all characters belong to JKR

Part XXV: January:

Working to Figure Things out the Hard Way:

A low fog hung on the ground. Everything was grey. The skies, the trees, the frozen earth, all grey. It was cold. Not just cold. It was bitter cold. Hermione sat in her classroom, on that bitter cold January afternoon, on her first day back, after classes, mulling over all the events of the last six months. She wrote everything down on a piece of parchment. She started with the cup, for she felt that was where everything started. She wrote down a timeline…the cup…finding the cylinder…looking up the runes on the cup and cylinder for the first time… putting the cup inside the cylinder…her first nightmare.

That about covered the first part. Still, she had to wonder, why, why, why? Hermione didn't have an answer for that. On the bottom of this parchment she wrote the word 'WHY?' very large, covering the bottom part of the paper.

On another piece of parchment, she wrote down what she knew to be true, or rather, what she believed to be true. For knowing and believing are two different things. Fact one, Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff were at one time in love. Two, they fought, he left, he came back, rescued her, and created his Horcrux in a cave, thinking she was dying.

Three, she didn't die. He wanted to create a Horcrux for her. Did he? Hermione would come back to that one. Four, Helga was with child. Five, Salazar performed a blood purity test on Helga, which proved her a pureblood, even though her own parents told her she wasn't. (Hermione put a star next to that one, for she still had to figure out why that happened.) Six, Salazar, tricking Helga into thinking he was going to perform a binding ceremony, instead, in a bizarre fit of madness, threw her into an underground spring. Again, why?

At this point, Hermione was at an impasse. She dreamt that Helga survived, by swimming toward a green light, and entering another underground chamber, and Salazar thought she drowned. He obviously was distraught at that thought. Therefore, apparently, it was never his intention to drown her.

At least Hermione knew why she had the nightmares that she did. Of course, when her nightmares began, at first she remembered nothing, then she remembered Draco trying to drown her, and then she remembered Slytherin trying to drown Helga. The strange thing was, Draco never tried to drown her, and in all truthfulness, that wasn't Salazar's intent either. However, Helga thought he was trying to drown her.

Speaking of drowning, Hermione's head was swimming. She felt no closer to the truth than she did last summer.

She took out a third piece of parchment and wrote Paul equals Slytherin. Then, she crossed out the word Paul, and wrote a question mark. She didn't know why, but she seriously doubted Nick's claims that Slytherin was in Paul, so he probably didn't represent Salazar. Under this, she wrote Hermione equals Helga, Draco equals Ravenclaw. '?' equals Gryffindor. Then over the crossed out 'Paul' she wrote Nick equals Slytherin. She balled this paper up and threw it in the corner. Seriously, she didn't even think she believed that she was some distant relative of one of the founders. Ludicrous.

Hermione put her head on her desk and shut her eyes, willing sleep to come, hoping against all hope that perhaps she would dream, and in her dreams, the answers would just come to her. She closed her eyes, but was still quite awake. She heard her door open. Perhaps if the person thought she was sleeping, they would go away. Maybe it would be Slytherin, popping in for a little chat. She had a lot she wanted to ask him. That thought almost made her smile. She would keep up her ruse until the person revealed who they were, or told her a piece of the puzzle.

"Granger?" the familiar voice said. It was Draco. What to do, what to do? She kept her eyes shut. Maybe he would give her a kiss, to wake her up. That was worth pretending, the possibility of receiving a kiss from her very own prince charming. He walked up to stand behind her desk and put his hands on her shoulders. He bent down and kissed her cheek. She didn't move. She wanted at least a kiss on the lips before she stopped playing opossum.

He brushed the hair back from her face, and kissed her temple, near her hairline. He sat on the desk and said, "I can tell you are faking."

She sat up and said, "How?"

"I've watched you sleeping so many times, that I think I can tell when you are really a sleep, or just faking. Why are you pretending, my little one?" He took her hand and examined her nails.

"I wanted a kiss from my prince charming," she said, honestly.

"What if it wasn't me that came in your room?" he asked.

"I didn't say you were my prince charming," she said coyly, giving him an impish grin. He pulled her up between his legs.

"Apologize, my love, and give me a kiss befitting my title of Hermione's one and only prince charming," he said, with fake disdain.

"What a long name you have, my sweet," she said. "Hermione's one and only prince charming, huh?" She kissed his neck, and then leaned her whole body into his. He put his arms tight around her. No words were necessary. He knew what was troubling her. He looked down at the parchments on her desk, and all the things she wrote. He kissed her hair and forced her chin up, with his finger.

