Somnium - Dream

Once again, her dreams carried her to the forest. But this time. The dream was complete.

Hermione had been brewing the potion in the Room of Requirement; she was nearly there, she was so so close. Today was the day. She'd mastered a plan to lead Voldemort to the Room of Requirement, and all she had to do was dip her wand in the potion and blast out the Oblitus Renovantes spell. His body should change, then, and he should be turned into a toddler, even a baby perhaps, and his memory would be completely erased.

Some might consider the whole dipping the wand in the potion thing ridiculous, but according to Dumbledore, it should work. Why? Because doing so would mean that she would channel all her hatred for Voldemort through both the wand and the potion and it should ensure that this really does fathom a result. It sounded bizarre, but she did trust Dumbledore. He did warn her however that one really has to mean the feelings they're channeling, because this spell would not work otherwise, and could thus have horrid consequences. Magic did not like being cheated, and a person must pay the price for 'lying' to one's wand. But Hermione had nothing to worry about, she wasn't lying to her wand at all - she absolutely loathed Voldemort and had not but an inch of compassion for him. There was no way this spell would not work. For a second, Hermione had wondered where on earth Dumbledore had learned such information from, but regardless, she trusted his knowledge anyway. All that was left now was for her to administer the spell... Easier said than done.

A few hours passed, Hermione had finished the potion and carefully placed it in a dial. She was so exhausted, but she knew she was running out of time. She suddenly wondered what would happen if this spell didn't work; she wished there was a way for people to know that she'd tried and tried, time and time again.. she wanted people to know her story, she didn't want all her efforts here to go to waste. Sighing loudly, Hermione stood up when she nearly tripped over something.

A book.

She picked it up and nearly yelped in shock. It said "Hermione's Diary" - it didn't take her long to figure out that the Room must have granted this to her, as a gift of sorts. Did this Room empathize?

Hermione didn't have much time to think of an answer to that, because she realized something else-

The chair she'd used to block the door had moved one foot to the left.

Shit.

Almost immediately, she pulled out her wand and bolted straight for the door. She imagined someone would come out and stop her, a Death Eater with a mind for vengeance, but nothing. Absolutely no one was there. Could it have been just her imagination?

Almost reluctantly, she made her way outside and again: nothing. She had to get to the other side of the castle and the safest way for her to do this was to go unnoticed through the forbidden forest.

It didn't take her long to get there, and there was no one in sight. She sighted the area she intended to run to, where her sources had specified Voldemort would be at that time. She scanned the area several times, and found nothing to be wary of. How could there have been no 'security'?

She was running out of time, Voldemort would move to a different location soon.

Now was the time.

She bolted out of her hiding place.

As soon as she stepped out, she was met with a flash of blinding white light, seemingly radiating from every crevice of the forest. She shut her eyes in pain, and raised her wand blindly, hissing out disheveled spells in hopes of dissembling the light. But nothing happened, all her spells seemed to dissipate in the air and Hermione found that her eyes were searing with pain, watering and stinging and hurting, oh god, the pain-

Pain everywhere now.

Was she under the Cruciatus? She didn't know, fuck this was unfair. What the hell was happening?

Then she felt as though the air was literally being pulled out of her lungs. Then it all stopped and the light disappeared; that was all she remembered before she lost consciousness.

When Hermione woke up, she was in a cold, icy room. Her arms were aching - what the-

It was dark.

And she was-

-oh, god, she was chained to the wall, her hands tied above her head.

Oh, god, nonononono-

A male voice said, "Honestly, I prefer you more when you're like this."

Hermione wailed in anger.

"Shut the hell up, Granger!" A recognizable voice had said and Hermione had quieted, gaining her focus.

She looked closer. Draco.

Draco!

This reminded her... where was she? She remembered that it was the war, and that she'd been running towards Hogwarts, ready to attack Voldemort before he could get to Harry, and then-

-Death Eaters!

They captured her. Crap. She had to get out.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione snapped, and she realized then that her throat was unbelievably dry. She didn't even remember the last time she'd drank or ate. When he didn't answer, she said, "Malfoy, why are you here? To torture me?"

His eyes darkened for a brief moment, then he said, "In fact, yes."

Hermioned eyed him warily, "Then do it."

He smirked at her, "Why so eager?"

