Interlude

The sun was only starting to rise, it was still dark outside. She marvelled once again how, even though it was the end of May, the night still was as cold as if it were a warm winter day. One could only imagine the freezing temperatures it would be in the actual cold time of the year.

Not that she cared.

She wasn't immune to the cold, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Too many times, it had soothed her bruises and injuries. It made her feel safe.

Like every day, ever since she could remember, she was on her way outside to watch the sun rise. It had been tradition, in the beginning. Then, it had been required for her training. And now, for a few years, it had been a reminder.

She had survived yet another day.

And there was a new day ahead of her, full of challenges, some unknown, some the same as always. It was a reminder for all that she had survived already, and for all that still lay ahead of her. She was playing a dangerous game, she knew that. But she also knew that if it wasn't her, who else? There was no one else.

Her steps followed a familiar path, down the hill towards the forest. She knew it was forbidden to enter it. And still, she did, every day. Sometimes just sitting at the outer edge, sometimes going further in, exploring. Sometimes climbing the trees, sometimes watching all the various creatures, lost in thought.

She passed the lake, and then the little wooden hut near the forest, where the Gamekeeper lived. He, like everyone, was still asleep. There was a faint snoring to be heard, like always.

Only hours later, the whole place would be buzzing with life, people rushing, talking, laughing. But she enjoyed the solitude of the morning hours. It was the only time of the day she could truly be herself, without being watched.

Of course, she still had to pay attention, be careful, but even if she was caught, it wasn't forbidden to be up early. It might rise some questions, sure, she thought as she entered the forest, but none she wouldn't be able to answer.

Today, she didn't go far in. She chose a tree, just out of sight, and climbed to one of its lower branches, making herself comfortable. If she was quiet enough she could hear the life around her, the tiniest animals, awake already, searching for something to fill their stomach with. Birds were chirping, and when she closed her eyes she could hear soft waves splashing on the shore of the lake.

It was idyllic.

She closed her eyes and let the environment envelop her. When she opened her eyes again, she didn't know how much time had passed. The sun had risen however, and it was clear she would have to leave soon.

So, taking in one last deep breath, she braced herself for what was to come – just a regular day like every other – and jumped down from where she had been sitting. It was surely more than ten feet, but when one did it every day, one tended to get used to it.

She was on her way back, just out of the forest, when she heard a splash. Out of reflex, her head turned in the direction, but the only thing she could see was little waves, seemingly originating from somewhere in the lake. She looked around, trying to find what or whomever had caused this, but couldn't detect anybody.

The lake was too large for her to see anything concrete, but the water looked weird, at the place where the waves seemed to originate from.. Like there was something in it, something that was not a stone. If she didn't know better, she might have taken it for a person.

But that was impossible. How would one even get so close to the middle without anyone else to help them? And why?

Nonetheless, her curiosity was piqued. She wanted to know what exactly was in there. What would be the best way to get it to where she was, though?

She supposed that summoning could work. However, she didn't fancy being knocked over by whatever it was. Unfortunately, that was the only idea that came to mind, as well. She just hoped she could cancel the spell in time, otherwise it could get quite ugly.

Taking out her wand – she never went anywhere without it – she prepared herself. The spell would have to be strong enough to get whatever it was out of the lake, which was already hard to calculate, as she didn't know either the distance nor the weight of the object, but it shouldn't be too strong, otherwise the object would be too fast for her to stop.

It was a risk, but not nearly as big as all the other risks she had taken so far in her life, so that wouldn't stop her.

Focusing on her magic, drawing it out just like she had learned years ago, she whispered one word.

"Accio!"

The thing began moving, rising up while at the same time, closing the distance to she shore, and to her. It rose out of the water, and while she couldn't tell one hundred percent from where she was standing, it looked suspiciously like a human being. The nearer it came, the clearer it was.

'It' was not an it, but a she. She had long brown hair, and her skin was pale. She was skinny, wearing muggle clothes, and the red hand print on her cheek didn't look pleasant.

