Disclaimer : All Harry Potter persons, places, and things are copyright of the one and only JK Rowling. I don't own a thing.

The Darkest of Wishes

Chapter 2

Awakening Nightmare

Hermione rolled over and felt as if she had been run over by a raging hippogriff. Her eyes barely opened, but nothing registered. Everything was still dark and she figured that she still had quite a while to sleep.

"Hermione!"

Hermione wrinkled her nose and put a pillow over her head. She felt a finger poke her back, and to get away she rolled over; then the finger poked her side which made Hermione jump.

"Whassamatter," she mumbled as she rolled over again. Her eyes were slowly adjusting and Hermione wondered why no sunlight was coming into the room. She sat up and looked down at the green sheets. Hermione stared at them for a moment, wondering where her red sheets had gone. She shrugged, figuring somebody was playing a trick, but when she looked up from the sheets she saw the figure of a girl at the foot of her bed.

"Aren't you hungry?"

Hermione's eyes tried to focus in the darkness. Finally the girl walked over to her side. And the moment that Hermione realized who she was, her mouth gaped open.

Pansy Parkinson, in all of her pug-faced, blonde hair glory, was standing inches away.

"What... you... GET OUT!" Hermione screamed, as she tossed the covers off of her, grasping for her wand.

"Ooh. Touchy. Come, now, Hermione, no need to-"

Hermione's hand finally wrapped around her wand and she jumped down to the cold floor. "Get out! You horrid-"

"That's a laugh." Pansy hopped up onto Hermione's bed and smoothed out the covers.

"What?" Hermione backed against the wall and jumped slightly at the coolness of it. She looked around and noticed the Slytherin logo hanging over the doorway and silver and green were everywhere in the room.

"Horrid? Me?" Pansy laughed and fluffed one of the pillows on the bed. "Pot calling the kettle black, are we?"

"How... how'd you get in here?" Hermione continued to look around the room. Five four-poster beds, Slytherin colors everywhere... surely Hermione hadn't walked down to the dungeons. No, she didn't know the password into the Slytherin common room.

Pansy looked at Hermione like she had five heads. "I walked." She then hopped off the bed and placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Stop being so mental; did you have another one of those nightmares?"

Hermione watched as Pansy's hand touched her shoulder, almost as if Pansy actually had any kind of empathy towards another human being. Maybe Pansy was on to something when she mentioned something about a nightmare. There was no way that Hermione was... no... what in the name of Merlin was going on?

"Nightmare," Hermione muttered, mostly to herself.

"Y'know - about the Grim." Pansy's hand left Hermione's shoulder, which Hermione was thankful for. That had felt more than just odd. The atmosphere held no compassion at all. Something was definitely not right. This was obviously a joke.

"No." Hermione walked over to her bed and looked underneath the bed where her case usually was. She pulled it out of it's hiding place and opened it. Inside; there were some very nice clothes, a mirror, a hair brush, a book (The Greenwich Witches by Abermae Banilique - a book that Hermione had never heard of before), and robes. Hermione shut the case and turned her attention around to Pansy. She looked back at the case, this wasn't hers. Just one book? Those nice clothes…

Suddenly, Hermione remembered something. Her diary! She reached underneath her pillow, hoping to find the tiny black book. But there was nothing there. She crossed her arms and sat down heavily on the case, feeling it creak slightly under her weight.

"Well," she heard Pansy say. "Now that you're done being mental, want to go eat breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" Hermione asked stupidly. "Will we be going up for breakfast?"

"Yes - up. Do I need to take you to Madame Pomfrey?" Pansy put her hand on her hip and her blonde hair flailed. "You're sure acting . . . odd . . . today."

"No," Hermione turned back around and opened her case. She took out a Slytherin cloak and threw it onto her bed. "I don't need to go to Madame Pomfrey."

"Well, get dressed then, and we'll go eat. Maybe some food will do you some good."

"Yes, I do believe it will." Hermione stared at her Slytherin robes and wondered what exactly was going on.

x x x x x

I've obviously gone into a different reality where I am a Slytherin. That is not entirely improbable. Or some wizard did some sort of spell to get me into Slytherin. Or someone has meddled with time... oh, that can't be good.

