A/N- This idea started out as an idea for one of my other stories, probably
'please help me with a title'. But I had so many things I wanted to do with
it that I decided to make it a story in its own right. I hope you like it!
This is dedicated to my music teacher Mrs. Bond, who gave me, (along with
all the other cast members who appeared in the Spring Concert), a day off
today. Thank you!
Disclaimer- All Harry Potter type-thingy-me-bobs belong J.K. Rowling- sob!
Chapter One- Christmas time, mistletoe and chocolate frogs…
Hermione Granger woke up with a start as she felt a heavy object jump onto the end of her bed. Her eyes snapped open to reveal Ginny Weasley, one of her best friends, sitting at the end of it with a big grin on her face and a string of magical tinsel tied around her neck. Magical tinsel was different to the Muggle stuff, in the way it shimmered, sparkled, changed colour and had shooting stars all over it that actually moved.
Hermione yawned and sat up. "Good morning Ginny." She said, reaching automatically for her hairbrush. Ginny grinned and passed it to her. "Good morning to you too, Hermione. Merry Christmas." Hermione's eyes widened. It was Christmas day, and she had completely forgotten! She grinned, and quickly tied her unruly hair into a ponytail. "Merry Christmas." She said. "Did you bring your presents in here?" Ginny nodded and pointed over to Parvati Patil's empty bed, which was covered in different sized parcels.
Hermione tried to move her legs, but found that Ginny was sitting on them. Realising this, the younger girl quickly jumped up with a grin on her face, and moved over to her presents. Ten minutes of unwrapping followed, and soon both girls had several boxes of sweets, a Christmas cake each (from Hagrid) and a Weasley jumper. Ginny's was green, and sparkled with tiny silver threads her mother had expertly woven into the material. Hermione's was the same, but in baby blue.
Hermione opened her second to last present (from her best friend, Harry Potter and her other best friend, (and yes, her boyfriend) Ron Weasley), and gasped. It was a custom-made Flourish and Blotts book, something Hermione had seen in Diagon Alley in the summer and found quite funny. Each book was about one person, usually the person it was bought for. Sure enough, this one was entitled- Hermione Granger: A History. Hermione rolled her eyes. Trust Harry and Ron to make fun of her love for the book Hogwarts: A History. She opened the book with interest. On the front cover was a message written by her friends-
Merry Christmas Hermione! Hope you like this, but if you don't, well, there's not much you can do about it! From the most brilliant people in the whole wide world, Harry and Ron.
Hermione laughed, and flicked through the book eagerly. It was all about her, and she could hardly believe it. She had never thought she was interesting enough to fill an entire book. Hermione would have liked nothing better than to sit back and read it right at that very moment, but she knew that on Christmas morning the chances of her being allowed to read a book were minimal. In fact they were non-existent.
She grinned, put the book down reluctantly, and turned to Ginny, who was sitting with a grin on her face. "Do you like it? I've already seen it- it's so funny! Did you really try to walk out of a library once with ten books before checking them out?" she asked, with an evil smirk. Hermione's mouth dropped open in surprise. "How did they find out about that?" She cried, picking up the book again.
Ginny laughed. "You'd be surprised what they editing people who do those books can turn up." She said wickedly. Hermione put the book back down and grinned. "I'm going to have to read that book very carefully tonight." She told Ginny, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "Have you seen my necklace anywhere?" She yawned.
Ginny pointed at a spot on the floor underneath Hermione's bed. Hermione stooped down and picked up the silver necklace, that had a tiny silver cat pendant on it, that stretched and moved and slept like a real cat. Ron had given it to her for her birthday earlier that year, and she wore it everywhere.
Ginny shook her head as Hermione fastened the chain around her neck. "I still don't know what possessed you to start going out with my brother." She said in disbelief. Hermione rolled her eyes. She and Ginny had had this conversation at least twice a week for ten months. With a sigh, she gave the answer she always gave, and Ginny mouthed along; "You know why Gin. And will you shut up about it?"
Hermione started towards the door, but Ginny cleared her throat loudly. "You've got another present to open still." She said, pointing at her bed. Sure enough, Hermione had left one unopened. She picked it up and read the tag.
Merry Christmas Hermione- Gred and Feorge.