It was shocking, seeing something so unexpected. She froze, and only the impending crash of the two bodies got her moving again, if only to cancel the spell. The other girl, for she didn't look much older than her, fell unceremoniously on the grass to her feet. Pocketing her wand, she knelt down, searching for a pulse.

She found none.

The girl wasn't breathing, no doubt there was water in her lungs, and her skin felt cold to the touch. For a short moment, she panicked. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't just take a corpse back with her. That would be a one way ticket to prison, something she didn't exactly fancy getting. But she also couldn't let the girl lie here, could she? She would be discovered, and there would be procedures, and there was no way they wouldn't find her magical signature on her.

She could throw her back into the lake. It was the easiest solution, no one would ever be the wiser. Something made her hesitate, though. She didn't know what, didn't understand what was happening.

It wouldn't be the first time she would hide a corpse.

Something was familiar about that girl. She looked back down at her, contemplating. She had to do something, now, because it wouldn't be long before everyone else awoke and she would be discovered.

And she wasn't stupid, she knew how it would look. That was not an option.

Time was running out!

There had to be a solution to this, there just had to be! She could feel her magic acting up, something it had not done in many years, and that only fuelled her panic more. Whenever that had happened, it didn't end well.

The single positive thing she could see in this situation was that except a corpse, there were no witnesses to her loss of control.

A coughing sound sounded in her ears.

Startled, she turned around, fully expecting a teacher, or worse, someone who knew standing behind her, wanting something she didn't want to give.

But there was nobody.

The sound had come from below, from the girl she had not only believed, but confirmed to be dead. That threw her so much off balance that oddly, her magic calmed again.

The girl was doubling over now, coughing up water, mixed with what looked like blood. When that fit stopped, she raised her hand to her head, obviously she was in pain, and whispered "fuck". Her voice was hoarse, to be expected if one were honest, after having drowned.

Or almost drowned. Whatever.

She was sitting up, and appeared to be trying to find her balance. Apparently that had been too much already, as she fainted, not even noticing the person standing next to her. It took her a little while, but once she got over the shock and was able to at least partially think straight again, she was relieved.

Because the girl wasn't dead, obviously.

But there was something else, deep down, that she didn't even want to acknowledge. She was glad the girl was alive, because that got her out of having to explain her death, and trying to convince people she didn't do it. Now she didn't have to deal with all the unwanted attention, from both sides, and the stigma it would give her. With her second thought, she scolded herself, both for her feelings, and for not getting help as fast as possible.

Only a second later, she realized she could never carry the other girl to the Hospital Wing without breaking down, and she didn't know enough magic to levitate her either, at least if she wanted to be safe.

Also, both options would slow her down considerably.

So what she did was break into a full on sprint, over the grounds, into the castle and up the stairs to where help would be. When she arrived at the Hospital Wing, the doors were still closed. So she did something she never had before, and banged against the wood, quite forcefully. Only when she could hear movement behind those doors she relented.

Lucky for her, there were no other patients that had stayed overnight, and that she could have awakened, as she could clearly see once the doors opened by the matron.

"Miss Black!", she exclaimed surprised. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep? And why are you so out of breath?"

If she hadn't been struggling for air, she would have cut off the matron, but alas, it was not possible. She knew she was sweating, face probably red as a tomato, and her hair was in disarray. If anyone was to see her in this state, and subsequently report back to their parents, she was sure there would be suffering ahead, at least for presenting herself so unladylike, if not for more.

But her mind was preoccupied with more important things, such as the life of another human being. "Madam Pomfrey! There's – a girl – unconscious – outside!", she got out in between breaths.

Immediately, Madam Pomfrey's demeanour changed from the usual stern and slightly reprimanding to full on professional. Her wand whipped out and she summoned a small bag. An Emergency Potions Kit, presumably.

Madam Pomfrey looked sharply at her, and commanded: "Lead the way!"

Still out of breath, but not about to give up, she gave her best to run as fast as possible to get help for the unconscious girl. Even though there were none in the main corridors of the castle yet, students had started to awaken and could be heard moving around, getting ready for breakfast.

