Disclaimer: If you're reading Harry Potter fanfiction, and don't know that Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, and not me, then I sincerely worry about you. * g *
Divinations and Dreams
It was Halloween eve. In the Great Hall, the usual feast was taking place, platters of food being passed around merrily. Outside, a full moon hung out on the dark sky, and scurrying bats could be heard as they flew through the night air.
I had gone outside instead of going to the feast, since Ron and Harry had been especially bothering me lately. We just didn't seem to be good friends anymore. We were always having fights, and I just felt like they didn't understand me. Not that they really understood me all that much in the first place.
As I walked towards the lake, I felt a storm of pebbles drop on my head. I looked up into the night sky, and saw a shadowy figure perched on a turret, looking as graceful as a cat.
"Hello?" I called up, wondering who could possibly be up there..
"Hello" a lazy voice drawled back.
Wonderful. Draco.
Before I knew it, I was floating up beside him, hanging over forty feet of air. "Why, hello Granger" he said calmly.
"Put me down" I said, trying not to let the fear seep into my voice. It wouldn't do to let him know that I was scared of heights. "On the roof," I added, so he wouldn't make me fall. Knowing all the things he had done in the past, he probably would.
He shrugged. "Your choice"
"So what are you doing up here?" I asked, once I was securely sitting down.
He stared out into the distance, towards the haze that was slowly covering the moon. I could make out his silhouette in the dim light of the night sky. The wind blew back silvery tendrils of his hair, and he reached up with a hand to brush them away. "Feasts just aren't my thing"
"So what exactly is your thing?" The words popped out of my mouth before I could stop to think how stupid they sounded. But then again, why would I care if things I said sounded stupid to him?
He smirked. "Sitting, drawing, reading...manipulating people...that sort of thing"
"How...fun..." I said sarcastically.
"Oh, it is"
Silence followed. I looked at him uncomfortably and saw that he was staring at the stars again, a glazed look in his eyes. Somehow, it made him seem more at peace, less evil.
An ivory mist blew in our direction, and I could hear a wolf's howl in the distance, even see a tiny figure silhouetted against the full moon. For a brief moment, I wondered whether it was Professor Lupin who I was hearing. He hadn't taught at Hogwarts since third year, yet I still thought of him as a Professor. Maybe he was, teaching at various other schools.
"So, what're you going to do when you leave Hogwarts?" I asked him finally, trying to make conversation.
"Go off with the Death Eaters, I suppose."
I gasped.
He gave me a quizzical look. "Don't tell me you didn't expect that. Surely someone with your intelligence would've figured it out by now."
"Well, yes" I admitted. "It's just that I didn't expect you to tell me straight out."
"I usually don't"
Silence again. All the quiet was making me uneasy. I got up. "I'll just be going then"
"Why?" came his answer. "Obviously, you came out here because you didn't want to go to the feast. And considering how your friends have been acting lately, I don't blame you."
How could he have known all that?
He continued. "I watch people's actions. It's the only way you get to learn their weaknesses. Which makes it all the easier to manipulate them. It's all part of the master plan, you see."
I nodded
"You don't see. Nobody understands. You're all the same, living within the boundaries, never really wanting to try something daring."
"That's not true!" I protested. "How do you think Harry and Ron got all those detentions?"
He sneered. "That's not really breaking the rules. That sort of rule-breaking is allowed; it's something that Dumbledore encourages. D'you really think he cares if some student goes wandering around at night, playing tricks on the Slytherins? He doesn't care, because that's the sort of thing he did when he was a student here. Sure, he has to act like he cares; otherwise there might be a riot or something. But you've seen him. Has he ever really punished Harry? These past seven years, hasn't he given Harry clues, every single time he's fought? And after all that, you still think he cares about rule-breaking?"
I didn't say anything. He did have a point.
"You're different though," he said after a while.
I was surprised. "I am?"
He turned to face me for the first time all night. He looked strangely vulnerable, none of his usual expressions present on his face. "Yeah," he said quietly, his voice taking on a haunting lilt. "I almost didn't notice it at first. But you're not like the rest of them."
And then he leaned in and kissed me.
I was shocked. And to my surprise, I kissed him back.