"Don't let this consume your every waking moment. Soon, everything will be revealed. Aren't you the one who always says, 'everything happens for a reason'?" he asked.

"I never say that," she said, repeating what he told her on Christmas day.

He reached around her robes and pinched her bum. "Watch it, Mr. Malfoy!" she yelped, slapping his hand away. "I will have you know my prince charming would never pinch my bum!"

"Your prince charming sounds like a boring chap," Draco dished, "Good thing I'm your prince half-way charming."

She kept her arms tight around his neck and said, "I'm hungry."

"What a random thing to say," he said, holding her away from his body. "Let's get some food. I hear they have shepherd's pie tonight. My favourite." He held her hand the entire way down to dinner. As they walked in the Great Hall, someone watched their every move. That same person took that opportunity to go up to Hermione's classroom. The person was looking for something specific, and had already searched her room and Draco's room, during classes today.

This person walked in her classroom, and locked the door. Going over to her desk, they rummaged through her papers. Sitting down at her desk, the person opened the top drawer, picked up a Muggle spiral notebook, and threw it on the corner of the desk. It fell off, so the person bent down to pick it up, and saw a piece of parchment, rolled into a ball, on the floor. The person bent down to pick it up, unfolded it, and saw where someone, they could only assume Hermione, wrote Paul equals Slytherin, Hermione equals Hufflepuff, Draco equals Ravenclaw, and '?' equals Gryffindor. Above Paul's name, which had been crossed out, was another question mark, and a one small word. 'Nick'.

What did that mean? This person smoothed out the paper, and put it in their pocket.

Another Nightmare, of Epic Proportions:

Draco, Don, Nick and Hermione had been back to Hogwarts for two weeks. Draco had practically moved to Hermione's suite. He spent all his time there, anyway. The Headmistress was none the wiser. He was letting Nick Boot stay in his room. He was sitting on the couch, studying for his exams. He received a letter telling him there was a make-up exam in March. He desperately wanted to take the exams at that time, so he didn't have to wait until June. June would be a busy month, since they were getting married in June.

Hermione came out of the bathroom, in her pajamas, drying her hair with a towel. She went over to sit by the fire, hoping the warmth from the radiating heat would not only help to warm her, but would help to dry her hair. "The one thing I like best about going home is a hair dryer," she exclaimed.

"Hmm," he said. He wasn't paying attention.

She didn't want to disturb his studying, so she went to her bookshelf, grabbed a book, and sat on the other end of the couch, with her legs stretched out in front of her. He pulled her feet on his lap, and put a pillow over them. He knew that even though she had socks on, her feet were always cold.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"Hmm," he said for the second time. She smiled and shook her head.

After an hour of reading, she looked over at Draco. His head was back against the sofa pillow, and his book was closed on his lap. Poor thing. He was asleep. She moved her feet from his lap, closed her book, and took his from his lap. She didn't want to wake him, so she went over to the bedroom, grabbed a quilt, and tucked him safely underneath. She stroked his hair away from his forehead. She whispered, "Goodnight, my prince charming." She kissed his head lightly, and went to the bedroom. She took a pillow, and another blanket, and lay down on the end of the sofa that she just vacated. She used her wand to stoke the fire, and extinguish the lights. Within minutes, she was asleep.

Draco was thrashing about, in his sleep. Hermione woke to the sounds of him cursing, and shouting. She lit a lantern on the wall with her wand, and scrambled out from under her quilt. She was still on the couch, when he suddenly lunged for her. He was holding her shoulders, shaking her. Nothing he was saying was coherent. She was crying and shouting, "Wake up, Draco!" He stood, lifting her from the couch. He picked her completely off the couch and threw her across the room.

She staggered to stand, in pain. Holding her arm, from where it hit the wall, she went up to him. His eyes were open, but it didn't look like he could even see her. She said, "Wake up, Draco, it's me, it's Hermione."

He appeared to look right through her. He raised his hand and slapped her so hard, that her lip bled. She tried to run to the door, but he caught her. He said, "Why do you run, Mudblood?"

'No', she thought. What if it's Slytherin again! She cowered on the floor, and cried, "Draco, please, I know you are in there. Hear me!"

He lifted her from the floor, and with strength she was sure he didn't usually possess, he held her up completely, her legs dangling. He said, "You will pay, Mudblood. You will not interfere any longer!" He threw her and she landed in the hearth of the fireplace. Her pajama sleeve caught on fire, and she screamed in pain and fear.

