In This Chapter- The gang all heads back to the Gryffindor common room to relax, unwind, and fall asleep…some more, very unwelcome, guests arrive and Lauren makes a confession.
~*~
Six very weary fifteen year olds entered the Gryffindor common room around two AM, wiped from the dance that was to be one of the highlights of their life. Harry, Ron, and Jared went to the boy's room to change quietly, making sure not to wake up the other fifth year boys. The girls went to the prefect bathroom, and consequently, took a lot more time.
"So, you like Hermione?" Ron asked Jared. They were sitting in front of a roaring fire in the common room, all dressed in a fresh set of pyjamas. They were all dressed in an assorted colour of boxers, Harry wearing a too-large shirt that used to be Dudley's, Ron was wearing a chudley cannons shirt, and Jared was wearing a basketball jersey.
"Hermione?" Jared asked, bewildered. "No, Hermione is like a sister that's kind of…disturbing." He laughed. "I love Hermione with my whole heart, but the thought of being romantically involved with her is just too weird. I don't think relationships first based on really good friendships are a good idea, they usually end up bad."
Harry and Ron nodded. "That makes sense." Harry said.
"What about you guys?" Jared asked with a grin. "You look completely taken by Jess and Ren, what gives?"
Now Ron was living up to the Weasley blush. "Yea, I like Jess." He said. "We kind of relate, in an inter-mixed world sort of way. She likes sports and so do I. She's sarcastic, so am I, she's got two great friends, and so do I."
Harry smiled. "Lauren is great too." He said. "She's funny, and girly, and I like girly, you know, in a girl?" Harry blushed a deep red, and Jared and Ron laughed at his discomfort.
"Well, I'm glad you guys are finding someone. I know for a fact Lauren and Jess are over the moon about the both of you."
Harry and Ron smiled. "Are you sure you don't like Hermione?" Ron asked.
"I'm positive." Jared replied.
~*~
"Are you sure you don't like Jared?" Lauren asked Hermione.
"I'm positive!" Hermione said exasperated. "Jared is like Harry and Ron, my best friend, who happens to have a you-know-what."
"What?" Lauren asked, confused.
"A penis, Lauren." Jess said grinning. "Honestly."
Hermione laughed out loud at her friends' ditzy ness. "Lauren, you're definitely one in a million, you know that?" She asked.
After they had finished showering and such, Jess and Lauren having a great time with the magical shower, which sprayed water of nearly every scent, they were ready to go back to the common room for their semi-pyjama party. Lauren was dressed in a pink nightdress, made of a shiny silk material. It had small spaghetti straps and fell just below her knees. Jessica had on a baseball shirt and a pair of guys' boxers; she was a tomboy after all. Hermione had on long, black pyjama bottoms and a red tank top, the same one Harry had mentioned she was 'falling out of' over the summer.
"Here, we go this way." Hermione said, indicating to a large picture of a lion. "This is the direct way to get to the Gryffindor common room from the bathroom- pixie dust." She said the password and the lion winked at them and swung open, revealing the boys sitting in front of the fire.
Hey." Jessica said, heading over to the fire. "Sorry we took so long; they-" She shot a pointed look at Lauren and Hermione. "Seemed to think it was necessary to put all this junk on their face, then wash it off, dry their hair with some sort of spell and what not."
"Looks like you didn't mind too much." Jared said teasingly, motioning to Jessica's dry hair. She blushed and sat down beside Ron in one of the large chairs.
Hermione took a seat in her own chair, and Lauren sat on the sofa next to Harry. Jared stayed in front of the fire poking the magical flames every so often.
"I had a great time tonight." Hermione said happily, leaning back in the comfortable chair. "It was great to just relax for once, you know?"
Jessica smiled. "I had a great time too, but I was hardly relaxed, there was just so much to look at!" She gave a smile to Ron.
"I'm glad you all came." Harry said. "It was great to get to know you all better, and to see the looks on people's faces when they saw whom you were!"
"Yea." Jared said. "That Dean guy, was that his name? He didn't even believe me when I told him I was a wadda-ya-call-it, muggle. That Malfoy bloke was a dolt though; I don't understand that whole pureblood thing. Seems very hung up on himself if you ask me."
Hermione nodded. "Yup, that's Malfoy for you, he's a dolt and a half."
Ron and Jessica chuckled. Lauren yawned. "I'm really tired, guys." She said.
"Yea, well it's past three in the morning, Ren." Jared said gently. "I think we're all tired."
Hermione joined in the yawning too and stretched out in the chair. "I think I'm just going to fall asleep here." She said drowsily. Ron and Jess nodded and soon Jessica's head was on Ron's shoulder, her chest rising and falling evenly.
