Hermione had woken up after a few prods of Ginny's wand. Apparently, she was late for breakfast - her muscles ached and her head hurt. She had been in the middle of a nightmare about running away from an invisible Dragon who spouted flames and burned all her homework. Ginny had thoughtfully poked her awake in the middle of "No! Not my Charms essay!"
They went down to breakfast.
"-And I have to be alone with them, Poppy." Snape's voice came through from the parlor.
"It's just, what if something goes wrong, Severus? We'll need someone to pull you out!" Madam Pomfrey's voice was near frantic, and Hermione paused to eavesdrop.
"If something does go wrong, Draco will know, and he will come, alright? For this, I have to be alone." Snape removed her from the room with something not so much as force, but with a gentle shove.
"Well, be it upon your head, Severus, if something goes wrong," Pomfrey huffed and left the room. "Off to breakfast, you two." She shoved Ginny and Hermione decidedly less gentle.
They shared significant glances when Madam Pomfrey was out of sight, but did not go back to the makeshift hospital wing.
"G'morning," Harry said glumly from the table. Ron, Harry and Draco all looked incredibly tired - they had probably all stayed awake to make sure they wouldn't get stabbed in the back in their sleep. Hermione sighed - her boys would never change.
"So, get any strategizing done?" She asked in a chipper tone, but only received glares.
Ron piped in, "Oh yes, I've figured out a way to keep myself from getting killed. See, it worked." And he extended his hands for inspection.
Hermione rolled her eyes and sat across from Harry, who was looking even worse on closer inspection. He had a bruise on his left cheek.
"Harry, what's that from?" Ginny asked without tact.
"Noth'n.," he replied, shrugging.
Ron mouthed 'Malfoy' to her and Ginny gasped.
But at that point, the other members of the Order arrived, yawning and stretching in the doorway.
"Where's Sev'rus?" Tonks asked, in the form of a hairy, middle-aged man. Her voice was the same as always though, and it formed a bizarre image. Tonks shut her eyes and screwed up her face in concentration, reverting back to her normal self, "Ahh, Minerva made me do that. 'Parently, she doesn't trust Remus," and she winked at him. Remus just looked down at his plate.
Harry gasped, Ron shouted "Blimey!" and Draco just raised his eyebrows.
Before anybody could question Remus, a terrible, blood-curdling shriek rose from the parlor, where Snape was working on Fred and George. Instantly, the room was in an uproar as several Aurors tried to get up from their seats and rush out of the room. Draco got out first.
Hermione followed to find a room full of people when she got there. She saw Draco leaning over one of the twins' bodies, pressing his hands at his temples. Snape had his fingers over the other twin's temples
"GET OUT, GET OUT! YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!" Fred screamed with his eyes shut tightly. He was curling himself into a ball now, and alternated between moans of agony and girlish screams of terror.
George's body lay prone on the floor, deathly motionless.
"Don't take him! He's mine!" Fred whined, but his eyes were still shut as if he were talking to somebody in his head.
But suddenly, he lay quite still, his muscles suddenly limp though he was still breathing rapidly. Draco had collapsed to the floor, unconscious, but Snape stood up slowly, completely drained.
He looked furious. "Poppy. I thought I told you not to come," he said, with a false calm to his voice.
Pomfrey didn't seem to care, "Severus, but he was I screaming."
Snape put his hands to his own temples and rubbed furiously, "They'll be fine."
With that, he left the parlor and climbed the stairs to his own bedroom, muttering curses under his breath.
Draco woke up slowly, as if fighting it. He extended his hand above his eyes and scrutinized it, as if to make sure that it was his own hand. But he rose as peacefully as one who had just woken up from a nap and even stretched convincingly.
"They'll need a few night's rest, and they're to be kept in separate rooms," he spoke slowly and left the room in Snape's wake.
The entire room was in shocked silence after the two had left. Eventually, Madam Pomfrey took it to herself to rush everybody out of the room to make the twins comfortable, but she kept them far apart, as if they would wake up and latch to each other again.
Hermione spent the rest of the day pondering what had happened, and finally fell asleep - tired, aching, and full of the Dreamless Sleep potion that Ginny had forced on her.
The scent - so tender and small - the scent was beckoning her into a different sort of sleep.
The subtle spice and rose were like small hands, clutching at her, summoning her forward into another landscape. She felt herself lift from her sleep into the Dream where she would meet her lover.
But the landscape, like her previous dream, was filled with dust and smoke. The ground under her bare feet was muddy with a green tinged sludge. The air above her was thick and dark, yet scentless like all her Dreams. But she could feel a strange pull, like a summons to the vast mountain that spouted clumps of lava at short intervals.
On to the mountain then, where perhaps she would find the Dream Visitor.
The walk was tedious. She was shivering in her nightgown, which was now tattered and soiled with the muck under her feet. Her hair was blowing every which way, regardless of the fact that she could feel no wind. Her mistrust hit her then.
