I trudge on, still flipping through the pages of the book to try to find some sort of way to know where the castle is. The whole time I'm walking there is this nagging feeling in the back of my head. It's not like the other ones though, not like the ones about my name, or that I love books. It's bigger than that. The feeling keeps transferring into my stomach and then back into my head, and I rack my brains trying to figure out what I'm feeling, what I'm remembering. It starts with an H. The fact hits me like a block of cement and I realize his name starts with an H. His name? Was it my boyfriend? I try to remember, but nothing more comes. I repeat everything I know about myself in my head over and over as I walk.
My name is Hermione G—Grenger. No wait, Granger. Someone I love has a name with an H. I love books. I know magic spells somehow. The list stops there. That's all I know about who I am or where I came from. It's scary. How do I even know my name is Hermione? I look at the robes again. The printed lettering on the house crest (what's that?) reads Hermione Granger. I read it correctly. The sun begins to set, and I realize I'll have to find somewhere to hide in these woods. It's cold out here, and I need to get warm…The trees are strange around here. Some have a disease I know I've seen before that covers them in hairs. They're so hairy that I don't want to sleep in th—Hairy. Hairy! Harry!
"HARRY!" I yell out loud. Not like the trees, but like the boy I've been trying to remember!
"HARRY POTTER!" I scream, and I laugh harder than I can remember ever laughing. But then again, I can't remember much. Harry Potter? Who was he? Who is he? Harry Potter. Just the thought of knowing his name makes me tremble with excitement. Whoever he is, he means something to me. I have to find him. Maybe he's at this Hogwarts. He has to be, if he's magic like me. I know he is. How old am I? I'm his age. I'm…I'm…Sixteen? Fifteen? I can't remember which of the two it is. I can't remember. My smile fades, but I'm still excited. Back to the fact before me. Where can I sleep? There is a pile of bricks, presumably where a house used to be, right in front of a large oak. I can see a hole, a hollow in the oak behind the bricks. Was it someone's home? Is it someone's home? I walk over to the bricks and pull a few apart. Behind them, inside the huge tree there is light! I pull apart a few more and suddenly drop one on my foot.
"EEEK!" squeals a high voice.
"EEEK!" squeals mine.
Inside of the hole, a little tiny person is pocking its head out at me. Its eyes are the size of tennis balls, huge and brown, and it has flappy ears that remind me of some sort of elephant. Its nose it pointed up and it is wearing a pillow case...With a scarf and a hat and some shoes. Tiny wisps of hair dot its head but other than that its fleshy, saggy skin is bare. The thing continues to shriek, and I do too. What is it?!
"Who are you?!" I manage to yelp. I hadn't talked much until now, and I realize I'm British. The fact that I've just realized that seems stupid—Of course I'm British.
"I—I'm…"
The little person stops shrieking and I realize it's a she.
"I'm Dilly, Dilly the House Elf."
Dilly pauses, looking to the ground for a moment, and then back up.
"And I'm the only free House Elf in the world!" she says with remarkable pride.
No you're not. Dob—Dob—Dobb… I don't remember anything else. But my brain keeps telling me she's not the only one.
"Who are you?" she asks me.
"That's a good question…" I sigh.
Then I put my hand out to shake hers.
"I'm Hermione. Hermione Grenger—err—Granger."
The elf hesitates, and then takes my hand to shake it.
"W—Would you like to come in?"
I can see she doesn't trust me. Not like Harry does. There he is again, popping up in my head.
"Err—Yes! I need a place to stay." I mumble, undoing my hair from a ponytail and letting it flow to my shoulders. I put Hogwarts a History back into my robes.
"Well then…"
The little elf snaps her fingers, and the bricks unlace themselves like a puzzle. There is room for me to come in. I have seen that brick charm before…I can't remember where, or why. Squeezing through the hole in the tree, I come to find that the ceiling is rather large in here, perfect for me and huge for a House-Elf. Whatever they are. Then, stone steps go down into a larger room underground, that leads to a glass window looking out into the underwater of a deep murky lake. I take off my robes and hang them on the coat rack the elf has, which is much too small but I use it anyways. Slipping my wand out of the robes and putting it in my back-pocket. I turn to the elf, who snaps her fingers again and watches, satisfactorily as they lace themselves together again.