One by one each of the kids dropped off into sleep, Harry being the last. "I wonder how many nights like this we have left." He thought to himself before his eyes closed permanently.
~*~
Dream-
Hermione walked though the large house in wonder. Who lived here? Why was she here? The ceilings where ridiculously high, as if someone meant for structure to be showy, it certainly was. She walked though the rooms, and stumble into a sort of nursery. It didn't look like the conventional light pink and blue nursery Hermione had seen in her earlier years, but rather foreboding, with dark greens and greys. A crib was towards the left side, and the room had many baby things…toys, changing area, dippers, all the same. Taking a closer look, Hermione noticed the two children she had crept about before. They were sitting in the middle of the room, playing with each other. Not playing side by side, like many babies their age, but actually interacting, talking and making baby noise at each other.
Soon a tall women swept into the room. "There you are darlings, come now, and its time for dinner."
The woman was very beautiful, with long cascading hair that fell around her waist, and a fashionable dress robe in the colour of steel. Her eyes were cautious, but warm, the same colour as her fantastic gown. Hermione was amazed at the woman's beauty, it looked as though she may be the mother of the small boy, and they shared many of the same features, except for the hair.
The woman swooped down and gathered the small children in her arms, and left the room- and Hermione, alone.
She walked some more, down a few staircases, and then a few more, until she actually smelled the dampness. She walked down deteriorating stone steps carefully as not to fall, and entered a dimly lit room- or more fittingly, a dungeon.
She looked around at all the cells, most of which help very starved, and brutally beaten people, people Hermione had never seen before.
But before she could take a closer look, Hermione's world swirled around her, like a silvery mist, until she found herself in a small graveyard in the middle of what looked like a sunny summer afternoon.
Hermione looked around, a bit startled. Where was she now? She walked along a small path, looking at the nameless graves.
"Hermione?"
Hermione turned and looked behind her and gasped. A woman was standing on the path where Hermione had just been- and this woman was most definitely a ghost.
Now Hermione was quite used to the see-through beings that inhabited her school, they were everywhere, and she knew that it was not a ghost intentions to hurt the living, but this ghost…this ghost looked just like her.
The woman was wearing a long, light blue dress robe that fell along the ground in graceful roles. Her hair was a dark auburn, just like Hermione and fell in delicate curls around her face and down her back. Her eyes were bright gold, almost cat-like but distinguishingly beautiful. She had a face that could be easily have been mistaken for being made of delicate porcelain. Hermione reached up to her own face and brushed a hand along her cheek.
"Who are you?" Hermione said in a shaky voice. "Where am I?"
The woman smiled and took a small step towards Hermione. "Hello, Hermione. I am your mother."
"My mother?" Hermione said, her voice shaking uncontrollably now. "But…you're dead, you've been dead for fifteen years, where am I?"
"Your in our family graveyard, darling. Look around you. My grave is just over there, under the willow and right next to your fathers. That's our house- your house now, when you turn eighteen, see it?"
Hermione did see it, the vast, brilliant White House in the distance.
"Why are you here?" Hermione asked. "Am I dreaming?"
"You are dreaming, yes." Her mother said. "But this is not to be taken as a dream. There are so many things you must know, Hermione, so many things I can't say now, for their coming, you have been discovered." Hermione wiped away a sad tear. "Hermione, you must listen to me."
Hermione nodded, and her mother continued.
"You are to be kidnapped, darling, kidnapped, but not killed. Someone has discovered who you are, who your parents are."
Hermione gasped. "Who? How? I have been so careful!"
"Careful, yes, love, but not enough." Hermione sighed silently and waved her hand in the air to her side, showing a silvery mist that took shape into that of her and Jared, the night before. The picture showed her telling Jared all about herself out by the Quidditch pitch, and the peculiar rose bush.
"Jared Mother?" Hermione asked, "I do not understand. Jared is my friend!"
"Not Jared." Her mother rotated the picture, showing them from a different angle, and showing no other then Draco Malfoy, crouched behind the rosebush, listening to everything they were saying.
"Oh no." Hermione said, putting her face in her hands. "How could I have been so careless?"
Her mother gave her a small smile. "Do not lose hope, darling, for you will prevail, you will find an unexpected ally in the midst of the darkness, and you must listen to them, so much needs to be said, love, but I fear I cannot. Hold on, Hermione, don't ever let go you must remember this, and just keep holding on, it will get better."
The figure of her mother started to fade. "Mother!" Hermione said. "Wait! What else is there? What else do I need to know?"
"Just hold on dear." Her mother said. "Never let go."
"Mother!"
~*~
Hermione woke up, still shouting for her mother, and looking into the masked face of a definite intruder.
"Arugh!" Hermione managed to get out before her attacker put a stunning spell on her. Hermione's eyes where the only thing that could move, and move they did. She soon saw that her attacker was not alone, as there where a good dozen in the Gryffindor common room, all shouting spells on her sleeping friends.