I don't remember anything after that. The world became a blur of color; blobs of energy whizzing past like tiny comets. And we danced above it all, floating in the atmosphere. I felt sheer happiness.
The next morning, I woke up groggy and dazed, from what seemed like an enchanted sleep. My memories of the night before were blurred, and I felt different somehow.
I got up from my bed and dressed in freshly pressed robes, gathering the books needed for my classes. My head ached so much that I had to check my schedule. It felt like my memory had just left me in the night.
I scanned the sheet of paper quickly with my eyes. The letters looked unfamiliar, and I couldn't read the words they formed. I held my pounding head and fell back onto the bed. What was happening to me?
In the end, I went down to the common room; hoping Ron and Harry were still there. They weren't, but Lavender was sitting by the fireplace, gazing absent-mindedly into the flames.
"Lav?" I asked softly, hoping I wasn't disturbing her. With the morning I was having, I was surprised I still remembered her name.
She turned to me, looking depressed, her eyes seeming to sparkle with tears. With her ditzy makeup and hair, her expression looked strangely out of place. "What, Herm?"
"What class do we have first?" I asked.
She smiled, and the Lavender I knew returned. "I never thought I would see the day when Hermione Granger would ask little old me for help," she teased.
I stuck my tongue out at her childishly. "Just tell me, okay? My brain's having problems and I'm not in the mood for this."
"Double Charms, then Herbology before lunch. And after, we've got Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. Arithmancy for you," she added, after seeing the look on my face.
"Oh. Thanks Lav," I said, beginning to ascend the stairs.
She looked up again. "Oh, Hermione," she called up to me, "I forgot to tell you. We have Astronomy tonight at midnight, instead of tomorrow. Professor Sinastra announced it at the feast, but you weren't there."
As I entered the dorm, I wondered how she knew I had Arithmancy instead of Divination. Since when did she ever pay any attention to what I did?
By the time I rushed down to breakfast, most of the student body had already left. Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, absent-mindedly stabbing at a piece of dry toast.
I grabbed a piece from the short stack and spread on a thick layer of orange marmalade, then bit off a large piece, almost choking as I struggled to swallow.
"Why're you still here?" I asked Harry between bites.
"I have a headache," he answered, stilling stabbing at the toast.
"D'you want a spell to help relieve the pain?" I asked him.
He shook his head. "It's my scar. Nothing will help."
I pried the fork from his arm and dragged him off. "C'mon then, we're going to be late for class."
The morning went by quickly enough, and I found that my memory began to come back to me, bit by bit. By lunchtime, I had managed to earn twenty-five points for Gryffindor.
"Show-off" grumbled Ron darkly as he threw his spoon into his bowl of soup. The hot liquid sloshed onto his shirt, leaving stains on his black robes.
I laughed gloatingly, watching his face turn crimson. "It's not my fault I'm smart"
He attempted to swat me on the head, and I ducked, still laughing. As I turned, I caught a glimpse of Harry from the corner of my eye. Surprisingly, he wasn't laughing at our ridiculous antics, like he usually did. Instead, he looked troubled.
I didn't get a chance to ask him about it though, since the bell rang then, and we had to hurry off to class.
All throughout the afternoon, I couldn't get Harry's worried face out of my mind. I couldn't even focus my attention on Arithmancy, and that was my favourite class.
I stopped off by the dorm before dinner to drop my books off. When I entered the room, I saw a large tawny owl on my bed with a box before it. The black box was long and slim, and tied with an elegant silver ribbon. The owl hooted once then flew out the window.
I picked it up, carefully untied the ribbon, and lifted the top off of the box. What I saw took my breath away.
It was a single rose. But not just any rose. The colour of it was a deep crimson, so dark it looked almost black. I lifted it from the box, and instantly dropped it, watching a petal scatter as it drifted to the bed. I had pricked my finger on one of its many thorns.
Instinctively, I brought my finger to my mouth, sucking the blood away. I noticed a small square of parchment buried in a corner of the box. I hadn't noticed it before. I picked it up.
You're like this rose, it read in small spiky handwriting, deadly but beautiful.
I didn't recognize the handwriting. It wasn't Harry's or Ron's; theirs was much too messy to match the one of the card.
