The Stranded Hole: Part Five
Hermione crossed her arms tightly across her chest, feeling the quick burst of her body heat filter ever so slightly through her body in spite of the bitter cold November wind. The cars rushing past them as they made their way home from work only helped to dampen her spirits as she looked straight at the building she would soon have to be entering.
The old Slytherin high command looked derelict now, windows smashed from the children that resided in this run down area and the obvious lack of cleaning made the building look more like a haunted mansion than an old Government building.
She grudgingly remembered the last time that she was here, working as a cleaner while on a self made undercover mission to find out what had happened to her world. That time it had worked out well enough, saved by the two men she loved most in the world, Harry and James.
`You should have fetched your old scrubbers' uniform out' Harry joked as he shot her a teasing glance from the corner of her eye.
`You just like seeing me in a dress' Hermione smirked back `however horrible and baby blue it may happen to be'
`How very true' Harry said thoughtfully `makes me think I'm travelling with a woman instead of a twelve year old boy'
`Below the belt from Harry Potter!' Hermione called as she let out a little whistle `and the judges are ready to make a decision…it's a disqualification!'
`Any chance of an appeal?' Harry asked faking concern.
`Of course' Hermione said reasonably `but all that you could hope to get from it would be an extended sentence…so it's your choice really'
`Um…' Harry said scratching his chin in concentration `you don't leave me with many choices with this…please be kind?'
`Cant be kind or cruel' Hermione joked `seeing as the law is reason free from passion'
`Aristotle was such a smart ass' Harry groaned exaggeratedly `Put me out of my pain and sentence me, please?'
`Ok, you asked for it' Hermione said thinking hard.
`By any chance is it that I have to save the world?' Harry asked hopefully `because that I could manage'
`Nope' Hermione said sticking out her tongue.
`That I have to travel through time and space with a twelve year old boy look-alike?' Harry asked grinning.
`Next place we go, after the whole defeating the Slytherins thing we're doing at the moment, I get to choose your outfit' Hermione said with a wide smile.
`You're not going to pick plain, timeless black…are you?' Harry said sighing.
`Definitely not' Hermione smirked `I'm thinking yellow and pink'
`At least I won't be mistaken for a twelve year old boy' Harry said as he weighed up his punishment.
`Did I forget to mention that it'll be a dress?' Hermione said laughing.
Harry slinked his shoulders and groaned loudly, stomping his feet slightly impatiently before he turned to Hermione.
`I guess we'll look like a twelve year old couple, you the boy and me the girl' Harry said laughing `shall we get going and do this whole saving the world gig?'
`Well we really shouldn't keep it waiting' Hermione giggle as she took Harry's hand and started to lead him towards the main doors of her old place of employment.
Hermione let go of Harry's hand and pushed open the main double doors, surprising herself that they weren't locked, or even in need of a good oil.
`This place really misses you' Harry said in slight disgust as he stood rooted to the spot looking around. Hermione didn't reply but instead took a few moments to look around and saw instantly massive piles of dust, cobwebs and piles of crumbling cardboard boxes. It looked like it had been lying unkempt for at least a decade. Harry looked at her and added `you know, because you were a cleaner here and now it's a mess'
`I got it' Hermione said distractedly `I just chose to ignore it'
`It was funny because of the dress talk we had…' Harry continued, sounding slightly put out.
`Hasn't this place only been shut for about 6 months' Hermione said interrupting him.
`Ignoring me, that's new…' Harry muttered.
`Harry...' Hermione said turning to him sharply.
`New, but interesting' Harry carried on muttering to himself.
`Snap out of it' Hermione said warningly.
`Ok. Right. Dirt. Stuff' Harry said shaking his head with his voice back to its brisk casual style as he looked around the foyer again `it does look pretty darn derelict!'
`Darn?' Hermione said giggling at Harry.
`I'm trying out some new words' Harry said brightly.
`It's working for you' Hermione smiled.
`I'm also considering dang' Harry grinned.
`And I'm considering getting back to the point at hand' Hermione said snapping herself out of their banter and onto the issue they faced, mainly being stuck in a Slytherin building, probably with something that is draining magic inside, that looks like it had been derelict for a decade when it had only been for six months.
`Maybe the building was built on some cruddy, animal infested ground and their now out in full force to reclaim their territory?' Harry said shooting Hermione a hopeful glance.
`Or maybe it's the same thing that's draining power and giving us apparitions thing?' Hermione pointed out
`I was dreading that' Harry said screwing up his face and sighing, before he shook his head and started talking rapidly `Its probably another instance of time folding, this is probably the nexus of the activity or a centralized points of disturbance and thus the power is leaking out around it, morphing space around the crux of time'
`Just what I was thinking' Hermione said laughing as she took Harry's hand and started to lead him through the corridors which she found she still remembered from her job `I thought we'd check the room where they kept the pensieve first'
`Good call yet again' Harry said impressed `with the power that thing was shooting out haphazardly in its attempt at keeping the memory alive that it would create a slight temporal weakness that would be easily manipulated'
Hermione strode through the endless corridors, pulling Harry alongside her, counting the many turns until she found the right one and walked to the edge of the door that led the way.
