Chapter Seven: Black in the White Place

From across the table, Hermione heard Malfoy's stomach growl. She peered up from over her parchment that she diligently scratched on with her quill. They'd skipped lunch since somehow because the four of them managed to become incredibly behind with homework. Hermione personally felt disgusted that she'd procrastinated.

When she'd started to work, Hermione realized that this was homework from her sixth year at Hogwarts. She understood this was the winter of her sixth year, which she definitely remembered. It was summer, and Bill and Fleur were supposed to marry, but she couldn't remember the wedding happening yet.

'This is confusing,' Hermione thought as she stared dumbly at the paper. 'I'm in my sixth year, but I shouldn't be, and I don't remember the wedding, and I feel like I lost a huge chunk of memory,' Hermione thought. She rehashed the same thoughts in her mind like stale gum since she'd sat down late in the morning. However, her early panic faded like dust blown in the wind, and her new security eased the study session.

It was now early evening and the ashy gray sky became a deeper shade of graphite. Luna elbowed Malfoy in the side as his stomach rumbled again, and that snapped Hermione out of her daze. She sighed as she saw the ink from her quill had dripped in large pools on her essay.

'I don't know a lot about Muggle theories,' Hermione thought as she started the concluding paragraph in an essay about the healing effects of Mandrakes, which was one in a series of essays about plants with healing powers. 'But I think this might be one of those 'black hole' situations so popular in science fiction movies that my uncle used to watch,' Hermione told herself again as she concluded her assignment. Her head throbbed, and she could hardly focus on this assignment, let alone snippets of something she'd heard years ago.

"We have to eat!" Malfoy moaned. "I don't care if I fail! I need to eat something besides chocolate and crackers."

"Yeah, I care," Zabini replied blandly from beside Hermione. He kept scratching away, and his homework stack still made everyone else's look like a tiny hill compared to the tottering mountain of books beside Zabini. 'I'm glad I know most of this,' Hermione reflected, realizing she'd taken her time on the assignments and spent most of the day sorting out her thoughts on this world. She'd begun to think of it as 'the other world' or 'this world' since it obviously wasn't her own.

"I do, too," Luna sighed as she brushed a stray curl out of her face. She sat beside Malfoy and would occasionally look over and fix something on his parchment. 'I wonder what happened with her,' Hermione pondered for about the five-hundredth time that day as she unconsciously gazed at Luna's scar. Then, she adverted her eyes, hoping the others hadn't noticed.

"Well, I'll go down and get something for us to eat, then," Hermione volunteered, deciding she'd really like a look around the castle. At that precise moment, a POP sounded from beside the table. Hermione jumped, sending her stack of books sliding across the table like an avalanche.

"Young Malfoy, sir, you didn't eat at lunch, and there was worry, and," Dobby blabbered on to Malfoy as he stood there and levitated four plates heaped with food. 'Dobby is captive!' Hermione thought venomously. 'That little scum still keeps house elves,' Hermione realized as she shot Malfoy a dirty glare that could have frightened a full-grown Hungarian Horntail.

"Dobby, I love you," Malfoy interrupted Dobby and snatched a plate out of mid air, conjured a spoon, and began to stuff his face unceremoniously.

"I just look out for the nice Young Malfoy," Dobby commented, and Hermione decided she didn't want to eat the food. 'Slaves, especially slaves that should be free, made this food,' Hermione grudgingly thought and suppressed her own gnawing hunger. She stared at the plate that Dobby ordered in front of her that seemed to have the odor of dung to Hermione. The mashed potatoes and the Coc au Vin looked amazing, but Hermione dismissed her hunger stoically. 'I don't know if I can spend the holidays at the Malfoy house if they keep slaves,' Hermione thought with utter disgust. 'Slaves, disgusting, I wonder if things really did change.'

"Yhour nhot ehathing," Malfoy mumbled with food crammed into his mouth. A blob of potatoes threatened to slip out over his lip, but he sucked it back in before it slid onto the plate again. Hermione offered a simple shrug and stared down at the large, soulful eyes of the house elf that waited patiently on them.

"I'm not very hungry," Hermione replied stiffly, thinking of S.P.E.W. 'I need members,' she reflected. 'I'll get people to join here, too,' Hermione decided as she watched Dobby stare over at her.

