Meeting Again
April 1926 - Hogwarts Palace, St Petersburg, Russia
"I think this is the place," Mia declared as she set Sirius down on the ground. "But how do we get in?" She wasn't expecting her dog to answer, obviously, but she'd taken to speaking her thoughts to the scruffy, little thing to ward off some of the loneliness and boredom she'd felt since leaving the orphanage. She glanced about before sticking her face closer to a window, peering inside as she used her sleeve to wipe away some of the snow and grime that had built up on the glass. This place has definitely been abandoned. Why would that old woman tell me to come here?
"Arf!" She jumped back, heart racing at the sudden noise before she turned to look at her puppy. It yipped once more before burrowing its way through a hole in the wall.
"Sirius! Wait, come back, Sirius!" She called after the dog, scrambling to catch it before it could get further into the building. The hole was barely big enough, but she managed to squeeze through it. Dusting off her warn-through coat she took a moment to observe her surroundings. "Hello? Anybody home?" She called into the building, hoping she wasn't disturbing the occupants too much.
When she got no reply she decided to explore. Mia appeared to be in some kind of kitchen, so she followed the decaying carpet out into the hallway. As she walked her fingers trailed over the peeling wallpaper, taking note of the scorched and ripped pictures that lined the once glamorous halls. She came upon a balcony; two large, long staircases on either side leading down to an open ballroom. A broken chandelier left abandoned on the floor in the center.
Her hands gently touched the large thrones sitting in the center of the balcony, a flash of something running past her eyelids but not strong enough for her to grasp. She blinked away the uncomfortable feeling, turning to look at a table of knickknacks (picked over by scavengers and petty thieves). A vase too heavy to move stood, collecting dust; depictions of circus bears and ballerinas with pink painted wings adorning it. "This place... It's like a memory from a dream," she told Sirius.
Her consciousness was far away as it sought memories she no longer had access to. A past she couldn't recall no matter how hard she tried. She could almost hear a tune playing. The feeling of warm, safe arms wrapped around her like a ghost. She imagined the room filled with people- nobility dressed in all of their finery. The chandelier lit up on the ceiling as people danced to instruments she could almost hear. Ghostly shadows that she felt her heart may have once known flickered in and out of her sight like dying embers. If she squinted she could almost see a tall, dark-haired man wearing glasses and peering down at her affectionately. A red-haired woman stood behind him with three girls and a young boy, all smiling at her. The older male apparition left a loving kiss on her forehead before walking towards the others. All of them vanishing as quickly as they'd appeared.
"Well, we're screwed," Theo moaned to his friend as they trudged up the front steps of Hogwarts Palace (the place they'd been calling home for the last several months as they planned out their con).
"Two-hundred and fifteen girls and not one of them would be suitable to play the Princess." Draco agreed angrily. They'd been auditioning girls for the last several hours, hoping to find someone - anyone - who could step in as the missing Grand Duchess Hermione. Several girls had looked similar enough to play the part but none of them had an air of elegance or refinement. The few who possessed the charm and whit of royalty were obvious fakes. Damnit, was there not one woman in Russia who could stand in as their fake princess? "The idea was good from the start, we just need to find someone better. Maybe we can try again at one of the train stops along the way?" The door creaked open with a moan as they let themselves into the main living space of the palace.
"Hey, do you hear something?" Theo asked quietly, a hand outstretched to prevent Draco from moving any further. Both men went silent as they listened for anything out of place. A soft yip from a canine and a mumbled voice floated over to them from the ballroom. "What the hell? Who's inside our squat?" They walked carefully over to the open doors and caught a glimpse of someone through the darkness.
"Hey, what are you doing in here?" Draco called out. The figure, a woman, let out a soft gasp of surprise before rushing towards the other end of the balcony towards a moving blob he assumed to be the dog they'd heard. "Hey! Hey, stop! Stop, stop, stop. Hold on a minute, hold on!" The woman slowed in front of the royal portrait, turning to look at him. "Now, how did you get in h-heer-here?" Draco stuttered as he got a good look at the woman standing in the setting sunlight streaming in through a hole in the boarded-up windows.
Her clothes were ragged and old, a frumpy-looking shirt and some thin pants tucked into well-worn boots were all she had on. But her face... Her eyes were a glistening honey color that danced in the light beams. A spattering of freckles graced her cheeks and her curly, cinnamon hair was pulled up into a half ponytail with stray tendrils falling to frame her face. She looked exactly like the girl in the portrait behind her. The dead princess everyone was clamoring to find.
