AN: You all blew me away with your response to the last chapter. I rewrote this chapter like twenty times, so hopefully you all like this one too. LOL
Thank you all for continuing to read. I have almost 1000 people following this story, which is freaking amazing!
Lost Souls of Nott Castle
Chapter 33 - Solitude
Hermione's eyes fluttered open and darted around the room. She was in a library. No, a bookstore, she decided.
Harry was standing over her, holding his hand out to help her up. Instead of taking his hand, she tried to scoot further back away from him.
She blinked her eyes and the image of Harry morphed into an image of Theo. He wasn't offering her his hand. He was just leaning against the corner of a bookshelf, looking at her curiously.
Then instead of Theo, it was Draco looking at her. The heat in his eyes left no room to doubt what was on his mind.
She closed her eyes.
It didn't help. Even with her eyes closed, the images persisted. Maybe they were never open to begin with?
The humming noise in her ears started to form into words, phrases, snippets of conversations that made no sense together.
She felt like she was fighting a losing battle. Images flashed behind her eyes in a whirlwind.
She took a deep breath. The memories were trying to pull her under again. She couldn't let that happen.
She thought about seeing Hogwarts for the first time. She thought about the sun setting behind the spires as the boats crossed the Black Lake. She imagined the banners flying in the wind.
She held onto that image, just as Draco had told her to do. She pushed out every other thought.
It worked. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Theo was still standing by the bookshelf. Blaise was standing opposite of him. She let her eyes sweep the small space and found Draco sitting on the floor next to her, sound asleep.
How had he known she should focus on a single memory? What did he know that she didn't?
That thought brought on images of studying and researching.
She closed her eyes again.
She had to control her thoughts, not the other way around.
When she had the image stable in her mind, she opened her eyes again.
Draco was still asleep next to her. She put her hand on his shoulder and shook gently.
"No, don't," Theo said. But Draco's eyes had already popped open. She should have let him sleep, but this was important.
"Hermione?" He asked cautiously.
"How did you know?" She asked quietly.
His eyebrow furrowed, then he sighed and looked to Theo. His eyes looked defeated.
"No, Draco," she said. She put her hand on the side of his face and guided it back to face her. "Hogwarts. First year in the boats."
His eyes widened and he shifted so he was facing her.
"If I concentrate on just that, everything else fades away," she told him. "How did you know?"
The image started to slip. She had to close her eyes and focus. When she reopened them, he was watching her carefully.
"I didn't," he told her. "Are you picturing it now?"
She nodded her head yes.
"It works, but it's hard." She wanted to lean against him, to take comfort from him.
"Snape," he said. "Years ago, he told me if anyone tries to use legilimancy against me to pick an image and think of only that. I figured it was worth a shot."
"My boyfriend is bloody brilliant," she said with a smirk. Then she leaned forward and kissed him. He returned the kiss, but pulled back before it could morph into something more.
"That won't help your focus," he whispered in her ear. She gave a short laugh.
"No, it won't. Go back to sleep. Maybe go to your bed. This can't be comfortable."
She held her hand out towards Theo.
"Help me up, please," she said.
He looked over at Blaise, then back at her.
"I'm not going to bite, you know." She smiled at him, but it was a sad smile that didn't reach her eyes.
Reluctantly he held out his hand and helped her to stand.
It was not easy to walk and keep that image of the castle in her mind at the same time, but she did manage to make it to the table and sat down.
She closed her eyes and reaffirmed the picture in her mind.
"I need parchment, a quill and something to drink. Tea with two sugars."
She heard a cracking noise as Theo's elf apperated in with the items she had requested. She could feel Theo's and Blaise' eyes on her as she sipped the tea and dipped the quill in the ink pot.
Images of notes she had written over the last several weeks started to flash in front of her eyes. She couldn't let them distract her again, though.
She had to focus.
She looked up and saw Draco standing in the doorway. He was watching her.
But wasn't he still in the back of the library?
Fuck, this was hard.
"Take a deep breath." He said from behind her. "That's it. Ground yourself."
"Don't worry, Draco," she thought. "I've got this."
She closed her eyes and saw him standing in front of her with his hands on her shoulders. They were on the roof.
There was a thought nudging at the back of her mind. She couldn't quite grasp it though.
His eyes searched hers again. He kissed her slowly. Then he stepped away.
"Of course you do, you brilliant witch. Let's see what you've got."
Wait, she thought. This has already happened. She already cast the charm to make the castle unplottable.
This was a memory. Which meant she had lost her focus again.
She thought about Hogwarts again. Put the picture in her mind, then she opened her eyes. She was at the table in the library again.
Draco was in the chair next to her, watching her warily.
"I need to get out of here," she said. "Someplace new. Alone. No talking. No memories."
The room was quiet for a moment.
"The guest cottage." Theo said.
"That place is falling apart," Blaise replied.
