Summary: Harry Potter x Death Note: Hermione has always been seen as one of the brightest witches alive. She soon learns that even the brightest people have their bad moments. Ending up in a magic-less universe, where a deadly game is being played by a serial killer called Kira and a famous detective L, Hermione must try to find her way back to her own world. But, will she be able to prevent her curiosity and morals from letting her enter the game though?
Beta: Not yet, so please don't mind my mistakes. If you are interested in helping out, please let me know?
Dear readers, It has been a while, but her is the next chapter. I'm hoping to write the next chapter faster than this one, seeing as I'm starting to develop a vague story line in my head. In the meantime please let me know what you think and enjoy the new chapter!
Chapter 4: Bad Impressions
There is always that moment of half-awareness when someone wakes up – at least, when one doesn't snap awake from horrible nightmare. Hermione had enough experiences with both, seeing as the war had left enough marks to last a lifetime if she had anything to say about it.
During this moment of half-awareness, it didn't take her long to realize that she was feeling absolutely horrible.
Her head was pounding, the world was swirling. She felt cold, yet sweaty and sticky and 'urgh' at the same time.
The witch wanted nothing more than to slip back to the comfortable darkness. Yet, there was this thought in the back of her head – nagging her – that kept her from reaching her destination filled with comfortable dreams of her home.
Hermione didn't know where she was and that was something that needed to be solved. Her survival instincts refused to let her go back to sleep so eventually, she quietly waited to wake up more properly.
There was a short moment that she was able to ignore the fact that she felt unwell and she actually felt pretty comfortable under the warm covers that were drabbed over her. The bed was so soft that it reminded her of Hogwarts. Something told her that that was impossible though and soon after her mind reminded her of her current situation.
'I fainted and someone caught me…' She slowly realized but couldn't quite remember more than that at the moment.
At least he didn't bring me to the hospital. Hermione thought relieved, knowing that the hospital didn't have such soft beds and had different kind of sheets.
It put her mind to rest to know that she had avoided identification problems for now, but there were still things that she needed to find out.
Like finding out where I am.
And why she was feeling so uncomfortable… like she was being watched.
So, with some difficulty – the witch hadn't felt so horrible ever since she had been a child and had had pneumonia - Hermione slowly opened her eyes. She groggily blinked to help her eyes adjust to the dim light that was being reflected in the wide onyx eyes that was staring at her, mere inches from her face. Her brain slowly registered this odd sight and she sleepily closed her eyes again. She then reached with her hand to her face, intending to rub some of the sleep out of her eyes.
Oh, she actually was being watched.
Wait What? Her brain finally quickly switched itself on, for once snapping itself out of its normal slow waking routine.
Her eyes sprung wide open, staring into the onyx eyes that were still staring at her - rather unblinkingly - following her every reaction. The two of them were frozen like that for a moment, just staring each other in the eyes, although Hermione had to blink from time to time.
She absently noted the dark rings under his eyes, the black strays of hair that fell nearly over his eyes, but most of all, she noted that his face was far too close for her liking. Yet the witch couldn't help but continued to sit there frozen and dizzy. It felt as if moving was against a rule of an unspoken game they were playing. So she continued sitting there, yet leaning back as far as possible, staring back at those deep dark eyes.
As if she was caught under some weird spell.
The stranger suddenly broke the silence.
"Ruby." It was more a statement than a question, but the simple word was enough to startle her though.
And that was all that was needed to break the spell…
Hermione screamed.
The stranger startled at her sudden scream and moved almost automatically as he – somewhat gently – slapped his palm over her mouth.
"No need to yell." He stated calmly as the witch clawed at his hand, muffling angrily at him.
Who the hell did he think he was? What the hell was he trying to do? Question's sprang to her head, every thought not very reassuring.
"Imwhelwnthhellmwanm!" She snarled-actually-hummed at him, before trying to bite his hand.
He ignored it at first.
"If you will just be silent then I will rele-" He was interrupted by a somewhat painful bite at his palm.
He immediately let go after that, holding his hand to his chest protectively – while also seeming to feel somewhat disgusted by having her salvia on his hand. The witch felt pretty much the same of having touched his hand like that.
"That was unnecessary." He drawled, seemingly unfazed, while rubbing the hand off the bottom of his white long-sleeved shirt.
"Get away from me!" She yelled at him and moved back, wincing as her head complained against the sudden movement. Ignoring it to the best of her ability, she pushed herself as far away from the strange man as possible, causing the woman to nearly fall out of the king-size bed she had been sleeping on.
She felt the stranger grab her arm to prevent her from falling out, but she automatically and defensively pulled herself loose with minimum effort. She was experienced in such manner of self-defense. Though she was not quite as much experienced as with falling out of bed, which meant that…
That she hit the floor with a pained groan.
