After a few minutes of standing in the cool, damp air of the grounds. Hermione nervosly made her way foreword, scanning the ground for the item she had seen fall to the grass. Pernia stood on her toes to get a better look, but Malfoy just stood there, slightly shivering from the wind.
"AH!" Hermione said, bending over and picking something up. The other two ran over to her and she opened her closed hand, exposing a small, stone object in the shape of a moon. It reminded Pernia of something she had seen before, but it completely missed her at the moment. Hermione turned the figure over to reveal the inscription: Forgotten Tears of age old pass, Come the children of time to thee.
Hermione's eye brightened up after reading it and bent over, whispering something in Malfoy's ear. He nodded slowly, as if thinking hard. Then she started walking back to the castle with Malfoy at her side, so Pernia scrambled up to meet them, wishing she knew what they had said.
They walked for quite awhile through the castle, until they reached the library. It was a large room, the shelves stacked full of books. The witch behind the desk, Madam Theo, smiled at the Headmistress and stood up. Hermione waved her hand at her and returned the smile, walking toward the very back of the room. The Forbidden Section was back here and Pernia shivered slightly at the idea of being in here. The books on these shelves were thicker than the others and to Pernia's eye, one or two of them even moved on their own.
Malfoy and Hermione went to opposite ends of the shelves, each searching for a book. They passed by many of them, barely looking at the cover before moving on. Pernia had no idea what to do, so she sat at a table, watching the two of them looking. It seemed to take forever and Pernia's head had even drooped off in a sleepy manner before she heard a squeal of excitement from Hermione. She was holding a dust covered book with a jet black cover, ripped in places.
"Pernia, come here," she said, motioning to her. Pernia slinked over to them, keeping her eyes on the book the whole time. Malfoy drew his hand over the book and shivered slightly, though there were no cool drafts here. Hermione open the book to the index page and scanned her eyes down, looking for one certain thing that Pernia still was clueless about. She seemed to find it, tapped her finger against the book, and flipped through the pages.
The book lay before them, it's pages ripped and stained with things Pernia had no need, or for that matter want, to know. Hermione nodded at them and pointed to the title at the top of the page. It read; Forgotten Tears. Pernia looked at Hermione, seeing if it was alright for her to read it. The Headmistress nodded and Pernia turned the book to face her.
The Sun Tear and the Moon Tear are two anciant relics used in two different ways. The Sun Tear has the power to shape the very pattern of time, at the users will. The Moon stone has great healing power and great destructive power both. They are a very valuable pair, being as there were only one of each carved out of the stone of a volcano. It is destioned that the Child of Time will be born one day and weild the two Tears, dubbed the Forgotten Tears after being lost for centurys.
Pernia read the page three or four times then looked over at the moon carving on the table. Hermione turned the book to Malfoy, who read over it quickly and then sighed. The three of them looked at the carving on the table until Hermione slammed the book closed, making Pernia and the Potions Master jump.
"So Alex is the Child of Time. This is the Moon Tear and the Sun Tear is out there somewhere. Now all we have to do is find it and Alex," Malfoy said slowly. Pernia nodded and felt something heavy in her pocket and took it out, afraid to look at it. Just feeling it with her fingers, she could barely make out the outline of a sun. She opened her eyes to see Hermione and Malfoy looking at her with their eyes opened wide. She turned the necklace over and found the same inscription on the back, then lay it down on the table by the Moon Tear. They seemed to have a glow all their own.
"May I bother to ask where you found that?" Hermione asked. Pernia recalled the days happenings so far in her mind, remembered her dream from that night. How real it was. Alex. She missed him a lot. The figure with the wings. And she felt her forehead. The scar was still there, burning hot. She sighed.
"Alex left it behind in his room this morning. His dorm mates gave it to me. As if he wanted me to have it," she said. Hermione nodded knowingly, then clapped her hands together. Malfoy shot her a nasty look as he jumped again, but she paid no heed. All of a sudden, Pernia felt sleepy all over her body. Everything was so tierd that she just wanted to collapse. Just wanted to... As Pernia slumped to the floor, Hermione looked at the two figures on the table and picked them up, slipping them into her pocket. Malfoy picked the little girl up and the three of them left.
