Magical Condemnation

Although the magic to enact the spell had come from Harry, the mark had been created using her own magic. It had come from within herself and was being sustained by her own magical core. All Harry's magic had done was identify her as the person he was calling for judgement against.

Nothing anyone else, including Harry, did now could remove it. And it was her own inherent magic that would keep it nice and fresh until the day she began to atone. All of the witnesses knew that even if they didn't conscious realize it. This magic they'd just witnessed was engrained in their very beings though none could say they knew exactly what Harry had just done to Granger.

Hermione only felt a slight tingle in her face where the rune was and she turned to Ron with a question in her eyes. "What did he do to me, Ron? Why does my face itch now?" She tentatively reached a hand towards her stinging and itching cheek.

Ronald, still silenced by Harry's wandless, wordless charm couldn't say a word to answer her. He was gaping at her wide-eyed and in terror as he looked from Hermione to Harry and back again. He backed away from Harry coming up flush against the librarian who was also studying Harry in just as much surprise as the Potions Professor hidden in the stacks. The Slytherin students were giving Harry appraising looks alternating with looks of smug satisfaction at the stunned and confused trio and wonderment towards their teacher in the stacks.

"Ron," Hermione said in a slightly louder voice. She spun towards Ginerva inadvertently giving the other half of the packed library a chance for a good look at the mark. Now it was the Ravenclaws turn to get a good look at her marked face. The Ravenclaw Tower had a good number of students there just as the Slytherins did. They wouldn't be Ravens if they weren't haunting the library whenever it was open and they had a free period. Like the Slytherins, they too had taken note of the conversation and made notes as to what was said when and by whom. Unlike the Slytherins though most of them knew something of what Harry had done to the proud Gryffindor.

"Ginny! What did he do to me? What is wrong with my face?"

Ginerva spoke in a quivering voice since it was clear Ron couldn't seem to find his. "He marked you. There's some kind of a rune tattooed on your cheek now. It's dark and an angry red. Before you ask, no. I don't know what it is. Nor do I know the spell he used to make it appear there. So no, I can't remove it for you. Remember, I don't take runes. I take Creature Care and Divination. So even if I did know how he did it, I doubt I could remove it or read it for you. Neither would Ron."

Hermione whirled around to face Harry again and angrily demanded, "Remove it. Now! How dare you do this to me! I don't deserve this. All I've ever done is try to help you and you do this to me? What kind of an ungrateful brat are you? Well, you just showed everyone Professor Snape is right about you. You're just a bully with delusions of grandeur trading on his fame because that's all you have. You had no right to go marking me with anything, Harry Potter. If you don't remove it right this instant, I'll make you regret it until your dying day which won't come soon enough for you. I'll ask the Headmaster to throw you out of this school, Harry Potter. Let's see how far your fame will get you then," she finished with an angry sneer.

Harry pulled a thin, off-white booklet from his stack of reading material and threw it onto the tabletop with a smack. Madam Pince immediately recognized the booklet as one the Weasely Twins had read last term and seemed to spend a lot of time studying. Now she knew why. Those twins! They got into the strangest things.

"Well, now, you see that's where you're wrong. I checked it very carefully just to make certain I do indeed have the right to do what I just did to you."

"This is the magical world, Hermione Jean Granger of no family and no bloodline. In the Muggle World, while your actions might get you kicked out of school or sent to a Juvenile Facility for a few years after a day or two in court, here it's a different story. Everyone has been telling you since you first set foot in this world, life is lived by a different code here. We told you that over and over again. Like when you were trying to save Buckbeak from Draco's Dad. Or when you wanted to free all the house-elves who don't want to be free. Or when the girls begin talking about their betrothal contracts. You won't listen. That isn't our fault. It's yours."

"But for today, your ignorance of this world doesn't matter. Today, that stubborn obstinacy has caught up with you."

"And, just for the record, you can't get me thrown out of Hogwarts. You're just a muggleborn with delusions of how you're something special and going to make something of yourself one day. I am not. I am already someone special. This society declared it when I was fifteen months old. Which is totally stupid. But what's more I am the Heir to House Potter. When I turn seventeen I will be somebody in this world."

"And if Professor Snape can't seem to get me thrown out of Hogwarts, which we all knows he's trying to do, what in Merlin's name do you honestly believe you can do to achieve it? Do you honestly believe you have more influence here with the Headmaster than he does?"

"You call me a bully. What in the Sam Hill do you think you're engaging in right now? Threatening me with expulsion just because you don't like how this conversation played out for you. But then you came in here expecting to bully me didn't you? Bully me into giving you a key to my trust vault so you could keep stealing from me. And now you're trying to bully me into undoing what I just went to so much trouble to do."

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