The footsteps came closer, but just as someone turned the knob, Hermione felt that horrible sickening sensation she'd felt in the ballroom and her vision faded into blackness.
When Hermione came to again it was in a large four poster bed. She eyed her surroundings wearily and stepped out of bed. This time she was wearing a finely-made light pink, silk sleeping gown. Hermione stared at the door uncomfortably, she could hear someone coming, but she couldn't move.
The door swung open and in hurried a short woman, in a dark blue dress. She was clearly Hermione's maid, as she poured hot water from a bucket into a basin situated on a small stand. The woman turned and gave Hermione a quick curtsy.
"You don't have to do that" Hermione said and her eyes widened at the discovery of her own voice.
"Lady, pardon me, but you speak nonsense this morning" the maid said shaking her head slowly.
"No, pardon me. I wasn't thinking before I spoke" Hermione said her voice growing stronger.
"That is something I will not mention to Lady Albert, she'd have you doing cross-stitch until you're fingers grow numb" The woman said solemnly, yet her eyes were flashing wickedly.
"Would she really do that" Hermione asked eyeing her fingers, which had never held a needle before.
"Oh she would! 'Dear Mattie, send Miss Catherine down to me, so that I can fully enjoy her company on such a day,' is what she'd say to me" the woman said biting her lip to keep herself from laughing.
Although not too happy about a strict chaperon, if that is what Lady Albert was, Hermione was glad to learn the name of this young woman and what was to be her name in this new world.
"Catherine, is too head strong, no"
"Yes, m'lady, it is so" Mattie said gravely.
"What do other people say of me" Hermione questioned.
"Your dear father is never at home, he is a busy lawyer up-town. Your mother despairs of you, she fears no one will want to marry the out-spoken Caty. Lady Albert, is envious of your status and there is no one else's opinion that matters" Mattie said primly.
"So I have no beau" Hermione asked hoping against hope that she did not.
"Why yes, you do. Remarkably, young Mark Edwards, quite fancies the bloomers off you, if you don't mind me saying so. Why? Have you forgotten him already" Mattie asked mockingly.
"I would like to."
"I know. He is no Jack, but he has the all the money you could ever hope for" Mattie said as she went to a large chest of drawers and pulled out some stockings, bloomers and petticoats.
"Jack" Hermione said the name slowly, feeling it had importance.
"Now don't get all dewy on me. As much as you love his affection, he's no more than a common street urchin" Mattie said shaking her head"Although I will agree with you that he is quite handsome, even in those rags he wears."
"I love Jack?" Hermione asked, but Mattie took it as a statement, rather than the question it was meant to be.
"Yes, yes, we all know" Mattie said pulling Hermione's night gown over her head.
Hermione immediately hugged her arms around herself, in an attempt to hide herself as she stood in an incredible thin shift. She had never felt more vulnerable than at that moment, having never had someone help her to undress before
"Oh, so we're suddenly shy this morning" Mattie teased as she pushed Hermione's arms away and put a corset firmly around her.
"It's cold" Hermione lied and Mattie clicked her tongue.
Hermione stood patiently as Mattie laced up the corset, drawing it tighter and tighter against Hermione's abdomen. Hermione didn't make a sound although she was clenching her teeth tightly together.
Next came the bloomers and then what seemed like a dozen frilly petticoats until, finally, Mattie pulled a crimson velvet dress over her head. She pulled Hermione over to a large mirror, sitting in one corner of the room.
"I hope this dress is to your liking" Mattie said as Hermione stared, round-eyed, at the very expensive-looking gown.
"It's beautiful" She squeaked, running her hand along the smooth skirt.
"Now let's do something with your hair" Mattie said opening a drawer in a small desk and pulling out an evil looking hair brush.
Hermione sat on a wooden stool, while Mattie brushed out her curly tresses. Surprisingly, Mattie was very gentle and Hermione didn't feel any discomfort. Mattie put the brush down and, grabbing Hermione's hair, twisted it into a long coil, which she rolled into a bun and then secured with a dozen hair pins.
"There. All finished," Mattie said and she went to a door off to the right of the one she'd come in through.
