InuYasha Fan Fiction / Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Shift of Time ❯ The Fading Jewel ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Dumbledore did not return as Hermione had hoped.

She went to sleep at night, and woke up the next day wishing that the Headmaster would once more be sitting at the long table watching over the Great Hall. But, he did not appear, and Hermione was forced to try and work out the situation by herself. She could not take the risk of a letter being intercepted before it reached him. Again and again, though, she came out with no results, and she was beginning to get the feeling that something was once again going to happen and ruin everything she had found so far.

That night, when she went to bed, Hermione's suspicions, unfortunately, came true.

She tossed and turned in bed, rumpling the blankets and sheets as she slept. Her dreams had been filled with the thought of Death Eaters, the hazy description of Voldemort often placing him there as well, beginning to invade Hogwarts. She had terrible, terrible dreams. Her friends would lie dying around her, and she would glance up to find Higurashi Kagome smiling evilly at Draco Malfoy's side, throwing her head back to laugh in triumph. Worst of all, before Hermione could manage to even utter a spell, someone always—always—hit her from behind, and she would fall with the sight of Higurashi Kagome sneering at her weakness.

Hermione would wake up screaming, startling the other girls in her dormitory out of their wits. They had screamed in terror originally, thinking they were being attacked—or molested by some pervert—but it had worn off to the point that they only uttered harsh words the next few nights. After that, they complained to Professor McGonagall, trying as hard they could to escape the dormitory she slept in. None of them got their wish, and they only glared at her for waking them in the middle of the night while within her presence.

That night, however, her dreams were different.

Hermione tossed and turned, her brow beginning to line with sweat as her nightmare began. But, she settled after a moment, when the dream dissolved into nothingness and she was left in a state where dreams could not penetrate her. An hour, maybe two passed, before Hermione rolled over onto her other side, opening her eyes only a crack and shutting them again as she drifted deeper into sleep.

A new dream opened around her, and Hermione's exhausted form was happy with the thought of no more nightmares. She snuggled deeper into her covers, burying her head beneath them, and smiled in her sleep.

Hogwarts was booming with excitement. It filled the air and suffocated many of the students in a happy aura. It encouraged a sea of voices to speak at once, each drifting in and out, but none of them really as powerful as the voice that spoke from the front.

Hermione turned her head, smiling in the excitement that buzzed through the area. She was probably the most excited student of all! She had never thought that such a thing would happen while she was in Hogwarts, and she was proud to be a part of the momentous event.

She had read everything there was to read on the old, magical school. She told Ron and Harry so with her head held high, complaining when Ron chose that moment to roll his eyes. She really could not believe that Ron was taking such an event lightly, considering he should know Hogwarts had not taken in a transfer for seventy-five years. She expected him to be as excited as she was, but apparently her two male friends just could not get away from their discussion on Quidditch.

Dumbledore's voice broke through the chatter, pulling their attention back to himself. He smiled, his half-moon spectacles barely hiding the twinkle in his eye. Hermione squealed, because this was the moment, and she caught the attention of most of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. She giggled afterward, noticing that Dumbledore was smiling toward her, and settled down.

As he talked, Hermione bit her lip in hope. She already knew the transfer was going to be a girl. There was simply no way a boy could have been chosen to travel such a distance in order to partake in one of the best wizarding schools in the world. However, she wondered what she would be like. Would she be a daring Gryffindor that often times acted before she thought? Would she be a wise Ravenclaw that often times put too much thought into what she did? Or would she be a kind, humble Hufflepuff that had no wish but to be someone's friend?

Hermione did not even consider her being a Slytherin. A transfer, so late in the year even, could not possibly be put there. The student had to be bright, not cunning and sly. There was simply no way any school would choose to send anyone but their best to be transferred, and a Slytherin certainly could not be considered the best from what she had seen of them.

"Please, welcome Higurashi Kagome," Dumbledore finished, bringing his hands up to clap. Hermione was positive she was clapping the loudest out of the whole school with how excited she was. And, she was even more so when she finally watched the transfer walk into the Great Hall.