"Lady Trelawney must eat, oh yes, Dobby prepared food for her, too. She didn't eat all day, poor Lady Trelawney," Dobby muttered. Hermione shook her head and pushed the plate away.

"Sorry, Dobby, I can't eat. I don't feel like much food," Hermione apologized to the house elf. 'I'm doing him a favor. He doesn't need to serve me,' Hermione told herself as she watched Dobby bite his nails nervously before vanishing the plate.

"Not good for Lady Trelawney to go hungry, not good at all," Dobby muttered over and over again. Hermione went to stand up, deciding she couldn't bear the babbling of the enslaved house elf any longer. She stood slowly, aware that Luna and definitely Zabini would be analyzing her actions. She smiled slightly as she tried to casually gather her books and appear as if she didn't want to sprint out of the situation.

"This was a great study session, but I'm a little sleepy," Hermione added as she forced a friendly smile. "Off to bed, then."

Hermione spun around on her heals and hurriedly escaped up the stairs into the chilly girls' dormitories. She closed the door and muttered, "Lumos." The candles around the room flickered to life, and Hermione trudged over to her bed and collapsed. She tossed her books and papers haphazardly on the floor and gently picked up the invitation to the Malfoys.

'How am I going to do this?' Hermione wondered as she read the words over again. 'I can't spend my time at a house with slaves. I can't go, I'll snap under that pressure,' she thought as she traced the words with her fingertip. 'Much love, Narcissa Malfoy,' Hermione reflected wordlessly. 'How much love can she have, even in a different world, if she keeps house elves?'

'I wonder how much really did change,' Hermione reflected as the soft flames from the candle played across the shimmering words like delicate fingers.

In a dank room the last starving flames of a smoldering fire gave the narrow, pale face of Tonks a lurid appearance. She appeared like a phantom as the light illuminated the purple bags already forming under her eyes. Her sallow skin, which could have appeared in the likeness of porcelain, contrasted with hair that seemed to suck the light up like a void. She gazed into the coals, her eyes fixing on things nobody could've seen.

'I heard you killed Avery,' Rodolphus Lestrange's voice echoed in her mind. She saw his face imprinted in her vision as she brooded over his words.

'She's killed others,' Sirius's words haunted her. 'I've killed others,' Tonks mused darkly. 'Who? How many? Why don't I remember any of this?' she asked herself again as she watched one of the coals topple out of the fireplace and onto the damp stone floor. It turned to ash as it lost its ability to burn and lay dead beside Tonks's foot.

'I'm going to break my mum out of Azkaban,' Tonks told herself again as she kicked the little clump of ash with her toe. 'My mum,' Tonks pictured the image of Andromeda Tonks, her mother, the way it imprinted itself on her mental photographs.

'Andromeda's a fool,' she clearly remembered the words coming out of Narcissa Malfoy's mouth the only time she'd ever been in the same room as her aunt. Granted, she'd been hiding behind the couch so Narcissa didn't know she overheard her speaking. 'She married that filthy Muggle,' Narcissa continued talking, but Tonks really didn't understand or remember anything else she said. Those two lines etched themselves in her memory, though, because a moment like that never happened again: Narcissa Malfoy was right about something.

'My mum is a fool. She never really chose a side,' Tonks thought bitterly. Her mum never quite abandoned her pureblood heritage after marrying her father. Sure, she got expelled from the inheritance and the family tree, but Andromeda always thought it important to tell her daughter to 'associate with the good sort,' and she kept the family tradition of naming her children ridiculous four syllable names.

'And my father is filthy,' Tonks grudgingly thought of the person who'd raised her. 'They never really got along,' Tonks thought of how her parents would always fight, mostly about her. The harsh screaming of her dad demanding his wife that his daughter learn 'a respectable trade, not mumbo-jumbo,' and her mother's equally piercing yells of how her little girl should 'become something more than a pig in a sewer' swirled through Tonks's head.

'Why did my mum go to prison? What did her and Sirius do? Why am I involved?' Tonks asked herself. When she thought of Sirius, it felt like a puppeteer pulled the strings to make her stomach tighten, her throat clench, and her eyes become moist with tears.

