A/N: I'm sorry I haven't updated in like a week... I've been really busy with school, and then I was working on my other story (the one with them in Ancient Rome), and then I sort of got Internet-grounded. So here is Chapter 5! I'll try to make it long ^_^
Ahn~ Thanks! I will!
Milificent Snape~ Thank you! I came up with it myself *blushes*
Resh~ Oh, that's so sweet! I think it's rather good myself ;D
Jamie~ Yeah, I think that's so fake. I mean, they're a great couple, but it seems sort of out of character when they're all of a sudden mushy.
Chrissy~ Hmm! Great idea! And yes, the thing has something to do with the enchantment around the Matrix.
Milady~ Don't we all? Well, thank you, and I hope I do too...
Jedah~ *tear* Oh my gosh, really??! You're so sweet!
Pluto_lass~ Urrgh... I wish I could just write all the time so that no one is unhappy!
Rachel Hunt~ Ah... perhaps because you were too busy being so wonderfully nice when you reviewed my other one? *blushes*
Allee Kat~ Ooh... suspense... it kills...
Rachel Hunt~ Well, I did write it... of course, everyone loves it... *haughty grin* And, here's the rest, although it did take a while to get here.
VenusSaturnalia~ I didn't quite mean it like that... I guess maybe he does sound a little tour-guide-y.... And yes! A woman (or man) after my own heart! *gets all dreamy-eyed at mention of Draco in leather pants*
Crystal~ That's so sweet! I'm touched ^_^
AmiAmiNSusu~ Well, arigato ;D gomen ne... I was really busy and grounded...
Squin~ you're so nice! And I totally agree about the tough-guy thing... it's very sexy.
Sanna~ Hmmm... I don't think it's out-of-character at all... in fact, that's what I think is the best part of the story... that Draco doesn't go all wishy-washy on us.
Hemlock~ *^* I don't know! I'm glad you did, though!
Nuada~ Well, that's high praise, coming from such a great writer. I read some of your fics, and you're very talented (continue the one about Morgan, please!).
Dracoisshot1326~ er.... okay...
Delphi~ I'm trying! I'm trying!
Okay, I think that's everyone... Remember, if you review and leave a name, then I will a) go check out your stories and possibly review them and b) mention you in my next author's note! Plus, you can just feel happy about making an otherwise very tired and grumpy author smile!
Chapter 5
From the secluded, high point of the tower that Hermione's room was in, sunlight flooded through the wide bay windows, blanketing the sleeping figure with dappled gold. As she stirred, rustling the covers, someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" moaned Hermione, rolling over to look at the time. It was half-past one.
Ginny strode into the room, her arms laden with clothes. "Wake up, you have an enchantment to study!" she informed her friend (all too cheerfully, in Hermione's opinion).
"I do?"
Ginny stared. "You mean you haven't figured yours out yet?"
"Well, not-"
Her friend laughed. "Little Miss Always-on-top-of-things Granger is-" she checked her watch- "-eighteen hours behind on an assignment? The horror!"
Hermione scowled at her and dragged herself out of bed, eyeing the pile of clothes Ginny was carrying as the red-haired girl began to lay them out on the various pieces of furniture.
Ginny finished and quickly began to pick a few pieces up again. Holding a plaid skirt and white oxford in front of her, she pursed her lips. "This is the Preppy but Sexy-Catholic-Schoolgirl look."
Hermione raised a disbelieving eyebrow and repeated what Ginny had said, a half-smile on her face. "The preppy but sexy-Catholic-schoolgirl look?"
"Yes," her friend answered stoutly, placing the clothes back on the chaise lounge and picking up another set. Hermione stopped her, sighing and picking up the skirt and shirt. "I'll just wear this and my black robes," she said.
Ginny hesitated, but then went over to start gathering tools from the vanity. "No, stop," Hermione protested. "I really don't need this, okay? There's no one to do it for, and it's just a waste of time for me."
Now it was Ginny's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Wasted time? Well, it wasn't me who didn't wake up until one in the afternoon."
"Shut UP!" Hermione grinned and threw one of the bed pillows at her. "Fine, just braid my hair or something. I don't care, as long as it takes less than ten minutes." She scooped the clothes into her arms and went into the bathroom to change.
Just as Hermione finished straightening the blouse, the doorknob on the other side of the bathroom clicked, and Draco Malfoy came in, wearing a look on his face that was a deadly combination of drowsiness and frustration.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked him indignantly, hands on her hips.
He looked at her, but didn't change his expression. "Last I checked, it was my bathroom too."
