(A/N: Enjoy this chapter. No torturing in it as it's only midnight. It's Hermione's turn to have a dream by the way)
Hermione woke up from the same night mare that she had been having for the past week that she had spent in the dungeon. She shook off her sleepiness and rubbed her temples, trying to remember the vivid dream. She wanted to know what it meant. She searched through her mind and finally found a few pieces of the dream. She closed her eyes and remembered it. It was so vivid…
Hermione was running away from a dark castle. She was alone and she climbed over gigantic rocks. Everything was dark and king cobras were chasing her. Their fangs were bared and ready to attack. Tears ran down her cheeks as she came to a dead end. She stood on the edge of a cliff, looking over a rapid river and sharp rocks. She took a deep breath and let herself fall off the edge. As she fell, she noticed a trap door a foot below the edge where she once stood. She shook her head as her head hit the sharpest rock. Then, white light engulfed her and she stood as a ghostly, translucent image, looking over the rocks and looking at the crimson river. A snake was behind her and bit her leg. She saw a glint of reddish gold and heard a bird singing. Then, she woke up.
The same dream repeated in Hermione's sleep continuously for the past nights. She was now convinced that these dreams meant something. But that was nonsense, she reassured herself. Dreams can't predict the future and a snake most certainly can't bite a ghost. She sighed and looked around the room. Normally, the way the twins slept amused her. Last night, she found Fred sucking his thumb and George making swimming movements while in their sleep. Harry was sleeping next to James and Lily, Sirius was moaning in his sleep about Rita Skeeter, Viktor's surly face was replaced by a look of blankness as his mouth was wide open and drool as running down from the wide open mouth, Nadia was muttering something in Arab as Elvira was singing, in a high pitched note, a Chinese song. Draco had his arm wrapped around Danielle's body and Remus was making 'bloop'-ing noises. Hermione didn't have time to think as a hand grabbed her right foot.
Fred was on the other end of her shoe. "Welcome back, Hamtaro, my lovely hamster!" Fred muttered wile he stroked Hermione's shoe. "Wait, that Ham-Ham is mine!" George muttered in his sleep. He grabbed Hermione's other shoe. Hermione giggled as the saw the twins slapping each other in slow motion in their sleep while holding her shoes. "Cha chacha cha," Fred said as he slowly slapped his twin. "Cho chocho cho," George said as he slapped his twin. Hermione slipped of her shoes and crawled over to her sleeping spot. She let her head fall to what she thought as her robes she used as a pillow. But instead, her head landed on Ron's side, right below his ribcage. As we all know, that's every body's ticklish part. Ron's eyes opened and he let out a laugh-choked yell. "Mummy! Ginny flushed Harry down the toilet bowl!" Ron yelled.
Everybody woke up at his first few words and laughed as they heard the rest. "Wait, I'm not in a toilet," Harry said. "Am I?" "Of course not, Hare," James said, ruffling his son's hair so it looked messier than ever. "James, I thought you gave up that hobby," Lily said, staring at Harry. "You look a lot more than a prat than you already were two years ago." She was obviously not a morning person. "Hello?" Harry asked. "Is anyone in there?" "There is but you should wipe off the words off your tie, James," Lily said, squinting her eyes. "But I'm not James," Harry asked as the real James fell to the floor laughing. "Then," Lily said. "Whoooo are you…..?" "I think you should let your vision clear up before you ay anything else," Harry said. "Hey, James, since when did you have the same eye colour as me? Oh my gosh, Harry!" Lily said suddenly.
Everyone burst out laughing again. Nagini, who was sitting by the wall he whole time, stirred in her disturbed slumber. She gave a snap at Sirius's leg but Sirius quickly dodged. Nagini ended up biting Sirius's chains and they broke. Sirius stared at his chains, surprised, for a few moments before tugging at Draco's shirt. Draco turned around and Sirius motioned to his broken chains. "Oh my," Draco said. 'How did you get free?' Draco mouthed. 'Snake' Sirius said. Draco got the idea and edged towards the gigantic snake. He gave it a swift kick to the head and it woke up with a start. She began to bite in random places before going back to sleep. Draco's chains were all broken but the cuffs remained. Sirius did the same as Draco informed everyone. Soon, everyone was free and they stood up. It was still midnight and they looked out the double doors. The guards were all sleeping and they walked cautiously out the room.
