Disclaimer: I'm just a fresh high school graduate so nope, I'm still me :D
A/N: Monday = Update Day! So heyyyyyy, it's my first Monday as new graduate and I feel magnificent. There'll be no more waking up early because last time I checked, my classes in college wouldn't start 'til 8 or 9, I think, which is later than the 4:50 am wake-up call than I usually have when I was still in high school AND, I'll be going to school for like four days a week, with Wednesday as part of my weekend :D
GOD, being a college student is wonderful. Lol, and I'm rooming with my best friend!
So anyway, back to "When Two Worlds Collide". Here's chapter eight and I hope you review afterwards. Enjoy!
Chapter Eight: Of Libraries and Voices
Avoiding the royalties seemed painfully futile.
Lucy, for one, always made it a point to seek for her company every single day and although Hermione would make up excuses, the youngest queen would not listen to her and bring her to Merlin-knows-where. Lucy was a lovely companion but accompanying her wherever she went always made her somehow a bit closer with the other royalties.
Peter seemed extra mindful of her nowadays. He never failed to always be the first one to greet her a good morning or a good evening. The smile that he sends her way during meal times, tea times, and even free times started to unnerve the brunette. She had been around hormonal teenage boys for years now and although she did not want to assume, Hermione was starting to suspect something. After all, she must admit, she did look lovely during Queen Susan and King Caspian's wedding and men, seeing that they were visual beings, always grew attracted towards beautiful beings.
The only person who seemed to avoid her was King Edmund and for the first time, she actually felt thankful for the cold shoulder the youngest king had been giving her. There were still suspicious glares and snide comments thrown her way but Hermione grew accustomed already. In fact, one day, she had surprisingly blurted out a witty comeback to one of his sublime insults and the whole table was rendered silent. Hermione wanted to dig a hole and forever live inside it until Peter and Lucy burst out into boisterous laughter, followed by Susan and Caspian. Hermione found herself laughing, too, and did not even mind when the just king stood up from his seat and stormed out of the Dining Hall.
As the days passed by, the sudden attachment of Lucy and Peter to her started to tire Hermione. They were lovely companions, that much she knew, but really, she had other matters to do, like find a way home, which then brought her to the question she had asked the royalties one lunch time.
"I've been meaning to ask this for days," Hermione started, "but I'm always being side-tracked by other things. Um… is there a library here?"
"All of us have personal libraries, Hermione," Peter said, answering her question. "But if you want to be informed, Susan and Edmund's libraries are always the best place to go."
Hermione was not surprised that Susan's library could be informative. But Edmund's? She looked at the king and frowned upon seeing the defiant glare he had thrown towards Peter.
"I'm sure Queen Susan's library will suffice," she slowly said, suppressing a glare when Edmund had looked back at her and raised an eyebrow.
'How immature,' she thought, mentally rolling her eyes. If she were to show it, she was sure Edmund would catch it and start another petty fight and truthfully, Hermione was too tired with his immature antics.
"What must you do in a library?" Edmund had asked.
"Oh, I don't know," Hermione lightly said. "Maybe plot dark plans on how to instantly kill a group of Narnian civilians? Do you have any suggestions, King Edmund?"
She smiled when Edmund glared. Teasing him seemed to be easy now. Although it was plain to see that she was merely joking around, he never failed to give her dark looks every time she teased him. Riling him up was starting to be fun and truth be told, it was one of the things which Hermione enjoyed.
"Read, Edmund," Susan said, a small smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Of course Hermione here wants to read in a library." The married queen looked at the brunette and smiled. "And I'll be glad to lend you my library, Hermione. It's on the second floor, three doors to the right. You can come anytime, if you like."
"Thank you," Hermione said, planning to go to Susan's library after tea time.
"What floor was it again?" Hermione asked herself aloud, annoyed that she got lost in such a vast castle. She wanted to ask the royalties but they seemed to be currently preoccupied right now.
Hermione stopped at the second floor of the castle and frowned. 'Did she say the second floor?' she mentally asked herself, slightly pacing in front of the staircase. She then stopped, finally deciding to go up the third floor, distinctively remembering something about the number three.
She looked at the right side of the hall, remembering that Susan said that her library was two doors to the right. Her footsteps resounded around the whole empty corridor and finally, she reached the second door. Clutching the doorknob, she gingerly opened to door and peeked inside. A huge sigh of relief escaped from her lips as soon as she saw bookshelves lining the whole room and instantly walked inside.
Hermione gently closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. The smell of old books tickled her sense of smell and Hermione could not suppress her smile from growing. It had been a while now since she had gone to the library. And when she meant a while, she meant for months already. Since she and her friends were on the run back in the Wizarding World, Hermione never had the luxury to visit a library anymore.
She then walked towards the nearest bookcase and just touched the spines of the books. She caught a glimpse of Muggle stories, such as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Sherlock Holmes" - books that she loved. Hermione thought she was starting to find more similarities she had with Susan and decided that they must talk more often.
There were unfamiliar books, too. She reckoned they were written here in this magical world. Hermione swore that if she had some free time in the future, she would come here more often and just read these new books in this library.
