The Room of Lost Dreams

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Hermione knew she'd made a mistake a split second before she slammed into what felt like a brick wall. Her breath was knocked out of her, and she fell backwards onto the ground. Fortunately, she fell into a bed of thick, springy greenery and was relatively unhurt.

She lay there for a moment, waiting for the spinning motes of light to leave her vision. When her breathing had returned to normal, she sat up. She was sitting in a formal garden outside a large and splendid-looking house. Unfortunately, it wasn't the Malfoys'.

Hermione cursed herself as the worst kind of fool for not having anticipated difficulty in finding Malfoy. Of course they'd blocked Floo access from public places. She wouldn't be surprised if the magical barrier had deposited her miles from their Manor. Every Death Eater knew where it was- it had been the Dark Lord's headquarters for some time, and they would be trying desperately to regroup or wreak revenge.

She got unsteadily to her feet and hobbled to the wall that enclosed the garden. It was then that she heard a low growl behind her. She turned to find a pair of ferocious-looking guard dogs looking at her as if she were a side of beef. She focused and Apparated to the far side of the wall, praying to whatever deity was listening that there wasn't a moat.

Fortunately, the estate didn't have one. Unfortunately, they did have a duck pond. The dogs on the other side of the wall were still baying loudly when her head broke the surface. She swam to the edge of the pond and hid amongst the reeds until the dogs quieted.

At the first opportunity, she trudged out of the muddy water, losing a shoe in the process, and hid in a nearby hedgerow, which ran parallel to a small road. She Summoned her shoe and cast several Cleansing and Drying Charms on herself before she felt normal enough to locate the Malfoys' home.

A quick Point Me spell indicated that the Malfoys' house was due east along the gravel road next to the hedgerow. Not wishing to call any attention to herself, she Disillusioned herself and quickly set off down the road, looking for any house that looked familiar. She had seen it only once before, but she was confident that she'd be able to recognise it again.

She estimated that she'd been walking for nearly a mile when she turned a bend in the road and saw the ruin of a great house, an enormous charred skeleton that was flat black against the dewy grass.

With a sinking heart, she recognised the white gravel drive that led up to the house and the remains of the huge white pillars of the entranceway. She took a few steps closer to the house and remembered suddenly that she really ought to be doing N.E.W.T.s revision. No, that wasn't right. In order to do proper N.E.W.T.s revision, she needed Severus's help, and she'd offered to find his body in exchange for his Potions expertise. Thus, she needed to continue walking toward the house. Wait, had she remembered to extinguish the lights in her room before leaving?

Belatedly, Hermione realised that she was being affected by an Avoidance Charm, the sort of which was usually used to repel Muggles from places like the Quidditch World Cup. But who would use such a charm on the ruin of a house whose contents had been utterly destroyed?

Nobody, that's who. However, using such a charm was a brilliant idea if one wanted to protect something that had been hidden by magic. Having learned her lesson about Specialis Revelio from Severus's journal, Hermione tapped her wand against her closed eyelids. 'Video Vera!'

When she opened them, the enchantments and charms on the house were clearly visible. The house, which had obviously not burned down, was outlined in the orange fire of a Concealment Charm. Wards of every shade protected the various entrances and windows, and a nasty-looking red charm encircled the estate, not two metres in front of her.

She examined the red perimeter charm and smiled, unaccountably reminded of laser-activated alarms in the Muggle world. She wished it were as simple as thwarting those, where all one needed was two mirrors to fool the sensors. Unless, of course, it was as simple as a Muggle laser alarm.

From her bag she quickly produced Harry's mokeskin purse, from which she pulled two large shards of Sirius's enchanted mirror and placed them against each other, reflective side out. 'Wingardium Leviosa!'

With the utmost care, she hovered the shards near the red beam, and winced as she slid them into it.

So far so good. No alarm was blaring, and no guard dogs appeared to be forthcoming.

Encouraged, she slowly hovered the shards away from one another, until there was a gap in the perimeter just large enough for her to slide through. She inched her way through, focusing as much as possible on holding the mirrors steady. When she was on the inside, she gently removed the mirrors from the perimeter charm, and breathed an enormous sigh of relief when the charm came noiselessly back together, as if it had never been separated.

Much cheered, she returned the shards to her bag and strode across the Malfoys' lawn to their front door. The door itself was covered in powerful protection spells, but she was pleased to note that the doorbell was devoid of enchantments.

She pressed the metal tongue of the bell, and a sepulchral gong echoed through the house.

The door opened to reveal a House-Elf dressed in a tidy livery. 'Master and Mistress are not accepting visitors,' he said in rich tones.

'Then it's a good thing I'm not a visitor,' said Hermione. 'I've come to help Severus Snape.'

If the elf knew the name, he gave no outward sign of it. 'Miss must have the wrong address.'

'This is the Malfoy residence, is it not?'

'This is Malfoy Manor,' corrected the elf.

'Then this is where Severus Snape is currently. He is currently unconscious and will bleed to death shortly if you do not take me to him this instant. Ask your master if you require confirmation of this. I am happy to wait.'

'Master is not to be disturbed, and certainly not by the likes of you,' said the elf, sniffing at Hermione's casual Muggle garb.

'Fine. Get Narcissa or Draco. Tell them Hermione Granger is here.'

'Mistress and the Young Master are also not to be disturbed.'