Hermione sighed through her nose and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
"Bitch," Draco muttered, fumbling with the faucet on the tub.
Hermione eventually found her way down to the lobby of the inn and asked the concierge, an elegant French witch in slate-blue robes, where the library was.
"In the southwest dungeon," the clerk answered without looking up from her thick book.
Hermione thanked her and took a scroll map that was set out on the desk, unrolling it and pinpointing the dungeon. It was just below and a few hundred meters over from the lobby she was in now; it wouldn't be hard to get there.
After a good quarter-hour of walking, Hermione finally reached a pair of looming, stone doors, engraved with a pattern of what she recognized as white roses- there had been a trellis of them surrounding the pool last night- inlaid with a sort of crystal, adorned with emeralds for the stems and leaves. Somehow, the sight of such an evocant reminder made her throat feel strangely choked. Just as she reached for the doors, though, they swung open, revealing the library.
It was remarkably high-ceilinged for a dungeon, with carved patterns on the domed walls where they were not lined with shelves of books. Here and there, a painting hung, but mainly the room was filled with case upon case of millenia of books- all dusty and seemingly untouched for years.
As Hermione began to wander among the shelves, there was a loud poofing sound behind her. She whipped around just in time to see an explosion of silver sparkles, and a tall woman appearing in their midst. The woman was clothed in a floor-length gown, simple and undecorated save for a silver circlet about her waist; she wore a matching, smaller one atop her waves of jet-black hair. A blue crescent moon, with its two points facing upwards, was painted between her eyebrows.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice somewhere below a whisper.
The woman sighed exasperatedly. "The librarian, of course." She folded her pale, bare arms across her chest and waited. "Well, what are you looking for?"
Hermione shook her head. "Do you know the pool that's under the northern balcony? The one in a walled garden?"
She caught a flash of shock and recognition in the librarian's deep violet eyes, but it was gone as the woman answered curtly. "Yes."
Hermione tried to keep the conversation normal. "Do you have any idea what the enchantment is around it?"
There was the surprise in her eyes again- but it soon softened into sly suspicion. "Ah, you're one of those witches from that school in Britain. Well, then, I can't tell you what the enchantment is, but I assure you there is one- and I can point you to books that might help you find out what it is."
An hour later, Hermione was sitting on the floor in a forsaken corner of the library, surrounded by stacks of books. She was currently leafing through a particularly dusty tome titled The Lost Enchantments of Water. "Why don't any of these have anything about this stupid pool?" she cried in frustration, throwing the book aside and eliciting a cloud of dust from the ancient carpet.
The next book on the stack, she realized in confusion, was called Star-Crossed Lovers: Magic at Midnight. Hermione lifted it, wondering at its gilt gold cover and shimmering inscription. As she opened the book, a light blinded her and she dropped it; it felt like fire in her hands.
Hermione regained her eyesight in a forest, illuminated by sunlight filtered through the trees. She was sitting beside a powerful, wide stream, that rushed off close by into a hundred-foot waterfall, dashing over slick rocks and scattered pebbles. And there was the librarian, looking disgruntled. "You managed to unlock the live-experience function of this book," she said, plastering a false smile on her face. Hermione noticed she was now carrying a scroll and wearing gold to match the book's cover; before she knew it, the scroll was floating in the air in front of her. "That pool enchantment is number four hundred and twenty six," the librarian informed her, waving a hand and highlighting a small row of inked words far down the page. Then the light was there again, and the forest-world was lost to her.
This time, she awoke in the garden, sitting atop the rock that she had dreamed of the previous night. The librarian was there, and she was beckoning to Hermione to get up. "You might recognize this scene," she cautioned, "but they won't be able to hear or see you."
Hermione was about to ask who they were, but before she could the boy from her dream entered the garden, followed shortly by the girl. They were in different clothes; it was another night. For a moment, they simply stared at one another; suddenly, a silver sheen came over their eyes, and each wavered for a moment before she fell into his arms. This time, though, the same sense of anxious, cruel urgency hung in the air, but their actions were not so indifferent; they were passionate, but there was a loveless air to the way they gripped each other's bodies as they kissed. Slowly, their bodies vanished as the forest reappeared around the woman and Hermione, then faded back into the now-familiar scenery of the library.
Hermione lay on the floor, staring up at the stone ceiling in a dazed manner. The book was open, its pages ruffled, atop her chest, and her long, russet-colored hair was strewn about her shoulders and face. There were so many clues to the puzzle now, but somehow the answers were always just out of reach. I have to figure it out, Hermione thought, her heart sinking. I wonder what Malfoy's found so far?
