Hello everyone! Thank-you to my reviewers of the first chapter: razors n cuts and pstibbons! You two are my first reviewers and I aspirate the total effect and advise! ;)
And to others, come on guys! I got 47 hits and only 2 reviews! I know you all can do better then that:)
Just a quick note: there is only going to be a Hermione/Ron pairing at the start of the story and then it will turn to Hermione/OC. I figured that Hermione and Ron most likely had got together after the ending of the last HP book (although I was greatly disappointed by the pairing, sigh, oh well, I suppose that's what makes fan fiction so great!) and I wanted to stick to more of the character relationship between them. ;).
Anyways here is chapter 2!
Disclaimer: Own nothing!
Hermione stumbled forward like someone had shoved her toughly; she felt something under her snap and she tipped unsteadily to one side and feel to the floor with a thud. Looking down at her feet she saw her left heel of her shoe had snapped. Damn!
She raised her head in astonishment. Her surroundings were dark but after her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she made out she was in the sitting in the middle of a very small room. It had one window, which was shut close, a single bed in the corner with white sheets done up neatly. The floor was made of an old fashioned wood as were the walls. There were two doors, one opposite her and another to her left and behind her was a small mirror.
The mirror!
Hermione jumped to her feet (almost falling again when she forgot about her broken shoe) and limped to the mirror and placed her hands up against it. Her own reflection looked back at her; still wearing her outfit from the party. She pushed against the glass but nothing happened.
Her wand! Yes!
She pattered the pocket of her dress; she was so sure she had had it with her! She never went anywhere without it! She squinted towards the fall and got to her hands and knees searching. Perhaps she dropped it when she fell? She continued to feel around on the floor when she suddenly remembered something that made her froze.
Oh no!
No she couldn't have! Oh no! No, no, no! Her wand, she had put it into her evening purse so she wouldn't have to worry about it falling out of her dress pocket. She had placed her purse down on the counter next to the sink where she had been washing her hands!
She had been pulled through the mirror before she could grab it!
She shoved hard against the mirror but nothing happened! Shit, shit, shit! Oh God, please no!
She banged her fist against the mirror crying at it, "Please, please! Don't do this to me!"
But it was no use. She punched the mirror hard and suddenly a piercing pain shot through her hand. She gasped and clutched her hand. Turning her hand she examined it. It was bleeding and bits of glass were shuck into her flesh. She gritted her teeth in pain.
Looking back at the mirror there was a large split down the middle of the glass and a small patch was stained red. It was broken and by her fist. Excellent! Oh absolutely brilliant Hermione! You lost your temper again and now look what you've done!
She looked back at her hand and began to pull out the bits of glass. She was sure she hadn't pulled every piece out but she couldn't exactly see too well at the moment.
She turned from the mirror muttering to herself, "Okay, think Hermione, think!"
She moved to the window and looked outside. It was too dark to see anything and the moon was hidden behind a cloud. With her good hand she moved her hand along the walls looking for a light switch. She found nothing and the panic begin to rise in her.
No, she told herself, you don't need to panic. Just find out where you are and get back. It shouldn't be too hard. Someone will properly to help you.
She moved towards the door that was next to the bed and pulled it open. On the other side was what looked like was a dark hallway, with a single ray of light coming from a small set of draws which were sitting against the wall. On top of the draws was a single candle, burning away and providing the only source of light in the entire hallway. She looked back into the room for a moment a little unsurely of what she should do.
She remembered the Department of Mysteries. That was the only thing she could relate to this sort of incident. She remembered the disappearing rooms and the crazy maze they were locked in with and Death Eaters chasing after them. It had been a nightmare, especially when they had all been spilt up.
Then another fear hit her and it sent another panic wave through her.
What if this was Dark Magic? It was a good possibility. After a war there was always some sort of resistance from the losing side wasn't there? The Death Eaters that survived knew she was involved very much with the Light Side and with the Order. Was this some crazy spell that was similar to that in the Department of Mysteries?
No, it couldn't be. It made been months since the war had ended and most of the Death Eaters had been given their trails and were serving sentences. But there were some had been given a lower sentence like Draco Malfoy. He was still allowed to stay in the wizarding community but he was under surveillance on the use of magic, he was not allowed to use magic for any type of task, no matter how innocent, for the next five years.
She shook her head of these thoughts and stared into the hallway ahead of her. Only one way to find out. She pulled off her shoes, deciding it would be better to walk bare footed rather then with one broken shoe.
She lifted one foot and, which her stomach churning nervously, she slowly moved it forward and gentle placed that foot down and then moved her other foot so she was now standing in the hallway. She looked around nervously. Nothing happened. Looking behind her, the small bedroom was still there.
She sighed slightly in relief. Perhaps she was just being stupid? Maybe someone had put a curse on the mirror so the tenth person or something like that, who looked into it would be sucked into a deserted house as a joke. Maybe this was just a silly prank of some kind? But then again, something like this would require a lot of preparation and great magical abilities to be able to transport someone, magically, as it seemed, to another destination using a spell.