She opened it and Hermione realized that it must be a closet. Mattie disappeared inside for a moment, and Hermione could hear her rustling around. She came back out carrying a large and very fancy box. Hermione only had a moment to wonder as to what it was, when Mattie pried off the top and pulled out a large white hat.
Hermione wasn't too thrilled to have the rather heavy thing sitting on her head, but Mattie made sure to secure it to her head with extra long hat pins. Hermione briefly wondered if she would be able to walk out of the door with this large attachment protruding from her head.
Luckily, she found that the hat wasn't as wide as she had presumed it to be. She made it out of the door and into the hall. It was then that she realized she was in a very large and exquisitely decorated house. Whoever had decorated knew what they were doing. Hermione admired the lovely prints of Monet hanging along the landing, the walls were a crisp, creamy orange color which looked wonderful with the black rugs that ran along the dark wooden floor.
Hermione walked carefully towards the staircase in her uncomfortable high-heels. As she descended, Mattie keeping a respectable distance behind her, she didn't feel at all elegant or graceful, instead she felt very clumsy and awkward. Almost as though she were a duck stuffed into a particularly large dress. She nearly tripped on her skirt as she neared the bottom and caught herself by grabbing onto the large oak banister.
She sighed with relief when she heard her heels give a faint click as they hit the marble floor. They seemed to be in the main hall, because there was a large black door, that Hermione assumed led to the outside. Leading off from the main hall were several hallways all leading to places Hermione had never seen before, but would have to pretend she had. Mattie gave her a queer look as Hermione just stood in the middle room looking around as if confused.
"You're to go to the dinning room" Mattie reminded her and Hermione nodded, but continued to look lost.
"Fine, fine. I'll take you there myself, as it seems you've either forgotten the way, or are planning to make a break for outside" Mattie said off-handed.
"Thank you" Hermione breathed and Mattie chuckled at her under her breath.
It was later that same afternoon and Hermione was sitting wearily on the front porch of her new house. She had been put through hell earlier, first with breakfast, where she met Miss Lady Albert, a beast of a woman, if ever Hermione had seen one, and then again during dinner as she was ignored completely and just got to be a spectator while Lady Albert and her own mother, Mary, fawned over Mark Edwards.
Hermione wasn't sure what to make of him. He wasn't entirely unpleasing, nor was he very interesting. He was forgettable Hermione had decided. She had half been expecting it to be Draco walking through her door, and so when she'd seen this rather bland young man she'd been very disappointed. Where was Draco in this? He must have made the jump with her, they were connected somehow. She felt sure of that.
A light breeze tickled her cheek and she smiled faintly, it was so nice to be outside, after a day stuck in that sweltering house. Her many layers of clothing didn't help matters either, so she had been grateful when she had asked to take in some fresh air and Lady Albert had obliged her to come out here. Of course, the older woman made sure that Hermione sat away from the sun, so as not to damage her fair skin.
Hermione hadn't minded though, she didn't want to be baked alive this early in the day. She leaned her back against the back of the rocking chair and wished she wasn't wearing a corset. It was painful and making her breathing so light, she was starting to feel a bit sick. She looked out onto the cobbled street and watched the many carriages passing, she waved once or twice when someone had waved to her, but other than that she hadn't moved in an hour.
A few minutes later a carriage stopped in front of the house. Hermione heard the front door open and she made a great effort to move her head to look at who was exiting the building. An entourage of maids fluttered out of the house, in the middle of them was Hermione's mother and Lady Albert, they were being shaded by a large pink parasol and two maids waved large ornate fans in their direction. Hermione watched as the two older women got into the carriage and left without even a glance in her direction.
Hermione sat some more, her limbs unwilling to move now that they'd been stuck in the same position for so long. The afternoon drew on and the carriages stopped hurrying down the street. It seemed everyone was inside, enjoying ice cold lemonade and polite company. One person was out the street though, a man dressed in a pair of brown trousers, almost too short for him and frayed at the ends. His jackets was likewise ill fitting and his face was dirty and tired looking. But there was a special kind of joy in his eyes, that spoke of hope for something better, and that made all the difference.