Harry was being distant again at dinnertime. Ron and I had our usual arguments, and he didn't try to stop us. He didn't even look upset that we were fighting which was quite unusual for him. And when Fred asked him a question, he didn't even look up.
"What's with Harry?" I asked Ron finally.
He shrugged. "I don't know. He's been like this all day. Hasn't eaten a thing."
"I wasn't talking about that" I informed his exasperatedly. "Doesn't he seem a bit...troubled?"
"Yeah," admitted Ron. "I don't know what's wrong. He hasn't told me a thing"
We ate in silence for moment, which was rather unusual for us.
"We have Astronomy tonight," said Ron, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, I know," I said, letting a cool spoon of ice cream slide down my burning throat. "Lavender told me."
He goggled at me. "Lavender actually managed to tell you?"
I laughed. "Yeah. Amazing, isn't it?"
"I'll say. I didn't think she actually had a brain in there" he said, as we got up from the table. "And even if she did think, I thought it was only about boys and makeup"
"Yeah, me too" I admitted. "But I guess I was wrong"
"Parvati's definitely a ditz though" he decided. "That's someone you can't be wrong about."
"I don't know," I said thoughtfully. "Just when you think you know someone, you find out you didn't know them at all."
"Even Harry?"
"I really don't know. Maybe."
We went to the common room, to play a game of chess. He won. I nearly threw the board into the fire in frustration. "How do you manage to win every time?" I asked.
He smirked. "It's not my fault I'm good at chess"
"You've just been waiting to throw that in my face all day, haven't you?"
He grinned. "Yeah"
I stifled a yawn. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up by half past eleven if I'm not down by then"
"Okay" He mumbled, turning to Seamus and Dean who were building card houses out of Exploding Snap cards.
I climbed up the stairs wearily. I hadn't realized how tired I was.
As I lay on the soft mattress, staring at the red velvet curtains of my four poster, sleep came to me easily. And I dreamt.
*~*~*
I was in a dark room, empty for the moment. Large stone walls shot up from every side of me, meeting in a point at the top. There were no windows. A door was visible in the end farthest from me, it's top meeting in a perfect archway.
In the middle of a room, there was a large round table, made completely of stone. On its legs were intricate carvings, displaying various historical events of the wizarding world. Atop it was another design, the sign of Salazar Slytherin.
Around the table stood thirteen stone chairs, one larger than the rest. It was built on a stone platform, and gave the impression of a throne, the chair in which the leader sat.
And then, the room suddenly filled with people. I shrank back, afraid. They were all clad in black robes, as dark as the midnight sky. One by one, they filed into seats around the table. They all seemed to know what their place was.
They chattered excitedly. I walked up towards them, my curiousness overpowering my fear. One turned around suddenly, staring right at me. I cringed, knowing I was doomed. But he must not have seen me, for he just turned right back around.
I walked around the table, passing each one of them. None of them noticed me. In fact, they paid me no attention at all. It was then that I realized that they couldn't see me.
Two of the chairs were empty.
The table suddenly fell silent and I felt a chilling feeling pass over me.
A regal figure entered through the lone door, someone following. The figure removed her elegant cloak, revealing a slimly tapered black dress. Tousled curls fell from her head, and she strode to the table, gracefully and confidently. She settled herself on the tallest seat, and her escort placed himself beside her, in the one empty seat left.
The others looked up at her with admiration and respect, and when she spoke, the silence in the room was heavy.
"Have we any new business?" she asked, her voice icily cold.
"None, Mistress" one of her servants replied.
"Any stray Muggles roaming about?"
"No, Mistress. Our jails have the best security possible, and our guards inform us that they're indeed suffering," spoke up another.
"What about the torturing process?"
"No problems at all, Mistress. Our people are dreaming up new ways to inflict pain everyday."
"Good. Then there are no problems at all?"
"None, Mistress" they all chorused.
They began their rituals. They flew out into the night to do find a Muggle to torture, and I followed, enraptured. And even when the man's bone-chilling scream rang out into the night air, I couldn't keep my eyes away. I knew I ought to be horrified, since I was Muggle born myself. I knew they were Death Eaters. But tonight, none of that mattered.
They headed back to the room, which I learned, was the largest one in the large Gothic castle they held their meetings in.