"Wow," she heard Ron mutter, but ignored him. Her attention was completely on the blue-eyed beauty that was walking toward Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall matching her stride. She was assessing her, and Hermione quickly determined that that girl would be a Gryffindor.

There was no doubt about it in her mind!

The Asian girl bowed to the Headmaster, telling him that she was honored to be there, before finally Dumbledore gestured for her to sit upon the stool before him. Professor McGonagall had pulled the old Sorting Hat from its position, waiting to put it on the girl's head, and slowly she walked up to take her seat. It seemed to take forever, but finally she was sitting, and Hermione could almost hear the sound of 'Gryffindor' leaving the Sorting Hat.

A tiny voice, faint but there, filled the silence. It took the students a moment, but they realized it was coming from the Sorting Hat. They had all heard the old cap speaking quietly in their ear, but never had they actually heard the voice travel beyond the person for the other students to hear. And, it shocked and excited them more, for surely the transfer was very, very special for such a thing to happen.

"There is an ancient and powerful ability locked deep inside your soul, and it causes others to instinctively fear you. They cannot look beyond it, despite your kind and generous heart, and because of that, I place you into the hands of Slytherin."

The Slytherin House name was like a drum, pounding into Hermione's ears the moment it thundered from the Sorting Hat. It had only taken a moment for the old hat to decide where to put one Higurashi Kagome, but Hermione could not believe it. It was like a bad dream, because there was no way the Sorting Hat had actually placed a transfer in that vile House!

However, the Slytherins roared in delight, and Hermione sat shocked. Harry patted her on the arm, telling her it would be ok, but Hermione only shook her head dumbly. She could not believe it. A transfer placed into the hands of Slytherin. A transfer! A student that should have been far above those sly snakes, and she was placed into the hands of Slytherin!

Hermione pouted a bit, her eyes hardening, as she turned to see Higurashi Kagome sit down. Narrowing her eyes upon her, she decided that transfer or not, she must be as bad as the rest of them. And clearly, someone had made a mistake when they decided to send her.

When Hermione awoke the next day, she blinked slowly at the drifting dream that left her. She shook her head as she rose, trying to shake it away. Another trick, clearly. Higurashi Kagome would not fool her. Though, she had to admit that that dream had seemed so real, almost like she had experienced it, and she frowned.

Glancing around, she spotted another girl up and called out to her. "Lavender?"

"Uh, yes," Lavender Brown blinked, turning on her heel to look at her.

"Do you remember what happened when Higurashi Kagome was sorted into the Slytherin House?" she asked out of curiosity. She was positive her mind had only come up with the silly dream because she was trying so hard to figure out why everyone else's memories had changed. It certainly could not be what had happened, since it was ridiculous to think that the Sorting Hat had spoken out loud its thoughts on why Higurashi Kagome should be placed into the Slytherin House.

Lavender nodded, "Yes. I do, Hermione. Is there a reason why you want to know?"

"I'm just a little curious." Hermione decided not to tell her that her memory was wrong. She had tried to convince Harry and Ron of it several times already, and neither of them wanted to budge on the subject. They believed what they remembered, and Lavender would probably be quite the same. "I can't quite remember."

"Really?" Lavender looked surprised. "You were so happy that day—before Kagome was put in Slytherin, that is."

"Yes, yes," Hermione nodded, popping open her trunk. "But, did anything out of the ordinary happen that day?"

Lavender nodded, surprising Hermione almost. She replied, "Again, I'm surprised you've forgotten, Hermione. Dumbledore made a whole speech about how surprising it was for the Sorting Hat to talk before it placed her, something about some ancient power or whatnot. You spent several days researching it afterward, if I'm not mistaken."

Hermione looked like she had been slapped, as she quickly tried to smile. "O-oh," she gulped in worry. "Of course, how could I have forgotten!" Quickly, she threw on her robes for the day and fled from the room. She recognized Lavender's voice calling out after her, but she did not stop to tell her what was wrong.

It could not be true! Higurashi Kagome had never been in Hogwarts! She had never transferred in, and she had never been sorted into the Slytherin House! Hermione would have remembered it, because she never forgot anything, and what she remembered was Higurashi Kagome never being there. So, how in the world could she have dreamed what everyone else thought?

