Four Leaf Clover

Disclaimer: Thank you for your world JKR. We are all eternally grateful.

This will be a HG, TR, SS, and OC romance and drama fic with our other characters such as HP, RW, GW, DM, and LL all playing an important role. Thank you for reading. I will try to tell the story from multiple points of views, but the focus will be mainly on Hermione and Seffina's viewpoints.

Chapter 1: Dreams are for those with Freedom

Seffina Sumera woke up with a content smile. She had had a wonderful dream where she was finally a student at Hogwarts enjoying a boat trip with her friends. The trouble was that Seffina was an ordinary muggle. Maybe not quite as ordinary, but still not magical either. Most people that met her were only struck by two things. First, she rarely said a word, but still made you understand her. The other thing was the way she looked. There was something about her that made you look at her twice. But when you did, you couldn't quite understand why you were looking at her.

Seffina lived in a small college town in the US where both her parents taught. Seffina knew nothing about her family. Her parents had moved to the United States only a few years before she was born. They had stayed in the same place since then, never venturing further than the next big city. While they had allowed Seffina to travel to many places with her friends, they never even told her where they had moved from.

They had not allowed Seffina to go away to college. So she had just finished one year of her undergraduate studies at the same university as her parents. Last year, she had finally succeeded in convincing her parents to let her study abroad. Today, she was about to leave for her study abroad program in Scotland. Seffina hoped no one discovered her real reason for going to Scotland: her deep desire to experience and see the places where the fictional Harry Potter lived. As many around the world, she had become enchanted with Harry's world. She knew that it wasn't a reality, but every time she looked at herself in the mirror she felt a mysterious pull towards that magical world. The same way she felt right now as she looked at herself one last time before making her way to the airport.

Seffina was about to leave her room when she tripped over a present her aunt had sent her. Seffina had no idea who this aunt was or where she lived. Her parents had told her that all her questions will be answered when she turned twenty one. Her "aunt" had somehow found out about her obsession with the Harry Potter world. She secretly smiled as she looked at the gift box she had tripped on. It had contained her latest present from her aunt: a wand. The box claimed that her wand was a genuine Hermione Granger replica: vine wood minus the dragon heartstring. Over the years her aunt had send her many Potter replicas including robes, a time turner, and her favorite gift, Godric Gryffindor's sword.

Her parents hated her obsession with that world and often told her that she needed to ground herself in reality more. Seffina had packed all of her presents and all of her six books in one of suitcases. She picked up the wand box that she had tripped over and opened it and read the message inside. Her aunt had written, "Powers are meant to be discovered." Seffina felt really sad for a moment and felt a tear forming in her eye. She put the box aside and walked out to the waiting car.

As Seffina buckled her seatbelt, she felt strangely air sick. She had taken many plane trips before, but this was the first time that she had ever felt sick. Her heart felt heavy and she had an onerous feeling about this trip. Maybe it was just guilt that she had applied for a study abroad in Scotland only because of the big Harry Potter conference that was going to be held there in September. "No, you are going to study, too," Seffina tried to console her self. Deep down Seffina felt this sickness had to do with something far more serious. Once again, her aunt's words came into her mind: powers are meant to be discovered. Seffina pushed the negative thoughts out of her mind and opened up her spot in the fourth Harry book. As she read, she felt herself escape to the wizarding world and quickly forgot her uneasiness.

Seffina got on her flight that was to take her from London to Edinburgh. As soon as she stepped onto the plane, her previous uneasiness came back and increased a thousand fold. She was almost in a panic mode, with her breathing almost out of control. She started to sweat profusely and felt an oncoming of nausea and dizziness. The lady next to her asked if she was alright. Seffina tried to calm down and told the lady she was fine. She hastily tied her seatbelt and tried to go to sleep. About twenty minutes into the flight, the plane hit a huge amount of turbulence. Seffina could see the storm raging outside her window. Only a few minutes ago it had been a clear and sunny August day. It was almost as if someone had taken a big think grey blanket and covered the plane with it. As if inside an amphitheatre, every single sound was amplified a thousand times. The plane began to shake as if there was an earthquake and soon after the plane started to twist as if being pulled in by a tornado. The oxygen masks fell out. Before she had a chance to put hers on, her window disappeared; it wasn't pulled or broken off, but suddenly disappeared out of existence. Seffina felt herself dragged outside as her seatbelt also mysteriously vanished.

For a moment, Seffina felt like she was trapped in an anti gravity machine outside the airplane. Her consciousness seemed to be veering outside her physical body. She saw the raging storm attacking her and the plane that was quickly moving away. Suddenly, something else flew out from the back of the plane and hit her in head. Before passing out from the impact, Seffina remembered seeing the plane vanishing into the storm and her body being pushed away by a big ball of blinding white light.