Hermione looked up at Ginny. "It's from Fred and George." She said in a surprised voice. Ginny smiled. "I was expecting that. Now they own a shop, they're going to let everyone know they're making money by buying presents for everyone." Hermione laughed and started to open the present.
"What did they get you?" She asked Ginny. "Chocolate frogs." She answered, standing up and getting ready to go. Hermione ripped off the rest of the wrapping paper and smiled. "Snap." She said, holding up the box of sweets. She prised off the lid and picked up a chocolate frog. She examined it carefully for a moment, and then took off the foil surrounding it and ate the frog in one piece. Hermione loved chocolate frogs, though she could never tell her parents that.
Ginny nodded to the door. "Come on then. I can't believe you're eating chocolate this early in the morning." She said, starting to walk towards it. She had reached the door and was pulling it open before she was aware that Hermione wasn't following her. She turned around and shrieked.
Hermione was lying on the floor, obviously unconscious. Her eyes were closed and she was still breathing, but she looked like she had fainted. Ginny started forward, her heart in her throat, when her eyes fell on the figure lying on the floor next to Hermione, her feet touching hers, and stretched out in the opposite direction. Ginny screamed. It was Hermione. But the other one was Hermione, but then…
Ginny's mind swam as her eyes travelled between the two Hermiones, who were both wearing the exact same clothes and had the exact same, peaceful expressions on their faces. They were also in the same position. If Ginny hadn't known better, she would have thought there was a mirror at Hermione's feet.
Ginny stood still for a moment, undecided on what she should do. Then she realised that she didn't know, and she had to get help. Ginny ran out of the room, and down the spiral staircase. She ran across the common room and through the door up to the boy's dormitories. She ran up the staircase, not even looking where she was going, and that was why she ran headlong into Ron and Harry, who were walking down.
"Ginny! Who screamed?" Ron said, grabbing her by the wrists to stop her falling. She looked up at him, to tell him what had happened, but the words died on her lips. How the hell was she supposed to explain this?
Harry was standing behind Ron, and they both wore worried expressions on their faces. "Ginny, what happened?" Harry asked urgently. Ginny swallowed. "It's, it's…" She tried to speak, but still the words wouldn't come.
Ron looked over her shoulder. "Where's Hermione?" He asked suddenly. Ginny looked at him fearfully, and in that split second, Ron and Harry seemed to realise what was going on. Ron let go of Ginny, and the three of them ran down the staircase, into the common room, and back up the other one.
They reached the girl's room in record time. Ginny took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Harry and Ron walked in behind her; the worried looks more prominent than ever on their faces. Ginny stopped dead in her tracks and gasped. Hermione was sitting on the edge of her bed, sobbing with her heads in her hands. Ginny looked around the room for the other Hermione, but couldn't see her anywhere. She could have sworn…
Ron pushed past Ginny and approached Hermione, a little unsure of what to say. He hated it when she cried. Not only was there the obvious fact that she was unhappy about something, but he also never had any clue what to do about it. He swallowed. "Hermione? What's wrong?" He asked, crouching down in front of her. Hemione continued to cry, but now they could make out words through her sobs.
"She's…she's so mean. I didn't do…. But then she…she's so mean!" she said, her hands over her face and stifling her words. Ron frowned. This wasn't at all like Hermione. And who was she talking about anyway?
Ron turned to face Ginny and Harry, who were standing back a bit, looking uneasy. He stood up. "Who's she talking about?" Ron asked his sister. Ginny rubbed her neck; something she was prone to do whenever she was stressed or didn't know what to say. However, she was saved answering Ron's question by a voice from the girl's staircase. It was short and snappy, and made all three of them jump not only because they were the only four Gryffindors who had stayed for Christmas, but also because it sounded very familiar.
"What is it crying about now?" Ron, Ginny and Harry turned round to where the voice had come from. Harry's breath caught in his throat. Ron's eyes widened. Ginny swallowed hard.
It was Hermione.
Ron and Harry spun round to the Hermione sobbing on the bed. She was still there, and hadn't looked up at the other one. They looked back to the new Hermione, who was walking towards them with a dark look on her face, her eyes trained on the Hermione who was crying noisily.
