Title: Shrouded in Darkness

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Summary: When Dante's nightmare comes to life, he discovers things about himself, and his past.

Chapter Two: The Meeting

This world of mine is not my own,
To whom it belongs I do not know
Darkness is my only friend
Lurking in the shadows of my soul

My face was warm.

My hand twitched and I was able to movie it slowly from my side to my cheek. When I felt my skin it was warm to the touch, and I traced a gash about an inch long diagonally.

My eyelids were very heavy to lift, each time I raised them a little more, until I could squint.

Sunlight poured in from a large window next to me. A thick blanket was covering my body and I felt like I was on fire. Moving my jaw, I tried to make a sound, but my mouth seemed like it was caked with sand. A small cough escaped my throat and that was all.

I didn't know where I was. It was some sort of an infirmary I was lying in, but how I got there was lost to me. I moved. The pain wasn't terrible, but it was still there. Pulling the covers off of myself, I saw that I wasn't wearing my own clothes. This, however, was not my biggest problem at the moment.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and my bare feet rested on the cold stone. The thought crossed my mind that I might not be able to stand, but I quickly dispersed it.

Two deep breaths and I was ready to go. I stood up quickly. Too quickly. I fell forward, and as I fell, I threw out my arm to catch the table beside my bed, but it wasn't enough.

I crashed to the floor, knocking over the goblet and glass bottle that were on the table. The goblet clanged loudly and rolled under the next bed, while the bottle exploded on the floor.

There were footsteps coming my way, but my head was spinning from the blow it had suffered on the floor. A muffled voice whispered a few words and I began to float, no, levitate, off of the ground. I was set down on the bed. The person moved around me, a nurse dressed in the fashion of Florence circa the 1500s held another goblet, pouring some liquid into it from another glass bottle.

Warm blood trickled down my head from a wound that must have opened in the fall, and as hard as I tried, I could not make a sound. The nurse lifted the goblet to my parted lips and a sweet tasting liquid slid down my throat.

Unable to resist, I slipped back into unconsciousness. I did not dream, there were no nightmares this night.

When I awoke, I felt much better, the stars shed their light on me through the window, and the pain was gone.

"Hello?" I called out softly. My voice was hoarse and the word came out as more of a grunt.

"So you are awake." It was a soft voice, and as its owner moved out of the shadows, a feeling of hatred passed briefly through me.

"You." I said as best I could.

"Yes." Answered the man

His eyes, which normally twinkled, had lost their light.

"Where am I?" My voice was cold and metallic.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I brought you here after I found you in those woods."

"Ah, here we are." Came a cheerful voice, the nurse entered the room, carrying a goblet and another glass bottle. She held the goblet out to me. I didn't take it.

"Not to worry, this potion is only to ensure that your wounds heal properly. We don't want to take any chances, now do we?"

Reluctantly, I reached out and touched the goblet, then, with a steady hand, I took it and drank.

"There we go. Now, we were wondering if you knew how you got here?" She asked. She was cheerful, which was enraging me.

"I was attacked." I said shortly.

"And do you know by what, exactly?" The man asked.

"You know by what." I looked at him and forced myself not to leap up and break the bottle over his head.

"I was attacked," I continued "by a courtier de puissance, a mediatore di alimentazione." I spoke my next words with a slight tremble. "I was attacked by a demon who steals the powers of others." By now, I couldn't keep the waver out of my voice.

"By the same one that killed my family." That insufferable man had sympathy in his eyes.

"You said it would never find me." The words were a whisper.

"I truly am sorry." I knew he was, but it was too difficult to forgive him.

"So, where am I going to go?" I asked, unable to think of anything else.

"You will stay here, of course." His eyes twinkled again.

"And do what? Practice your magic? The Wild would never mix and the High wouldn't be able to compensate."

"We shall worry about that when the time comes. I believe there may be some here who can help you." A small glint in his eyes told me that I would know what he was talking about soon enough.

"It's time to get you sorted."

Twenty minutes later, I stepped into Dumbledore's lavish office. I spared no time examining the objects, and instead settled into the leather armchair across from the headmaster's desk.

Dumbledore removed the ancient hat from its place on the highest shelf and placed it on my head.

"Very unusual, you are." A small voice whispered in my ear. "Smart, hard working, brave. I know the perfect place to put you. But first," The voice became barely audible. "Beware the one who shall seal your fate, for one soul cannot dwell in two bodies forever."

I did not know what this meant, but I was sure it was not good.

"Gryffindor." The hat said unenthusiastically.

"Hermione." Dumbledore called.

The door opened, and a girl around my age with curly brown hair and hazel eyes entered.

"Please show Mr. Gandillion to the tower."

"Yes, professor." Her voice was light and airy.

I stood, said goodbye to the headmaster, and followed the girl from the room.

"I'm Hermione Granger, a fifth year Gryffindor prefect."

"Dante Gandillion." That was all that I said.

"Where are you from?" She asked, pulling back a tapestry to reveal a door that we went through.

"America. Boston, actually."

"Really? I've always wanted to see Boston. Are your parents wizards?"

"They were."

Hermione didn't say anything, but I supposed she guessed the truth. We didn't speak for the rest of the way.

"Here we are, your dorm is up the stairs and to the right—"

I walked off abruptly, cutting her off in mid sentence. When I entered the dorm, I saw that there were five other beds besides an empty one, which I assumed was for me.

I didn't bother to change, even though there were pajamas, and fell into bed immediately. Two seconds after the curtains were drawn, the old, familiar nightmare gripped my slumber.