'I can't go,' she told herself again.

'No, you have to go,' the more rational side of herself argued. 'If you don't, they'll think something is wrong.'

'I don't care, I can't do this!' the part of her that just wanted to vomit all this disgusting mess out of her mind protested.

'Yes you can, you're undercover, think of it like that,' she argued rationally with the emotional side of her that threatened to overpower her senses that had gotten her away from the demented Sirius, Rodolphus, and the disgusting Igor.

'I want to go back to the Burrow,' Tonks's entire mind moaned. 'That's what I really want right now. I want to be safe and happy again. I want to toast Bill and Fleur a wonderful life together a thousand times over. I want to be with Remus.'

She bit her lower lip as the thoughts of everyone she loved came back to her mind. In the midst of the demented surroundings, Tonks let a wane smile slide across her thin lips. Part of her became comforted as she lost herself in the golden, glistening memories of the wedding, which already seemed a decade ago.

'I have to go,' Tonks told herself resolutely. 'Whatever is happening, I have to know, for better or worse. I have to do a job, and I'll do it until . . . what? Until I have to kill,' she affirmed silently.

Tonks continued to stare absently into the flames, which gave off no warmth. As the darkness of her surroundings and the doubts and guilt in her mind ebbed at her sanity, Tonks latched onto the anchor of her friends and fellow Order members. She'd always been strong, and now wasn't the time to falter.

Tomorrow, she'd go to Azkaban.

"Eek! Sorry!"

"Uff!" Hermione muttered as a weight landed on her stomach and jarred her awake. 'What?' Hermione wondered as she shoved blindly at the warm lump of flesh that tumbled out of her dreams and onto her bed.

"Sorry, Hermione, very sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!" The girl squeaked as she thrashed around on top of Hermione before her weight lifted. 'What a way to wake up.' Hermione's thoughts moved as if they had to swim through thick, marshy green sludge. 'I might as well be Errol running into windows with how terrible this headache is, and now, a stomachache,' she grudgingly thought as she slowly slid her led eyelids open.

"Mil-cent?" Hermione asked, not really believing the squat, chubby girl stood over her close enough to pant hot air in her face.

"Sorry!" Millicent squealed helplessly. "I-I tripped, and I-I guess I landed on you. Luna s-said you weren't feel-feeling w-well."

"It's . . .okay," Hermione replied hesitantly as the girl approached the point of tears. 'My, what a weird world,' Hermione thought dully and let a smile slid over her facial features that felt like hardened clay.

"Calm down, she needs to get up anyway. It's almost breakfast time," a curt voice snapped from some where. Hermione groaned as the stiff, much louder tone hurt her ears. 'I might know that voice, too,' Hermione realized after several slow moments where she stared blankly as Millicent's mud colored eyes, which were the size of dinner plates.

"I'm . . . moving," Hermione said as she pushed herself upright. 'I'm in another world dating Blaise Zabini, and I ate a candy bar and two crackers yesterday,' Hermione reiterated all information that slowly surfaced like sticky bubbles of oil on the surface of her memory. 'That explains the aching,' Hermione decided after about a minute of staring dumbly around the room as four girls got dressed.

"You definitely are ill," the girl with thick tresses of copper colored hair commented. "I couldn't believe you slept through our blabbering up until the wee hours of the morning."

"I didn't," Luna said from some where on Hermione's right. 'That's right, Luna is here. That's . . ." Hermione paused as she surveyed the two other girls, one with straight straw-colored hair that swished like a horse's mane, and the other copper hair girl that pulled on a thick black sweater over her head.

'Luna . . . Millicent . . . Hannah Abbott,' Hermione placed the name of the blond, realizing it was Hannah that spoke to her, ' . . . Mandy Brocklehurst,' Hermione named the last girl in the room. 'All in my year,' she realized after several more minutes that seemed to slide like molasses in Hermione's mind.

"Hermione, let's go to breakfast. We've just today before break," Luna's voice came closer until Luna herself sat beside Hermione. Hermione slowly turned her head, which felt so swollen she thought a swarm of bees stung her all over.