"Thank you so much for letting me stay here. I just ran away from an old house where these people were keeping my prisoner."
The elf's face gets shadowy.
"The old Mclaggen house. They're not to be trifled with…Not at all. Vampires, they are."
I choose not to tell her of my transformation, but I accidentally remind myself of it while doing so. Was the Nelly woman telling the truth? Has a transformation from Human to Vampire begun on me? I don't know…I don't know what it'd feel like. How will I know? What if something happens in the night? Panic rises in me, but I discard it. I need to calm down and get some rest tonight.
"Erm…" I clear my throat, "where should I sleep?"
"You can have my bed Mrs. Granger." says the Elf kindly.
"Ms." I correct her. "I'm not married."
Then again, I don't know that. For all I know, this Harry Potter could be my husband. But if I really am Sixteen or Fifteen (which by the looks of it, I am), then I'm probably not married.
When I finally get into bed, feeling sorry for Dilly, who's cuddled up under her scarf by a fireplace, I realize my legs are way too long. That little elf is probably only three feet tall, while I'm more of five and a half. I just rest my legs on the floor, and take my wand of my pocket, flicking it back and forth. Who was I? That's what taunts me as I fall asleep. It's not the question itself exactly, but the idea that I may never know. What if I never reach Harry Potter, or Hogwarts? I can't keep my hopes that low. I will find both of them. When I finally drift off to sleep, I'm still flicking my wand back and forth.
I wake in the middle of the night. My hair feels frizzy, like it used to be back when I was young, and I immediately cover my eyes, because there is a white light in the middle of the room. Have the people found me? What is it? I look to my left and see that Dilly, the House Elf, is cowering behind my arm. Below me my wand lies on the ground, and I can see white strands of silky light coming from it. As my eyes adjust, I see that the bright white thing is an otter. As soon as I look it in the eye, it starts to scamper around the room, hopping and swimming through the air. The strands of light coming out of my wand…Did I make this?
"What is it?" Dilly squeaks.
"A patronus." I whisper, not knowing what the term means.
The otter scampers around even more, and then suddenly it stops in midair. I wave my wand violently and it perks up. What's it doing? Then without looking back, the little white Otter swoops forward through the air, charging into the glass window that the little Elf made to block out the water. As soon as it hits the glass, both the Otter and the window shatter and the same time, and water instantly floods in. The elf shrieks and screams and I do too, and we wade forward as the water gets higher, covering the Elf completely and coming to my waist. We reach the steps and go up into the room as fast as we can, but the water chases us, flooding in from the lake. I try to grab my robes but get only the book from its pockets. No sooner have I gotten that when the water is up to my neck in the other room.
"Do it!" I yell at the Elf, and she snaps her fingers the best she can. Water surround me face and I'm engulfed. What's happening? I can't see anything. The water is dirty and black. What's happening?! Hermione Granger will die without ever finding out who she really i—Suddenly there's a huge flash of light and the brick wall collapses into the forest. Water floods out and the elf and I are catapulted out into the woods. The water keeps coming, rising and falling in loads as the house collapses, until finally there's practically nothing left. We both lay there for a moment in the dark, and I weep as I scramble to my feet.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I say. I caused it. I must've conjured the Patronus in my sleep. Wait…What's a Patronus? Nevermind. When I lift up my book, I find that there's nothing left but one page, damp and soggy, that I was able to save. The rest of the book is a heap of collapsed paper now. I stare at the page, a picture of the castle, is on it with a brief history of the architecture. I have to find that place. But where will the poor little Elf, Dilly, go? I look up and see her staring in sadness at what's left of the oak tree, and I feel very sorry. It's my fault. She just keeps staring for five minutes, and I stand up, stretching and putting shivering from the cold. The water was freezing, but now some of the ice had hardened on my skin. It's colder than I can ever remember out here tonight.