lol surprise surprise i lied again, who would have thought it?
This is a short little opener that I've chosen to post because I have no self-control. I hope you enjoy.
If you haven't read Trap Forty-Four, I insist that you turn back now and read it first. This, being a sequel, won't make much sense if you haven't (and I really hope that it does if you HAVE read it haha)
xx
Her pulse pounded in her ears as her eyes locked onto the figure sat before her, unable to look away. They must have been deceiving her, for the sight wasn't possible. He was not, could not be sitting before her. It simply was not possible. She was hallucinating, she had to be.
"I have waited a very long time to see you again," he said as the door behind her clicked shut of its own accord. As he spoke, his voice sounded so realistic and so very familiar that her brain completely stopped functioning.
She couldn't think, couldn't breathe.
"Do you know how hard it's been these last six years? Seeing you walk these halls without so much as a flicker of recognition?" He slowly rose from behind the desk, leaning onto it as he went, stalking her.
What had she done?
What had she done?
"Every year I've been watching you, waiting for you to finally see me."
She stepped backward, her back colliding with the wooden door as he stepped around the table, the valuable distance between them shrinking.
"Do you have any idea of how I have longed for this?"
"I - no, no, no, this isn't real," she insisted to herself. "You aren't-"
"Oh, but I am," he interrupted, reaching her at last.
"No, no, no, no-"
He placed his hands against the door on either side of her head, trapping her in. Close up, she could see the truth behind his words in the lines in the corners of his eyes; no longer was he just a boy. While she had come fresh from that night in the forties, he must have had years.
But it wasn't possible. Hadn't she already established that she was hallucinating? Her mind was playing tricks. Creative tricks, yes, but tricks all the same.
"You didn't seem to mind the last time we were alone together."
She squeezed her eyes shut. It wasn't real, he wasn't real, it was all in her head.
"Well... the last time we were together, for you, I suppose," he corrected, a grin that held no happiness growing on his lips. "But for me... I saw you just this very morning. You'd just taken your last NEWT yesterday - and performed very well, might I add. You were positively glowing as you spread your morning toast, and as I watched you, I just knew it. There was something about you that told me - today was the day. Somehow, for some reason, you would go back, and we were to meet, at long last."
She flinched back as she felt his warmth radiating from him, the back of her head colliding painfully into the door.
Could one feel their hallucinations?
"Forgive me, it's all very confusing, really. I can't imagine what it must be like for you," he said, his voice lowering as he weaved a tendril of her hair around his finger, the same way he had done in his dormitory.
This time, feeling his touch, she ducked and weaved out from underneath his arms, needing to distance herself.
He felt so real.
But he couldn't be real...
He laughed gently as he watched her retreat back through the Headmaster's office, not unlike a skittish cat. "Fear not, Miss Granger. I would hazard a guess that the memories of your - shall we say - new life will come back to you, soon enough."
"What are you talking about?" She managed.
His smile grew wider. "I'm sure you'll find that things are not at all the way you remember. With the help you gave me all those years ago, I was able to ensure none of it would come to pass."
Her breathing sped up, the weight of his words seeming to squeeze the air out of her lungs.
What did that even mean?!
"Come now, Miss Granger, I thought we had been becoming friends!" He said with playful frustration. "Surely you must have questions! You wear your thoughts on your sleeve, and I'm absolutely positive your curiosity must be bursting at the seams."
But there was only one she could think of, only one that held importance to her in that very moment.
"W-where is Dumbledore?"
His expression fell ever so slightly. "Dumbledore is dead," he said simply.
His words chilled her to the core.
Dumbledore is dead.
She hadn't saved him, after all.
Dumbledore is dead.
The one person who might have been able to help her.
Dumbledore is dead.
She hadn't bettered their situation at all. In fact, this was surely worse than the scenario she had left behind. They now had a young Dark Lord who was seemingly yet to rise, while Dumbledore was gone.
The walls began to close in on her.
"I - I can't..." she trailed off as her head began to feel lighter, dark spots appearing in her vision. "I need air... I have to... to..."
He didn't hide the disappointment in her reaction, a scowl quickly forming on his features. He gestured to the door lazily and stepped aside, leaving a clear path to freedom for her.
"Be on your way then," he said lowly. "You'll be back soon enough."
She stepped around him, moving to leave faster than she'd ever moved in her life.
"Oh, and Hermione?" He called as she had one foot out of the office, her name leaving his lips sounding like acid.
She stopped but did not turn.
"Keep in mind," he began, his tone lowering. "No one will ever believe you."
HAHAHA I swore to myself that I wouldn't do it, BUT HERE WE ARE
¯\_(ツ)_/¯