Thirty-five days after the separation,

After sending their letter to Gringotts, the goblins had arranged an appointment for their Healers to see Hermione. It was decided that Neville would accompany her to the bank, both for moral support, and as a sounding board on the Longbottom Family Magic.

"Are you ready to go?" asked Neville, as he walked into Hermione's room in the Manor, and leaned against the doorframe.

"Just a moment," chimed Hermione, and jotted down a few more lines in her ever-present journal that she used to get her thoughts in order, which she really needed these days. "Ready, let's go," she smiled, and looped her arm in her brother's.

"Excellent," grinned Neville, as he activated the Portkey the goblins had sent along with their response, and whisked her off to the bank.

The Portkey had landed in a private room designated to hold their meeting. There was already a goblin presence when they arrived. Hermione and Neville took their time to pay their respects to the goblins and greet them properly.

"May your gold flow in abundance, and may you forevermore triumph over your enemies, Master Goldclaw," Hermione respectfully said to her goblin connection.

After Hermione had paid restitution for her part in the destruction Harry, Ron, and her had caused when escaping the bank on the back of a dragon, both in galleons and servitude, she had gained the goblins' respect for being genuine, since the other two never managed to turn up to pay their share of the damages.

Neville repeated the traditional greeting, and bowed. Master Goldclaw's slanted eyes gazed at the witch and wizard, and when he was done studying them, he spoke. "Well met, Lord Longbottom, Miss Longbottom, or do you prefer Miss Granger?" he politely asked.

Neville and Hermione shared a glance between them. Her name was something that they actually haven't discussed yet. "How about you simply call me Hermione, Master Goldclaw?" she softly suggested with a smile.

The goblin's eyes narrowed as he thought over the request, and nodded. "Very well, Miss Hermione," he agreed after a slight hesitation. It wasn't customary to call a witch or wizard by their first name, but since it was an honest request, he acquiesced. "Now, then, are you ready to proceed?"

"Yes," nodded Hermione, as Neville squeezed her hand in encouragement. "Is there anything specific I need to do?"

Master Goldclaw moved to a stone archway, and placed his claws on the middle of the smooth surface, calling up on his magic, and after a few moments' time, the stones fell away, revealing a small ritual room, complete with a runic circle. "Please step into the ritual circle, Miss Hermione," he urged the witch, while seven cloaked goblin Healers appeared in the room, out of thin air. "Do not be alarmed of the cloaks, we keep the identities of our Healers secret, for safety purposes," he explained when he sensed the unease of the Longbottom siblings.

"Understood," Neville gruffly said, still somewhat dubious, unsure whether or not he should be alarmed anyway.

Hermione took a deep breath and called upon her Gryffindor courage, stepping into the circle, and consciously relaxing her muscles. She was aware that the goblins had a rough exterior, but getting to know them a little bit more, while she had served her punishment for her crime, she learned that they were honourable people.

Master Goldclaw nodded to the Healers, and they circled Hermione, each activating a rune. Hermione felt an electric current run along her body, shocking her, and her eyes glazed over as she went completely slack, floating above the ground.

Neville tensed, itching to grab his wand, but he knew that would have been a terrible idea. Not only was pulling a wand inside Gringotts forbidden, it would have also meant certain death, so he quickly swallowed his anxiety, and dug his nails into his palms to control his impulses.

"Hm," hummed Master Goldclaw, and standing in front of Hermione, he raised his hands and closed his eyes, once more calling upon his magic to aid him in his quest. He muttered a string of sentences in an ancient tongue, gently coaxing Hermione's Magical Energy to project a transparent map of it's flow over her body.

Neville's jaw dropped as he gazed upon his sister's Magic. It was a swirl of different colours shimmering, swirling, sparkling and glowing, however, he could tell that something was wrong, even if he couldn't make sense of what that could be.

Master Goldclaw took a moment to study what was in front of him. His slanted eyes narrowed and darkened as he sensed the Dark Magic, and he spun around his heel, turning sharply towards Neville. "Please spell Miss Hermione's glamours away, Mr. Longbottom. I need to see what I'm working with, and I can only sense the disruption, not see it," he gruffly said.

Neville's eyes widened a fraction, his expression darkening as he did what the goblin asked of him. With his permission, he brandished his wand, and pointed it at his sister. "Finite Incantatem," he bellowed, and all the glamour charms on Hermione fell away, revealing her still very much visible Mudblood scar, that still looked as if it was just carved into her arm yesterday.

Neville blanched at the sight of the scar, and a flash of regret, heartache, and anguish jolted him, as a spark of anger ignited in his eyes. He was furious with all the Pureblood bigots who flourished prejudice against anyone who was different from their utopian views. He was bitter and resentful towards Tom Riddle for pandering to the Pureblood dogma for power, even though he was just a Half-Blood. Even knowing that even if Riddle wasn't successful luring the Pureblood society in, another maniac would have stepped up to fill his shoes didn't help him feel any less sour about the situation. And then, on top of that, at this moment, he was absolutely seething mad at Hermione for hiding this from him.