--------------------------

Hermione Granger woke up with a cold sweat. She had just witnessed a strange dream. Hermione never had dreams that she remembered. This dream, however, felt almost like a memory. In her dream, she saw herself with two guys and a girl, all four of them sitting in a boat smiling and enjoying life; a life without any burdens or restrictions. She couldn't see the first guy's face as it was obstructed, but the girl looked just like Hermione. Her hair was darker, curlier, and softer. Her eyes were brown but the most intriguing brown she had ever seen. She could only describe them as the earth after a fresh rain. There was an underlying femininity to those eyes, a close resemblance to the fertile mother earth.

Hermione had many close friends, but she had not managed to be extremely close to a girl. Ginny was Hermione's closest girl friend, but the relationship was in many ways a one way street. In the dream, she was more than a friend with the other girl. There was almost a sense of being one, not romantic, not familial, but still a sense of being one. There was also something vaguely familiar about the other guy. She was sure it was someone she knew, but couldn't place the name to the blurry face of her dream. Hermione sighed. She took her wand and muttered captura memoria to make sure her memory didn't get lost in the jungle of her mind.

Hermione got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Today, she was supposed to go to her best friend's brother's wedding. Or she should say her boyfriend's brother's wedding. She wasn't really sure of her status with Ron. They liked each other, but Hermione had no idea where friendship ended and the liking started. As she showered, Hermione thought with a slight smile about what Ron looked like when he showered. It was such a silly girly thing to think about. Hermione tried to move on to some other more mature thoughts. She was itching at a chance to finally put her apparition license to good use. Until now she had only used it for small distance apparitions. Today, she will get to go across country. From the wedding, she was supposed to go with her two friends to Gordic's Hollow. The thoughts of leaving for their mission after the wedding brought Hermione back down to earth. She forgot her childish urges and remembered that at this moment in her life, there was no time for such frivolities.

Hermione went downstairs to have a good bye meal with her parents. These few days with her family had been the best she had ever had in recent years. She will miss them. This summer had brought a definite change in the relationship between Hermione and her parents. All three members of the family knew that this was the last time Hermione will be considered a child. They all ate their meal in relative silence, all three anxious about what will happen to them in the coming year.

"So are you guys packed for Portugal?" asked Hermione. Her parents were leaving on their trip as soon as Hermione left for Ron's house. She almost wished she could go with them and forget the troubles that lay ahead of her. Her parents were half aware of what was happening in the wizarding world. They knew of the danger that existed if they continued to live here in England. After many long nights of intense arguing, Hermione had managed to convince them to leave for Portugal for a few months. She hoped that would give her enough time to decide how to tell them the rest of what was happening, especially her role in it all.

"Almost, we still need to make sure of some last minute things and need to make a trip to the bank on the way to the airport," answered her Dad. And suddenly realizing something else he had forgotten he yelled, "Oh no, I forgot to leave the fish feeder on automatic timer. The will die before nurses and substitute dentists come on Monday." Her dad and mom had hired two fresh out of dental school associates to fill in for them. They would benefit from an exposure to an established and successful practice, while her parents would know that their patients were well taken care of.

"How could your forget that Jacob? We will never make it to the office and to the airport in time," her mother exclaimed. Hermione knew her mother was incredibly hesitant about their plan to move to Portugal for a few months. Hermione had an uncle in Mértola, Portugal, a small town with a rich history. Isaac, her uncle, was related to Hermione from her father's side. She had only seen him three times, but she felt a stronger connection to him than all of her other relatives. She hoped that her parents were safe at Isaac's house. Hermione looked at her mom and wondered if she should offer to go and set the timer.

"Don't worry Mom, I will apparate there and set the timer. I will be back in a few minutes." Hermione told her parents. She knew her parents were cautious towards magic, but hoped that they would allow her to help just this once.

"Hermione dear, I don't think that is such a good idea," her mother immediately countered, just as Hermione had expected. Hermione's face dropped and she looked pleadingly at her father. She knew he would have a hard time saying no to Hermione.

"Amanda, I think this might be our only chance at making it to the airport on time. Let her once," her father said to her mother. Her mother seemed to consider for a few minutes and finally sighed in defeat.

"Oh all right, just this once and maybe any other time your father is about to kill the fish," her mother replied with a reluctant smile. "And since you are going there, could you put few files that your dad also forgot to leave there away in the patient cabinets?" Her mom went to their home office and collected the files and gave them to Hermione. Hermione got up from the table.

"Thank you mum, thank you dad, I will be right back," Hermione claimed eagerly. She apparated quickly out of the kitchen and into her parents' office. She went to the fish bowl and set the feeder and filter timer (her dad probably forgot that one too). She then went to the cabinet and tried to get the twenty or so files organized alphabetically. After about ten minutes, Hermione disapparted to her kitchen.

