again, "nor will I give you an aphrodisiac. 
No. But there is something else I can give you to help 
you get through this." 

Hermione had hung her head when her Polyjuice idea dashed, 
but now she looked up expectantly. Madam 
Pomfrey continued. "Hermione, you find it annoying that 
the wizarding world has no respect for Muggle learning. A 
common mistake in our community - I share your feelings. So 
I am pleased to tell you that in this instance, there 
is an ancient Muggle remedy of proven effect." And with 
this, Madam Pomfrey waived her wand, conjured up a 
bottle, and passed it to Hermione, who examined it 
carefully.

"This is champagne! It's just wine!"

"It is alcohol, a substance described by Muggle 
scientists as a "disinhibitor". I can give you anything 
you like - from red to white, dry to sweet, or a liquor 
such as Bailey's Irish Cream - whatever you prefer. I 
simply chose champagne because the charm you are about 
to perform on each other is a celebration, the oldest 
celebration in the world, and I thought champagne 
fitting for the occasion."

Hermione looked dubiously at the bottle. She hoped it 
would help. The last dinner at home before start of 
term she'd had a bit too much to drink and had even 
been a bit silly - unheard of for her. Maybe, just 
maybe, the champagne would do the trick. It would have 
to. Then she hoped it wouldn't, because if it worked, 
it meant she might be a lesbian. But no, she wasn't - 
it was all too confusing. She turned to Marietta, who 
moved closer to her on the couch. She took one of 
Hermione's hands in hers.

"Hermione, I promise you that we will be fine. This is 
not like an exam you must prepare for. You don't have 
to know anything, you don't have to do anything - I 
know enough about this for both of us. For once you 
don't have to be the leader - I'll lead you, I'll take 
care of you."

Hermione looked up at her much taller friend. 
Marietta's husky voice had made this little speech in a 
low murmur, and she had spoken the very words Hermione 
needed to hear. As with Viktor, Hermione needed not to 
be in control. She had to be able to shift the 
responsibility from herself, and Marietta was helping 
her do this. There was a very long pause.

"O.K. Marietta. I'll try." Hermione managed a smile. "I 
guess it's back to the Room of Requirement tonight." It 
was a Friday and with no classes the next day, Hermione 
figured they might as well get it over with.

"Good luck, girls," said Madam Pomfrey. "I'd like to 
see you both tomorrow afternoon." The girls started to 
leave, when she added, "Put that champagne in this bag 
- you don't want a professor to see you with it, even 
though you have my permission. I'm sure you'd hate to 
have to explain why I prescribed it for you."

Hermione and Marietta left the infirmary together. 
Marietta had to struggle to conceal her feelings from 
her friend. A rush of excitement had run through her as 
they were leaving Madam Pomfrey - she was going to make 
love to Hermione! She wondered what she'd be like in 
the nude. She'd only ever been with one other girl 
before. What would it be like with someone else? But 
Marietta didn't want Hermione to realize just how eager 
she was to find out. She knew that she had to avoid 
making Hermione any more nervous than she was. They 
went their separate ways - the next class was about to 
start.

Hermione's thoughts were in such a whirl that she had 
trouble focusing in Charms. She didn't earn her house a 
single point (almost unheard of) because she wasn't 
listening to Professor Flitwick. Finally Ron snapped 
her out of her reverie. "Blimey, Hermione what's with 
you? He told us to partner up. We have to practice!"

Hermione wanted very much to partner up with Ron, but 
not in Charms. Hermione had no idea of what they were 
supposed to be practicing, and Ron had to explain. But 
Ron was no substitute for a Charms professor, and she 
had difficulty interpreting Ron's incomplete 
explanations and vague gesticulations - her mind kept 
returning to the same thought: in a few hours, she 
would be with Marietta, in the Room of Requirement.

