A/N – The storyline is based completely off the new Alice in Wonderland movie with Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska. Watching the movie will help you get a better feel on this fanfic, and listening to the soundtrack is fun too (even though I know that most of you won't, it really gives you the Wonderland feel).
Granger in Wonderland
The Trio's 2nd year at Hogwarts
"The nightmare again?" Harry asked.
The firelight was insufficient and was casting an eerie flicker across the few remaining habitants of the tower. Hermione was languidly stroking her cat, Crookshanks, and looked ahead with cloudy eyes.
"Yes, I… I'm falling into a book, a dark book sometimes, but it changes… it's hard to explain," Hermione scrunched up her face trying to find the right words, but she knew it was hopeless.
"You're not making any sense, Hermione," Harry sighed while rubbing his eyes.
Hermione plowed on, insistent on remembering, "Then, I see strange creatures. You're there, or rather, someone who looks just like you. Ron, Luna, even Neville. Dumbledore, Professor Snape… Voldemort too."
"Don't worry Hermione, it's just a dream," Harry said in a soothing voice, rubbing her shoulder and casting a haphazard look over his shoulder to where Ron was playing a game of exploding snap with Ginny.
"It's just that it's so very odd," Hermione wrinkled her eyebrows again. She paused with dread and turned to Harry once more, wringing her hands together.
"Do you think I've gone round the bend?" She implored with wide eyes. Harry chuckled quietly at her question and turned to face her. They were sitting in front of a crackling fire on the couch in the Gryffindor common room on a quiet evening.
Harry leaned forward and placed the back of his hand on her forehead and said quite seriously, "I'm afraid so. You're mad, bonkers, off your head. But I'll tell you a secret," he cracked his famous crooked smile, "All the best people are. It's only a dream, Hermione, nothing can harm you there. But if you get too frightened you can always do what I do," Harry said.
"And that is?"
Harry looked around furtively as if he were about to tell the greatest secret in the world. He leaned over to her ear conspiratorially and took a dramatic breath in.
"Well, out with it!"
And then he pinched her, right in her most ticklish spot. She squealed in laughter and attempted to fend him off, giggling madly, the dream momentarily forgotten as they fought like the siblings neither of them ever had.
The Trio's 7th year
The morning dawned clear and cool. As it was the first of October, the first Hogsmeade visit of the year had arrived as well as a special surprise for two-thirds of the Gryffindor Trio. Many students were chatting excitedly as they lined up to get past Filch who was checking permission slips and snarling about it.
The trio had walked far down the long path from the castle towards the beautiful village of Hogsmeade when Hermione finally spoke.
"Must we go?" She whined to the boys who were flanking her sides. "I doubt they'd notice if we never arrived."
"They would notice, Harry's the most famous wizard in the wizarding world!" Ron exclaimed wildly, much to Harry's dismay.
The boys were both dressed in their orange Chudley Cannon jerseys and bright orange hats to match. The hats had two black embroidered C's and a speeding cannon ball that was charmed to circle around the brim. Hermione was of the opinion that they looked like ridiculous fools. She did not have any desire to attend this Quidditch soiree, but she had promised Harry she would go in a fit of insanity some weeks ago. She let her mind wander as they entered the village.
"Where's your jersey, Hermione?" Ron scowled down at her normal muggle clothing – without a stitch of orange at all.
"I don't even like the Chuldry Cannons," Hermione sniffed.
"It's Chudley," Harry scoffed. "And no hat?"
Hermione glowered in their general direction, "I don't believe in wearing outlandish hats that will only make my hair even bushier than it already is. Would either of you wear a pink tutu if I asked you to go with me somewhere that required one?"
Ron looked outraged, "Of course I wouldn't, that's ridiculous!"
"To me, a pink tutu is like that orange jersey," Hermione jeered.
Both boys frowned at her and Ron even rolled his eyes in a dramatic fashion, to which Hermione just crossed her arms and looked forward.
After some moments and as if he could not stop himself, Ron spoke again, "But you're not dressed properly! I can't believe we got invited to this event, this is the best day of my life," Ron exclaimed excitedly. "Ginny and Fred and George are already there of course. Who knew what they had to do to get an invite…" Ron muttered. Hermione let her mind wander to the previous night while the boys rambled on between themselves.
When they finally reached the village, Harry realized that Hermione had not spoken for a notable length of time. When he looked over at her, she had a glazed look on her eyes, one he knew quite well. She was off in Hermione-land, lost to the world.
"Hermione," Harry said. No response.
"Hermione," He said louder. She just kept on walked mechanically, not hearing his voice.
