Chasing a Dream

Chapter 9

Memory Mirror

It felt like someone had just slipped ice cubes down into his stomach. Harry felt panic slowly rising and his breath becoming more and more rapid. He ran to the open French doors and threw them open. He dashed to the railing and peered over the edge at the ground below... Nothing.

He looked around wildly. The night air was fresh and calm. The moon was casting an eerie glow on the balcony. Then Harry spotted it... A ladder.

The ladder was attached to the wall just outside the French doors and it led all the way up to the roof of the house. Harry stared at the ladder.

She couldn't... Surely not... How... But what if she did? Harry swallowed and gripped the sides of the ladder and began to climb. It was a while before he reached the top, finally though, he did.

A breeze whipped Harry's hair as he came to stand on the roof. The roof was leveled off and there was a strange wrought iron fence along the edge that stood about a foot high. There were two chaise lounge chairs in the center and a small potted tree in each corner of the rooftop. At the far side of the rooftop was a large telescope, and right beside the telescope sat Hermione, her back to Harry and her face to the sky.

Harry felt all the air rush out of his lungs in relief. He strode over to where Hermione was sitting. He sat down next to her.

"Hermione!"

No response. I might as well try and get a straight answer from a centaur! Harry thought bitterly. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her so that she was looking at him.

"Have you any idea how scared I was when I saw you were missing?!"

Harry softened. He blinked.

"Don't..."

His voice cracked, a tear slipping down his face.

"Don't do that to me again, ok."

Hermione said nothing. Her hand reached up slowly and brushed away his tear with her thumb. Harry laid back on his hands and looked up at the sky.

"What were you looking at?"

He asked, trying to get an answer out of her. She turned to look at the stars, too.

"What were you looking at?"

He repeated, turning on his side to look at her. She raised her hand to point at the sky. Harry followed the direction she was pointing. The North Star.

"What about it?"

Hermione lowered her hand and turned to Harry. Slowly and gingerly she got to her feet and made her way back across the rooftop.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

He jumped to his feet and followed her. She climbed down the ladder and Harry was just behind her. She walked swiftly through her room, down the hall, and down the stairs. For a moment Harry thought that she was heading outside, but she stopped in the hallway, in front of the giant mirror in the hall.

Harry watched her closely. She took Harry's hand in her right hand and lifted her left hand to the mirror. She ran her hand down the left side of the mirror, sliding it along the bottom, then up the right side. The whole time she was making strange noises in her throat, as if she were trying to talk. An incantation, in a way.

The most shocking part was that while she did her irises glowed eerie light neon blue. At the same time the runes on the border of the mirror glowed the same color. Images flashed across the surface of the mirror. They were strange.

Each one had a little girl, obviously Hermione, and they started with her as a baby and he even saw flashes of events at Hogwarts. However, there seemed to be this huge gap in the ages of the images he decided were memories. The flashes stopped on a picture of a stormy sea.

The surface of the mirror rippled and Harry felt the area behind his stomach give a sudden lurch as if he was traveling by floo powder. The world around him seemed to melt away.

Harry looked around. He was sitting on an airplane. Next to him sat a man in a suit reading a newspaper. He had brown hair and a mustache, small spectacles sitting on the bridge of his nose. On Harry's other side sat a pretty woman with wavy tan hair and a red dress. The woman looked up at him, she looked very familiar.

"Are you ok, dear?"

"Of course."

Harry felt his mouth moving but it wasn't him moving it. It wasn't his voice either. It was Hermione's. Harry reached up and tucked a loose piece of long brown hair behind his ear. Harry was in Hermione's body. He obviously had no control over anything he did.

"I know that you don't like to fly-"

"Oh, but I do!"

It was a strange feeling. To be there but not able to do anything. These people were Hermione's parents. Harry realized.

A voice came over the intercom.

"Passengers, we will be entering some turbulent air. We will be flying through a storm.

We have no choice. So we ask you to put on your seatbelts until further notified."

