A/N Hi everyone, first chapter for my first real story. The story is set pre=war, Hermione, Harry and Ron are in their 6th year. I hope you like it. Constructive criticism is always welcome so please tell me if I need to improve certain things or do something differently! I hope you like this story and I'm gonna try to post a chapter every couple of days. Have fun reading ^.^
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the original Harry Potter story, sadly. They're JK Rowlings'.
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I calmly ate my breakfast, although sickeningly aware of the spectacle across the table. Ronald Weasley was whispering words I couldn't hear –luckily- into the waterfall of blonde ringlets of the giggling Lavender Brown. Suddenly, I notice the girl shooting an exasperated look in Parvati's direction. Parvati was sitting two seats to my right and out of the corner of my eyes I caught her rolling her eyes back at Lavender.
The redheaded, love-struck idiot, however, didn't notice this brief exchange and continued chatting animatedly. With a sigh I shoved my plate away from me and got up. I announced to nobody in particular that I was going to the library and took off.
I slowed my pace as I climbed the last flight of stairs to the library. I could hear the muffled buzz of chatting students inside and, knowing I needed some alone time, I briskly turned around.
Mistake.
I bumped into someone else and we were both sent tumbling down the stairs, our books, quills and ink following us, spraying the walls and floor with drops of blue liquid. I was fast enough to cast a hovering charm for the other person, but I was already crashing headfirst into the opposite wall. Even before I could identify the victim of my clumsiness, I was unconscious.
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I awoke to the chattering of birds and the sun shining on my face, the light streaming through my eyelids. I felt dazed and my head was throbbing slightly, a humming sound irritating my ears.
When I finally managed to wrench open my eyes, I didn't recognize where I was. I looked around me and saw a spacious room with large windows covering most of the walls. I was lying in one of the many beds lining the sides of the room. On the right side there were double doors and to my left at the end of the room there was a small door. All in all, it looked like an infirmary, albeit an old-fashioned one.
I was the only person in the room, so I decided to wait for somebody to come see me, if this was indeed an infirmary. After lying still for a while though, I began to feel restless and tried to sit up. The moment I did that, my head started spinning and my blood rushed to my head, making me feel dizzy. I raised my hand to my forehead and could feel a bandage there.
It was only now that I wondered why I was there and not at home. Odd, I was usually more alert and a lot more inquisitive, but I didn't pay too much heed to it, my thoughts were a little clouded. Instead I tried to remember what had happened.
My mind was a total chaos. I panicked, mulling over memories of my childhood; primary school; my parents; my friends… They were all there, but after that: nothing at all. I knew I was missing something important, something to do with where I was and what I was doing here. I scrutinized every memory that could be related to it, but my mind was blank.
I was suddenly aware of the small door at the far end of the room opening and a woman came out. She was rather small and plump and wore an odd combination of clothes that looked like robes you'd see in some painting from a few centuries ago. Even more odd was the array of dusty bottles she was carrying on a plate. Or was she?
I looked a bit harder and it seemed as though the plate was floating by itself. Oh well, I must not be able to see it right from this side of the room. She had gotten closer and when she noticed me being awake, she hurried over to me, exclaiming "Miss Granger, I am so happy to see you're finally awake!"
"I'm sorry, who are you?" I ask warily. "Silly girl, I'm Madam Pomfrey of course." She laughs at me. "Okay… Well, Madam, could you please tell me where I am?" She gives me a puzzled look. "Miss Granger, you must be joking, right?" "Not really, Madam." "Stay here and don't move a muscle, I'm going to fetch Professor Dumbledore."
Before long, the doors opened again and the lady, madam Pomfrey, walked in, followed by a man with an extremely long white beard who looked like he could easily be two centuries old and wore the same old-fashioned robes as the woman. He wore half-moon spectacles on his crooked nose and behind them were piercing blue eyes that twinkled like a kid's on Christmas.
They walked up to my bed and the man spoke to me in a grave voice. "Miss Granger, do you know who I am?"
"Pardon me, sir, I haven't got a clue."
"My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the headmaster of Hogwarts school for Witchcraft and Wizardry, which you have been attending for the past few years."
"Is this some kind of joke?" I ask, half laughing, half shocked.
"It is most certainly not, I can assure you. Would you like some time alone to process this?"
I regained some of my composure and retorted. "Prove it to me."
"I expected nothing less," he chuckled, "perhaps this may refresh your memory." In the meanwhile he pulled a short wooden stick out of the front of his robes and waved it in the air while whispering something that sounded like a foreign language. All of a sudden a silvery bird sort of just shot out of the stick and flew around the room, emitting an opaque light.
"How did you do that?"
"Magic."
"No, I mean really, how did you do that? It's a trick, I know it is, so just tell me."
"Miss Granger, I shall leave you to your thoughts. Poppy, if you'd be so kind to just send message when she is ready." And with a short nod from the lady and a smile to me, he left.
Madam Pomfrey looked at me with pity and then went back through the single door, where her office was probably located.
Okay, this was a lot to process, but I could handle it. Hopefully...
What if this place was really a school? What if I really went here to learn whatever it was that could be learned here? It was illogical, but when I was younger there had been occasions. Occasions where I did things or made things happen that didn't make any sense to anyone or to me. Those times nobody had known that I was the one who did those, but I always knew. Maybe this situation I was in had something to do with those occurrences.
My mind was wandering over memories of my childhood when all of a sudden I realized I didn't know what I looked like or even how old I was, where my parents were, whether I had any friends.
"Madam Pomfrey." I hesitantly call out.
"Yes, Hermione?" She calls back, opening the door and walking over.
"Could I ask you a few questions?"
"Of course, child. Ask away."
"I wonder if you could tell me a few things about myself... How old am I?"
"Oh dear, this is worse than I thought! Let's see. You're now 16 years old – you do remember your birthday right?"
"Yes, that I do, it's just after my childhood that I don't remember anything. Oh god, that means I don't remember the last six years of my life."
"Don't worry, it will all come back to you. In the meanwhile I will tell you all that I know. You came here when you were eleven, and you were one of the smartest girls in school already then." I beam at her. "Your best friends, right from the beginning, have been Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, doesn't ring a bell?" I shake my head. "Oh... Well, a lot of things happened to the three of you during all these years, but I will let others tell you all about that later, since I don't even know the entire stories."
"Thank you, madam. How did I get injured?"
"Well, I believe you fell off the stairs after bumping into Mister Malfoy."
"Who is Mister Malfoy and why then is he not here?"
"He is not here because you were able to save him -using magic- but not yourself. And he is Draco Malfoy, he's in the same year as you are. Is there anything else you want to know?"
"Erm, this is quite embarrassing, but do you have a mirror?"
She smiled at me. "I will get one in an instant, Hermione." And she walked away.
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A/N So, that's the first chapter done :) Please leave a review if you have any tips or criticism. I promise the story's going to be interesting at least so read on if you like.
Love,
Nicky^.-