Three Years Into the Mirror
Part 1
Hermione Granger woke up to a sharp ringing in her ears. She reached for the alarm clock on her stand next to the bed and tried to hit the snooze button, but the ringing just wouldn't go away. Finally she realized the ringing was not coming from the alarm clock, but from the telephone. She reached up to pick up the receiver. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was only six. 'Who would be calling at this time of morning,' she thought to herself.
"Hello, Granger residence."
"Hermione, I need to talk to you," a familiar, but unrecognized voice greeted. "I'm sorry I'm calling so early, but…"
"Who is this?"
"Can I please Floo over there immediately. I have some urgent news."
"Ginny? Is that you?"
"Yes, of course it's me!"
"Ginny Weasley? I haven't seen you in ages!"
"Can I come?"
"Sure. Just let me get it approved quick."
"No need. It's already approved."
"Okay. See you in a little bit Ginny."
"Later Hermione."
Hermione couldn't believe Ginny Weasley had just called her. She hadn't seen any of the Weasleys since Harry's funeral almost three years ago. After that, she lost touch with all of them. At first, it was just too hard to see her old friends and to face the fact that Harry was gone. After that, life caught up with her and time simply swept away. She had heard that Ron ran off and got married to some girl from Beauxbatons, and that Ginny was the only Weasley child still living at home. Hermione often felt a little guilty about not keeping in touch with any of her school friends, but how time flies!
She dragged herself out of bed and turned off the dial on her alarm clock. 'That's funny,' she thought, seeing the bare dresser. 'What happened to Viktor's photograph?' She always had his picture in a little wooden frame on her dresser. Viktor Krum was Hermione's fiancée. They have been engaged for almost two years now, but they still hadn't made a date for the wedding. He played Quidditch, so he was out of town a lot and Hermione was too busy working at the ministry to worry about it. She was sure she loved Viktor, she just didn't have the time to plan a whole wedding. She supposed she just needed a little time to herself before she got married to anybody. She sighed, and continued into the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead.
An hour later, Ginny appeared as promised, through the fireplace.
"Ginny," Hermione shrieked, rushing up to give her long lost friend a hug. "It's been so long. I've been so busy, I guess I didn't notice how much time went by. "
Ginny was confused; Hermione was acting strange. That morning, Ginny just shrugged her strangeness off, deciding that Hermione was still half asleep when she called and didn't know what she was talking about, but now Ginny wasn't so sure. Hermione had plenty of time to wake up and shake the drowsiness out. Maybe Hermione got hit hard on the head last night.
"Hermione," Ginny said, releasing herself from her friend's grasp. "Calm down, I just saw you yesterday, and the day before that, and the day..."
"What are you talking about," Hermione asked, backing away.
"Hermione, did you hit your head on anything last night?"
"No. I actually got a good night's rest in a change. Viktor was out of town again."
"Viktor? Viktor Krum? Why was Viktor in town?"
"Didn't you hear? We're engaged!"
"Ha ha, very funny Hermione," Ginny said, relieved. "You almost had me there. Look, I came here with something urgent, and all you can do is play some kind of joke on me."
"Sorry Ginny," she said, her face twisting up in confusion. "What did you need to tell me?"
"Harry's getting married…to Cho Chang," Ginny cried out. "I can't believe him. All those years I've tried to get him to notice me. And what does he do? He goes out and marries Cho Chang! I know I said I was over him, but I think a tiny bit in me was still hoping there was a chance. Now I know there isn't. Oh, please help me Hermione. Talk some sense into me or something." Ginny said this all very fast in one breath.
Hermione's face tensed up and her voice took a sympathetic tone. She reached up her hand and patted her sympathetically on the head. "Oh Ginny, I'm so sorry. You're still in denial."
"Do you have to put it that way?" Ginny didn't like getting teased on such a sensitive subject, even if she was used to it from her brothers. So what if she still thought she had a chance with Harry?
"Ginny, you have to face the facts. Harry's dead."
"What do you mean? He died this morning," Ginny's eyes quickly started to well up. 'So that is why Hermione is acting so strange.'
"No Ginny, he died three years ago. At Percy's wedding, remember?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Hermione! The only one that died at Percy's wedding was You-Know-Who."
Hermione's eyes went from sympathy to confusion. "Ginny, something strange is going on here."
"You're telling me! What on earth is gong on?"
"I don't know…I get the strange feeling we are both telling the truth."
"How can we both be telling the truth?"
"Maybe…maybe we have been living in separate lives or dimensions or something…no, that can't be…sounds too weird."
"It does sound weird…but right now, it almost makes sense."
"We should talk to Ron…"
"And Harry."
"I don't want to talk to a dead guy!"
"He's not dead!"
"Fine. And Harry. But, where are we going to find them?"
"I know the perfect place to start…the Burrow." They both headed straight for the fireplace. Before they took off, Ginny turned to Hermione one last time. "This is going to put a damper on the whole wedding isn't it?"
"Oh don't worry, Viktor and I haven't set a date yet."
"Not yours and Viktor's, yours and Ron's," she said right before she left.
"What," Hermione asked, following behind her.