"I don't care," she told them. "Just take me there."
Trying to concentrate on one image was harder than she could have imagined.
"We have to fly to get there." Draco told her. He walked out of the room and returned a minute later with his broomstick in hand.
He held out his other hand to her. She looked at it for a long moment before reaching out and taking it in her own.
He led her to the balcony and situated her on the broom in front of her.
"Ready?" He asked.
"No." She gripped his shirt tightly. "What if this isn't real and I'm about to jump off the balcony to my death?"
He put his arm around her and held her close. His lips brushed her forehead.
"If that were the case, one of us would stop you, or we would never forgive ourselves."
She closed her eyes tightly, pictured Hogwarts, and nodded her head.
"Okay. Ready."
She felt slight movement, then nothing. He still had one hand around her back, drawing soothing patterns. Occasionally the wind would catch her hair and she would know they were flying. He was just so smooth that without the wind she would think they were still on the balcony.
After only a few minutes, he set down in the grass. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in the middle of a copse of trees. The cottage was small and made of rounded stones. It looked like something out of a painting.
The wooden door creaked as she opened it.
There was a living area with a fireplace, a couch and a chair. A small table with two chairs sat in the corner. Three doors branched out from the main room. A kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom.
It was obvious no one had been inside for many years. A musty odor filled the cottage. Dust covered every surface. The window was broken.
It was perfect.
A few cleaning charms later, she was able to sit on the couch and relax for the first time all day. The sun was starting to set outside. She leaned her head against the arm of the couch and curled into a ball.
She heard the door open behind her so she closed her eyes. A few minutes later the door opened and closed again.
She opened her eyes and found a basket sitting on the table in front of her. Inside there was shepard's pie, cauldron cake and butterbeer. There was also a book on occulemency, and a pair of shorts and a tank to sleep in.
She smiled to herself and held the book against her chest.
The food was delicious. She wasn't sure if she had eaten at all that day, but she knew she was hungry. After she finished off the food in the basket, she curled back up on the couch with the book.
She found the subject fascinating and had read several chapters before she started to feel drowsy. Reluctantly, she put the book down.
She knew Draco was outside the cottage. She wanted to go out and tell him good night, maybe kiss him and hold him for a little while before going to bed. She was so concerned that seeing him would trigger memories of him, though.
She stood by the door for several moments debating what to do.
As she did, a horrible thought crossed her mind. What if they never figured out what was going on in her mind? Would she never be able to see him or talk to him again for fear of setting off another round of hallucinations?
She stumbled back away from the door as it suddenly became clear.
That was precisely the point. That was what the curse was intended to do.
"Oh Merlin," she muttered to herself.
In the bottom of the basket she found a piece of parchment and a quill.
"Hallucinations are triggered by seeing places or people, or by hearing them say phrases that match up with my memories from the last two months. I have not had a single hallucination since I have been in here." She wrote. "It's a curse. Designed to drive me crazy if I'm with you, to push you away from me. She did this to me to keep us apart."
She folded the parchment, knocked on the door, and slid it halfway under. A few seconds later he took it the rest of the way.
She put her hand and her forehead against the door, imagining him doing the same thing.
"Good night, Draco," she muttered softly.
She stood by the door for a few more minutes before releasing a deep sigh and turning away.
In the bathroom, there was a deep claw foot bathtub. Sitting on the sink she found her toiletries from the main house. She could only assume that Theo's elf had brought them when she wasn't paying attention.
She filled the tub with hot water and lilac scented bubbles, then sank down to her chin. She relaxed her muscles and let her eyes drift shut.
As she soaked, she kept her mind occupied by thinking of her childhood. She missed her parents, some times more than others. This was one of those times.
When she was little, her mother had bathed her in a bathtub very similar to the one in which she was currently soaking. She would use a cup to pour water over her head to rinse the shampoo out of her unruly hair.
Her mother would tell her stories of princesses that found handsome princes with whom to share their lives. They would have adventures together. They would fight dragons and evil witches. They would travel to far off lands. And they always lived happily ever after.
The irony of it was not lost on her. Over her years at Hogwarts, she had often pictured herself as the princess, living her own adventures. Someday, maybe, she could tell her mother about her adventures.
Someday she might even be able to introduce her parents to her very own Prince Charming.
She sighed to herself as she lifted her pruning hands from the water.
She just needed to thwart the evil witch Parkinson first.
She couldn't help the giggle that rose from her throat as she pictured Pansy with green skin and a giant black wart on her chin.
She lifted herself out of the bathtub and dried off with the fluffy white towel that was hanging on the door. After dressing in the pajamas Draco had left for her, she made her way to the bedroom.
Alone in the dark, she stared at the ceiling until her eyes drifted shut and she slipped into a thankfully dreamless sleep.
AN: Evil witch Pansy. LOL. Drop me a line and tell me what you think.
Until next week.
-mezy