Poems, Mirrors and Betrayals
Her birthday went without a hitch, and she was hiding in the Library the entire day. She had already been to her classes for the day and didn’t feel like doing much else.. She found a rather secluded table in the back that had a wonderful stream of light filtering through it. Just as she was tucking her notes into her books, and preparing to nestle down into a book, two people appeared in the corner of her eye. They seemed to be hesitant to approach and she turned towards the two girls. Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass were throwing her glances from where they stood by the bookshelves.
“Can I help you both with something?”
The girls stilled, before whispering to one another. Hermione rolled her eyes.
“We. We were wondering if anybody ever taught you how to do your hair before.” Hermione blanched, surprised at the blonde's question.
“Erm. No. Nobody has before” Pansy stepped towards her, hands on her hips.
“Honestly that’s a shame. You could do a lot with that if you had the proper instructions. Meet us in the lower bathroom later and we can show you a few things.”
Hermione raised a brow at them. “Is this supposed to be like Draco’s duel with Harry and Ron? Where I’m left standing around like an idiot waiting to get in trouble for you both to show up?”
The girls just stared at her with wide eyes before looking at one another. Pansy rolled her eyes and stepped towards her. “The difference between us and Draco is that if we were planning on getting you in trouble we just would’ve planned something better. Honestly, I really am doing this for me because it hurts my eyes looking at the mop of hair on your head. It’s dreadful and sad really, you would be doing me a great service by allowing me to teach you how to do something with that.”
Hermione stared at her, speechless.
“Besides, if I wanted to get you into trouble I have a lot more creative ways then asking you to meet me in the bathroom, Granger.”
With that, the two girls turned on their heels and made their way through the library towards the exit. Harry had managed to come and wish her happy birthday, handing her a few sweets he managed to scrape together and it brought back memories of her leaving wrapped food for him instead. She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear–reminding her of Pansy’s comment about it being horrid–and spent the next few hours talking with Harry.
She realized that it was far easier to have a conversation with Harry when Ron wasn’t involved and managed to sneak away when he showed up later, making her way to the bathroom downstairs. Pansy and Daphne were waiting for her, along with Blaise who was perched on the edge of a stool. At her arrival, he sat up quickly, almost careening over. He stood, blushing as he ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. Pansy has been dying to get her hands on my mothers hair serum and you seemed like the perfect candidate for her to run her tests with you. Best of luck.”
He quickly scurried from the room and Hermione was left wondering if she had died because it was turning out to be a rather peculiar day. Pansy made quick work of ushering her towards the stool, muttering something about her hair looking like a nest to some sort of creature and then applied the serum to her hair. Pansy also took the time to show her the wand work for how to plait braid and other charms on Daphne’s hair.
“Thank you, both. For this.”
Pansy shrugged. “Don’t thank me. Blaise’s mother is brilliant but you were my guinea pig to test this out and see if I would wake up bald the next day or something.” With that, the girls turned and left the bathroom, while Hermione stared after them confused. Pansy seemed to be somebody who wasn’t scared to voice her opinions, although she seemed to be a girl who didn’t respect somebody easily. There were numerous occasions where the entire Slytherin lot had attempted to make fun of her although, it seemed to be even less snickering and just sneered whenever she passed. She had made a fool out of them numerous times already, leaving Draco staring after her wordless on multiple occasions. And, from what she had gathered that wasn’t something that happened very often.
After returning to her dorm, she found the serum bottle tucked into her bag and a smile pulled at her lips.
It turned out not to be a horrid birthday after all.
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Hermione was shuffling her books into her bag, leaving the library when she saw Harry and Ron. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she made her way over to them. It was Halloween and she was wanting to ask them if they had any plans besides attending the feast. Her footsteps faltered when she heard Ron talking.
“Did you hear her in class the other day? Positively dreadful, honestly she is a nightmare, I can’t believe that you call her a friend. I mean honestly, how do you tolerate her? Merlin.”
Harry was silent and Hermione walked faster, blinking away tears as she bumped into Ron. He stumbled, falling into Harry slightly as she made her way past them. Somebody gasped behind her and then she heard Harry’s hushed whisper. “I think that she heard you, Ron.”
Ignoring anything else for the rest of the day, she made her way to the closest bathroom, tucked herself into a stall and cried. She wasn’t sure what hurt worse, the sting of Ron’s words–which she thought on a normal basis, or the fact that Harry didn’t say anything to begin with. She wasn’t sure how long she had been in there when she heard a rumble just outside of the room, her book trembled and her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Just as she stepped from the stall, her eyes widened on a troll stepping through the door. The thing was massive and quite hideous, snot pouring from its large nose and a large club was dragging on the floor behind it. It stared at her for a moment, almost as if it was confused before swinging its club and smashing it into the sink beside her.