"Okay," Hermione replied deftly as she gazed indifferently at Luna. 'Oh, the scar,' Hermione's thoughts focused as she stared at the thin, pink line visible on Luna's ivory colored neck. "Yeah, I need food."

'The scar, the slaves, oh yes, the Malfoys.' Hermione felt the shock of seeing Luna with Harry's scar freshly for the first time today. She gazed at the invitation that lay by her bedside while Luna assisted her out of bed, and Millicent scurried over to Hermione's trunk to get her clothes and robes.

"We'll see you three," Hannah called as her and Mandy left the dorm room. 'Why does she talk so loud?' Hermione moaned as Hannah left the room. 'I just want this pain to leave. I need to think.'

"Here you go." Millicent laid Hermione's clothes beside her on the bed and smoothed the wrinkles out of them with several hasty strokes. She then frowned and stroked the clothes frantically several more times, as if she'd spotted another wrinkle that she'd probably inadvertently made herself.

"It's okay, Millie, you can go. Hermione and I'll get down. Just tell Draco to control his stomach for a few more minutes." Luna politely dismissed Millicent as she steadied a tipsy Hermione so she could stand up to dress.

"O-okay," Millicent replied as she backed away from Hermione's clothes, and with several nervous glances of concern back at Hermione, finally left the room. The soft sound of the creaking bed echoed through the dorm as Luna helped Hermione to her feet. 'I'm glad she'd holding me,' Hermione numbly thought as she concentrated on pulling off her clothes that she wore yesterday and slept in last night. Luna held one of Hermione's shoulders steady at all times, and Hermione allowed Luna's soothing, steady presence to be her only true anchor on reality.

"Good?" Luna asked Hermione after she finished dressing. Hermione nodded slowly and let Luna keep one arm around her shoulder; she gripped one of her arms to guide her to the door.

"I . . . just feel miserable," Hermione concluded out loud.

"Blaise is upset, but I told him it's just your time of month," Luna chuckled. Hermione felt her dry lips form what felt like a smile, but only looked like the twitching of her mouth to Luna.

"Oh. Good," Hermione managed to reply. Luna led her down the stairs into the common room. 'When did the light become to bright?' Hermione wondered as she squinted in the white, burning light. She felt her legs become shaky, but Luna held her upright until the stinging of her retinas stopped when she adjusted to the brightness.

"Get sick lately?" Malfoy's sarcastic comment floated to her ears. 'Oh, I have him,' Hermione thought hazily as she progressed from a squint to heavy lidded stare. Malfoy's tall frame swam into her foggy vision, and she felt too detached from the world to really loathe him this morning.

"Just make it through today." Blaise, who'd been standing in front of her, miraculously spoke from right beside her. 'How did he move so fast?' Hermione asked herself as she felt a brawny arm wrap around her waist. 'Maybe they'll just carry me down to the Great Hall,' Hermione thought hopefully.

"Got to try walking, girlie, time of month or not," Blaise whispered in her right ear. Hermione groaned as she focused all her thought on standing and walking ten steps in a straight line, but only managed to take ten steps that would've given someone the impression she'd been drinking heavy liquor.

"Whoa!" Malfoy shouted as he caught Hermione before she smacked into a chair. "You have some firewhiskey up there I should try?"

"No," Hermione muttered as she let Draco steady her by holding her left shoulder. She clutched the chair she'd almost bumbled over with her right hand, hoping it would give her the strength to get to breakfast. She looked down as her knuckles turned white because of her grip.

"I'll take an arm and you take an arm, Draco, and we'll steer you down, okay?" Zabini told Hermione as he pried her right hand free of its death grip on the chair. "Steady and slow, and I think we'll make it with Luna spotting you from behind."

"An escort," Hermione's voice came out dry and raspy, although the idea seemed vaguely humorous to her. However, the two boys helped her move out of the common room, through the portrait hole, and down the first set of stairs before she almost toppled forward. Luna became useful again and snagged Hermione's waist to pull her upright.

'It's getting easier to move,' Hermione realized as she made it down three sets of stairs without falling over. 'It's good they're helping me, though,' Hermione vaguely realized for the first time that Malfoy and Zabini still kept her from tottering over like a playing card castle.