So he waved a hand in front of her face and she finally snapped out of it and offered him a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, I'm tired. I didn't sleep well last night," She explained apologetically.
"Did you have bad dreams again?" Ron asked over at her. She had not given away full details about the dream to Ron, knowing that he would just take the mickey out of her as usual. Whenever it came up she just said it was 'a bad dream' and left it at that, assuming he would chalk it up to all the recent Death Eater activity.
"Only one," Hermione said, looking bothered. "It's always the same, ever since I can remember. Do you think that's normal? Don't most people have different dreams?"
Ron gave his well-known shrug and screwed up his face in thought before exclaiming, "I dunno. How the bloody hell would I know something like that?"
Ron reached down and took off the necklace that he was wearing around his neck. A fake golden snitch hung from it and Hermione thought it gaudy and perfectly horrible. She allowed him to put it on her, however, and grinned as genuinely as she could when he said, "Now, can you manage a smile?"
"Finally!" Fred exclaimed loudly as soon as they entered the Quidditch shop in Hogsmeade.
"We thought you'd never get here!" George said, grabbing hold of Ron while Fred did the same to Harry. The twins pulled them quickly through the growing sea of orange and Hermione had no choice but to follow.
They pushed and shoved through the crowd until they were near the very front, though no Quidditch players were yet visible.
"You do realize it's well past four and they could have shown up by now!" Fred shouted loudly, though it was obvious he only liked causing a scene and was not actually angry.
"Well we got caught up doing –" Harry started, but George cut him off.
"Oh never mind, here they come!" And Fred, George, Harry, and Ron all broke out into identical grins as the crowd behind them went wild.
The seven Chudley Cannons players, all male, walked into sight from a side door that Hermione had not previously noticed as she wasn't paying the least bit of attention. She was busy wondering if the ministry kept Kneazles at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and thought she ought to ask Crookshanks if he would like to be a part of the task force if so.
"Too bad Sirius couldn't be here!" Harry yelled over the claps and cheers of the crowd, and Hermione's thoughts.
"Yea I know! That would have been brilliant!" Ron roared, still clapping wildly as the players waved to the crowd and sported beaming white smiles.
"What?" Harry asked loudly.
"I said that would have been brilliant!" Ron yelled out again.
"WHAT'S THAT?" Harry shouted. The crowd was simply too loud. Hermione sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead; she should have brought a book.
The crowd eventually simmered down a little and a line formed somewhere in the corner where a few of the players were signing autographs. Another few players, including Ron's favorite, were giving speeches about Merlin only knew what. Hermione had checked out, and was hardly aware of Ron and Harry dragging her to one side of the room for meet and greets.
"Don't you ever tire of thinking about Quidditch?" Hermione asked honestly when they were away from the larger portion of the crowd.
"I happen to find it bloody amazing, actually, so no," Harry responded distractedly. There were only two people front of them in line so the boys were hardly paying much attention to her or her scathing remarks.
Hermione snorted loudly at his comment and stared off into the distance with a ghost of a smile on her face. Maybe she could just sneak off and…
"Do you think this is funny, Hermione? This is the best day of my life! I can die a happy man now. I can go home and Avada myself and I won't even care, not one bit," Ron remarked, wildly flinging his arm around and hitting Harry in the side of the head, though the-boy-who-lived took no notice at all.
"No, I don't think it's funny, I just had an amusing vision of all of the people around me turning into blast-ended skrewts and all the brooms into hinkypunks" Hermione explained, smiling.
"It would be best to keep your visions to yourself," Ron grunted, "When in doubt, remain silent."
And then it was the boys turn in line, so Hermione dutifully rolled her eyes and stepped forward to meet two of the players who were swathed in orange robes and were leaning on their shiny brooms. Hermione stayed towards the back while the two players chatted with Harry and Ron. It was Ron's lucky day that the two Quidditch stars seemed to be as excited to meet the boys as the boys were to meet them. Hermione spaced out again and tried to nod along in all the right places, but she began to think about visiting the restricted section later that evening when they finally returned to the castle. She had some things she wanted to look up concerning Legilimency …
When she came to, Harry was waving a hand in front of her face again and one of the players was looking at her with a scowl, as if it was completely rude for her to be enthralled in anything but himself.
"Sorry about her," Harry apologized to the sullen player, "Hermione's been a little distracted today."
"Don't embarrass me!" Ron leaned towards her, whispering loudly, "What in Merlin's name are you thinking about this time?"
"I was just thinking about learning Legilimency this year," Hermione explained.
"And you're thinking about this now because…?" Ron implored, sending a sheepish smile towards his idols that were now too busy tittering to Harry to notice.
