Chapter 3:
Double Take
Hogwarts Library
The next couple of days passed like a blur for Rose and soon it was Sunday. Everyone was buzzing about Rose's twin and Hermione's new style.
As Rose walked into the library students' heads turned. Smiles appeared on faces. A chorus of voices rained down on her.
"Hey Rose! Do you know where your sister is?"
"Do you think I could get a date with Amelia?" (This was disturbing because it came from a girl…)
"What are your plans with your sister tonight? Can I come?"
"Rose, your sister is so cool!"
"You guys look so much alike. It's like you are twins or something." (This comment deserved a sarcastic "No, really?" from Rose and Hermione who was walking with her.)
And there were a few remarks for Hermione too.
"Hey sexy!"
"Looking good!"
"Doing anything tonight?"
"Wanna go to next Hogsmeade trip with me?"
And of course there were some cat calls and whistles but Hermione ignored all of these comments.
"So Hermione, you like your new style?" Rose asked her smiling. After all, Hermione was her creation. It was one of the few talents she had; boys, clothing, hair, make-up, nails, and just being a perfect flirt; all the best qualities of a perfect Muggle girl. No wonder her parents hated her.
"Like it? I love it! How can I ever repay you?" Hermione's eyes glitter with joy. In fact, Hermione seemed to shine with bright happiness.
It was kind of sickening to see someone so happy when Rose was felling so miserable. Curse her stupidity for falling for Draco Malfoy. If she hadn't gone with him none of this would ever had happened.
"Actually, you could kill Amelia, kill my parents, kill the Malfoys and do my Divination homework."
"You're joking, right?"
"Of course." Not. "Except about the homework."
"You are so silly! There's an empty table over there. Let's sit there." Hermione pointed to a table that was not quite empty. Two First Year girls sat doing their homework they waited to the last minute to do; their quills working fast and their tongues hanging out of their mouths.
"Awww! Look how cute they are!" Hermione giggled at the two hard at work witches.
"Umm, er, yeah. Very cute." Rose was not paying attention to them. Instead her eyes were on the doorway.
Amelia and Blaise walked in laughing mischievously and "accidentally" knocking someone's books to the floor, just like Blaise and Rose used to do.
Rose sadly looked down and thought to herself, I've been replaced. Now the only person who really likes me is a Mudblood, not that there's anything wrong with Hermione. It's just, I want… No! I wish… No! Don't start! Whishing only makes things worse…
"Rose? I asked you a question." Hermione interrupted her thoughts. "Something wrong?"
"Er, no. What was the question?"
"Do you need help on Divination homework?"
"Sure."
"Ok. It's simple…" Rose stopped listening there. Her eyes averted once more to the doorway. This time no one was there. So she tuned back in to Hermione's gabber.
"Ok, next you need to look up meanings for your dreams…" Hermione didn't look all that interested in helping Rose with her homework, for once.
Why?
"Hermione?" Rose asked.
Startled to be interrupted, Hermione answered, "Yeah?"
"What's eating you? At first you were all happy and now you are all sad. What's up?"
"I was just thinking about Harry. He hasn't been out of the Hospital Wing yet."
"Draco has."
Draco has… Hermione echoed Rose in thought.
"Do you want to go visit him?"
"Draco?"
"No, Harry."
Hermione flashed her a sparkling smile. Her eyes shone like lights and once again, bright happiness glowed in her face. "That would be excellent! Let's go!"
"What about this homework? I haven't started it yet and it's due tomorrow and..."
Rose never got to finish her sentence because Hermione shoved all her papers into one book, grabbed Rose's wrist, and started to flee to the doorway all while Rose was still gathering her papers. She managed to claim some of her things before she was practically dragged out the door by Hermione. All that was left was History of Magic book. Oh well! Who needs it anyway?
Hospital Wing
Hermione and Rose weren't the only one to come to pay a visit to Harry.
Ron was also there doing homework and eating some of Harry's candy. It was hard to see him behind the mountains of sweets and Get Well cards. The only thing visible to the teen girls was his fluffy red hair. It looked like the sympathy treats were on fire.
"Ron! What a shock to see you here! It seems like days since I talked to you." Hermione was ecstatic to see him.
"It has been days…" Ron mumbled. He didn't even look up as he spoke. "I have been really busy with homework and visiting Harry. Haven't seen you here a lot though. How come?"
"I was hanging out with Rose and her evil sister. And getting a new look!" Hermione giggled.
Hearing the words "new look", Ron looked up. His ears turned red. Then he started to choke on a Chocolate Frog he was eating. Bits and pieces of chocolate flew everywhere as he pounded on his chest.
Was Hermione for real? She looked…hot. She looked even better than she did for the Yule Ball back in Fourth Year. Man did she look hot!
"Hermione…what happened? You look, er, great!" Ron's face was beet red now.
Hermione blushed and smiled slightly. "Thanks."
Rose looked at Ron. It was completely obvious that he had a HUGE crush on Hermione. But Hermione seemed oblivious to his fancy.
"So, umm, how's Harry?" Rose asked Ron awkwardly.