"Almost there," Zabini muttered from beside Hermione. 'He's trying to make me feel better,' Hermione realized as Zabini patted Hermione's arm gently.

"Yeah, maybe we'll let you walk through the door yourself," Malfoy said as they reached the anterior room to the Great Hall, where a couple straggling students ambled towards the Great Hall. "If you land on your face . . . it's not my fault."

"Then we'll hold her," Zabini told Malfoy sternly. "I'd rather have people think she's ill than absolutely drunk."

"I . . . think I'll try," Hermione found her voice. 'I don't want people to baby me or think I'm acting strange,' Hermione decided as she caught a ray of mental clarity. 'I don't need people thinking I'm actually from another world.'

"Sure?" Malfoy asked her while they stood to the right of the enormous oak doors that hung open for the morning meal. The chattering school sounded like a swarm of bees droning on in their hive. The noise irritated Hermione and threatened to rob her of that last ounce of renewed strength.

"Yes," Hermione replied resolutely before Zabini and Malfoy let go of both of her arms, but they still remained only a few inches beside her. 'Left foot, right foot, look down, focus on your feet,' Hermione told herself as she stared at her two low heeled, black leather shoes. 'Left foot, right foot,' Hermione instructed herself to move forward and ignore the buzzing from the student body that broke upon her mind like a roaring wave as she entered into the Great Hall.

'Left foot, right foot, focus on your feet,' she cleared her mind of the novocaine that wanted to just dull the pain. 'I will not stop,' Hermione thought as her head throbbed and pleaded for her just to collapse.

'Walk, left foot, right foot, focus, Hermione, focus,' she told herself as her eyes hurt from the strain of concentrating on her shoes. She felt Luna nudge her, and Hermione turned her slow, effort-filled steps in that direction. 'I don't care if they stare,' Hermione realized as she consciously planted one foot in front of the other one. 'I will make it to the breakfast table.' She strengthened her resolution, as she kept moving as if through a sub zero degree blizzard. Her steps appeared arduous as if she might have been on the last assent to the mountain peek.

"Mione, here's your seat," Zabini whispered in her ear. Hermione stopped moving, abruptly aware that Zabini and Malfoy still stood beside her. Hermione nodded and reached out a hand to clutch the edge of the table while still staring at her feet. She moved her head up so she could now stare at the top of the table.

"I'll help you," Zabini offered and held Hermione's upper body steady by gripping her arms firmly but not painfully. She slowly crawled over the bench and would've fallen in a crumpled mess if Zabini hadn't kept her steady.

"Thanks," Hermione replied hoarsely. 'I really am grateful,' she thought as she stretched out her hand for the fork. Zabini slid onto the bench beside her, while Luna and Draco crossed the room to sit opposite of the two of them.

When the plates of eggs, bacon, toast, and sausages appeared, however, Hermione feebly reached out her fork and skewered a piece of bacon with it. She edged the crispy piece of meat, which gave off a salty, home cooked aroma, towards her mouth. The first several bites took all her effort to chew, but then, that little piece of fatty meat seemed to give Hermione all the strength in the world to shove three more pieces of bacon and two pieces of sausage into her mouth.

"Hungry?" Zabini chuckled from beside Hermione. She didn't bother to look up, but kept eating, realizing now how acute her hunger had been. 'Fatigue and mental shock probably facilitated the entire situation,' Hermione decided as she put some extra salt on her scrambled eggs before slathering them with syrup, too.

"Nhot anhy hungriehr than mhe," Malfoy spoke with his mouth cramped with sausage.

"Could you not talk while you eat?" Luna chided Malfoy as she took her time to butter her toast. Hermione paused to look around at the three other people she'd found herself having to befriend in this world before she went for a second helping of eggs. 'They really aren't that bad, no matter what they are in my world,' Hermione realized as she watched a clump of eggs slide out of Malfoy's stuffed mouth and fall onto the table. Hermione felt her lips upturn in a smile, despite her objections to keeping house elves.

Just then, a great whooshing sound announced the arrival of the owls. "The paper is coming," Zabini said as an owl swooped over the table and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of Zabini. 'The news paper is the same,' Hermione realized. 'If I could read that, I'd learn a lot about this world.'