*~*
"Hermione."
A faint whisper.
"Hermione. Please answer."
Opening her eyes, Hermione saw Harry standing next to her, his black hair ruffled and his face pale. His green eyes were sad looking, as if he was hurt deeply in some way. She looked up at his forehead and found that it had no scar on it, which made her think of Pernia even harder.
"Hermione, I have to tell you something."
She looked right into his eyes, his cold, green eyes that used to be filled with pride, with joy, with... life. Now they were dead and cold. Like hard ice.
"Alex has gone away to the Tower of Nal'kina, the Palace of Time. You must find him, rescue him from the dragon man."
Harry's voice was growing weaker by the minute and Hermione had to strain to hear him clearly. Her mind raced with thoughts of books, wither she had heard of this tower. She would have to look it up, but right now she filed it away in her mind. Harry was fading, his image almost gone.
"Ron says that he loves you and for you to fight the pain and hardship. Remember..."
He was gone
"Remember what Harry?" she called out softly. The room was growing lighter, as if the sun was rising. She shielded her eyes, looking around the room for a glimpse of her friend. Her dead friend. The pain of everything sunk into her now and she started to cry. She cried until she had no more tears left in her. And the room was filled with a bright, white light.
*~*
"Hermione. Hermione Granger, are you with us yet?" a voice called out to her. Opening her eyes slightly, she saw Draco sitting on the edge of her bed, eating an apple. His head was tilted to one side, staring at her and his mouth had little flecks of apple in the corners.
"Wha?? How did I get here?" she asked, sitting up in bed. Seh looked down and saw that she was in her nightgown. Draco had a grin on his face, but the apple flecks ruined the evil effect. Instead she started to laugh.
"After we brought Pernia to the Hospital wing last night, you black out on the stairs. I took the liberty of bringing you up here and tucking you in. And what are you laughing at?" he asked. She leaned foreword and brushed the apple from his lips with her fingers and he kissed them softly. Hermione drew them back and glared at him.
"I still haven't gotten over that morning, so don't try anything unless you want to lose your very job. How is Pernia?" she asked. Draco got a pouty look on his face, but she shook her head and he sighed, getting up off the bed.
"She's fine. Resting still, but fine. She just had a severe sleep attack last night and I think you did too," he said. She nodded and grabbed the chore ball off of the nightstand next to the bed. He watched it in her hands, but she ignored him. Pressing one of the buttons, she found herself fully dressed, but her hair still a mess. A press of another button fixed that.
"Well, the day won't get done by laying around in bed. Don't you have classes?" she said, standing up. Her foot slipped on something and she fell backwards slightly, but caught herself. Glancing up at Draco, Hermione could see that he was trying hard not to laugh.
"It's a Saturday," he said, then grabbed her arm to steady her. She smiled weakly at him and started walking, if a little shaky. She must be more tierd then she first thought. But it was her duty to get up and duty always came first with her.
The hospital wing was quiet when Draco and Hermione walked in, being that there was only one person in there beside Pernia. And that was Madam Lenet. She had taken over Madam Pompfrey's job after she quit in Hermione's sixth year. She was one of the few teachers that had lived through the attack.
"Hello Jane," Hermione whispered, walking up to the elderly witch. She was knitting something and didn't look up from the needles, but nodded her head to show that she heard her. Hermione looked over at Draco and scowled. He was glaring at the nurse, but stopped soon after Hermione saw him. He had disliked her ever since a time when he was sassing back to her after a quiddich match and had to drink Castor Oil.
The two of them pulled chairs up to Pernia's bed and watched her, her body slowly moving up and down with each breath. Her head moved to the side and she smiled, but Hermione knew she was still asleep. Draco had a problem with that however and shook her lightly on the arm, making Hermione glare at him again.
"Who's there," the first year asked, opening her eyes and looking at them. When she saw Hermione and Draco sitting there, she sat up and pulled the covers right up to her eyes. "Have you found him yet?"
"No dear, we haven't," Draco said. Hermione bit at her lip and put her hand into the pocket of her robes. It brushed up against two stone objects and she pulled them out, holding them in the palm of her hand. They were beautifuly made and she bent her head in for a closer look.