Harry pulled on her arm to stop her as they reached the door and out his hand into his pocket, removing the wand he had receive from Albus.
`It's not as good as my one' Harry said looking at it mournfully `but hopefully it'll be enough'
`With you behind it I have no doubt at all' Hermione said with a little encouraging smile which Harry returned before she took the handle of the door and pushed it open.
Hermione stepped in after him and looked around, the room was completely bare, absolutely void of anything at all and entirely decorated in pure white.
`I guess we were wrong this time' Harry said shrugging as he strode around the room and closely examined the corners.
`Why is this room so clean compared to the rest of the place?' Hermione asked confused.
`Maybe it's a different cleaning company that do the rooms?' Harry asked hopefully.
`Or maybe it the magic draining, apparition creating, corridor dirtying thing at it again?' Hermione pointed out as she thought she preferred the dirt of the corridors to the hospital like cleanliness of this room.
`Seriously Hermione' Harry said dramatically `please stop pointing these things out!'
`I'll keep that in mind next time your trying to fool yourself with a stupid theory instead of facing reality' Hermione teased grinning'
`Just keep it in mind' Harry said brightly before he shuddered and added `I so hate reality!'
`Onto the torture chamber?' Hermione said brightly.
`Hearing you say those words gives me the chills!' Harry said pretending to shiver as he took her hand and lead her from the room `I meant that in a good chills type of way of course'
`Really?' Hermione asked curiously `little…kinky?'
`Now why does your mind always drop into the gutter?' Harry teased as he pulled her up a flight of stairs.
`So you meant that you get chills from the idea of literal torture?' Hermione asked cocking her eye brow.
`Oh' Harry said stopping momentarily before carrying on down a corridor and adding quickly `I'll take the kinky thing'
`Good choice' Hermione said giggling slightly.
`As they strode through the endless corridors she couldn't help but smile, the fun banter as they strode to face a nameless and probably lethal enemy was so natural to them, and she loved it.
`Ding, ding, our stop me lady' Harry said stopping outside the large, completely out of place, wooden door and gave her a bright smile `you ready?'
`One moment' Hermione said holding up a finger to indicate it as she straightened out her clothes slightly `if some thing is going to try and kill me, I at least want to look good for it'
`Your such a girl' Harry teased dramatically rolling his eyes as he pushed the door open and stormed in, his wand raised high and ready for action.
`Where is everyone?' Hermione said strolling in after him `or anyone at all for that matter?'
`I'm more concerned with how this room looks exactly the same as it did six months ago?' Harry said looking around, and Hermione quickly realized that he was right. The chairs were still even bound with the heavy chains they had worn before.
`Maybe no one has been here since then?' Hermione asked hopefully.
`Or it's the drainy, dirtying, appiritiony, cleany thing again?' Harry groaned `I hate temporal anomalies reflecting in the cracks of space…'
`Who's being the pessimistic one now?' Hermione said shooting Harry a pretend angry look.
`At least its not here ready to attack jus' Harry pointed out brightly.
`But also it means we've hit a dead end, as this was our last idea after all' Hermione sighed, she was watching the chairs and shuddered, the heavy chains brought back some bad memories.
`Maybe not…' Harry said, his voice was low and deep in concentration as he stalked around the room, putting his hands barely and inch away from the chairs before quickly doing the same to the next one.
`You got an idea?' Hermione said grinning from ear to ear.
`I think I just might' Harry said loudly, joy in his voice as he spun around excitedly.
`Come on and share!' Hermione cheered, Harry's plans always meant something good and always ended well.
`Ok' Harry said jogging up close to her and putting his hands roughly onto her shoulders, a boyish grin masking his face `when Draco and the other Slytherins had me captive…or at least thought they had me…they hooked me up to them to drain my power'
`But they failed' Hermione pointed out.
`Naturally' Harry said grinning `but they linked my power…which as I've told you before is really what I am, like my soul or being or consciousness… they linked it directly to their own, so theoretically at least a connection was formed and still some residue bridging should really exist'
`Isn't that dangerous?' Hermione asked, horrified that Harry's soul was linked to someone as horrible as Draco Malfoy.
`I'm talking of the stringiest of links' Harry said excitedly `just a few more atoms than I'm linked to everything else, completely and utterly useless in any other situation'
`So how's this helpful' Hermione asked wondering which crack of a hint she had missed.