Hermione walked deeper inside the library and continued to peruse around. One bookshelf, one that was strangely placed at the very back of the library, caught her eyes and Hermione started to read the titles at the spines of the books.
"'Time and Relative Dimension in Space' by Rose Pond," she read aloud.
'Not bad,' she thought, pulling the book from the bookshelf. The book was ordinary blue, although the pages were already yellow due to time and dust. A large pocket watch was drawn on the cover but instead of numbers, Latin words were written.
A loud bang of the door had startled Hermione. The book she was clutching slipped off from her hands and fell loudly on the floor.
"Who's there?"
Hermione's eyes widened upon hearing the unmistakable voice of King Edmund. Dread filled her heart, placing two and two together, and finally realized that she was in the wrong library.
Before she could even hide behind one of the ominous bookshelves, Edmund materialized. His onyx eyes instantly landed on Hermione and scowled upon seeing her.
"I guess it's on the second floor, third room, huh?" she asked, unfazed by the glare on the king's face. Mentally, she cursed herself for jumbling such a simple instruction given to her. "I'll be going now seeing that I'm… err, not welcome anymore."
"No," was King Edmund's curt reply. Hermione blatantly stared at him in surprise but the king rolled his eyes. "Stay and continue what you're doing. God knows how Lucy will react if she heard I kicked you out from my own library."
A small smile appeared on Hermione's face and for politeness' sake, she bowed and scurried over the farthest table she could locate in the library. She grabbed a random book from one of the bookshelves and made herself seem busy, feeling the keen eyes on her.
Her eyebrows rose upon seeing Les Miserables clutched in her hands. This classic novel had always been one of her most favourite. Thoughtfully looking at the king above the book, she thought that for a rude person, he seemed to have quite a good taste in books.
Hermione immediately looked back at the book once the king's eyes met hers. She distinctively heard his footsteps nearing her table and she smirked. 'Here comes another banter, eh?' she told herself, mentally readying.
The chair opposite her was pulled away from the table as King Edmund sat on it. Hermione mentally counted to five and then, Edmund started to talk.
"I don't see the reason why my siblings took a great liking to you, Miss Hermione," Edmund said.
Hermione slowly closed the book and placed it gently on the table. Coolly, she met the suspicious eyes of the king. "I don't see why you don't," she shot back.
"Oho, now she's being cheeky again," he said to no one. "You know, for a girl, you are quite audacious, Miss Hermione."
"Stop doing that," the brunette said, frowning.
"Doing what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know… that. Putting emphasis on my name," she said.
He glared. "I don't see why I should stop it, Miss Hermione," Edmund said. "Is that even your name?"
Hermione took a huge breath and shook her head. "Your suspicion of me is starting to get a little annoying, your majesty," she said.
"The fact that you are obviously keeping secrets from us is getting a little annoying, Miss Hermione," he said. "Lucy's my sister and she does tend to get too friendly with strangers. It's in her nature, but she has good judgment, too. I just think that this time, she's starting to make a mistake."
Edmund stood up abruptly from his seat and started to pace. "There's something about you that is suspicious," he said. "And I think – No, scratch that – I know that you have an ulterior motive." He stopped his pacing, stared squarely into Hermione's warm, brown eyes, and warned, "I'll be watching your every move. One mistake and I will do everything in my power to kick you out from this castle. Am I making myself clear?"
"Crystal," Hermione coolly said.
The king gave her one last glare before turning around and striding out of his personal library.
As soon as he was gone, Hermione released a breath she did not know she had been holding.
King Edmund was too perceptive, far too perceptive for her own liking and Hermione knew that she needed to be more careful in the future.
"Do rest Babbity and I'll take your job for now," Hermione said, shushing the protesting Rabbit. "I'll be fine on my own. Protesting is futile. I'm stubborn, right?"
The feverish Rabbit tried to chuckle but a racking cough escaped from her lips instead.
It was one bright afternoon when Glendolly the Badger told Hermione about Babbity's sudden flu. The brunette immediately grew worried for her friend but the Narnian Healer told her that a whole day's rest would do her good. Thus, Hermione volunteered to take all of Babbity's responsibilities for today.
Now, she was once again wearing the same cloak the Rabbit had given to her back when they were still living in the burrow. Turned out Babbity should venture off to the woods to collect spices for their dinner tonight. Seeing that the Rabbit was incapable to do so, Hermione took it upon herself to collect the spices instead.
As she walked out of the castle's gates, Hermione took a huge breath. It had been a while ever since she walked outside the castle. She had been cooped inside it, doing her usual lady-in-waiting duties. She was thankful that most of the royalties had their own businesses to attend to. Today, Hermione was not bothered by any of them and would very much like to enjoy her freedom.
She had greeted some of the familiar creatures on the streets. Even on such an ordinary day, Narnia was alive and abuzz. Hermione promised that if she were to have a free time in the future, she would venture into this magical world and get to know more about it.
Hermione finally arrived into the clearing of the forest and started to search for the spices. It only took her exactly an hour before her basket was full with the needed ingredients for tonight's meal.