There was still so much that Hermione didn't know about Magic. She didn't know what was possible, so she just assumed things were a certain way, and instead of asking for help from someone, she chose to suffer in silence. His eyes misted over with tears at the thought of her living in pain for five years without uttering a single word about this to anyone. It wasn't only sad that she was so ashamed of something she couldn't help, but she was also putting herself and those she cared about in danger. Unstable Magic was dangerous, and if she had less control of herself than she apparently did, she could have caused a lot of damage.

Neville swallowed his emotions and took a deep breath, his nails digging further into the skin of his palms. Even though he was mad at his sister, he felt even more angry with himself. How did he not notice? What could he have done differently for Hermione to share this with him? Was he not enough? Didn't she trust him?

As Neville was struggling to process what was happening, Master Goldclaw was also feeling enraged about Hermione's condition. He wasn't one to care about witches and wizards, as they had the tendency to look down on his kind, but this witch was both famous for championing sentient creatures, however unsuccessful her attempts may have been, and she had earned his respect when she walked into Gringotts seeking to reimburse them for damaging their bank, and freeing a guardian dragon. From that day on, Master Goldclaw had kept an eye on Hermione, and he had a hand in giving her worthy tasks when it came to her servitude. He actually kind of missed her brilliant mind.

The Master Goblin narrowed his eyes, and refocused his mind on the task at hand, carefully examining the offensive scar on Hermione's arm. Even with the glamour on he could sense the Dark Magic emanating from it, but now he could tell that the jagged letters were carved with a cursed blade. Midnight black smoke lingered around the wound, seeping under the witch's skin, traveling up her arm, and slowly making its way to her Magical Core.

Master Goldclaw had surmised that they were just in time to do something about the Dark Magic, before it was too late, thus he spent the next eight hours working closely with the goblin Healers, siphoning the Dark Magic, healing the abhorrent scar, and correcting the flow of Hermione's Magic.

Nine hours later, same location,

Hermione groggily blinked as she opened her eyes, finding herself tightly encased in Neville's protective embrace as he sat on a comfortable sofa, holding her against his side.

"What happened?" croaked Hermione, her throat completely dry. "May I please have some water?" she asked.

Neville looked at Hermione, noticing that she looked a bit disoriented, which wasn't too surprising, considering the gravity of the work the Healers had done on her. "I'm glad you're awake, Mi," he whispered to her, as he conjured a glass of water for her. He was still angry with her, but he was also beyond relieved that she appeared to be alright.

"Thank you," said Hermione faintly, and gulped down the water thirstily. "That hit the spot," she sighed in satisfaction. "So," she spoke, looking around the room, searching for Master Goldclaw, and finding him looking at her from a respectable distance, as he was filing paperwork from behind an ornate desk. "Were you able to discover why I was feeling so terribly odd lately?" she inquired.

Master Goldclaw placed his papers down, and nodded. "Indeed," he hummed. "The Healers and I performed Old Ritual Magic to call upon your Magical Energy. I could tell the flow was jumbled up, and disrupted, and sensed the Dark Magic at work immediately," he conveyed, and Hermione's eyes widened in alarm, her stomach tying itself in knots. She had a sinking feeling about this...

"Dark Magic?" she echoed, braving a glance at Neville, who looked at her so darkly that she knew her secret was discovered.

"Indeed," agreed the Master Goblin, while Neville leaned closer to Hermione, and whispered to her. "We'll be having some words about this," he practically hissed into her ear, and she flinched, but nodded. "Alright," she replied to him with a frown.

"May I continue, Miss Hermione?" asked Master Goldclaw.

"Of course, my apologies," she replied, giving the goblin her full attention.

He nodded. "I asked Lord Longbottom to spell away any glamours you had on your person, and we discovered the scar on your arm. The Healers and I siphoned the Dark Magic away, and healed the majority of the cursed wound. We'll have a special paste delivered to you in a couple of days that will completely heal the scarring."

Hermione's hands trembled as she processed what she was hearing, and when it dawned on her that she will have no physical trace of her insane tormentor, she burst into tears.

A/N: I decided to cut the chapter in half in here, because I'm still working on the rest of it, and I just keep realizing that what I want to convey in the scene is far more than I originally thought, and I don't want to rush it, or condense it, but I like the chapter length I've been keeping up with.

Anyway, I also wanted to take the time and apologize for the unexpected break in my writing. I've been terribly sick for a month, and I'm only now recovering and feeling up to writing again.

Thank you for your patience, and for reading. I appreciate you guys!

Much love to you all,

Amarylle