Activity

Hermione’s PoV (plus Hagrid)

Hermione sighed contentedly as she settled into Hagrid’s plush armchair, and opened a large, somewhat dusty tome entitled The Life Cycles of Werewolves, Vampires, and other Unfriendly Creatures by Allium Sativum Argenti. She heaved a pile of thick pages over and resumed reading at page 632. After about a minute Hagrid’s large, burly form clomped in from the snowstorm outside, followed closely behind by his enormous black Boarhound, Fang. The gamekeeper of Hogwarts set a pile of split logs beside the flickering hearth and tossed a few of the wood chunks in before stomping over to the tall, circular table of rough hewn wood, trailing icy snow from his boots.

Hagrid gingerly picked up the faintly steaming teakettle and poured a cup.

“Care for a cup o’ tea, ‘Ermione?” He asked, holding up a second cup in her direction.

“Oh, yes please,” Hermione smiled. She held out her hands and gratefully accepted the warm cup. She sipped a bit and the returned to her reading. The fire crackled warmly in the hearth and Hagrid busied himself with some task or another.

A few moments later Hermione reached again for her tea, but as she moved the cup near to her an uncanny dizziness swept over her The cup dropped to the floor, shattering into shards and spilling dark liquid upon the floor. Hermione looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of Hagrid’s confused face before everything blinked out.

After a time no one could tell, and traveling an indiscernible distance, Hermione’s eyes opened and she stood in a large open chamber. A shuffling sounded beside her, and she jerked around frightfully, but was relieved to find only Hagrid and Fang, looking just about as lost as she.

“Wha’ ‘appened?” Hagrid said, stumbling a bit and looking about the room strangely. “Was this yer doin’? Did ye cast some sort ‘er new spell?”

“This isn’t my doing, whatever it is,” Hermione said, and spun once, getting a full view of the room. She huffed after her search turned out fruitless. “Perhaps someone is playing a joke on us. This could be one of George and Fred’s new tricks.” She gave the general direction of the ceiling a disgusted look. “It’s not funny, do you hear me?” she called out.

“I don’ think this ere’s any kind o’ magic we’ve seen,” Hagrid said, stroking Fang’s head and looking around. “This place, it feels… differen’, some’ow.”

“We’ll I don’t very much care how it feels, I just want to get out of it. I was at a very intriguing point in my book, and I’d very much like to get back to reading. Aha!” She spun about and rushed at the large green door behind Hagrid, dropping to her knees and peering out through the keyhole.

Early afternoon sunlight streamed down from a bright blue sky over green meadows and a distant forest. Hermione thought she saw a pair of boys running toward her, but she wasn’t quite sure, and when she looked again they seemed to have vanished. Over faraway fields she caught sight of other people milling about, and even a few buildings stood on the crest of a hill.

“There’s people out there, Hagrid,” Hermione said. “Maybe you’re right. And… it… it looks like summer out there.” She straightened out and studied the hard stone floor, index finger and thumb pressed against her chin in deep concentration.

“This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” she said, and then was silent for a moment. A wistful look came over her face and her eyes lost focus. “I agree, Hagrid. It does feel different here.”