Ignoring the dizziness around her, the witch quickly crawled away from the man and stood up – automatically searching for her wand. Her hand lingered over her left arm as she rubbed it to sooth the pain from her fall. It was still attached and hidden in her magical wand holster on her arm. Every unspeakable was given one as an initiation gift.
Thank Merlin for her paranoia yesterday.
"Who the hell are you and where the hell am I?" She demanded, refusing to show the nervousness that was roaming through her even though she was far from defenseless.
The distance allowed her to get a proper view of her sort-of-somewhat assaulter.
The first word that popped up in her head upon seeing him was 'odd'.
While she wasn't someone to use the word freak, she was sure that Ron would have called him that almost immediately– followed by 'pervert' and 'creep' for the stunt that he had just pulled. Hermione however, had the feeling that the man was just socially awkward or really arrogant, judged from the blank stare and puzzled stare that she was rewarded.
The young man had moved himself to the edge of the bed, looking at her with a wide-eyed but impassive expression. He had a mop of unruly black hair that seemed to go everywhere, making it look like it had a will of its own. Merlin, even Harry's hair wasn't that messy!
Though, what caught Hermione's attention was his dark and analyzing gaze. It was also hard not to notice the deep bags he had under his eyes. They made her wonder when he had been sleeping for the last time…
'Insomniac propably…' She easily deduced.
The man had yet to answer her question, but it seemed like he was ignoring it. Instead he moved from his deep crouch on the bed – that horrible pose of his might be a reason why he wore such baggy pants…- to stand on the ground with his… bare feet. The witch couldn't help but glance at his toes, which seemed slightly longer than average people she knew, as were his fingers. Piano fingers.
'He's very odd.' She allowed herself to think.
All in all, his attitude and appearance seemed to clash with the prosperous and rich atmosphere the room had.
But most of all, even with all these mental notes about his appearance- it was his eyes that interested her the most. They were the blackest she had ever seen and they made her feel as if his gaze had captured her. It made the witch feel a bit defensive, yet, it also peaked her curiosity.
This insomniac somehow had captured her interest.
He was a puzzle to her too.
That was dangerous.
Not long after having recognized his eyes, a small whispering thought had reminded her of his presence the evening – if it was already morning that is – before. She didn't show any of this recognition though. Even though the wheels were spinning in her mind, utterly fascinated by the knowledge that this odd looking man…
Was the World's Most Famous and Infamous Super-detective L.
It excited and scared her at the same time.
She had to be very careful around him.
"Who are you?" She repeated, allowing to show a little of her nerves this time.
'Would he manipulate my feelings to know more about me?' She wondered, planning on testing him.
Wait…
Shit.
They would want to know who she was and where she came from. She didn't have any identification papers with her. Her bag would resist being opened by a muggle as well.
Plus, her lovely 'fake' story was so bad that she couldn't help but wonder what she had been thinking. She probably hadn't been. The fact that she was suffering from a concussion was no excuse for her.
Though other people would beg to differ.
"You better sit down Ruby." L drawled in a manner that reminded her somewhat of Snape – cold and uncaring of her presence.
It didn't fool her for a moment.
'He must have encountered my bag already.' She thought, annoyed.
So, as far as she could tell, the detective seemed to be interested in her presence too. Far too interested, she decided as the young man shuffled away from the bed without taking his eyes off her. It seemed to be a peace offering of some kind. He would keep his distance… for now.
She didn't move towards the bed though, preferring to have the distance they had right now. She crossed her arms defensively and frowned at him.
"Could you please answer my question?"
"I'm not repeating myself." He told her instead, fueling her frustration.
She stood there for a moment, but it was clear that the stubborn man was not going to bulge. He was more like Snape than just his looks it seemed. So with a huff, she walked towards the bed and sat down on the edge, stubbornly ignoring the swaying sensation that she had felt during walking over.
L didn't comment on the fact that she had sat down facing him and with as much distance between them as possible. Obviously, she was wary of him.
"Well?" She said after a moment of silence. "Could you please tell me who you are and where I am?"
Hermione was looking at him again, and she couldn't help but make eye contact. It didn't really scare her, but his lack of acknowledgement made her frown in annoyance.
"Really?" She huffed. "I'm not asking something unreasonable."
He ignored her talking and his weight switched to his right foot, the one that was closest to her.
'Is he going to approach me again?' Her mind immediately alerted her of the body language.
The frown that Hermione was giving him was slowly changing into a glare. She felt horrible damn it, was it really too much to ask for some simple answers? Why was he testing her like that?
He slightly cocked his head at the slight change in her facial expression and actually took a step forward.
Hermione doubled the glare.
L paused, but seemed to double the intensity of his stare instead.
The witch mentally groaned.
