For Vicky

Dogs and Fire

Saints and Princes

Trios and Foursomes

Can I just say that there is nothing more sickening than tumbling head first into a great big vat of nothingness?

Seriously.

If I'd had time to think about it, I would have thrown up.

As it was, I did not.

No, the thought running through my mind as I fell was: 'THIS IS BAD!"

We landed with a thud onto a softly carpeted floor that smelt oddly of Sherbert Lemons.

Lifting my head, I was relieved to see that we hadn't left Dumbledore's office – perhaps pensieves don't work anymore, once their owner has died.

But then reality kicked in, and I realised that, yes, we were still in Dumbledore's office, but not the present day one. No, we had clearly landed in a time before any of us had even heard of Hogwarts.

The walls were painted differently, the carpet, I now realised, was not the same as the one we left, and the banner that hung above the Head Master's chair wished Hogwarts a 'Happy 1978!'

This was definitely not good.

"Oh no," said Harry.

I looked round and saw him staring wide-eyed at the banner.

Ron was sat up next to him, looking at each of us in horror.

"I am so sorry!" he said, looking mortified. "I didn't mean to do that! I just tripped and-"

Harry shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, mate. It could've happened to any of us-"

Well, no, not really…

"-In any case, it's not like we can't just get back out – right, Hermione?"

I turned to look at him so fast that I cricked my neck.

"Ow! And, what?! I don't know how to get out pensieves!!"

"WHAT?!" Harry and Ron both yelled, staring at me, once again, in horror.

"What do you mean, you don't know?!" cried Harry, looking at me disbelievingly. "How can you not know?!"

"Because I am not a walking encyclopaedia!" I cried right back.

"Yes, you are!"

"Oh, so this is all my fault now, is it?" I shouted, starting to get angry.

"What?! No!"

"ENOUGH!"

Harry and I swung round to look at Ron, both in shock.

Check out him being all authoritative!

"Look, Hermione, seriously – you really don't know how to get us back out of this?" he said quietly, staring at me intensely.

"Well, no…" I said, blushing. "I-I never thought to look. I just assumed that either the owner of the memory or the memory coming to an end would cause whoever fell into it to come back out again! And, although I have a good idea whose memory this may be, he's currently stuck in the late 20th Century, and we have no idea how long this memory is. Basically, we're-"

"Screwed, right!" cut in Harry, shaking his head and getting angrily to his feet. "Well, this is bloody fantastic! If we get stuck in here, a. we will die, and, more importantly, b. Ginny will go spare!"

"Excuse me, Harry" said Ron angrily, also getting to his feet. "I have people in the future that care about me too, you know! Don't go making this all about you-"

"Well, to be honest, Ron, I think I've probably got more to worry about than you! My little boy's about to turn one years old! And who do you have? Oh, that's right – Lavender!"

"Why you little gi-"

"Alright, alright, woah!" I said hastily, standing between them, arms outstretched. "Let's get that testosterone back under control, shall we?"

Ron was practically snarling at Harry, and looked as though he wanted to rip his head off.

"Ron, please," I appealed to him. "Don't do this. We can't fight – not now."

I didn't think I'd gotten through to him, but, with one quick glance at me, he straightened up, and walked away, breathing hard.

Phew.

You know, I might have sounded firm, but, really, that was pretty scary – I mean, they're both way heavier than me, and plus, I don't think I could've dealt with them falling out, again – Horcrux hunting, anyone?

Harry was glaring at Ron's back and looked like he was about to say something.

"Don't," I said to him quietly, before walking over to stand next to Ron.

I was kind of annoyed at him, too - I mean, how inconsiderate?

And I'll have him know that, if he had actually been addressing that statement to me, I would have told him that I have got a very nice, gay-pretend-boyfriend, a love-triangle and an all-knowing best friend to go back to – why wouldn't I want to leave?!

Aha.

"Ron, are you ok?" I said to him softly.

He jumped about a foot in the air, and looked round at me wildly.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

I smiled.

He smiled back.

It was practically a love-fest.

I'm joking, of course.

I turned back round to face Harry, who was glaring moodily at some random chimer thingy that was sat on... Dumbledore's, I assume, desk.

"Do you think we should try and get out of this office?" I asked him.

He shrugged.

"It's not like we can until someone opens the door – no one can see, or touch, us in here."

"Brilliant," I sighed. "What do we do then?"

He shrugged again.

"I don't know… wait?"

Ron and I both conceded that this was probably the best plan.

Really due to the fact that it was our only plan.

Half an hour later, the office door swung open.

I felt Harry and Ron tense beside me, as we sat just behind the door, out of site of anyone's line of vision.

It had cushions, see?

We didn't get to see who it was, however.

We did hear them, though.

"Oh, of course!" cried the voice of Albus Dumbledore. "Oh, dear, dear, I must inform Minerva. Should have seen it before!"

He turned back around (I assume) and headed back down the spiralling staircase he had just come up.

Harry, Ron and I looked at each other, and then, without a word, jumped to our feet and raced out of the door Dumbledore had mercifully left open.

As we ran down the stairs, we could hear Dumbledore chortling to himself, the words 'Black' and 'Potter' just distinguishable.

I saw Ron grin at Harry.

I suddenly realised what we might get to see – Harry's dad, for, like, the first time ever!

Except for in photos, of course.

And Sirius when he was younger and, hopefully, less messed up!

And Lupin, too!

Ooh, and Harry's mum!!

My excitement was cut short as we had to practically dive between the stone gargoyles as they began sealing up the entrance.

We skidded through just in time, and heard the ominous clunk as they shut fast.

"Phew," said Ron, looking back at the gargoyles with his eyebrows raised. "Wouldn't have wanted to get trapped between them!"

Harry and I laughed, and we all started walking in the direction we were sure lead to the grand staircase.

After all, there was nothing blocking us until we reached the entrance hall, and we could just go check out the dungeons instead! And, you know, go and find Snape and see what he was getting up to.

Everything seemed almost normal, despite the fact that we were stuck in someone else's memory, with no idea how to get back out.

But if any of us had bothered to look behind us, we would have seen the gargoyles staring at us in shock.

And if we'd thought to look at our right wrist, we would've seen a very peculiar symbol appearing, etched in what looked like black ink.

But of course, we didn't.

No, we believed ourselves to be very safe.

It wasn't like anyone could hurt us.

Or so we thought, right up until the moment when I saw a very angry red head marching towards us, wand in hand.

"James Potter, where the hell have you been?!"

Oh, dear…