Voices came from the hallway and she watched as Ron and Harry scrambled into the bathroom, weaving between the troll's legs. It was swinging blindly now, seemingly confused and enraged. Hermione felt it grab her around the waist and somehow Harry’s wand made it into its nose. She wasn’t sure how it all happened, it all moved rather quickly but the thing wound up knocking itself out, falling with a heavy thud onto the ground a few moments before the Professors made their way into the room.
McGonagall looked absolutely terrified, Professor Snape looked worse for wear and Dumbledore was looking entertained as always behind them all.
“It seems…that you have a troll problem.”
McGonagall sputtered and she noticed a faint tip of Snape’s lips before they settled into their usual frown. “Wha-what happened here? What are you all not doing in the Great Hall?”
Hermoine glanced at Ron and Harry who somehow managed to get themselves in trouble all year. Although Ron was questionable in whether or not he deserved it, Hermione twisted a lie in their defense. “It’s my fault. They came looking for me. I was in here and they came looking for me, and I had stumbled upon the troll. I figured that I could deal with it myself, and these two managed to save me from what was probably a certain death.”
She didn’t want to include Ron in her little tale, but she figured that if she took the blame for defeating it, not only was she protecting Harry from another scolding, she was stealing Ron’s glory. That fact alone had her smiling to herself. Snape merely narrowed his eyes at her, seeming to see right through her little facade. McGonagall surprised her by awarding her fifty points for bravery, and Ron and Harry twenty each for heroic acts in saving another student. Snape, however, promised to have a conversation with her later.
The point system was interesting. Every time that Hermione was rewarded points, they were distributed evenly amongst the four houses–considering she wasn’t in any of them it supposedly was a fair enough system for Hermione to agree with. She wasn’t designated into a specific house, and she wasn’t not part of them all. It seemed to make sense.
As they walked towards the Great Hall, she noticed Snape slip off down the hall, a slight limp in his step.
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“Did you see his leg?! Whatever Fluffy is hiding, Snape must be after it.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “I really don’t think that Snape is after what’s under the door. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Hermione, he hates me. And the scratch on his leg had to have come from Fluffy and whatever he’s guarding. Snape is after whatever is in there!”
‘Harry. It can’t be Snape, I just need you to trust me on that. Please.”
Harry rolled his eyes and left the library, leaving Hermione slouched against the desk. A familiar drawl had her peeking out from under her curls. “Is the creature on your head devouring your brain, Granger?”
“Ughhhh, what do you want, Malfoy?”
“Just heard about your troll run in from the other day. Checking to see that your head was still intact.” She heard him approach and the faint smell of apples invaded her senses. She turned her head, moving her hair off to the side. “Pity it is.”
“You? Concerned about me? Careful, Malfoy. One might mistake that for caring.”
Draco scoffed, sneering at the floor and Hermione stifled a laugh. His head snapped up, blue-silver eyes meeting hers and her giggle died on her lips. He was staring at her, his brows drawn together and eyes light as they flitted over her face. She sat up, staring at him. “What?”
He shook his head, before turning on his heel after one last glance and disappearing through the stacks. Hermione stared after him wondering why her heart seemed to do a little flip at the sight of his eyes. She shook it off and gathered her books, oblivious to the blue-eyed boy watching in the stacks to the right.
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It was freezing by November, and Hermione managed to make a blue flame that was being passed around the stands at the Quidditch match. She was snuggled up with a blanket, tucking the jarred blue flame underneath to keep her feet warm. Although she loathed the game, she found herself pulled from the book that she had brought and cheering along with the rest of the stands as Harry started chasing the Snitch. Hagrid was next to her, along with Ron, when he started to mumble something. Hermione glanced back to Harry, noticing that his broom was now shaking uncontrollably.
“That’s not right. It’s not supposed to do that.”
Hermione snatched the binoculars from Hagrid's hand and scanned the crowd. It looked like his broom was being jinxed, from what she knew–you had to have direct eye contact the whole time and you couldn’t break contact with the spell. Her eyes landed on Professor Snape, whispering furiously as he stood, gaze locked on Harry but her eyes fell onto Professor Quirrell, standing just above him, doing the same. Shoving the binoculars into Ron’s chest, she made her way through the stands, ducking and hiding beneath them as she made her way towards where Snape and Quirrell were standing. Tipping her jar onto Snape’s robes, he managed to shove Quirrell as he stumbled backwards, stomping on the fire that was now flickering across his robes. Quirrell stumbled, falling backwards onto the ground and Hermione noticed Snape’s hand pressing onto his back as he steadied himself from falling over while stomping on the flames.
