I Cannot Tell A Lie

~* Alright, here's the next chapter for this fiction, I hope you all like it. *~

Chapter 11 ~ A Hallucination

Dumbledore followed the three students back to Azkaban, glancing around the lobby. He noticed that there was no blood anywhere. Dumbledore frowned at the boys.

'What is the meaning of this? You said that there was blood, and that Lillian was dead,' Dumbledore said, getting annoyed that his time was being wasted. The three boys goggled.

'I swear Professor, Lillian was dead, and there was blood splattered all around, and Hermione's gone!' Ron yelled.

'It's true, Hermione is gone, and Lillian is dead, even go check Hermione's cell,' Draco said. Harry wandered over to the reception desks and looked around. There was no signs of blood, and Lillian's body had been removed.

'I don't understand,' Harry said blankly. 'Lillian's body was right here -' He pointed '- and there was blood splattered everywhere!'

'Yeah, Professor, it's all true,' Ron urged. Dumbledore creased his brow.

'Let us go and check Miss Granger's cell,' He said cautiously, walking through the white doors into the damp hallway. The three boys followed him eagerly, each wanting to know if Hermione was back in her cell.

When they reached Hermione's cell, Harry, Ron and Draco each gasped. Hermione was back in her cell, like nothing had happened. When she saw them with Dumbledore, she smiled.

'Have you come to sign my release papers, Professor?' Hermione asked politely. Dumbledore frowned at the three boys, but he reluctantly nodded towards Hermione, who smiled.

~***~

Hermione had returned to Hogwarts, and things were slowly starting to slip back into the normal routine. However, there was the small issue that Harry, Ron and Draco knew what they had seen. They were one hundred percent positive that they had all seen the same thing, the splatters of blood in the lobby, Lillian dead, Hermione gone and the blood in her cell.

Dumbledore didn't believe them, of course. He simply thought it was a ploy to get him to Azkaban to sign Hermione's release papers.

'Hermione,' Harry said, 'Do you remember what happened after Ron, Malfoy and myself left your cell to get Dumbledore?'

'Yes, I waited patiently in my cell, and you returned with Dumbledore a while later,' Hermione said.

'So, you didn't see us come back?' Ron asked, catching on. Hermione looked confused.

'No, you didn't come back before you came with Dumbledore, did you?' She asked.

'No, we didn't,' Harry said. 'We have to go and talk to Malfoy, we'll be back a bit later,' Harry said, grabbing Ron's arm and dragging him out of the common room.

'What was that all about? Why doesn't she remember us coming back?' Ron asked.

'That's because she wasn't there when we went back, remember?' Harry said.

'Yes, but then, oh it's all confusing! What happened?' Ron whined.

'I don't know, but I have a feeling someone planted a chip in our sub-consciousness or something like that,'

'You mean like an alien probe?' Ron asked, his eyes bulging.

'Well, not that extreme, but I have a good feeling Voldemort has something to do with this,' Ron cringed at the name.

'What makes you think that?' Ron asked.

'Well, we all had the same memory of Lillian dead, Hermione gone and all the blood, maybe that scene was planted in our heads?' Harry explained. Ron frowned.

'That doesn't make any sense, how could someone get that close to plant a memory in our heads?'

'I don't know, but we need to talk to Malfoy,' Harry said, as they reached the Slytherin common room entrance.

'We don't know the password,' Ron stated the obvious.

'Thanks for letting me know, Ron,' Harry said sarcastically.

'I was just saying… anyway, how do you expect we'll get inside?' Ron said.

'Someone's bound to come out eventually, we'll just say that we need to talk to Malfoy,' Harry said.

'Like a Slytherin's going to obey us,' Ron snorted.

'Fair statement,' Harry agreed.

'So now how do we talk to Malfoy?'

'He'll come out sooner or later, then we'll talk to him,' Harry replied, and sat down against the wall opposite to the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Ron followed suit.

~***~

Just like Harry had said, Malfoy came out. It was about three hours after they had sat down, and Malfoy glanced at them like they were crazy.

'Potter, Weasley, what are you doing here?' He asked nastily. Both Gryffindors stood up.

'We needed to talk to you,' Harry said. Malfoy sneered.

'The Veritaserum has worn off, and don't you think I'm going to be nice to you now,'

'We don't care, we just want to know that you saw that same thing that we did in Azkaban,' Ron muttered.

'You already know that I saw the same thing you did, so why bother asking?' Draco spat.

'Just had to confirm,' Harry mumbled, and they walked away.

'That was pointless,' Ron said when they were out of earshot.

'I know that, but now Malfoy's going to go back to being a jerk, and act like he doesn't care about Hermione any more,' Harry sighed.

'Such a shame, who cares, let's move on with our lives, things are quite back to normal,' Ron said and began to walk off, but Harry stopped him.

'Things can't be normal when we are all hallucinating, and seeing the same thing!' Harry yelled, he was beginning to get frustrated that he didn't know what was going on.

'Who cares? It's in the past, Hermione is back with us, safe and sound, and good, so get over the hallucination,'

'I don't think I can, I'm going to look into it,' Harry said, and walked off in the direction of the library.

~***~

In a situation like this, he would turn to Hermione for help normally, but Harry couldn't ask Hermione. He had a gut feeling that she was behind their hallucination, and he had to prove it. But how? Ron wouldn't believe him, he thinks that Hermione's back to normal. Harry didn't believe that she was.

So there he was, in the Library, looking for every piece of information he could find. Unfortunately for him, that was nothing. After three hours, it was beginning to get late, and Harry decided that it would be best if he just went and asked Dumbledore.

Five minutes later, Harry stood outside the gargoyle throwing random names of sweets to try and get the gargoyle to stand down.

'Professor Dumbledore,' Harry said when he finally managed to get in the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore placed his book on the table and looked over his half moon specks at Harry.

'Yes, Harry, is there something I can do for you?'

'Actually, Professor, there is,' Harry began. 'I was wondering if you knew anything about having certain scenes placed in someone's mind,' He paused. 'Ron, Malfoy and I all lived the same incident where Lillian was dead, Hermione kidnapped and blood splatters in the lobby and Hermione's cell,'

'That is a tough question, Harry, but simple,' Dumbledore began. 'Yes, that is possible, it's called a Hologram,' Harry smacked himself on the forehead.

'Of course! A hologram! Why didn't I think of that before?'

'That is a much harder question to answer,' Dumbledore smiled.

'Well, who would put a hologram over Azkaban?' Harry asked.

'Who do you think, Harry, tell me, have either you or Ron touched Hermione since she has been back?' Dumbledore asked. Harry frowned in concentration as he tried to think whether he'd touched Hermione.

'No, sir, I don't believe so,' Harry replied.

'Then I suggest you try, go up to her and give her a hug,' Dumbledore said, sounding so final, like the conversation was over.

'Thank you sir,' Harry said, and he left the office.

~***~

Harry burst into the common room, where he saw Ron and Hermione sitting by the fireplace having a conversation. They turned their heads to see Harry run up to them.

'Hi Harry, what's wrong?' Ron asked seeing the look on his friend's face. Harry quickly turned to Hermione.

'Hermione, how are you, it's been ages since I've seen you this happy, I'm so glad,' Harry leaned forward to give Hermione a hug, instead he fell straight through her. Ron's mouth dropped open and his eyes widdened.

'She's a ghost?'

Hermione disappeared into thin air. Harry shook his head.

'No, Ron, she was a hologram,'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

~* How did you all like that chapter? Let me know what you think in a review. *~

~Gryffindor Gal~