Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HP characters and I'm not making money off this story.
Summary: Hermione is having strange dreams; Dreams about the mysterious death of a girl. Soon, Hermione is convinced the girl in her dreams is trying to communicate with someone, but that someone is not Hermione. It's Draco.
Gray clouds hung over the cemetery, choking out the sun. The wind whistled through the trees. White flower petals tumbled in mid-air. A young man stood alone facing a tombstone with his hands in his pockets. The breeze brushed through his white blonde hair scattering it in several directions. The boy didn't seem to care. He stooped down and placed a single white rose next to the slate gray tombstone. He kneeled there for a moment more before kissing the palm of his and placing it against the grave marker. He stayed this way for what seemed like a long time. Then slowly, he stood. He turned away from the tombstone and walked slowly away, his head bent down to his chest. He seemed to fade away into the clouds.
Hermione rubbed her eyes, willing herself to wake up. She was surprised to find them wet with tears. She remembered the dream she had had. It had certainly been one of her weirder dreams. She pulled back the curtains of her four-poster and swung herself out of bed. "Rough night, Hermione?" Parvati asked as Hermione made her way to the bathroom. "Huh?" she replied in confusion. "You look absolutely dreadful," Lavender said with a giggle. Hermione frowned. "You would too, if you stayed up all night studying," she snapped. She really didn't feel like telling Lavender and Parvati the truth. The reason she felt (and presumably looked) so awful was most likely because of her dream, as she had gone to bed quite early.
When Hermione thought back on the dream, she couldn't see what had upset her so much. It was only slightly disturbing if anything at all. It wasn't as if she knew the boy in her dream.
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Hermione arrived at the Gryffindor table, just as hundreds of owls swooped into the Great Hall, bringing their owners the day's mail. She sat down next to her friends. "Hello Ron… Harry." Hermione always took an extra moment to look at Harry to be sure everything seemed well with him, as well as things could be, anyway. "I'm fine Hermione," Harry said with a small smile. Hermione was satisfied with that. She knew that Harry truly was getting better. At the beginning the year, Harry had avoided everyone, no matter how much he needed comfort. Hermione had always heard that you couldn't possibly imagine what it would feel like to lose a loved one until you experience it. Of course, she had lost Sirius too, but he had been Harry's godfather. The closest thing Harry had to a parent had been stolen from him. She couldn't imagine life without her own parents. Now that it was winter, however, Harry had begun to talk more, he began picking up on his studies, and he even cracked a few smiles once and awhile.
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By the end of the day, Hermione felt exhausted. During potions, she had accidentally poured dragon scales into her cauldron instead of crushed eagle talons and had lost Gryffindor forty house points, all because she had dozed off with her head resting on her shoulder. She was determined to stay awake and take notes during History of Magic, but fifteen minutes into class she felt herself nodding off. She glanced around at the classroom. Half the class had their heads down, including Ron, who was snoring lightly. Professor Binns won't notice if one more head goes down, she thought to herself. She looked at Harry. He was busy taking notes on Giant Wars. Harry had actually been paying attention in all his classes, lately. Hermione hoped this change in Harry might encourage Ron to work harder in his classes, but now Ron slept through every class instead of playing games and writing notes to Harry. Hermione decided she'd just take a short nap and copy the notes from Harry later. Hermione laid her head in her arms and quickly fell asleep.
Hermione glanced around. She had been here before. She was in the cemetery with gray clouds hanging over her. She brushed her hair from her face, but the wind was quick to blow back again. But instead of brushing it away she stared past it. She stared at the same boy who had been in her dream. Hermione moved toward him as he knelt on the ground and placed a white rose on a slate gray tombstone. Hermione stood behind him and said, "Excuse me." The boy didn't look up as he kissed his palm and placed it on the tombstone. "I'm sorry to bother you, but do you know where we are?" The boy stood and turned toward her. Hermione gasped. "Malfoy?" she said in disbelief. Malfoy ignored her and walked slowly away, his head bent low. He disappeared into the landscape. Hermione stared after him, debating whether or not to follow. She was about to move in the direction he had gone, but something (curiosity perhaps?) willed her instead, to turn and examine the grave Malfoy had been visiting. She dropped down to her knees and read the tombstone:
Charlotte Dunbar
Loving Sister,
Caring Daughter,
Special Friend.
You will be sorely missed.
Hermione looked at the tombstone sadly. She had never imagined Draco caring about anyone beside himself. Hermione's sadness quickly turned to astonishment. As she stared at the stone the words began to fade away. Then, as if they were being scratched into the tombstone, words began to slowly appear:
Help Me
Draco
Hermione's heart began to beat quickly. "W-what?" she said to herself.
Draco
Alive
Please Help Me
Hermione was now convinced that the tombstone was trying to tell her something. "Draco's alive? I don't understand," she said frantically. Something inside her was telling her that the message she was receiving was important and that her time was running out.