Hermione glared at the elf, whose look of calm superiority was beginning to grate.

'What is your name?'

'Snoddy, Miss.'

'Very well, Snoddy. What would happen if I were to set Malfoy Manor on fire?'

'I should think that would be a difficult task to accomplish, Miss, as the house is made of stone.'

'For the sake of argument, let us assume it's not only possible, but also imminent. If the Manor were ablaze, that would disturb your master, mistress, and whatever Draco is, correct?'

'Are you threatening to set the Manor on fire, Miss?' asked the elf in a bored voice.

'Merely exploring a hypothetical situation, Snoddy. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I should imagine that your master and mistress would be far less disturbed by allowing me to save your master's friend than by forcing me to set the house on fire.'

'In my appraisal of your appearance and demeanour, I believe that you lack the wherewithal to do either,' said the elf. 'Now, the Young Master has requested my presence. I bid you a very good evening.'

He turned to leave, but stopped short at Hermione's harsh whisper. When he looked back at her, the tip of her wand was blazing with unnaturally bright fire. Snoddy's eyes widened as the flames changed before his eyes into a myriad of cruel creatures. Hermione had broken out into a sweat with the effort of holding back the Fiendfyre, but she gritted her teeth and glared triumphantly at the elf.

'MERLIN! Granger, have you gone barking mad?' cried Draco Malfoy, leaping from his hiding place beside a grandfather clock. 'Dispel it before you lose control!'

'Master Draco!' admonished Snoddy, but Draco wasn't listening. He waved his wand in a circle, and a glowing blue orb surrounded Hermione. She recognised the charm as a stronger variant of the standard Containment Charm. Typical of Draco not to care if she incinerated herself, as long as she didn't take the house with her.

She met his eyes and nodded, focusing her power on drawing the Fiendfyre back into her wand. The fire beasts seemed to realise what she was doing and went into a frenzy, baring their teeth and brandishing their claws. A fiery hydra nearly succeeded in his attempt to lick the flesh of her wand hand, but it was too little too late. A moment later, all the beasts had vanished, leaving only a panting Hermione, whose wand tip was smouldering.

Draco glared at her. 'All right, Granger. What do you want?'

'Severus Snape.'

Malfoy stared uncomprehendingly for a moment before his expression closed. 'He's dead, Granger. Now get out.'

'He's not dead. Your father has him somewhere and is trying to stop him from dying, and he won't succeed without my help.'

'My father is in France.'

'Fat chance, Malfoy. You expect me to believe your parents would let you out of their sight for a minute when they betrayed Voldemort to save you?'

He winced at the name out of habit and looked thoroughly disgruntled at having done so. 'Believe what you like, Granger. I'm not about to give you the bloody tour. Now go away.'

Hermione looked at the elf, who was watching them with a disapproving scowl.

'Oh!' she exclaimed, comprehension dawning. 'Both of your parents are in France, aren't they? They left Snoddy here to keep an eye on you.' She was mostly successful in keeping the laughter out of her voice.

Draco's face turned bright red. 'If you so much as breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll-'

'For Circe's sake, Malfoy, I didn't come here tonight to humiliate you!' she interrupted. 'I'm here for Severus. Now, are you going to help me or not?'

'Not like I have much choice,' he grumbled, shoving his fists in his pocket. 'You'd better come in.'

She stepped through the jamb, and the door closed behind her so suddenly that she jumped. Snoddy was doing a very poor job of covering a satisfied smile.

'Come ON, Granger!' said Malfoy, who was going through a doorway on the far side of the room. 'You're the one in the hurry. And since when do you call him Severus?'

'It's his name,' replied Hermione. 'And he's certainly not Professor Snape anymore, is he?'

'If he's still alive, then he's still Hogwarts Headmaster,' pointed out Draco, not bothering to hold the door to the drawing room open for her.

'Actually, he's not. The interim Minister of Magic appointed Professor McGonagall to the post. Honestly, don't you read the Prophet?'

Draco looked at her witheringly. 'You think they deliver to burnt up manor houses?'

'Oh.' She cleared her throat. 'I'm sorry, Malfoy.'

'Sorry? What for?'

'I'm sorry about your friends who died. I'm sorry you have to be in hiding. I'm sorry all this is necessary, not knowing who's after you for what reason.'

'Sure you're sorry,' said Draco. 'What's a few attempted murders and a wall of cursed fire between acquaintances?'

'Your mum saved Harry's life. All of us would probably be dead if not for her.'

'Yeah, well excuse me if that's not exactly something I want my friends to know about.'

Hermione snorted. 'Even if it keeps your entire family out of Azkaban?'

A ghost of a smile lifted the corner of Draco's mouth. 'Old habits die hard. You can use the fireplace over there. It's the only one in England that's connected to our house in France.'

Hermione looked curiously at the empty mantel. 'Where's the powder?'

Draco smirked her. 'Where do you think you are, the Leaky Cauldron?' He tapped his wand on the carved marble fireplace, and the flames burst into emerald.

Hermione refused to be impressed. 'I thought I was in a burnt up manor house,' she shot back. 'Where am I going?'

'Chateau de Malfoy.'

She put an experimental foot into the flames. 'Malfoy Manor, Chateau de Malfoy; there aren't many creative types in your family, are there?'

'No. All my family have been rich.'

'Thanks, Draco.' She stood in the middle of the fireplace. 'Chateau de Malfoy!'

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