A/N: Rewritten chapter - there's a whole lot more tagged onto the end than the cliffhanger I left before. I'll try to get the whole next chapter up within the week. Flashbacks are in italics, the trio in current time is regular print. I changed this chapter a lot recently when my proofreading friend informed me that I forgot Harry was not returning to Hogwarts. I wrote this pre HP6 but since I had problems with the inaccuracies, I rewrote the whole flashback so that he was not in school with them. Let me know if I left anything silly - Harry appearing for a single line out of nowhere.
Hermione: Ron! We must get help!
Harry: Yes we must!
Ron: Where the hell did you come from mate?
Harry goes POOF!
Chapter Five: Strangers
With a thud, Hermione hit the cold stone floor. She felt incredibly dizzy and her head ached from where she hit the edge of a banister. Her eyes were recovering from the blinding light of the pensieve and she could scarcely make out a few couches, a crackling fire, and the red and gold decorations of the room around them. She was in the old, familiar Gryffindor common room. Harry and Ron landed with more grace and stood on the opposite side of the room against the wall. They watched the scene with great interest and moved behind two seventeen year old boys playing wizards chess. Two large, blank scrolls of parchment laid next to the board, near the unopened books they needed to write their Transfiguration essays. The redheaded boy watched his knight annihilate his opponent's poor, helpless pawn.
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed. "Neville looks like he's actually winning-"
"Ron, Neville!" A younger, very energetic Hermione burst into the room. "Come quick! The whole DA is meeting. Something happened." She stared at them with wide-eyed impatience.
"Check." Neville cut in.
Ron reached across the table and took Neville's king hostage. "Checkmate. C'mon!" They scooted off of the couch and through the portrait hole with great haste.
"You can't do that!" Harry whined playfully. Ron kicked him back. "C'mon Hermione!" The two boys raced ahead of her after the three students. She took another look around the empty common room before following the mass of people to the Room of Requirement. Ron seemed to be waiting for her in the hall and Harry paced around, deep in thought.
"Harry, you're about two months early." Ron interjected. "I remember this meeting clearly."
"There's something here Ron, I know it. We've gone over this scene many times but we've never had Hermione here. Bear with me okay?" They slipped quietly into the dimly lit DA headquarters where a group of students huddled together whispering quietly.
"What's going on now?" Their young, new leader interrogated the crowd. Ron had taken over the DA in Harry's absence. Their friend was off hunting horcruxes and promised to notify his friends in due time for help.
A tall boy cleared his throat. "Luna and I were out on the grounds when we were confronted by Malfoy. He threatened us and showed us some locket of significance. We told McGonagall about both Malfoy and the locket but she's convinced that his locket is fake and he's using it to taunt us."
"What did it look like Luna?"
"A small, thin silver locket with an engraved S on a delicate chain." Luna recalled. "It looks so much like the pictures from the library books, it has to be real."
Younger Ron pushed himself into the foreground. "You realize this also means that Malfoy's back and he's looking for something from us. He wouldn't just show us the locket without some kind of intention. He's up to something."
"Or he's just tormenting us – trying to send us on a wild goose chase." Hermione stated matter-of-factly. "We've seen fakes before. I'd have to see the locket to believe it."
"Do you think this means Snape's back too?" Ginny queried.
The older Ron looked at the mirage of his sister affectionately. It had been years since he had last seen her and this was as close as he could get to the real thing. He wanted to hug her but he could not move himself from his spot on the wall. He was too afraid to touch her – afraid of seeing his hand slip right through her. It was painful for her to be so close without being able to truly reach her.
"I wouldn't doubt it." His young counterpart replied to his little sister, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Ron could feel a knot in the pit of his stomach. Hermione could see that he did not want to watch, but Harry was so insistent.
"We're gonna be on the lookout."
"Does Harry know?" Ginny continued. "We need to tell him somehow."
"We will." Ron reassured her.
The mind of seventeen-year-old Hermione was flooded with a multitude of different thoughts varying from her recently completed Charms essay to Malfoy to a certain boy she had a crush on in seventh year. Hermione had a brief period of time where she thought she really like Dean, but she had since moved on. Sure she liked Ron as a friend, but she really missed Harry. Even when everything bad seemed to be happening to him, he knew what to do. Ron's attempt to replace Harry in the DA was not convincing.
The older Hermione sighed as she watched the young, lovesick version of herself. She learned the hard way that things would never work between her and Harry. She wondered if anything would spark upon returning to the wizarding world a few days ago, but so far, she hated Harry for bringing her here to the pensieve. Why couldn't I realize that then? Before it became too late.
Ginny had been seeing a certain Slytherin boy in her year despite scolding remarks by all of her peers. "He's just so charming!" Ginny always bubbled. She met him in her Potion's class last year and he helped her "study" the wonderful art form that was brewing magical concoctions. Their late night "study sessions" had not gone unnoticed by Hermione. She had always wondered if Arnold had used some sort of love potion on her, they seemed a very unusual couple. At the same time, she was happy Ginny had found someone. Ginny would tell the other Gryffindors, "I can't help it if our guys aren't mature enough." And with that she would haughtily stride down the Slytherin corridor and meet up with Arnold. Ron was furious that his sister would dare date a Slytherin, and he positively fumed when he saw her sister run off again like she always did.
