Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Hermione in Wonderland Revisited ❯ Rest for the Weary ( Chapter 5 )

[ A - All Readers ]

Hermione in Wonderland

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I just play with them once in a while.

Rest for the Weary

After a while, Hermione slowed her pace to a brisk walk. Her heavy breathing echoed through the forest. The garden had ended and she was walking through a forest again. However, instead of the tall proud trees she remembered from before gnarled black trees now surrounded her. It was getting darker and darker as she walked further into the forest of deformed trees. Hermione was getting nervous about the lack of sunlight through the trees when she realized that the sun was setting.

'Of course,' she surmised, 'the sun even sets in Crazy Land.”

Hermione had been on the move all day and it was starting to take its toll on her. She needed to find some place to rest and soon. However, she wasn't going to stop in the middle of this forest; there could be all sorts of horrible things waiting for her to stop moving long enough for them to grab her. So she decided to keep going until she found a safer place to rest. As she walked, she allowed her mind to examine her situation more closely.

`According to Hagrid, I need to find this Great Lord. They both seemed slightly frightened by the thought of asking him for anything. Since everyone I've ran into has been the splitting image of someone I know, it stands to reason that this Great Lord will be Voldemort.' Hermione couldn't think of anyone scarier than that. Well, other than Neville standing in front of a cauldron, but she doubted that would be the case here.

Hermione slowed down to a stop as she felt that familiar tingle on the back of her neck, the tingle that said someone was watching her. She looked around her, wondering what surprise was coming next, but saw nothing. She turned back towards the path and jumped at the smile floating in front of her. There was nothing else, just a smile. `This,' she thought irrelevantly, `must be what they mean by wearing nothing but a smile.' Hermione chuckled. Of course, it was the Cheshire cat. She wondered what he would look like and secretly hoped it was Crookshanks. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to find out at this particular time, as the smile disappeared and nothing else reappeared.

Hermione shrugged to herself and resumed walking. After she had walked for what felt like a lifetime, she passed a clearing she almost missed. She slowly backed up and looked closer. The clearing appeared to have some sort of obscurity spell on it, as it was obviously there and obviously not there at the same time. Deciding the best way to break the spell was to physically pierce it, she started down the small trail into the clearing. As she entered the clearing, she encountered a small homey looking cottage, complete with a white picket fence and smoke coming out of the chimney.

'Well, if whoever is here is friendly, they might give me a place to rest for the night,' she thought as she walked up to the front door. 'I'll just have to make it a point to not mention the Wizarding World.' Hermione was nothing if not a fast learner.

She knocked on the door and jumped back as it swung open.

“Hello?” she called as she stepped through the doorway. “Is there anyone around?”

No one answered, so Hermione continued into the home. It was a small cottage and only had three rooms all together. There was the kitchen, a sitting room with a fireplace, and a bedroom.

'Well, if they didn't want people to come in, they should have shut the door tighter,' she decided. After careful consideration, she entered the sitting room to rest until the homeowner returned. There was a cheerful fire dancing away in the fireplace, so Hermione sat on the couch directly in front of it. The couch was soft and cozy and the fire was warm so it didn't take long for her to fall asleep. She was awoken some time later by a familiar voice mumbling agitatedly in the hall.

“Oh my, so late, the trial can't start until I'm there. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? The Great Lord will have my head instead of the Duke's.” Hermione jumped up as Draco entered the sitting room.

“What are you doing in my home, girl?” Draco looked upset and harried but not exactly angry. “Oh it doesn't matter, run to the other room and fetch me my gloves.”

Hermione was startled by his lack of ire and did what she was told without thinking twice.

“The gloves, where are the gloves?” she muttered, glancing around the small bedroom. She saw a pair of white gloves sitting on the bedside table and decided that must be what he was looking for. She grabbed the gloves and headed back into the sitting room, where she found Draco donning a top hat.

“About time, girl, I must hurry!” Draco exclaimed, grabbing the gloves and heading towards the front door.

“Wait, where are you going? I need to find the Great Lord. Can you tell me where he is?” Hermione's questions echoed through the empty house; Draco was already bounding down the path, leaving Hermione alone in his cottage.

'Well, I suppose I should follow.' Hermione started towards the front door but was stopped by the sound of her stomach growling. 'But it can't hurt to see if he has any food. After all, I did fetch his gloves for him, it's the least he can do!'