Disclaimer: You know already. The song (Used to be "A Rumour in St.Petersburg") doesn't belong to me either, I just change some of its lyrics.
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Soon2BeDirector- I will! :)
Chapter 2: Hermy
Hermione lay unconscious on the track as the Death Eaters arrived to her side.
"What are we going to do with her?" asked the older Crabbe to Lucius Malfoy.
"Just throw her somewhere, I don't care about her. She's a Mudblood and Potter's friend." said Lucius and glared at the train. "Darn that Dumbledore, he planned that ride, I knew it! Come on, let's get back to the castle to join the fight. Something tells me that it is going to be a long one."
Crabbe snatched Hermione up by the collar and dragged her away from the tracks.
8 years later......
Ever since the attack on Hogwarts, the place had been abandoned. No one went the castle anymore. All the facilities were old and unused. Rats and cockroaches became permanent residents of the castle. Sometimes things from Hogwarts were stolen from the Knockturn Alley sellers to sell at a high price. The Ministry didn't bother to reopen or renovate the school, since the students and teachers were gone.
Diagon Alley was business as usual. Witches and wizards walking everywhere to buy their stuff. The only things that were different were the Hogwarts items were missing from the stores. There were no Hogwarts robes in Madam Malkin's store and no Hogwarts school books at Flourish and Blotts.
There were no Hogwarts students walking around either. Anything to do with the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry seem to be disappeared in the air.
At least until the last few weeks.
12 year old Charles walked around in his old robes, his shoulder-length brown hair was tied back into a ponytail. His pale, slightly freckled and dirty face was filled with curiosity as he watched the people in Diagon Alley discussing excitedly. He listened carefully to their discussion.
A Man (to his friend):
The magical world is gloomy!
His friend:
The magical world is bleak!
Newspaper Boy outside Daily Prophet Shop:
My skinny legs got frozen standing here all week!
All:
Oh, since the second war our lives have been so grey!
Thank goodness for the gossip that gets us through the day!
Hey!
Have you heard
There's a rumour in the magical world?
Have you heard
What they're saying on the street?
Charles turned to ask someone who might know about the rumour, when the answer flashed right on his face. The newspaper boy had the newspaper that had the headlines:
Missing: One Hogwarts Student
He asked the newspaper boy more about the news. And he replied:
Although Hogwarts did not survive,
One student may be still alive!
Charles:
Huh?
All:
A girl called Hermione Granger!
A man:
Yes please tell me more!
All:
It's a rumour,
A legend,
A mystery!
Something whispered in an alleyway
Or through a crack!
It's a rumour
That's part of our history!
Charles walked past a crystal ball shop and heard the crystal ball seller saying to her customers:
They say that Harry Potter
Will pay a royal sum
All:
To someone who can bring his lover back!
Charles walked past the Eeylops Owl Emporium when a boy jumped out from Knockturn Alley and grabbed him.
"Hey! Jamie!"
18 year old Jamie grinned, showing his yellowish teeth. His dirty blond hair, almost as long as Charles's, was tied back into a ponytail as well. He was wearing robes that looked older than Charles's. He might look handsome if it wasn't for all the dirt on his face.
"Come on, Charles, let's go to Knockturn Alley, we need to talk."
They strolled into Knockturned Alley and there, they noticed a few witches and wizards selling stolen goods at their stalls.
Knockturn Alley Seller 1:
Five Galleons for this thing!
It's the Gryffindor flag, I swear!
Knockturn Alley Seller 2
Hogwarts Official Robes!
Mister, buy the pair!
Knockturn Alley Seller3(holding an old Time-Turner and showing it to Jamie)
I got this from the castle.
It's lined with real gold!
Sellers:
It could be worth a fortune
If it belonged to her!
Jamie brought Charles to a dark, private place of the Alley.
"Come here, here. Now sit down, I have this great idea."
Charles sat down immediately on the dirty floor without protest. Growing up in poverty had made him to get use to it.
Jamie took out a chocolate bar. "Here, eat this first."
Charles stared at the chocolate bar. "How did you get this?"
Jamie shrugged. "How else? I stole it from some rich kid."
Charles narrowed his eyes but took it anyway.
Jamie sat down beside him and took another chocolate bar. He took a bite off his and with his mouth full, he said, "I have a way to make us rich."
Charles swallowed his food. "How?"
"You hear this Hermione Granger business going on right? Well, that lover of hers affords a reward of 10 million Galleons for anyone who finds her!"
