Mirror Worlds

Disclaimer: Is my name J.K Rowling? No. So I don't own any of the characters then do I?

Dammit.

Thank you every one who reviewed chapter 1, you were all really sweet and supportive! And apologies to all of you who waited, I have the memory of a sieve and kept forgetting to update *blushes* (moron).

Chapter 2- Discoveries

MIRRIOR WORLD

"And then we had to repair the ceiling in one of the rooms closer to the surface," Draco reported. Hermione was sat in the shallow water at the edge of the underground lake, but it still came up to her shoulders. She glanced over to Draco's turned back and rolled her eyes. He was always like this when she first woke up and he obviously thought that boring someone to death was a good way to keep their minds off certain things. "…it was a bloody good job none of the kids were in there at the time, but now they're sharing with those Ravenclaws a few floors up…"

Hermione washed her hair while he continued his stories of the past week and her mind began to wonder. "Hermione?" Draco had turned around and was looking right at her, "I said, shall we go exploring today? Colin and I found a new passageway after clearing some rubble away two days ago and I haven't had a chance to look."

Her gaze drifted over to him and she nodded, "That sounds nice," she murmured.

"Are you sure you know where you're going, Draco?" Hermione asked as they descended into the depths of Tintagel Head. The passage was cold and damp and distantly, the crashing waves could be heard in the caves below them. Draco held up his lantern, making visible another passage set 4 feet above the ground.

"Of course," he turned to Hermione and grinned, "I always do. Come on, Hermione, just follow me."

A memory stirred and she flinched. Someone had said that to her a year ago and now they were gone… She mentally shook herself. Don't be an idiot, we're safe now. "Lead the way then," she said.

Once they had climbed into the passage the first thing they noticed was that it was even darker if anything. For over ten minutes they followed the twisting tunnel, but it seemed to lead them nowhere. The darkness was oppressive; it felt as if it was closing in on the pair. Hermione thought she could hear voices hissing, whispering, calling to her. Down and down they went until the roaring of the ocean drowned out the sound of the incessant murmurs of her imagination- she was sure that was all they were. Draco supposed that they were now in a tunnel directly beside the sea-level cliffs at the bottom of the headland and although they had found nothing, he insisted they go on. Steadily, the floor changed from rock to sand and the air seemed to be a little drier.

"I don't think we're under the Warren anymore," he said apprehensively and stopped walking suddenly. Before Hermione realised he was still, she walked into his back and almost fell over.

"What is it? Why did you stop?" she snapped.

Draco took a few steps forward and lifted the lantern. It seemed he has discovered some kind of cave under the mainland. The light from the lamp reflected off of sparkling minerals in the rock of the walls and multiplied a thousand times until the whole cavern was lit. It was enormous. Stalactites hung from the ceiling and stalagmites littered the floor in their hundreds and at the back, a small waterfall appeared to seep out of the rock and into a pool. "This is amazing," Hermione breathed.

After half an hour of exploring, Draco and Hermione decided to stop for the day. Looking at his watch, Draco realised it was getting very late and they had eaten hardly anything all day, so they turned back and headed for the entrance. The air was cool and moist by the waterfall, but as Hermione leant over to take a sip, an awful screeching sound filled the air.

 "What was that?!" she hissed, jumping to her feet abruptly and hitting something solid. Draco wind milled his arms at the edge of the pool, but lost his balance and fell in with a yell and a splash. Hermione looked down at Draco and tried to suppress a smile. He was very wet and not at all happy.

"Gosh, I don't know," he drawled, "but for some reason, I can't seem to care." Then, all of a sudden, as if a light had gone out, his sarcastic expression disappeared and was replaced by one of unease as the screeching cry rang out again.

It was difficult to pin point the source of the noise with the incredible echoes reverberating throughout the cave but it seemed as if it came from somewhere beyond the waterfall. Draco and Hermione stared at the water intently.

"What do you think?" Draco asked.

Hermione frowned as she strained to listen for the sound again, "It has to be behind the waterfall," but she didn't sound happy about it. The water was ice cold as Draco put his arm through the curtain checking for any hidden passages. When he found nothing but air, he reached behind the waterfall with his other hand holding the lantern to light the space so he could have a look around. But to do that, the already very wet and very cold teenager would have to put his head through the water.