"Harry." Hermione thought. "Surely they would take him, now that the opportunity was there, but they didn't. Instead, the man pulled her into his arms and dissipated, and all Hermione could think was "you can't apparate in Hogwarts…"
~*~
Hermione's eyes fluttered open, although it did not help her to see any better. She was in a dark dungeon, as it appeared, and was in a cell by herself. She sat up with a start; this was the dungeon in her dream! She could still remember the dampness, and the smell was the same, they smell of an old house, water, moss, and…death.
Yes, the damp, dank room reeked of death, and it immediately made Hermione feel sick.
"Well well, looks like Miss Granger, or may I call you Miss Prewit…yes, it does look as though Miss Prewit has decided to grace us with her consciousness."
Hermione looked up and saw the same man in a mask standing before her, chuckling at his own joke. "Who are you?" She asked bravely. "And why the freaking hell did you bring me to this charming place?" Hermione was scared, but when she gets scared she got angry, she hated being scared.
"I am someone you have no business talking to." The man in the mask said. He had a slightly baritone voice, and sounded much older then most of the boys Hermione knew…yet the voice was strangely familiar, she had heard it before, she knew that much.
"Then why am I here?" Hermione asked, still rather angry.
"Why, Miss Prewit, you should be honoured." The man said. "You are to be in the presence of the greatest wizard of our time."
"Ah, well." Hermione said sarcastically. "I don't know who that could be, as Dumbledore is tied up with ministry business, and Harry Potter is probably still asleep, or stunned."
"Foolish girl." The man said. "You have great nerve to talk with such a sharp tong, in your situation."
"Well." Hermione said. "I figure that if you meant to kill me, I'd be dead, so I figure that you're not in charge, therefore you cant kill me."
"I could hurt you." The figure warned.
"You could." Hermione said seriously. "I know that cruciatus curse it a smart little bugger, but hey, Harry lived through it, I'm sure I could too."
"Are are willing to find out?" He asked menacingly.
"That won't be necessary." A third voice came out of the shadows. "I'm sure Miss Prewit will cooperate with the proper persuasion."
~*~
"We can't just stay here and do nothing!" Harry exclaimed. "We have to go! We need to go get Hermione!"
"I'm afraid there is nothing you can do, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said with sad eyes. "We don't know where to start, but I can assure you we have the best auror's on the job, we will find Miss Granger, don't worry about that."
"You won't find them." Lauren said suddenly. "If they don't want to be found, it is impossible."
"Who?" Jared asked. "You know who took her?"
"Deatheaters." Lauren said simply. "Hermione is in danger, because of her name; they want her power, everything that comes with the Prewit name."
"Hermione can't be that powerful." Ron reasoned. "She's smart, for sure, but she gets her smarts from books. She's clever, but she can't be that powerful, You-Know-Who has enough power."
"Voldemort will never have enough power to satisfy himself." Dumbledore said. "It matters not if he is the strongest wizard in all the world, if there is someone who could compete with him, or who has more strength then the majority, then he will want that power, and I am afraid the Prewit line is a particularly strong one. Hermione's grandmother was an enchantress."
"I didn't know an enchantress could have children." Ron said thoughtfully. "I thought they were just made, not reborn."
"That's what makes Hermione so special." Lauren said. "That's why Voldemort wanted her mother dead, after they renounced the dark side. He either wanted to share in her power, or simply not let it exist at all, and she did, she had the power. She was the only daughter to an enchantress, the only daughter to ever be born of an enchantress, she was special, and now Hermione is special.
"So this guy, Voldemort, is like this deranged psycho wizard that wants to take over the world?" Jessica asked. "Sounds like a really bad movie to me."
Jared nodded grimly. "Hermione told me about her history." He said. She told me she was in danger, and that's why she never let me know before, and why she didn't even know before. Mister Dumbledore, what are we going to do?"
Dumbledore looked startled for a moment. "Hmm, no one has called me mister in quite some time, young man." He smiled sadly. "There isn't anything we can do except wait for the aurors' to do their job. Miss Covington, is there anything else you could know, anything that could assist in Miss Granger's rescue?"
Lauren thought hard for a moment. "I know that it was death eaters that took her. I saw the mark on one of their arms last night. They were high ranking deatheaters too, because they have a class of masks, and those from last night where those from the inner circle. I would say to check all the regular places, then start in on privet homes, probably old ones with dungeons. Voldemort likes being eccentric, and he would want a dungeon for the full effect."
Harry and Ron looked at her, wide eyed. "How do you know so much?" Ron asked.
"My father…" Lauren said quietly. "Well, my father, he…well, he's in the business. My father is a Death eater."