She stopped at the side of the sofa, staring down at her mirror-image in disgust. She folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "Pathetic." She said scathingly, shaking her head in disbelief.
Ron and Harry glanced at each other uneasily. A few weeks ago, Draco Malfoy had called Hermione pathetic, and she had gone mad. Surely now Hermione- whichever one of these she was- was going to do the same thing.
Nothing happened, except she started to cry a little harder. The new Hermione rolled her eyes again and looked over at Ron, Harry and Ginny. "All I did was tell her to get out of my way." She said defiantly, shooting a contemptuous look in the crying Hermione's direction. Ron frowned and glanced at the other two. "Er, O.K." He said unsurely.
The crying Hermione stopped abruptly and sat up in bed. Her eyes flashed angrily. "No, it's not O.K." She cried, tears running down her face and choking her voice. "How can you say that?" She flung herself back onto the bed and sobbed harder than she had been earlier.
Ron looked very uneasy. He knelt up and put his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Hermione, don't cry. I didn't mean what I…"
"Don't touch her." Snapped the other Hermione, who was wearing a look of pure fury all over her face. Ron hand snapped back and he looked at her in surprise. "She's not Hermione. She's the anti- Hermione." She spat. Ron stood up. "Huh?" He managed to say.
The not-crying Hermione flipped her hair behind her shoulders and pursed her lips. "I'm Hermione. That," She pointed at the other one, who was now looking at her through bleary eyes. "That is the thing that has held me back all my life."
The Hermione on the bed sat up and sobbed; "I'm not a thing, I'm a person, and my name is Hermione." The other Hermione stamped her foot angrily. "You are not Hermione! I am!" She shouted. The Hermione on the bed put her hands over her ears and winced. "Do you have to shout? What's the point?" She asked quietly.
The Hermione who was standing up rolled her eyes. "That's you all over isn't it? There's no point, don't do that, oh we can't, what about Gryffindor, did we learn enough today? Blah blah blah…"
For a moment, the other Hermione looked like she was going to start crying again. But at the last moment, her lip stopped wobbling and she sat up straight, sticking up her chin defiantly. "Me? What about you? Someone called me a name, so let's go mad, I don't care if anything goes wrong, who cares about Gryffindor, you only live once so let's screw up the chance we've got now…"
The Hermione who was standing up listened to the other ones' speech with narrowed eyes. When she had finished, she looked just about ready to explode. They both did. But Harry stepped in before anything nasty could happen.
"Right, Hermione on the bed, sit there, be quiet and for heaven's sake do not start crying again. And you…" He turned to the other Hermione, who had been looking very smug during Harry's last sentence, "…other Hermione, you sit down there and don't say a word." He pointed at the wooden chair next to the mirror in the corner. The Hermione clicked her tongue angrily, but didn't say anything as she made her way over to the chair. The Hermione on the bed sniffed. Harry shot a look in her direction and she quickly swallowed back her oncoming tears.
"Thank you." Harry said calmly and diplomatically. He took a deep breath. "Right. Let's start at the beginning. What happened Ginny?" He asked, turning to her. Ginny had sat down helplessly at the end of Parvati's bed, amidst her unwrapped presents. When Harry spoke to her, she shook her head, trying to remember. "Um. Well, I brought all my presents in here, and I woke up Hermione, and…"
"Was she alright then?" Ron asked. Ginny nodded. "Yeah. There was nothing wrong with her that I could see. Anyway, we opened our presents, and then we went to leave the room. I realised she wasn't following me and I turned around, and she had fainted. So I started to go to her, when I saw, er," Ginny trailed off and glanced at the two Hermiones. She swallowed. "I saw another one of her, lying there like she had fainted as well. That's when I screamed and went running to find you two."
"Why did you scream?" Demanded the non-cryee Hermione, sitting in her chair in the corner. Ginny looked like she didn't know what to say, but was saved by answering anyway as Ron, Harry and the other Hermione all shushed her. Ron turned back to his sister.