"Honestly Ronald, there is more to life than Quidditch and I think it would be a really good idea if you two would start thinking more about what we are going to do to finally beat Voldemort." She ignored his violent twitch at the sound of the name. "There's only one more you-know-what to destroy and then…"Hermione began.
"Why would you spend this time thinking about such an impossible thing?" Ron asked exasperatedly.
"Why wouldn't I? Dumbledore once told me that he sometimes thought of six impossible things before breakfast," Hermione laughed. Harry then motioned to Ron to say a few last words to the players as the excited people behind them were starting to get annoyed at how long they had been talking.
When they left the Quidditch shop it was all the two boys could talk about. Hermione drifted slowly away after promising to meet Ron in The Three Broomsticks in an hour, happy to be out of earshot of more Quidditch talk. Just when she started to become immersed in her own thoughts again, Fred and George popped up on either side of her, looping their arms through hers and sporting identical grins. She was immediately suspicious.
"We've got a secret to tell you," they blurted out simultaneously.
"Well if you're telling me, then it's not much of a secret, is it?" Hermione stated plainly, casting shifty glances at them out of the corners of her eyes.
They looked rather pleased and peered at each other over her head.
"Perhaps we shouldn't tell her," George said winking at his brother.
"We decided we should," Fred said grinning madly.
"If we tell her, she won't be surprised," George said, leaning down in front of her face.
"Will you be surprised?" Fred asked, pushing George's face out of the way and smiling at her madly.
"Not if you tell me," Hermione said, scrunching up her face. "But now you've brought it up you've got to tell me!"
"No we don't," Fred alleged smugly.
"In fact, we won't," George smiled. They cackled simultaneously. Hermione, however, was very used to this type of behavior and was not about to give up without a fight.
"I wonder if Molly knows that it was you two who magically glued those garden gnomes to every door in The Burrow over the summer hols," Hermione quipped flippantly examining her nails in mock interest.
"You wouldn't," Fred said with a stricken face.
"Oh but I would," Hermione deadpanned. "In fact, I've got a bit of spare time left before I have to head back to the dormitory later, so perhaps I might make a stop by the Owlery and send out a quick letter. I've been meaning to write her, anyway."
The twins exchanged glances and nodded almost imperceptibly. At the same time they exclaimed, "Ickle Ronnikins is going to ask you out!"
"We think he's daft of course," Fred began.
"But how is that any different from usual?" George said to an eagerly nodding Fred.
Just then, the elusive Ginny appeared from behind them. "You ruined the surprise!" She yelled. She hit her brothers in the back of the heads and led a stunned Hermione away. Their laughter could still be heard in the distance as Ginny led the two of them into a store Hermione had only been in twice before; Gladrag's Wizardwear.
"Ohhh, I could strangle them! And after everything I've done to keep it a secret," Ginny said exasperatedly as they weaved in and out of clothes stands.
"Does everyone know?" Hermione implored while Ginny picked up varying dress robes here and there.
Ginny nodded. "That's why they even bothered to ask you to come to that Quidditch event today, to make sure you came to Hogsmeade at all," Ginny explained, grabbing a few more things and putting a few more down.
"Well that's rubbish, everyone knows I despise Quidditch," Hermione frowned.
"Boys," was Ginny's simple answer. "Here, try this on."
She handed Hermione a pretty light blue summer dress that was a little inappropriate for the windy October day. Hermione started to argue with her but Ginny's no-nonsense look told her to just get it over with quickly. There was no fighting with Ginny when she donned that look. The dress was shimmery pale lapis and lined with silver. Though Hermione could not think of a reason she would ever wear it, she had to admit it was lovely.
When she emerged, Ginny gasped in her typical dramatic fashion and dragged her friend to the register and paid for it, much to Hermione's insistence that a late birthday present was hardly necessary. Ginny ignored her and insisted she wear it the rest of the day. Hermione huffed at the prospect but admitted temporary defeat- she would just change as soon as she got back up to Gryffindor tower. She was at least relieved when they left the shop and headed towards a book shop that she frequented often.
They wandered a bit through the store before Ginny spoke again. "Ron's been planning on asking you out on the first Hogsmeade visit for ages, and when you say yes…"
"But I don't know if I even want to go out with Ron," Hermione said furrowing her brow. Ginny quickly turned around to look at her.
"Who then? You can't do much better than my brother," Ginny explained as if it was obvious. Hermione had sudden flashbacks of all the stupid things Ron had done in the past; breaking his wand, having that slug-eating hex rebound on him, asking out Fleur Delacour…
"You're going to graduate at the end of the year, and then your prospects are lower because you won't be surrounded by fit young guys anymore. And who knows, maybe Ron will meet someone else and then what? You haven't really dated anyone besides Krum, and he hardly counts, " Ginny went on, placing her hands on each of Hermione's shoulders. "Plus, you don't want to end up like McGonagall, do you?"
