Chapter Eleven
Hermione looked around her frantically. Why was it always so black here? Her hands reached in front of her, looking for something- anything! She was about to give up when her fingers brushed something. She gasped and took a step towards it. Sure enough, she collided squarely with a wall. It was disgusting- damp, slimy and cold- but it was a wall, and it was more than she usually got.
Stopping for a deep breath, Hermione strained to hear or see something. It was no use; still black. Wait! She thought she could hear something, far away. She turned and shuffled in the direction of the noise, following the wall.
Was that singing? Hermione moved a little bit closer. She gasped. It was Ginny's voice, a smooth, clear soprano. And she was singing.
"Awaken, breathe
Hear the calling in the wind.
A voice, it's saying
A journey must begin.
We'll fly, like a bird
In a scattered cloudy sky
Leave aside the city worries,
It's just a minute away…"
There! Around the corner, she could just see a tiny light. She hurried towards it, still following the sound of Ginny's singing.
"In my heart, I'll paint a picture
And I swear, it's where I'll be…
I shall be there
Will you be there?
I shall be there
Will you be there, too?"
Hermione's outstretched hands touched something wooden. The light she had seen wasn't as far away as she had thought it had been. Her fingers crept down until they touched a handle. A door. She tried the latch, but it was locked. Standing on tiptoe, she looked into the tiny window where the light was coming from. And she almost screamed.
There, sitting in a tiny, cramped cell, were Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. Harry was asleep, or looked like he was, and Ginny was sitting next to him, stroking his hair and singing. The moonlight from the small, barred window near the ceiling cast a beam of silvery light across Harry's pale and Ginny's equally pale hand. They both looked overly thin, and their clothes were stained and torn.
"Come on and look, in silence
Believe in what you see
(In a place, like this)
The starry skies can move the mountains
The sun will warm the sea…"
Hermione tried to call "Ginny!" but no sound came out. She knocked hard on the door, but it was silent. No, she thought desperately. They have to hear me! She tried to scream. Nothing happened.
"In my heart, I'll paint a picture
And I swear, it's where I'll be, ooh
I shall be there
Will you be there?
I shall be there
Will you be there, too?
She thought she could hear someone calling her, from deep at the other and of the hallway. It sounded like Lavender. Go away, Lavender, she thought. Please! They need to hear me! The scene around her faded, and she felt as though she was falling.
"Hermione!"
Her eyes snapped open and she stared up at Lavender's concerned face. Lavender stopped shaking her and said, "Thank God! I thought you'd never wake up!"
"What?" Hermione tried to sit up, but found that she couldn't move very well. "Lavender, I can't move!"
Lavender smiled then, almost knowingly. "Lie still, honey," she said. "You'll be fine in a moment. What did you dream about?"
She closed her eyes. "Harry and Ginny. I dreamed they were in a little cell." She stared up at Lavender, almost pleadingly. "Why?"
Lavender chewed her lip and sat down on the edge of the bed. "You know I'm very interested in Divination," she said, and Hermione tried not to snort. "And don't scoff," Lavender reprimanded. "I studied it a lot over the past year, the older methods. Tarot cards, scrying, runes. And astral projection."
"Astral- what?" Hermione was bewildered.
"Projection," Lavender said. "The practice of separating one's soul from their body to see something in either the past, present or future."
Hermione frowned. "I was dead?" she cried.
Lavender laughed gently. "No, love," she said soothingly. "Your body still worked. But you were not in it. Harry and Ginny, did you say? In a cell? Did you see anything else?"
Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. "I walked down a really long hallway first," she said. "And when I tried to call them, they couldn't hear me."
Her friend looked at her. "I don't think you saw the future," she said. "I think it was the present. You know, Professor Trelawney said you didn't have much of a psychic aura, but I think she might have been wrong. It was all over you when you were asleep."
Hermione's mind flashed back to when Ron had kissed her, how she had felt his thoughts. "Psychic?" she asked. "Me? But I was a washout in Divination."
Lavender smiled and appeared to be deep in thought. "We did a lot of work with divinatory tools that year," she said quietly, distractedly. "Some people don't need the tools, and using them muddles up their ability. Say, in your dream, did you know it was a dream?"
"I usually do," Hermione answered. "I think I forgot, this time, though."
Lavender frowned. "And usually when you know you're dreaming, you can fiddle with what's happening, right?" Hermione nodded. "But you couldn't this time?" Hermione nodded again. "That settles it, then," Lavender said firmly. "Definitely an astral projection dream. Have you had any other dreams like it before?"
Hermione winced. The dance. Dammit! "Yes," she whispered. "I dreamed about the dance every night for months. And I had a weird dream about Ron, too."
Lavender sighed. "The dance- that's a memory, but if it still bothers you it might be a message. As for Ron- you two are a couple, right?" Hermione blushed and nodded. Lavender smiled. "I thought so. What did you dream about with him?"
Hermione chewed her lip. "He was dressed all in white, and he was getting dragged away by a bunch of guys in uniforms, like he was a criminal. He looked the same as he always did- that was last summer when I dreamed these- but I knew he was supposed to be older."
Lavender stood up. "I think there's more to you than there seems to be," she told her. "I'll see you at breakfast."
Hermione stared after the girl that usually irked her no end. It was amazing what eighteen months could do to a person's maturity. "There's more to you than there seems to be," Lavender had said. Hermione smiled. Right back at ya, Lav.
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