She couldn't get the image of Marietta's breasts out of 
her head. She thought too of the crimson triangle 
between Marietta's legs, her sultry voice, her 
beautiful behind - the thoughts went on and on. 
Hermione merely went through the motions the rest of 
the day, and during dinner, Harry and Ron remarked on 
how distracted she looked.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" asked Harry. "I don't think 
I've ever seen you like this. You'd think you were 
under the Imperius curse or something." Hermione 
explained that she was simply very tired from working 
on Marietta's cure - things weren't going as smoothly 
as they ought to, and there was much more to do, and 
she wasn't sure if she would succeed. This was as near 
as the truth Hermione could get, and it felt good to at 
least partially tell her friends about what was going 
on. Harry and Ron reminded her that she'd never failed 
at anything.

Hermione was glad Ron and Harry believed in her. She 
especially liked hearing Ron's compliments about her 
abilities. She really wished that it was Ron who was 
joining her that evening in the Room of Requirement. 
She glanced covertly at his lean, muscular frame, his 
large hands, the way he held his head. She loved 
everything about him, and yet he was such a dunce. 
Lavender Brown, indeed! Why would he take up with that 
silly tart? But she knew why. 

Lavender had set out to make Ron attracted to her, and 
if she fancied him, why shouldn't she? And if Hermione 
was foolish enough to let her, then that was Hermione's 
fault. This only made Hermione angry with herself and 
Ron, and she suddenly excused herself and left the 
Great Hall, heading for the dormitory so that she could 
be alone with her thoughts, leaving Harry and Ron to 
puzzle for the umpteenth time over how strange girls 
were - there was no figuring them out - bonkers, the 
lot of them. The event scheduled for that night in the 
Room of Requirement would have been the biggest story 
of the year in Hogwarts, had it been known, but as 
usual the boys had no idea what was going on around 
them

Never had her love for Ron been such a burden to 
Hermione. She had adored him since first year. Both Ron 
and Harry had saved Hermione from the troll, but it was 
Ron she'd worshiped afterwards. Ron in Charms class had 
been hopeless at performing the levitation charm, but 
when called upon to save her, he'd performed it 
effortlessly, with far greater power than Hermione was 
capable of even now, five years later. She knew Ron had 
tremendous latent power, and would be a formidable 
wizard one day. 

He needed to get out from under the shadow of his older 
brothers. However annoying Ron could be, she knew that 
if she needed him, he would always be there for her. 
She wished Ron would simply take her. There was nothing 
she possessed that she could not give to Ron if he 
asked it - except her virginity. 

At times she felt real sadness that she could not give 
this to the man she loved. She'd refused to allow 
Viktor to have anal sex with her - she could give Ron 
that much at least. She hoped that Ron was bigger than 
Viktor, for this would mean he would explore depths 
within her that Viktor could not reach. And she also 
had a way to at least make Ron believe he was taking 
her virginity - she would be able to give him that 
much, at least, thanks to Madam Pomfrey. 

She'd had to see the healer near the end of fourth year 
- her period was late, and she was convinced she was 
carrying Viktor's child. This would not have surprised 
her - they'd fucked every chance they got after the 
first encounter, and invariably Hermione found herself 
begging him to cum inside her. But when thought she 
might be pregnant, she was terrified.

Madam Pomfrey had examined her, and assured her that 
she wasn't pregnant. She explained that one significant 
difference between Muggle woman and witches was that a 
witch would not become pregnant unless she truly wanted 
to be. Witches simply did not have unwanted 
pregnancies. If they did become pregnant, but then for 
some reason later did not want the child (a witch could 
sense if her fetus was deformed or a squib), they were 
also able to spontaneously abort if they chose to, 
provided the pregnancy had not progressed past six 
weeks. Thus Hermione had nothing to fear.

A grateful Hermione confided fully in Madam Pomfrey, 
giving her the details of her relationship with Viktor 
and her feelings for Ron, and her dismay that now she 
would not be able to make a gift of her hymen to Ron. 
The healer had laughed at this, and explained that 
witches need have no such worries. 

"About five minutes after the first witch learned that 
men prized virginity, she learned how to restore her 
hymen," explained Madam Pomfrey. She explained the 
charm to Hermione, and they worked on it until Hermione 
felt able to perform it on herself. She had submitted 
meekly and with great embarrassment as Madam Pomfrey, 
after putting on a rubber glove, had inserted two 
fingers into her vagina to make sure the charm had 
worked.