Scooping them back up, she weaved her way through the stands back to where she was sitting with Hagrid, her eyes flitting over the field. Harry was lying on the ground, looking as though he was about to puke. The stands were quiet as they all watched him cough something up.
“Harry Potter has caught the golden snitch! Gryffindor has won the game!”
The voice boomed over the stands and Hermione scrambled across the field, as Harry scooped her up, his arm wrapped around her back. He set her down carefully, and she stepped back, allowing him to be scooped into the crowd that was surrounding him. Looking across the field, she locked eyes with Malfoy who was glaring at Harry in the midst of the crowd.
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Harry had found her huddled up in the library, gripping her hand fiercely as he dragged her through the halls. “I have to show you something.”
“Harry, slow down, you’re hurting me.” Harry loosened his grip, stopping to look at her.
“Sorry, sorry. Just, please come and look at this. I can see my parents…”
Her heart squeezed and she simply nodded, following him through the castle to a dark classroom. He brought her towards a mirror, tall and glistening in the moonlight filtering through the small window. Harry walked up to it, motioning with shaky hands.
“Look! Can you see them?”
She stepped in front of it, not noticing anything at first. Then, slowly a form started to take shape. There was a woman, the one that she knew from her photograph except, she was healthier. Her hand rested on her shoulder, a soft smile pulling on her lips. She studied her long curly brown hair that fell in tumbling waves down her back, except she couldn’t make out the color of her eyes. They were blurred and Hermione reached to her empty shoulder where her hand sat in the mirror. Tears welled up in her eyes before she turned back to Harry.
“Did you see them?”
“No, Harry. I didn’t see them. There’s nothing there.”
She reached her hand out and he looked down at it. “No, you’re wrong. They’re right there.” He turned away from her, tucking his legs under his arm as he sat in front of it. He didn’t move, and so Hermione sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes.
“Harry, do you want to know what I saw?”
“You saw something!”
“I think that I saw my mother.”
“Your mother? How do you know?”
“I have a photo of her. That’s something that I’ve never told anybody before. But, I don’t know where I came from…the Orphanage that I was left at. There was a photo that was left with me, and I saw her here. I saw her in the mirror. I don’t know who she is, why I was left there, Merlin I don’t even know if she is alive. The point is…Harry, the thing that I want the most is to see her, to meet her and find out just who she is. I want to be able to know…” Hermione trailed off, tucking her hands back into her lap. “The thing that I want the most in this life is to know who I am, where I come from. Part of that is her. I think…I think this mirror shows us the things that we want the most. If you see your family…that makes sense. I know that there isn’t anything that you want more than to see your mom and dad.”
Harry was blinking away tears, staring up at the mirror. “This…this shows us the things that we want the most I think…and I think that you would sit here for the rest of your life if you let it, staring at the thing that you desire the most. But Harry, it’s not real. None of it is real. Your parents…they’re not here. They wouldn’t want you to sit here wasting your life away as you wished that they were with you.”
Harry turned to look at her, his green eyes brimming with tears, and nodded. His voice was small and she wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him tight. Somehow, this broken boy had made his way into her heart and she wanted to protect him. They weren’t far off in age, and yet somehow she found herself thinking of him as a younger brother. If she ever had one.
They had similar life stories and there wasn’t any convincing that could be done to persuade her that they weren’t supposed to find each other somehow. Something told her that they both wouldn’t have gotten very far without the other. Harry turned to glance at the mirror again, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“You’re right. You’re right Hermione. Can you stay with me…for just five more minutes? That’s all that I need. Just five more minutes to pretend like this is real.”
Hermione clasped onto his hand, leaning her head against his shoulder again. “Of course, Harry.”
They sat like that in silence until light footsteps drew her lips up. She didn’t know when she had fallen asleep, but she found Harry and her curled up against one another, sleeping. Her head lifted to find Dumbledore staring down at her, a soft smile pulling at the corner of his lips.
“I see…that you have found the Mirror of Erised.”
Hermione turned towards it, shaking the want to stare into it. “Yes. I didn’t know that’s what it was. Harry found it, actually.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“I guessed that it…it shows us the things that we desire the most, Professor. I told Harry that it could be dangerous, something like this. That we could lose ourselves in a dream of what our heart wants the most.”
Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled as he regarded her. “My, you are the brightest witch of your age, Ms. Granger.”
Hermione flushed, tipping her head down to stare at Harry. He looked so peaceful, his eyes closed and shaggy hair hanging over his eyes. She slipped the glasses from his nose. “Something like that could be dangerous to some students to stumble upon.”