`Because we happen to be situated in a place where a machine exists ready that was made to bridge that gap and actively pull on it' Harry said, flashing a little wink.
`You can fold it back on itself?' Hermione said grinning `you, the self proclaimed king of apparition and portkeys, can appear where Draco is, can't you!'
`Self proclaimed it may be, but no one does it better!' Harry said as he held out his hand for Hermione to take.
`You mean right now?' Hermione said not taking her hand.
`No time like the present' Harry said winking again `I promise nothing will happen to you'
Hermione shrugged and took his hand, sure that this wasn't going to go swimmingly, and as soon as their skin touched she felt the familiar, and completely horrible, feeling of being pushed through a tube that was apparition.
`WHAT THE -.' A voice rang out from around the room.
`Draco Malfoy!' Harry shouted brightly as if he had bumped into a long lost friend in the road completely by accident. Hermione followed Harry's eye line and saw Draco sitting on a chair, his face was paler now than ever before and he seemed so shocked by their arrival that he was stuck to the spot `its amazing to bump into you, here of all places!'
`I think you've looked better before though' Hermione said following Harry as he approached Draco.
Draco suddenly twitched, as if having a convulsion, and his hand shot like lightning for his wand, but even before he reached it the wand went flying upwards, bouncing roughly against the ceiling.
`I still need to get used to this wand' Harry said chuckling to himself as he picked up Dracos' wand off the floor and pocketed it.
`Harry Potter' Draco sneered settling back into his chair and looking at Hermione, disgust evident in every crease of his screwed up face `and his mud blood slave! What an…honour'
`I see your time in the Sahara didn't improve your manners at all' Hermione laughed at Dracos' pathetic insult.
`Maybe Antarctica will help his etiquette?' Harry said looking questioning at Hermione. The slightest bit of colour Draco had fell from his face and he twitched again in his chair.
Hermione laughed and looked around the room, it was dark and damp and seemed the complete opposite of Dracos' arrogance. She even saw drips of something sticky falling from the cracks in the ceiling.
Then her eyes stopped as she saw a familiar sight. A pensieve.
`Harry…' Hermione said grabbing Harry by the arm and pulling him around.
`What the…' Harry stopped mid-sentence as he saw the pensieve. He looked at it for several moments before he strode purposefully up to it and looked down into the swirling grey smoke `you cultivated the memory again'
`The one of you?' Hermione asked as she remembered the eerie sight of a younger, scared, Harry surrounded in darkness. Harry didn't answer Hermione but instead spun around and ran up to Draco, his wand raised into his face.
`Why cant you just GET OVER IT!' Harry yelled an inch from Dracos' face `why do you have to persist in hounding me, chasing memories and moments that don't belong to you!'
I seek power, the same as you do' Draco sneered cockily in Harry's face.
`That's not good enough' Harry said `I warned you not to interfere again'
`So what?' Draco said laughing loudly `you send me to some god forsaken backwards country and I get myself back here anyway? Why even waste your time?'
`Not this time' Harry said hotly `this time you're not leaving this room'
`Harry…' Hermione said taking a step closer to him, but he didn't even look in her direction.
`No' Harry said more to himself than anyone else `he's not leaving'
`But…' Draco said, fear flooding his voice for the first time `you…you can't…'
`I can' Harry said, his voice sounding full of sadness and mourning `and in a few moments, I will have already done it'
`We Cant let you interfere' came the echoing of a hundred voices all speaking as once through out the room making Hermione spin around expecting to be surrounded but finding nothing.
Harry backed of from Draco and looked around the room where the image of a human outline started to come into focus, like it was somehow being pushed into the air from somewhere else.
The image was male, but Hermione didn't know how she knew this as the thing was completely featureless and was only letting out a small amount of bright blue light.
`Dang!' Harry groaned running a hand through his hair as he scrunched up his face.
`What is it?' Hermione said but quickly added as he realized she was being rude `I mean what is…he…called?'
`It's…' Harry said his voice sounding surprised `…it's the Magicallds'
*
Hey, hoped you liked it. Personally I'm enjoying writing this, as I FINALLY get to pull a few loose strings together from several chapters, and its satisfying to do…Anyway, I hope you remember the Magicallds, and if you don't you could always read chapter 2 and 3 again??? Or listen to my quick little history recap...
The Magicallds are like parasites, completely void of any corporeal existence and thus they need to feed of magical creatures (including wizards) in order to carry on existing. Anyway, a freak accident happened where they were able to mix with the blood of unicorns (scientific experiments that contaminated the surgery and let them into their body) in order to gain immortality and its own, sentient life…Harry, having learnt of their intelligence, decided to let them go under the promise that all they would do was observe humanity…
And that's where we are now…
Hope you enjoy what's coming…
Till next time…
Jms Granger…
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