None of this made any sense to her whatsoever.
She moved further into the hallway, slowly and cautiously. Oh, why did she put her wand in her purse?! Hermione you stupid girl!
As she continued to walk down the hallway she looked around her. She stopped at the lit candle, the wax dripping very slowly down the stick onto a small plate. As the light glowed yellow it lit a small path of the surroundings around it. Something caught her attention above the candle and the set of draws.
A picture hung on the wall. As she looked more closely she realized it was a painting. In fact it was a very rich looking painting of a severe looking man and woman, neither of them smiling but looking at the artist through piecing eyes. Their mouths and face pulled into serious lines.
But what struck Hermione was the clothing they were wearing. The man wore, which was obvious, a white wig under a triangle shaped navy blue hat, with a navy blue coat and gold and red embroidery on it. He wore a white shirt and a frill at his neck. The women had black hair wrapped tightly in a bun at the top of her head. She wore a puffy green short-sleeved dress with lace around the edge of the sleeves and also around the neckline which went low enough for the cleavage of her breasts to be shown. There was a brooch set just under where the short lace collar was, with a strange looking symbol on it.
From just looking at the painting Hermione felt a sudden respect for the couple in the portrait, they looked well respected and gave an utmost feel of authority, although, judging by their clothes and the manner about them they would be long dead by now.
Growing up as a muggle child, Hermione knew that the sort of clothing the couple wore belonged in the era of the 17th century and was something that was defiantly not wore by anyone of today.
Hermione took the candle by the plate it was sitting on from the desk and lifted it up to the picture to get a better look. As she looked more closely she noticed the man's eyes were brown and he looked older then the woman and was not as attractive as she was. The woman looked quite young, maybe between twenty-five and thirty, she had green eyes to match her dress, and though she was very beautiful looking, not smiling and the way she held her expression made her look like a middle-aged woman. Then something caught Hermione's eye; the strange picture in the brooch.
The background colour of it was black and painted elegantly on it was a picture of a serpent, its mouth opened and its long fangs out in a threatening way. Hermione drew back slightly and looked at the woman again. With this new discovery in her mind Hermione now saw the woman in a different way; still young and beautiful but her green eyes and her face held a cruelty and malice to it.
Or maybe she was just imagining things. After all, her experiences with snakes in the past years were never good ones!
"What are you doing?" a sudden voice made Hermione jump and spin around, resulting in the candle plate slipping through her fingers and clanging to the wooden floor. The newcomer gasped, flew down and quickly blew out the candle on the floor and using the candle in her own hand (Hermione could see from the small light it was a girl), examined the floor.
The girl hissed in a whisper, not looking up from the floorboards, "Oh just wonderful! You've scorched the floorboards! Well I'm not taking blame for that! I'm telling the master it was your fault, after all you dropped the candle."
She stood to full high and was an inch or two taller then Hermione. The other girl glanced at Hermione properly and moved to turn away but then froze in place. The girl turned slowly and stared at Hermione, the horror evident on her face through the candle light.
Although she was confused by the girl's reaction, Hermione noticed something which both frightened her and happier her. This girl wore the same outfit as the bruised girl she had seen in the mirror back in the reception bathroom. A white bonnet was placed securely over her blonde hair and a white apron over her blue dress, tied up around the neck and waist, and the dress puffed out a little around her hips.
But Hermione didn't have time to register anything else because suddenly the girl screamed, "Master! Master! Theft! There's a theft in the house! Help, Help! Riley! Master! Quick!"
Before Hermione could even know what was happening the girl blew out her candle plunged them both into darkness. Completely lost of what was happening she was extremely shocked when a sudden blow pushed her to the floor and a weight was suddenly on her, fists smacking at her.
"Stop, Stop!" cried Hermione, trying to free herself from her captor, which she knew was most likely the girl, "I'm not a theft! Ow! Stop it will you?!"
But the girl didn't stop punching her and she suddenly felt another pair of hands, stronger this time, grip her tightly and pulling her to her feet. The girl was still hitting her and Hermione struggled against the new captor yelling, "Let me go! Stop it!"
She felt a fist smack her against her cheek and it snapped her head across. She's had enough of this! Someone had her arms pined by her hands and was holding her back while she received more blows.
She freed her legs and swinging them up blindly and she felt her feet collide with something soft. She heard a gasp and a loud "Ow!" She kicked out and was successful again and she heard the girl's voice again, more of a wince evident in it.
"Riley stop her! She's hurting me!"
Suddenly there was louder and a deep voice, laced with authority and extreme sternness, yelled loudly, "Enough!"
Hermione looked up at the new voice and a new light lit the entire hallway. She eyes widen in shock when her mind processed what she was seeing before her and her mouth dropped open in unmistakable amazement and surprise.
There, standing in front of her in full flesh and bone perfectly alive, was the man from the portrait, which hung on the wall less then two meters away from her on the wall. His face was exactly the same; there was no mistake about it. The only differences were that his white wig was missing and his hair underneath was a light brown and wore a white night dress (which Hermione would have found rather amusing if the situation was different). There were three other men with him too.
