By: FayeValentine00
Chapter 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Choose!" A booming voice echoed through the box out of the blue, nearly causing me to jump out of my skin.
My head was spinning while my eyes darted from one door to the other. They were identical in everyway. There was no way of knowing which way to go. It looked like I was going to have to go on blind luck but that was impossible. There had to be a logical solution to finding the correct door, right?
I woke up from my bed with a start, sweat dripping from my brow. I had to walk to my bedroom door before I was convinced I'd actually returned to my own room. The dream had been so real, as if I'd really been stuck in the white box. My hands trembled slightly as I made my way down the dark staircase to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
I stood over the sink, sipping from my glass and trying to clear my mind when I saw a movement in the corner of my eye that caused me to drop my glass which shattered all over the floor.
"Dobby?! What are you doing here? Why aren't you at Hogwarts?" All the questions flooded from my mouth in quick secession, all the while trying to keep my voice down. I knew the glass breaking must have woken my parents but hearing me scream on top of it would have sent them racing downstairs.
The house elf looked up at me with a fearful look in his eyes but my fathers voice came down the stairs before Dobby could explain himself.
"Hermione? Is that you, dear?"
"Yes, Dad. I just broke a glass. Everythings okay," I responded quickly while praying the entire time that he would not come downstairs.
"Alright then. Just be careful. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
I waited until I heard the door to my parents bedroom close before I let out a sigh of relief and turned back to Dobby.
"What in the world are you doing here, Dobby?"
"Well... ummm..." The house elfs' hands were nervously squeezing one of the hats I'd made in my last semester at Hogwarts. "I came to warn you."
"Warn me about what?" I stood staring at him for a long time before memories of Dobby's "protection" of Harry in our second year flooded my mind. "Oh Dobby, please don't tell me that I'm in danger. I don't think Harry'd want you protecting me, do you?"
"No, Hermione Granger misunderstands Dobby. It's not really danger that Dobby came to warn you about. I heard some wizards at the school speaking about you. They said that there is some kind of link between Harry Potter and Harmione Granger. It is something that will effect the final battle with He-who-must-not-be-named."
"What?!" Maybe it was the lack of sleep or simply the fact that whatever Dobby was saying made no sense but I found myself lacking patience. "You aren't making any sense, Dobby. Besides, I saw Harry yesturday and it sounds like he is going to be doing loads better in the future. He agreed not to push Ron and I away anymore so everything is going to be fine."
"No, you do not understand! Dobby heard that Hermione Granger was very smart but you can't even understand this." He flashed me a glare that looked very much as though he was personally insulted that my wits had not lived up to expectations.
"Dobby, listen to me. Harry and I are just friends and I am going to fight next to him no matter what Voldemort tries to do to him but we are just friends. If you mean our friendship has something to do with that then you're correct because I don't understand."
"No Hermione, It is more then friendship. The wizards said that there is to be some sort of choice. A choice that will decide the out come of the prophecy."
"A choice? The prophecy?!" My head was spinning but slowly things began to fall into place and I grabbed Dobby by the shirt, lifting him off his feet and throwing all my S.P.E.W. principals out the window. "But I thought the prophecy broke, Dobby. No one heard it, right Dobby?!"
"Now, Hermione Granger. Do not get mad at Dobby, he is just coming to warn you." He put his hands up as if he was afraid I would hit him but that was the furthest thing from my mind. All I wanted was answers.
"What did you mean by the prophecy?!" Anger began to burn in my gut as I waiting for a responce from the creature I held nearly nose to nose with myself.
"D-Dobby heard Dumbledore telling Harry Potter what was said in the prophecy at the end of last year but now I know that Professor Dumbledore did not tell Harry everything."
"What did it say, Dobby?!"
"I can't say. Dumbledore made me swear but I knew I had to tell you the other part."
"Oh god." Without thinking, I dropped Dobby and ran to my room, throwing on the first clothes I found. I scribbled a quick note to my parents and ran out the door without a second thought of Dobby.
Dammit! Why didn't he tell me?! What did the prophecy say that was so terrible that he couldn't tell Ron and I?! We were his best friends for god sakes! And that dream! What the hell did that dream mean and what did Dobby mean about a choice I'd have to make that would determine everything. That was crazy.
Without realizing the consequences of my actions, I made my way to the subway heading to Little Whinging. I didn't know what I'd do or say when I got face to face with Harry but I was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing I ever did!
When I finally stepped off the train several hours later, the sunlight was just beginning to grace the horizion and any other day I would have thought that it was gorgeous but right at that moment, I barely noticed. While still inside the train I'd managed to comb my hair and make myself a bit more presentable so when Harry's muggle family saw me, they wouldn't slam the door in my face.
Not quite sure where to go, I asked for directions to Privet Drive and began what was a nearly 3 mile walk. At least it would give the sun a bit more time to rise before I demanded to speak to Harry first thing in the morning. I couldn't help but notice as I walked into Harry neighborhood, that every house was identical and that they all had perfect lawns. No wonder Harry hated this place, even aside from his awful family, these people's homes were dreadfully dull.
Just as I rounded the corner to Privet Drive I heard a familiar sound above my head and looked up to see Hedwig flying nearby. At my signal, she landed on my shoulder with a nibble on my ear to let me know that she was happy to see me. Even though I had no food to give her, she stayed on my shoulder until I reached the house.
"Hedwig, can you go wake Harry for me?"
She clucked her beak as though she understood before flying through what I assumed was Harry's bedroom and moments later I heard the voice I knew all too well.
"Get off you crazy bird! What do you want?!" The sounds of struggle went on for quite a long time before I finally heard Harry give up. "FINE! I'm awake! What do you want?!"
Durning the whole struggle that came from the upstairs window, I'd found it hard not to laugh but when I saw Hedwig hop up onto the window ledge I forced a serious look back onto my face. Moments later I saw Harry's face pop out the window and I nearly laughed all over again. His hair flew in every direction, he had scratches that I assumed Hedwig had just created and a very grumpy look on his face.
It took him a moment before he saw me and at first I thought he fall out the window in shock, thankfully he didn't. "What are you doing here?"
"Get down here, Harry Potter! We need to talk, now!" It took everything in me not to scream at him but I figured that waking all the neighbors wouldn't have helped anything either.
"What?" The obvious confusion on his face would have been comical had my anger not come back to me full force.
"Hurry!"
He leveled a confused look at me one last time before his shoulders slumped in defeat when he realized I wasn't leaving till we spoke. "Fine. Be right down."
I paced the manicured grass for almost 10 minutes before the front door opened and Harry stepped out with the same look of confusion that he'd shown earlier. "Now what is it that couldn't wait?"
"You have a lot of explaining to do, Harry Potter!"