Hermione's head kept spinning with all of her thoughts. I really must talk to Harry and Ron.

As Hermione followed Pansy through the Slytherin common room; Hermione was very aware of her surroundings as she marched through, but nobody gave her any trouble. In fact, people moved out of her way. A few achingly tall Slytherin boys strode up beside her and asked her how she was doing this morning. Hermione shrugged and said she had a headache, which certainly was not a lie. It seemed like that was the right thing to say, especially since the two didn't say anything the rest of the way to the Great Hall.

Hermione walked into the Great Hall where the chatter filled up the room. Hermione stood on her tiptoes to try and find Ron and Harry at the Gryffindor table, but Pansy yanked her in the other direction.

"What are you doing?" She whispered as she pulled Hermione to a seat.

"I was looking for someone."

"A Gryffindor?" Pansy's eyebrows raised high onto a forehead. It made her look ridiculous.

"What does it matter?" Hermione reached forward for a piece of toast, and her hand met up with a rather pale one.

"Morning, Granger."

Hermione stopped immediately and locked eyes with none other than Draco Malfoy. She slowly pulled her hand back, leaving the toast to fend for itself.

"What's wrong with you?" He grabbed the toast and smeared some jelly on it.

"She's been acting completely odd all morning," Pansy's voice suddenly sounded different. Like she was trying to sound sultry.

Hermione looked over, hoping to find the cause for Pansy's sudden change of tone and inflection. If Hermione hadn't already been completely put off her guard by everything that had happened so far this morning, she would have laughed out loud at the site. Instead she faintly snorted. Pansy was twirling her hair, hoping that Draco would notice her. Her eyes were desperate, as if she was willing to hop over the table and snog him at any moment should he ever be so inclined to ask.

Hermione was completely disgusted by the scene.

"Odd?" He stuffed the toast into his mouth.

"Yes-" Pansy began.

"Yes," Hermione butted in. "I found the state I was in this morning to not be a pleasant one."

Draco gave her a half smile, completely ignoring Pansy's adoring stares. "Why so?"

Go with it,

Hermione told herself. You won't be here long, just say something completely horrid. Maybe I'll get sent back!

"I realized I'd have to eat breakfast alongside you." Hermione reached forward and grabbed a piece of toast and bit off a piece. "You know, Pansy, this toast is actually quite delicious."

Pansy looked at Hermione, again, like she had lost her mind. Hermione, then, stole a look over to Draco, who actually looked dumbfounded. Without a moment's hesitation, he had stood and gathered his books. He left the Hall in such a rush that Hermione almost didn't have any time to laugh.

"Ow!" Hermione grabbed her arm where Pansy had smacked her. "What was that for?"

"How dare you treat him like that!" Pansy's eyes were completely full of... something... it looked like a mix of jealousy and disappointment, and maybe even fear. "You know he's sorry."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh, "Sorry?" More laughter. "Draco Malfoy? Sorry?"

"You know he is." Pansy shook her head and nibbled at some of her eggs. Hermione thought she heard her whisper something to the effect of, "And so am I."

Hermione sat there, suddenly not hungry. She wasn't sure if she liked where this was going. Actually, no. She was positive that she didn't like where this was going. In fact, she hated where this was going. Hated.

"Look, I know when you went through... well... you know... he apologized and I thought you said that you were both... over it. And, that, well... you would stop ignoring him and treating him-"

"I won't stop, especially not after the way he's treated me..." Hermione stopped. This was going exactly where she thought this was going. "Wait, are you talking about a relationship?" Hermione didn't want to hear the answer, since everything that Pansy had been saying was pretty much built towards the answer she was about to hear.

"Hermione?" Pansy asked incredulously. "You aren't being serious are you? You know that I'm talking about you and Draco. You were together for about two years."

Hermione felt the bile creep up her throat and all she could do was run out of the Great Hall and to the nearest bathroom. She kept herself from throwing up, but she felt sick the rest of the day. She walked up to the Hospital Wing, ignoring everything around her, and got to stay out of the first couple of classes for the day. Madame Pomfrey had practically forced her to stay when she saw how listless she was. Hermione felt bad about missing classes, but she felt that she needed to sort things out in her own head. After lunch, Hermione told Madam Pomfrey that she was feeling better and that she needed a little bit of air.

