DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. does, and she has every right to do whatever she thinks is best for Harry Potter. I just love writing. So sue me. Wait, seriously… don't.
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Hermione thought losing her life and best friends overnight was the worst thing that could ever happen to her. Yet, it didn't come close to what she was feeling at the moment as she sat on her bed, alone and depressed.
The finality of what happened the previous night hadn't hit her until she woke up earlier that day. Having slept only at 2 in the morning, her head ached and her heart felt heavy. Feeling that way, she couldn't do anything but skip class.
What anyone would think of her missing lessons was her least concern at the moment. Losing who she was all her life last night had her feeling rebellious. She couldn't care less what anyone thought of her. The only people who mattered were back there where she had been before she got herself stuck into the mess she was now in.
This was the reason why she was confused, a little more than she was despondent. She knew in her heart she wanted to go back and couldn't understand why the spell Prof. Dumbledore had cast on her, had decided she wanted to stay.
What she told Harry the night before was true, yet she wanted nothing more than to see them again and be with them again. No matter what anyone or anything said, life without Harry and Ron was not living at all.
But, there was no use blaming fault to herself or to anyone else.
What had been done had been done and what would happen was now out of her hands.
But then, no one told her to feel happy about anything and miserable was what she was to stay right now. And it was that same feeling of helplessness that she took with her in her sleep.
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Footsteps up the Girls' Staircase had Hermione stirring. Yet even as she heard the door creak open, she still lay motionless.
She listened, though, waiting for whoever had entered to leave. But all she heard for the next few minutes were sounds of objects, light and heavy alike, being placed from one surface to another, drawers being opened and closed abruptly and pieces of clothing tossed from side to the next.
Still, after a while, the rummaging, which Hermione had figured was causing the noise, stopped, and was replaced by a voice she had only heard once, yet remembered so well.
"Where is it?" Lauren Potter's voice was clearly sporting irritation. "Ah…" Hermione heard her say in relief. "Has it been in here all these time?"
She then heard a slight thud nearby and knew by the sound that the young teenager had placed something quite heavy on her bedside table, followed by a light clunk, which indicated that something lighter was placed on top of the previous piece put down.
A swish of a cloak and footsteps retreating told Hermione that Lauren was heading towards the doorway. The wooden entrance opened and closed with a light click as the girl headed downstairs.
Removing the covers on top of her, Hermione sat up and touched her forehead which had begun throbbing again the moment she found herself awake. She, then, began massaging it.
`What time is it?' She asked herself and turned her left wrist towards her to look at the time, but saw nothing. There was no watch on either of her wrists and she vaguely remembered she hadn't been wearing one when she arrived here. She was about to look at the wall clock just across and above her when something caught her eye.
It was a brown book, old as it seemed from afar, and was becoming familiar as her gaze quite focused. A bit further and she would know what it was.
But nothing could have prepared her for the memories that began flooding her mind the moment she found the very cause of her dilemma facing her straight in the eye.
Perched on top of Lor's bedside table, a few feet away, was Tyro Elucidates After Hogwarts.
Mesmerized by its presence, Hermione got up from the bed and in a dream-like state, sauntered across the room to Lor's four-poster. There she stood; unaware of everything else around her, with the book as the only thing she could see through the red haze clouding her eyes….
But there was something else…an alien on the book she had seen just yesterday…
It was a flake-shaped metal, silver in a color with a thin strap of lace going through one tip. It was laid on top of the book at its center. Without even pausing to think, Hermione knew right away what it was and though she knew it wouldn't be right, her principles were gobbled up by her curiosity over the jewelry.
As she took hold of it, she realized that it was little wonder how Erin didn't recognize it was the same locket she had been wearing. It was really different from the one she found in the cave.
These words altered Hermione's thoughts for a brief second.
Now that she would be staying here, she reminded herself, she shouldn't be claiming her time before as her own. This period was hers now and she would be living a new life here. All hopes of going back had now drained away from her and the depression she was feeling had now mellowed down to a dull, throbbing feeling of emptiness; although, it wasn't any consolation.
All enthralled again and was on the verge of opening the locket, Hermione stilled her fingers that were positioned in place and mustered whatever conscience that was still left in her.
Whatever for should she open it? She wouldn't find anything worth looking at…so why see him again with his wife?
But then, she decided, she would probably feel much better if she saw them again. The pain would be no less, she knew that consequence, but she wasn't ignorant about being hurt. In fact, she may be finding a friend in it somehow, considering she had it wherever she went.