However, while she was popping into the kitchen she saw two cold red eyes leaving her kitchen. In the few times she had apparated, Hermione could not remember ever feeling someone else's apparition. Her heart immediately started to pound. Tears didn't even wait a second as they started to pour down her face. There, right in front of her, her parents, both so full of life ten minutes ago, lay dead. She looked at them, they looked almost peaceful. For a minute, Hermione just stared at their faces. All thoughts about the world left her and she could only look at their familiar faces.

Then suddenly she heard a voice in her head that said "Go." Hermione knew she had to get out of here. Voldemort might have seen her as she had seen him when she came here. Crookshanks suddenly pushed against her legs and meowed with a sense of urgency. Hermione picked him up and gave her parents a one last look and tried to apparate to the Weasleys. But mid-apparation, she once again saw they eyes of Voldemort and surprisingly a new set of eyes, that of Severus Snape.

------------------------------

Severus Snape awoke with a hot burst of energy. For the first time in as many years as he could remember, Severus Snape had had a pleasant dream. This dream was more than pleasant, and it was more than a dream. There were strong emotions associated with the dream. It had been almost like a memory that had been lost in time. There were two girls and a boy with him in the boat. They had all been part of a pleasant boat ride in a lake. He couldn't see anyone's faces as he had been turned away and looking at the water and the castle besides it. He did seem to recognize the girl from somewhere in his past, but only vaguely. There was something beatific about the other boy and the childish amusement in his eyes.

Severus, however, could not afford to dwell on any dreams. Today was another day filled with hard decisions and even more difficult consequences. Sometimes he felt he had no time to think or feel. He felt himself drawn back to the dream. In there he had the time to both think and feel. "Dreams are for those with freedom," he told himself and forcibly pushed the dream out of his mind.

Severus knew that there were many muggle killings planned today. Recently in the Daily Prophet there had been a story about the hypocrisy of the Dark Lord. Even in his thoughts, Severus could not call him anything but the Dark Lord. They had revealed to the world that the Dark Lord was actually a half-blood with a muggle father and an almost squib for a mother. Needless to say, some of the death eaters were surprised by the news. He, also, did not take the news well. Today was supposed to be a lesson for the muggle-born children of the British world. He had chosen five random families to attack and kill. Hermione Granger and her family was the lucky one that was supposed to have the honor of being killed by the Dark Lord himself. Severus didn't know at what time he would attack the Grangers.

Severus thought about Hermione and once again the dream came back into his mind. He realized that one of the girls was Granger. For a reason he could not begin to explain he felt an urgent desire to see the tomb of Albus Dumbledore. He knew it was foolish to give into the urge, but he could not suppress the desire. It was almost like he had been imperioused to go see his tomb.

He cast a disillusionment charm and tried to apparate to the edge of the forbidden forest. As he did, he found himself trapped half way as a massive bold of pure white light hit him. He felt himself dropping to some strange place that was white and blue. After a few moments he realized he was falling onto an island the size of a tennis court.

Severus was surprised when he landed with a soft thud instead of the impact a body would have with ground at the velocity he was falling out of the sky. He got up and looked around. All he could see was water all around him. The island was flat with only sand, no trees, no rocks, no living or inanimate object of any kind. The waves seemed to start raging as soon as he stepped on the island. Severus tried to apparate again, but he could not. He was thinking about doing a location charm. However, suddenly the waves calmed down and he heard another loud noise and looked up to see something else falling down on the island. As the object neared he could make out a girl. She also landed with a soft thud. As soon as she landed, the waves began to thrash around the small piece of land.

Severus pulled out his wand and looked down upon the girl. Severus saw her get up and look up at him with confusion in her eyes. She also had something else with her and it moved from under her robes and started meowing loudly in his direction.

"Professor Snape?" Hermione asked with a dazed look. She immediately pulled out her wand and placed it in front of herself.

"Miss Granger," he acknowledged.

Before either of them could say another word, they both felt the waves calm down and they heard something else coming from the sky. This time, however, there was a ball of white light that seemed to be following the object. Soon another girl landed and after her a bag. She seemed to be unconscious and Severus saw Hermione move directly to her. Severus also walked to the unconscious girl. Hermione turned her around and cleared the girl's hair from her face. Severus bent down to look at her face. As he looked down at the girl's face, for the first time in many years, Severus Snape felt a tug of hope.

---------

Coming Attractions: The three islanders try to figure out what exactly happened to them. Hermione confronts Severus about Dumbledore's murder. Seffina wakes up. We see a little bit of Tom Riddle

Please Review