Dark Days

Dark Days Chapter Nineteen – Dreamer

Hermione stood gazing out of her own bedroom window at the dark world outside. Four O’clock, a whole day gone. Her hair still wet from the shower hung limply down her back and soaked through her shirt. Severus was in his room dressing and her mind was racing over the events of last night and today. A wonderful warm feeling flooded her as she thought of him holding her once more, yet a part of her still held back. They had a long way to go; she knew that, before things could be as they once were. She wrapped her arms about herself; at least they’d made a start at patching things up.

She grinned, “Maybe slightly more than a start…” she murmured to herself.

“More than a start at what?” murmured a husky voice behind her. She jumped slightly and turned towards him.

“I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Clearly brains aren’t everything Miss Granger…” his voice was deep and quiet and once she had been terrified of it. Now she merely grinned at the statement, so reminiscent of the scathing remarks so frequently flung at herself, Harry and Ron throughout their school life. He loomed over her, mock threatening.

“You don’t scare me anymore Professor Snape!” she stated.

“Really, so why did you jump?”

She pulled her tongue at him and said, “You startled me!”

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you that pulling tongues are the worst form of bad manners?” he asked wrapping his arms around her.

“Yes, that’s why I only do it on specially deserving occasions!” she grinned and snuggled into his arms.

They stood that way for many long, glorious minutes before Hermione broke the silence. “I just thought; Harry and Ron will wondering where I am, they didn’t know I left last night.”

Severus moaned, “Why did you have to bring boy wonder and the sidekick up?”

“Because they’re my friends,” she chided digging him in the ribs.

“I know I know, but don’t worry, I sent Dumbledore an owl last night to tell them where you were. I guessed you probably hadn’t told them you were coming here, although Dumbledore as per usual already seemed to know.”

“He would, and no I didn’t tell them I was coming here. I didn’t know myself. I wasn’t sure if you’d welcome me,” she stuttered, “I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be here.”

They stood for a while in awkward silence. Severus let his arms drop weakly to his sides, finding now words to say in response.

“Anyway…” Severus started, “I’ll just go and order dinner, I expect you’re hungry.”

She nodded mutely, “Right then…” he replied, “I’ll just… I’ll sort it…” He turned and swept out of the room leaving Hermione feeling stupid and oafish. She sighed and threw a pillow across the room in annoyance, before marching over to it and stomping viciously on it a couple of times. This whole situation was so frustrating. One minute everything fine, the next… There were whole worlds between them, oceans of words yet to be said and feelings to explore. She sighed again, picked up the pillow and tossed it back on to the bed, before starting to get ready for dinner.

Ignoring the mirror’s idle jabbering she dried her hair, let her dressing gown fall heedlessly to the floor and rummaged in the wardrobe. Evidently Tikki had seen fit to place a lot of dresses here for her convenience, probably at Severus’ asking now she thought on it. They were all in the old style such as the dress she had worn when last here.

“So beautiful…” she whispered to herself as she let her hands run across the incredible fabrics.

She had never in her life had so many beautiful clothes and she was quite unable to choose which one to wear first. Eventually her hands came to rest on a pale lilac silk dress with a high waist and a tight bodice. Tiny crushed crystals decorated the front in the image of a dragon and it laced up the back with thin lilac ribbon. The skirt fell to the floor in dreamy, whispering folds that swished about her legs as she walked. Her hair she piled on top of her head and secured with more lilac ribbon.

“I wish I could wear these clothes everyday,” she said to herself as she walked out of the room. She closed the door softly behind her and did not hear the mirror say, “One day my dear, one day you will. All it takes is one ‘I.” T.” Then it chuckled to itself and went back into a contented doze.

They ate in silence for the most part, each looking at the other and looking away, trying to find something to say and failing miserably. Hermione for the most part kept her eyes glued to the plate, focusing much harder than she needed to on the steak that she was manoeuvring from plate to fork to mouth. Severus found himself watching her more than he probably should, although looking quickly away whenever she did look up, which of course only made matters all the more awkward.

The silence grew between them until it was almost palpable. They sat in fidgeting discomfort through the meal and desert, until at last Severus brought himself to speak.

“Get over it,” he thought to himself, “You’ve just spent all dn ben bed with her so why is it so hard to just say something?”

“You look beautiful Hermione,” he managed at last, “The dress suits you.”