Ahn~ Thanks! I will!
Milificent Snape~ Thank you! I came up with it myself *blushes*
Resh~ Oh, that's so sweet! I think it's rather good myself ;D
Jamie~ Yeah, I think that's so fake. I mean, they're a great couple, but it seems sort of out of character when they're all of a sudden mushy.
Chrissy~ Hmm! Great idea! And yes, the thing has something to do with the enchantment around the Matrix.
Milady~ Don't we all? Well, thank you, and I hope I do too...
Jedah~ *tear* Oh my gosh, really??! You're so sweet!
Pluto_lass~ Urrgh... I wish I could just write all the time so that no one is unhappy!
Rachel Hunt~ Ah... perhaps because you were too busy being so wonderfully nice when you reviewed my other one? *blushes*
Allee Kat~ Ooh... suspense... it kills...
Rachel Hunt~ Well, I did write it... of course, everyone loves it... *haughty grin* And, here's the rest, although it did take a while to get here.
VenusSaturnalia~ I didn't quite mean it like that... I guess maybe he does sound a little tour-guide-y.... And yes! A woman (or man) after my own heart! *gets all dreamy-eyed at mention of Draco in leather pants*
Crystal~ That's so sweet! I'm touched ^_^
AmiAmiNSusu~ Well, arigato ;D gomen ne... I was really busy and grounded...
Squin~ you're so nice! And I totally agree about the tough-guy thing... it's very sexy.
Sanna~ Hmmm... I don't think it's out-of-character at all... in fact, that's what I think is the best part of the story... that Draco doesn't go all wishy-washy on us.
Hemlock~ *^* I don't know! I'm glad you did, though!
Nuada~ Well, that's high praise, coming from such a great writer. I read some of your fics, and you're very talented (continue the one about Morgan, please!).
Dracoisshot1326~ er.... okay...
Delphi~ I'm trying! I'm trying!
Okay, I think that's everyone... Remember, if you review and leave a name, then I will a) go check out your stories and possibly review them and b) mention you in my next author's note! Plus, you can just feel happy about making an otherwise very tired and grumpy author smile!
Chapter 5
From the secluded, high point of the tower that Hermione's room was in, sunlight flooded through the wide bay windows, blanketing the sleeping figure with dappled gold. As she stirred, rustling the covers, someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" moaned Hermione, rolling over to look at the time. It was half-past one.
Ginny strode into the room, her arms laden with clothes. "Wake up, you have an enchantment to study!" she informed her friend (all too cheerfully, in Hermione's opinion).
"I do?"
Ginny stared. "You mean you haven't figured yours out yet?"
"Well, not-"
Her friend laughed. "Little Miss Always-on-top-of-things Granger is-" she checked her watch- "-eighteen hours behind on an assignment? The horror!"
Hermione scowled at her and dragged herself out of bed, eyeing the pile of clothes Ginny was carrying as the red-haired girl began to lay them out on the various pieces of furniture.
Ginny finished and quickly began to pick a few pieces up again. Holding a plaid skirt and white oxford in front of her, she pursed her lips. "This is the Preppy but Sexy-Catholic-Schoolgirl look."
Hermione raised a disbelieving eyebrow and repeated what Ginny had said, a half-smile on her face. "The preppy but sexy-Catholic-schoolgirl look?"
"Yes," her friend answered stoutly, placing the clothes back on the chaise lounge and picking up another set. Hermione stopped her, sighing and picking up the skirt and shirt. "I'll just wear this and my black robes," she said.
Ginny hesitated, but then went over to start gathering tools from the vanity. "No, stop," Hermione protested. "I really don't need this, okay? There's no one to do it for, and it's just a waste of time for me."
Now it was Ginny's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Wasted time? Well, it wasn't me who didn't wake up until one in the afternoon."
"Shut UP!" Hermione grinned and threw one of the bed pillows at her. "Fine, just braid my hair or something. I don't care, as long as it takes less than ten minutes." She scooped the clothes into her arms and went into the bathroom to change.
Just as Hermione finished straightening the blouse, the doorknob on the other side of the bathroom clicked, and Draco Malfoy came in, wearing a look on his face that was a deadly combination of drowsiness and frustration.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked him indignantly, hands on her hips.
He looked at her, but didn't change his expression. "Last I checked, it was my bathroom too."
Hermione sighed through her nose and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
"Bitch," Draco muttered, fumbling with the faucet on the tub.