This dream was a product of her own imagination. She did not trust the man in her Dreams. He might have betrayed her. Still, her realization of this fact did nothing to dispel the gloom that surrounded her. Resignedly, she climbed the mountain.
It was tedious work, this mountain business. She had climbed for what felt like hours before she reached the top. She would not have recommended it to anybody, and she personally wanted to shoot any mountain climbing enthusiasts by the end of it. A sudden tearing of wind pointed Hermione in the right direction. This was the end of her Dream. Her lover was not here, and she had only just realized that she'd created it all by herself when that tendril of scent came back to her. It was so mysterious, yet somehow comforting. Like her lover.
She turned to where the wind blew and found an entirely different landscape. The sun peered genially over a small meadow that was secluded in a forest of trees. She watched from her mountaintop as birds flew together in their mating ritual.
Hermione turned around to find her own massacre of a landscape disappeared. It was blank, her entire journey. There was no proof of her hours long trek but the tattered mess of her nightgown and the ache in her muscles.
She turned again, resolving to walk down this side of the mountain and find out who the creator of this new Dream was. Hermione certainly couldn't have created it in this foul mood.
As she passed, she noticed several odd and somehow personal objects strewn about. This Dream must have been created a long time ago, developed with time. She found a sleeping dragon waiting for her at the foot of the mountain. It puffed its dreams lazily, waiting for something to happen in the languid way that dragons do. Hermione shifted nervously, trying to find a way around it, before she realized that this was a Dream.
Could she be hurt in a dream? She regarded her muscles wearily - they certainly did ache. Carefully, making sure not to step on any twigs, she inched around its tail, her back pressing desperately against the curtain of trees that refused her any access. Whoever had created this dream had certainly attempted to fortify it against intruders with…sleeping dragons. She thought frantically for a second about accidentally tickling it with her toes. It would not do to tickle a sleeping dragon.
After clearing that obstacle, she walked more carefully, dodging the snakes and small round Remembralls that dogged her path. A Quidditch broom rested silently against a large oak, and she noted it with disdain. Quidditch was really not her game.
But that scent was still beckoning her, calling Hermione into him. Her lover was waiting just on the other side of this door. Door? And certainly a door and part of a stone wall appeared in front of her, as if answering her call. She opened it gingerly, trying with everything she had to be quiet. The mood of this dream had become intense.
"Please, you need to understand!" Draco Malfoy's voice rang clearly through the room she had just entered. It appeared to be the Slytherin common room.
"And if I send you in her place? I will tell you this now, Draco; you are no more favored by your father than a pile of dragon dung. Your mother, at least, will be able to hold her own against him. I won't have you die for nothing!" A crisp, angry voice resounded against the walls.
She looked closer, and saw the back of him. True, finally, it was her lover. The scent enveloped her further in its warmth.
"What - your hair. It's gone all light…" Draco pointed in shock at his hair. "Why do you look like that?"
"It isn't - Oh Dear God!" Her lover turned around in horror and spotted her, leaning conspicuously into a huge marble column and trying to hide herself.
"Hermione!" he said, and his voice was different now, it was exactly how she remembered him. He rushed over to her hiding place and saw what had become of her. "Why are you all muddy? How did you get here?"
Suddenly, Draco was at their side, "Who is she, Severus? I don't want to see people right now, I need to talk to you." And Draco waved his hand at Hermione, obviously trying to dispel a made up person - like the one she had kissed on the lake.
"Severus?" Hermione squeaked. "Severus Snape?"
The man blanched. He was suddenly rigid as a statue. Draco looked shocked, back and forth between Severus and Hermione before realization dawned on him.
"So this is her, is it? This is who you've been talking about?" Draco looked her up and down, "She's not very hygienic, is she?"
Hermione bristled at that comment, but then looked herself over and noted that it did have some merit. She pulled at her hair and felt it matted to her skull. Her face must be so dirty as to be unrecognizable. Draco still stared at her appraisingly. Her lover had a pained expression on his face. But that was Severus Snape with a disguise of grace, beauty and blonde hair. She then realized that her weakest moments had been given to this man. She had kissed him.
"It's - to get her bathed. Draco, would you mind conjuring a bathtub?" Severus seemed to have gained some control over himself.
"No!" Hermione screeched at once. The thought of bathing in someone else's dream sent her swinging back into this pseudo reality. She reeled around and contorted her face with concentration. The only thing she could think of was the singer on the lake, and she felt air against her neck as her hair swept itself up into gleaming curls. She felt the weight of a heavy dress pressing itself against her hips and her corset cinched somehow comfortably against her. When she opened her eyes, she found a full-length mirror suddenly in front of her and her reflection found her to be clean and Baroque. She grimaced at the fanciful layers of cloth, but kept it all the same.
And then she remembered the two men standing just to the left of her.
"It was you!" Hermione and Draco said in unison. Hermione to Severus and Draco to Hermione. This dream was undoubtedly the most shocking she had ever shared.