"Well I might as well," he said when Hermione pointed this out, "Look at me-" Draco pulled at the black polo-neck sweater that had been clinging to his pale skin, "I'm completely soaked."

"Well carry on then," Hermione smiled. Draco wasn't at all happy about her obvious amusement and was still scowling as he turned away and submerged his head.

Adjusting his eyes to the different light beyond the glow of the lantern there was nothing; it seemed that the tunnel went on for some distance. Gasping as the frigid water ran down his back, he crawled into the passage up to his elbows in run-off from the waterfall. Draco only managed to crawl about 5 feet before his hand slipped and he fell forward.

Hermione sprang to her feet from where she had been sitting when she heard Draco cry out. Rushing over to the waterfall, she took a deep breath and crawled into the tunnel after him wincing at the touch of the liquid ice, "Draco?! Where are you?" she called at the top of her voice, "Are you ok?" As she inched her way through the pitch black passage, she strained her ears waiting for a reply. "Draco!"

"Hermione, stop!" was all she heard before putting her next hand down on empty air and toppling forward into nothingness.

* * *

Ron was prodding his food disinterestedly when Harry came down for breakfast the next morning. The black haired teenager trudged into the room cleaning his glasses with the edge of his t-shirt before replacing them and sitting at the kitchen table.

"Morning, Harry," Ron mumbled, yawning. Then he looked up. "Blimey, you look bloody awful. Did you not get much sleep?"

"Oh thanks, Ron," Harry attempted to scowl, but failed miserably, "But no, I didn't get much sleep. I couldn't."

"Well we're back at school soon. Are you excited?"

"I'm not sure. Voldemort will be hard pushed to make this year worse than the last two." Harry said miserably. "That reminds me; did you read your Hogwarts letter?"

"Yeah, but it was the same old thing. Has Hermione got hers?"

"Yes," Harry replied quickly, but didn't elaborate further. Ron glanced at his watch.

"Where is she anyway?"

"She wanted to stay in bed."

"Oh, have you seen her then?" Ron asked.

"What?!" Harry looked absolutely scandalised, "No, um," his eyes darted around the room, as if he was looking for an escape route. "Not really," he said after getting up, trying to hide his burning cheeks. Ron carried on prodding at the cold food on his plate while Harry got some breakfast of his own.

Hermione got dressed slowly, unable to understand her mixed emotions or silence her chaotic thoughts.

Stay with me.

First, there was the dream- no, the nightmare. It was so vivid. Somewhere inside her, she knew that it was real, that it had happened.

But it was impossible!

-But it was real.

She couldn't make sense of it and the memories wouldn't leave her. That was it- they seemed like memories, but they were of something that had never happened.

Not only was Hermione confused by her dream, but when she woke up things got even stranger. Harry. He had been there when she woke and was afraid, and he held her until they fell asleep. Her stomach gave a lurch at the memory of waking up still in his arms.

I don't want to be alone.

But what did it mean? Had things changed? It felt like they had and she knew she would never see Harry the same way again.

I love you.

No! She wouldn't remember! It was just a dream. It wasn't real, and those feelings weren't hers…But it had felt so right. Waking up beside him- she felt like she belonged there. Hermione stopped that line of thought. That was just feelings from the dream. She didn't see Harry that way. Not even a little. She began to hum, to occupy her mind in the hopes that she would forget last night as she tied her hair back and left the room.

Mrs Weasley was berating Ron over his uneaten breakfast when Hermione walked in. As her eyes swept across the room, they met with Harry's for just a moment before she awkwardly tore them away.

"Good morning, Hermione dear," Mrs Weasley said, looking up.

"Morning, Mrs Weasley," Hermione smiled and sat beside Ron at the table. Mrs Weasley poured her a cup of tea and said; "Are you nearly ready to go shopping? We're getting everyone's school things today, and you can stay until it's time to go back to school, so I hope you've packed." Hermione's heart leapt. Diagon Alley! She couldn't wait to go shopping with the birthday money her parents had given her this year. She grinned at Ron and then at Harry, who grinned back, all awkwardness forgotten.

"We'll be going by floo." Mrs Weasley added. Harry didn't look happy anymore. He looked sick.