Hermione eventually found her way down to the lobby of the inn and asked the concierge, an elegant French witch in slate-blue robes, where the library was.
"In the southwest dungeon," the clerk answered without looking up from her thick book.
Hermione thanked her and took a scroll map that was set out on the desk, unrolling it and pinpointing the dungeon. It was just below and a few hundred meters over from the lobby she was in now; it wouldn't be hard to get there.
After a good quarter-hour of walking, Hermione finally reached a pair of looming, stone doors, engraved with a pattern of what she recognized as white roses- there had been a trellis of them surrounding the pool last night- inlaid with a sort of crystal, adorned with emeralds for the stems and leaves. Somehow, the sight of such an evocant reminder made her throat feel strangely choked. Just as she reached for the doors, though, they swung open, revealing the library.
It was remarkably high-ceilinged for a dungeon, with carved patterns on the domed walls where they were not lined with shelves of books. Here and there, a painting hung, but mainly the room was filled with case upon case of millenia of books- all dusty and seemingly untouched for years.
As Hermione began to wander among the shelves, there was a loud poofing sound behind her. She whipped around just in time to see an explosion of silver sparkles, and a tall woman appearing in their midst. The woman was clothed in a floor-length gown, simple and undecorated save for a silver circlet about her waist; she wore a matching, smaller one atop her waves of jet-black hair. A blue crescent moon, with its two points facing upwards, was painted between her eyebrows.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice somewhere below a whisper.
The woman sighed exasperatedly. "The librarian, of course." She folded her pale, bare arms across her chest and waited. "Well, what are you looking for?"
Hermione shook her head. "Do you know the pool that's under the northern balcony? The one in a walled garden?"
She caught a flash of shock and recognition in the librarian's deep violet eyes, but it was gone as the woman answered curtly. "Yes."
Hermione tried to keep the conversation normal. "Do you have any idea what the enchantment is around it?"
There was the surprise in her eyes again- but it soon softened into sly suspicion. "Ah, you're one of those witches from that school in Britain. Well, then, I can't tell you what the enchantment is, but I assure you there is one- and I can point you to books that might help you find out what it is."
An hour later, Hermione was sitting on the floor in a forsaken corner of the library, surrounded by stacks of books. She was currently leafing through a particularly dusty tome titled The Lost Enchantments of Water. "Why don't any of these have anything about this stupid pool?" she cried in frustration, throwing the book aside and eliciting a cloud of dust from the ancient carpet.
The next book on the stack, she realized in confusion, was called Star-Crossed Lovers: Magic at Midnight. Hermione lifted it, wondering at its gilt gold cover and shimmering inscription. As she opened the book, a light blinded her and she dropped it; it felt like fire in her hands.
Hermione regained her eyesight in a forest, illuminated by sunlight filtered through the trees. She was sitting beside a powerful, wide stream, that rushed off close by into a hundred-foot waterfall, dashing over slick rocks and scattered pebbles. And there was the librarian, looking disgruntled. "You managed to unlock the live-experience function of this book," she said, plastering a false smile on her face. Hermione noticed she was now carrying a scroll and wearing gold to match the book's cover; before she knew it, the scroll was floating in the air in front of her. "That pool enchantment is number four hundred and twenty six," the librarian informed her, waving a hand and highlighting a small row of inked words far down the page. Then the light was there again, and the forest-world was lost to her.
This time, she awoke in the garden, sitting atop the rock that she had dreamed of the previous night. The librarian was there, and she was beckoning to Hermione to get up. "You might recognize this scene," she cautioned, "but they won't be able to hear or see you."
Hermione was about to ask who they were, but before she could the boy from her dream entered the garden, followed shortly by the girl. They were in different clothes; it was another night. For a moment, they simply stared at one another; suddenly, a silver sheen came over their eyes, and each wavered for a moment before she fell into his arms. This time, though, the same sense of anxious, cruel urgency hung in the air, but their actions were not so indifferent; they were passionate, but there was a loveless air to the way they gripped each other's bodies as they kissed. Slowly, their bodies vanished as the forest reappeared around the woman and Hermione, then faded back into the now-familiar scenery of the library.
Hermione lay on the floor, staring up at the stone ceiling in a dazed manner. The book was open, its pages ruffled, atop her chest, and her long, russet-colored hair was strewn about her shoulders and face. There were so many clues to the puzzle now, but somehow the answers were always just out of reach. I have to figure it out, Hermione thought, her heart sinking. I wonder what Malfoy's found so far?