"Excuse me, ma'am!" Theo called as he joined them on the stairwell. "But-"
"Theo," Draco whispered to him. "Do you see what I see?" Theo glanced at the woman and the black dog at her side. They looked plainly, ordinary to him.
"No?" He asked, confused about what exactly he was supposed to see. Draco elbowed him softly, head jerking up behind the stranger. Theo squinted in the low lights to catch sight of the royal portrait, the face of Hermione Dumbledore staring back at him. "Hu," he breathed in excitedly. "Yes!" They moved closer to the woman who could very well be the answer to their prayers.
"Are you Draco?" She calls. Her voice a warm and inviting sound thats similar enough to what he remembers the royal's voices to be.
"Perhaps. That depends on who's looking for him," he smirks as he gets closer to the girl, glancing up and down at her as he starts to circle her slowly.
"My name is Mia, I need travel papers. They said you're the man to see," she goes down to a whisper, leaning closer. "Even though I can't tell you who said that. And- wha- Hey! Why are you circling me? What, were you a vulture in another life?"
"I'm sorry Mila," he waves Theo closer.
"It's Mia," she corrects. "Mia."
"It's just that you look an awful lot like... Well, never mind." The men stand side by side, looking down at the woman in front of them with a gleam of greed in their eyes. "Anyway, you said something about travel papers?"
"Yes... I'd like to go to Paris."
"You'd like to go to Paris?" He exclaims, excited. Could this be a girl who didn't make it to auditions in time? Is this who they've been waiting for? What a wonderful coincidence otherwise. "Well, let me ask you something... Mia was it? There a last name that goes with that?"
"Um, well... This is a little... crazy. But I don't know my last name. I was found wandering around about ten years ago with no memories of my life before waking up at the train station, with a large bruise on my head. The orphanage that took me in called me Mia Granger after the constable found me. My only clue about my life before is Paris."
"Paris?"
"Right," the girl shifts uncomfortably, fidgeting with the tarnished chain around her neck. "Um, so can you two help me or not?"
"Hmph," Draco hums, sharing an amused look with his friend. "Well, sure would like to. Oddly enough, we're going to Paris ourselves. And I've got three tickets. Unfortunately, the third one is for her," he gestures to the portrait on the wall, and the young woman - Mia Granger turns to look at it. "Hermione."
"We are going to reunite the Grand Duchess Hermione with her Grandmother," Theo declares as he hoists the little dog into his arms (booping its nose and ruffling its ears affectionately). Mia turns back to them.
"You do kind of resemble her," Draco starts to circle her again.
"The same brown eyes."
"The Dumbledore eyes."
"James' smile."
"Lily's chin."
"You even have the Empress Dowager's hands," Theo tells her as he pats the back of hers.
"You're the same age, the same physical type," Draco explains to her.
"Are-" She breaks into giggles. "Are you trying to tell me that you think that I am Hermione?"
"All I'm saying is that I've seen thousands of girls - all over this country - and not one of them looks like the Grand Duchess as much as you. I mean, just look at the painting!" Draco's hands sweep up behind them as all three turn to look at the last picture of the royal family.
"I knew you were crazy from the beginning, but now I think you are both insane," she chuckles. Scooping her dog out of the brunet's arms she turns to walk away.
"Why?" Draco rushes in front of her to slow her down. "You said you don't remember what happened to you?"
"No one knows what happened to her," Theo provides.
"You're looking for answers. In Paris."
"And her only family is in Paris!"
"You've really never thought about the possibility?" Draco asks, leading her back toward the picture she'd turned away from.
"That I could be royalty?" She laughs again in bemusement. "Well, I don't know. It's kind of hard to think of yourself as a duchess when you're sleeping on a damp floor surrounded by ten other orphans. But yeah, sure. I guess every lonely girl wishes she was a princess."
"And somewhere, one girl is," Theo speaks softly so as to not break her from her concentration as she gazes longingly at the picture on the wall. Draco glances at his watch, noting that they're running out of time before they need to finish packing their things to catch the train.
"Really wish we could help you," Draco says as he leads Theo away. "But the third ticket is for the Grand Duchess Hermione. Good luck."