As soon as she shut the door to the Hospital Wing; Hermione found herself wanting to see the Fat Lady. Hermione sighed and turned around to go back down the staircases and see if she could at least research something about alternate realities in the library. Of course, she'd need to be in the Restricted Section, but she figured that she'd have no problem of obtaining a slip from a teacher.

Hermione walked to Professor McGonagall's room, and peeked inside to make sure she didn't have a class. She knocked on the door and heard McGonagall's voice welcome her inside.

"Miss Granger, why do I have the privilege of such a visit?" Hermione could have sworn that McGonagall had reached for her wand the moment she had seen who had walked through the door.

"Professor, there's a book in the Restricted Section. I was wondering-"

"You're reading now?"

Hermione was completely taken aback. Wasn't she always reading? What kind of a question was that? But all she seemed to be able to say was, "Er…"

"You never read any assignments I give to you in class, why would you begin to read now?"

"Professor, I-"

"No, Miss Granger, I will not give you permission to obtain access into the Restricted Section of the library."

"But, Professor!"

"That will be enough. I will see you tomorrow in class. Good day, Miss Granger." McGonagall bent her head over a piece of parchment that had a lot of red markings. The conversation was over.

"Good day, Professor." Hermione shut the door and leaned up against it.

Not only am I in Slytherin, but I don't do my assignments! How embarrassing.

x x x x x

Hermione had been to see Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra; both didn't see fit to give Hermione a pass. Hermione figured it was time to go to Professor Snape. She figured that since she was in Slytherin, she would probably be a favorite; and might actually obtain some sort of permission slip.

"Professor Snape?" Hermione opened the door to the Potions classroom, and then made her way towards the back of the classroom where Snape's office was. "Professor?"

"Ah, Miss Granger." Hermione whirled around to see Professor Snape standing at the classroom door. Hermione quickly shut the office door and smiled at Professor Snape. This felt rather odd, but Hermione had to try. "How can I help you?"

Hermione nodded her head and moved towards Snape. "I came to ask you a question."

"From one of my top students? That's something..." Snape walked to the front of the classroom, his cape billowing behind him.

"I was wondering if you would give me permission to get a potions book from the Restricted Section of the Library." Hermione heaved a sigh. That wasn't too bad. Now all she had to do was wait for him to say, "No, Miss Know-It-All Granger, don't you know enough?"

"Which book did you want to check out?" Snape smiled in a way that Hermione thought he knew that she wanted to look for something other than potion assignments.

"I don't remember exactly, but it does have the Polyjuice Potion in it."

"We start studying that potion next term, Hermione, but if you would like, I will give you a pass for that book and any other two of your liking." Snape scribbled something down on a roll of parchment and handed it to Hermione.

"Next time, you don't have to ask. Just come to me with your list already written and I'll sign it."

Hermione didn't like the smile that Snape had on his face, but she thanked him and headed off to the library.

x x x x x

"Not one thing." Hermione slammed the book shut as the Ravenclaw next to her got up quickly and moved in the other direction. Hermione watched as a Hufflepuff, who had been walking towards Hermione, looked up and spotted her, and then turned towards another pile of books. Hermione figured that she obviously wasn't a very nice person in this world.

"Hermione!" Pansy ran up to her, then looked around. Then suddenly the Slytherin's face fell into confusion. That look did not suit her at all. "What are you doing in the library?"

Hermione rolled her eyes; thankful she still had her brain, even though Slytherin Hermione didn't. "Studying."

"Why?" Pansy looked shocked.

"Because I need to raise a few grades in some of my other classes." Hermione looked down at her own robes, just now realizing that her Head Girl badge was not there. Not even a Prefect badge rested there. She obviously was not supposed to be smart in this world. Or nice.

"Oh, right, new goal." Pansy nodded her head. "Well, good luck with that." Pansy said sarcastically as she patted Hermione on the back. Pansy obviously didn't know whom exactly she was patting on the back.

x x x chapter end x x x

Author's Note : If you read, please review.

Chapter 3 Entitled:

The Dark Lord Calls

Hermione finds out just who's side she's really on.