Harry stepped through the door and into pitch black. The door slammed behind him, and instinct kicked in. He crouched down and spun around, grabbing behind him for a person. No one was there, so he pressed himself against the wall, holding himself completely still. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he listened intently for any sound. A noise to his left, like cellophane being torn off the roll, and he was there. His arms wrapped around a body, automatically going around a neck and waist, lifting the person off the floor.
The person struggled against him, but he just tightened his arm around their neck and they stopped. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Let me go!" the person protested. "Not until you tell me what the hell you're doing here." Harry said. "For heaven's sake, Harry, put me down!" startled at hearing his name, his arms loosened for a second, and the person twisted out of his hold and dropped to the floor. He reached for the person again, but was hit with a blow to his temple and fell back into a piece of furniture. A voice cried out "Gesehen!" and the room lit up. He found himself facing none other than Hermione Granger. (AN-Couldn't see that one coming, now could you?)
She stood there, breathing heavily from the fight, her hair up in a messy bun, muggle clothes disarranged, and her wand pointed at his chest. He stood there, staring at her. "Hermione?" She took a deep breath and put down her wand. "Well, it's good to see you still have some of your training left." He stood up, and looked her over again. She was taller, and looked too skinny. Her cheeks were pinched, and her collarbones stuck out under her t-shirt. Her skin was tinged grey, and the clothing she had on was dirty and obviously old. "Hermione," he said, "What happened to you?"
She looked down at herself, and chuckled. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot the spell was still active." She waved her wand over her head and the haggard, dirty Hermione was replaced. She now looked healthy and clean. Even her hair was shinier. She smiled and explained, "I just came back from an assignment at a homeless shelter. They rushed me in here and told me to see if you were still able to defend yourself. You know, test you. Congratulations, you passed." She grinned at him and sat down.
Harry shook his head. "Wait, this was a test? They just shoved me in here and stand back?" Hermione nodded. "This is a very unorthodox branch, Harry. You'll find that out soon enough. We do what we have to." He laughed to himself. "You sound like Ron. All cryptic and mysterious, like some kind of cop on a bad show." He stood up and looked around. "I'm not on camera or anything, am I? Is this some sort of wizard show?" Hermione laughed and assured him, "No, it's real. We have to be a bit melodramatic, it's in the contract." They laughed for a second, and then she straightened up. "But for real, Harry, we brought you here for a reason. We need your help. It's difficult to say why, we don't really understand it ourselves, but it's become clear you could be our biggest help. Ron wasn't lying."
He leaned back against the wall and studied her. After a second, he asked, "What do I have to do? I want to know if it's dangerous." Hermione looked at him, a look on her face as if she were searching for an answer in his eyes. "Ron was right, you have changed. It used to be that you wouldn't care what the situation was, you'd do it just to get into the action." She broke off and scanned his face again, then added, "A lot has happened to you, hasn't it? You're different." Harry looked away, uncomfortable with her laser beam gaze. "Yeah, well, people change. Things happen. You know." She gave him another look, then nodded at him, as if to say she understood.
Harry looked back at her and asked, "Well, what's next?" She stood up and started towards a door, "This way." He walked forward, mumbling to himself, "Down the rabbit hole, Neo." Hermione looked up at him, and he smiled at her. "Know who Neo is?" She just shook her head at him, and led the way out into another hall, this one with purple carpeting. They went past several doors until she stopped at an open one. She turned to him and said," You can stop here and rest a bit, there's food in the cupboard and drinks on the counter. I have to go and tell them about you." She grinned and added as he walked through the door, "Oh, and by the way, Trinity could kick Neo's butt any day!" She could hear him laughing as she went to report.