The stone was something that she had never seen before. It was a light black, with little red flecks in places. Each one also had a light green jewel placed on one side and she slid her fingers over each of them. Suddenly, there was a popping noise and the two figures came together.
Now that they were one figure instead of two, an image came out of the tip of the creasent moon. It was a a tower, black as the rock the figures were made of. Pernia squealed.
"That's the tower from my dream," she said quietly. Hermione turned around to look at the nurse which, but seeing that she still hadn't looked up, turned back to the tower. As soon as she did, it started getting farther away, with trees and things in the foreground. This went on for a few moments, until the tower was no longer in sight. The next building to come up was the castle they were sitting in now.
"It's a map," Draco said, his eyes fixed on the image. As suddenly as they had come together, the figures snapped apart, falling to the bed with a muffled sound.
"The Palace of Time, the Tower Nal'kina," Hermione said under her breath. Draco looked up at her and opened his mouth as if to speak, but thought better of it and just looked at the figures on the bed. Pernia reached out and touched the moon, pulling her fingers back quickly.
"It's ice cold," she said. A sudden noise from behind them made the three of them turn around and look at the nurse which. She had fallen asleep, her knitting falling to the floor and was emiting a loud snore. Pernia giggled and touched the sun figure, but drew her hand from that too. "That one's hot."
"SO now what do we do?" Draco asked, sitting back in his chair. Hermione shrugged and leaned in close to the figures, and lay a finger on them. They were the same temperature as before.
"Pernia, touch them again," she said. The first year did so and pulled her hand away in the same fashion as before. Hermione touched it again to find that they were neither hot or cold. She picked them up and slipped them into her pocket.
"I think you can leave the hospital," Draco said, turning to Pernia. She nodded and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. She bent down to tie her shoes on, but stopped and looked at Malfoy.
"Are you going to find him?" she asked. Hermione looked over at Malfoy too, a smug smile on her face. He looked betwwen them both and sighed.
"Of course," he said, then got up and left the room. Hermione smiled as Pernia finish tying her shoes and jumped up. They left together, with one thought flowing through her mind.
Has Draco finaly changed?
"AH!" Hermione said, bending over and picking something up. The other two ran over to her and she opened her closed hand, exposing a small, stone object in the shape of a moon. It reminded Pernia of something she had seen before, but it completely missed her at the moment. Hermione turned the figure over to reveal the inscription: Forgotten Tears of age old pass, Come the children of time to thee.
Hermione's eye brightened up after reading it and bent over, whispering something in Malfoy's ear. He nodded slowly, as if thinking hard. Then she started walking back to the castle with Malfoy at her side, so Pernia scrambled up to meet them, wishing she knew what they had said.
They walked for quite awhile through the castle, until they reached the library. It was a large room, the shelves stacked full of books. The witch behind the desk, Madam Theo, smiled at the Headmistress and stood up. Hermione waved her hand at her and returned the smile, walking toward the very back of the room. The Forbidden Section was back here and Pernia shivered slightly at the idea of being in here. The books on these shelves were thicker than the others and to Pernia's eye, one or two of them even moved on their own.
Malfoy and Hermione went to opposite ends of the shelves, each searching for a book. They passed by many of them, barely looking at the cover before moving on. Pernia had no idea what to do, so she sat at a table, watching the two of them looking. It seemed to take forever and Pernia's head had even drooped off in a sleepy manner before she heard a squeal of excitement from Hermione. She was holding a dust covered book with a jet black cover, ripped in places.
"Pernia, come here," she said, motioning to her. Pernia slinked over to them, keeping her eyes on the book the whole time. Malfoy drew his hand over the book and shivered slightly, though there were no cool drafts here. Hermione open the book to the index page and scanned her eyes down, looking for one certain thing that Pernia still was clueless about. She seemed to find it, tapped her finger against the book, and flipped through the pages.
The book lay before them, it's pages ripped and stained with things Pernia had no need, or for that matter want, to know. Hermione nodded at them and pointed to the title at the top of the page. It read; Forgotten Tears. Pernia looked at Hermione, seeing if it was alright for her to read it. The Headmistress nodded and Pernia turned the book to face her.