"Ryuuza-"
Their silent conversation was interrupted when 'Walter Atari' – aka Wammy, she absently reminded herself - entered the room, before he halted in his tracks, leaving the name unfinished. He looked at both of us, seemingly a little surprised.
"Mr. Atari!" Hermione exclaimed happily, not really caring that she sounded relieved at his arrival.
He turned and smiled warmly at her, before glancing at the young man looking somewhat disgruntled at having been interrupted.
"Ah, Miss Ruby. I'm surprised that you are awake so quickly. It has only been one and a half hour."
"Really?" The witch couldn't help but ask, surprised as well. "Oh… It felt like I slept longer."
She hadn't slept in such short intervals since the Horcrux Hunt, though maybe her paranoia was rearing its head again. Or she had felt L's presence staring at her after all… Hermoine mused as her eyes flickered towards the detective. She shrugged it off though. 'It isn't important.'
Other matters though, were.
"Where am I?"
Wammy paused for a moment, looking at both of us. A strange gleam appeared in his eyes before elder man fully stepped into the bedroom. A strawberry cake appeared from behind the door, where it had been first blocked from our view. In the corner of the witch's eyes, she saw the Insomniac perk up a little at the sight of the cake, and he finally took his attention off her. She saw him stretch out his arm and noted the slightly chewed thumb and she couldn't help but frown at the visible bad habit.
Not to mention that horrible haunch in his back!
'Walter' complied with the silent request of the black-haired male and handed him the cake and a fork. Meanwhile, Hermione slowly stood up again, which immediately caught the attention of both parties.
"Ruby, please lie back down on the bed. You have hit your head quite hard." The older man advised, slightly concerned.
Hermione could feel the onyx eyes on her again, and she tried my hardest to ignore him. Don't start glaring… No need to start glaring.
She felt horrible and really felt like sleeping as well, but she was done listening to their concern. She wanted some answers.
"Where am I?" She asked again, more angrily this time.
"You are at the Teito Hotel." The older man answered kindly while calmly approaching her.
"Now, please. Just lie back down."
His presence didn't feel threatening at all and she finally allowed herself to be guided back under the blanket, though she kept a wary eye on the detective to make sure that he kept his distance.
'Teito Hotel…' She repeated with in her head with a tone off surprise.
It had been in the guide that she had been given with all the tourist information. It was one of the most expensive hotels out there, though knowing who they were, it shouldn't be that odd. At least, it certainly explained the luxurious room.
"Isn't that a really expensive hotel?" She asked lamely, trying to remind herself not to show them her true knowledge and intelligence– as far as she was still able to with that suspicious and paranoid detective around. "I saw some kind of picture in the booklet."
"That's the one." The grandfatherly figure agreed and patted her shoulder reassuringly. She hummed and let her eyes droop slightly, not sure what to do anymore.
Hermione felt horrible, yet she would have to leave soon. They were far too observant to be around. There were far too many holes in her story… She would have to slip away or something. Though, they were so kind. Even though L was seriously creepy with his ignorance of someone's personal space. She had yet to spot any malicious attitude from him. Plus he was interesting…
"I'm sorry." The witch told Watari before she really could help herself as he gently prodded her head.
She felt so tired. Was she collapsing?
"For what?" The man asked kindly, a thoughtful glint in his eye that alerted her that he was more like Dumbledore than she might have thought.
Well that was somewhat awkward.
She let out a faint chuckle when she realized that she was stuck with a somewhat familiar to Dumbledore and Snape. Was it usual for people like them to stick together like that?
"I just didn't mean to intrude. I must be sleeping in someone's bed." She eventually told with a sigh, realizing how warm she was when he placed a cooling pad on her head.
She hummed in appreciation.
Was she actually running a fever? Was this the whole transportation-to-another-world catching up with her?
"It's no problem." The man reassured her. "We have another bedroom that we can use."
She nodded slowly, before she mentally moved onto the next important point.
"Where is my bag?" She mumbled.
"It's in the other room. We will keep it safe." The detective reassured her with a drawl, which earned him a frown from her.
"Can I have it back right now? I prefer to keep it in my sight. It's very important to me." She allowed afterwards and felt somewhat victorious when she saw the detective sigh at the look that Wammy was giving him.
"I will get it in a moment." The older man told her.
He turned to his charge and gave him a pointed look and mouthed 'behave', before he stood up. The detective didn't answer him, but seemed to sulk in acknowledgement. After a few minutes of awkward silence, he approached the bed and crouched down on top of it at the other side, giving her enough distance that she couldn't complain.
"So can you tell us your last name?" He drawled, a interested glint in his eyes that made the witch uncomfortable.
The witch didn't have to hide tension that build up in her shoulders and she looked at him with wariness.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Why don't you want to tell me?" He countered easily, facing her directly to study her reactions easily.