"This place looks familiar in a way," Hermione whispered. "Yeah," James said. "So familiar," Fred said. They walked to their left and they saw four golden platforms and four identical plates next to them. Glass was shattered and spread everywhere. Huge double doors were next to the platforms and they made their way to it. Before they walked out, Draco looked at the opposite of where they stood and slowly walked towards it. He traced his finder on a carving and turned around with a look of fear in his eyes. "What's up?" Danielle asked. "We're in Hogwarts," Draco said. "What?" Harry asked. "Watch," Draco simply said as he pressed the palm of his hand on the carving of a snake. He let go as the bricks moved and made an entrance in the wall. A golden door was on the other side and had the Slytherin crest painted on. The door swung open and a circular room was revealed. The wooden chairs and tables were still there and the fire was still flickering. "Behold, the Slytherin Common Room," Draco said. "But your Common Room was downstairs, in the dungeon," Ron said. "Fifth, sixth and seventh years get another room," Draco said. "But that's impossible," Hermione said. At that moment, something red glittered near the platforms. Harry walked cautiously to it and saw a ruby. He picked it up and saw the Gryffindor crest carved on it. As Harry carefully moved some pieces of glass out of the way, he recovered sapphires, emeralds and topazes. "Guys, come over here," Harry said. Draco sealed the door and followed the others towards the find of precious stones.
"These are," Lily said. "I mean, were the hour glasses." "I never thought he was serious," Draco said. "Voldermort, he said he would destroy Hogwarts and keep it as his own." "No," Elvira said. "Hogwarts was the most popular wizard school in the world," Nadia said. "It can't be gone." "It's not gone, it's just his," Remus said. "Come on, when we get them back, maybe we'll avoid this," Harry said. "Yeah, let's go," Sirius said. They slowly walked out of the once magnificently lit room and out to the grounds. Harry kept the ruby in his pocket and saw the burnt down Forbidden Forest. A gigantic carcass lay on the ground. "Since when did you have a giant in the Forbidden Forest?" Lily asked. "We had a giant in the Forbidden Forest?" Draco asked. "Grawp," Ron muttered. As they made their way down the path, they dreaded the condition of Hagrid's hut. Amazingly, it wasn't there. Where do you think it is?" Hermione asked. Harry sensed a feeling that someone was watching them and reached out his hand. Surprisingly, he felt cold stone. He traced the shape of the hut and felt a door. He knocked and it opened. A very angry Lucius Malfoy walked out of the invisible hut.
"Why so scared, son?" Lucius asked calmly, grabbing his son's arm. "He was supposed to be in Azkaban," Danielle said. "Run," Harry muttered. "What?" Sirius asked. "Run," Harry said, this time more loudly. Draco pulled himself from his father's grasp and they ran to the door to the left of the entrance of the Forbidden Forest. "Where does this path go?" Hermione asked. Snakes were let loose and began to chase them. "Don't care, just watch out for those snakes," Draco said. "Why?" George asked. "They're poisonous!" Danielle said. The path became rockier and the rocks became more jagged. They soon reached the edge of a cliff and feeling of deja vu hit Hermione. "Over here," Hermione said. She opened the trap door and fifteen phoenixes flew out of the trap door. Each of them grabbed a member of the gang and flew pass the cliff, over the ocean below.
The oldest and most withered phoenix flew beside Harry and reached out its head. Harry stroked Fawkes's head and smiled. "To the Ministry of Magic!" Harry yelled. The others followed and they made their way off in the sun rise. Fawkes reached out its tail and Harry plucked a feather. He shoved it in his pocket along with the stone and laughed the whole way to the Ministry of Magic as the phoenixes sang the whole way.
(A/N: So, the escape route was there all along. And now, they are on their way to the end of the journey and the ending of this story is coming nearer. Sorry, but let's hope they get the right door to the Time Machine shall we? The ending will probably be five chapters away or a chapter or two less. Please review, pwease pwease pwease)