Mirror Worlds
Disclaimer: Is my name J.K Rowling? No. So I don't own any of the characters then do I?
Dammit.
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Chapter 3- Haunting Memories
MIRROR WORLD
On and on she ran until she thought that her lungs might burst. The halls were pitch black away from the windows where the lamps had been snuffed out, but in the passages normally lit by the pale moonlight or golden sunlight, a sickly burnt orange glow filled the corridors through the windows from fires being ignited far below.
They had begun to burn the castle.
There was very little time to search for anyone left behind with those fires burning. Voldemort planned to destroy Hogwarts and kill everyone still inside. Hopefully that would be very few if most managed to escape by broomstick from the astronomy tower. Hermione's pace increased as her anxiety grew and she just prayed that Harry was alright and helping the other student's escapes. It had been about four hours since the attack had begun but it seemed like four years. So many of her friends were gone and all she could do was try and help any survivors who had not yet escaped.
She was running too fast to stop in time when she turned a corner, coming face to face with a Death Eater. Hermione collided with the cloaked figure sending her flying backwards and completely dazed on the floor. The Death Eater however, was completely unscathed and greeted her with a smirk.
"Good evening, Miss Granger."
"You!" she hissed, but before she could move to draw her wand, she was swallowed into darkness.
* * *
Hermione felt herself being shaken roughly and moaned a complaint. "Hey come on wake up, you lazy git," an irritating voice said. Annoyed at the rude awakening, she swung out her arm and shoved something over beside where she lay.
"Geez, I guess that's all I get for saving you then," Draco muttered to himself.
As Hermione began to sit up, she asked "What happened?" But before she could continue, she began to cough up large amounts of water. Ignoring her coughing fit, Draco began to explain. "You decided to take a swim it seems," he looked up her expression lit by the sparkling minerals in the cavern walls and decided it would probably be a good idea to be serious judging by the piercing glare she was directing at him.
"At the end of that little tunnel, it opens out into a waterfall and you went face first into the pool below like I did. But I think the force of hitting the water knocked you out and I had to fish you from the water…You look like a drowned rat by the way," he added wryly.
"You don't look so good yourself, Malfoy," Hermione said, wiping the smile from his face.
Looking around later, they saw that the cavern was a lot smaller than the last but there were no stalactites or stalagmites covering the roof or floor.
An hour after they first began their search of the cave, they were cold, damp, tired and very hungry. "We might as well give up," Hermione sighed. "I can't see anyway out of here.
Draco looked down at her dark eyes. They were ringed in shadow- a sign of the past year's pain and exhaustion. Her body was thin and frail as she ate little nowadays and her chestnut hair, falling in waves to the small of her back was dull and lifeless. The Hermione he had known at Hogwarts died the night she lost Ron and Harry, but she was not gone forever because whenever she smiled the Hermione he remembered was there and things didn't seem so bad.
"…and its bloody freezing in this stupid cave," she grumbled. Draco grinned and wrapped his arms around her. "Is that better?" he asked.
It was. Within moments the heat from his body began to warm her cold skin. But she wanted to be warmer, so she pressed her body against his and buried her face in his neck. Draco almost stopped breathing and his face was scarlet from sheer embarrassment. "Um, Hermione?" he asked awkwardly. Hermione stood back slightly looking more than a little anxious. Instead of avoiding the issue, Draco made a choice. He leaned forward and kissed her. For a moment, Hermione froze in disbelief before realizing what Draco already had. Over the past year, their feeling for each other had grown and now it was impossible to hide or ignore. She returned the kiss with equal passion and as the stars wheeled across the sky outside, the two teenagers made their own warmth.
* * *
OUR REALITY
The weather was beautifully warm and sunny in Diagon Alley as Hermione walked slowly through the crowded street. She savoured every sight the Alley had to offer and shed the midnight blue cloak she has wrapped around herself earlier in a fit of shivers. Sometimes it felt as if she had forgotten what it was like to feel warm or hear laughter and on those nights, the nightmares came. But today, those memories were set aside as she gazed into shop windows looking for something that would tempt her into spending the remaining coins in her pocket before meeting Ron and Harry for lunch.
A few minutes later, a tingling sensation began to grow in the back of her skull drawing Hermione's attention from a haughty looking raven perched on a stand in front of the Magical Menagerie and over her shoulder to something across the street. It was a book, but not behind glass in a shop display- instead that tome was in the hands of someone sat at a table outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-cream Parlour.
Hermione started to make her way through the milling crowd, all the while, her eyes fixed in the direction of the book. When she reached the table, she found herself stunned at the title of the strange book, The Magic and Muggle Science Behind Alternate Realities.
She was just about to speak when the reader placed the book down carefully on the table and glared at her. "What do want, Mudblood?"
Hermione had to stop herself from recoiling in disgust, "Malfoy?!"
"Yes, what?" Malfoy spat, still staring at her with obvious contempt.
Bringing her attention back to the book rather than Malfoy, she spoke, "That book, where did you get it?"
"Why should I tell you?" he smirked. "Besides, it was the only one they had."
"Only one?" Hermione was stricken. "Hang on, why would you be reading about alternate realities?" she asked.
"Why would you?"