"Something else must have happened. Think!" He sounded a bit desperate. 'Hardly surprising.' Ginny thought as she watched the two Hermiones sending evil glares in each other's directions. She looked down at her hand, unaware that she had sub-consciously been playing with a piece of ripped wrapping paper. Sky-blue paper with enchanted snow swirling over it. Fancy stuff; yet another piece of showing off by her brothers…
Ginny's head snapped up so fast that Ron was surprised she didn't get whiplash. She looked from one Hermione to another, her eyes darting between them like a pair of Golden Snitches on a Quidditch field. After a while she looked up at Ron, and sighed heavily. "Fred and George." She muttered darkly.
Ron frowned. "What could they have done? They're not even…" Ron's voice trailed off as he realised what his sister meant. He shook his head in disbelief. "They actually did it." He said, sounding a bit surprised. Ginny nodded, and stood up. "So what do we do? Do you think they took the time to make a cure?" Ron shook his head. "Doubt it." He said heavily.
"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" Harry demanded. Ron and Ginny glanced at each other, then at him, and finally at the two Hermiones. Ron looked over at his sister. "Hospital Wing." He said in a decided voice. Ginny nodded her agreement, and began to pull on her dressing gown, which she had left on Parvati's bed. Ron turned to Harry. "I'll explain on the way." He said, glancing at the two Hermiones again. Harry nodded, looking confused. The Hermiones, who had watched the conversation in relative silence, now began to speak.
"Who's going to the Hospital wing?"
"I'm not going anywhere."
"It's rude to interrupt."
"Oh, go and read a book."
"Break it up you two." Ron said, stepping in between them. "We're taking you both to the Hospital Wing whether you like it or not, so you can either come quietly, or you can be Stunned and levitated down there, just as quietly. It's your choice."
The Hermione on the bed nodded. "O.K. But there's not anything wrong, honestly!" Ron and Harry raised their eyebrows but thought it best not to comment. The Hermione in the chair pursed her lips again and shot a dirty look at the other Hermione. "Fine." She spat, standing up. "Let's hurry up then. I'm hungry." And with that she marched out of the door.
The other Hermione shuddered as she stood up. "She's so rude." She said disbelievingly. "Shut up and hurry up." Came an angry voice from on the staircase.
Ron, Harry and Ginny didn't say anything as they left the dormitory with the other Hermione, but they all had the same idea- get the real Hermione back as soon as possible, before they all went crazy.
That was really long- sorry! Anyway, next chapter will be a lot shorter, and up soon! (I promise). Please review. Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Pretty, beautiful please with…well, you get the idea.
Disclaimer- All Harry Potter type-thingy-me-bobs belong J.K. Rowling- sob!
Chapter One- Christmas time, mistletoe and chocolate frogs…
Hermione Granger woke up with a start as she felt a heavy object jump onto the end of her bed. Her eyes snapped open to reveal Ginny Weasley, one of her best friends, sitting at the end of it with a big grin on her face and a string of magical tinsel tied around her neck. Magical tinsel was different to the Muggle stuff, in the way it shimmered, sparkled, changed colour and had shooting stars all over it that actually moved.
Hermione yawned and sat up. "Good morning Ginny." She said, reaching automatically for her hairbrush. Ginny grinned and passed it to her. "Good morning to you too, Hermione. Merry Christmas." Hermione's eyes widened. It was Christmas day, and she had completely forgotten! She grinned, and quickly tied her unruly hair into a ponytail. "Merry Christmas." She said. "Did you bring your presents in here?" Ginny nodded and pointed over to Parvati Patil's empty bed, which was covered in different sized parcels.
Hermione tried to move her legs, but found that Ginny was sitting on them. Realising this, the younger girl quickly jumped up with a grin on her face, and moved over to her presents. Ten minutes of unwrapping followed, and soon both girls had several boxes of sweets, a Christmas cake each (from Hagrid) and a Weasley jumper. Ginny's was green, and sparkled with tiny silver threads her mother had expertly woven into the material. Hermione's was the same, but in baby blue.
Hermione opened her second to last present (from her best friend, Harry Potter and her other best friend, (and yes, her boyfriend) Ron Weasley), and gasped. It was a custom-made Flourish and Blotts book, something Hermione had seen in Diagon Alley in the summer and found quite funny. Each book was about one person, usually the person it was bought for. Sure enough, this one was entitled- Hermione Granger: A History. Hermione rolled her eyes. Trust Harry and Ron to make fun of her love for the book Hogwarts: A History. She opened the book with interest. On the front cover was a message written by her friends-
Merry Christmas Hermione! Hope you like this, but if you don't, well, there's not much you can do about it! From the most brilliant people in the whole wide world, Harry and Ron.