"You're a loyal one aren't you sis?" Ron shouted.
"That's a Hufflepuff's job!" Ginny snapped back. "You're not the boss of me."
"Ron, don't you have detention with McGonagall?" Hermione chided trying to distract her friend.
"Bugger. I do don't I." Ron exasperated look said all. "She's trying to torture us isn't she? This is for not completing the last Transfiguration essay. And if I don't get back I won't finish the current one either." He let out a long breath. "Better not lose more points for being late now. I'll see you later."
The two older men came over to Hermione and followed her and her memory back to the Gryffindor common room.
"I think McGonagall though she could keep us safe by making us stay in seventh year an extra five years." Ron snickered.
"Here's Hermione's memory now." Harry said trying to act serious.
Hermione sat at the table, opened up some books and marked the pages the boys would need for their essay. She had always been against cheating on schoolwork, but she did feel sorry for the boys and figured it was the least she could do.
"Aww. Thanks 'Mione!" Ron cut in. Hermione shot him a superior look. Around them the scene faded. First all of the color drained out of the room, and then the surroundings grew dimmer until they were standing in a pitch-black room.
"I fell asleep." She answered to their puzzled looks. "Shut up Ron." He closed his mouth. He had been about to remark. They could hear a voice calling from the blank space around them. Then the world came back into focus. "No more comments alright. Promise?" They nodded.
"Hermione wake up!" Ginny whispered harshly. "There's someone outside the portrait hole. I heard people coming as I was getting back."
Hermione rubbed her eyes and pushed herself off of the couch with much difficulty. "Have you seriously been with Arnold this whole time?" She yawned. "What time is it?" The dusty twilight sky outside showed it to be just before dawn.
In the meantime, Ginny had run upstairs and grabbed Ron's invisibility cloak. Harry had purchased another one as a gift to his friend before leaving. Hermione picked her wand off the table and pulled the cloth hastily over the two of them. They leaned into the portrait hole and heard muffled voices.
"Well if Harry isn't going to cooperate with us, there are other ways to convince him." The voice was whispering and Hermione was unable to distinguish the voice's owner.
"What do we have to do sir?"
The whispering became even quieter. Ginny leaned in so that her ear was touching the thick fabric. The fat lady started giggling and shouting about how ticklish she was. The two figures in the hallway took off at a run.
"Let's go!" They shot out of the portrait hole and ran down the hall in a clumsy fashion. Hermione eventually threw off the cloak and just ran along next to Ginny so that she could keep up.
"They split up!" The invisible voice of Ginny called from ahead. She was definitely faster than Hermione.
"I'll take the left, you take the right!" Hermione called back. She heard the footsteps of Ginny click away down one corridor to the stairs toward the dungeons. Hermione ran the opposite direction. She hopped down several flights of stairs toward the Great Hall. As she was approaching the main hallway, she saw the large wooden front doors blow shut. She ran through the doors and out onto the lawn. She could feel trickling rain slapping against her face. A figure in black darted ahead of her towards Hagrid's pumpkin patch. She chased after it, her tired legs beginning to ache. She hoped Ginny was around somewhere. The grass was very slippery and hard to run through. They raced around the hut towards the woods.
There was no moon. They sky was darker than she had ever seen it. Thick clouds obscured the dark twilight sky. The rain was coming down harder. Raindrops trickled down her face into her eyes and she had to keep wiping them away with her already soaked sleeves. She ran through the pumpkin patch, accidentally kicking a large pumpkin in the process. Hagrid would forgive her for that.
"Lumos!" Her wand tip lit up as she headed into the haunted forest. She could hear crackling noises of twigs under feet, but it was too impossibly dark to tell where the figures were. She was not sure why they would be running. What did they have to be afraid of? Hermione should have been afraid. She quickly realized that she could be putting herself in danger and extinguished the wand. She kept running forward, listening for anything that would alert her to the whereabouts of another person. Thunder cracked loudly overhead. A blinding flash of light lit up the forest for a split second, allowing Hermione to run to a clearer area. Then it was dark again.
A stinging pain shot up Hermione's arm as she slammed into a living object of some sort. She heard her cloak rip and could feel warm blood trickling down her sleeve. She felt something wrap around her leg and she quickly fended it off with her wand. The limbs of the whomping willow thrashed around wildly. She heard a scream from the opposite side. Ducking the blows she ran around the tree. She knew that voice and she was going to find him. Her sopping wet clothing clung to her body and weighed her down. She threw off her heavy black cloak and continued running while brushing her soaked chestnut hair out of her face.
The footsteps were gone. She stopped and strained her ear to hear something, anything. She was answered by the chirp of crickets and the hoot of owls. The figure she had been running after must have stopped moving. She walked forward quietly. A few short crackling noises cut through the silence then stopped. Hermione shot behind what appeared to be a normal tree. The noises were coming closer, in short bursts. Then she saw a bolt of red light so bright that it lit up the forest. It was like no lightning she had ever seen. She could see the black outlines of the trees transposed against the blood red sky. Ahead, the figure of a man stood defiantly and gave out a low laugh. She tried to duck but he saw her. He whipped out his wand.