Charles nearly choked on his chocolate bar at the amount. He coughed terribly as Jamie slapped his back furiously. "Calm down, calm down........"
Charles, his face red from coughing, calmed down after a while and said, "10 million? Is he nuts?"
Jamie grinned and shook his head. "No, he is just nuts about this Hermione Granger. Look, this is my idea. We will find a girl who looks like Hermione, then Potter will thinks that we have brought the real one and gives us the money!"
Charles just stared with his mouth dropped open.
"I will hold auditions for girls to take the part. The old castle can be the place for auditions. Just think, Charles, no more stale food, no more stolen stuff and no more old clothes!"
"How can we get to this Potter guy?" asked Charles slowly.
"I heard from a guy in the broomstick factory that he lives in Paris. He got transferred to there as an Auror a few months ago and still didn't give up searching for his long lost love. We will have three tickets out of here, one for you, one for me, and one for Hermione Granger!"
Jamie:
It's the rumour,
The legend,
The mystery!
It's the girl Hermione Granger who will help us fly!
You and I friend
Will go down
In history!
We'll find a girl to play the part and teach her what to say,
Dress her up and take her to Paree!
Imagine the reward her dear Harry will pay!
Who else could put it off but you and me?
We'll be rich!
Charles, getting excited about the idea being rich, stood up and joined his friend.
Charles:
We'll be rich!
Jamie:
We'll be out!
Charles:
We'll be out!
Both:
And the magical world will have some more to talk about!
"That's the spirit, boy!" said Jamie, putting his arm around Charles' shoulder. "Now let's go and print advertisements for auditions!"
All:
Shh!
Have you heard?
There's a rumour in the magical world!
Have you heard
What they're saying on the street?
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Have you heard
There's a rumour in the magical world!
Have you heard
A Witch:
Mister, What do you suppose?
All:
A fascinating mystery!
Jamie:
The biggest con in history!
All:
The girl Hermione Granger,
Alive or dead...
A man with an owl:
Who knows, shh!
In a Muggle house somewhere near Diagon Alley, a young woman, Hermy, was scrubbing the floor hard with her scrubbing brush. An old apron was tied around her dress. Her hair was long and tied up under her white maid's cap. Her face was dirtied with dirt and dust.
Wiping the perspiration off her forehead, Hermy signed tiredly and dipped the brush into her bucket of water.
"Stop sighing and do your work!" snapped a fat woman in a pink, tight dress. Her blond hair was pinned up into an elegant twist.
"Yes, Mrs Jones." Hermy muttered and scrubbed another area of the floor.
Mrs Jones sighed in frustration. "I must be blind to take you in, lazy girl!"
Hermy rolled her eyes, here comes the lecturing again.
"I should have left you in the woods years ago! For the past 8 years, I fed you, I clothed you, I gave you a roof over your lazy head. And you never work hard for me, not once!"
Hermy didn't say anything.
"I wish I could send you back from where you came from, but you don't even have a clue about where you came from, how old you are and not even your real name!"
Hermy continued to scrub the floor. She was used to all the scolding and yelling from this woman.
At night, Hermy washed the kitchen utensils before she went up to the attic, where she slept. She went to her tiny room, took off her clothes and looked at herself in the mirror.
The moonlight shone through the window and on her bruises, where she received from the beatings of Mrs Jones. She placed a hand timidly on her new bruise on her shoulder that she got yesterday and winced.
Biting her lip, she opened her cupboard (which was big enough for only one person to hide in) and took out an old and slightly torn gold gown. She smiled at it, closed the cupboard and held the gown in front of her, admiring herself in the mirror. She had that gown on herself 8 years ago, when she was found wandering around in the woods, where Mrs Jones was having a picnic with her friends. Mrs Jones took her in, simply because she needed a new maid. From that day onwards, she worked under her, receiving occasional beatings and scolding for no reason.
Hermy frowned and put the gown down. She sighed, thinking that she would not have such fortune to wear this kind of dress again.
She put on her nightclothes and lay down on her old, small bed. She fidgeted with the necklace around her neck, which she had along with the gown.
The necklace was the only prized possession she had. It had a golden heart with the words, "Together Forever" engraved on it.
"Whoever gave this to me must have loved me." she muttered.
Sometimes she wished that she could get out of this house and searched for her family and friends. But how? She couldn't remember anything about herself before 8 years ago.