Hermione laughed, and flicked through the book eagerly. It was all about her, and she could hardly believe it. She had never thought she was interesting enough to fill an entire book. Hermione would have liked nothing better than to sit back and read it right at that very moment, but she knew that on Christmas morning the chances of her being allowed to read a book were minimal. In fact they were non-existent.
She grinned, put the book down reluctantly, and turned to Ginny, who was sitting with a grin on her face. "Do you like it? I've already seen it- it's so funny! Did you really try to walk out of a library once with ten books before checking them out?" she asked, with an evil smirk. Hermione's mouth dropped open in surprise. "How did they find out about that?" She cried, picking up the book again.
Ginny laughed. "You'd be surprised what they editing people who do those books can turn up." She said wickedly. Hermione put the book back down and grinned. "I'm going to have to read that book very carefully tonight." She told Ginny, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "Have you seen my necklace anywhere?" She yawned.
Ginny pointed at a spot on the floor underneath Hermione's bed. Hermione stooped down and picked up the silver necklace, that had a tiny silver cat pendant on it, that stretched and moved and slept like a real cat. Ron had given it to her for her birthday earlier that year, and she wore it everywhere.
Ginny shook her head as Hermione fastened the chain around her neck. "I still don't know what possessed you to start going out with my brother." She said in disbelief. Hermione rolled her eyes. She and Ginny had had this conversation at least twice a week for ten months. With a sigh, she gave the answer she always gave, and Ginny mouthed along; "You know why Gin. And will you shut up about it?"
Hermione started towards the door, but Ginny cleared her throat loudly. "You've got another present to open still." She said, pointing at her bed. Sure enough, Hermione had left one unopened. She picked it up and read the tag.
Merry Christmas Hermione- Gred and Feorge.
Hermione looked up at Ginny. "It's from Fred and George." She said in a surprised voice. Ginny smiled. "I was expecting that. Now they own a shop, they're going to let everyone know they're making money by buying presents for everyone." Hermione laughed and started to open the present.
"What did they get you?" She asked Ginny. "Chocolate frogs." She answered, standing up and getting ready to go. Hermione ripped off the rest of the wrapping paper and smiled. "Snap." She said, holding up the box of sweets. She prised off the lid and picked up a chocolate frog. She examined it carefully for a moment, and then took off the foil surrounding it and ate the frog in one piece. Hermione loved chocolate frogs, though she could never tell her parents that.
Ginny nodded to the door. "Come on then. I can't believe you're eating chocolate this early in the morning." She said, starting to walk towards it. She had reached the door and was pulling it open before she was aware that Hermione wasn't following her. She turned around and shrieked.
Hermione was lying on the floor, obviously unconscious. Her eyes were closed and she was still breathing, but she looked like she had fainted. Ginny started forward, her heart in her throat, when her eyes fell on the figure lying on the floor next to Hermione, her feet touching hers, and stretched out in the opposite direction. Ginny screamed. It was Hermione. But the other one was Hermione, but then…
Ginny's mind swam as her eyes travelled between the two Hermiones, who were both wearing the exact same clothes and had the exact same, peaceful expressions on their faces. They were also in the same position. If Ginny hadn't known better, she would have thought there was a mirror at Hermione's feet.
Ginny stood still for a moment, undecided on what she should do. Then she realised that she didn't know, and she had to get help. Ginny ran out of the room, and down the spiral staircase. She ran across the common room and through the door up to the boy's dormitories. She ran up the staircase, not even looking where she was going, and that was why she ran headlong into Ron and Harry, who were walking down.
"Ginny! Who screamed?" Ron said, grabbing her by the wrists to stop her falling. She looked up at him, to tell him what had happened, but the words died on her lips. How the hell was she supposed to explain this?
Harry was standing behind Ron, and they both wore worried expressions on their faces. "Ginny, what happened?" Harry asked urgently. Ginny swallowed. "It's, it's…" She tried to speak, but still the words wouldn't come.
