Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize in the Harry Potter books.
Chapter VI: The Room of MysteriesHermione did as she was told. The problem was what book to read. The bookshelf seemed to contain a variety of pretty interesting books—ones she didn't think could be found in Hogwart's library. 'Well, might as well start looking now,' she thought. She went over to the shelves.
She scanned the books and her eyes fell almost instantly on one entitled "Dragons of Old" and her mind went to the fang on the table. 'Might as well start with this one,' she thought, taking the book gently in her arms. She then went over to the couch and looked for the coziest position.
It wasn't long before she finished reading the book, but to no avail, she didn't find what she was looking for—information regarding the Black Dragons. After a couple or more tries, she gave up and tried to look for another subject to set her mind on. Then she found it. A book that looked exactly like the one she found in the library at Hogwarts, without the silver inscriptions. She reached for it, hoping that somehow it would bring her back to where she was supposed to be. Her heart was beating very fast and a second before her hand touched the book, she closed her eyes and…
Nothing. 'Of course there was nothing, you idiot,' she scolded herself. 'You saw the house-elf touch the book, remember?' Going back to the book that her hand was on, she pulled it from the shelf. "Malfoy Manor: The Founding by: Elmira Malfoy."
"This should be interesting," was the first thing on her mind. "It would be a nice substitute to walking around with Malfoy, and it would be less dangerous."
'But isn't the danger what you were looking for when you asked Draco if you would come with him,' cried a small voice in her head.
'Of course not. Furthermore, I didn't ask him if I could come with him. I just thought that he would take me. And stop calling him Draco. It's weird hearing that name.'
Hermione thought about what she was doing. 'Sheesh. What am I doing talking to myself? At least I wasn't doing it out loud.'
Again, she returned to the book that had lain forgotten on her hand and went back to the couch. When she opened the book she found something that made her heart jump: a picture of a Black Dragon. Serendipity.
"There's something about you if I have to bet my Transfiguration grade on it," she told the crystal ball, which was in front of her. She noticed that the crystal containing the fang fogged up a bit, as if it might have been agreeing with her. Though in an instant, it was gone. She was gawking at it with astonishment.
Hermione was still staring at it when the clouds again started to appear, but this time it was more evident, and it was turning a bit red, which creepily looked somewhat like blood. No matter how surprised she was, Hermione drifted off to sleep.
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Hermione was standing in the middle of a long corridor. It was pitch-dark. The only thing that gave light to the room was the hazy light the quarter moon gave. Somehow, she knew she was still in Malfoy Manor, though she didn't recognize where she was. Just then, she heard footsteps from a bend. She wanted to hide but looking around, she didn't find a door whatsoever. She looked at the place where the person might show up and dreaded being caught. But it was only Draco—his blonde hair glowing in the moonlight and his scowl evident in the darkness.
He was coming closer. Hermione knew he would yell at her for going out of the room. She braced herself for the insults that she knew were coming her way. But he just walked by, like she wasn't even there.
"Hey!" Hermione shouted. He didn't look her way. She ran after him and tried to grab his hand but it just passed through him.
"Am I a ghost?" she asked herself.
Hermione was still walking, looking at her hands and wondering what was happening to her when she realized she had just passed somebody. It was Lucius. Seeing his face brought to her a sense of dread and panic and the tingling feeling she felt from her dream the other night came back to her. She also noticed that Draco had stopped and that he and Lucius were talking. She couldn't hear what they were saying but their reactions were perfectly visible to her. Both were wearing their normal expressions but Hermione could sense that things were heating up between the two.
Finally, Hermione saw Draco open his mouth in a shout and as he did so, Lucius raised his wand. Hermione could distinctly see the word his mouth was forming: Crucio.
She saw him; saw his face screw up in pain, his mouth open to let out a scream of agony and his body curl because of the aches engulfing it. Her heart ached and her breathing became harder. She gasped for breath as she watched Draco turn over in agony. She felt for him. The feeling of pain returned to her threefold but all she could think of was he. She couldn't understand it but she wanted to help him. Suddenly, everything started to blur. She closed her eyes and when she opened it she was back in the room. Draco's room.
Hermione heard a knocking on the door. Her heart jumped with fear but she remembered what Draco said: only house-elves entered the room.
"Master Draco," a high-pitched voice said. "Are you in there?"
Hermione didn't answer.
"Oh my," the house-elf said worriedly. "I need to find Master Draco before Master Lucius does or he'll get into trouble."
Hermione jumped off the couch and opened the door. The house-elf squealed with fright.
"Wwwho are you?" he asked looking at Hermione.