“I see now, the mistake that I made. I placed it in an empty classroom in hopes that nobody stumbled upon it. Young Harry…of all the people to be the one to find it. I am glad that he was able to have you with him.”
Hermione pursed her lips, tipping her head to stare at him. “Mmm. Indeed.”
They stared at each other for a moment, and she unfolded herself, gently nudging Harry awake. “The mirror will no longer be housed here.”
Harry startled, and she handed him his glasses as he groggily made his way from the classroom, casting one last glance over his shoulder at the mirror as they made their way back to the tower.
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“Hermione?”
“Mmm?”
“Do you remember the news about a vault being broken into and something being taken from it?”
Hermione lifted her eyes to stare at Harry, his green eyes were bright and she raised an eyebrow at him.
“Yes…”
“It was the vault that Hagrid took me into, before I came here. It was the same vault. He said that he had to retrieve something. I think that we need to talk to him.”
“Hagrid isn’t going to tell us anything.”
Harry stared at her. “No, not on purpose.” He smiled at her, a big toothy grin that had her smiling back.
“Fine. What were you planning?” Her wand came up to unconsciously braid her hair, twisting the strands as they wove themselves.
“I think that we go and talk to him, bring up the name that I keep hearing, see if that stirs anything.”
“Speaking of that, what was the name? You were going to tell me the other day and then got interrupted.”
Harry made a face. “Yeah, Goyle was really helpful. Anyways, Nicolas Flamel. I keep seeing that name, but I don’t know where and why it’s important. I heard Snape mention it, and then Hagrid did.”
Hermione furrowed her brows, jotting the name down onto a piece of parchment. “Alright. I will see what I can find out. Let me know when you want to go to Hagrid’s.”
It was near the end of April before they were able to sneak into Hagrid’s hut using the invisibility cloak that Harry had received for Christmas. Hagrid was standing in the middle of his shack, attempting to block something that Hermione was ridiculously curious about. Hagrid was deflecting, until he couldn’t anymore, lifting an egg out of a cauldron, he placed it onto the table in front of them and they all watched as it started to hatch.
“Is that a bloody dragon egg?!”
“Well, yeah. I won it! Somebody lost a game of cards at Hog’s Head the other day and I won it! Always wanted a dragon!”
“Hagrid! That’s illegal! You can’t.” Ron’s face was red as he stared at the hatching egg.
Hermoine stared at Ron. “How do you know it’s illegal?”
“My brother, he works with dragons in Romania.”
Hermione tucked that piece of information away and narrowed her eyes at him, before turning back to the rattling egg on the table. “Hagrid, who did you win the egg from?”
“I dunno. It was some cloaked fellow. Didn’t see his face.” Hagrid shrugged as though it was completely normal for him to receive an illegal dragon egg from somebody in a game of cards. Her eyes flicked over Hagrid’s massive hands and wondered if he was just really good at playing cards somehow.
Hermione’s eyes flitted over the hut and she raised an eyebrow at him. “Hagrid, are you aware that your house is made out of wood?” Her eyes flicked to the egg that was now cracked a little and wiggling on the table more.
The comment seemed to be lost to him as he stared at the hatching egg. “Look at him! Come on now, Norbert.”
“Norbert?” Harry raised a brow at Hagrid and he just nodded. “Yeah, it seemed like a good name.”
Hermione saw a flash of blonde from outside the window and she shot up, running across the hut and flinging the door open. Harry was standing staring at her and she turned back before stepping through the door. “Hold on, I thought I saw somebody.”
She walked around the outside of the house, not finding the spy who happened to be peering through the window a moment ago. Slipping back inside, she noticed the dragon was now completely hatched and standing on the table.
“Oi! That’s a Norwegian Ridgeback that is! Vicious little things.”
“He’s not vicious.” Right at that moment, the dragon decided to burp a tiny shot of fire into Hagrid’s beard and he patted it down.
“Hagrid, you know that you can’t keep him, right? He’s going to get huge, there’s no way that you can hide an illegal dragon. You’ll get in trouble.” Harry for once was reasonable and not looking for trouble. He turned towards Ron. “Charlie.”
“Mate, I’m Ron.”
“No, Ron, Charlie. Can you write to him and see if he could take Norbert?”
“I suppose.”
Hermione rolled her eyes and studied the tiny, spindly dragon that was staring at them.
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Hermione was dressed in a large black cloak that was far too big for her, but perfect to tuck the tiny cage for the dragon underneath. Carefully, Harry draped the invisibility cloak around them and they made their way through the castle towards the top of the astronomy tower.
The dragon was attempting to light her hair on fire and the cloak by the time that they made it to the top. She flung both of the cloaks off of her, now sweating profusely and eyed the two hovering figures on brooms.
