When There's Nothing Else to Cling To

Chapter 3: When Darkness Engulfs You

Co-written by GoldenPhoenix and WitchGirl

Summary: When the lights literally go out at Hogwarts, Hermione is drawn into a world she doesn't know to face an evil she never even dreamed possible. It will take Ron's determination and Harry's bravery to save her, but is that all it will take?

A/N: When there was a black out, me and GoldenPhoenix were inspired to write this piece. We were trapped in McDonald's for an hour! We had plenty of different titles for it and finally settled on this one.

Disclaimer: We own nothing!

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"HERMIONE!" Harry and Ron screamed, but there was no reply, "HERMIONE GRANGER! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"Potter?" Snape came, looking around, confused, "Weasley?"

"Uh oh," Ron whispered, "I think we shouted a little too loud,"

"Where are you two! Show yourselves!"

"Run!" Harry whispered, and they silently slipped away down the corridor. They heard Snape curse to himself.

"I must be hearing things!" he said to himself, "Dumbledore is very angry but why won't he tell us what is so dangerous?" he muttered and walked off.

"Dumbledore's mad? Danger? Sounds like our kind of thing Harry," Ron smiled at his companion.

"But remember, our first priority is to find Hermione!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"


Hermione ran to the door that marked the entrance to the castle, but it was locked. She tried windows, but when she would try to climb out, an invisible force would throw her back in again. The pale light from the eerily full moon was the only light she had. There was something about that moon. She sat down in a corner and began to cry. She heard the voice again, but now it sounded as if it was speaking directly to her.

"Hermione..."

"WHAT! WHAT DO YOU WANT! Oh God, am I completely insane?" she sobbed.

"Hello, Hermione," the voice cooed.

"Who are you?" she asked, confidently wiping away her tears.

"At last, my guest has arrived..."

"This must be a dream, it has to be. Otherwise, I've gone nutters!"

"Well, that's up to you to decide, isn't it?" the voice asked, "If it's a dream, then you know that soon you will be waking up safe and sound in your bed. If you're crazy, then you know that this is all just a delusion that your mind created. But if it's real... If it's real, then you know how much trouble you're in and you know that you will never see your friends and family again. You know that you will never see Hogwarts again. You know you will never leave this place... Alive,"

"NO! That's impossible! How can this place be real, how can it? This is impossible!" Hermione began to cry again.

"That's it, cry yourself into an even deeper despair. You're mine now..."


"Let's go to the library!"

"OK, now you're really starting to act like Hermione," Ron looked at his best friend, concerned.

"No, Ron, something happened there! That was the last place we saw her, now let's GO!"

"OK, OK, I'm coming,"


"Dumbledore, I demand to know what is going on!"

"You should know, Sybil," Dumbledore looked at the thin woman in bangles. Trelawny fell silent.

"With all do respect, Headmaster, I believe we would all like to know what kind of danger we are dealing with," Snape stepped forward.

"Very well. It all started years and years ago, before this castle was even built..."


"Have you heard?"

"They're all gone! No one knows where!"

"Pansy Parkinson, that Slytherin said she saw them in the hall," The Gryffindors were gossiping, too excited and/or scared to sleep. It was three AM now, and the whole school already knew that three Gryffindors, including Harry Potter, were all missing.

"They say the first to go was that Weasley boy,"

"No, no, it was Potter, stupid!"

"Actually, you're both wrong," Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown approached the two arguing fourth years, "It was Hermione who went missing first," Lavender informed them.

"Yeah, we were in the Entrance Hall and Harry mistook me and Lavender both for Hermione. They were looking for her,"

"Whatever," the boys said and continued their dispute.


Hermione was spinning. Spinning into the unknown. Bitter blackness swallowed her up. She was drowning; drowning in her own fear. She didn't even know which way was up any more, but in this stage of the game, she couldn't be sure of anything.