"I'm Hermione. I'm… I'm Draco's… um, friend," Hermione answered nervously. "I'm staying here for a while. You won't tell anybody, would you?"
The house-elf shook his head, his ears flapping.
"Sit down," Hermione continued, motioning to the couch.
The elf shook his head again. "Kilnly is not supposed to sit down, ma'am. No house-elf is supposed to sit down."
'And I thought Malfoy was nice to them,' Hermione thought. "Well, you could come in, right?"
He nodded and entered.
"What were you talking about Mal… Draco getting into trouble?" Hermione quickly asked.
"They're holding a meeting downstairs, ma'am and Master Lucius wants Master Draco to join them."
"You mean a Death Eater meeting?"
The elf shook his head. "Kilnly is not supposed to talk about it, ma'am."
Hermione looked worried. The events in her dream kept flashing back to her. Though she had never been a great fan of foreseeing, she can't shake the feeling that her dream might be one.
"I'm… I'm going out for awhile," she said, not really thinking about what she was talking about.
"Do you need Kilnly to show you around, ma'am?"
"No, just tell me if you found Draco," Hermione answered, somewhat like in a trance. Not listening to what the house-elf was telling her, she walked out of the room.
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Draco saw his room. A house-elf was beside the open door. He entered and searched the room.
"Where is she? Where's Hermione?" Draco demanded. The house-elf could only stutter in reply. "Never mind. Where'd she go?"
The house-elf pointed a shaky finger to the corridor to the left. "I think she went down, sir."
Draco quickly walked to where the house-elf pointed.
"She told me to tell her if I saw you, sir," Kilnly said.
"Never mind that," Draco answered. "We need to find her. There are Death Eaters all over the place, waiting for the meeting to start. Most of them could tell a mudblood from a glance."
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Hermione went down corridor after corridor, staircase after staircase. Unfortunately, she hadn't seen Draco yet but luckily, she hadn't met somebody other than him. She was starting to regret going out of the room. She didn't know where to go and her heart was beating double-time. And even if she wanted to go back, she didn't know how to. She was completely lost.
Her energy gradually coming to an end, she decided to rest for a while. She slumped against a wall, closing her eyes and wishing someone would help her, a house-elf, or even Draco. How she wished she could see Draco again, no matter how odd it may sound.
Deciding to continue her search, she stood up, and as she did so, she heard voices coming her way. And one of them she recognized distinctly, Lucius' voice.
She ran away from the voices but another group was in front of her. She stopped, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, hands reached for her, one covering her mouth to stifle a yell and another encircling her waist to pull her into a room.
The moment she entered, all that was in the room was a blur of color, but after a moment, all these colors formed into shapes, and these shapes into matter, and these into sceneries. She looked at the person who saved her, only to see the grey eyes she had longed to see, pain evident in them and a hint of disappointment. "How could you?" was what she felt they were trying to tell her. She could read it in his eyes.
The room kept changing its sceneries, but if Hermione took the time to notice it, she would have observed one thing in common: dragons. From one that was flying above a manor, visible when it passed the full moon to one that was distantly noticeable in the whorl of snow on a snow-covered mountain, but what she noticed was the sharp pain increasing in her head. She wanted to scream but she knew the Death Eaters were still outside. Her breathing became harder again and everything seemed to blur. Vague pictures kept entering her head. Her knees wobbled and she had to hold on to Draco for support lest she fall, and Draco, in return, held her tightly, as if knowing what she was going through.
"All of you go to the lounge and wait for me there," they heard Lucius tell the other Death Eaters.
The pain was overcoming her. Hermione opened her mouth in a scream, but soft lips met hers. Unnoticed, the pain somewhat started to subside but her surroundings still seemed to haze. Slowly, she started to lose consciousness and as her legs gave way, Draco's strong arms caught her.
Once he was sure Lucius had left, Draco carried Hermione to his room. He knew pulling her in that room was dangerous but it was all he could think of. He left Kilnly to look after her while he went to the lounge. No matter how he hated it, he had to go to the meeting or his father would kill him. Well, not exactly kill but it would be enough reason for him to go into his room and it would get Hermione into trouble. He still hated how the mudblood disobeyed his orders. It cost him so much trouble. He would have to face her tomorrow for the effects of the room would take a long time to ebb.
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After the meeting, Draco returned to his room. As expected, Hermione was still asleep. He told Kilnly to rest then took a short shower. He didn't want to remember it but it kept coming back to his mind. They were talking about it again. Draco wished they wouldn't find it but he knew it wouldn't be long before they did. He sighed and rested his head on his pillows, and drifted off into a deep and dreamless slumber. What he didn't know was that Hermione was doing otherwise. It was as if all the dreams wanted to go into her head all at once.
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