Hermione stared bewildered at the man who had come to her in her dreams, watching her and supporting her. He still had the appearance of her Dream lover, but that changed quickly. He reverted into something that was half Severus Snape and half what Hermione had imagined him to be. His nose became more prominent, but his hair stayed that curious shade of apple. He was still lean and graceful as a dancer, but he took on a more brooding look. Hermione tried to discern what this man had been trying to accomplish by befriending her.
Draco stood suddenly and began to pace his made up common room.
Hermione said, slowly, "So it was you. You two and the twins."
Severus straightened himself, going into the more comfortable topic, "They were latched to each other, mentally. When Albus separated their bodies, they ran away and stayed together in Fred Weasley's body. I had to separate them again." he said, motioning to Draco, "They were not willing, and it took more effort than I though it would."
She nodded at this information, but it was not at all satisfying. This wasn't what she wanted to know, but with Draco here, she couldn't imagine asking him anything more personal.
"I don't know how to wake up," Hermione said, in her smallest voice. She had come into this dream against her will, and she had the suspicion that she wasn't even in her own body anymore - that her soul was somewhere else.
"Hermione. You are too strong without the skill to control your strength. Draco was much the same when he was younger, but I was able to teach him. Will you allow me?" he asked with his voice somehow strained.
Hermione looked at Draco again, who was glaring at a painting of flying boars.
"Why do I need to know?" Hermione asked, trying to avoid his eyes.
"Albus asked me to teach you," Snape said, "But you need to know for your own safety, and for the Order."
"So I can…I can do what you did for Fred and George?"
"Yes," he looked at her appraisingly.
"I would like to…be useful," she said, still wondering how much help she could be. She extended the private thought to him: I want to talk to you alone.
"I can hear you, you know," Draco said from the couch, "It's my head, after all."
Hermione blushed, surprised at her own ability to send thoughts instead of speak aloud. Snape just smiled at her.
"Draco, you will not leave Grimmauld Place, no matter what your mother chooses to do. I will escort Hermione back to her own body," he said, extending his arm to her.
She muttered a small "Bye" to Draco before taking Snape's arm and leaving. Suddenly, being in this close proximity to her Dream Lover was much more nerve wracking after she'd found out who he was.
When they had left the Dreamed Hogwarts castle, Snape whistled. A whoosh of wind and the sleeping dragon came upon them. Its head was bowed low, allowing them access to its back.
Hermione climbed on apprehensively and shut her eyes after she sat on it's back. It was in a dream, perhaps, but terrifying nonetheless. She clamped her arms around her lover when they took off.
Suddenly, the ground was nothing but a blur of green. They came closer to the mountain and the dragon stopped at the top of it.
"Call another one." Snape whispered to her, and she whistled tentatively.
And a giant flying otter came to greet them. Hermione near laughed aloud when it gamboled in midair and Snape was trying to keep his face straight. They climbed onto it's slippery back and flew down gracelessly into the rapidly brightening landscape. Suddenly, the smoke and ruddiness disappeared and she was greeted with the lake and forest of her previous dream.
"You did that yourself, actually," he said, smiling at her. She liked that smile.
"Er…Professor, I-" Hermione paused, wretched in her insecurity.
"Severus, that is," he said, staring at her unassumingly, "I'm sorry I kept my identity from you."
Hermione nodded, unsure of what to say.
"I was to assess your strength, and Albus' guess was a good one. I suppose you could say I've done the same with Draco-" Hermione coughed and stared at him incredulously, to which he shook his head fervently, "No! Not like that. Albus doesn't know …everything," he finished lamely.
"I see," Hermione managed, trying to school her face into a calm expression, despite the butterflies in her stomach.
Severus tensed and looked in shock at something above her right shoulder, and she turned her eyes to what he was staring at. She found duplicates of Severus and herself snogging quite passionately against a tree. Hermione wondered what was happening for a second, and then realized that the display had been created by her own rampaging subconscious. That was what she wanted, wasn't it?
"Oh shit." Mortified, she turned around and leapt into the air, caught by her flying otter. She exited the dream and landed painfully back into consciousness. Her eyes stung, and she realized that she had been sleeping with her eyes open for too long. She blinked them closed for a second and was relieved to feel them watering up.
She heard a soft laughter from her bedside, and she saw Severus Snape smiling down at her. He patted her hair and smoothed it down before saying softly, "Goodnight, Hermione."
He left the room quietly, without waking Ginny.
Longest chapter I've ever written. Ever. And that, I suppose, is pretty sad, but seriously. That was frustrating. I actually combined two chapters, because they weren't long enough : / Ah well. Tell me what you think - this chapter took the longest to write (nearly a week! Oh my.) and it was undoubtedly the most difficult. And I'm still unsure as to its quality. So yes, please tell me what you think, so I can correct whatever I'm doing wrong.
Thanks oodles to my beta Maria, for giving me advice with my plot, and to Dryad, my new grammar/flow beta! Hopefully, the quality of my work will be better now? yawns I'm so tired though, and not very cogent - so please, help me help myself. Give me reviews o.O
Lurv,
Your Adorably Asian Jenny