Chasing a Dream

Chapter 13

Mirror Revisited

Harry goggled at her.

"You what?!"

"I remember..."

Her voice trailed off dreamily. She closed the door behind her with a soft click, strolled across the room, and sat down next to Harry. Harry didn't know how to react.

Hermione seemed totally unaware of where she was. She was gazing at some spot on the wall above Harry's head, eyes far away and out of focus.

"Hermione?"

She jogged back to her senses quickly. She looked around the room until her eyes finally settled on Harry. She burst into sobs.

"Oh, Harry! I forgot him! How could I forget him!? Him, of all people, Harry!!"

She threw her arms around his neck and felt a pang of jealousy for the obvious affection she had for this Andy person.

"Hermione, who's Andy?"

Hermione pulled away, eyes shining.

"I don't know how to explain... I'll show you!"

She took his hand eagerly and yanked him off his bed so quickly that he fell on his face. He looked up just in time to see Hermione's nightgown flailing about her bare ankles as she dashed out the door.

Harry knew he should keep up with her, even though he was sure he knew where she was taking him. Harry didn't see her again until he came to the hall.

As he'd thought, there she was, examining the mysterious mirror carefully. Her brow furrowed, concentrating hard. Suddenly, she seemed to come to a conclusion. She turned to him and reached out a hand.

"Give me your hand."

"Not until you tell me what this thing is."

"It's a Vesuvian Mirror of Memories."

"A Vesuvi-what?!"

She gave him a desperate and impatient look. Harry sighed and took her hand. Instead of using her free hand to activate the mirror, she lifted Harry's hand in her own and brushed his fingertips across the ruins on the frame. Harry's eyes were set on her face.

Her eyes were closed and her lips were moving swiftly as she muttered what sounded like a chant.

"Enoimreh et secnirp snamoc uoi ot laever et sap ot eem!!!

Harry, clutching her hand tightly, was lifted off the ground and sucked into the mirror. It felt just like when he was sucked into Riddle's diary. Harry landed hard on his feet. Harry opened his eyes. Hermione was standing next to him.

"You came, too?!"

"Of course. I wasn't strong enough to send both of us before!"

Harry looked around. The two of them were surrounded by darkness.

"Well..."

"I haven't begun yet."

"Oh."

Hermione took a deep breath, and sat down, cross-legged. She closed her eyes in concentration.

Colors swirled around them, sharpening into images.

***

Hermione was walking out of her bedroom door. She looked about four years old, wearing pink overalls and pigtails. She toddled down the hallway to the room that Harry currently occupied. She pushed hard against the slightly ajar door.

There was a boy sitting at a desk, quill in hand. He was concentrating on a book he'd set beneath a lamp. He was about twelve and had sandy colored hair that was slightly wispy looking. He had large brown eyes like Hermione and a small amount of freckles brushed across his nose.

Hermione waddled over to the desk. She looked up at the boy, but he was too absorbed by the book to notice. She tugged lightly on his sleeve.

The boy jumped and looked down at her in surprise. He smiled when he saw who the intruder was. Hermione looked up at him with adorable innocence.

"Whatcha doin?"

"Charms homework."

Harry was startled for a second. He's a wizard?!

"Oh."

Hermione's voice trailed off, not even trying to mask her disappointment. The boy set down his quill and watched as she marched sadly out of his room. She was almost to the door before he jumped up and swooped her up into his arms.

He threw her over his shoulder like a fireman and began to spin around the room. Hermione was giggling madly. He tossed her down on his bed and tickled her, sending her into fits of laughter. Finally, they stopped.

"What is it you wanted, Mina?"

Hermione, still giggling from the tickle assault, stopped and looked up at him.

"I want you to read me a breadtime story."

"A bedtime story?"

"That's what I said, a breadtime story!"

The boy laughed.

"Which one tonight?"

"This one!"

Hermione jumped up and ran over to the bookshelves on the other side of the room. She pointed at a book on one of the lower shelves. The boy got up and walked over to her, then extracted the book.

"Hogwarts a History? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

"Alright, then. Hop up on the bed."

Hermione bounced enthusiastically over to his bed, jumping up on it. She snuggled down into the pillows and the boy sat down next to her. He began to read.

He read very well. He gestured and acted things out at the foot of the bed. Hermione probably didn't have a clue what he was reading; yet she listened with rapt attention. He had a remarkable voice. It sounded to Harry, like a male version of Hermione and Margaret's. Hermione just sat there, mesmerized.

The book came to a close. The boy had his arm partially around her, her head snuggled into his chest. Both of them looked very tired. The boy closed his eyes and leaned back on the headboard. Hermione looked up at him groggily.

"Andy?"

"Yes, Mina?"

"Do you have to go back after Christmas?"

Andy opened his eyes and looked down at her. There was sadness written in every feature of her face.

"Yes, Mina, I do."

"When can I go to Hoggywart?"

"When you're my age."

"Will you still be going there?"

Andy choked for a moment. His eyes grew shiny.

"No."

Hermione's eyes swelled with tears. She leaned back against his arm, a tear or two sliding down her face.

"It's not fair!"

"What isn't?"

"That you have to go away every year and leave me behind!"

"I don't leave you behind."

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't. I take you with me in here."

He pointed a finger at his heart.

"And that's where you'll always be."

Hermione buried her face in his shirt again, bursting into tears. Andy began to mumble a song.

"Come stop your crying, it'll be all right. Just take my hand, hold it tight. This bond between us can't be broken. I will be here don't you cry. 'Cause you'll be in my heart. No matter what they say. You'll be here in my heart, always."(Phil Collins)

Her voice came from the folds, cracked and muffled.

"But I'll miss you so much!"