Don Boot was walking from Draco's room, were he had just left his brother Nick, to his room, when he heard Hermione screaming in agony. He was in her room in seconds. Draco stood, immobilized, eyes opened, but seemingly still in a deep sleep. Hermione was batting at her sleeve with her hand, trying to extinguish the flames. Don grabbed the quilt from her sofa and wrapped her tightly within, rolling her on the floor. The fire was put out quickly, but she was still in a great deal of pain.

Don looked over at Draco, who was still standing, and appeared to be under a curse, or something, as he stood by, watching Hermione in pain, with no expression, but the utter look of apathy on his face. Don's attention had to go to Hermione first. He lifted her, bridal style, and took her to the bathroom. He set her on the side of the tub, and ripped off her sleeve, which had almost melted to her skin. He used his wand, and said several complex healing spells. Her crying soon ceased.

"Do you want to go to the Hospital wing?" he asked.

"No, no, I am fine," she exclaimed, looking at her arm. He transfigured a towel into bandages, and looked in her medicine cabinet. Finding what he was looking for, he put some salve on her red, blistered skin, and wrapped it in bandages.

"What happened? What's wrong with him?" Don asked.

"I don't know. We were both sleeping, and then he threw me across the room, slapped me, and then threw me in the fireplace," she explained.

He stroked her cheek, and put his thumb on her swollen, bleeding lip. He said, "Tell me, did he say anything?"

"He called me a Mudblood, twice, and told me I would no longer be interfering," she said. A small tear swept down her cheek. Don took one finger and wiped it away. This was not right. What if it was Slytherin? How could that be? He was supposed to be in Paul, unless his mother and Nick had lied to him. He gave Hermione some pain potion, and told her to stay put. He walked to her room, looked in three dresser drawers before he found another nightshirt, and threw it in to her.

"Put this on and stay in here until I come get you," he said. He bent his head and kissed her forehead. To make sure she did not leave the room, he locked the door with magic. He didn't know what Draco might be capable of, and he didn't want her hurt in any way.

He walked back out to the main room. Draco was in the same exact place, standing straight, staring into the fire, no expression on his face. Don said, "Draco! Wake up, right now!"

No response.

"Draco!" Don said again, this time shaking his shoulder. Don pointed his wand and said a spell to wake him. Draco turned to Don.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked, totally confused, but at least finally awake.

"What do you remember?' Don asked.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked. He began to look around. "Why am I standing here? I was on the couch studying. Where's Hermione?" He was curious, but not anxious. That was soon to change.

"She's in the bathroom. Listen, Draco, you just went into some type of rage in your sleep. You attacked her. You hit her and busted her lip, and then you threw her in the effing fireplace, for goodness sakes!" Don shouted.

"Is she alright?" Draco asked, running toward the bathroom. He couldn't get the door open.

"No she's bloody well not alright!" Don said. "She burnt her arm very bad, which will certainly scar, and she will probably have bruises all over her body from where you threw her halfway across the room!"

"GRANGER!" Draco shouted from the bedroom, through the door.

"Draco?" Hermione asked back. Don released the lock. Hermione ran out into Draco's arms.

"Where are you hurt?" he asked.

She removed her nightshirt, leaving her in just an undershirt. She showed him her wrapped arm.

"What?" he asked.

"My arm is burnt. You threw me in the fireplace," she said. She wasn't scare or upset, just confused.

"No!" he said. "Why would I do that?" he asked, turning to Don. "WHY?"

"Tell me what you remember," Don said.

"I told you! Nothing! I remember studying and that's all, until you woke me up! What the hell is happening now?"

"I don't know," Don said, honestly. "I was outside your room. Nick and I have decided to guard you every night now. We were just discussing that, when I left to go back to my room and I heard Hermione screaming, and when I came in, her sleeve was on fire."

Draco held Hermione and said, "I'm so, so sorry!" He held her tight. "I would never hurt you!" He touched her swollen lip, and a look of anguish crossed his brow.

"I know," she said, "you are just under stress from studying, the wedding, the prophecy, and everything else."

"No, it's more than that," Draco admitted. He sat on the couch, pulling her down to sit on his lap. He looked at Don and said, "I lied. I remember what I was dreaming. I've been dreaming the same dream for four nights now. That's why I didn't want to sleep tonight. I was going to try to study all night."