"Let's see," Zabini snatched up the paper and opened it, and Hermione realized he'd probably tell them a lot of what it said, anyway. 'Good, real information,' Hermione thought normally now, since her mind had been revived with food.

"Anyone we know died?" Malfoy asked casually, now with a clean mouth.

'Ron,' Hermione thought instantly of Ron asking the same question every time she read the morning paper. Her throat tightened like someone applied a wrench to it, and her stomach ached for a completely different reason than food. 'There's a war, like in our world,' Hermione instinctively knew this was true. 'It's irrational,' she thought, but her gut told her the truth.

"No," Zabini replied irritably. "Same old thing. No major attacks, though, just the Ministry bumbling around and more hysteria."

"Maybe it'll be a quiet break," Luna suggested, but she sounded less than hopeful, only wistful in her wishing. "It'd be a nice change, you know?"

"Yeah," Draco muttered as he buttered two pieces of toast and unceremoniously shoved them in his mouth.

Hermione scanned her table as Zabini read the newspaper. 'A lot of these people weren't in Gryffindor, or I just don't know them,' Hermione realized with a start. 'Maybe some Muggles or Squibs are wizards in this world,' she thought as she looked over the mostly new faces as the table. 'It's weird, not seeing Ron, Harry, or Ginny here,' Hermione felt her throat constrict again when she thought about the three of them. She bit her lip, trying to suppress her emotions, and looked away from her table and briefly scanned the room.

The staff table pulled her immediately towards it. 'No, this isn't right,' Hermione swallowed forcefully, wondering if she'd vomit. Her palms become sweaty, and her rage mildly surprised her at the sight of Bellatrix Lestrange.

'She did kill Sirius in our world,' Hermione realized as she observed Bellatrix before her eyes fell on the person whom Bellatrix seemed to be having a conversation with. She knew Snape was still at the school in this world, but seeing him sitting up there made her throat burn. She bit her lower lip until the point almost hard enough to draw blood.

'It's not fair,' Hermione thought venomously. 'It's not fair that . . . I don't know, but it's not right that they should be teaching at Hogwarts,' she reasoned, but then, a little voice in the back of mind whispered, 'But they could be innocent here, Hermione. Here, they could be completely innocent, like Malfoy, like you.'

'Oh gods,' Hermione felt her entire thought pattern jar at the idea. Her mind stopped functioning for a second as she stared blankly at the two people who sat, ate breakfast, and talked to each other amiably about something. 'It is true,' Hermione felt the pit of her stomach drop down and her body seemed to tingle all over for a few seconds at her revelation.

"Hermione!" Malfoy shouted her name.

"Yes?" Hermione asked and broke her entranced state. She turned promptly back towards the three others.

"You spaced out," Luna said sympathetically. 'She thinks I'm still very out of it,' Hermione realized. 'Well, she's right there. My mental state is on a bit of a roller coaster ride.'

"You think so?" Malfoy replied sarcastically. "You know, you might have spaced out, Hermione, because you were only staring off into thin air while I shouted your name six times."

"Anyway," Zabini rose his voice to shut Malfoy up. "Here's an interesting article, Mione. Someone broke into your vault."

"My vault?" Hermione asked, more surprised she had a vault worth braking into Gringotts to steal something out of it. "What was taken?"

"Just says they took some stuff, but here, read it," Zabini offered Hermione the paper and she gladly took it. The article appeared quite a ways into the paper and occupied about a third of the page. It read:

Trelawney Vault: Second Robbery at Gringotts in Five Years The vault of the pureblood Trelawney family, known for their tradition of passing the family inheritance from one woman to the next in the family, was reportedly robbed a day ago. Albert Granger, the husband of late wife Sybil Trelawney and manager of the Trelawney estate, performed his daily inspection of the vault to discover that an old brass broach, which is one of the oldest heirlooms, appeared to have been stolen. A Gringotts spokesman said he was 'astounded' that anyone had gotten into the vault because none of the security measures had been tripped.

'It appears to be for show, just to prove they could rob Gringotts,' an employee at the wizarding bank commented. However, authorities are baffled that only one item was stolen, but they yet have no definite clues to who the clever burglar may be.

