Chapter 4
Hermione tried to open her eyes but the blinding light intensified her headache. She could hear voices talking softly and recognised them to be Harry, Ron and Dhyana. Raising her hand to shield her eyes from the light, she said in a hoarse whisper, "Can someone turn down the light or something? It's hurting my eyes."
Dhyana quickly got up and closed the curtains while Harry went to get Madam Pomfrey. Ron in the other hand helped Hermione to sit up and got her a glass of water to quench her parched throat. As Hermione was sipping her drink, Harry came back with Madam Pomfrey on tow. She shooed everyone away and pulled the curtain around the bed.
Outside the curtain, Harry and Ron looked tired and pale as the both of them rarely left Hermione's bedside since she collapsed in the Hall at Halloween. Madam Pomfrey had tried to throw them out but the crept back in every time so she just let them stayed there. Dhyana would join them in the day and keep them company. Just then, the partition was pushed back and Madam Pomfrey turned to them and said, "She's still a bit weak but generally alright. I'm keeping her here for a few days for observation." She then went back into her office and did not return.
"How are you feeling Hermione?" Ron asked.
"The headache's gone but I don't understand why I'm in the infirmary?"
"You collapsed in the Great Hall on Halloween," Ron began telling her about the incident.
~ * ~
"Hermione! Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, trying to get the convulsing girl to open her eyes. All of a sudden, she started thrashing about, limbs going in every direction. One of her fists managed to hit Ron's face, breaking his nose and giving him a black eye. Both Harry and Ron tried to hold down her limbs, as she started screaming, "No! Not again! Stop it, stop it! You're hurting her! Oh Gods, NO!"
Harry and Ron had ever seen Hermione so upset and agitated before; and their worry was etched on their faces. A cushion was transfigured into a stretcher and Harry placed her into it and floated her up to the infirmary. Ron had reluctantly placed Hermione in a body bind to prevent her from hitting anyone else on the way up to the infirmary.
When they reached the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey was already waiting and directed them to put her on the bed. She quickly closed the curtains around the bed and did a check up. Fifteen minutes later, she pushed the curtains back, looking very grave.
"How is she?" Ron asked anxiously.
"Let me heal that nose before I tell you about her condition. I don't want you bleeding all over my clean floor," Madam Pomfrey said, pushing Ron into a chair. After fixing his broken nose and giving him a bag of ice to place on his swollen eye, she turned to the Headmistress and said, "She's unconscious and I can't seem to enervate her. From my examination, I gathered that she was over come by a vision, a very bad one at that. I also found that she's protected by old magic from her dagger."
"Hermione carries a dagger around?" Harry asked.
"It appears so. It was strapped to her ankle."
"May I see this dagger?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
Madam Pomfrey picked up the dagger from the bedside table and showed it to the former headmaster. Professor Dumbledore inspected the dagger closely and said, "Interesting. Very interesting."
"What's interesting?" Harry asked, feeling an odd sense of de javu.
"This dagger holds very strong old magics," Dumbledore said, placing the dagger back onto the side table. "I have some things to look into. Please inform me when she wakes up," he continued before leaving the infirmary.
Ron turned to Madam Pomfrey and asked, "Is there anything you can do?
Madam Pomfrey shook her head sadly and said, "I'm sorry my dears. All that we can do now is just to wait for her to wake up on her own."
Harry and Ron looked at each other, grabbed a chair each, and sat on either side of Hermione's bed. "Then we'll just sit here and wait for her to wake up," Ron said, making himself comfortable. Harry conjured up some magazines and tossed one to Ron.
Madam Pomfrey looked like she was going to protest but she just sighed and said, "Alright, just inform me when she wakes up."
Both men nodded and settled back into their seats, waiting for their friend to wake up.
~ * ~
"But I'm not a seer. How can I get visions?" Hermione said, sceptically.
"We don't know Hermione. That's what Madam Pomfrey said. Do you remember any of what you saw?" Ron said.
"I'm sorry, I don't remember anything from the visions that I was supposedly having," she said as she swung her legs off the bed.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked, staring at her legs.
"To the little witch's room, silly."
As she made her way to the bathroom, Ron couldn't tear his eyes away from her legs. He loved the way they move and look, so graceful, creamy and long. He didn't realise that Harry saw him staring at Hermione's legs until he heard Harry say, "Hermione's got a nice pair of legs doesn't she?"