Feeling quite excited yet still overly anxious, Hermione managed to split open the two locked toggle, having had a hard time doing it since there were more extra designs on it than she was accustomed to.
Naturally, as Cole was yet to be married and so was Lor, Hermione found herself staring at their parents. But they weren't the couple she had expected them to be. Both were stunners of course, judging from the products of their marriage. But she had imagined that either one would have looked more serious than the other because of their son's disposition.
But instead, she was seeing the two faces of jovial people who looked as if they had so much to be happy about, which she knew they had, and it was the reason why Hermione wondered why Cole carried such graveness with him.
However, she remembered Erin referring to it indirectly as being reserved to people whom he just met, therefore putting her quite into the target of being affected by his attitude.
Knowing no other Potter couple aside from Cole's parents and Harry and his wife, Hermione decided to cut back from putting off what was inevitable and immediately asked for the images of Harry Potter and his wife, not having the guts to say Alicia's name.
But whatever appeared there was something unexpected…
Hermione's jaw dropped, even before she could register what the meaning of it was, as she saw her image standing beside Harry, flashing a rather wide smile, her arm wrapped around his waist. He, on the other hand, had his around her middle and was constantly pulling her closer at his side, then giving her a brief kiss on the cheek and then laughing at how she blushed at the gesture.
Hermione, who was holding the locket, was shocked at the very sight.
Confusion, happiness and anger bubbled inside her and were just about ready to burst altogether when she finally realized the implausibility of the picture. Tyro Elucidates After Hogwarts didn't kid around, showing people what they didn't want to see. It's an important material of the school and false claims in it would be highly doubted.
If she believed it was impossible for that book to lie, then why did she suddenly want to open it for confirmation of what she already knew was true?
But it wouldn't hurt, would it, to make sure if what she saw there was still the same? After all, she lived in an enchanted world--though she may not like the time she was in right now, she still lived in the same place and it hadn't changed at all.
In a hurry to find out what was what, she immediately dropped the locket on the bed and grabbed the book from the table just beside it. She opened the manuscript with great anxiety and was breathing hard as she began to scan the pages for Harry's profile.
The minute she reached his folio, she directly looked at the image flashing beside Harry's description and waited with bated breath for the next picture as she saw Harry's image, which was still the same begin to fade.
The next picture which came up did something to Hermione the minute she saw it.
It was like she couldn't breathe at all, couldn't think of the situation.
What happened, why it happened, how it happened…?
These were all the questions flooding her mind.
Just yesterday, this same book had stated she had been married to Ron. But now, a day after, it was claiming she had ended up with Harry.
The tightness in Hermione's throat became unbearable as she continued to gaze at her reflection with Harry. Why did such things happen to her? She found herself asking, as tears began to pour continuously down her cheeks. All she did was love a person. And as if unrequited love wasn't punishment enough, she had to be stuck in here because of something she didn't know would change a day after she had seen it.
Was it a crime to be happy? Would it hurt if she would have something she wanted in life?
Her mind seemed to have suddenly gone someplace else even as she began to read Harry's profile and confirmed that he had indeed married her. And because of that, she didn't hear anybody coming up the stairs and was dimly aware of anybody entering.
"Noelle, did you…?" Erin was about to asked when she saw Hermione, who was still oblivious to her presence or anything else for that matter, standing at the wrong side of the room. The moment she saw the tears flowing down her cheeks, though, she grew alarmed and was immediately at her side.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
Just a few sniffs and tears going down her face were given to her as an answer.
But Erin was unfazed by the lack of response and ploughed on, taking note of the book that was still open face up, and saw what Hermione was looking at.
For a minute she looked confused, and then reality dawned on her. "You still haven't found what you were looking for?" She asked, glancing at Hermione to catch any sense of awareness from her.
Still…
Nothing…
"But I don't see why you're crying over…" But she paused, something odd in the portrait catching her eye.
The images had begun replaying again--going back from the start and beginning its cycle once more.
"You look so much like Hermione Granger." She mused aloud, looking back from the picture to the life-sized version. But she said this with doubt on her face.
At the sound of her name…her real name…Hermione responded and snapped out of her trance. She turned to look at Erin seeing her for the first time, a smile suddenly brightening her tear-stricken face.
"Erin, would you call the others for me?" Hermione asked the puzzled teenager. "I've something to tell you."
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