'It's of little coincidence,' Albert Granger told us. 'My daughter's estate is very well protected, and it'll take more than a bravado thief to deplete the Trelawney inheritance.' Mr. Granger is referring to his daughter, Hermione C. Trelawney, who follows in the unbroken line of women seers that has given the Trelawney family such renown.

"Well," Hermione muttered in shock after reading the article. 'I have pureblood in my family, imagine that,' Hermione thought, feeling a slight swelling of pleasure at having a heritage in the wizard world.

"What do you think?" Luna asked Hermione. "Can I read it?"

"Sure," Hermione replied reluctantly and handed the paper across the table to Luna. 'I'll get a paper later,' Hermione assured herself as she turned to Zabini. "They didn't take much."

"No, that was odd. I don't think it was a malevolent theft," Zabini commented. "You're not upset?"
"Not a lot, I mean, it's not good, but if that's all they took, well, they didn't hurt anybody, did they?" Hermione reasoned with Zabini. He ran his index finger along the rim of his cup as he thought about something before answering Hermione.

"It's just that, the last time someone broke it, they went after the stone," Zabini whispered, so only Hermione, Malfoy, and Luna could hear. 'The sorcerer's stone,' Hermione understood what Zabini met. 'That was almost stolen here, too, then,' and with that revelation, Hermione leaned a little closer to the pensive Zabini.

"First time in five years," Hermione muttered under her breath, remembering the title of the article. "That's not good, huh?"

"Could just be some bloke trying to make a name for himself," Malfoy pointed out as he read the article over Luna's shoulder. "If it happens again, we'll get worried."

"Mind if I slide in?"

'Who's that?' Hermione processed the voice, but didn't recognize it. She turned around to see a body wearing a Ravenclaw and Prefect badge standing behind her.

"Sure," Zabini said as he moved over and let the boy, who was only slightly taller than Hermione, to slide between the two of them. 'I've never seen him before,' Hermione realized with only a dull sense of shock now. 'Not a lot could compare to seeing Bella and Snape at the staff table together,' Hermione reflected as the boy turned and flashed her a bright, cheery smile that showcased his clean teeth.

"So, Mione, I read about your lose. Shame, the broach," the boy replied sarcastically as he shook his head. When he moved his head, it caused his locks of tawny hair to sway like a curtain in the breeze. 'He cuts his hair like Zabini,' Hermione noticed as she stared at the two boys' faces while they stared at her, waiting for a response.

"Yes, I know, it looked expensive," Hermione said with an equal amount of sarcasm. There'd been a picture, which showed the old, tarnished piece that had been stolen.

"Why'd you come here? Us Gryffindors are very irritable at meal times," Zabini jokingly told the Ravenclaw boy. A grin spread over his thin, pale face, yet his features weren't gaunt and his skin kept a healthy ruddy undertone.

"Oh, I wrote a letter to my father," the boy said casually, but immediately Hermione noticed that the other three perked up. Luna and Malfoy leaned across the table slightly to hear what the boy would say. Zabini went silent and curled his lips down in a frown.

"The good Mesiour D'Éfavrion wrote me a reply this morning," the boy replied. 'I wonder who he is,' Hermione mused. 'He's French, with a surname like D'Éfavrion,' she concluded as she continued to size up the boy with the sparkling, gray eyes.

"What did you ask him?" Luna inquired eagerly. The boy smiled slightly and brushed a thick lock of his glossy, sand colored hair away form his face.

"Oh, I only asked him if I could come to Draco's for the holidays," the boy replied casually. However, Malfoy's eyes doubled in width, and Luna and Zabini leaned inwards as if by getting closer to the boy, they could extract the answer.

"He said?" Zabini asked anxiously.

"Yes." The boy's grin spread broadly across his face as Luna clapped her hands while Malfoy's jaw dropped to the table, his face in absolute disbelief. 'He looks like a fish,' Hermione mused she felt her lips upturn in a warm, cheerful, yet restrained smile. 'That boy, he makes me feel better,' she realized as she looked at the young boy enjoy every second of the astonishment and joy that erupted. 'I bet it's because I don't have my preconceptions about him.'