Then he inched closer to her face and said the strangest thing she'd ever heard him utter:

"I'll do what I want, Granger. Help isn't coming for you. You have no one to run to, girl. But you can comply, if you know what's best. You get that? Have patience. Tonight. Trust is a rare thing. Melody makes us sway."

She eyed him.

What the hell had he just said?

Then he said, his breath tickling her ear, "First of everything is the best place to start."

Then he sauntered away. While Hermione was pondering what on Earth he'd just said, she noticed a security camera near by. They were being filmed.

First of everything is the best place to start.

What Draco had been saying repeated in her head, so many times and yet in the exact same way he'd said it, it almost felt as though he'd enchanted it into her head.

Did he.. enchant it into her memory? So she wouldn't forget it?

First of everything.. first of what? The letters? Sentences? She could try..

I'll Help You But If You Have Tonight Trust Melody

Tonight Trust Melody?

Tonight.. tonight.. toni.. to.. to.. to?

To Trust Melody?

To Trust Melo? Mel? Me?

To Trust Me?

I'll Help You But If You Have To Trust Me

Was the "if" the start of a sentence? Maybe not..

I'll help you but you have to trust me.

Fuck. Why in her right mind would she trust Draco?

Almost immediately he was back, and he had a saw with him, lazily dangling from his hand.

Her eyes widened in horror.

Draco approached her solemnly, his saw glinted in the dim light of the room, his green eyes sparkled mischievously.

..Green? Weren't his eyes a rich, ocean blue?

Draco said, "Just do as I say. Play with me, Granger. Along I come."

Just... Play... Along.

Just play along.

Hiding how grateful she was, she hissed, "Screw you, Malfoy! Get the hell away from."

His now green eyes sparkled mischievously.

He was going to torture her.

Her eyes snapped open, and she registered one thing:

Green. Green was everywhere. Around her, above her, in front of her.

Then she registered another thing: eyes. Which just happened to be green, and happened to be staring right at her.

She stared at the eyes; then they suddenly turned blue.

"Malfoy," she breathed out, and bolted upright. She was in the forest now.. how..?

Draco, seared beside her on the moss green glass, "Listen, Granger, I have to get back soon before someone notices we're missing. You have to trust me,"

Hermione eyed him warily, and gripped her wand suspiciously by her side. Yet she did not interrupt.

"I want out. I hate this, everything. This is ruining my life," he spoke in a hurried whisper, "Rumors are running around about how someone.. how you.. have a plan, and you know what? If my bet is on anyone to succeed, it's on you. I know you're doing it for your friends but I.. this isn't just for them, Granger. I can't fucking take this anymore.." there was a pause where Draco licked his dry lips, and glances around surreptitiously, then he continued, "When you came out of Hogwarts just now, the other Death Eaters placed a Hallucination spell on the area, made you think you were headed for the forest, when you were actually headed straight for our hide out. Then they Cruciated you, all 7 of them, at once. I volunteered to 'take care' of you. And placed my own Hallucination spell, so that they wouldn't see it when I moved you out of your cell. I changed my eyes to green," he smirked then, "just the slightest change that you'd -hopefully- notice. And you did. I places a Duplication spell on us, so everyone thinks we're still there. But it'll wear off in about an hour. You know what that means, Granger?"

"I have one hour to kill Voldemort," she whispered nonchalantly, though her eyes cast an array of emotions.

"This.. spell you're doing," Draco said, "I know what it is, I know about it. And I vow to be your Secret Keeper."

She stared at him, "Why would I need a Secret Keeper?"

"It's a different kind of the Fidelius Charm, just incase anything happens, I'll know where you are, regardless of where you go,"

"What makes you think I'll go anywhere?" she added skeptically.

"I-I don't know, Granger, let's just do this okay?"

"How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"You don't."

She sighed in frustration, "How is this performed, then?"

"It's not performed.." he said thoughtfully, "We just need some kind of 'password' I suppose, something that means something to the both of us. If for whatever reason, either of us forget this incident, then by repeating this password several times, our memory should slowly begin to reform."

"Malfoy what are you talking about? Why do we need all this? Memory loss, Fidelius charm, Secret Keeper, password.. If I fail my mission, I'll be dead. That's it. There's nothing more to it."

"Granger, please."

Minutes seemed to pass between them, time was already running out. She could see the desperation grow on Draco's face as she contemplated his request.

Then with finality, she said, "What's our password?"