"Well, no…" Hermione said slowly.
"And you know mum already loves you," Ginny urged on. Hermione closed her mouth, thinking.
At this, Ginny smiled and accepted her small victory. "So, you'll go out with my brother, and you guys will be as happy as I am with Harry. Your last year at Hogwarts will be perfect, it's already decided!" Ginny practically squealed in delight, likely at some perfectly ridiculous fantasy of double dates and Circe only knew what else.
They delved deeper into the very back of the bookstore where they kept some of the rarer books which were kept behind many protective enchantments.
"You know what I've always hoped for?" Ginny asked, as Hermione asked the clerk to look at a book. As she was a regular, there was no problem.
"The decline of Voldemort's reign?" Hermione suggested.
"Well, eventually we might be real sisters!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Well technically we would never be real sisters because that's only of course, by birth. Unless of course you somehow managed to get a hold of some dark spell that morphs your mum and my mum together and your dad and mine together. Of course that would make me and Ron siblings…" Hermione said distractedly. She had just remembered a book that mentioned a dark spell that could essentially turn two people into one.
"What an odd thing to say," Ginny said, looking at her strangely.
Hermione coughed awkwardly and put the book she was holding back on the shelf and reached for another. Ginny was prattling on about Ron's digestion when something suddenly caught Hermione's eye in a dark corner of the room. It was terribly hard to make out, but it was definitely in the reference section – somewhere most witches and wizards would never go.
"Did you see that?" Hermione questioned, interrupting Ginny's tirade and peering into the darkness.
"See what?" Ginny asked curiously, looking over to where Hermione was looking, but seeing nothing of any interest.
"I'm not sure… Maybe I'm seeing things," Hermione said, shaking her head.
Ginny shrugged and continued on her long winded rant about Ron's foul eating routines. But Hermione was already preoccupied. She could have sworn she had just seen a flash of something again, but now it was in a different corner of the reference section. A grey light glimmered, though, to her knowledge, there was nothing to reflect off of in that section.
"Did you see it that time?" Hermione said in a raised voice, pointing to the corner.
"See what?" Ginny asked, throwing up her hands in annoyance.
"That light! I'm telling you I saw something back there!"
"I don't see anything Hermione, and you're not even paying attention to me! They mentioned you have been rather distracted lately but Merlin!" Ginny said melodramatically. "Now what was I saying?"
"Ron eats like a pig," Hermione said bluntly.
"Oh yea," Ginny responded. She opened her mouth to start up again when Hermione saw it again, this time brighter and more unmistakable than before. She could not quite place the color of the light, now that she thought of it. Can your mind invent a whole new color?
"I couldn't be more interested, Ginny, really, but I simply must be going!" Hermione said, thrusting the book she was holding into Ginny's arms.
Offering no other excuse, she pushed past Ginny to follow after the light which was now moving steadily away from her through a door that she had never seen before. The faster she ran, the faster the light floated ahead of her. Through the strange door, down a dimly lit hallway lined with only a few torches, she turned this way and that, only barely keeping up with the light when suddenly she turned a corner and…
… was back on the busy street of Hogsmeade. The light had vanished. Confused, she turned around but found that she was looking at the front entrance to the bookshop she had just left, though she had exited from a different door, she knew. Right?
But before she could even begin to think about what just happened, McGonagall was approaching her.
"Oh hello, Hermione!" Her professor said excitedly. "Wonderful day, isn't it?"
Hermione nodded, confused.
"Where is the other two thirds of the Golden Trio, if I may ask? I've been meaning to have a talk with Mr. Weasley about a certain scroll he turned into me with only three lines of writing on it," McGonagall smiled benignly.
Hermione ignored her Professor for the first time in her life and blurted out, "I think I'm going mad. I keep seeing this floating light and then I came out of that shop just there, but I could have sworn I left from a different door…"
McGonagall frowned and placed a friendly hand upon her the young girl's shoulder.
"Maybe you're studying too much already, Hermione. You have been known to do these things. While I can hardly believe I'm saying this, as a professor, but your NEWTS are months away and out of all students I'm sure you are the most prepared," McGonagall said to her favorite student.
But then Hermione saw something just behind her Professor, shining oddly in the sunlight, weaving unknown between passerby's legs. None of them seemed to notice it as it flickered between their feet and raced along the street.