"Yes, I mean No! I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about," Ron said, his face going red.
Harry's smile widened and he continued to tease Ron. "Oh please! I saw you Ronald Weasley. You jaw dropped when she sat on the edge of the bed. I thought your tongue was going to loll out of you pie hole any minute. Why don't you just tell her you like her and ask her out?"
"I don't like her that way," Ron protested.
"Yeah right and I'm the Queen of England."
"What are you guys arguing about?" Hermione asked when she came back from the bathroom.
"Ron likes -" Harry's sentence was cut short by Ron's hand over his mouth.
"Chocolate ice-cream," Ron continued for him, smiling a little too brightly.
Hermione gave her two friends a strange look before she got into bed. She patted the area under her pillow and around her bed as if looking for something, causing Dhyana to ask, "What are you looking for Hermione?"
"My dagger, the one that was strapped to my leg. Have you seen it?"
"It's in here," Dhyana said, pulling the drawer of the side tab out and handing her the dagger. Hermione smiled thankfully at her and placed the dagger under her pillow. She looked up from the bed and found Ron holding Harry in a headlock. She was about to say something to them when the infirmary door opened and Headmistress McGonagall walked in with Dobby on tow, carrying a tray laden with food.
"It's good to see you awake Hermione. As you have not eaten since Halloween, I have sent up a tray for you. I will take over your classes while you rest and recuperate. I also brought a message from Albus who wants me to tell you to come visit him when you feel better. You eat and rest now," the Headmistress said, before leaving.
Dobby placed the tray on the table and launched himself at Harry, latching onto his leg for dear life. Everyone laughed at Harry's predicament, especially when he had to limp out of the infirmary with a house elf on his leg. He came back a few minutes later looking very relieved, causing the rest of them to burst out laughing. Once all of them had calmed down, they sat by Hermione's bed, keeping her company while she ate. Occasionally, they would pinch something off her plate as they filled her in on the going ons at Hogwarts the past two days.
"That was a great lunch," Hermione said, pushing her plate away. She sighed with satisfaction and picked up the Daily Prophet that came with the food tray. She flipped through the pages, scanning the headlines when a story caught her eye. The story had picture of a young woman smiling and waving at her and the headlines read, 'Girl missing for two days, parents worried.' She read the article and the vision she had came rushing back to her.
Ron realised that something was wrong when Hermione went very still and her face was pale when she put the paper down. "What's wrong Hermione?" he asked.
Hermione placed the paper on the bed and with a trembling finger, pointed to the article that shook her. "I think I'm going to be sick," she muttered, rushing to the bathroom.
The men could hear her throwing up her lunch and they looked at each other worriedly. A few minutes later, Hermione stepped out of the bathroom with Dhyana's assistance, still looking very pale. Once she was back in bed, she ran her shaky hands rough her hair and took a deep breath.
"Hermione, tell us what's wrong. You looking very pale," Harry said.
"I think Madam Pomfrey was right. I think I had a vision and I don't think it was the first time," she said quietly.
"What do you mean Hermione?" Ron asked.
"Remember the nightmare I had a few weeks back?" she asked. When everyone nodded, she continued, "I saw the same thing again last night. This time it was the young woman in the paper that was sacrificed." She told them about her vision in as much detail as she could; ending with how the body of the girl was disposed off.
"What do I do now? Would people believe me if I old them what I saw?" she asked her friends.
"Why don't you talk to Professor Dumbledore about it? You're going to visit him right?" Dhyana asked.
"That's a good idea actually. Why don't we go with you? We haven't visited him since we came back," Harry said. Both Hermione and Ron nodded with agreement and Hermione promised to cal them when she was going to go visit the former headmaster.
Madam Pomfrey came in as Hermione yawned. She took Hermione's temperature and looked in her eyes before declaring that Hermione needed her rest. The three professors were shooed out of the infirmary and as the door closed, Ron saw Hermione giving him a small smile. He waved at her and left, smiling the rest of the day.
Hermione was released from the infirmary two days after she woke up and spent the rest of the time in her room, reading her books and listening to her CDs. Ron would keep her company after dinner by playing chess or just talk until late at night. Even though they had known each other since they were eleven but the more time they spent together, the better Ron and Hermione knew each other and Hermione liked what she saw in Ron. Not only does Ron have a good sense of humour, he was no longer the ignorant, silly boy she knew in school. She found Ron to be intelligent and had developed a love for books that could rival Hermione's. The nights that weren't playing chess were spent discussing books that they both had read and sometimes even arguing about it. Hermione found those conversations very stimulating and refreshing and she loved those times.