Sighing, she turned over and stared at the necklace. "Good night, whoever you are." she whispered, kissing the heart gently and closing her eyes to sleep.
That night, the news about Jamie holding auditions for the part of Hermione Granger spread quickly, soon, women in their 20s came to the old, Hogwarts castle, dying to have the part.
Jamie and Charles sat behind the desk at an old classroom, the tables and chairs were pushed aside, leaving an empty space in front of them for auditions.
"Nice, nice, very nice......." said Jamie slowly as they watched a tall, skinny woman talking endlessly.
Charles looked at the old photograph of Hermione Granger, then looked at the woman in front of them and he sighed. The woman looked nothing like the real person, Hermione had long, brown hair while this woman had short blond hair, and she was far too skinny to be Hermione.
He gave Jamie a no-no look and Jamie said quickly to the woman, "Thank you, thank you, next please!"
He quickly cancelled off the name on his long list with an old quill.
The woman skipped off, and another lady came, she had long blond hair and tall enough to be Hermione.
Charles and Jamie watched as the woman opened her mouth to speak. But they winced as she talked, her voice was far too sharp and high.
Jamie was polite enough to bear a few minutes before he sent her away. "Next please."
Charles watched in boredom at the next few people who came for audition. He could hear Jamie muttering, "Too tall..... too short.....too quiet... too dull....too fat..... doesn't look like Hermione at all....."
"Thank you." he called after a woman and turned to Charles. "We have one more left."
A woman came in and Charles sat up. She had a cape around her shoulders. She had long, brown slightly bushy hair. Her eyes were brown and looked slightly like Hermione. She was also tall enough.
Jamie whispered excitedly to Charles. "She might be the one!"
Charles just nodded.
Jamie cleared his throat. "Thank you for coming."
The woman just smiled.
"First, we have to listen to your voice. May I hear you say 'Harry, it's me, Hermione.' please."
The woman threw off her cape and Charles's eyes widened. She was wearing nothing except mini skirt and tight top.
She battled her eyelashes and said in her deep, sexy voice, "Harry, it's me, Hermione."
She even moved her hips as she spoke.
Charles felt sick and immediately, he buried his face into his hands, too embarrassed to look up.
"Oh brother." said Jamie quietly, cancelling out the last name on the list.
Charles just made a noise in response.
"That's it. Jamie, game over. We have all the girls who want to be Hermione, but none of them is suitable." said Charles in the dark, Slytherin Common Room. "I think we should give it up."
In the Slytherin Common Room, most of the round, greenish lamps were broken; some of them had broken off from their chains and shattered into pieces on the floor. The chairs were old and threatened to be collapse into pieces in any moment. Books were on the floor instead of the book shelf. But comparing to the rest of the places in the castle, the Slytherin common room was good enough for living.
Jamie sat down on the floor and searched through his pockets. "We'll find her, Charles. She's right here somewhere, right under our noses."
He took out something wrapped in parchment. He unwrapped it and revealed four pumpkin tarts. He handed two to Charles. "Here, I got this from the factory."
Charles stared at them. "You skipped your breakfast and lunch again." he said accusingly. "The people at the factory won't be kind to give you 4 pumpkin tarts in one go."
"Well, are you eating them or not?" said Jamie, ignoring his accusation.
Charles was silent before he took them and ate them hungrily.
"Once we got the money, the first thing I'm going to do is buy you a set of new robes. Your robes made you look like a scarecrow." Jamie took a bite from his tart.
"And then, I will buy over this castle and reopen it."
Charles stared at Jamie, his cheeks full with his food.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." said Jamie quickly.
Charles swallowed his tart. "Reopen this place?"
"Yeah, it's a waste to let Hogwarts to be abandoned like that. I have big plans for the future, you know."
"Cool..." was the only word Charles could say.
Jamie stuffed the last piece of the tart into his mouth and wiped his hands against each other, as if he was cleaning them. "Come on, Charles. Let's go to bed."
Charles put the other tart in his pocket and followed his friend to the Slytherin dormitory.
Jamie pulled over a thin blanket, threw off a rat which was on the bed and lay on it. Charles was reading a tattered book that he found in the library under the moonlight which shone through the dormitory's high windows.
"Charles, go to bed. We need to find for people for auditions again tomorrow." said Jamie patiently.
Charles put the book obediently and came to the bed beside Jamie's. He climbed onto it and covered himself with the blanket.
"Good night, Jamie."
"Night, Charles."