Andy wrapped his arms around her, hugging her to his chest. A single tear slipped down to the end of his nose.

"I know, Mina. I'll miss you, too."

***

The colors of the scene Harry had been watching blended together in a mass of swirling color. The color sharpened into a new memory.

***

Hermione was running down the large hill behind the house. She was wearing a winter clothes, marching through the snow. She ran in-between the trees, skates swinging from her hands. She was five now, her hair woven into two long braids with royal blue earmuffs to go with her coat and mittens.

She was huffing and puffing. She came to a stop at the edge of the lake. Apparently, the woods around the lake had been cut down since this memory.

"Andy!!"

She called out, waving her hand excitedly. Andy was skating on the ice. He was twirling around in circles with a girl with jet-black hair.

Hermione pulled on her skates hastily. She laced up her ice skates and got shakily to her feet. She wobbled slightly and stepped out onto the ice.

"Andy! Angie! Wait for me!"

She skated over towards them, but they were on the other side of the lake. She was getting close to the middle to the lake when Harry heard a cracking sound that made the bottom of Harry's stomach fall out.

With a scream, Hermione plunged downward, vanishing beneath the ice. Andy and Angie stopped laughing and looked up.

Hermione was flailing helplessly. Her winter coat was so stiff she could barely move her arms, the skates dragging her down into the lake's depths.

"Hermione!!!!!!"

It looked like Andy was flying over the ice. He was moving so fast that he was like a blur, leaving Angie racing miles behind. Hermione disappeared again only this time she didn't come back up.

Andy yanked off his coat and skates and jumped in after her. Harry watched in anticipation for them to resurface. In a sudden splash, Andy reappeared, a pale, unconscious Hermione in his arms.

He ripped her coat and skates off. Angie removed her coat and gave it to Andy, who wrapped it around Hermione. He picked her up in his arms and tore off back towards the house.

***

Hermione opened her eyes. Andy was bent over her. He looked scared and pale. His eyes lit up when he saw her peering up at him.

"You're awake!"

She sat up dizzily. She looked around and fell back down on the bed.

"What happened?"

"You fell through the ice."

She shivered and pulled the blanket around her.

"Mina, don't do that to me again, ok?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. Just don't scare me like that again, ok?"

"Ok, Sandy."

"Sandy?"

"Uh huh."

Hermione sat up in her small bed.

"I learned to rhyme at kindergarten. That was what I was gonna tell you, 'fore I fell in."

"Sandy Andy huh?"

"Yep."

He laughed and pulled her into a protective hug.

***

Hermione was sitting behind the large French doors, looking up at the sky. She was about six now. Her hair was long and starting to look bushy, her pink nightgown was spread out on the floor around her. She was rocking slightly back and forth.

She stood up and unlocked the doors. She stepped out into the cold night air. She gripped the ladder and climbed slowly to the roof. She walked slowly across the roof and sat down on one of the chaise lounge chairs and laid back. She folded her arms behind her head and looked up at the sky. At that moment she looked just like the Hermione he knew now, just a little smaller.

Harry walked a little closer. She was staring at the moon. Harry could see the trail of a tear down her face.

A strange sound reached Harry's ear. It sounded like a ghostly wailing. It seemed to be chanting something. The phantom wailing echoed across the woods. A sound behind him caused Harry to swing around in time to see Hermione stand up.

Hermione's hands stretched out in front of her like a zombie. She walked stiffly in the direction of the sound. She climbed down the ladder and, to Harry's amazement, floated down the ground from the balcony.

Harry followed, not being able to get hurt seeing as he wasn't really there. She walked toward the woods, the ghostly music getting louder. It chilled Harry to the bone, like a dementor's presence.

They entered a clearing after about seven minutes of wandering in the woods. A tall hooded figure stood in the middle of the clearing, the source of the spine-tingling sound. It stopped.

Slowly it took a few long strides until he was towering over Hermione. It had to be at least eight feet tall. Hermione snapped back to reality and looked around wildly.

Harry wanted to run over, grab her, and pull her away from the creature. It was evil, whatever it was.

It reached up and lowered its hood. The skin on the thing's face was leathery and a deep blood red. It had horns protruding from the top of its head and its eyes were green and cat-like. Pointy ears protruded from the sides of its head.

"Ahhh, I have found you at last."

It hissed and wheezed in a way unlike the wailing, yet it made the hair on the back of Harry's neck stand on end.

"Now it's off to the institution with you. Don't even try to resist."

It reached out a made a grab for Hermione but she ducked away swiftly. She made small grunting noises as if she were trying to say something. She grabbed her throat in surprise. The thing laughed in a way that sounded like anything but laughter.

"The chant. No powers for twenty minutes. By then you'll be tucked away in a cell at the institution."

It whipped around and threw itself at her. She squeaked and tried to run, but it had a firm hold on her leg.

A yell echoed in the clearing like a battle cry. A fourteen-year-old Andy launched himself at the thing from behind the trees. He wrapped his arm around its neck and struggled to fight him off her.

The thing let go of her and grabbed the hands wrapped around his throat. He pried him off and tossed him into a tree with a sickening thud, as if he weighed nothing.

"Andy!"

It rounded on Hermione again. She screamed and ran to Andy. He jumped to his feet and pushed her behind him. The thing muttered something and a stream of orange light hit him in the stomach, hard.

He was thrown into the tree again. Blood was trickling at the corners of his mouth from the impact. He got to his feet, whipped out his wand and pointed it at Hermione.

The thing with horns shot a large jet of green light that finally brought Andy down, but not until Andy had completed the spell.

Andy's spell hit Hermione in the chest. She blacked out. The last image she saw was Andy, dead on the ground at the thing's feet.

***