She sat looking at her parent's tombs for a while before picking up her
bags and leaving the cemetery, as she walked home she started to feel more
and more exhausted. Thinking that it must emotional tiredness due to her
discovery that day of the letter from her mother she wasn't that worried
about it, but as soon as she got home she popped her head round the kitchen
door and called out,
"Giles I'm not feeling too great so I'm going to go to bed now ok?"
Not getting any answer she walked upstairs and collapsed onto her bed, not bothering to get undressed or even climb under the covers. Not waking up once throughout the course of the night.
The next morning she woke up, and it was early she could tell that. The brittle lights signalling the dawn of a new day were just breaking over the houses and there were still a couple of phantom stars shinning in the sky.
She rolled over in her bed and was shocked to find another body in her bed; there hadn't been anyone there when she fell asleep so where the hell had they come from?
She sat up in bed and looked round the room making sure that it wasn't a mistake on her part, that it was in fact her room and she hadn't wondered into someone else's by mistake. Man that would have been embarrassing.
Her eyes had to adjust to the darkness before she was properly able to look around at the room, the shape of it was the same as her room but the contents of it were so different she was shocked. It looked like no room she had ever seen, At least not in the council headquarters.
It was a large room, bigger than she had ever needed really with a large desk at one end of the room, which took up a whole walls worth of space. Next to the desk there were several floor to ceiling bookcases which were filled with her texts from her time at hogwarts, research books for the council and her own personal collection of fiction. These were still there but there were more books then there should have been, they were all balanced hap- hazardly on the shelves. Most looking like they would fall out at any time.
There was an old couch with clothes thrown all over it, posters on the wall of bands that Hope had never even heard of, the wallpaper which had covered the walls of her room, a royal blue colour. Had been replaced with a grotty cream coloured roll, which were curling at the corners and hanging limp off the walls looking very aged and the worse for ware.
On her bedside table there photo's and these still remained but they were different. Some had stayed the same like the ones of Faith and Giles but there were others in the pictures. People she didn't know, children grown up's and babies who she had never ever seen before. And the most shocking of all was the one in the centre which had been of her mother holding her when she was a baby on her father sitting with his arm around them both, had been replace with a far more recent one of her mother looking aged and ill smiling weakly, at the camera with her arms round Hope and two children who she had never seen before sitting on her fathers lap.
She turned to look at the person who was lying in the bed next to her and as they turned over, she was able to see her face and she realised that it was the girl from the picture who had been sitting on her fathers lap.
She crawled out of bed not wanting to wake the girl up and unsure about what was happening, she went over to the couch and pulled some clothes out of the bundle that she automatically knew were hers, a pale denim pair of Jeans and an aqua marine ¾ length t-shirt. And left the room walking in the direction of the bathroom.
She was shocked by what she saw o the house as she walked down the long hall way towards the bathroom, it had never been the most well kept house in the world, but it had always been well presented and neat, with the paint and wallpaper being changed or touched up once every couple of years. But the general feel of this house was age and decay. She didn't understand what was going on and she wasn't sure whether she wanted to fine out either.
Stepping out of the shower she pulled an extra large towel round her dripping body and quickly dried not wanting to catch a chill. She dressed at an equally quick pace. And placing the towel where she had found it started on a slow decent down stairs.
This was a nightmare she had decided while she was in the shower. There was no over explanation and so she had decided to play along with whatever happened until she chanced to wake up all alone in her own bed with sunlight pooling through the window and Faith standing the over side of her door issuing death threats until she crawled out of bed.
Her first stop when she got downstairs was the kitchen, same as normal. She was starving and her stomach was really aching after some pancakes or bacon. Whichever was on offer that morning.
As she entered the kitchen she stood dumbfounded staring at the scene in front of her. There sitting at the kitchen table was her mum casually drinking a cup of coffee and skimming the pages of the Daily Prophet, and standing staring out at the window was her father, he was exactly as she remembered him from that night all those years ago, except for his hair which had started to get a grey tinge to it.
She stood transfixed staring at her parents; both had turned and were staring at her now wondering what the hell was going on. It was Hermione who reacted first, she stood up and walked over to Hope waving her hand in front of her face trying to draw her out of whatever place she had run to, she did not expect her eighteen year old daughter to practically throw herself into her arms and start crying passionately into her shoulder.
Hermione stood there in shook for a second supporting Hope in her arms and watching shocked as the tears continued to fall down her daughter's cheeks. The second Hope had launched herself at Hermione Xander had moved forward sensing that something was wrong.
He stared at his wife and the two of them held a psychic conference through their eyes, trying to guess what could be the matter with her. No one had died recently which was a gift in itself since the Dark lord was still living it large in the wizarding community with hundreds of demonic cults and powerful Vamp's included in his entourage.
Hope couldn't believe it, her mother.... Mum was standing here holding as she cried, her mother... it was real it had to be real, pain like this couldn't be felt in a dream, it just couldn't
She stopped as hard and hiccupped as she said
"Mum...?"
Hermione looked down at her daughter and said
"What's wrong Hopie?"
"I'm just... so happy... to see you... you were...."
She started crying again and Hermione pulled her closer to her, the tears her daughter was crying causing her physical pain.
"What is it baby, did you have a bad dream?"