“Thank you,” she said, a rosy blush colouring her cheeks. “I love the dress, all of them in fact, they’re so beautiful.”

“They’re yours.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t,” she stammered.

“Well if you don’t wear them nobody else will,” he said with a wry smile, “They’d look pretty damn ridiculous on me now wouldn’t they?”

“Oh I don’t know, I think there’s a black and silver one up there that you’d look absolutely dashing in. It’d bring out the colour in your eyes!”

She said this with such seriousness that he looked at her in worried amazement, unsure whether she was joking or not. They’re eyes met and he did indeed look very apprehensive, so much so that she could no longer keep a straight face and burst into floods of giggles. Reassured that she wouldn’t at any point soon be forcing him into a dress led Severus to laugh to. Their eyes met and he reached across to take her hand in his. She didn’t pull away and they felt drawn about them a bubble of closeness. It was nice just to be able to sit and feel near to someone you love and need nothing else.

* * * * * *

Voldemort and Lucius stood atop a field of death. Behind them lay the smoking ruins of a town, ahead of them a plain of corpses. The stream to their left ran red with blood and thick, toxic smoke billowed up to cloud the uncaring stars. Remote they were and small concern of theirs the troubles of the earth. Far away they were, beyond even the ambitions of Voldemort. And so it was that they paid no heed to the war and strife below, merely continuing in their stately dance as they had since the beginning of time. But far above even the stars someone was watching, and did care, but as yet no-one else knew.

“Well Lucius how far have we advanced so far? How much of this miserable island is mine?”

“More than even we had hoped My Lord, We have penetrated as far as Birmingham, soon we shall have completely surrounded the area containing Hogwarts which as yet none of our people have been able to penetrate.”

“And our losses?”

“Minimal Lord, we lost only five today, many more are wounded but the healers are working on them even now.”

“Excellent, I am pleased with you Lucius, you have done well.”

“Thank you Master,” Lucius said with an ill-concealed smirk.

They turned hearing footsteps behind them. A tall platinum boy man approached; the fire and smoke behind and the bloodstained leather clothing gave him an intimidating appearance, his father’s face shone with pride as he approached. And in truth his master was scarcely less proud of him than his father. He certainly lived up to his name, the dragon and his taste for torment and destruction was commendable.

Draco dropped to his knees in front of his master and kissed one withered hand. Voldemort smiled and indicated for Draco to rise.

“Yes my Dragon?”

“My Lord, Bellatrix sends a message that the prisoners are about to be moved to a safer location so if you and my father would care to come and take you choice for tonight soon. I believe there are some exceedingly pretty young virgins amongst them. As well as many strong young men who will be just right for certain other pleasures… “Th “Thank you Draco, we will go directly,” he gazed about him then. “It’s a beautiful night for a bit of rape and pillage wouldn’t you say? You know for muggles those ancient Vibing…”

“Viking my Lord…” murmured Lucius respectfully.

“Viking then, raiders had the right idea. Wonderful idea in fact…” With that he strode off to find Bellatrix and choose a nice young virgin, preferably blonde, he felt that way inclined tonight.

* * ** * * *

Hermione lay in the great soft bed breathing softly; a thin beam of moonlight escaped the barrier of the curtains and lit her face with its silvery glow. Her breathing was slow and steady and her face untroubled.

The face was peaceful, peaceful yet stern but the voice was strange. The words were unknown and the language long forgotten. From far away the voice called, it was trying to tell her something, something important.

In her sleep Hermione sighed and turned over.

The face had gone, above her a vast expanse of stars stretched out into infinity, and she was among them. Yearning to join in their great dance and tread the pathways of the skies, but ever they were ahead and never could she join them, not yet. Below her fires raged and smoke billowed, and a thousand voices screamed for aid. But what did it matter? The dance continued, she wanted to join.

A hand took her own pulling her down, towards the earth. Away from the joy of the dance, the peace of the stars, cold and glittering in their perfection. She struggled and tried to pull away.

“No!” she cried aloud and her words were carried away on the wind that tossed her hair about her face.

“You have to see,” said the voice, this time in familiar words. The voice was musical but the speaker unseen, though the touch real enough.

“See what? Why am I here?”

“Because he wouldn’t listen!”

“He? Who’s he?”

