Hide Away

Chapter 2

"This tragic tale starts off at my home, a manor somewhere deep in muggle London," Mariama explained sorrowfully. "To fully understand I need to show you." With that, she waved her wand, and suddenly a stone basin, familiarly described by Harry, appeared on the coffee table.

"Isn't that a pensive?" Hermione gasped and reached her hand out to graze the rim. It was made of smooth polished stone and felt cold to the touch. "My friend Harry described a pensive to me once but I've never seen one in person before.

Mariama smiled softly and gently tapped her wand to her forehead. When she pulled the wand back, a silvery substance that didn't seem to be a solid or liquid was dragged out from her temple before being placed in the shallow dish.

"You ready?" Mariama asked her. When Hermione nodded, she began counting down with her fingers.

3

2

1

Hermione plunged her head into the bowl and suddenly a sensation of falling overtook her body. A few moments later, she landed on the ground with a loud, yet somehow painless, thump. Mariama landed next to her mere moments later, albeit, a little more gracefully.

Hermione sat up and examined the scene before her eyes. It appeared as though, they had landed inside the famed Zabini Manor. Looking around a bit more closely, she deduced that they were in the room of Mariama and her husband.

 A slightly younger-looking Mariama was sitting on the bed hugging her knees, her heart breaking sobs echoing in the massive bedroom. A dark skinned man with short cropped hair sat beside her and was rubbing circles on her back, also looking as though the world had ended. One glance at her bulging midsection and Hermione could tell that Mariama was most likely already pregnant with her, possibly five or six months along. 

"Oh Evan, how could he have us do something so terrible? How could he ask this of us?!" Mariama wailed, hugging her knee tighter.

"I know Mari, I know, but there is nothing we can do. There is no other way." The man, Evan, responded, his eyes blank.

Something inside Mariama seemed to snap at those words and she sat up straight, letting her legs fall to the floor. She turned and glared at Evan. "Evander Edmund Zabini! How could you say that?" she growled, eyes full of fire. "There is always. another. way. I am not surrendering my firstborn child, my baby girl, to the undeserving Dark Lord."

Evan looked around nervously and made a motion of shushing Mariama. "Hush darling. You never know when he is listening."

Mariama slapped his hand down. "I don't care! Let him come if he must! But I swear on everything I stand for that I am not letting him have my baby, no matter how much he tortures me. Hell, he can kill me before he can have her."

Hermione stared at the real Mariama with new found admiration. She kind of reminded Hermione of Harry's mother. Both were determined to protect their child even if it cost them their life.

"Honey, I admire your bravery but this is You Know Who we're talking about. He's not someone you ought to trifle with." Evan said, desperation in his eyes.

"Don't you honey me!" Mariama replied shrilly and jumped up. "When my daughter is born, I will do whatever it takes to make sure the Dark Lord doesn't lay one bony finger on her. With or without your help." She spat and stormed out of the room, with mutters of , "My own damn husband."

Suddenly the memory shifted and it pictured a slightly more careworn Mariama. She was writing something on a piece of parchment by candlelight and there looked to be a small bundle in a little rocking crib next to her. I watched as she tucked the finished letter into an envelope as she rocked the crib back and forth, the candlelight illuminating her beautiful face.