The Sun Tear and the Moon Tear are two anciant relics used in two different ways. The Sun Tear has the power to shape the very pattern of time, at the users will. The Moon stone has great healing power and great destructive power both. They are a very valuable pair, being as there were only one of each carved out of the stone of a volcano. It is destioned that the Child of Time will be born one day and weild the two Tears, dubbed the Forgotten Tears after being lost for centurys.
Pernia read the page three or four times then looked over at the moon carving on the table. Hermione turned the book to Malfoy, who read over it quickly and then sighed. The three of them looked at the carving on the table until Hermione slammed the book closed, making Pernia and the Potions Master jump.
"So Alex is the Child of Time. This is the Moon Tear and the Sun Tear is out there somewhere. Now all we have to do is find it and Alex," Malfoy said slowly. Pernia nodded and felt something heavy in her pocket and took it out, afraid to look at it. Just feeling it with her fingers, she could barely make out the outline of a sun. She opened her eyes to see Hermione and Malfoy looking at her with their eyes opened wide. She turned the necklace over and found the same inscription on the back, then lay it down on the table by the Moon Tear. They seemed to have a glow all their own.
"May I bother to ask where you found that?" Hermione asked. Pernia recalled the days happenings so far in her mind, remembered her dream from that night. How real it was. Alex. She missed him a lot. The figure with the wings. And she felt her forehead. The scar was still there, burning hot. She sighed.
"Alex left it behind in his room this morning. His dorm mates gave it to me. As if he wanted me to have it," she said. Hermione nodded knowingly, then clapped her hands together. Malfoy shot her a nasty look as he jumped again, but she paid no heed. All of a sudden, Pernia felt sleepy all over her body. Everything was so tierd that she just wanted to collapse. Just wanted to... As Pernia slumped to the floor, Hermione looked at the two figures on the table and picked them up, slipping them into her pocket. Malfoy picked the little girl up and the three of them left.
*~*
"Hermione."
A faint whisper.
"Hermione. Please answer."
Opening her eyes, Hermione saw Harry standing next to her, his black hair ruffled and his face pale. His green eyes were sad looking, as if he was hurt deeply in some way. She looked up at his forehead and found that it had no scar on it, which made her think of Pernia even harder.
"Hermione, I have to tell you something."
She looked right into his eyes, his cold, green eyes that used to be filled with pride, with joy, with... life. Now they were dead and cold. Like hard ice.
"Alex has gone away to the Tower of Nal'kina, the Palace of Time. You must find him, rescue him from the dragon man."
Harry's voice was growing weaker by the minute and Hermione had to strain to hear him clearly. Her mind raced with thoughts of books, wither she had heard of this tower. She would have to look it up, but right now she filed it away in her mind. Harry was fading, his image almost gone.
"Ron says that he loves you and for you to fight the pain and hardship. Remember..."
He was gone
"Remember what Harry?" she called out softly. The room was growing lighter, as if the sun was rising. She shielded her eyes, looking around the room for a glimpse of her friend. Her dead friend. The pain of everything sunk into her now and she started to cry. She cried until she had no more tears left in her. And the room was filled with a bright, white light.
*~*
"Hermione. Hermione Granger, are you with us yet?" a voice called out to her. Opening her eyes slightly, she saw Draco sitting on the edge of her bed, eating an apple. His head was tilted to one side, staring at her and his mouth had little flecks of apple in the corners.
"Wha?? How did I get here?" she asked, sitting up in bed. Seh looked down and saw that she was in her nightgown. Draco had a grin on his face, but the apple flecks ruined the evil effect. Instead she started to laugh.
"After we brought Pernia to the Hospital wing last night, you black out on the stairs. I took the liberty of bringing you up here and tucking you in. And what are you laughing at?" he asked. She leaned foreword and brushed the apple from his lips with her fingers and he kissed them softly. Hermione drew them back and glared at him.
"I still haven't gotten over that morning, so don't try anything unless you want to lose your very job. How is Pernia?" she asked. Draco got a pouty look on his face, but she shook her head and he sighed, getting up off the bed.