"What are you dreaming?" Don asked.

He looked at Don, and then kissed Hermione's cheek. He slid her off his lap and said, "I have been dreaming of hurting Hermione. Every night, in my dreams, I hurt her. I have dreamt of hitting her, beating her even. I have drowned her, thrown her down the stairs, every unimaginable horrible thing. It's eating away at my soul! Just dreaming of hurting her is killing me inside. In my dreams it's not even really I. It's as if I'm watching myself do it, from afar, and now, I've actually hurt her. Why do you think this is happening?"

"I don't know, but I know one thing, you need to move back to your own room," Don said.

Hermione was the first to speak, "No, that won't solve the problem. We need to have Nick come and use his abilities to help Draco understand or remember his dreams, so we can understand them. If Slytherin is back, than we have to know!"

"I won't risk hurting you," Draco said. "Don's right. I will go back to my room right now. Stay here, Hermione, please." Draco left.

Hermione said to Don, "Go with him, please."

"I will. I will stay in his room with him, but I won't feel safe unless you let Nick stay in your room with you, on the couch, of course." Don looked at her pleadingly.

She thought that was an excellent idea. She waited for Nick to come. He came in the room, rushed up to her and said, "Are you okay? Do you need me to look at your arm?"

"No, your brother did a very good job, healing my arm. Just stay here with me tonight," she said, sadly.

He nodded and hugged her. As he held her, stroking her hair, he said, "We'll get to the bottom of this. I swear. I want everyone to have his or her lives back. You, Draco, Don, Paul, and for selfish reasons, me. I broke up with my girlfriend over this, because it was consuming all of our lives."

Hermione looked up at him and said, "Oh, Nick, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," he said. "Go to bed, and try to get some sleep. I think I have an ideal way to find the underlying cause of this. Maybe this coming weekend we can work on it. I only hope it helps."

"I do too, Nick," Hermione said. He sat down on the couch, and reached for the quilt, which was covering Draco earlier. He covered up and Hermione came up and stroked his head. "I forget sometimes, how much your family has lost. I'm sorry."

He took her hand that was stroking his hair, and held it lightly. "Thank you. Now, get some sleep. We have a lot of work to do."

Hermione said. "Yes, I need to get to the bottom of this, even if Draco isn't in agreement. Just let me just make sure Draco is better before we try to do anything rash." She smiled at him and went off to bed.

Hermione Finds Something Interesting

Hermione was walking along the dungeons. It had been a week since Draco's nighttime outburst, and he had been sleeping in his own room ever since. Nothing else had happened, although she had a funny feeling his dreams were still happening at regular intervals. He seemed distant and guarded with her during the day, almost apologetic, and fearful of touching her. She had decided to tell Nick she was ready to try whatever he had in mind, to try to unravel the mystery. It was one thing when it only affected her, but now, it was disturbing Draco as well. That was unacceptable.

She was on her way to Draco's office. Deep in thought, and not paying any mind to where she was going, she took a wrong turn or two, and was soon in unfamiliar surroundings. It wasn't even as if she was aware of walking the wrong way. Something unseen was guiding her. This part of the dungeons did not seem familiar to her at all. She continued walking, going down a corridor, which she could tell was winding further underground. There were no doorways on either side. She knew she should turn back, and go find Draco. He would be waiting for her. She told him earlier she would come down to his office, to retrieve him for lunch. She had a free period, so she had an hour to spare before finding him. She had time to explore. After all, curiosity was healthy, wasn't it?

She continued down the long, winding corridor, which seemed to get smaller the deeper she went underground. She was walking for almost a half an hour. How long was this corridor? Where did it lead? She soon saw water on the floor. At first, there were just puddles, here and there. Soon, she was splashing through the water, as it covered the entire floor of the corridor.

The way was getting dark. At first, sconces with lit candles guided her way. Now, she had to use her wand. She saw a midst, a wisp of something, ahead of her. She called out, but nothing answered. Was this her guide? Was this 'midst' the reason she seemed to find this corridor in the first place? She quickened her pace, not quite to a run, but quicker than a brisk walk. She reached the end of the corridor. Standing in water, with the ends of her robes now wet, and her feet submerged, she looked up to the only opening in the whole corridor, which was only an iron grate, high on the wall, at the very end. It was opened, and if she reached up with her hand, she could feel cold air escape.