"I don't know…" Hermione replied suddenly confused, "I just felt like I needed to."
"It was the same with me," Malfoy mumbled.
Hermione's eyes widened at Malfoy's last comment. This whole conversation was becoming very weird and she found herself completely off balance. Malfoy stood up with the book in his hands, scowling at her. "Just forget it, Granger," he snapped.
Hermione stared at him in disbelief as he tuned and strode away down the street. Bloody hell! A voice in her head yelled, I need to get hold of that book.
Whatever it takes.
* * *
Ron and Harry stared at Hermione in shock as she stormed past them in the Leaky Cauldron and upstairs to the rooms they were staying in, ten minutes later. She didn't look at all happy. "What's wrong with her?" Ron asked.
Harry just shrugged. "Come on, let's go see," he suggested. Ron reluctantly agreed as if worried that he might physically get his head bitten off. "Calm down, Ron," Harry said, trying not to laugh, "If she gets scary, you can hide behind me.
Ron became even more anxious as he and Harry stood at the open door to her room. Hermione was busy pacing backwards and forwards, muttering to herself. It wasn't the usual 'about to commit violence' king of anger they were used to. It was closer to 'gone off the deep end'.
"Didn't you want any lunch then, Hermione?" Harry asked cautiously.
Hermione suddenly stopped in her tracks, turning to face the two boys, eyes wide in surprise. It was as if she had been completely oblivious to them before. "Oh, hi guys," she smiled, seeming to snap out of some strange trance. "What did you say, Harry?"
"I asked if you wanted any lunch."
"That sounds like a great idea," she replied vaguely, "It feels as if I haven't eaten in days." And she shivered.
The three of them spent the afternoon talking and laughing at lunch and then shopping for last minute supplies before catching the train back to Hogwarts in the morning. With Ron and Harry, Hermione could forget the terrible nightmares that wouldn't stop and just relax. But she couldn't help but feel that this year was going to change things forever.
The morning of September the first began cool and cloudless, and Hermione savoured the clarity of the air this early in London. As she dressed, preparing to leave for King's Cross with Ron and Harry, she was filled with a sense of wonder at the feelings of warmth and contentment. It's probably because of that dream last night, she thought, but all Hermione could really remember was an enormous sparkling place and the sound of water.
Hermione?
That voice- she remembered someone else was there in the dream. Someone with eyes like molten silver.
Hermione?
That voice was so familiar, yet very different. She remembered hands running through her hair, holding her, caressing her.
Hermione…
"Hermione?" a voice very real called from the other side of her door.
"Just a minute," Hermione replied as she slid her dove grey sweater over her head and had one last look around the room, making sure everything was packed. Daydreaming again, she chided herself, you've got to grow up. Opening the door, she was almost surprised to see Harry standing there and not someone else…
"Are you ok?" he asked her, "You look really tired."
Hermione smiled slightly, "I just haven't been getting much sleep." Harry was just about to say something else when she brushed past him. "Strange dreams," she muttered. And he could only stare in disbelief as she walked away, now oblivious to his presence and singing quietly.
When Ron came out of his room a moment later, he stood beside Harry, trying to find out what had his attention so completely. "What's wrong?"
Harry frowned, "I was talking to her, and she forgot I was here," he said. "It's like she forgot she was here."
Ron looked as confused as Harry, "Who was singing?"
"She was."
He burst into laughter. "And you can still hear?!"
* * *
Hours later on the Hogwarts Express, Hermione sat gazing out of the window at the rolling hills that sped by. Ron and Harry were discussing Quiditch in another compartment and Ginny was catching up with friends, leaving Hermione alone. As time went by, friends came and went and the rolling hills began to rise higher and more steeply. Hermione sat back and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the noise of hundreds of students on the train.
She didn't notice herself slip into oblivion when it came.
Harry! Harry, oh god, come back!
"Hey wake up!"
When Hermione came back to her senses, she opened her eyes and saw Ginny crouched in front of her. Her eyes were wide with fear but she stayed quiet. Hermione looked to her right, and by the door about twenty students were staring at her equally nervous.
"What just happened?!" Ginny asked at last, "The whole train must have heard you screaming." Hermione couldn't reply. She couldn't speak, couldn't think. Memories of the dream still filled her mind.
"Excuse me, excuse me," came a voice from the corridor, "Come on, Colin, get out of the way." The crowd parted and Ron entered the compartment followed by Harry.
"What's wrong?" he asked, "We heard screaming." Hermione was about to answer when another voice cut in.
"It sounded like someone was being tortured." Draco Malfoy drawled. Hermione looked up directly into his eyes and his smirk vanished. It was then that she saw how tired he looked- his eyes were as dark as storm clouds with shadows beneath. Their gazes were locked and nobody spoke.
Finally after what seemed like hours, Malfoy tore his eyes away to glare at Ron and Harry, then turned and shoved his way back through the crowd. Everyone was stunned into silence. Harry walked over to the compartment's door without a word and shut it before their conversation became a spectator sport. He sat down beside Ron opposite Hermione. "What happened in your nightmare?" he asked. Of course he knew she had had a nightmare. He had seen her eyes and her tears after the one she had at the Burrow.
So she told him how he died.