"There!" Hermione yelled out, pointing. McGonagall looked alarmed and whipped her head around searching, but found nothing. She turned back to the brown haired girl in front of her and studied her face.
"Hermione, perhaps you should go see madam Pomphrey when you get back up to the castle. I think you might need to take a calming drought," McGonagall said with wide eyes. She had never seen Hermione behave this way.
Hermione didn't bother to reply, but simply took off in search of the light again which she could only barely catch a short glimpse of due to all of all the pedestrians moving about. She pushed and shoved her way through them, earning several glares and more than a few indignant yells. But just as she got close enough to keep a good eye on it, Ron popped out of nowhere.
"There you are!" He exclaimed and dragged her into a nearby shop, which she just noticed was The Three Broomsticks.
Furious at his interruption, but with no excuse in mind, she grudgingly followed him to a table where Harry, Ginny, Fred, and George were already seated, holding butter beers. Everyone became quiet when she sat down and Fred and George elbowed each other and pointed at her pretty blue dress. Hermione quickly forgot her previous impatient task of catching the elusive light. In its place sat a very awkward feeling of being watched and smothered. Hermione hoped that Ron was not going to be so absurd as to ask her out in front of everyone.
When she sat down in the only empty seat beside him, he turned to her and grabbed both of her hands in his. The table remained eerily silent.
"Hermione Granger," he said awkwardly and formally.
"Ron…" And all she could think of was how horribly his orange jersey clashed with his hair.
There was a long pause, and then finally came what she had been dreading.
"Will you go out with me?" It was so sudden and tactless and his huge grin made her feel strange. Like she wanted to laugh and feel sorry for him all at the same time. It made her feel a little itchy too, if truth be told. And in front of all these people…
A distinctly long silent moment passed before Hermione cast a short glance at all the people at their table who were blatantly listening.
"Well, everyone expects me to," Hermione began. "And your mother already likes me…"
At this, Ginny cast Harry a grin, before returning to the current spectacle at hand.
"And we'll soon we'll be out of Hogwarts, getting jobs and things," Hermione continued uncomfortably. She looked around at all the expectant faces that surrounded her. Then she slowly pulled her hands from Ron's grasp.
"But this is so sudden. And in front of all these people, I just…"Hermione looked around nervously. "I think I…"
Ron looked at her blankly, afraid of her response but not yet willing to give up hope.
"I think I…" she repeated, looking at each of their faces.
And then it was there again, floating near her seat, weaving silently and stealthily through the bar stools, and for all the notice it got, it might as well have not been there at all.
"I need a moment," Hermione said, and abruptly stood, causing her stool to creak against the dirty wood floor. Everyone looked at her with wide eyes, but no one, even Ron, said a thing.
She took off running, practically flying through the tables, avoiding other customers and trying desperately to simultaneously not trip and keep her eye on the shimmering light that had made its way towards the door. She watched as it slipped under the door and floated back into the busy street of Hogsmeade. She followed it through the throngs of people. She followed it into Zonko's Joke Shop and back out again, running over a few third years in the process. But she could not be stopped. She was closing in on it, only it had now turned a corner and was heading down a street she had never been on. But she could not go back to her friends, to Ron, just yet – so she ran further. She ran and ran, turned left and right, went down this street and another, and another, and another.
Finally, she watched as it slithered under the door to a shop she had never even heard of on a street corner that she had never been on – Quizzical Questions. Although she had no idea what the shop even contained, for once she was not curious. Bursting through the door and ignoring the yells from the elderly shop keeper at the front desk, she followed the light down yet another dimly lit hallway. The yells faded as she followed the light down a set of stairs, and then another. Just when she thought she was going to pass out from exertion, she spotted the shimmery light, somewhat similar in appearance to an extracted memory meant for a pensieve. It was floating meditatively in the dark corner of what appeared to be a storage facility. There were boxes and questionable devices lying here and there and it was quite chilly, but Hermione shook this off and approached the elusive light. In only a few steps she was right in front of it, reaching out to touch it…
It simply disappeared.
Hermione blinked a few times, briefly torn between rage and exhaustion. She thought about just admitting defeat and returning to Hogwarts when she noticed that lying just below where the light disappeared sat a very large book. Its cover was shimmery if you looked at it the right way, though it was obviously very old. The cover was so torn up that the title couldn't even be read. In some spots, the ragged cover swirled black and white and sometimes gray, or maybe that was just a trick of the light.
Mesmerized, she reached forward to turn the cover when she abruptly felt her lungs constrict and her breath ripped from her throat. She felt herself being sucked in headfirst in the book's rapidly flipping pages, urged by an impossible gust of sudden wind. She was trickling rapidly into the pages as if she were only a made of sand.
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