"Huh? Oh, just dandy. He just fell asleep again."
"Actually, I tried to fall asleep." Harry's grumpy voice startled the young teens.
"Hey Harry! Glad to know you are doing spiffy. I'll be back in later." Rose said as she walked away from Harry and made her way en route for the Slytherin House.
Slytherin Common Room
"Amelia! We need to talk. Now! Amelia!" Rose yelled as she stormed into the empty common room.
"Why dearest! You are just the person I wanted to see." Amelia said as she appeared from the stairs of the Boy's Dormitories. "I just had a nice chat with that cutie Draco Malfoy. He is, or was, very much interested in you."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Rose's enchanting green eyes met Amelia's venomous green eyes.
"Sweetie Pie, Draco seems to now have taken a fantasy in me. It's quite amusing really. First I take your best friend, leaving you in the charity of a Mudblood."
"Hermione's more than a Mudblood! She's the nicest person I've ever met."
Ignoring Rose's disruption, Amelia continued. "Second, I have stolen your boyfriend. That wasn't that hard. He is such a wishy-washy when it comes to love."
"Draco is a bastard for leaving me in the dungeon! I think I stopped liking him when I heard about that." Rose's face flushed crimson with rage. Oh how she hated Amelia!
"You want to guess my next goal?" Rose stared daggers at her. "No? Well it is an easy guess, but I shall tell you. I plan to..."
Rose never heard what Amelia was about to tell her because Draco came down from the stairs.
"Amelia!" Draco said in a sing-song voice. He wore love struck expression on his face. His eyes looked off to a far away place, almost like her was…
"You put a spell on him! You bitch! Damn you!" Rose spat at her twin.
"Of course. My, such a nasty tongue you have! Oh my, we will just have to fix that." Her voice was full of toxin as she raised her wand.
"I don't want to fight you. Put down your wand!" Rose said cautiously as she raised her own wand.
Amelia laughed and lowered her wand. "You don't have enough guts to fight me. Anyways, I would fight you, but it seems I am going to be late for dinner."
Rose lowered her own wand and looked at her twin once more before going upstairs to the Girl's Dorms.
"Aren't you coming Sugar?" Amelia said in a crackling voice.
Rose stopped mid-step and turned around to face her sister. "No." She started going up again.
She heard Amelia calling Draco pet names as they walked off to the Great Hall.
It's sick! Rose thought. She's treating him like a dog. A pampered toy poodle complete with the freaky hair do and bows.
Rose sighed and got ready for bed. She slipped silently into her bed and pulled the curtains around the bed.
She drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
Gryffindor Girl's Dormitories
An ear-shattering scream shattered the silent night.
Hermione shot up from bed, drenched in sweat. Her breathing came ragged and coarse.
"Hermione? Hermione, was that you?"
"Are you alright?"
"What happened?"
Voices crowded Hermione's thoughts so she simply responded, "I'm fine and nothing's wrong. Go back to sleep."
Her roommates mumbled in response and glided back off to sleep.
Hermione, on the other hand, was terrified from her dream:
Footsteps pounded in the distance. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run to. She was trapped. But still, she kept running. She didn't know where she was going. All that she knew was that she had to get there fast.
The dark corridors, forbidding and yet forthcoming, called to her to come closer. Shadows lurked everywhere. Stone walls leaked with green slime and debris. Rats scurried into cracks and crevices.
She ran until she came to a dead end.
She said out loud, "Oh crude!"
She looked up at the wall looming before her; too high to scale.
The footsteps drew closer as she whirled around to meet her fate.
Fog settled around her; wrapping around her like a blanket. Her sight was disrupted by this mysterious fog.
"Dearly Beloved Sister…Come here... I won't hurt you..." An anomalous voice called through the fog.
The girl gulped for air, but none came. She was swirling in a world of shadowed light. Colors flashed before her.
Suddenly everything went black except a beam of light which focused on a dark figure.
The dark figure came closer and called to her. It stopped short and raised a wand. Slimy words oozed out of its mouth. "Avada Kedava"
A green beam of light shot through the darkness.
The girl blocked it with a counter curse.
The fight was on.
It was a bloody battle
Soon it drew to a close with the girl on the floor, dripping sweat and blood. She was failing and she knew it. She couldn't win this fight. She was done for.
She dropped her wand and completely let go of all senses.
The last thing she saw was a pair of wicked green eyes.
Hermione shivered as she remembered the horror of her dream.
Who was that girl? She asked herself. Why was she running? Who was that dark figure with green eyes?
Hermione racked her brain for an answer.
Suddenly one came to her. She knew who the dream was about.
"Oh shit!" Hermione said out loud.
Charms Classroom
Rose didn't go to breakfast that morning. She didn't go to lunch either. She didn't feel like eating for she had a strange feeling that something was wrong.
Well of course something is wrong! She thought to herself. I have a twin who was created out of me. That's just plain creepy!
She thought of her stupid mistake and sighed. Why had she decided to go on that foolish quest to make a stupid potion!
