Hermione awoke feeling extremely ill. Something within her wasn't sitting right, a rippling under her skin that just wouldn't cease, a distinct feeling of liquidity though remaining quite solid.
She noticed the blood straight away, and tried a healing spell which didn't work. She wasn't worried and put it down to falling on her wand; she tore off a piece of her shirt and used it to ebb the blood flow for a while. She had fallen on glass.
It was now night time, the moon was shining on the patch of cold stone where she had lay. She yawned, and though feeling slightly ill attempted to stagger back to the common room. She appeared before the familiar portrait of The Fat Lady, though she looked slightly different somehow. Less creases in the parchment? Brighter colours? She couldn't place a finger on the minute change, whatever it was.
'Aurelius' Hermione sighed, stepping forward to be greeted by nothing but the smell of oil paint too close to her nose. The portrait had not swung forward.
'Nice try. Now clear off' The Fat Lady said, unsympathetically.
'Oh of course it's after midnight, the password's changed. Can you tell me what it is please?' Hermione pleaded, looking slightly bedraggled from her previous condition.
'Nope – You should have been here after the Halloween feast, where all of the Gryffindors found out.' The Fat Lady grinned self-satisfactorily.
'I've been hurt, See?' She held up her bleeding hand that dripped slowly onto the stone.
'I'm sure you have, but I just can't let you in! It's the principle of it!' She sighed. Hermione echoed an exasperated noise down the corridor. A small Gryffindor she hadn't recalled ever seeing, though her round face looked vaguely familiar, rounded the corner at the foot of the corridor; she walked over a few minutes later, and smiled kindly at her.
'Fancy not lettin' 'er in you!' She chastised to The Fat Lady. 'Haweh petal, let's get you in. You forget the password too? Happens to Frank all the time. Shan't worry about it' She beamed.
'Cassiopeia' She said clearly into the portrait as it swung open. 'Not too hard for you to remember is it love? Frank has terrible trouble with 'em, it's all these fancy names for 'em y'see? He could probably remember it if it were summat like Pamphlet, or Cream, but it's all these constellations, and old wizarding terms, he hasn't got a clue bless 'im!' She smiled again removing her hand from Hermione's shoulder. 'You can take it from 'ere I suppose petal?' She grinned, not realising Hermione hadn't said a word. Hermione merely nodded and dragged herself upstairs to her dorm. She steadied herself for a moment, an overwhelming nausea swimming through her bloodstream, and whispered the password to the open door. It stood defiantly, glaring her in the face. She had set the Password herself so it hadn't changed in her absence, unless Ginny was playing a cruel trick.
'Ginny, open up' She sighed. 'Come on! I'm freezing' Hermione sighed. Ginny had done this before, as a joke, but ended up falling asleep and leaving Hermione out in the cold corridor. Not feeling like she had the patience to stay out there all night, she started banging on the door.
'Hang on, hang on' A voice muttered from the inside and the portrait swung open, though it wasn't Ginny standing there; it was Lily Evans...
Hermione's eyes blurred open, and she could see nothing but coloured shapes, the distinct peach oval of a face loomed over hers.
' 'Scuse me? Are you alright? You've given me quite a shock!' A tender feminine voice soothed, into Hermione's ear. Hermione sat up and rubbed at her temples, there was another face there, but she had no time to take it in, as nausea crept in. She couldn't remember why she'd fainted but something inside her felt very, very, wrong. When her eyes adjusted to her setting she could see why; red hair, and eyes as green as summer grass, it was Harry's mother.
'Something's wrong' Hermione managed to blurt out, as though she was actually vomiting the words and not speaking them. 'You shouldn't...I shouldn't be here...When is it?' Hermione continued, urgency flooding her, as Lily placed a comforting hand on Hermione's shoulder.
'It's one in the morning' Lily said quietly, clearly baffled by what on earth was going on.
'Not what time is it! When is it? Time, day, month, year?' Hermione urged her, clinging to her sleeve.
'It's one in the morning of November the first, nineteen-seventy-five' Lily spoke clearly, but not patronisingly, and firmed her grip slightly on Hermione's shoulder as she said it. As the words formed in her mouth she somehow knew that it was bad news for the lost looking young-woman in front of her. Hermione's eyes merely widened in shock, she recognised the face of Albus Dumbledore behind Lily's head, smoking a pipe in the chair of the Head Girl's dormitory. Lily whipped her head round and gave a cautionary glance at Dumbledore; She mouthed 'Something's wrong'. Hermione stood up like a bullet and flung herself at Dumbledore in the chair, and ensnared him into an impromptu hug.
'You're alive!' She exclaimed, though to a perfectly healthy Dumbledore, Lily began to wonder why he ever wouldn't be – She supposed Dumbledore was as old as the castle itself, though she knew he couldn't be. Hermione quickly collected her thoughts and thought better of continuing her behaviour and stopped.
'Miss Granger, I hope you don't see it as unreasonable that you accompany me to my office for questioning, and a spot of tea?' He smiled in a gentle non-threatening way. 'I do believe myself to be an excellent judge of character, and I am aware of the fact that an imposter at Hogwarts is a very serious situation. But there is something inexplicably rare about you Miss Granger, and I don't conceive it to be dark in the slightest' He smiled, the corners of his beard stretching with the grin.
'How do you know my name?' Hermione stuttered.
'Ah, well observed Miss Granger. You see, I've always toyed with the idea of having students embroider their name's into the sleeves of their robes. It gets a might confusing when one is trying to pick out one's own robes from a pile of hundreds of other identical robes. For some reason I haven't put it into effect, though I thought I should check anyway' He smiled.
'But you have!' Hermione smiled. 'It's been school policy since nineteen-seventy-five' she concluded.
'And that is why your name is there' Dumbledore nodded.
Lily was looking slightly aghast at the information before her, there was something inherently wrong about the girl's behaviour, and to Dumbledore's reaction to her. Lily's head was swimming.
'We should go now Hermione, I believe I will have much to ask you' Dumbledore said with a grave nod, standing from his chair, and starting for the door.
'Thanks Lily' Hermione smiled and gave a wave on the way out.
Lily's stomach did a somersault; She hadn't introduced herself by name.