They too all wore white wigs; black coats that came down to their mid-thighs, the silver embroidery on their coats glowed in the candle light and white shirts and frills at the neck. They weren't wearing any pants, but grey stocking and small little boots.
This had to be a huge prank, there was no other explanation. It was like she had fallen back through a few centuries in time. No way would people walk around dressed like this! They would look ridicules on the streets, especially the men if they walked around in tights! The thought almost made her begin to giggle but then she remembered that the household believed her to be a theft and her amusement was instantly silenced. Coming to her senses she snapped her mouth shut.
"Here sir!" cried the girl next to her, "this is the vicious theft! She was trying to steal the picture of yourself and the mistress! I caught her just in time to save it from her filthy-no-good hands! And she dropped a candle and burnt your floorboards sir! Look over here!" the girl moved the spot where Hermione had dropped the candle in accident. The girl continued, "And when I was giving her a good beating for the trouble she was doing she kicked out at me!"
All eyes were now on Hermione, who was purely irritated with the girl, making her sound like a common criminal! She was still being restrained by someone, although she no longer struggling. The man from the painting turned his gaze on her. His gaze was full of fury and hate as he walked slowly to her and stood glaring down at her.
"Look," said Hermione, "there's been a misunderstanding. I'm sorry for the trouble but I'm not a theft! You see I think there been an accident of some sort and-"
Slap!
The sound was like a crack of a wipe. Her head snapped to the side, her cheek was burning and stinging. The man had just slapped her; hard and strong. She squeezed her eyes shut in pain as they began to water. How dare he! What the hell was going on here?!
"What's your problem?!" cried Hermione turning back to glare at the man, "I was just trying to explain! You can't go around slapping people like that! Who do you think you are?!"
The words coming from her mouth so suddenly she hadn't even realized what she had she said until after they sunk into herself. At her words everyone froze and the girl put a hand over her open mouth in shock.
The man stared down at her before he suddenly roared making her jump, "How dare you speak to me in such a way, you filthy creature! You come to steal from my house and speak to me in such manner, the master!" he raised his eyes behind her, "Riley take her to the sealer! I will deal with her in the morning."
"Yes, sir," she heard the person holding her speak. It was a male, but his voice sounded young, much younger then the men in front of her.
She felt herself being dragged towards a semi-lit stairway. The girl was with her and her captor, who name she supposed was Riley, holding out a lit candle.
"I hope the master sends you to the gallows!" hissed the girl, "Nothing more then you deserve you little wretch!"
"Bethany enough," said Riley from behind her, "You don't know what she was doing here."
The girl, Bethany, gave a laugh and her voice was much softer, almost a purr, when she spoke to Riley, "to steal most likely! What else?"
"I'm not trying to steal anything!" cried Hermione loudly, tried of this, "I saw this girl in a mirror and then-"
A rough hand was suddenly pushed over her mouth to stop her words. She struggled and screamed against the hand, as it pressed harder against her mouth. She would have fallen many times by now if Riley hadn't been holding her up.
She was dragged through a door at the bottom of the stairs and through a room with pots and pans and a table in the middle (she guessed it was a kitchen) and they stopped. Hermione used this chance to try and escape, pushing as hard as she could, but it was no use. Riley was clearly much stronger then her.
Bethany put her candle down on the table and ruffled through a cupboard, pulling out a set of large keys. She moved to another door, smaller then the average sized one, bent down slightly and Hermione heard a clicked noise of the keys. Bethany moved aside and pushed open the door.
The Riley moved towards the smaller door, pulling her along with him, and suddenly, with no warning, she was flung forcefully through it. She stumbled forward, unsteady in the blackness. She instantly spun around and run back towards the door as fast as she could but it was instantly slammed shut with a bang and she was plunged into total and complete darkness.
She slammed her fists against the wood screaming in the darkness, "Let me out! I haven't done anything! Let me out!"
"You crazy idiotic people!" she continued to scream, "Let me go! You lot are bloody lunatics! You can't keep me in here! They will come for me and then you'll be sorry! LET ME GO!"
Suddenly a loud and angry bang from the other side of the door made Hermione instantly silent and she staggered backwards in sudden anxiety. Maybe it was best not to provoke these people tonight. She moved slowly away from the door and stopped until she felt something solid. A wall perhaps? It was what it felt like.
She lay down against it and curled up into a ball. She seized her eyes shut to stop the tears from falling. She thought of Ron and his face swam behind her closed lids. She missed him so much, she really need him now. Oh, how she wished for his comfort!
With her saddened and lonely thoughts she prepared herself for a long night ahead.
Dun, Dun, Dun! LOL! Hmmm…what's going to happen next:) To be honest not even I know yet and I'm the author! I have to set up a good timeline before I continue anymore writing:)
I had some trouble writing this chapter. I'm not familiar with the setting and characters in POTC so creating the right mood for it all was very difficult. However I do hope that I did a good enough job and you all enjoyed it! Well, please, please review and tell me what you think! oxox