Once Fawkes flamed into the Infirmary, Madam Pomfrey was a flutter of action as she carefully extracted Miss Granger to delicately levitate her onto one of the nearby cots, under the watchful eyes of the wound-up wizard, and the similarly agitated phoenix.

"No," whimpered little Lisa Goldstein, as the matron attempted to separate her from Hermione.

"Come now, Miss Goldstein," Poppy gently said. "Let me treat Miss Granger, and when I'm finished, you can come right back to her side, alright?"

Lisa violently shook her head, clinging to the brunette witch's hand like her life depended on it. She wasn't going to let her go so she could be harmed again. Logically, the second year knew that Madam Pomfrey was no threat to her friend, but her Magic was screaming at her not to let go, ever.

George's eyes honed in on the small blonde witch, his eyes trailing over her protective stance over Hermione, and he suddenly remembered what he had witnessed at the Opening Feast.

"Madam Pomfrey, if I may?" he quietly spoke, and the matron nodded to him to continue. "I believe I know what's going on," he sighed. "Last night, at the feast, when we all arrived, Hermione looked to be quite uncomfortable under the heavy stares of the student body, and Miss Goldstein sensed that. I believe that she may have sworn an Oath of Protection, albeit an unconscious one at that."

Madam Pomfrey's eyes widened. "But that would mean that she tied herself to Miss Granger for the rest of her life!" she exclaimed, horrified.

George nodded solemnly. "I believe so, but don't look so troubled, I'm certain that Hermione would never hold her back from anything, she's not that kind of person. If anything, when she discovers what happened, she will swear the oath herself, consciously…"

Poppy closed her eyes, swallowing her emotions. If Miss Granger also swore the oath, it would make the Goldsteins her family. An Oath of Protection was no small thing in the Wizarding World, it was on par with a Magical adoption if the parties were swearing the oath consciously.

"To be honest, that would probably be good for Hermione," George softly said, knowing just how much the witch had lost in the war. She had the Weasleys, but even if there was respect, fondness, and love there, they didn't have that unbreakable connection completing the oath would offer her.

The matron quietly hummed, and turned back to Miss Goldstein, who was still clinging to Miss Granger. She reached out and placed her hand on her shoulder. "You can stay close by, Miss Goldstein, but I still need you temporarily release Miss Granger, so I can examine her thoroughly, and administer the required treatment."

Lisa whimpered, a thick stream of tears coursing down her cheeks, about to refuse the Healer's gentle request, when George stepped up to her and gently took the small witch into his arms, hugging her.

"Ssh, little one, it's going to be alright," George soothed her sobs. "Hermione will be alright, just you wait and see," he softly said, trying his very best to not only reassure the worried witch, but himself as well.

Lisa clung to George in desperation, her tiny hands fisting his robes. She didn't want to lose Hermione now that she had found her. She was very important to the little girl, even though she wasn't quite sure why that was, she felt instantly comforted the first time she glanced at her.

George carefully held the young Hufflepuff to his lean body, quietly whispering soothing words to her, while still being watchful over what the Healer was doing to Hermione. He couldn't see everything, because Madam Pomfrey had put up a privacy screen to protect Hermione's delicate sensibilities.

Poppy removed Hermione's scorched school robes, and most of her other garments with a few flicks of her wand, leaving her only in her plain cotton underwear, to run a few diagnostic spells on her. Her sharp eyes trailed the witch's body, and she was disappointed to note how malnourished she looked. Her worry increased when she found the numerous scars that screamed of torture. Her eyes narrowed, and she had cast Finite Incantatem on Miss Granger, her suspicions proven correct as even more injuries were uncovered. Bile was rising in her throat as she looked at a particularly jagged and nasty scar on her arm that spelled out Mudblood.

"Merlin," she whispered, suddenly hit with the full force of just what this amazing young witch had gone through in the war. Everyone knew how instrumental Hermione Granger was to the fall of the Dark Lord, but no one took time to consider the cost of her loyalty to Harry Potter, especially given her blood status. She certainly had suffered at the hand of the Death Eaters.

Fawkes had been quietly watching everything, but now that he knew just how much Hermione Granger needed him and his healing powers, he had decided to act and bond himself to her, in the proper way. While he and Albus Dumbledore had shared a bond, it wasn't the deepest a familiar, and especially a phoenix bond could go.

He flew from his perch on the headboard to gently land atop Hermione, and lit himself on purple fire, enveloping himself and his chosen in flames…

A/N: Well, guess who's back to write new chapters to her stories? Me, of course, what a shocker, huh. Even though I can't properly remember every story's original story line, I'm sure I can come up with something similar, one story, one chapter at a time. This one, however, I do remember was an inspiration-on-the-spot kind of story, so it's easy to continue.

Whatever will happen to Hermione now? How will the concerned spectators (Poppy, George, and Lisa) react? Find out in the next chapter, unless… my Muse decides to be evil and starts to inspire me to write the other side of the situation with McGonagall and the naughty witches who had hurt Hermione. I do have some things in store, oh yes.

Thank you for reading! :)