"I told my mum not to waste paper to send you a letter," Malfoy replied indignantly. Luna half-heartedly slapped Malfoy's arm while giving him a brief look of disdain. However, Zabini shot Malfoy an indignant glare, which caused Malfoy to throw his arms in the air in exasperation.

"It's not like he's shown up before! What was I supposed to say? 'Hey, mum, get a bed ready for Theirry because he's coming this year, although his dad always whisks him off to the sunny coasts of Italy for Christmas," Malfoy replied defensively. 'Theirry,' Hermione played the name over in her head as she watched the boy just chuckle at Malfoy's outburst.

"It's great that you're going," Luna spoke up. "It'll be a great holiday."

"I personally would want to be in the Alps or along whatever sunny coast your dad takes you to," Malfoy interjected.

"Well, it was the Alps, then Greece a couple years ago, but last year we went to the French Rivera," Theirry listed off a couple places as Malfoy rolled his eyes grudgingly.

"I get it, I get it, your dad's insanely rich. Why you want to come up here, I have no idea," Malfoy replied tediously.

"Why did he let you come?" Zabini asked more seriously. Theirry focused his attention on Zabini while Hermione scraped her brain to figure out if she needed to say anything to this boy she should've known.

"He's busy with government business, you know, with the war and everything," Theirry's voice lost its bantering, cheerful tone for a more solemn, conversation sound. "He said he couldn't spend time with me this year, anyway. By the way, he wishes you a Happy Christmas, too."

"So, everything's going okay, I mean, as good as it's going here?" Zabini lowered his voice slightly as he asked Theirry. Theirry shrugged and nodded, which Hermione interpreted as an equilibrium of disaster was every where.

"It's insane across the channel, too," Theirry soberly told the group of Gryffindor sixth years. Luna frowned and looked down at her hands, and Hermione found her eyes transfixed once again the faint zigzag scar. 'I need to know,' Hermione longingly thought of the story behind Luna's scar.

"So, how about meeting my parents," Malfoy spoke up and broke the awkward silence. "My mum will love you, of course, like she loves everyone of my friends. And, of course, my dad will like you more than me."

"Oh, can't wait," Theirry replied hesitantly to Malfoy's self-deflating statement. 'This holiday feels even worse the closer I get,' Hermione moaned mentally at the thought of seeing Lucius Malfoy, too. 'The last time I saw Lucius Malfoy was in the Department of Mysteries, and that was enough for me, thank you,' she thought as she surveyed Draco sitting across the table from her.

"It'll be great," Luna assured Theirry as she smiled reassuringly at him from across the table. "It's a lot of talking, eating, sleeping, and sitting around."

"A good holiday," Theirry replied with an affirmative nod. "So, Hermione, what has my brother promised you for Christmas? I think he'll cheat you if it's only a kiss under the mistletoe."

"Oh, um, nothing I can think of," Hermione bumbled through her response. She tried to appear like someone hadn't confounded her several times in a couple seconds. 'His brother,' Hermione realized as she surveyed both boys over again. 'No, they can't be blood brothers,' she concluded as she looked between their light cream and mocha complexions. The style of their hair appeared similar, but Zabini had tanned Arabian features while Theiry was clearly of European descent.

"What are you implying?" Zabini's tone was brittle as he asked a smirking Theirry. 'Yes, they look like brothers, but physically, I don't see any resemblance besides their haircuts,' Hermione pondered as she scrutinized their interactions with each other.

"That this year you should maybe step up your game. Try one pathetic mistletoe, just go for some eggnog, then hit the broom closet," Theirry suggested as he failed to keep a serious face as he met Zabini's shocked face.

"Sure, cheep, steamy make out sessions, if that's fine with you, Mione!" Zabini shouted over at Hermione. She just raised her eyes and smiled incredulously at the two boys. 'They act a bit like Fred and George,' Hermione decided as Malfoy unsuccessfully hid his giggling fit behind his hands.

"I'll pass," Hermione said as she met the sparkling, cheerful gaze of Theirry. 'He's a nice boy,' Hermione decided as she looked up and found herself also meeting Zabini's eyes. 'And here, he's a nice boy, too,' she realized as she looked into the depths of the gentle brown amber eyes.