Charlie was perched and the entire process was complicated as they shuffled the cage onto the broomstick while attempting not to fall from the edge. When they had successfully shuffled the dragon and watched Charlie fly off, they made their way back down the stairs bumping into Malfoy on the way down.
His eyes narrowed on Potter, who was standing close to Hermione and he raised an eyebrow at her. “Sneaking out past curfew are we, Potter?”
Hermione raised an eyebrow back at him. “Well, aren't you out past Curfew as well then?”
Draco's eyes widened and he seemed to realize that he too could be at risk of getting in trouble as he turned and walked briskly down the steps. In their hast to get down before getting caught, they ran straight into Filch who gave them all a disgusting grin.
“Well, Mrs. Norris. Look who we have here.”
Hermione rolled her eyes as Draco stood taller. “My father will hear about this.”
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They were brought down to the edge of the forbidden forest a few nights later, led by lantern and Filch. He was smiling wickedly and Hermione's stomach turned.
“Going into the forbidden forest you are. We'll see if you come back out.”
Hermione stumbled, catching herself on Draco's robes, who in turn gave her a sneer. She was too focused on the fact that they were going into the forest to note that he didn't pull away from her.
Releasing him she stepped towards Filch who was stopped outside of Hagrid's hut where he was waiting outside with Fang. “I'm sorry, did you say that we're serving detention in the Forbidden Forest?”
“Yes ye are. We'll see if you make it out of there. Perfect detention if you ask me, I still have the chains in my office in case they're needed. They don't give detentions like they used to–”
“You can’t make us go in there!” For once, Hermione agreed with Draco, who was now severely pale as he stared at the entrance to the woods.
“Well, it's that or be expelled. You take your pick.”
Hagrid was quiet beside them and she glanced at Harry, whose green eyes were just as wide as hers. “This can't be right, does Dumbledore know about this?”
Filch smiled. “He's the one who agreed to it.”
“My father will hear about this!”
Hermione found herself agreeing for the second time with Draco that night. “Yes, and do tell your many ancestors as well. This can't be legal.”
Draco gave her a look that she couldn't decipher and Hagrid finally spoke up.
“Alright kids. We got to figure out what's killin unicorns out there. I'll take Harry and Hermione, Draco you can take Fang. We're goin to split up into two’s, make it faster to search see if we can find somethin.”
“I'm not going by myself.” Draco was sneering at Hagrid, his eyes flitting between the dog and him. “I'll take Granger, then we're in pairs.”
“No. Hermione is coming with me.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “Harry, Draco is right, he can't go into the woods by himself. I'll go with him, you go with Hagrid. We'll be fine.” Three. That was three times now.
“Better that, Fang is a coward.”
Harry pressed his lips together and nodded, casting a glare over her shoulder to Draco who she already knew was sending a sneer back. Once they had settled who was with who, they entered the forest. It was dark, vines tangled around their feet as they made their way through.
Eventually, they came to a fork in the road. Harry and Hagrid went left and Hermione and Draco went right. They walked in silence, shoulders pressed together as they made their way through the eery and cold forest. It was dark, and she noticed a fog hanging around the edges of the trees as they made their way through.
She felt a tug on her robe and her eyes fell to where Draco was pointing. There was a pool of blood and she shivered. “Who would want to kill a unicorn?”
“I don't know. Whoever it is…” Draco trailed off, his eyes scanning their surroundings. “It's not right. Unicorns are powerful creatures, but to kill one. That's dark magic. Unicorn blood can keep a person alive when they’re dying, but killing something so pure and defenseless. It comes with a price, and drinking its blood? That person will be cursed from the moment the blood touches their lips.”
“How do you know that?”
“You're not the only one with brains, Granger. You're just the only one who flaunts it in class.”
It didn't surprise her that he was smart, he was right behind her in marks for class and she noticed. For some reason the peculiar and posh boy had captured her attention. He seemed to be the only one besides Pansy who could keep up with her cheekiness.
Draco stopped suddenly, shoving her behind him and she stumbled, catching onto his arm as she righted herself. He was trembling, his fingertips against her hip. Her hands were clasped around his robe, clinging to his arm and eyes locked on the figure straight ahead.
It seemed to almost slither across the ground, the mass stopping before continuing on in the direction that it had been going. Draco was still, standing in front of her and she grabbed his hand attempting to pull him back slowly. Minutely, he shook his head.
She stopped, still holding onto his hand as they watched the figure disappear into the fog. They didn't move for a moment and Hermione felt her heart in her ribcage as she waited for something to happen.
