Chapter Two
Hi everyone thank you so much for all the favourites and story alerts so far I am loving the fact that these story is being so well received. However I am still waiting for my first review, so if you want to take 10 seconds out of your life after you've read this chapter and review this story you will have an eternally grateful CJ. Plus a mention in my notes in Chapter Three so please review and as always enjoy
Love C.J.
"Hermione?" Kara called the other girl the moment Hermione sat in her chair.
"Yes Kara," Hermione said in an exasperated tone. She attempted to smile but it didn't reach her eyes.
"I was just going to ask if you wanted to walk to the atrium with me I assume you are going home it is 5.35."
"Yeah," Hermione yawned "that sounds amazing."
"Sounds like you need home more than me," Kara smiled as the two girls entered the lift. They exited six minutes later and Hermione began to feel a little queasy. She couldn't help it, the lift at the ministry of Magic always did that to her since her first visit in the fifth year.
5.42 p.m.
Almost the entire lift exited the at the atrium, most people were heading back to homes, flats and loved ones or on to dinner and dancing. Hermione's mind was very definitely fixed on the former when Kara exiting the lift mis-judged the small gap and tripped. In an effort to steady herself she grabbed Hermione who began to fall too. Hermione's toe snagged on the lift door she heard something crunch and looked down. The heel of her favourite pair of shoes had come loose from the shoe itself.
"Damn," she swore.
"That sucks," Kara agreed looking down "I am so sorry Hermione I really didn't mean to it was an accident."
"I know don't worry about it. I have some flats in my office I will see you tomorrow Kara." She said walking back into the lift.
"Ok bye Hermione," Kara smiled still looking a little worried.
5.42 p.m.
Almost the entire lift exited the lift at the atrium, most people were heading back to homes, flats and loved ones or on to dinner and dancing. Hermione's mind was very definitely fixed on the former when Kara tripped in front of her on the gap between the lift and the atrium. Hermione grabbed her hand pulling her up.
"Two left feet," she smiled as they exited the lift into the bust atrium.
"Are you heading to the apparition area?" Hermione asked Kara.
"No I have no drop these notes off at magical law enforcement first see you tomorrow."
"Ok bye."
5.50 p.m.
Hermione searched through her desk trying to find the sliver flat shoes she knew were hiding in one of the drawers of her desk. She had left them there months earlier after a much cheaper pair of heels had also suffered a broken heel and she had been forced to work barefoot. Determined to never suffer the same fate she decided to leave a pair of flat shoes in her workplace. Finally finding them in the bottom of the last drawer she fished them out and put them on her feet she felt decidedly smaller as she placed the broken heels in that same drawer. Still yawning she headed back to lift and her second trip of the day down to the atrium.
5.50 p.m.
It was finally Hermione's turn to disapparate from the atrium and she turned at will and disappeared. She re-appeared two streets away from her flat. On sunny days she always apparated to this point. It was a quiet alley that few people ever came down and it gave her a chance to have a walk through the park on her way home. Today was a perfect spring day but the second Hermione appeared she knew something was wrong. She turned around slowly certain someone was behind her but wishing that she was wrong. She wasn't. Stood behind her were two figures. The first was recognisable anywhere he had haunted her nightmares in the first years after the war: Thorfinn Rowle. The second Hermione did not recognise he was shorter and squatter than Rowle but for some reason a glint in his eye told Hermione he was just as dangerous. The three froze for a second when Hermione clapped eyes on the men as though under a spell no one moved. Then suddenly Hermione lurched forward and the spell was broken.
She tried to run, she really did but to begin with Hermione was hampered by her footwear. The heels she wore would have been hard for an Olympian to run in and if Hermione was honest she was no runner. The two men were fitter and faster. She almost made it. Barely a metre from the alley, sunshine and a busy street they caught her.
Hermione was unsure who grabbed her first but when he swung her round it was into Rowle's face that she stared. She shuddered as she tried to escape from the man but he held her too tight. She opened her mouth but before she could make a noise the other man cast a spell over her and although she opened her voice no sound came out. In a loud pop all three disappeared.
5.57 p.m.
When Hermione reached the atrium it was much quieter than usual. She knew that just ten minutes earlier the space would have been full but now it just contained the last few stragglers like herself.
"Night Hermione," waved Francois a french healer also at the same trauma meetings as her.
"Night Francois." She replied and disapparated. It was a perfectly sunny spring day but the second Hermione appeared she knew something was wrong. She turned around slowly certain someone was behind her but wishing that she was wrong. She wasn't. Stood behind her were two figures. The first was recognisable anywhere he had haunted her nightmares in the first years after the war: Thorfinn Rowle. The second Hermione did not recognise he was shorter and squatter than Rowle but for some reason a glint in his eye told Hermione he was just as dangerous. The three froze for a second when Hermione clapped eyes on the men as though under a spell no one moved. Then suddenly Hermione lurched forward and the spell was broken. She ran faster than she thought was possible it was only fifty metres but the run seemed to last forever. A metre from the end of the alley Hermione was sure she would be caught. She felt Rowle's fingers almost catch her arm. Thankfully she was wearing flat shoes knowing she would never make it in heels she exited the alley. Sunshine flooded her skin. The street was as busy as any spring evening Hermione felt herself be jostled and shook by muggles that moved around her. She risked a glance over her shoulder. She couldn't see the two men but she was sure they were just behind her she crossed the road narrowly avoiding a black London taxi as she ran into the nearby park. She found a quiet spot behind a tree and disappeared.
Notes: Ok hope I explained that well enough so that everyone got it my proof-reader got it straight away but I am paranoid so here it is again.
As Hermione and Kara exit the lift (elevator in American) Kara trips up. In one version she trips up pulling Hermione with her Hermione's heel breaks and she's forced to go back to her office to change her shoes. When Hermione apparated into the alley two Death Eaters are waiting for her and in her flats she manages to outrun them.
In the second version Kara also trips but doesn't grab Hermione with her. Hermione's shoes are intact and thus when she apparates into the alley she is caught by the same death eaters waiting for her.
This idea was inspired by both the films, Run Lola Run and Sliding Doors. In both cases the action of someone externally affects the outcome of the protagonist. Hope that helped, from now on both story lines will not be appearing simultaneously but instead it will be one version in one chapter then the other then the first etc. until the end of the story.