"My word is sword. What's yours?" he said instantaneously.

She thought for a while, then said, "Blood."

He didn't know if she was thinking of her blood - as in her status - or of the blood spilled in this war. Maybe both. He didn't ask though, since she didn't ask why his special word was sword either.

"Blood sword.." he said, testing it on his tongue.

"Bloodied sword," She corrected thoughtfully.

Then Draco said in Latin, "Gladius cruentus."

He stood up, and shrugged of his Slythering robe. He handed it to her without looking at her face, and said "Take it. Your clothes are fucked up." She sighed at his insult, but murmured a thank you for the gesture. Now was the time.

Hermione ran like never before, stepping on broken tree branches, feeling the dirty, mangled roots snag at her jeans.

She had to do it, she had to do it now. Otherwise it would all be too late.

She ran and ran and ran like never before.

Tom stood watching her as she slept. And fuck, how he wished he hadn't come.

It wasn't entirely his fault though, they agreed to meet for dinner tonight at a certain time and it was half past 7 now and the girl still hadn't woken up. Incredibly pissed off, he sauntered off to the Slytherin Common room only to find out that the wretched girl hadn't been seen all day. A part of him wondered if maybe she was seriously ill again, or something. This was all hideously annoying, he needed this so called 'dinner date' to at least soften the Diary towards him, so it would freaking speak to him. And now his plans were being foiled because the silly girl was asleep.

He cast a spell on himself, rendering himself invisible as he headed off to the 7th year girls dormitory. He didn't know what the other houses were like, but if a male tried to enter the girls' dorm then a couple snakes would come out of the wall and hiss violently. Some brave ones attempted to bite. When they did that, he threatened them in Parsletongue and they, reluctantly, slithered away.

He stepped inside cautiously, and was surprised to see her sound asleep. Sometime during the night, she had thrown the covers off; they now were strewn carelessly on the floor. He wasn't prepared to see what she was wearing, though. She was in her black panties and a flimsy white t-shirt.

He cursed himself. And her. What the heck was she wearing? Stupid girl. He suddenly felt like a complete idiot for even coming here, seriously, what the hell was wrong with him? Should he wake her? Should he just ignore their dinner? No, no. He couldn't. The Diary wouldn't comply otherwise.

He stood by her bed, and reached a hand towards her shoulder ready to shake her awake when her eyes snapped open, her nails dug into his outstretched arm and her body pushed him violently onto the floor.

Tom landed with a painful thud on his back and Hermione straddled him, eyes wide on fear. She panted, "What are you doing here? How can you sneak up on people like that! What kind of a sadist are you!"

Tom stared at her; she had both her hands pressed to his chest in a feeble attempt to keep him there, her legs straddled his waist and her eye was a wild mess. He would have normally being rather pissed that someone had dared push him to the floor, but knowing that he made her so angry that she dared push him to the floor put a smirk on his face.

"If you think this is me being sadistic, you haven't seen anything yet," he said.

"Why are you here?" she tried not to let what he just said bother her.

"You forgot our date," he said blankly.

She blinked. And then, "oh."

He watched as her face heated up, perhaps as everything dawned on her. She wasn't even dressed yet.

Godric, Hermione, you idiot.

She began to get off his lap when he grabbed her waist and held her in place. He leaned upwards so that they were both upright on the floor, yet her legs still wrapped around his waist.

"No," he said, "I like this."

Then he trailed his eyes down her body and hooked a lazy finger into the side of her lace panties. He stretched the fabric towards him, then let it snap back onto her skin. "And these. A lot."

She didn't even bother answering him, knowing anything she said would just anger him even more. despite the fact that he wasn't trying to kill her, the look in her eyes told her that he was beyond angry that she'd forgotten their 'date.'

Without looking him in the eye, she stood up. He actually let her get up. Well, maybe he wasn't that angry after all... She walked away from him quickly, hoping he wouldn't be staring at her behind.

When she looked at him, he wasn't. He was looking at his left hand instead.

Scrawled in blood across his palm, the words Abraxas is awake sent shivers down his spine.

Omg you guys I am so so sorry for the late update. I truly hope you haven't given hope on this story! Please continue to review and support, thank you all SO SO MUCH 3 I started university this year and dear lord, the work load is horrendous.

But at last, I'm finally a Physicist-to-be! And also living in london! hooray!