Paying no further attention to that, they hurried on, but she was falling behind more and more. Most of her energy she had already used up to fetch help in the first place. Both exited the front gates at roughly the same time, but that was only because Madam Pomfrey had to invest valuable time to open them, in which she could catch up.

In this very moment, she hated that she didn't have enough stamina to keep up. True, now that the matron was alerted, it didn't make all that much of a difference anymore, she would be able to find her way on her own just fine, seeing as the girl was lying in plain sight, but that thought didn't even cross her mind once. When she stepped out of the shadows of the castle, she was hit in the face by sunbeams, dawn had passed.

The other girl, unconscious on the ground by the lake, was hard to miss. As it did everything else, the sun hit her, and the light was reflected by the drops of water that were still clinging to her. She looked almost ethereal, lying there in the sunlight, practically sparkling, but there was no time to enjoy the sight, only appreciate it for but a moment.

The nearer she came, the more apparent was the lack of rising and falling of the girl's chest. It almost sent her into a panic again. What if she had stopped breathing again, and now was really dead?

Before the feeling of helplessness and regret could fully settle in though, Madam Pomfrey, who had fallen to her knees beside the unconscious girl, exclaimed: "Thank Merlin, she's breathing!"

It was too faint to notice from even a small distance, but apparently, it was there. And, at least at this point in time, that was enough for her. When she arrived next to Madam Pomfrey, she had already performed a spell that caused all the water left in the girl's lungs to be expelled from her mouth, as was visible by the small fountain shooting out of it.

While the matron was busy doing her work – casting spells and administering potions – and at the same time, murmuring to herself, the Black girl was still trying to catch her breath. At the same time, she gave her best to pay as much attention to what Madam Pomfrey was doing as possible.

Considering her way of life, knowing the one or other thing of healing, other than the most basic potions that you learned at school, would undoubtedly come in useful. Probably also sooner rather than later, no matter that she really did not want that.

How many times had she already cursed the fact that books about Healing were highly regulated?

She didn't even know anymore. And it was just her luck that the only branch of magic that wasn't more than mentioned in any of the thousands of books in her family library would be the most interesting for her.

Vital, even.

Unfortunately, that could also be applied in the literal sense. Vital, that is.

During the whole process, the unconscious girl was mainly unresponsive, but once Madam Pomfrey finished, she suddenly opened her eyes. It was just for a split second, and if she hadn't been paying attention, she surely would have missed it, but for that tiny fragment of a moment, their eyes locked.

The other girl displayed confusion, then fear, uncertainty followed, before they broke contact by falling closed again.

Weird.

Madam Pomfrey, none the wiser, levitated the girl upwards, holding her things in the other hand, that didn't hold her wand.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Miss Black", she said. "I don't know how it happened, or what happened, but one minute later and Miss Potter might not have been among us anymore."

"No problem, Madam Pomfrey", she answered with a smile, while her thoughts were spinning out of control.

Madam Pomfrey left, headed towards the Hospital Wing, while the other girl sank down to the ground slowly, stunned.

That was why the unconscious girl had seemed familiar. She was the eldest and only Daughter of the House of Potter. Hermione Dorea Potter, Gryffindor, Fifth Year, Prefect.

And everything she dreamed of being.

The perfect role-model, the only girl in the whole school she simply looked up to. Everything Hermione Dorea Potter stood for was what she wanted for herself, what she wanted to be and stand for herself.

But she also knew that that was a dream, and a dream only. She was a Black, and like all Blacks, she was also a Slytherin.

She was the exact opposite of Hermione Potter, and there was nothing she could change about that, no matter how badly she wanted to.

So, which Black daughter's POV do you think this was written from?

I wanted this scene to stand alone, that's why it's an Interlude and not a proper chapter. Chapters will be much closer to the Prologue in length that this Interlude.

Thank you for reading, and if anyone of you is a writer yourself, you know: Reviews a writer happy make :)