The Painting

"Bloody hell," was all Ron managed to say. He looked like he was in a trance.

Hermione, still on the floor, looked up at Ron. "I'm sure this is a traumatic experience for you, trust me - I've been there, but a little help at this juncture would be nice."

Ron snapped out of his trance and rushed over to Hermione. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, you weren't to know that I was standing behind the door, although with everything I told you earlier, you should have been prepared to find yourself - and me in particular - in a painting."

Ron helped Hermione up. "You're not going to let that one go, are you?"

"You should have believed me, Ron."

"Well," said Ron, gesturing at his surroundings, "I believe you now. And can I just say again, for the record, bloody hell."

A thought suddenly dawned on Hermione and she stepped sharply back from Ron. "Hold on, how do I know you're good? I've just seen Lupin go all weird and just how did you get here?"

"Lupin..." said Ron thoughtfully, 'he was the last person I saw before I found myself here. One moment I was walking down the corridor and the next moment I was standing outside this door."

"So you didn't paint a picture and display it before the paint was dry?"

"Oh yeah, my brother is seriously ill, our headmaster is dead, one of my best friends was convinced she'd been trapped in a painting and I said, hey I know, I'll go and paint one myself. No, Hermione, I didn't paint a picture."

"Then what's that on your shoulder?" Hermione said, staring at a blue mark that looked like paint on Ron's right shoulder.

Ron gazed at his shoulder. "I've no idea."

"Wait," said Hermione. "I saw Lupin touch your shoulder."

"So you think Lupin is behind all this? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well I don't know who to trust anymore, and Lupin killed the dog."

"The dog?"

Hermione pointed to the floor. "That dog."

"Er...Hermione, there's no dog there."

She looked at the floor. Ron was right. The dog was gone.

Hermione paced the room. "I can't take this anymore, everything is too confusing and I don't understand what's happening. There was a dog here, this was the dog's painting, and you were looking at it when you were in the classroom!"

"You mean this is the painting that I was staring at?"

"Yes!"

"I knew there was something strange about it. I was right."

"Would you like a prize?"

"Come on, Hermione, there's no need to be like that."

"Well I'm sorry, but when you find yourself stuck in a painting it tends to bring out your tetchy side."

"How did you end up back here?" said Ron, seriously.

"I came back myself."

"You chose to be here?"

"No. Yes. I don't know. I was frustrated that nobody believed me and I thought I was going crazy. I had to come back to prove to myself that I wasn't imagining it."

"You know, Hermione, in some cultures that would be considered going crazy. Anyway, now we've got to figure out how to get back."

"Or maybe we're not supposed to..."

"What?" Ron looked at Hermione in horror.

"Maybe we're here for a reason. We have to work out what's going on."

"So what do we do?"

Before Hermione had a chance to answer the door to the painting was again swung open. The Fat Lady peeped in and then yelped and retreated when she saw Hermione and Ron.

"We follow the Fat Lady," said Hermione, grabbing Ron and racing towards the door.