Was Higurashi playing with her? Was she trying to make her trip over her own theory and stumble until she got away with whatever she was trying to do? That had to be it! That was the only explanation she could think of, because it was not possible for her to have suddenly remembered something that had never happened. In fact, it would not possible for her to suddenly remember anything about Higurashi, because she did not know more than what she had learned in such a short time.

Again, the possibility that Higurashi Kagome was working with Voldemort slapped Hermione in the face. She had ruled it out, but what if that had been Higurashi's plan? Had she been trying to steer her away from the reality the entire time, in order for her plan to work without any complications? Had she deliberately been putting on an act just to make sure she, Hermione, never figured out what her real plan was?

It certainly sounded like something Voldemort would do, and it chilled Hermione to the core. However, there was one flaw in it. If it was truly some brilliant plot that the Dark Lord had come up with, why had he left her out of the memory loop? Why had he not just ordered Higurashi to use her strange magic in order to change her memory as well? Get rid of the possibility of her being able to convince someone that what they remembered was not real, though she doubted the Dark Lord would be very threatened by that thought.

Why would he have chosen her?

Simple answer: he would not have. He would have chosen Harry Potter. He would have ordered Higurashi Kagome to infiltrate Hogwarts after everyone but Harry's memory had been changed. He would have ordered that Harry be left out of the loop, whether it was to make him look insane or make it easier for his little minion to get rid of him.

Hermione quickly shook the possibility away, again. Voldemort would not have allowed an error of that size to be made. He would have killed Higurashi Kagome without a second thought and found someone more capable of handling the mission.

Halting in her step, Hermione realized she had been walking for quite some time in her pondering. She bit her lip, glancing down to make sure she had her bag, before deciding to head off to class. She could not get caught up in her old theory again, not when she had proved time and again that Higurashi Kagome was not working for Voldemort.

No, the girl was acting on her own. For some reason, she had chosen her, Hermione, as her target. She had picked her, cast her strange spell—again, Hermione was reminded that she had not found anything the girl could have used—and moved along with her plan. And clearly, she had formed a very good plan—whatever it was—because Hermione was still struggling to figure it out.

As she headed to class, Hermione felt a headache beginning to form. Higurashi Kagome had caused her quite a few already, along with Ron and Harry, and it was not anything new. However, the sharp pain in her head came so suddenly that Hermione stopped and placed her hand onto the wall. Another quickly followed, and Hermione touched her temple lightly, wondering where the quick, driving pain could have come from.

It was possible that a spell had been cast, but she was alone in a corridor. Unless someone had stuck only their wand around a corner and struck her from behind, she doubted anyone had attacked her. Besides, in such a situation—her thoughts halted for a single moment, as her head throbbed—she would have been given the warning of some color of light, the impact, or faint whispering. She had not noticed anything of the sort, which meant the headache had been brought on by other means.

Whimpering, Hermione closed her eyes, flashes of her pervious dream drifting through her head. She heard her own thoughts, felt her own excitement, and knew the entire event by heart. It became cemented in her mind, despite how much she tried to shake it loose. She knew it was not real, she knew that Higurashi Kagome had never come to the school through the means of transferring, yet the jabbing pain forced the event upon her.

The pain receded only a bit after a moment, and Hermione tried to forget the dream once again. She had done it many times with nightmares when she was younger, shaking them away and never being bothered by the same one twice. She supposed, now, it was because of the magic running through her veins, but her ability to forget dreams had lessened over the years. And, she supposed, that was probably the reason she failed to shake away the dream.

That, and the pain returned.

Sliding to her knees, Hermione heard the faint clicking of shoes on the floor. It was actually quite early, despite her wish to get to class, so she was instantly cautious. Pain or not, she would not be caught in such a position with how people were already beginning to look at her. She was not crazy, but she knew the scene she was making would probably make them truly believe she was.

Still, she renewed her attempts to forget that dreadful dream. She tried to force her mind into grasping onto what had really happened during her first year, all those wonderful adventures with Ron and Harry, yet her mind shifted and grasped a hold of the dream. The pain struck through her mind like lightning, as she tried once more to remember what had really happened. Again that horrible dream—the memory that so many others had—flashed through her mind, and Hermione felt tears form at the edge of her eyes.