"We start the new phase of our plan tomorrow. We shall meet here, at our usual time," she instructed.
And the dark wizards Disapparted from their seats, only one stayed right where he was. She turned to the only one left, the same wizard who had escorted her in.
"Take me home" she said.
The tone of voice she used was different from the one she used to address all the others. To him, she was sweet and caring, loving even.
He tied on her cloak with gentle hands, and slid his arm around her shoulder. She relaxed under his touch, letting her head rest on his shoulder.
Smouldering grey eyes peeked out from within strands of silvery hair. "Straight home?" he asked.
She pondered it for a second. "Yes, Draco, please do. I'm rather tired tonight."
"Of course. World takeover is a rather tiring job." He chuckled lightly.
She smiled at him. "Not yet Draco. But soon. Soon, the world will be mine. And you will rule by my side."
Her eyes took on a dreamy look, as if she was revelling in ecstasy. And she spun, embracing the whole world with her arms. When she finally stopped, she was facing me, staring right at me, and it was the first time all night that I had gotten a clear view of her face.
I gasped.
The face that greeted me was none other than my own.
*~*~*
"Hermione...Hermione, wake up..."
Slowly my eyes focused, and I could see Ron's face over me, his hand gently shaking my shoulder.
"What time is it?" I asked him, a bit dazed.
"Quarter to twelve..." he stopped, seeing my stricken face. "I thought you needed the extra sleep..."
"Ron!" I shrieked, shoving any books I could find into a bag. "You're going to make me late!" I slung the bag over my shoulder and sped out of the dorm, him right behind me. The Astronomy Tower just happened to be at the other end of the school.
I burst through the halls, almost knocking over some bewildered students who were wandering the halls. On my way up the stairs, I crashed right through Peeves, who, for once, wasn't terrorizing some student. And I managed to make it with five minutes to spare. I perched myself on a chair, gasping for breath but feeling immensely proud of myself.
Ron wasn't quite so lucky. He was late, and the glare of death Professor Sinastra gave him made him turn as red as his hair.
"You're lucky I'm not giving you detention, Mr. Weasley," she said coldly.
Ron scurried to his seat, refusing to look up from the floor.
"Tonight we will be studying the constellations used in Muggle horoscopes. Although I don't believe in that silly form of Divination, these will help us in...."
I didn't hear her after that. The moment she mentioned Divination, my mind had snapped back to my dream. For some reason, I could remember every detail of that dream clearly, which was quite unusual since I usually forgot what I dreamt the moment I woke up. Could my dream possibly be informing me of the future?
But how could that be? Divination was the most imprecise branch of magic, and I was no Divinator. I couldn't predict the future. I didn't even believe in it.
The creaking door opened, snapping me out of my thoughts. Draco sauntered in, looking as calm as ever. I felt my heart jump.
"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Malfoy" Professor Sinastra greeted him.
He didn't even flinch. "Whatever"
"Let's start then," she said. "Get into partners, and go study the skies!"
Before I knew it, Draco had appeared at my side. "Let's go"
When I opened my mouth to reply, I found my voice was no longer there. I nodded numbly.
"Do you know what we're doing?" he asked me.
I shook my head.
He laughed. I don't remember ever hearing him do that before. Never a genuine laugh, always a snicker, or a smirk, or a ridiculing laugh. I wanted to hear him laugh again. I liked the sound of it.
Quietly, we worked together, assembling the telescope and drawing star maps.
"Isn't that beautiful?" he asked me.
"Isn't what beautiful?"
"The stars, the planets," he replied. "With all that out in the universe, doesn't it make you feel so small and insignificant?"
"Yeah," I breathed. "But it's amazing to look at. And everything looks so small from here."
"Well if you were watching us from one of those stars, we'd be practically invisible," he pointed out.
He didn't attempt to talk to me again. We were the first to finish the assignment and Professor Sinastra awarded five points to both Slytherin and Gryffindor.
I walked back to our common room with Lavender, since Ron and Harry had gone ahead. When we entered our dorm, she stopped dead.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
She shivered. "It's the feeling of this room. It feels...evil...almost. I can't find the right word to describe it. It feels like something's in here, something alive, something that's going to swallow us all up. You know the feeling in Professor Trelawney's room?"
