The Painting

Hermione rushed to the Gryffindor common room as fast as she could, doing her best to avoid running into Lupin, Harry and Ron. When she approached the door the Fat Lady gave a little yelp and swung the door open without waiting for the password. She really didn't want to speak to Hermione.

Hermione walked quickly into the empty room and looked under the chair where

she'd last left her painting kit. It was still there. She was surprised to see it considering she didn't know how long she had been away. She grabbed the bag and ran back out of the common room and back towards the girl's bathroom on the second floor.

She flung the door open and completely ignored Myrtle who was swirling around the ceiling. She took out a blank canvas and tried to decide what to paint. She eventually decided on a door. She drew a large black rectangle, painted the words 'door' on it, but neglected to give it a handle. Then she took the old painting down and hung the new one in its place.

She closed her eyes and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She was too scared to open her eyes. On the one hand she really wanted it to work so she could prove everyone wrong. On the other hand she didn't fancy being trapped in a painting again. She opened her eyes. Too late. She was definitely back in portrait land.

Without a handle to open her painting door, she had to push it open. This led her

to another door which in turn led out into the familiar portrait corridor which featured the doors to all the other paintings. She walked cautiously down the corridor, not sure where to go first. Then she spotted a door reading 'Candle of Hope'. She pushed it open and walked into a painting with a little oak table and a burning candle set in the middle. She looked out in front of her and was greeted with a view of the infirmary and Ron, Harry and Fleur all gathered around Bill's bed as he slept. She felt instantly guilty as she witnessed the sombre scene. "I can't believe I was so tactless," she muttered to the candle. The pained look in Ron's face made her feel queasy. "I should have realised they would be as confused as I was. I should have handled the situation better."

She watched as Lupin entered the room. He said a few kind words to Fleur and then asked Harry and Ron to go with him. They followed him out of the infirmary.

"They're going back to that room; I have to find out where it is." She tried hard to think of what paintings had been present in the room where she had talked to Lupin. It definitely wasn't one of her classrooms. She didn't recognise it, which she thought unusual considering how many lessons she took. "A dog!" she exclaimed at last. "I saw a picture of a dog." She ran out into the corridor and looked at the names on the doors for a dog. 'Old Wizard Broomhard's Great Dane', she read on one of the doors. She pushed it open and was greeted by the sight of a very large dog who was thankfully sat in the corner and didn't seem too interested in Hermione. "There's a nice little...er big dog. You be a good boy and stay curled up in the corner there." Hermione walked forward so she could see out into the room. Eventually the door opened and Lupin, Harry and Ron walked in.

"Hermione?" Lupin called into the empty room. "I don't know where she's gone. I asked her to wait here," he said, turning to Ron and Harry.

"Well she's hardly in a normal frame of mind right now," replied Ron.

"No but I am in a frame," Hermione turned and told the dog, who looked lazily back at her.

"Well I still need to talk to the two of you so take a seat."

Ron and Harry took a chair each and Lupin sat on the desk and leaned forward to talk to them. "As you know I talked to Hermione earlier and she was visibly upset. She said she'd been trapped in a painting and she was distressed at the fact that nobody believed her."

"You don't believe her do you?" asked Harry. "I mean Hermione hasn't left us once through all of this; we've all seen her."

"Stranger things have happened. With magic it's unwise to rule anything out. The way I see it is this: Hermione did get trapped in a painting; or something happened to Hermione which has led her to believe she was trapped in a painting. Either way, something has happened to Hermione so I need you both to be understanding when you see her."

Harry and Ron looked at each other.

"I know this is a difficult time for both of you, but I'm going to have to ask you for your patience as we try and work out what's happened."

"Could," said Ron speaking up. "Could the Hermione we've been with all year have been a...fake Hermione? I mean, we kissed. If it wasn't Hermione then who was it?"

Hermione looked at the dog, her mouth open in shock. "I kissed Ron?"

Lupin looked at Ron. "I don't know, but my instincts tell me Hermione was Hermione. I didn't sense anything unusual about her, which makes this whole situation even more complicated."

Suddenly the dog jumped up and started running in circles around Hermione. It caught the attention of Ron. "What is that dog doing?"

Harry looked up at the painting. "Probably chasing an imaginary cat."

"Cat," said Hermione aloud. "Where has Crookshanks been through all of this? Poor thing."

"I'll leave you two to talk," said Lupin as he stood up. "If I see Hermione before you I'll tell her to find you so you can all talk."

Lupin left the room and Harry stood up too. Ron's eyes were still transfixed on the painting of the dog.

"What are you looking at, mate?" asked Harry.

"I thought I saw..." he caught himself. "Nothing."

"OK, I'm going to the library. None of the books are useful when it comes to horcruxes, but I'm hoping they'll give me some useful ideas for locations."

"You go," said Ron. "I'll catch you up later."

"Are you OK?"

"Fine. Fine. I'm just a bit, well, you know."

Harry patted Ron on the shoulder. "I'll see you later then."

Harry left the room and Ron continued to look at the painting. The dog had stopped running but Hermione was still frozen to the spot, staring at Ron. "Surely he can't see me?" she asked the dog. It licked her left ankle in reply. Ron walked right up to the painting and put his hand against it. There was no surface of the painting for Hermione to touch, but she held out her hand anyway.