Again she tried to pull away, but the grip on her hand was too tight and pulled her inexorably onwards towards the devastation and reek below. The world was ablaze, fiends and dementors walked amongst black robed men. Dragons wheeled and soared about her, wreathing her in fire. Fearful she flung up her arms to protect herself, but the dragon flew straight through her, the fire insubstantial and harmless.

She soared across continents pitted and scorched, trees cut down and let to rot or made into crucifixes to which whole towns were committed, men, women, children, babes. Even animals had not escaped the cruelty; they suffered and died with their owners. Some of the bodies were still recognisable, many still alive, their faces contorted in ultimate agony, and somewhere a baby cried. Others were nothing but rotting flesh clinging to broken bone. Her eyes filled with tears and she tried to turn away but the presence beside her kept her there.

“Look…”

“Why? Why do you show me these things?”

“Because you need to understand…”

Hermione whimpered in her sleep, kicking her legs in helpless protest which tangled the thick sheets and blankets about her.

On she was dragged, past slaves working in fields to cultivate crops to feed their masters, towns left ruined, and others tall and black, populated by darkness and the servants of the dark.

On again, past prisoners forced to degrade themselves for food, men performing sexual acts on other men to gain their bread and women whipping their children in order for them both to have enough food to live.

And again, rainforests laid waste, animals and trees rotting together and fouling the rivers and lakes. The great Pyramids and wonders of the world, no more than smoking rubble, thousands of years of history lost forever. Volcanoes spewed endless lava to sh thh the earth and blacken the skies.

“Stop it! Make it stop!” she screamed.

“No…”

And then the presence was gone, but still she felt compelled by some irresistible force to go on. But now there was less control, images flashed before her eyes some too fast for her to fully comprehend. A million atrocities and so many thousands of agonies. She twisted and turned, trying to evade what she saw, she felt herself spinning, round and round, faster and faster, a twig in a whirlpool. Down and down she span, out of control into tumultuous waters.

She screamed in fear of the water around her, but no sound came out and she found that she could still breathe. All around her fish swam in colourful schools and dolphins played with childish abandon. The relief at this respite from the horrors above flooded over her and she breathed easily. From Icy-wastes to tropical reefs she swam admiring the beauties of the seas.

The respite did not last long, soon she found herself in waters that no longer held the multitudes of life and the joy of rg thg the waves and currents. The schools of fish were dead and floated on listless waves. The dolphins choked and died in seas no longer friendly to them. From the warm shallows to the deepest, darkest part of the ocean life struggled, gave in and died. The coral reefs so beautiful, no longer thrived in the waters polluted by death and foulness from human creation on earth also gave up the struggle to live. Their homes now skeletal graveyards.

“No where is safe,” said the voice, back now by her side.

From ocean depths to mountain peaks she flew, at dizzying speeds that left her muddled and confused.”

“Look…” said the voice.

Below lay the earth and the ocean as she had seen it. But above there were the stars. She sighed and turned her eyes to the sky. There was her haven, the stars, the joy and wonder of mankind, the promise of better things and of hope beyond toil. In the stars she would be safe. But a cloud was covering the stars, a reeking black cloud, filled with thunder and lightning. The stars flickered and disappeared, replaced by skies as tormented as the earth as they raced and wracked in their torment.

“No where is safe,” said the voice again.

“Why do you show me this?”

“It is the future.”

“Why do you show me this? What can I do? If it’s certain that this will happen what good is it to torture me so?”

“I show you this because he would not listen, and it is not certain, it is a possibility of the futur
“
“Then why did you show me this? And why do you keep saying ‘he’ would not listen who is ‘he’?” she sobbed.

“The one who must stop this...”

Hermione’s breathing had become laboured as she tossed and turned in her bed, sheets a mess and tangle, pillows strewn across the bed and the room.

“Be calm child and all will be well,” said the voice.

Hermione sighed in her sleep and lay still, breathing easily.

“Who is he?” she asked the voice. “And who are you, it makes me uneasy talking to a disembodied voice.”

“Would it help if you could see me?”

“Yes, that would make things much easier.”

The voice laughed, “Humans!” The tormented skies about her darkened and disappeared, below her the world disappeared until there was nothing but blackness about her. But out of the darkness came a shimmering light which formed slowly into the figure of a girl. She was small and slim with tumbling golden blonde hair that fell in shining folown own her back. Her eyes were silver grey and belied her years. Much age and wisdom lay behind those eyes.