I shook my head.
"Of course you wouldn't. Why am I asking you? Anyways, there's just something in the atmosphere, that helps Divinators work. It gives them something to go by. Of course, she's not an actual Divinator. She's just a fake, pretending to be one. Although I've heard she's actually made some real predictions."
"But I thought you loved Professor Trelawney" I sputtered.
"An act" she replied calmly. "In the vain hope that she'd actually teach me something useful."
"But why would you care?"
She didn't answer. "You've been dreaming, haven't you?"
I nodded, surprised that she knew.
"Then it's you who's been letting all that out."
"How did you know I'd been dreaming?" I asked.
She raised a perfect-plucked eyebrow at me. "I'm a Divinator. I know these things"
I didn't inquire further. I was too tired to do so. As I tried to fall asleep for the second time that night, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Like something had been taken away and something artificial had replaced it.
I also came to the conclusion that I was hopelessly in love with Draco.
I wasn't supposed to be. Obviously, it would never work out. I was a Muggle born, and his kind hated people like me. He might be different, depending on how he was brought up. But from what I'd seen of Lucius Malfoy, I didn't have a chance.
I would have to come up with a plan, to make them all love me.
But first, I would have to check if he felt the same way.
And all that would have to wait until morning.
By the time I woke up, my mind was refreshed and I had come up with a better plan. I wouldn't have to ask Draco if he liked me. All I had to do was ask Lavender. After all, she was a Divinator. And although I wasn't sure how much true Divinators knew, since I wasn't a firm believer in Divination, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. So
I did.
She wasn't awake yet, so I sat on her bed, waiting for her to open her eyes.
She did. And she screamed.
"God, Hermione, are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?" she said furiously as she ran a brush through her hair. "I thought you were a murderer or something!"
"And why would a murderer be after you?" I asked logically.
She glared at me. Obviously, she wasn't a morning person. "Well I don't know, anything's possible. And when you wake up in the morning to find someone watching you sleep, you expect the worst!"
"I wasn't watching you sleep!" I countered.
"What were you doing then? I mean, it's not everyday I find someone sitting on my bed in the morning! Most normal people would wake me up or something. Are we late? Is that it?" She tore off her pajamas and threw on her robes, rummaging through the drawers for her makeup.
"Lavender, calm down, we're not late. I just wanted to ask you something"
She stopped. "Oh. Okay then. About what?"
"Well you know how you're a Divinator?" I started.
"Shhhhh!" she hissed, glancing over at Parvati, who was still asleep. "Not so loud. Someone might hear"
"Why don't you want anyone to know?" I asked.
"People tend to be scared of the unknown. And where Divinators get their power is definitely unknown. Therefore, they get scared. They get jealous that they don't possess that power…" She trailed off. "It's best just to keep it a secret."
"Sure. Anyways, can you answer this one question for me? D'you think Draco likes me?" I asked nervously.
She shook her head slowly.
"He doesn't?" I asked, panic beginning to take over.
She laughed. "Oh no, I didn't mean it like that. I don't know. And even if I did, I'm not supposed to tell you. Love always takes its own path."
"Who told you that?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Read it off a book."
"Well, thanks anyways" I told her, packing books into my bag. I wondered when she had begun to read books. I slung the bag over my shoulder and was about to leave when I saw her watching me.
"What?" I asked.
She shook her head again. "I don't know, really" she said thoughtfully, "but it seems to me you're different. I you're different. I don't know how, you've changed but I can't put my finger on it. There's just something odd about you now…you don't seem like yourself anymore."
I didn't know how to respond to that. She had rendered me speechless. That was exactly the way felt. I wasn't the same person anymore. I felt like someone new, like a stranger.
"Oh, and Hermione?" she said, returning to the application of her makeup.
"What?"
"I've been reading since forever. You just never knew about it"
I guess she really was a Divinator.
AN: Here's chapter one. Hope you like it. Thanks so much to Joycie Lionheart, She's a Star, LilyAyl, Juliet, blue_chick73, Mystical Kiwi, Fuyu_Sora, and ~Hermione Pika!~ for reviewing. Virtual hugs and cookies to you all. Review please. ^-^