Because she was just a stupid girl who acted like a Muggle and was hated by her parents and now more than half of Slytherin.
Can my life get any worse?
"Ok class, listen up!" Professor Flitwick's high voice scared half the lethargic class. "I have good news for you all."
The class cheered.
"It is you are going to have a three hundred word essay due tomorrow on what we learned today."
Now the class groaned.
Professor Flitwick walked to his desk and muttered, "Serves them right for not paying any attention in my class!"
Rose was about to lean over to the person sitting next to her and whisper something mean about Professor Flitwick, but stopped midway.
Amelia was sitting next to her smiling her wicked smile.
Of all the people she wanted to see. Oh joy…
"How are you dear sister of mine? Our conversation from last night was disrupted. I thought we could continue it during dinner, but you weren't there. How come?" Her lips twisted into a snarl.
"I wasn't hungry."
"I suppose you weren't hungry at breakfast either. Hmm? Must be pretty hungry."
Rose silently cursed her ever-rumbling stomach.
"Shall we have a nice chat at dinner?"
"No." Rose responded curtly.
"Why ever not?" Her eyes shone with knowledge that she had won the verbal battle between them.
Rose didn't respond to her question.
A bell tolled somewhere in the castle sounding the end of classes for the day.
She gathered up her books and fled from the classroom. She walked straight to the entrance of the Gryffindor Common Room, leaving Amelia and her evil intentions behind.
"Hello dear. So nice to see you again!" The Fat Lady said. The Fat Lady lived in a portrait, which also happened to be the entrance.
"Hi. Have you seen Hermione?" Rose asked. It was kind of weird asking a portrait the whereabouts of someone.
"No I haven't, sorry. But I have seen Ron. He's right behind you."
Rose whirled around to find Ron standing there with his ears slightly pink.
"Hi Ron! Great to see you!" Rose greeted him with more enthusiasm then she had anticipated.
His faced burnt with red. "Er, hi Rose. Haven't talked to you in a while. How've you been?"
"Fine. Have you seen Hermione? I need to talk to her."
"Funny, she needed to talk to you. She was looking for you. She even went by the Slytherin Common Room asking for you. Poor thing. I hope she will make it out alive. Anyway, no I haven't seen her since lunch. Sorry."
"That's ok. Hey wanna help me find her? I could use the company in case my dear sister comes around."
"That, er, would be great."
She dazzled him with a sparkling grin and linked her arm through his.
Now his face was bright red and probably giving off enough heat to warm the room.
Why did he act shy around girls? Curse it!
Together they walked the halls searching for Hermione talking about random things like loofas, peanut butter and wombats.
It never occurred to either one of them that she might be in the library studying. So it was the last place they looked.
And sure enough, there she was, sitting all by herself on the floor with her nose in a book.
"Hiya! We bring news from the outside world!" Rose surprised her and she showed her surprise with a jump.
"Sweet Merlin! You scared me! Oh good, I need to talk to you. Sorry Ron, but could you leave? We need to talk girl-to-girl." Hermione pouted with her bottom lip sticking out slightly.
Ron, clearly think of something way grosser and completely off topic, turned even more red (if that was possible) and nodded.
As soon as he was gone Hermione yanked Rose down on the floor with her.
"Rose, I need to tell you about a dream I had."
"Ok. Was it one where Harry and Ron stalked the isles in a store and sang "On My Own" for Les Miserables? If so, that would scare me too."
"No. I think it was bout well, er, umm, er, you."
"Me? Did I sing "On My Own"? Did I have a good voice?"
"No one sang "On My Own". It would be funny to hear Harry and Ron sing, but that isn't what I need to talk about."
"Oh," Rose said slightly disappointed. She always wanted to be in a musical. She had a stupendous voice; at least her aunt told her she did.
"My dream was about you and you died. I think…"
"How can you think I died? I either did or didn't. Which is it?"
"You died!" Hermione shrieked so loud that afterwards a pall filled the library. All eyes stared at her.
Hermione hid her head under her arm and told Rose of her dream.
When she was done, Hermione burst into tears. "I'm so, so sorry!"
Rose pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair. "Shhh. It's ok." She comforted her as she looked over Hermione's shoulder at the bookcase behind them.
Something was out of order.
Something moved.
Rose did a double take to make sure what she saw was what she was thinking.
Yes it was; a pair of gray eyes.
Dungeons
"My Lady," a clocked figure bowed. "I have just over heard that one of the witches knows something about the plan.
"I would like to hear everything." A female's malicious voice crackled.
"Everything?"
"Yes."
The cloaked person nodded and told his mistress what he heard.
"Do you want the frizzy haired one disposed of?" He asked figuring his dagger.
"No, this could be used to our advantage."
"As you wish My Lady." He bowed again and left.
"I shall be the one to dispose of both of them." She laughed manically and disappeared.
A/N: Spooky! What's going to happen next? You'll just have to wait and see… Yeah! It took me two days to update! Yeah! I have found a solution to my slow updating skills; write during math class. It looks like you're taking notes. Who needs math anyway? Till next time…