"Alone Mudblood?" He continued. "Whatever will you do without Potty and Weasel to save you?" He held his wand in front of his face as he walked closer to her.
"What do you want Malfoy!?" She shrieked at him.
"I don't know why you're even asking Granger."
Her heart pounded in her chest and she could feel it in her throat. The hot rain beat mercilessly down on the two figures alone in the woods. "Expelliarm-" She could feel some force grab her tightly and throw her to the floor of the forest. All of the air was knocked out of her lungs and the surroundings went black for a moment. She tried to open her eyes and stand up again but her surroundings were very hazy. She scurried over to her displaced wand as the world slowly came back into focus.
"I'm here to make a deal with you Granger."
"Why on earth would I agree to do something like that?" Hermione screamed.
"Because I'm going to help you get the last horcrux." He answered casually.
"I don't need your help."
Malfoy walked closer to her. Hermione was just about to shout another spell at him but something made her stop. "Granger, you're a very smart witch. Some day you're going to do something really great for this world." Hermione stared at him for a minute. He gave her a coolly defiant smile. "Aren't you sick of being a mudblood Granger? I mean, aren't you sick of being treated like a mudblood?"
"You arrogant little-"
"But seriously. You're never going to be appreciated where you are. Harry's so preoccupied with saving the world. Ginny gets to join him on the adventures while you stay behind at Hogwarts. And Ron is head of the DA. Where does that leave you Granger?"
"I help my friends." Hermione had lowered to a normal speaking volume, but every word was still dripping in acid. "I'm needed at Hogwarts."
"It's silly for all your talent to go to waste. You help me, I'll help you."
"So your locket WAS a fake..."
"Very good Granger, I knew you were smart. As if I'd really be here if I actually had the last horcrux."
"How are you going to help me Malfoy?" She whipped her wand out and pointed it straight into his throat. Instead of pulling away like she expected, he took a step closer to her, gripped the end of the wand so that it didn't jab him when he approached and moved his face so it was just an inch away from hers.
"I know where the last horcrux is, but not how to get it. That's where you're unusually large brain comes in." He whispered. "Come on Granger. If you're going to turn me into toast do it already." She pressed the wand into his throat harder, causing him to clench up his face for a moment. "I'm not stopping you." He was breathing on her face, which was rather uncomfortable, but moving away would be giving him a chance to escape. This couldn't be as bad as it seemed. On first glance, she'd be betraying her friends. But Hermione's brain was going a million miles a minute. This would be the perfect way to spy on Malfoy, to keep him away from Harry. If she could get the final horcrux, Harry could rejoin them for good. He could rejoin her for good. This whole war would be over. She only needed to know where it was. She was smarter than Malfoy, and she'd find a way to take the horcrux. That would give her the chance to finally prove herself to the others.
Malfoy put his fingertip under the wand and pried it away from his neck. "So, you're considering?"
"I'll do it to end the war. Never for you."
"The war will end. And you'll be on the successful side. You'll see. Meet me tomorrow, midnight, at the edge of the forest. We'll get started."
"I'll be there Malfoy." With that, Draco Malfoy slipped silently away into the woods.
"Bloody hell, what are you doing Hermione?" Ron whipped out his wand and pointed it straight at her. "I thought maybe he coerced you, but NO you walked willingly to him." His eyes became huge and protruded from either side of his freckled nose. "I was giving you the benefit of the doubt Hermione. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?" Ron's face twisted up and he looked somewhat deranged. She was extremely foolish to believe that Ron would ever understand why she acted as she did. Ron was always so immature, as if he'd ever understand something like love.
"Ron I can explain! It's not what it seems!"
"I don't need you to explain! You joined Malfoy and nearly killed my little sister." He was screaming at her. "We don't need her Harry." He lifted his wand to her forehead. Even though Ron could let his rage get the better of him, she didn't think he would do anything. Unless he was being really rash…
"Drop the wand Ron!" Harry screamed. "This isn't over yet." For a brief moment, Hermione could see the same boy that she fell in love with in their sixth year. After everything she had been through, things could never be the same between them.
"There are still more memories to sift through." Harry continued, breaking the awkward silence he had caused. Ron reluctantly lowered his wand.
Things could never be the same between any of them.
A/N: Please tell me what you think:) See that little box down there? It's calling you...
And clearly I'm not going to finish this before HP7 comes out...I'm so excited for the book though! This story is going to be reather AU very soon.
The "Ron has mood swings" comment from the last chapter actually has a story behind it. A friend did a sort of beta reading of this chapter for me before I posted it, and she asked me whether or not I purposely portrayed Ron with major PMS. I didn't notice it at first – but it was funny, so I put in the part about his mood swings. So I've decided, all flames will be dealt with by the moody, PMS-ing Ron. He doesn't seem to realize that he shouldn't have that problem. Poor ickle Ronnikins!