“You’re the presence who dragged me through all that?” she asked gesturing.

“I am,” said the girl smiling.

“Who are you?”

“Why do you need to know my name?”

“Because…I’d like to. I want to know who you are, what you are.”

“The answer would be meaningless.”

“I don’t care, call it human stubbornness if you will, but I don’t care.”

She smiled, “I have many names, and many guises, but if you need a name then call me Maoli.”

“Maoli? The handmaiden? Handmaiden of whom?”

Maoli laughed, “I see you are learned as I was told.”

“Well that’s very nice I’m sure but I’m confused, what’s all this about?”

“I told you, he wouldn’t listen so I have to tell you,” she said. She paused then and turned away as if wondering where to start. “The world was not meant to go down the route that you saw. It has a purpose, a destiny which we need it to follow.”

“Destiny what destiny, who’s we?”

“Hush child, that I cannot tell you.”

To be called a child by someone or something that looked no more than a girl was a strange experience.

“Suffice it to say that this destiny to which the earth is part portends to the fate of the universe. Not just this, but every parallel universe and other dimension that exists.”

“My head hurts…”

“The instruments of good and the instruments of evil have ever been at war, they will forever, but occasionally evil gains the upper hand and the course of fate is altered. This cannot be allowed and so champions are chosen, not by me,” she added seeing the reproachful look cast her way. “They are chosen by a power greater than I. This champion holds the fate of the world on his shoulders, as does the champion of the dark.”

“Voldemort…”

“Exactly.”

“But…why me? Why was I chosen?”

“You were not.”

“But…”

“Have you not listened? You have been brought here because he wouldn’t listen. You are one of the champions companions it is true, and without you he will not succeed, but you are not the champion yourself.”

“Harry…”

“You begin to see clearly.”

“Then it was you? You that got me and Severus out when we were surrounded by death eaters?”

Maoli shook her head, “Nay child, that you did yourself. That strength has always binsiinside you but love and desperation brought it out. So nothing mystitherthere I’m sorry!” she smiled. “But it was vital that you got out, you and Severus too.”

“Then he and I have to help Harry? Just us?”

“No, but that’s enough for now.”

“Why us?”

Maoli laughed, “If I had a penny for every time I was asked that I could buy half the universe! Why must humans always ask that question?” she gazed almost fondly at the now blushing woman in front of her.

“Okay then why bring me here now? What have you to show me? What must I do?”

“You understand my purpose human child, better than most. There is something you must find, without it your task will fail.”

“What is it?”

“Look…” she said and reached out to touch her forehead.

Hermione woke with a start, her bed was dishevelled and she herself was in a similar condition. She reached out to touch the bed post, “Real, awake at last.”

The door swung open and Severus wd ind in carrying a tray laden with food, and a tall thin glass containing a single rose.

“Rough night?” he asking wryly.

She nodded rubbing sleep out of her eyes, “Weirdest dreams ever…”

“Want to share?”

She shook her head, “Maybe later.”

He didn’t push it, merely handing her the tray and settling down beside her. She picked at the food but she had no appetite and soon Severus began to eat as well, purely by way of helping her finish naturally.

Eventually pushing away the tray Hermione snuggled closer to Severus. “Are you okay?”

“Not really…”

“Why?”

“I know what we have to do.”

“Hermione are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine, but we’ve got an unpleasant task ahead of us!”

“And pray tell what is this and where did this task come from?”

“I had a dream…”

“So we’re off chasing dreams now?”

“Stop it, I’m serious, this was…real…we have to do this it’s vitally important.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Stop shaking! Everything will be fine, just tell me what’s up!”

She pulled away and looked long at him. She ran her hand through his hair and kissed him softly on the lips. Then she stood up, walked to the window and pulled open the curtains. Early morning sunlight flooded the room. She turned to face him. “We have to get your ring back…”




AN – The idea of a champion for good and evil I’ve shamelessly plagiarised from one of my favourite authoavidavid Eddings, but it was a necessary evil. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Florentia – I have no idea how many more chapters there will be, possibly about 10-15 I think, but then again I keep adding unexpected twists so who knows. This story is almost writing itself. And I found the song because it was used on Buffy and I liked it. It seemed appropriate.

SlytherinSecret – I have no idea if there will be more Joanne but probably, you’ll just have to be patient won’t you!