Draco was in his office. He looked at the clock on his desk. Granger had a free period, she was supposed to come meet him, and then they were going to lunch. He rather thought she would come early. She must be taking the free time to grade papers or such rubbish. He put his quill down and his hand came up and went through his hair, in frustration. They had been back to Hogwarts for over three weeks, and no clues. It was as if Helga and Salazar had taken a holiday.

He stood up, stretched, and decided to go find her. As he started down the stone hallway, a 7th year Gryffindor stopped him. "Professor Malfoy, is Professor Granger with you?"

"No, why?" he asked the girl.

"I wanted to ask her a question about my report. She told me if I had any more questions to come find her before lunch. She said she would be down here with you. Well, if you see her, tell her I was looking for her, thanks." The young girl walked away.

If she told a student she would be down here, where in the world was she. He turned to walk in the other direction. It was just a hunch, but he wondered if she had gone to see Don. He started to Don's classroom, knowing he had a free period as well. He was not there. He went to Don's office. The door was slightly ajar, but he was not at his desk. Draco walked inside and saw Helga's locket. Why was it just lying openly on the desk, for anyone to find? Did it still have the memory charm? What if Hermione had come in here? She probably would have tried the damn thing on again. He put it in his pocket and strolled out the door. He wanted Don to worry where it went. He saw Hermione come running toward him, from the end of the hallway. She was completely, and totally, wet. He frowned and started to ask her if she had gone swimming in the middle of winter when she reached him, grabbed his hand, and without a word started pulling him down the hallway.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see," she said, excited.

"Where have you been?" He would try a different angle.

She answered again with, "You'll see!"

They had been walking, no, running, down a long, skinny passageway for over 20 minutes. He had no trouble keeping up with her, but he began to lag behind. Finally, he came to a complete stop, which caused her to stop.

"Are you taking me for a swim?" he asked, trying to be funny, though he felt far from it.

"No, I found something. Something interesting," she said cryptically. Hermione tried to drag him from his spot, but his feet seemed to have grown roots.

"Just tell me," he said, still hindering her progress.

"I have to show you," she said, with a determined look on her face. She continued to pull him. He didn't budge one iota. She gave him a dirty look and pulled hard on his earlobe.

"Ouch! You mean old thing," he said. She was pulling him down the long corridor, and he had no choice but to join her, or lose his ear. He finally reached his hand up and removed her hand from his ear. He twisted her arm, lightly, behind her back and said, "I don't have time for games."

"Fine, don't come. Your loss," she said. She let go of his hand and ran down the corridor. He had no choice but to chase her, and she knew it.

They finally reached the end, which appeared to be just that, a dead end. The water was sloshing up over their feet at this point. She pointed to a high grate, not any bigger than a heating duct, which had water dribbling out of it. "What is it?" he asked.

"I think I know, but it's just a feeling. Lift me and we can see," she said.

"Fine," he said. She couldn't believe he agreed so willingly. He bent down and said, "Climb on my shoulders."

She hiked up her robes, and put one leg around his neck, then the other, as he kneeled down. He stood up, with her on his shoulders, holding her calves. She said, "Closer, Draco." She put her lit wand through the iron bars.

With his nose practically pressed against the wall, he said, "What do you see?"

"Oh my goodness!" She squealed. "PUT ME DOWN!"

"Why?" he asked.

She actually pulled on his hair, to try to bring her leg around his neck, to climb down. He held her legs tighter and said, "What is wrong?"

"It's the chamber! The one Helga swam to, to escape Slytherin! Let me down, please, please," she cried. He quickly let her down from his shoulders, but he held on to her hand, refusing to let her escape down the hall.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

She moved to hug him tight, with her head on his chest. "Yes, I know it is! It's just as I saw in my vision."

He lifted her chin and held her face up to his. "How did you find it?"

"I don't know. I just did. Something drew me here," she said.

"More than chance, I would say," he wondered aloud. He said, "We will go get Don and Nick, and come back here tonight. By god, this has to be more than a mere coincidence."

"Are you sure, Draco?" Hermione asked, "Are you really sure you want to come back here?"

"Yes, for I want this to end, and I want to be able to sleep with you in my arms again. Come on; let's go tell the Boots what we found. Tonight, we will come back here, and use whatever means is available, legilimens, hypnosis, or even the damn locket," he said, remembering the locket he had snatched from Don's desk.

"Tonight, we will have some answers," she agreed.

"Yes, tonight." Draco took her hand, and led her back down the long, winding, narrow corridor, glancing back only once. Tonight; He hoped for answers. Yes, tonight.