"She's fine. Resting still, but fine. She just had a severe sleep attack last night and I think you did too," he said. She nodded and grabbed the chore ball off of the nightstand next to the bed. He watched it in her hands, but she ignored him. Pressing one of the buttons, she found herself fully dressed, but her hair still a mess. A press of another button fixed that.
"Well, the day won't get done by laying around in bed. Don't you have classes?" she said, standing up. Her foot slipped on something and she fell backwards slightly, but caught herself. Glancing up at Draco, Hermione could see that he was trying hard not to laugh.
"It's a Saturday," he said, then grabbed her arm to steady her. She smiled weakly at him and started walking, if a little shaky. She must be more tierd then she first thought. But it was her duty to get up and duty always came first with her.
The hospital wing was quiet when Draco and Hermione walked in, being that there was only one person in there beside Pernia. And that was Madam Lenet. She had taken over Madam Pompfrey's job after she quit in Hermione's sixth year. She was one of the few teachers that had lived through the attack.
"Hello Jane," Hermione whispered, walking up to the elderly witch. She was knitting something and didn't look up from the needles, but nodded her head to show that she heard her. Hermione looked over at Draco and scowled. He was glaring at the nurse, but stopped soon after Hermione saw him. He had disliked her ever since a time when he was sassing back to her after a quiddich match and had to drink Castor Oil.
The two of them pulled chairs up to Pernia's bed and watched her, her body slowly moving up and down with each breath. Her head moved to the side and she smiled, but Hermione knew she was still asleep. Draco had a problem with that however and shook her lightly on the arm, making Hermione glare at him again.
"Who's there," the first year asked, opening her eyes and looking at them. When she saw Hermione and Draco sitting there, she sat up and pulled the covers right up to her eyes. "Have you found him yet?"
"No dear, we haven't," Draco said. Hermione bit at her lip and put her hand into the pocket of her robes. It brushed up against two stone objects and she pulled them out, holding them in the palm of her hand. They were beautifuly made and she bent her head in for a closer look.
The stone was something that she had never seen before. It was a light black, with little red flecks in places. Each one also had a light green jewel placed on one side and she slid her fingers over each of them. Suddenly, there was a popping noise and the two figures came together.
Now that they were one figure instead of two, an image came out of the tip of the creasent moon. It was a a tower, black as the rock the figures were made of. Pernia squealed.
"That's the tower from my dream," she said quietly. Hermione turned around to look at the nurse which, but seeing that she still hadn't looked up, turned back to the tower. As soon as she did, it started getting farther away, with trees and things in the foreground. This went on for a few moments, until the tower was no longer in sight. The next building to come up was the castle they were sitting in now.
"It's a map," Draco said, his eyes fixed on the image. As suddenly as they had come together, the figures snapped apart, falling to the bed with a muffled sound.
"The Palace of Time, the Tower Nal'kina," Hermione said under her breath. Draco looked up at her and opened his mouth as if to speak, but thought better of it and just looked at the figures on the bed. Pernia reached out and touched the moon, pulling her fingers back quickly.
"It's ice cold," she said. A sudden noise from behind them made the three of them turn around and look at the nurse which. She had fallen asleep, her knitting falling to the floor and was emiting a loud snore. Pernia giggled and touched the sun figure, but drew her hand from that too. "That one's hot."
"SO now what do we do?" Draco asked, sitting back in his chair. Hermione shrugged and leaned in close to the figures, and lay a finger on them. They were the same temperature as before.
"Pernia, touch them again," she said. The first year did so and pulled her hand away in the same fashion as before. Hermione touched it again to find that they were neither hot or cold. She picked them up and slipped them into her pocket.
"I think you can leave the hospital," Draco said, turning to Pernia. She nodded and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. She bent down to tie her shoes on, but stopped and looked at Malfoy.
"Are you going to find him?" she asked. Hermione looked over at Malfoy too, a smug smile on her face. He looked betwwen them both and sighed.
"Of course," he said, then got up and left the room. Hermione smiled as Pernia finish tying her shoes and jumped up. They left together, with one thought flowing through her mind.
Has Draco finaly changed?