"Hermione?"

Stiffening, Hermione blinked rapidly and turned to find Higurashi Kagome standing behind her. The Slytherin girl looked truly concerned about her, but Hermione was not fooled for a moment. A Slytherin would do anything to get what they wanted, even if they had to play little miss perfect to do so. And, considering that Higurashi was a Slytherin, Hermione was not about to let her guard down for a moment.

Not even after she found out what was happening.

"Hermione, are you all right?" the Slytherin asked.

The pain jabbing deep into her brain, Hermione snapped, "I'm fine."

Kagome did not appear deterred, as she moved forward to kneel at her side. Hermione forced herself not to look into her eyes, knowing that the Slytherin was good. The concern she would find there would only make her forget about her theory and begin to question herself, again, and she was not about to let that happen. So, her eyes focused elsewhere, and Hermione found herself staring at the tiny jewel hanging from Higurashi Kagome's neck.

It was so pretty. It glittered in the light, giving off a faint pink hue that once again contradicted the type of person Hermione knew Higurashi Kagome to be. It looked so pure, and so perfect settled beneath that slender neck. Almost like it belonged there and would never allow another to wear it. Almost like it would only remain that beautiful pink color if Higurashi Kagome was wearing it, and Hermione wanted to curse her very train of thought.

The Slytherin girl's hand settled onto Hermione's shoulder, as she spoke. "Maybe we should take you to the Infirmary. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will have something—"

Shrugging off that tainted hand, Hermione growled, "I told you, I'm fine." She did not need, nor did she want help from Higurashi Kagome. She was the very reason Hermione was beginning to feel the way she was, beginning to drive herself to the edge in order to find an answer, because she knew that everyone else needed her help. They needed her, and she would not let Higurashi Kagome try to steer her away from fixing whatever she had done.

Kagome nodded, but grabbed onto her arm. She said, "Ok, but let me help you up. Class if going to start soon, and you might catch a cold if you stay on the floor too long."

Her painful headache throbbed, as she listened to the pretty voice directed at her. Hermione's eyes were once again drawn to the jewel around the Slytherin's neck, and they narrowed upon seeing it. It had darkened in color, the bright pink glimmering lightly through what appeared to be fog. She knew that it was possible for the item to be enchanted to do so, but something about that little jewel set Hermione on edge the moment she saw it.

Still holding her head, Hermione allowed the Slytherin to help her off the ground. Kagome insisted on walking with her down the corridor, even though Hermione protested that she was fine. The Slytherin showed so much concern for her that it almost seemed genuine, but Hermione was determined to cast aside that assumption. No Slytherin would genuinely be concerned for anyone, not even their fellow Slytherins.

Once at the end of the corridor, Kagome turned to the Gryffindor and smiled. Hermione frowned at her, determined once more not to look her in the eye. Her gaze settled onto that pretty little jewel, and her thoughts tried to spin into action while the pain continued to lightly assault her. However, they halted when the other girl began to speak. "I have to go to Divination now, Hermione. I trust you'll be able to get to your class—"

Feeling snappish, the headache not helping, Hermione cut her off. "Yes, I will get to class just fine, thank you very much. In fact—" She lifted her eyes to continue her rant, but seeing that concern forced her to stop. She told herself once more that Higurashi Kagome was not actually concerned for her, but the fact that she had helped her at all forced her silence.

So, turning on her heel, Hermione marched down the opposite corridor that Kagome would take. She felt the Slytherin's eyes on her back, but paid it little mind. She just wanted her first class to be over with already so she could head off to Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Ron and Harry would be. She did not concern herself with telling them they were wrong anymore, but they would certainly be a good source of information with what they believed was true.

And Hermione, now, wanted to know about that strange necklace that put her on edge. She had not felt any kind of magic coming from it, but something about it made her stomach flip several times.

Her spent her time in class on that day wondering about it, and trying to pick her memories away from that stubborn dream. It assaulted her a few times during class, and though Hermione knew it was not real, it seemed like it was. That scared her to some degree, because she could not quite seem to hold onto the knowledge that halfway through the year she had not seeing Higurashi Kagome being sorted. It slipped through her hands, the dream rushing forth to fill the gap, and that frightened her.