Hermione watched as he came walking up, a load of wood in his arms and a goofy grin on his face. Her heart leaped with every step he took and it was all she could do to not jump up from her chair and throw her arms around him, for walking casually towards her was someone very familiar.
"Ronald Weasley, what are you doing here" Hermione said as he stepped onto the porch.
"I came to deliver you're wood, Ma'am" Ron said lightly smiling at her.
Hermione's heart sank at those words, this man who was standing before her was her old friend, and yet he belong to this world as she did not. She could see it in his clear blue eyes, he saw her, but he wasn't seeing her as Hermione.
"Thank you, Ron" Hermione said as he disappeared around the house, to where she only could guess they kept their wood.
After the terrible realization that she couldn't find help in him, Hermione climbed shakily to her feet. She took as deep a breath as her constricting clothes would allow and she walked slowly down the front steps. Down on the street she looked around widely, she didn't recognize anything and she didn't know where she was headed, but she couldn't take sitting on the front porch of a house that she didn't belong in.
Her feet thought for her, and carried her to a small park a few blocks from her house. The neighborhood wasn't as luxurious as the one she lived on and the houses were considerably smaller. She walked into the park and immediately ran into a grubby young man. Hermione nearly didn't recognize him and he certainly didn't recognize her. Hermione grabbed the arm of his jacket as he mumbled an apology and tried to walk away.
"Draco, what has happened to you" Hermione asked as she took in his tattered clothes and dirty face. His hair was so soiled that it looked brown rather than the luminous silvery blond it usually was.
"Catherine Davis, I've waited all day for you" Draco drawled and Hermione looked at him in horror, but she relaxed as she realized he was in the same predicament she had been in before.
Even though he was saying those words, written on his face was something else, frustration mostly. She also remembered mention of Jack, someone who was besotted with her, but dirt poor and Draco certainly fit the bill.
"Draco, hold on. We'll find something for you to write with" Hermione said and she walked purposefully towards a dirt patch in the middle of the grass.
She found a sharp stick under a tree and handed it to Draco, who immediately crouched in the grass and began to scratch something out in the loosened dirt . Hermione huddled beside him, not minding that her fancy skirt was getting dirty.
'So any ideas on how to get out of here?' Draco wrote and then looked to Hermione.
"Not yet, I've been to busy trying to escape my family. I was trying to figure out why we are here in the first place, when I had some free time, but so far I haven't gotten anywhere."
'I don't know either." Draco scrawled carefully before wiping this out and writing, 'I saw Pansy, she was selling flowers on the corner, over there, but she didn't know who I was, and I couldn't tell her if I wanted to.'
"Yes, I saw Ron when I was at my house, but he's not the real Ron. I'm beginning to think this is an elaborate fantasy, trying to confuse us and throw us off of something bigger" Hermione said.
'Who knows.'
"Do you think we'll stay in this world longer than the last one" Hermione asked and Draco shrugged, not bothering to answer.
"I hope so, all this traveling around makes it so hard to get anywhere. As soon as you think you've gotten even an inch closer to finding something out, you're flung to somewhere else" Hermione said thoughtfully.
'It's getting dark."
"So" Hermione remarked and Draco rolled his eyes at her.
'You can't be out here at night, someone might kidnap you. Beside, you don't want your family to worry.'
"You're right, I better get home" Hermione stood and so did Draco, they looked at each other for a moment and then Hermione took a step away from him.
"Catherine, I love you" Draco said passionately and Hermione looked at him amused.
Draco looked angry with himself for trying to say anything and his cheeks colored as she laughed at him.
"I know, Jack, but Hermione misses the real Draco" She said confusing herself even as she spoke.
Draco nodded contenting himself with gestures instead of speech, to get his point across.
"I will try to meet you here tomorrow afternoon, will you be here"
"Of course" Draco cautioned and Hermione smirked at him.
"See how it feels now" she said pointedly and he grinned sheepishly at her.
"We're in this together, no insults" Hermione said as she made it to the sidewalk, Draco padding along beside her.
Draco gave her a sarcastic look and walked away from her down the street.