The brunette decided to stay inside the forest for a bit. She was sure that if she came back to Cair Paravel, Lucy would instantly seek for her company. Hermione was surprised that she did not really mind that fact anymore. The youngest queen was such a dear and she found herself not getting bored every time she was talking to Lucy.
An idea suddenly came into Hermione's mind. She brandished her wand from her pocket and decided to try more spells.
"Incendio," she said, waving her wand, but still, not even a spark was conjured.
She murmured more spells. Expelliarmus! Reducto! Oppugno! Still, there were no spells conjured.
Hermione finally gave up after a very powerful Sectumpsempra. Frustrated, she threw her wand on the ground and glared darkly at it.
"Why won't you work?" she exclaimed in fury.
'I must research more,' she told herself, grabbing her wand and standing up. She pocketed the useless stick and clutched the basketful of spices, ready to walk back to Cair Paravel, but was horrified to discover that she was unable to do so. Hermione looked down at her feet and discovered that her feet were held back by ice.
"What?" she asked in disbelief, bending down as she inspected the ice.
A cold breeze brushed her cheek and she instinctively shivered. Nearby bushes started to freeze up and Hermione, not knowing what to do, started to panic.
"Betrayal by the most unlikely."
Hermione whipped around. "Hello?" she cried, fidgeting to break the ice holding her feet. "Who's there?"
"Princess of the Lions."
The voice had filled Hermione's senses and she reeled forward, her hands now covering her ears.
"Fire against Ice."
A loud gasp escaped from Hermione's lips as chills ran down her spine.
"The Ice will be back."
'Calm down, Hermione,' she told herself, willing the fear that suddenly engulfed her senses to dissipate.
"Until then, beware. Beware. Beware. Beware. Beware."
She whipped around, left and right, looking for the source of the voice but found no one. Everything around her had turned into ice, the wind became biting cold. She closed her eyes tightly and willed this strangeness to go away.
"Hermione?" a voice, a different one, called for her attention but Hermione refused to open her eyes.
"Hermione?" the voice repeated again and Hermione could detect panic already. "Hermione?" A warm hand encircled around her wrist and Hermione jolted up. Instinctively, she pulled her wand out again and pointed it under the chin of the intruder, who turned out to be High King Peter.
"I-I…" she stammered, slowly pulling back her wand hand and inconspicuously pocketing her wand.
"I've been waking you up for quite a while now," he said, smiling at her warmly, although she could detect a tinge of worry.
Hermione looked around and was surprised to see that everything was back to normal. To Peter's surprise, she bent down and inspected her feet and saw that they were free to move again.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
The brunette ran a tired hand across her face and smiled disbelievingly. "I'm fine," she said. "It's just that I…" She shook her head and smiled. "I'm fine."
"Well, glad to see you are," he said, chuckling good-naturedly. "Although that little stick you pointed at me had surprised me a little. I'm quite sure that such a useless stick won't defend you against rebels or wild animals."
"Right," she said, sheepishly smiling. "Sorry. Instincts, you know. It was the closest thing I could clutch onto. By the way, what are you doing here, your majesty?"
Peter shrugged. "Just hunting alone. And please do drop the 'your majesty' or 'high king'. 'Peter' will suffice and I think we already reached the point when we can actually call each other friends," he said, once again smiling charmingly. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Babbity's sick and I volunteered to do her job for the whole day," she explained. She bent down once again and clutched the basketful of spices. "Well, I think it's best if I go back now, your ma – err… Peter."
The High King smiled. "Let me accompany you back, then," he said. "It's good that I met you here, eh?"
"Well…" Hermione said, telling herself it was a bad idea. But the remnants of her nightmare were still hovering at the back of her mind and she would be damned if she was to be left alone once again. "Okay."
Peter smiled widely and offered his arm. "Shall we?" he asked. Hermione gingerly held his arm and together, they both returned back to Cair Paravel.
Hermione looked behind, confused of what she had dreamt a while ago. It was so vivid in her mind but she brushed it off.
"Is everything all right?" Peter asked.
"Yes," she immediately answered, smiling up at the king. "Everything's all right."
She looked behind once again, and then looked straight ahead, failing to see a little flower still covered with ice.
A/N: Eep, what's this? A strange voice saying strange words to Hermione! :D
So, how'd you like it? Good? Bad? Eh? Meh? Tell me in your reviews!
Summer finally started here in our country and that means I have more time making new stories! I'm still in the process of typing the Dramione I'm making, which proves as a struggle for me. It's different from my other stories, just so you know. More dramatic, if I were to describe it. Eh, but I'll try my best to finish it before school starts once again.
I'll be quite busy watching movies and series, though. Does anyone here watch BBC TV series? If yes, LET ME LOVE YOU. I've recently watched "Doctor Who", "Sherlock", and "Merlin" and holy hell, my life has never been the same before. Kudos to those who pinpointed the "Doctor Who" reference in this chapter :D So, if anyone out there is a fan, tell me and we can go fangirling together :D
Yes, well, that's it for now. Until Friday, then!
With love,
WickedlyAwesomeMe