Was he interrogating her already? Hermione couldn't help but sigh at her predicament.
"Hell, you could be Kira for all that I know." She reflected, refusing to back down even though her original plan had been to avoid these kind of interesting conversations.
There was a tiny twitch of the lips at that accusation that Hermione nearly hadn't caught.
"So you are a c-"
"I'm not a criminal or anything like that." She cut him off, earning a flash of annoyance in his eyes.
She groaned and rubbed her head, wishing that she could just go back to sleep. "I'm just stuck in this incredibly sucky situation and feel absolutely paranoid with this whole battle of Kira going on around here. I don't want to have anything to do with it." She said, closing her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them, she froze.
He was right there in front of her again, leaning over in some kind of intimidation tactic. Invading her personal space… again. She growled mentally. She wasn't afraid of being close to a man like that – she had lived with boys surrounding her like that for years – but that didn't take away the discomfort.
"Battle of Kira huh? And why would we have anything to do with it?" He challenged her.
Argh really?
Hermione really hadn't mean anything like that! She wasn't even to try to hide her knowledge of him being L from him – she was just ignoring it. That was a safer tactic after all. If she were going to be worried about mentioning something Kira of L related in front of him, he would be alerted for sure. So she just looked at him, like she would look at Ron, doing something that irritated her.
"Yeah you know this criminal killer and what the hell do you mean by 'we have anything to do with it?' I don't get this at all. Stop nagging me please. I don't feel well and I might go as far as throwing up in a minute." She told him with some frustration, looking at the door in hope that Watari would come in at any moment.
The detective didn't answer her. Instead, he continued to stare at her as if she was a puzzle. She knew that she was one to him. He wouldn't have been able to find anything about her and he must have had little chance to experiment with the bag up until now. Something that she was now taking away from him as well.
Seriously… didn't he have to work on that Kira case of his?
The man was about to say something, but the door opened and the elder man entered the room with her precious bag in his hands. "There you go Miss."
"Thank you!" She cried with relief, not bothering to hide it and hugged it to her chest.
She pointedly ignored the raised eyebrow that Watari directed at L for sitting so close to her – he was probably more than aware that he was bothering her – and cleared his throat.
"Well, it's better to let you rest for a while. Please go back to sleep Miss Ruby. We will talk more in the morning. I'm pretty tired myself."
"Thank you Mr. Atari." She muttered, slipping her back under the blanket to keep it close.
"Walter is fine."
"Walter then." She nodded at him.
"Thank you for everything Walter." She told him sincerely once again, before turning to L and blinked at him.
"Ah, I still don't know who you are…" She said somewhat awkwardly.
He looked at her for a few seconds, before he looked away and slipped out of the room – closing the door behind him.
"Did I say something wrong?" She asked, not hiding the worry that she felt.
"Don't worry about it… he's just not very social." Walter reassured her, before walking to the door as well.
"I will check up on you in couple of hours. The bathroom is through the door on your left. " He pointed at it. "If there is anything you need, just call 1." He continued and pointed to the phone next to the bed. "I will come as soon as possible."
"Thank you."
"Sleep well."
"You as well."
The moment that the door closed, Hermione couldn't help but feel somewhat disorientated.
'We will talk in the morning,' Wammy's words repeated themselves in her head.
'What the hell am I going to do?'
Hermione groaned and buried her head under her blankets. She would just have to think… She had enough time. Well not enough… but she had some time before they would bother her. Also, she still had enough magic to do the things that she needed to do if it came to it. Even the less… moral ones. But would she really be able to push herself to do so?
Still, right now, It was more important to get safe – she really would have to forge some kind of identity – and undercover somehow. The witch would stay in Japan, seeing as she didn't want to leave the place were she had arrived from – maybe there was some kind of limit to the connection to her magic at home and she was not going to risk breaking that - for a long while so it would be best to get comfortable.
As she tried to go back to sleep, a lot of worries plagued her and she couldn't help but feel like she had done something wrong to deserve this.
The only comfort was the tugging feeling at her core, to know that there was still a connection to her home. She curled into herself, keeping her bag close to her chest.
She was going to get back home, Hermione told herself. She had promised herself that she would do anything to get back home.
She had also promised herself some time ago that she would not overstep the fading line between doing what is necessary and what is easy. That was the difficulty. Was it really necessary to flee from them? To get away from the pair that reminded her so much of Snape and the Headmaster?
They knew too much already. She wouldn't be able to provide them with the answers they were looking for and that would only give her more trouble. Who knows, she would be arrested for having no identification… She wouldn't able to do anything in jail.
Yet, was she really ready to go as far as to erase memories of her existence from someone's mind again?
Hermione wasn't sure anymore.
~ End Chapter ~
What would you do?