Draco finally let her tug him back in the way that they came, not taking his hand from hers as they made their way back. A scream had them running, holding onto each other as they ran back towards the edge of the forest. They were panting and when Harry and Hagrid appeared, Draco tugged his hand away from hers. She released him, running and throwing her arms around Harry when he came into view.
“Are you okay?”
“Y-Yes.”
“I think we saw what was killing the unicorns.”
“Us too.” Hermione noticed that he hadn't released her, he was holding her hand in one and rubbing his scar with the other.
“Is it hurting?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
Harry explained how they had found a robed figure bent over a unicorn drinking its blood. When they stumbled upon it, it had slithered across the ground towards them, where Harry screamed because his star was hurting. A centaur had burst through the trees, stomping and scaring the thing away, when Hagrid and Harry had run away.
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Hermione was pacing outside of the Gryffindor tower waiting for Harry to come out. She had found information on Flamel. The portrait swung open and she found herself face to face with Ron.
“Blimey, what are you doing out here?”
“I was waiting for Harry, is he coming out soon?”
“Do you just want to come in?” Her eyes widened. She had never been invited into a Common Room before.
“Erm. Alright.”
She snuck in past Ron and took in every detail. There were red cushioned chairs and couches next to a large fireplace. It was gold and red everywhere, giving the room a warm, cozy feeling. A massive lion painting drew her attention as it yawned. She perched on the edge of an overstuffed chair, crossing her ankles and staring at Ron.
“I’ll go grab him then.” It was late and she wondered why she was even waiting out by the portrait to begin with. She wasn’t sure if he was even going to come out, she probably looked mad. Huffing, she heard footsteps approaching and Harry stared at her.
“Hermione? What are you doing here?”
She shot out of the chair, pulling him towards a secluded corner, Ron following close behind. “I did the research on Flamel and I wanted to come and tell you what I found. It seems like he was in possession of something called the Philosopher's Stone. It seems that the legend is that he created a stone that could turn metal into gold. Not only that…but it is also able to grant Immortality.”
“What’s so important about that?”
“Voldemort. He would want it. What better way to make sure that you don’t die again then to get in possession of something that will make you immortal. I bet that Snape is trying to get it for him.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “I don’t think that Snape has anything to do with this, Harry.”
“Why do you defend him so much?” Ron was narrowing his eyes at her, and she shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know, I just have a feeling that it’s not him.” Another lie, but she had promised, and Snape had done nothing but provide for her. He had gone out of his way to gather her from the Orphanage and bought all of her school things. Not to mention the obviously renovated room. There was no reason for him to and even though she was wondering if there was some sort of alternate reason for it, she owed him nothing but her loyalty. He had given her a school of magic and she had nothing to repay him with.
She felt her cheeks flush as Ron continued to stare at her. “Either way, we need to warn Dumbledore. I think that might have been Voldemort in the forest. Hermione told me that Unicorn blood was used to keep somebody alive that was on the brink of death, but obtaining the Philosopher's Stone? That means that they would be alive no matter what, no use for unicorn blood. Voldemort is after the stone. We have to warn Dumbledore!”
Harry’s eyes were bright and wide and Hermione nodded. “No. You lot aren’t leaving. You’ve lost enough points already.”
The three of them spun around to find Neville Longbottom staring at them, his wand drawn and pointed at them. Hermione raised her eyebrows; of all the people he was the least expected to try and stop them from leaving. He did have a point though, they definitely had lost enough points throughout the year, the past few months alone. But they couldn’t not warn Dumbledore about the potential threat, and that was how Neville ended up in a full body bind and the trio winding their way up towards Dumbledore’s office.
McGonagall stopped them before they could reach it.
“What are the three of you doing out of bed?”
“Professor! We have to speak with Professor Dumbledore!”
“I’m afraid that you’re going to have to wait, he’s not here.”
Harry turned towards Hermione with wide eyes. “But, Professor, we think that Voldemort is after the Philosopher's Stone!”
McGonagall’s eyes went wide, and she didn’t speak for a moment. “I’m not sure what you three are talking about, but there is no excuse to be out of your Common Rooms this close to Curfew. Now, I assure you that if there was anything in the castle that it would be heavily guarded and impossible to obtain. Off to bed, the three of you.”
They all shared a glance and scurried down the hallway.
“I bet that it’s under that trap door that Fluffy is guarding.”
“Right, we need to grab your invisibility cloak. There is no way that they’re not going to be watching the entrance now that you said something.”
Harry smirked. “I already have it.” Hermione shook her head as he slipped it from under his robes and threw it over them. They made their way towards the third floor, finding the door already cracked open. “Snape must already be in there! He knows that Dumbledore isn’t here so he’s going to grab it.”
