Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me. Disclaimer applies to all chapters. Based loosely on the movie The Ninth Gate. If you don't like the devil, I would turn away now, because this story is thick with the guy. Flames will be ignored, as it just makes hell a little bit hotter. Please read and review.
~Silent Cobra
THE NINE GATES OF THE SHADOW KINGDOM
Chapter One: The Book
Hermione Granger scanned the books with her tongue poking out. She was deep in concentration and nothing short of the end of the world would snap her out of it. She was kind of pleased with herself, and kind of horrified.
She had read every single book in the library. What was she to do? She had two weeks of Christmas vacation coming up and she would have no books to read. The indignity of it all!
She continued to scan the books, hoping on would grab her attention. She was sick and tired of Hogwarts, A History as she had read it so many times. She ran her fingers lightly over the leather binding of the books and sighed.
She moved over to the next row of books. It was the last row before the Restricted Section, and she had read all of those too. She soon found herself looking at the last section of the shelf, one shrouded in shadow.
She frowned, she had never noticed it before. She walked over to it and ran her hands over the single book that resided in the shadows. She lifted it from the shadows and stared at it, confused.
It was old; it just had that feeling of age behind it, but its black leather binding was perfect, as if it had just come off the press yesterday. She turned it over and stared at the cover.
A gold inverted pentagram stared back at her. She opened it gently and leafed through the pages. Engravings (pictures) leapt out at her and all the words were in Latin. At least, she thought it was Latin.
"Miss Granger, I'm about to close, please hurry," Madame Pince called back. Hermione snapped the book shut and stared again at its cover. She had the feeling that Pince wouldn't let her check this one out, so she pulled out her wand and touched it briefly.
The book's cover turned into that of Hogwarts, A History. She smiled and walked to the strict librarian and handed her the book. Pince checked it, and handed it back to her. Hermione smiled and walked out.
Hermione walked slowly back to the common room. She stepped in front of the fat lady and looked up.
"Password?"
"Beelzebub," Hermione said. The Fat Lady nodded and the portrait swung open. Hermione climbed in and glanced around. The fire was dancing merrily and the common room was nearly empty. She frowned. What time was it anyway?
The clock next to the fireplace struck midnight. Her mouth dropped open. "How long was I in the library?" she muttered.
She dropped her bag next to the chair and pulled the black book out. She stared at it, stroking it, caressing it. The gold inverted pentagram blazed in the fire light. She held the book up and smiled.
She wanted it, forever. She never wanted to give it back. It called to her.
'C'mon Hermione, you know that some books can be dangerous! Take it back!' A voice, that sounded oddly like Ron's, sounded inside her head. She shook her head.
"No thanks, really, I think I'll keep it," she snapped to the air, "even though this is Latin like I've never seen it before…" she added as an after thought. She stood and grabbed her bag and headed to her dorm.
Harry woke up with an odd burning sensation in his forehead. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to the pain by now, but this was different. Somehow he knew that what he was feeling had nothing to do with Voldemort.
He pressed his hands over his eyes and groaned. It was something…bigger than Voldemort. Something so much worse than him that it could make Voldemort look like the boy next door.
Harry sat up. He kept his hands over his eyes, as if trying to see deep into himself. He saw flashes of something…fire…a star, no, it was upside down…
"AHH!!!" Harry fell out of his bed with a thump. He looked around.
"What the hell, Harry! Do you always have to wake up like that?" Neville groaned from his bed. Harry stood up and brushed his PJ's off shakily.
Something worse than Voldemort…What could be worse than Voldemort?
Harry and Ron walked down the stairs half an hour later. They noticed Hermione sitting at the table, a frown set on her face.
"Hey, Mione, what's up?" Ron asked, sitting down across from her.
"Nothing much, you two slept in late."
"Not really," Harry said, "I had a really…freaky…dream that woke everyone up."
"Really?" Hermione closed the book she was scrolling through and glanced up at him. "About Voldemort?"
Ron winced.
Harry shook his head. "Nope, I only remember flashes of it."
"Well…" Hermione said, staring at him, waiting for him to continue.
"The one thing I really remember is this," he picked up her quill and drew an inverted pentagram on a piece of parchment. Hermione stared, silent.
"Are you sure it was inverted?"
"Yeah, why, does that mean anything?"
"Nothing at all, Harry, Nothing at all."
AN: Sorry the first chapter is so short. Please tell me what you think!