Harry felt a stab of fear in his stomach as Hermione buckled her seatbelt and intertwined her arm with her mother's.

"We'll be fine."

Her father whispered into her ear. Hermione nodded her head. The plane gave a sudden shudder. Harry felt the plane shaking violently beneath him. The lights flickered. Hermione gave a strangled yell as lightning flashed outside the window.

The plane gave a sudden lurch and Harry felt his stomach rise to his throat as the plane began to plummet to the waves below. People around them were screaming. Harry felt Mr. Granger's arms wrap around him to protect him. Hermione closed her eyes, her breath caught in her chest and terror gripping her soul. Harry felt the impact for a split second before everything went blank.

Harry was in the water now. Hermione flailed her arms and sputtered out the water in her mouth. People screaming everywhere. A giant wave rose and buried his head under the waves momentarily.

I'm going to die! Hermione thought. Horror was washing over him colder than the freezing water around him.

"Help!!! Help, somebody!!"

Hermione sputtered. The waves burying her, driving her deeper into the water. I'm going to drown!

Suddenly, someone seized him around the waist and laid him across a small piece of floating debris. He looked around to see Hermione's father floating there by him. He kissed her temple.

"I love you, baby girl..."

A giant wave washed over the two of them. When Hermione looked around again, her father was gone.

"Daddy? D-daddy! Where are you?!"

Another wave came and Hermione was washed away, clinging to the piece of debris for dear life. Lightning flashed and the thunder seemed to shake her insides as well. Hermione rode the tossing waves for about fifteen minutes but suddenly slammed against a giant rock poking out of the water. Hermione scrambled to get on top of it, the jagged edges cutting her palms and her head throbbing from the impact against the rock. Harry could feel the blood seeping down her face.

Hermione lay on the side of the rock, exhausted. Rain splattering against her face. She squinted upward at the sky. There was a mass of swirling black thunderclouds overhead, but a small patch of sky was visible and, twinkling down at him, was the North Star. And with that last image, Harry passed out.

Harry opened his eyes. He was lying on his back in the Granger's hall. Hermione was kneeling beside him. She wasn't holding his hand anymore. Harry sat upright. He felt like someone had just run over him with an eighteen-wheeler. Hermione was sitting very still, a tear running down her face.

"Oh, Hermione!"

Harry threw his arms around her, holding her tight. Her shoulders shook beneath his arms with her fast, irregular breathing. Harry slipped one arm underneath her legs and gently lifted her off the floor. She had her arms wrapped around his neck, sobbing soundlessly into his shoulder.

Harry carried her up the stairs to her bedroom. He laid her back down in her bed and pulled up the covers around her. His eyes darted around the room then settled on the shelves on the wall by her bed. He grabbed the stuffed rabbit and gently tucked it into Hermione's arms. Harry, feeling the situation needed it, bent over and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

Harry walked to the doorway, stopped and turned. It didn't feel right, leaving her crying in a dark bedroom all alone. He walked over to the French doors and locked them, to prevent any more nighttime excursions. He spotted a lamp on her dresser and turned it on. He silently left the room, feeling better now that she had some light.

He lay down on his bed staring up at the ceiling. Poor Hermione. She definitely has it worse than I did.

Harry lay there for half an hour, unable to fall asleep. A noise at his door startling him into a sitting position.

Hermione was standing there, looking small and afraid, and clutching her stuffed rabbit. Hermione stood in the doorway, looking almost longingly at Harry.

Harry smiled and nodded, patting the bed. Hermione crossed the room quickly. Harry crawled out from under the covers and she crawled under (I can have them in the same bed but not under the same covers). Harry wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled into his chest. Harry found that it was easy to go to sleep now.

-_-_-_-_-

Harry groaned and batted at the insistent hand shaking his shoulder. He rubbed his eyes groggily and blinked up at the intruder... Sirius.

