Silver Dawn

Chapter One

The snow started dripping into her boots the moment she got out of the car and soon her feet were barely visible in the ankle-deep wetness.

Hermione reached over the backseat to grab her bag at the other window and pulled the heavy duffel closer. Halfway it got stuck on one of the seat belts and she swore under her breath. The driver shot her a questioning glance, but she ignored him. Under different circumstances she would have apologized. Normally, she wouldn't have sworn in the first place. Today was different. Today was possibly the worst a day could get and according to the grey color of the sky it was about to get even better.

"Do you need any help, miss?"

"I'm fine", she grunted unconvincingly before giving another pull. It didn't give way. Another attempt gave the same result.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" she cried out in frustration. She climbed into the car and separated the bag from the buckle with a lot more force than necessary. Her cheeks were flushed by the time she'd gotten all of her things out of the car. She wrapped her scarf tightly around her neck and walked up to the driver's window. The automatic window rolled down.

"Are you sure you have the right address, miss?"

Hermione nodded distractedly and gave him the money she'd brought for this exact purpose. The man looked concerned as if he considered taking her back to London.

She gave him an attempt at a reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine. Thank you for the ride."

"You're absolutely sure?"

She nodded. The driver took the money from her hand and cast a last look at the neighbourhood before slowly rolling his window back up. Hermione took a step back to let the car pass and watched as the tale lights slowly moved away until they could no longer be seen in the distance. Then she reluctantly turned around and faced her destination for the first time. Her heart sank.

Hermione didn't know what environment the driver had seen, but she was pretty sure this wasn't it. Based on the driver's worried behaviour she'd say the building was under the protection of anti-muggle spells, but those didn't work on her so there was no way to tell if she was right. Instead she saw a building so enormous it might have filled her with awe under different circumstances. Right now, however, the dread and nausea prevented her from feeling any kind of admiration. With a resigned sigh she heaved her bag over her shoulder and felt with her free hand for the reassurance of the wand in her pocket. She couldn't do any magic – she was months away from turning seventeen – but the wand was part of her and holding it had a way of calming her nerves. 

Her feet carried her to the intimidating black gate in front of the long driveway. It spontaneously opened when she came closer. They were expecting her. Slowly she went through, stepping onto the endless cobblestone path that was magically modified to stay clear of snow. Entering the pathway that led to the property behind felt wrong on so many different levels but she didn't have a choice. She drew a heavy breath and stepped forward. Another step. Until she was halfway down the driveway and the first raindrops started dripping down on her. Professor Trelawny would have called it a sign. Hermione knew it was just bad luck with a hint of murphy's law. She'd suffered a lot of that lately. It was the reason she was stuck in the now pouring rain outside a manor she really didn't want to have anything to do with.

It had all begun with a small message on the board in the common room a couple of weeks ago. The staff had come up with a new way to improve the relations between houses. They had started a program that obliged every sixth year student at Hogwarts to spend the Christmas holidays with a fellow student from another house. Back then the idea had excited Hermione even though she always loved going home for Christmas. She had always felt there was too much competition and bad blood between the houses and this had seemed like a great way to overcome the prejudices. And since she got along rather well with the other witches and wizards of her year, chances were she was going to enjoy herself a lot. Yes, the idea had seemed a lot of fun at the time. Her friends had thought differently of course. Ron had been wary and Harry had been downright sceptical about the idea as he had been sure he was going to get paired with his lifelong nemesis. Which she had convinced him was not going to happen. Because of all the people in their year, what were the odds that Harry would be paired with Draco Malfoy?