Did Higurashi Kagome's plan include this? Had she planned all along to change everyone's memory and slowly force them upon her? Was it another plot to torture her? Who was that Slytherin girl, truly? Where had she come from? How was she intelligent enough to not only come up with such a brilliant plan, but also execute it when no one should be able to?

The questions remained, even when Hermione finally walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts and frowned deeply at Professor Umbridge. She took her seat beside Ron, and grabbed the ridiculous book Umbridge was forcing her to read time and again. She dropped it onto the desk, and glanced over when Ron poked her in the side.

"Hey, Hermione," Ron began, "what's the matter with you now?"

Umbridge's annoying cough cut into the conversation, "Hem, hem."

Hermione twitched, because she hated the woman with a passion. Not only did she refuse to teach them anything useful, but she had also began to post rules that some of the Slytherin prefects were taking to the extremes. She had seen Draco Malfoy beginning to do so only a few days ago, until Higurashi Kagome stepped in and steered him away from the first year student.

Umbridge continued, tapping her finger on their desk, saying, "Mr. Weasley, this is a place of learning. I'm afraid you will have to wait until class is over to speak with Ms. Granger."

Ron grumbled, but was silenced. Hermione could see that he was thinking, and she knew that it was probably about the day Harry was forced to have spend time in detention with Dolores Umbridge. He had not done anything except speak his mind, and in return the toad made him write the same phrase over and over again with a quill that carved the words into the person's flesh. Which, in Hermione's mind, made the woman not only stupid but also cruel.

Ron turned to her, mouthing, 'After class.'

Hermione nodded, and waited until after class. Her headache was gone by then, much to her enjoyment, and she found herself walking peacefully between Ron and Harry. Well, as peaceful as it could get when Ron mentioned—everyday—that she had yet to prove him wrong.

Harry rolled his eyes off to the side when Ron did so, and Hermione decided that she would let it go that one time. "Ron, give her a break, will ya?" Harry asked. It was clear that he was tired of the fighting, and wanted to talk about something else for once.

Ron frowned, but nodded in agreement. Then, he asked, "So, Hermione, what were you thinking about back before that toad decided to interrupt?"

"I wanted to ask you two a question," Hermione replied.

"Is it about Kagome?" Ron asked stiffly. He, clearly, had had enough of her constant determination to prove Higurashi Kagome had never been there. He remembered what he remembered, and Hermione could not change that—yet.

When she nodded, she noticed that Ron decided to roll his eyes. Frowning a bit more, Hermione said, "Yes, it is about her. Actually, to be more precise, I wanted to ask about the jewel that she wears around her neck. Have you ever seen it?"

Harry blinked in surprise, thinking. After a moment, he replied, "I've seen it. It's a little round thing that she's got on a thin chain, right?"

Hermione nodded. She had suspected that they had at least seen it, though they might not have gazed at it with as much intensity as she had. In fact, with their male habits, they probably looked right by it if they ever decided to look at the Slytherin girl that way. After all, Hermione noted in her mind, Higurashi Kagome did have something for them to look at if they chose to be perverted enough.

"Oh, that thing?" Ron asked. "She's always wearing it."

"Why do you want to know about that, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"I just noticed it," Hermione said. She saw Ron shake his head, clearly not believing that his memory was wrong. "I know that it could be enchanted, but I wanted to ask if either of you have ever heard her say that it is."

"Enchanted?" Ron asked. "Why would it be enchanted?"

"Well, it was changing colors while I was looking at it, Ron," Hermione told him. "And, it wasn't like one of those Muggle items that changes colors, either. It was clearly magic that caused the color to fade, and I wanted to know—"

"Hermione," Ron stared into her eyes, trying to get his message across as clearly as he possibly could. "The jewel that Kagome wears all the time is clear, you couldn't have seen it change colors."

"No, I clearly saw it—" Hermione stopped. Her mind whirled at the information, trying to piece together something that could explain the reason such a thing would happen. And, instantly, she wondered if it somehow tied into whatever Higurashi Kagome had done to make everyone forget what she remembered.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Oh," Hermione smiled. "That's all I wanted to know."