A week after the Halloween incident, Hermione was getting bored with inactivity. She decided to visit Dumbledore and talk to him about her visions. She had talked to both Harry and Ron and was pleased that they were both free that Saturday, so she sent an owl to the former headmaster early that morning to find out if he was free. The reply owl had come back an hour later saying that he was looking forward to see them soon. After lunch, the three of them informed the Headmistress that they were going to Godric's Cottage, where Albus Dumbledore was staying after his retirement.
They were greeted by Dumbledore himself when they arrived at his cottage at two. He was pleasantly surprised when he was presented with a bag of sherbet lemons, his favourite. They sat taking about non-consequential things and caught up with what the three friends had been up to since their graduation from Hogwarts. They stayed for about three hours before taking their leave. As they were about to leave, Dumbledore told Hermione to wait a few minutes as he had something that would interest her very much. He took a leather bound book from his shelf and handed it too her. She read the title, Ancient Daggers and Their Makers, and smiled.
"I've been meaning to do some research on my dagger. Thank you for the book, sir," she said.
"I think you're going to need it more than I do. It'll help steer you in the right direction," he said with his eyes twinkling mysteriously.
"If you say so sir. Thank you," she said, before leaving, totally forgetting that she waned to talk about her visions.
Harry and Ron were waiting for her outside, brooms ready for the trip back to Hogwarts. Hermione secured her cloak on, got on in front of Ron and tried to get comfortable.
"I still don't understand why you wont let me bring my own broom Harry. I can fly relatively well, after all that training sessions you guys drilled into me during the summers at The Burrow," she said, holding onto the broom tightly as they got ready to take off.
"I just thought that it would be much faster this way," he said, trying to hide his smile. He could see that his two best friends had feelings for each other and he just wanted to push them in the right direction.
Ron made sure that Hermione was secured on the broom and he wrapped his arm around her waist to secure her even more. With a gently kick, they got off the ground and flew back to Hogwarts. It took them fifteen minutes to fly back as the weather was fine and the winds weren't strong. They landed right in front of the front door and made their way back to their tower.
"Why did Dumbledore want to give you?" Ron asked.
"Oh, he just wanted to give me a book on ancient daggers. I've wanted to do some research on my dagger but I haven't had the time. He also said something very cryptic though," she said.
"Really?" Harry said.
"Yeah. He said that the book would steer me in the right direction. I have no idea what it means."
"It's aright. I'm sure that the meaning will make itself known in it's own time," Harry said.
"Yeah I guess so. I'll see you guys at dinner then," she said as she went up to her quarters, thinking that a nice warm shower before dinner would soothe her tired muscles.
After dinner, Hermione went back to her rooms to get started on the book that Dumbledore had given her. She sat on her bed and flipped through the pages, looking at the diagrams. It wasn't until about halfway through the book that she stopped. The page had a diagram of her dagger and a description of it.
Althea, Dagger of Lady of the Lake
This dagger was forged for Morgaine Le Fay, who was the High Priestess of the Goddess of Avalon. She was also known as the Lady of the Lake. The blade's core contains the hair of a unicorn entwined with the hair of a mermaid from the lake surrounding Avalon. This dagger was used in sacrificing offerings to the Goddess as well as a wand. Due to its unique magical core, only the women of the Le Fay family or a very powerful witch can wield it. The dagger was said to pick its Mistress by only revealing itself to the select few. The last known owner of the dagger was Marianne Le Fay, the 37th generation of the Lady of the Lake. After her death, the dagger disappeared and was never found.
"That was interesting. How can I, a muggle-born witch, be chosen to be the new Mistress of a dagger the belonged to the Lady of the Lake? I'll need to do some research on the Le Fay family," she said to herself. She closed the book and placed it on the bedside table. She snuggled into the covers and closed her eyes, still thinking about the dagger as she drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Thanks for al the reviews that I received. This isn't one of my best written chapters but I had scrapped two versions of this chapter before I managed to come up with this one. I hope that you will like it. Please review because I really love hearing what you think about the story.