Sirius smirked down at him. Harry opened his mouth to say something but Sirius pressed a finger to his lips and pointed at the person next Harry. Harry looked at the girl in his arms. Hermione was sleeping soundly, squeezing her bunny.

Carefully, Harry removed his arm from under her neck and rolled off the bed. He followed Sirius out into the hall but they weren't alone. Margaret was standing in the hallway, too. She looked really pretty.

Her wavy red-brown hair was pulled up at the sides with two diamond dragonfly barrettes, wispy bangs floating around her forehead. She was wearing muggle clothes; a creamy-green tank top with a daisy on the front, short worn-in blue jean shorts, and white strappy sandals.

Harry wasn't the only one who thought she looked nice. Sirius was staring at her with his mouth slightly open. Harry decided to speak, seeing as Sirius was temporarily indisposed.

"Wha- Oh! You're here for her check-up! She's in here."

Harry pointed through the door they'd just exited. She gave Harry a smile and, with a swift look at Sirius, went through the door. Harry turned to Sirius, smirking, eyebrows raised.

"Margaret looks nice today, eh, Sirius?"

Harry asked teasingly, unable to keep a straight face. Sirius seemed to come back to his senses. He glared at Harry before walking through the door after Margaret. Harry laughed and followed.

When Harry came in she was already done. Hermione was sitting up in bed, looking distant.

"Well, everything appears to be in order."

Her voice was smooth and had a strange note in it just like Hermione; he just couldn't put a finger on it. It was nice, but reminded him of Hermione, whose voice he hadn't heard in months. If you don't count last night.

"Has she done anything strange?"

Both Sirius and Margaret turned to look at Harry. Should I tell them? He pondered for a few moments.

"Well... Sometimes she walks around on her own and she.. She seems to respond to music."

"As expected."

"Huh?"

"Never mind, anything else?"

Harry thought about Margaret's question for a moment and finally decided. He shook his head no. It was Hermione's business what went on not anybody else's.

"Alright then. I better be go-"

"Why don't you stay for lunch?"

Sirius interrupted. She looked at him with a surprised look on her face. She smiled. Sirius blushed; the first time Harry had seen him do so.

"I'd be flattered."

Harry looked between the two. Margaret was looking at Sirius with admiration; Sirius was looking at the floor. Harry laughed.

"I'll change Hermione's clothes and see if I can coax her to the dining hall."

Sirius and Harry walked into the hall. Harry smirked knowingly at Sirius who glared at Harry again.

-_-_-_-_-_-

That night Sirius walked Margaret out to her car. Harry watched from the bay window, Hermione sitting on the floor. Harry looked down at her.

"I think they fancy each other."

Hermione said nothing, or do anything for that matter. Ever since she'd woken up, she'd been unusually distant, even considering her condition. Earlier she seemed to understand English to a limited extent, now she seemed totally oblivious to anything going on around her. She didn't even move her head.

Nor did she move around anymore, not unless he took her by the hands and led her around. She still hadn't eaten anything but Margaret gave her a pill and assured Harry that she won't need to as long as she takes the pill.

Margaret and Sirius walked through the door. Harry looked up. Margaret walked swiftly across the room and knelt beside Hermione.

"She just wants to try one last thing."

Sirius told Harry and sat next to Harry. Harry watched as Margaret took Hermione's limp hands in her own and tried to look her in the eye.

"Mai gniyrt ot natsrednu, taw si gniog no?"

Harry thought it was a spell of some sort, but it didn't sound like one he'd ever heard. She didn't even have her wand out. Harry didn't understand, but Hermione seemed to. She looked up at Margaret, her eyes wide. She opened her mouth slightly and made a small choking noise as if she were trying to communicate.

"Peek gniyrt, ruoy sengi."

She kissed Hermione on the forehead and stood. She turned to Sirius and nodded. Sirius smiled and escorted her to the door. Margaret paused at the door and called back to Sirius and Harry.

"See you tomorrow."

The door closed with a soft snap. Harry turned to Sirius with a quizzical expression on his face.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me."

"Well..."