I clutched at the earth, and Tom stomped down on my hand causing me to shriek in pain.
"When will you ever learn?" He yelled. "I am your superior, and you are to respect me!"
"Hang on. She's not even herself at the moment." Xavier rose to my defence. "What would injuring her achieve? She isn't fully aware of what she's doing."
He stepped closer, reaching out a hand for me, and then just as suddenly he fell back. A sharp hiss rent the air with the sudden curl of a whiplash, burning and electric - Tom had dealt him a hex with the most subtle sleight of hand.
"I see... Yet another one who wants to test my patience this evening."
Tom clasped his pale hands together, "I assure you that now is not the time to defend your pathetic little friend, Xavier." He smiled broadly, his tone tilting in a dangerous manner, perched precariously on the cusp of both hilarity and rage. He was truly unhinged, and at this rate the most terrifying creature in the damn Forest.
Seconds felt like minutes. My hands began to shake and I was frozen, not knowing what to do. The trauma I had experienced seemed to have cut into the fabric of my mind, and with no chance to heal the black abyss I was feeling inside myself it seemed to worsen, turning into a tight feeling in my chest which restricted my breathing. I sat up, but I still couldn't tear my eyes away from the sight displayed before me.
Professor Pickerell stared blankly up at the darkened canopy of trees above our heads with the bewildered expression of someone who was both surprised and horrified.
"Did you just kill Professor Pickerell?" Xavier sounded utterly dumbfounded.
"Not just yet." Tom said, sounding as though he hadn't ruled out the idea. "Perhaps later, I would like first to see how this evening plays out. As for now, she is fine. See for yourself."
He raised his wand in his left hand, pointed it down at her wounds and performed what looked like a quick counter- curse.
At once Professor Pickerell's blood soaked attire slowly become clean and only drenched in rain again. With a great, rattling gasp she sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.
"What was the point of that?" Said Xavier.
"A mere hint of what I am capable of, when pushed past endurance." Tom answered silkily. "Hermione Granger is lucky enough to experience that in full, tonight. Aren't you?" He asked me.
I swallowed, my throat was extremely dry and I coughed.
"Tom," Professor Pickerell gasped, speaking up suddenly, "Why did you do this to me?"
"You are a teacher at this School, are you not?" Tom asked her. "I was just showing everyone here that you have the ability to heal yourself." He smiled like this was all some kind of big joke. "Surely you knew exactly how, and perhaps next time you won't deliberate. We almost thought you didn't have the skill."
I watched all of this happen as if from a great distance away.
"Look at Hermione. I think she is in shock." Someone said.
I wasn't listening, I was trying to focus on the feeling of the ground beneath me, and the cold sting of the wind.
"I read somewhere that trauma can do that to people. Make them seem docile..."
More voices. And then...
"Mind control requires traumatic experiences in order for the victim's superior to get a necessary grip on the mind." Tom was explaining.
"Pain splinters people, making them weak and easier to dominate. So if the rumours were true, and Hermione were really as extraordinary as me, she would have maintained her strength, would she not?"
I heard his footsteps near me, and felt the familiar feeling of fear.
"Stand in the Circle," He told me in a low voice, "Or I will personally make you pay for your mistake later, in the same Circle every evening for the rest of the month."
I lurched to my feet, shivering from fear and cold. Tom grabbed me with both hands, shoving me roughly forward.
I stepped inside the Circle gingerly. Instantaneously the Runes carved into the dirt surrounding me instantly lit up brightly as if with phosphorescent ink, and I felt a wave of dizziness overcome me.
"Tonight is a very special occasion." Tom began. "It is finally time to welcome yet another into our Circle of Familiars. Tonight, Hermione Granger will depart from her former ways and become one of us."
No one cheered. No one said anything at all.
"Of course, on many occasions she has made a fool out of me," He said, and his tone of voice was edged with unspoken aggression. "This back and forth, this power play that you all have seen between us has happened time and time again, simply because I allowed it to. However, it all ends here. For this ceremony she will not be conscious. I cannot afford my plans to be destroyed after I so carefully went to all the effort of making them."
Tom pointed his wand directly at me, and I fell backwards onto the ground, asleep.