"Why didn't you tell her about our brilliant plan? There are so many ways we could get her on board with-" Theo whispers as they walk down the stairs.
"All she wants to do is go to Paris, why give away a third of the reward money?"
"I'm telling you, we're walking away too quickly here!"
"Don't worry," Draco smirks as they slow down just a bit. "I've got it all under control. In... three. Two, one."
"Draco!" Mia's voice calls after them.
"Ha," Theo chuckles under his breath, impressed with his friend's foresight. "Right in the palm of our hands." They share a discreet fist bump before turning to look back at the woman still calling after them.
"Draco wait!"
"Did you call me?" Draco asks, hiding his smirk as he looks back at her.
"If I don't remember who I am, then who's to say I'm not a princess or a duchess or whatever she is, right?"
"Mmhm, go on?"
"And if I'm not Hermione the Dowager Empress would certainly know right away, and it's all just an honest mistake!"
"Sounds plausible."
"But, if you are the princess... Then you'll finally know who you are and have your family back," Theo explains to her.
"You know he's right, either way, it gets you to Paris."
"Right!" Mia's eyes light up in excitement as they gesture for her to follow them out of the room.
"May I present," Draco declares as they reach the bottom of the landing. "The Grand Duchess Hermione!"
"Sirius, we are going to Paris!"
"The dog stays here."
"What are you talking about? The dog goes."
"He's not going."
"I say he's going." A shadowy figure watches from the corner of the room as they exit. A rat with bat wings attached to its back and a silver incrested front paw scratches his head in confusion.
"Hermione? Just one problem there fella, Hermione is dead." The rat chuckles. "All the Dumbledore's are dead. They're dead, dead, dead." An eery, green, glow emits from the talisman behind him as he speaks. "I mean, how can that be Hermi- mi-" The creature notices the demonic figures being emitted from his master's totem and trails off in terror. A squeaky scream bursts forth from him as he flaps his wings. "Oh come on, am I supposed to believe that this thing woke up after all these years just because some guy claims she's a Dumbledore?" More creatures wisp out of the snake that wraps the talisman in its coils. "If this thing's come back to life...it must mean that... Hermione's alive? And that's her!" The unholy artifact begins to shake violently before bursting up into the air, its chord tangling with Wormtail's tail as it goes. Pulling the rat with it as it changes directions and shoots straight through the floor. "Ahhh!" The creature screams as it hurtles through the earth's crust into the depths of hell.
Outside of Time and Space - Greed, Hell
"Who dares impose on my solitude?" A vicious voice breaks through the silence as the talisman comes to a stop. "Get out! Get out!" A figure as pale as snow with eyes redder than crimson blood and a face devoid of a nose enters the room, glaring down at the rat that's just appeared before him. "Wormtail, is that you?"
"Master! You're alive?"
"Pha, in a manner of speaking." He mutters, his eyes unblinking inside his decaying skull. "Something has happened. I knew it. I could feel the dark forces stirring."
"I'm not surprised, master. Because I saw her, Hermione!"
"Hermione! She's alive? That Dumbledore brat! That's why I'm stuck in this limbo! My curse is unfulfilled!"
"Considering how long you've been dead, you look pretty good sir."
"If only I hadn't lost the gift I'd received from the dark forces. It was the key to my unholy powers!" Wormtail squinted up at his master before scurrying backward to shove the talisman he'd arrived with forward.
"What, you mean this reliquary?"
"Where did you get that?"
"I found it."
"Give it to me!" Voldemort declared as he lunged for it, finally feeling his power again for the first time in ten years.
"All right, all right. Don't get so grabby."
"Now, my dark purpose will be fulfilled! And the last of the Dumbledore's will die! I was once the most mystical man in all Russia, when the royals betrayed me they made a mistake. My curse made each of them pay. All except for the one little girl who got away. Little Mione beware, Voldemort's awake. I can feel that my powers are slowly returning, the pieces are falling into place. Revenge shall be mine when the curse is complete. Do Svidaniya, Mione!" He chuckles with an evil hiss. He reaches out a hand to summon the unholy creatures out of his relic. "Come my minions, rise for your master. Let your evil shine as you find her! Fly ever faster, her soul will be mine!" The shadows burst from their confinement once more, multiplying until a swarm takes up the air above their master's head before finally departing for the human realm towards their target, maniacal laughter following behind them.