Ron looked over her shoulder. "Where's Hermione?" He asked suddenly. Ginny looked at him fearfully, and in that split second, Ron and Harry seemed to realise what was going on. Ron let go of Ginny, and the three of them ran down the staircase, into the common room, and back up the other one.
They reached the girl's room in record time. Ginny took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Harry and Ron walked in behind her; the worried looks more prominent than ever on their faces. Ginny stopped dead in her tracks and gasped. Hermione was sitting on the edge of her bed, sobbing with her heads in her hands. Ginny looked around the room for the other Hermione, but couldn't see her anywhere. She could have sworn…
Ron pushed past Ginny and approached Hermione, a little unsure of what to say. He hated it when she cried. Not only was there the obvious fact that she was unhappy about something, but he also never had any clue what to do about it. He swallowed. "Hermione? What's wrong?" He asked, crouching down in front of her. Hemione continued to cry, but now they could make out words through her sobs.
"She's…she's so mean. I didn't do…. But then she…she's so mean!" she said, her hands over her face and stifling her words. Ron frowned. This wasn't at all like Hermione. And who was she talking about anyway?
Ron turned to face Ginny and Harry, who were standing back a bit, looking uneasy. He stood up. "Who's she talking about?" Ron asked his sister. Ginny rubbed her neck; something she was prone to do whenever she was stressed or didn't know what to say. However, she was saved answering Ron's question by a voice from the girl's staircase. It was short and snappy, and made all three of them jump not only because they were the only four Gryffindors who had stayed for Christmas, but also because it sounded very familiar.
"What is it crying about now?" Ron, Ginny and Harry turned round to where the voice had come from. Harry's breath caught in his throat. Ron's eyes widened. Ginny swallowed hard.
It was Hermione.
Ron and Harry spun round to the Hermione sobbing on the bed. She was still there, and hadn't looked up at the other one. They looked back to the new Hermione, who was walking towards them with a dark look on her face, her eyes trained on the Hermione who was crying noisily.
She stopped at the side of the sofa, staring down at her mirror-image in disgust. She folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "Pathetic." She said scathingly, shaking her head in disbelief.
Ron and Harry glanced at each other uneasily. A few weeks ago, Draco Malfoy had called Hermione pathetic, and she had gone mad. Surely now Hermione- whichever one of these she was- was going to do the same thing.
Nothing happened, except she started to cry a little harder. The new Hermione rolled her eyes again and looked over at Ron, Harry and Ginny. "All I did was tell her to get out of my way." She said defiantly, shooting a contemptuous look in the crying Hermione's direction. Ron frowned and glanced at the other two. "Er, O.K." He said unsurely.
The crying Hermione stopped abruptly and sat up in bed. Her eyes flashed angrily. "No, it's not O.K." She cried, tears running down her face and choking her voice. "How can you say that?" She flung herself back onto the bed and sobbed harder than she had been earlier.
Ron looked very uneasy. He knelt up and put his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Hermione, don't cry. I didn't mean what I…"
"Don't touch her." Snapped the other Hermione, who was wearing a look of pure fury all over her face. Ron hand snapped back and he looked at her in surprise. "She's not Hermione. She's the anti- Hermione." She spat. Ron stood up. "Huh?" He managed to say.
The not-crying Hermione flipped her hair behind her shoulders and pursed her lips. "I'm Hermione. That," She pointed at the other one, who was now looking at her through bleary eyes. "That is the thing that has held me back all my life."
The Hermione on the bed sat up and sobbed; "I'm not a thing, I'm a person, and my name is Hermione." The other Hermione stamped her foot angrily. "You are not Hermione! I am!" She shouted. The Hermione on the bed put her hands over her ears and winced. "Do you have to shout? What's the point?" She asked quietly.
The Hermione who was standing up rolled her eyes. "That's you all over isn't it? There's no point, don't do that, oh we can't, what about Gryffindor, did we learn enough today? Blah blah blah…"
For a moment, the other Hermione looked like she was going to start crying again. But at the last moment, her lip stopped wobbling and she sat up straight, sticking up her chin defiantly. "Me? What about you? Someone called me a name, so let's go mad, I don't care if anything goes wrong, who cares about Gryffindor, you only live once so let's screw up the chance we've got now…"
The Hermione who was standing up listened to the other ones' speech with narrowed eyes. When she had finished, she looked just about ready to explode. They both did. But Harry stepped in before anything nasty could happen.