Draco
Me
Alive
Help Me
Draco
Please
As soon as she read the message it began to fade away. "Wait!" Hermione shouted, "I don't understand!" Hermione waited for another message to appear, but none did. She smacked the tombstone with her hand. "Come back! I don't understand!" Even in her dream, Hermione could feel herself waking up. "No, no, please. I don't understand. Wait!"
"Hermione? Hermione, are you okay?" Hermione blinked and sat up. She realized she must have fallen out of her chair because she was now sitting on the ground. Harry, Ron, Professor Binns, and the rest of her classmates were all hovering over her. "I'm fine," she replied to Harry, and then, to herself she said, "I just don't understand." She stood and rubbed her head as the rest of the class went back to their seats. "Well, dear, there really was no need to scream," Professor Binns said. "What do you mean, sir?" Hermione questioned. "You were screaming," Binns replied, "Screaming about not understanding. If you didn't understand, you could have just raised your hand and-" Hermione cut off Binns' monotone voice and asked, "Sir, may I go to the infirmary. I don't feel well." Binns nodded. "Of course, Heather." Hermione grabbed her things and rushed out the door.
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Hermione entered, not the infirmary, but the library five minutes later. "Madam Pince," she said coming up behind the librarian, who was placing books on shelves. "Yes? How can I help you, Ms. Granger?" she asked sharply. "Well, I'm looking for someone, I think. I mean, I think she's dead. I was wondering if you could help me look for someone, who I believe is dead, named Charlotte Dunbar." Madam Pince looked at Hermione suspiciously. "This way, Ms. Granger. I believe you'll want to look at later editions of the Daily Prophet." Madam Pince led her to the back section of the library, towards the reference section where there were several shelves that contained stacks and stacks of old, yellowing newspapers. "There you are Ms. Granger. The newspapers are organized so that the earliest editions are at the top. The most recent are there," she said pointing to the very bottom shelf and walking away briskly. Hermione set her mind in gear, trying to decide which time period to check first. She remembered her dream. Malfoy had seemed the same age as he was now; sixteen. Of course, that could mean nothing as it was a dream, she told herself. But another side of her was telling her that what she had seen was more than a dream.
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Hermione had only been searching for fifteen minutes when she found what she was looking for. She found it in a newspaper that dated back to the past August. It was a short article with a picture of who she supposed must have been Charlotte Dunbar and a dog. The article read:
Charlotte Dunbar's body was found late last night on her parent's front yard. The victim's mother had gone outside because she had heard a strange noise outside her home. Charlotte's Dunbar's body was examined and healers found large amounts of residual dark magic. Her sister Christina Dunbar remains missing (see story in May 28th issue of the DP). Her funeral will be held this Friday at Willow Creek Cemetery.
Hermione looked at the picture. Charlotte Dunbar had been pretty; Long, dark hair and a pretty face. She smiled back at Hermione, petting her dog with one hand, waving at Hermione with the other. Hermione ripped the article and the picture from the newspaper and stuffed the rest back onto the shelf. She pulled out all the newspapers from May. She searched and searched, but could not find the May 28th issue.
"Excuse me, Madam Pince?" she asked the librarian, "Do you know where the May 28th issue of the Daily Prophet is? It's not on the shelves." Madam Pince frowned. "Well, what do you expect?" she snapped. " This is a school library. I can't keep students from stealing old newspapers." Hermione sighed. "Thank you anyway, Madam Pince."
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Hermione was walking down the corridor to the Great Hall for dinner when she heard loud, obnoxious laughing behind her. She turned and to her dismay saw that it was a group of Slytherins. Malfoy was doing a ridiculous impression of… her. She stopped turning to face them with a scowl on her face. Malfoy was closing his eyes, flailing his arms, shouting in a high-pitched voice, "I don't understand! I don't understand." He grinned when he saw her. "Hey Granger. Feeling better?" Hermione continued to scowl at him, but inside was wondering, how did he find out what happened? Malfoy continued to grin at her, "I heard you passed out. Is it true, mudblood?" The Slytherins laughed.
"What's going on here?" Hermione turned around to see Snape standing behind her. He had a thin, twisted smirk on his face. "Not causing trouble, are we Ms. Granger?" Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but Snape said, "Ten points from Gryffindor." Hermione closed her mouth, flustered. She had managed to lose fifty house points today alone. She never lost points, at least not when Harry and Ron weren't around.
Malfoy, Snape, and the other Slytherins made their way past her, on their way to the Great Hall, sneering at her on the way. In a split second decision, Hermione called to Malfoy's retreating back, "Who is Charlotte Dunbar?"
A/N: Hey everyone! Just wanted to thank you for reading and ask you to give me some feedback! I'd really appreciate it!