Chapter 25
Hermione couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, and wanted to run in circles around the room, but she knew that it would wake up Draco. And he was so grumpy if he didn't get enough sleep.
She wanted to open the window, but after what had happened with the Fury, she was reluctant to tempt fate. Instead, she lay down again, and closed her eyes, burying her head into the pillow. The circulation spell was working well, and slowly, she drifted into the Otherworld.
Someone was calling her name, insistently.
"What?" she replied to the voice. "What do you want?" She looked around her surroundings. She was in some sort of forest. Pine needles crinkled beneath her feet, light streamed through the trees, dappling the forest floor beneath her feet.
"It's me," someone said. She turned around to find Pandora standing in the shadow of a huge tree. She smiled mysteriously.
"Hello, Pandora," Hermione said. "What are you doing here?"
"The goddess approaches," Pandora said slowly, pointing over Hermione's shoulder. Hermione turned around and found Persephone sitting on a fallen log, watching her with wide blue eyes.
"Greetings Hermione, Pandora," Persephone said, locking eyes with them both. Pandora appeared at Hermione's side, and they both watched Persephone, in awe of her.
"I have called you here," Persephone said, motioning to the forest. "Do either of you recognize it?"
They both answered negative.
"This is the Enchanted Forest," Persephone said with a sweet smile. "Here, the Scarred Ones shall battle with the Dark Lord."
"Who are the Scarred Ones?" Hermione asked. "Draco and Harry?"
Persephone smiled. "Not just Draco and Harry. Many others."
"Who?"
"You shall see," she replied. "But you must prepare for the battle. You both must find yourselves. Find your souls."
"But they aren't missing," Pandora insisted.
Persephone's smile faded. "But they are, little one," she said. "You and Hermione have a foot in my world, and a foot in the world of your birth."
"Persephone," Pandora said suddenly. "What are we going to do? I don't want to fight Voldemort."
"But you both must," Persephone said gently.
"Do you have any advice for us?" Hermione asked.
"I have another prophecy," Persephone said.
"Tell us," Pandora said eagerly.
"When the boy with a thousand lives, the man of the serpent's bite, the girl with the gift of sight, the one who brings life from the dirt, a woman with no hope, and true love unite, only then shall the fortress of darkness fall, and truth shall spring from death."
Hermione awoke with a start.
"Thousand lives? Serpent's bite?" Hermione said, frustrated. "Why does she speak in riddles? No one can have a thousand lives. Life from dirt? What is that supposed to mean?"
She grabbed a piece of paper, and wrote down the prophecy. She threw the quill and parchment back onto the table, and collapsed back on the bed.
The next morning, Hermione stumbled down the stair, her eyes still blurry with sleep.
There were voices from the kitchen. She pushed the door open to find Sirius, Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, and Pandora all standing around the table. It was strange to see Pandora dressed in normal civilian clothing, although she had lost none of her beauty.
"Hello Hermione," Pandora said, waving slightly. "Nice to see you again. Did you write down what she said? I forgot to."
"Yes, I did," Hermione said, remembering her dream. "You were there, weren't you? I was kind of hoping it was simply a very potent dream."
"Nope," Pandora
replied cheerfully. "It's the end of the world. No one can have a
thousand lives, and certainly no one would be running around with a
serpent's bite. If I didn't know Persephone that well, I would
say she's insane."
"You two know each other already?"
Sirius said, surprised.
"Yeah," Hermione said with a smile. "We met yesterday."
Dumbledore smiled, bid them all goodbye, and then vanished with a sharp crack.
"Well, come on Pandora," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully. "Let's get you to you room."
After Mrs. Weasley and Pandora left, Sirius turned to Hermione.
"Do you know much about Pandora?" Sirius asked, his voice stricter than Hermione would have liked.
"I know a fair bit about her," Hermione replied innocently. "Why?"
"Well, I find it very strange that you and Draco were inquiring after Natalya Malfoy, and then suddenly, her daughter appears on our doorstep," Sirius snapped. "And I warned you to stay away from that family, didn't I?"
"Yes," Hermione replied, hiding her emotions.
"Why do I think that you had something to do with this?" Sirius said, motioning for her to sit. She sat, and he continued pacing.
"We didn't have much to do about it," Hermione said with a shrug. "We traced her here, and then Professor Dumbledore introduced us. That was all there was to it."
"I'm sure," Sirius replied scornfully. "Hermione, this is ridiculous. Pandora has no idea that she's related to Draco-"
"Oh, I don't?" Pandora asked icily from the doorway. "Sirius Black, you have a bad habit of assuming things. I know very well that Draco is my half-brother. I know all about my family, and I'd appreciate if you didn't go around telling everyone that I'm an ignorant little girl who can't take care of herself."
Hermione grinned at Pandora as she took a seat at the kitchen table. Sirius was completely flabbergasted.
"I'm very sorry," he finally managed to choke out.
"Apology accepted," Pandora replied haughtily, winking at Hermione. "Just don't do it again."
"Of course," Sirius replied sullenly, and he headed over to the fireplace to start making breakfast. "Won't happen again, my lady."
Pandora grinned. "No need to get all formal, everything's forgiven."
Sirius gave Hermione an askance look, as if he thought she was completely mad.
Pandora intercepted the look, and began laughing.
"You think I'm mad, don't you?" she asked.
Sirius looked as if he was about to lie, and then suddenly thought better of it. "I think you're stark raving mad," he replied recklessly. "And you'd better not set the house on fire."
"If you think I'm mad," Pandora said mirthfully. "You should meet my brother, he's insane!"
"Draco?" Sirius said, looking up from the eggs he was frying.
"No, Lucius," Pandora replied, absorbed in the table now.
Sirius glanced over at Hermione, now looking concerned. Suddenly, Pandora jumped to her feet, and ran out of the room, laughing as if something extraordinarily funny had just happened.
"Has she ever even met Luc?" Sirius asked.
"No," Hermione replied. "She hasn't."
A/N: You may think Pan's mad now, but she hasn't even gotten started! But don't worry, she's not really insane. She's just a bit eccentric!
Thanks to all who reviewed!