"Right, Hermione on the bed, sit there, be quiet and for heaven's sake do not start crying again. And you…" He turned to the other Hermione, who had been looking very smug during Harry's last sentence, "…other Hermione, you sit down there and don't say a word." He pointed at the wooden chair next to the mirror in the corner. The Hermione clicked her tongue angrily, but didn't say anything as she made her way over to the chair. The Hermione on the bed sniffed. Harry shot a look in her direction and she quickly swallowed back her oncoming tears.
"Thank you." Harry said calmly and diplomatically. He took a deep breath. "Right. Let's start at the beginning. What happened Ginny?" He asked, turning to her. Ginny had sat down helplessly at the end of Parvati's bed, amidst her unwrapped presents. When Harry spoke to her, she shook her head, trying to remember. "Um. Well, I brought all my presents in here, and I woke up Hermione, and…"
"Was she alright then?" Ron asked. Ginny nodded. "Yeah. There was nothing wrong with her that I could see. Anyway, we opened our presents, and then we went to leave the room. I realised she wasn't following me and I turned around, and she had fainted. So I started to go to her, when I saw, er," Ginny trailed off and glanced at the two Hermiones. She swallowed. "I saw another one of her, lying there like she had fainted as well. That's when I screamed and went running to find you two."
"Why did you scream?" Demanded the non-cryee Hermione, sitting in her chair in the corner. Ginny looked like she didn't know what to say, but was saved by answering anyway as Ron, Harry and the other Hermione all shushed her. Ron turned back to his sister.
"Something else must have happened. Think!" He sounded a bit desperate. 'Hardly surprising.' Ginny thought as she watched the two Hermiones sending evil glares in each other's directions. She looked down at her hand, unaware that she had sub-consciously been playing with a piece of ripped wrapping paper. Sky-blue paper with enchanted snow swirling over it. Fancy stuff; yet another piece of showing off by her brothers…
Ginny's head snapped up so fast that Ron was surprised she didn't get whiplash. She looked from one Hermione to another, her eyes darting between them like a pair of Golden Snitches on a Quidditch field. After a while she looked up at Ron, and sighed heavily. "Fred and George." She muttered darkly.
Ron frowned. "What could they have done? They're not even…" Ron's voice trailed off as he realised what his sister meant. He shook his head in disbelief. "They actually did it." He said, sounding a bit surprised. Ginny nodded, and stood up. "So what do we do? Do you think they took the time to make a cure?" Ron shook his head. "Doubt it." He said heavily.
"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" Harry demanded. Ron and Ginny glanced at each other, then at him, and finally at the two Hermiones. Ron looked over at his sister. "Hospital Wing." He said in a decided voice. Ginny nodded her agreement, and began to pull on her dressing gown, which she had left on Parvati's bed. Ron turned to Harry. "I'll explain on the way." He said, glancing at the two Hermiones again. Harry nodded, looking confused. The Hermiones, who had watched the conversation in relative silence, now began to speak.
"Who's going to the Hospital wing?"
"I'm not going anywhere."
"It's rude to interrupt."
"Oh, go and read a book."
"Break it up you two." Ron said, stepping in between them. "We're taking you both to the Hospital Wing whether you like it or not, so you can either come quietly, or you can be Stunned and levitated down there, just as quietly. It's your choice."
The Hermione on the bed nodded. "O.K. But there's not anything wrong, honestly!" Ron and Harry raised their eyebrows but thought it best not to comment. The Hermione in the chair pursed her lips again and shot a dirty look at the other Hermione. "Fine." She spat, standing up. "Let's hurry up then. I'm hungry." And with that she marched out of the door.
The other Hermione shuddered as she stood up. "She's so rude." She said disbelievingly. "Shut up and hurry up." Came an angry voice from on the staircase.
Ron, Harry and Ginny didn't say anything as they left the dormitory with the other Hermione, but they all had the same idea- get the real Hermione back as soon as possible, before they all went crazy.
That was really long- sorry! Anyway, next chapter will be a lot shorter, and up soon! (I promise). Please review. Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Pretty, beautiful please with…well, you get the idea.