They slipped into the room, closing the door behind them only to find the dog asleep from a magically playing harp and the trap door already open. Shaking the cloak off, Harry made his way hesitant towards the open trap door, casting a look over his shoulder at them. Hermione shuffled after him, peering down the door. It was dark and she couldn’t see the bottom. Ron nudged her with his shoulder. “Well, go on then. Ladies first.” Hermione rolled her eyes.
“Honestly.” Sitting on the edge, she gripped the two boys' hands and yanked them as she jumped. They yelled, falling for a moment before landing onto a thick bed of vines. As soon as their bodies collided, they started to wind around them, attempting to suffocate them. Hermione wiggled her hand free, noting that the boys were already getting dragged deeper below. “Stop fighting it! It will make them kill you faster!”
Ron let out a squeak but she noticed that both of them seemed to still. She muttered her Blue Bell Flame and felt the vines loosen from around her, allowing her to slip below them. She landed roughly on her feet, stumbling before aiming her wand above her and freeing Ron and Harry as well. They landed on the floor, staring up at her as they took a moment to dust themselves off.
“Do you ever wonder if we’re in over our head sometimes, mate?” Ron was peering at Harry, looking extra pale under his red hair. Harry didn’t respond, instead examined the room that they had fallen into. It was more of a narrow passage that sloped downwards. There was the sound of trickling water and they moved towards it carefully. The chamber led to a large room with a high ceiling that was full of winged keys. Hermione scanned the room, finding a large wooden door on the opposite end with a silver lock. After attempting the Alohomora Charm, she realized that they would have to find the key amongst the ones floating above them.
“It’s not going to work. We have to find the key that’s going to open this bloody door.”
“How are we going to do that?! That’s impossible.” Ron was staring at the keys above them, his eyebrows in his hairline. Harry on the other hand, was staring intently at a broom that was hovering near the other side of the wall.
“Good thing I’m a seeker, right?” He flashed Hermione one of his cocky grins and she rolled her eyes.
“Merlin. Which key do you think it is.” Harry was studying them, his face scrunched. Then, he pointed to a small silver key that only had one wing as it fluttered around. It was thick and old looking unlike the others. Hermione watched as Harry climbed onto the broom. As soon as he was in the air, all of the keys started to move around the room, and she tried to track the silver key with her eyes, losing it in the mass that was now swirling around the room quickly. Yanking Ron closer to the wall, they watched as Harry flew around the room, chasing the key until finally his hand closed around it, and he dropped to the ground. Unlocking the door, they slipped through just as the keys slammed into the door behind them.
They stumbled into a room and Hermione’s eyes widened. Inside were massive chest pieces that towered over them, the floor a checkered pattern. Ron stopped suddenly, glancing around at the pieces. “Harry…I think that we have to play Wizard’s Chess.” His eyes were wide, and Hermione glanced back and forth between them.
“I don’t know how to play.”
“It’ll have to be Harry and I.”
Harry nodded his head, and she watched as they slipped into place, climbing on top of their chosen pieces. They slid across the board, the pieces viciously taking one another out as they crumbled into pieces in front of them. Hermione’s eyes widened when she realized that was going to happen.
“Ron! You can’t!”
“What?”
“He’s going to sacrifice himself! He’s going to let your piece take him out. He’s going to get himself killed!”
She watched in horror as Harry moved his piece across the board, Ron was on the back, his eyes wide as he stared at Harry. For a moment, none of them moved, and the stillness hung in the air around them. Then, the piece grabbed the huge sword it was holding, swung it over its head, and hit the piece just as Ron scrambled to jump off. He landed with a thud in the pile of rubble and marble at the piece’s feet. Hermione scrambled forward and Harry stopped her.
“I have to finish the game! Don’t move.”
She stilled, watching as Harry took out the King. Then, they both scrambled to Ron, finding him unconscious. “We have to get help, he’s alive but...”
“We also have to go after the stone. Come on. There has to be a way out of here, we can’t go back the way that we came.” Hermione nodded, and they carefully made their way out of the room and into a vacant one that smelled horrible. “This must have been where the troll was.”
Hermione and Harry ran through it quickly, entering a room with a single table in the middle. A piece of parchment was laid out and behind the table were two doorways. One was blocked by purple flames and the other was blocked by black flames. Hermione stepped hesitantly towards the table, reading the riddle that was scribbled onto the parchment.
Just like chess, this one required logic and intelligence regardless of the magical power that a witch or wizard possessed.
“Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.”*
She reread it a few times before studying the bottles before her, muttering to herself. “The red and black bottles have to contain wine…but the white and the green have to be poisonous.” She shoved those two bottles back, slightly out of line and pulled the wine bottles towards her. “This one is the one to go ahead, and this is the one to go back. Back…Harry you have to take this one.” She handed him the potion, and grabbed the one that was meant for going back. Harry stared at her, holding the bottle as if he was unsure about whether or not to take it.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She tipped the potion back, swallowing and setting the empty bottle back onto the table before turning towards the purple flames. “Take it and go through the black flames, I’m going to go get help.”
“Hermione…”
“Harry. Just trust me.” Harry nodded, and tipped the potion back, his face scrunching up from the taste before she watched him hesitantly step through the flames and disappear. Quickly, she scrambled through the flames and was surprised to find herself appearing in the room where Fluffy was sleeping. Dumbledore was standing, staring at the spot that she appeared from and for a moment she wondered if he knew that she was coming.
“Professor.”
“Ms. Granger. I have been expecting you.”
“Curious, because I was just coming to find you. Ronald is hurt, we need your help.”
“And where is Harry?”
She pursed her lips at him. “I believe that he’s exactly where you intended him to be.”
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Harry wound up being hospitalized, and after telling his turn of events, she wished that she had stepped through the flames with him. Yet again, he had defeated Voldemort and just as she said–it wasn’t Snape that was after the stone. It had been Professor Quirrell after all. That fact surprised her slightly and then suddenly it all made sense. He had been absent when they returned to the Great Hall after the troll appeared, and he had also been staring at Harry when Snape was attempting to stop his broom from being jinxed. She didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it beforehand.
When they gathered in the Great Hall, she found herself tucked into the Gryffindor table between Harry and Ron earning glares from Pansy and Draco from across the room. She wasn’t sure just what exactly she did wrong. It wasn’t like she was choosing a house, it had been made clear that she didn’t have one. Green and silver banners hung scattered throughout the room showing that they were in the lead with points this year.
The Great Hall hushed, as Dumbledore stood, his hand held up as he waited for it to silence as McGonagall lightly tapped her glass.
“Another year has passed us by, and I find myself aware of another House Cup that needs sorting. Currently in Fourth Place, Gryffindor with 312 points.” Hermione claps with the small number of people who did so as well, earning a sneer from Ron and a smirk from Pansy. “In third place is Hufflepuff with 352 points.” A bit louder round of applause erupts from behind her and Hermione smiles, clapping for them as well. “Ravenclaw is holding second place with 426 points.” Again, Hermione claps, noticing that this time the cheer was slightly louder than the previous.
“Finally, in first place is Slytherin with 472 points.” Hermione couldn’t help the smile as she watched the Slytherin table erupt, everybody standing and cheering as they clapped one another on the backs. Snape was also standing, giving a strange show of clapping for his students. After they had settled, she noticed that Dumbledore wasn’t done talking and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Well done, Slytherin. However, I have some last-minute points to award for recent events that must be taken into account. For Ronald Weasley, I award you sixty points for the best game of chess ever played in Hogwarts history, and for the willingness to realize when one must move forward and one must stay behind.”
Hermione did the math, which put Gryffindor at 372 points. The Gryffindors were applauding, slapping Ron on the back, who was now turning a brilliant shade of red. She vaguely heard Percy exclaim that Ron was his brother and she fought the urge to roll her eyes.
“For Mister Harry Potter, I award you ninety points, for the nerve and courage that you showed in the face of evil.” Curious looks were thrown between the Slytherin table before they glanced back at them and Hermione stared at the table. “For Neville Longbottom, I award twenty points. Standing up to your enemies requires courage, but standing up to your friends requires more.”
482, Hermione thought.
Hermione smiled at Neville who gave her a timid one back. She noted that she still had to apologize for using a full body bind on him and flushed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“Lastly, I award Ms. Hermione Granger sixty points for using pure intelligence in a moment of danger to save her friends.” She didn’t look up, instead did the math as to what all of the points were currently at. Hers were to be distributed evenly amongst the houses and she realized that Gryffindor was far past Slytherin now. Dumbledore had awarded enough points for Gryffindor to win the House Cup. She flicked her eyes up and found Draco glaring at them.
Gryffindor had won with 497 points and Slytherin now only had 487. Dumbledore had found the perfect amount to just barely beat Slytherin for the House Cup. She wondered if technically she won whenever any other house did, although she felt like she had helped cheat Slytherin out of a win.
“Now, if my calculations are correct, I believe that the Hall is in need of some minor redecorating.” With a flick of his wrist, Hermione watched as the banners changed to red and gold. Her eyes drifted to Snape who was glaring at Dumbledore, realizing that he too had been cheated out of the House Cup for his students.
For some reason she felt like Dumbledore had a way of making things go exactly how he intended.