The Dream Trilogy Book Three: What Dreams May Come (A Harry Potter FanFiction)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

She was almost certain, as far as she could tell, that this was what death must feel like. It was dark and cold, and frightfully alone. For what seemed like a very long time all she was really aware of was the throbbing inside her skull, the pounding in her brain, and nothing else had any meaning whatsoever. Limbs seemed miles away, tongue like sandpaper scraping on concrete, eyes like bottomless pits of darkness. It wasn't great. 

After a time though, the murkiness began to clear. It wasn't like the darkness lessened, but more rather everything else started to come back to her. Hermione wasn't sure how long it took her to remember that was her name, or why she was struggling to remember it in the first place, but it made her feel a good deal better when she did.  

It was a good job she did, because when somebody called out "Hermione?" she was able to appreciate that they meant her. She also became aware her shoulder was being shaken; her fingers flexed out in response, her eyelids squeezed together and a moan escaped the back of her throat.  

"Hermione are you okay?" said the girl's voice. "Wake up, you're scaring us." 

She didn't know who was speaking, or if she did she couldn't remember at that moment with her eyes still firmly shut. There was something else snagging at her thoughts though, pulling her mind backwards. A vision of a classroom swam around in her brain, and of performing a spell. For a moment that jarred her train of thought, loose as it was, before she remembered that magic was a part of her everyday life. Though perhaps it hadn't always been? 

"Hermione," hissed the girl. "Madam Pince is going to find us and tell us off! Wake up!" 

Hermione managed another groan, and heard a second girl say. "I think she's coming round." That was all the warning Hermione received before she was slapped good and hard across the face. 

"Yargh!" she shrieked as her eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright, causing the two girls who had been talking to rock backwards to avoid smacking heads. "Shh! Shh!" hissed a mousy haired girl, holding her finger in front of her lips. "She'll deduct points from Gryffindor!" 

"And Ravenclaw," added a plump black girl massaging her hand where, Hermione could only guess, she had just hit her. The black girl had a beautiful round face, with big glossy lips and a fat afro tamed back with a multicoloured headband.  

"Lisa Turpin," said Hermione slowly, as the names popped into her brain to match who she was seeing. "And...Lavender Brown." The two girls looked at each other.  

"Yeah," said Lavender, unsure. "You alright?" 

"What happened?" Hermione looked about her. She was sat in the middle of a library stack, several books littered around her and the other girls where it looked like they'd been dropped. She inwardly winced and automatically reached over and picked a volume that was open on its spine to close it and rest it on the carpet again.  

They were in Hogwarts, her school, it was all coming flooding back to her now. She loved this place, she always felt safe and reassured here. So why was there a raging sense of uneasiness growing in her stomach. 

"You fainted," said Lavender, her eyes wide. "Mid-sentence. You were telling us what you'd done for your charms homework, how you managed that levitation spell already." 

"Levitation spell?" said Hermione, pulling her eyes away from the stacks (they were in the beginners Charms section). "That's a first year spell?" 

"No need to rub it in," said Lisa with a light Bristol accent, standing up and offering her hand out for Hermione to take. Hermione wasn't sure if she'd even heard her speak before, she'd had that little to do with the Ravenclaw girl. Why would she and Lavender Brown hanging out in the library with her, talking about spells they could do in their sleep?