Harry blinked, saying under his breath, "That's not what I was going to ask."

Hermione twitched a little, when Ron tried to secretively talk to Harry behind her back. He said, "I really think she's starting to lose it, mate."

"I don't think it's quite that bad yet," Harry replied softly.

"Yeah, well, another day like this and I think I'm going to—"

"You know," Hermione hissed, turning to glare at them, "I can hear you quite well."

Harry managed to look a bit guilty, but Ron merely blinked at her. Huffing, Hermione rolled her eyes and stomped off once more. Ron just could not understand that she was right and he was wrong. Really, it was not a hard concept, and she had hoped that after years of being together, he would realize that she knew a bit more about magic than he did. And since the entire situation she found herself in dealt with magic—she was sure of it—she had hoped he would come to support her.

Clearly, she put too much faith in him.

Behind her, she heard Harry say, "Great, now you've gone and done it again."

Intelligently, Ron's reply was, "What?"

Hermione rounded a corner, knowing they had to be in Potions next, and raced away from their voices. Ron was just managing to make her angry, and drawing her away from the solution that might fix the entire mess. Hermione frowned, because now that she thought about it that was probably also another piece of Higurashi Kagome's plan. Turn her friends against her, make them believe she was truly losing her mind, and in the process make her, Hermione, believe it was happening, too.

Gritting her teeth, she once again tried to pull forth what she had been doing during her first year. Flashes went through her head, what she remembered, and then that dreadful dream popped into the scene. She tried to push it away, but it remained, no matter how much she knew it had not happened. It just would not go away, and she had a feeling it would not go away, no matter how much she tried to make it.

At least, not until she figured out what Higurashi Kagome had done.

Potions was uneventful, no matter how much Hermione glared at the Slytherin girl's back whenever she answered Snape's questions. She noticed that Malfoy's hand was lightly settled onto Higurashi's unoccupied one, but she really did not care about their little piece of Slytherin love. All she wanted to know was what was happening, and if she was correct when she thought that little jewel, still fading in color when she saw another glimpse of it, had something to do with the situation.

It would be brilliant on Higurashi's part. Use that little jewel as the catalyst for her plan, because no one would suspect such a little thing—so, so pretty—contained some ancient spell that affected them all. All of them except her. No one would expect a fifth year student to even know how to do such a thing, because it required a high level of magic, which meant the girl had either had the information drilled into her head since she was very little or was not who she made herself out to be.

Hermione leaned a little more toward the latter option, because she still could not find a reason for the Dark Lord to have wanted this. He would have wanted Harry Potter to look insane, not Hermione Granger. He would not have cared what happened to her, though she supposed she might have believed Harry if he came to her saying that he had never seen or heard of Higurashi Kagome before. But, how would Voldemort know that?

She was so confused. Her mind was wrapping around the knowledge that Higurashi Kagome had been in her first year, despite the fact she knew she had not been, and she still could not figure out what Higurashi Kagome's game was. Was she working for the Dark Lord or not? What did she hope would come out of her plan? How in the world had she managed to perform a spell that should have been impossible to cast?

That night, Hermione went to bed once more. Her mind had been made up. It was dangerous to send a letter to Dumbledore, but she would do it. She would ask Harry to borrow Hedwig, and send the owl off to find the Headmaster in hopes of getting some answers. There were too many elements, too many things to consider, and Hermione knew that she would not be able to figure out the puzzle on her own.

She knew it was the right action to take, too, when she finally slipped into her dreams.

Malfoy was such a git.

Hermione was aware of that more than anything at the moment, and she felt her hand close into a fist. She would not watch as the Slytherin made fun of her friend, but as she took a step forward, a tiny hand landed on Malfoy's shoulder.

"Draco," a distant voice called. "Come on, we don't have time for this."

Malfoy's eyes, surprisingly, seemed to soften as he turned, and subconsciously Hermione was not surprised to see Higurashi Kagome standing behind him. It was not often they were a part, and Hermione almost smiled. Kagome was the perfect thing to steer Malfoy's attention away from them, and she knew it…