"Any man would think you are a virgin, Hermione, have 
no fear. When you marry Ron and he beds you the first 
time, you will feel real pain when he takes you, and 
you will bleed just as you did before. You won't have 
to pretend a thing. It will be as real as it was the 
first time." 

That very night, knowing she'd be seeing Viktor again 
the next day, she'd broken her new hymen with a charm-
extended finger, gasping in pain as she did so. It 
would never have done for Viktor to find her hymen 
restored - Madam Pomfrey had explained that witches 
owed it to each other never to let men know that they 
could recreate their hymens. Hermione had restored her 
hymen again before the start of the school term, hoping 
that perhaps Ron would finally come to his senses.

The recollection of Madam Pomfrey's fingers inside her 
snapped Hermione out of her reverie, and brought her 
back to the present. She had been disgusted when the 
healer's fingers had been inside her. Would Marietta's 
feel any better, she wondered.

Hermione went to the girl's dormitory, and changed from 
her school robes into her pyjamas. She'd have to meet 
Marietta outside Ravenclaw before lights out, and then 
the two of them would make their way to the Room of 
Requirement under the safety of Harry's invisibility 
cloak. She had some time to distract herself, and she 
pulled out her cube and began to browse through 
Hogwart's library. 

She began to read a collection of biographies of great 
dark wizards of the past and present. There was a very 
interesting account of the life of one of the most evil 
of the dark lords, Torquemada. It was so easy for a 
witch or wizard to shine if he or she stepped out of 
the world of magic. Provided he observed wizarding law, 
there was no restrictions placed on a wizard who chose 
to live with Muggles. They weren't allowed to use magic 
in competitive events - that was thought to be very bad 
form indeed. And they were forbidden from holding 
themselves out as psychics, magicians, fortune tellers 
and so on. But this left many options open, and some 
wizards made the most of it. 

Torquemada was a bizarre man - practically a dementor 
in human form. While not breaking any strictures of the 
wizarding world, he had taken great delight in 
exploiting one of the Muggle's main irrational belief 
systems, using it to inflict incredible suffering on 
the followers of a different irrational belief system. 
He'd been shunned by the wizarding world, of course, 
but that hardly mattered to him. Hermione was sure he'd 
have been in Slytherin if he'd gone to Hogwart's. She 
was just beginning to read about Margaret Thatcher 
('the poor are the mudbloods of the Muggle world' had 
been her motto) when other girls began to arrive and 
make themselves ready for bed.

She got her wand, Harry's invisibility cloak ("Sure 
I'll lend it to you Hermione but you're getting worse 
than I am - just don't get caught, whatever you're 
doing) and the champagne, and when unobserved, tossed 
the cloak over herself and crept quietly out of the 
common room. She arrived on time for the rendezvous at 
the end of the corridor where the entrance to Ravenclaw 
was located. Marietta emerged on schedule, and Hermione 
soon observed her making her way along the hall. 

She was wearing a grey robe over her pink silk pyjamas, 
and looked absolutely stunning, with her long, thick 
hair loose and flowing past her shoulders, Marietta 
towering over the other girls and taller than almost 
all of the boys, apparently unconscious of the glances 
thrown her way as she strode down the corridor. She was 
almost unreal. Hermione simply stared at her in 
admiration and Marietta was already past her before 
Hermione remembered that Marietta couldn't see her.

"Marietta, stop!" whispered Hermione. Marietta had the 
sense not to whirl around and stare at empty space. 
Instead, she slowed, and whispered back, "Follow me and 
when no one's around, I'll join you under the cloak."

A few turns in Hogwart's complicated passageways and 
they were unobserved, and in a trice, Marietta and 
Hermione were next to each other under the cloak. They 
had to be careful because of Marietta's height. 
Marietta crouched a bit, and they stayed very close, 
their hips often touching, holding hands as they slowly 
made their way to the Room of Requirement.


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