Hope looked up again and said
"You... You were dead."
Whatever she had been expecting, this had not been it.
She started back suddenly but Xander was there to support her and his daughter as they both leaned on him in shock.
"Giles I'm not feeling too great so I'm going to go to bed now ok?"
Not getting any answer she walked upstairs and collapsed onto her bed, not bothering to get undressed or even climb under the covers. Not waking up once throughout the course of the night.
The next morning she woke up, and it was early she could tell that. The brittle lights signalling the dawn of a new day were just breaking over the houses and there were still a couple of phantom stars shinning in the sky.
She rolled over in her bed and was shocked to find another body in her bed; there hadn't been anyone there when she fell asleep so where the hell had they come from?
She sat up in bed and looked round the room making sure that it wasn't a mistake on her part, that it was in fact her room and she hadn't wondered into someone else's by mistake. Man that would have been embarrassing.
Her eyes had to adjust to the darkness before she was properly able to look around at the room, the shape of it was the same as her room but the contents of it were so different she was shocked. It looked like no room she had ever seen, At least not in the council headquarters.
It was a large room, bigger than she had ever needed really with a large desk at one end of the room, which took up a whole walls worth of space. Next to the desk there were several floor to ceiling bookcases which were filled with her texts from her time at hogwarts, research books for the council and her own personal collection of fiction. These were still there but there were more books then there should have been, they were all balanced hap- hazardly on the shelves. Most looking like they would fall out at any time.
There was an old couch with clothes thrown all over it, posters on the wall of bands that Hope had never even heard of, the wallpaper which had covered the walls of her room, a royal blue colour. Had been replaced with a grotty cream coloured roll, which were curling at the corners and hanging limp off the walls looking very aged and the worse for ware.
On her bedside table there photo's and these still remained but they were different. Some had stayed the same like the ones of Faith and Giles but there were others in the pictures. People she didn't know, children grown up's and babies who she had never ever seen before. And the most shocking of all was the one in the centre which had been of her mother holding her when she was a baby on her father sitting with his arm around them both, had been replace with a far more recent one of her mother looking aged and ill smiling weakly, at the camera with her arms round Hope and two children who she had never seen before sitting on her fathers lap.
She turned to look at the person who was lying in the bed next to her and as they turned over, she was able to see her face and she realised that it was the girl from the picture who had been sitting on her fathers lap.
She crawled out of bed not wanting to wake the girl up and unsure about what was happening, she went over to the couch and pulled some clothes out of the bundle that she automatically knew were hers, a pale denim pair of Jeans and an aqua marine ¾ length t-shirt. And left the room walking in the direction of the bathroom.
She was shocked by what she saw o the house as she walked down the long hall way towards the bathroom, it had never been the most well kept house in the world, but it had always been well presented and neat, with the paint and wallpaper being changed or touched up once every couple of years. But the general feel of this house was age and decay. She didn't understand what was going on and she wasn't sure whether she wanted to fine out either.
Stepping out of the shower she pulled an extra large towel round her dripping body and quickly dried not wanting to catch a chill. She dressed at an equally quick pace. And placing the towel where she had found it started on a slow decent down stairs.
This was a nightmare she had decided while she was in the shower. There was no over explanation and so she had decided to play along with whatever happened until she chanced to wake up all alone in her own bed with sunlight pooling through the window and Faith standing the over side of her door issuing death threats until she crawled out of bed.
Her first stop when she got downstairs was the kitchen, same as normal. She was starving and her stomach was really aching after some pancakes or bacon. Whichever was on offer that morning.
As she entered the kitchen she stood dumbfounded staring at the scene in front of her. There sitting at the kitchen table was her mum casually drinking a cup of coffee and skimming the pages of the Daily Prophet, and standing staring out at the window was her father, he was exactly as she remembered him from that night all those years ago, except for his hair which had started to get a grey tinge to it.
She stood transfixed staring at her parents; both had turned and were staring at her now wondering what the hell was going on. It was Hermione who reacted first, she stood up and walked over to Hope waving her hand in front of her face trying to draw her out of whatever place she had run to, she did not expect her eighteen year old daughter to practically throw herself into her arms and start crying passionately into her shoulder.
Hermione stood there in shook for a second supporting Hope in her arms and watching shocked as the tears continued to fall down her daughter's cheeks. The second Hope had launched herself at Hermione Xander had moved forward sensing that something was wrong.
He stared at his wife and the two of them held a psychic conference through their eyes, trying to guess what could be the matter with her. No one had died recently which was a gift in itself since the Dark lord was still living it large in the wizarding community with hundreds of demonic cults and powerful Vamp's included in his entourage.
Hope couldn't believe it, her mother.... Mum was standing here holding as she cried, her mother... it was real it had to be real, pain like this couldn't be felt in a dream, it just couldn't
She stopped as hard and hiccupped as she said
"Mum...?"
Hermione looked down at her daughter and said
"What's wrong Hopie?"
"I'm just... so happy... to see you... you were...."
She started crying again and Hermione pulled her closer to her, the tears her daughter was crying causing her physical pain.
"What is it baby, did you have a bad dream?"
Hope looked up again and said
"You... You were dead."
Whatever she had been expecting, this had not been it.
She started back suddenly but Xander was there to support her and his daughter as they both leaned on him in shock.