Memories Not my Own

The door shutting was the first thing Hermione heard upon waking. Then, voices seeped into her ears. "She just screamed and collapsed! I've never seen anything like it! It was as if she saw something--or heard something in that light."

"Calm down, Minerva. I'm sure she can explain what happened as soon as she comes to," came Dumbledore's quiet voice.

Hermione sat up and immediately felt a surge of...something. Energy? Maybe. Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore were standing across from her bed, talking softly. She opened her mouth to speak, and found she couldn't. Dumbledore turned and looked at her. "I assume you are awake now, Hermione?"

Hermione tried to speak and decided against it, nodding instead.

"Good," Dumbledore said while nodding his head. Professor McGonagall rushed over to her and began to fuss over her like a mother cat would to a kitten.

"Are you all right? What happened? Can you speak?"

"I'm--fine," Hermione finally said, whatever had been preventing her from speech lifted.

"Thank goodness!" the professor said, stepping away with a relieved look on her face.

Dumbledore was staring at Hermione. "Hermione, what happened?"

Hermione looked at the wall, trying to remember. "I saw a light when I tried to do the spell, and I heard voices."

"Voices?" Professor McGonagall repeated.

"Yes. Many voices. All different." Hermione nodded.

"What were they saying?" Dumbledore prompted.

Hermione opened her mouth and stopped, thinking. "I don't remember. It all happened so quickly..." She frowned as she remembered something vague--a tone of voice. "I've heard one of those voices before. I know I have. I just don't know where it's from!"

Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore exchanged nervous glances. "Well, whatever it was it's over now. Perhaps you should stay here for the remainder of the day," she said hurriedly.

"No! I can't! I have to get back to class!" Hermione said, leaping out of the hospital bed.

Dumbledore smiled faintly, although Hermione could still see the concern in his eyes. "Very well, Hermione. But if anything else happens, come and tell us."

"If she doesn't collapse first," Professor McGonagall muttered, turning to escort Hermione out.

"What class am I up to?" Hermione asked as they left.

"Potions. It won't start for another ten minutes."

"Lovely," Hermione muttered sarcastically, "and I missed Arithmancy..."

They left the room, but Dumbledore was still staring after Hermione, pondering something as the door closed behind them.

~~~

"I don't believe I need to remind you that the bats wings go in after the ground ginger, do I, Mr. Longbottom?" There was a whimper in answer. "I do? Pity. Five points from Gryffindor for not paying attention."

Hermione was sitting at the back of the room during Potions, next to Harry. Ron was sadly sharing a table with Malfoy--obviously put there just to test their patience after that morning. There were no "accidents" so far, but there had been quite a few glares exchanged. Harry and Hermione were keeping a close eye on the two while quietly whispering about Hermione's odd fainting spell during Transfiguration.

"Maybe it was something in the fishbowl," Harry offered jokingly. Hermione tried not to giggle, so as to not give away that they were whispering. "But still, what could have caused that?" Harry added seriously after she had finished straightening her face.

"I have no idea. I think I will have to research it later. But whatever it was, I don't want to have it happen again," Hermione said while putting the ground ginger into her potion.

"Maybe you were jinxed," Seamus Finnigan whispered, who was across from them.

"Maybe Snape did it this morning. He didn't seem happy after whatever you said to him," Dean Thomas added energetically, turning around in his seat to look at them.

"Maybe he did, and maybe he's considering jinxing you as well if you don't turn around and pay attention!" Snape had snuck up behind them before they could react. "Ten points from Gryffindor!"

Malfoy snickered where he was. Hermione blanched as Snape rounded on her. "As a school prefect, Miss Granger, I would expect better behavior out of you. Talking during class?" He snorted. "If you aren't careful, you might just get that badge of your revoked." He pointed at her prefect badge.

She nodded sadly. Snape returned to the front of the room, and Ron gave him the middle finger after he had passed. "He is one nasty bastard," Ron mouthed to Hermione. She nodded vigorously before returning to the potion. How anyone could be so biased was beyond her. She sighed and scolded herself internally. After all, he was spying for Voldemort. Perhaps the whole "favoring Slytherin" kick was just because anything otherwise would cause suspicion. Just then, Snape started to praise Malfoy's potion.

Then again, maybe not, Hermione thought angrily.

~~~

As Hermione climbed into bed that night, she noticed a sudden breeze. The window was open. She pushed it shut and turned to go back to bed. The breeze started up again. She turned. The window was open again. "What in the world?" she asked aloud as she reached to shut it again. She pulled at the latch. It refused to shut. She pulled as hard as she could, and nothing happened.

The room was starting to get cold. She turned to the fireplace. Maybe a warm fire should do the trick. She placed her wand onto the logs within and muttered the spell that gave her the bluebell flames she had perfected since first year. The fire flared up. She sat onto the cozy armchair that was in her room, and stared into the flames. The flames danced before her eyes and she stared in an almost wonderment at them.

As she stared, out of the corner of her eye, she say something black sweep by. She sat up with a gasp and looked around. Nothing. She shrugged it off and checked the digital watch her parent's had given her for Christmas the year before. 13 past ten. She had fallen asleep for a half hour.

She turned back to the flames again and felt herself drifting off in her armchair. Just as her eyes closed, a quiet whispering began somewhere in the back of her mind. She frowned but ignored it. It got louder until she heard it even aloud--inside the room. "Guenevere."

She sat up and stared. The fire was out and she was surrounded by darkness.

"Guenevere." The voice was louder, more urgent this time.

She stood up out of the chair and went almost trance-like to the window. She stared outside. As she watched, something moved on the grounds outside the window. A small, glowing ball the size of a Snitch was floating down there. It reminded her of will-o-wisps. The light grew nearer as it came upwards, towards her window. She took in a deep breath just as the light reached her. It lit her vision like daylight, and she was plunged somewhere else.

She exhaled as the scene around her unfolded. A girl--obviously Muggle, was moving about her room. She was listening to something--music... Hermione realized she had heard this somewhere before--from her friends back home perhaps? Yes. It was Pink Floyd--she'd recognize it anywhere. One of her friends listened to the song a lot. She couldn't remember which one it was, but she heard it nonetheless.

As she watched the girl mouthing the words, a dark--thing floated past the window, blocking the afternoon light that had been streaming in. The girl's head whipped up and she stared out the window much like Hermione had done. There was a quiet sound of laughter that came from beneath the window. She walked with the girl to the window and looked down. Cloaked figures were gathered underneath it, looking at one another and laughing.

"What the?" the girl muttered. She opened the window. "Hey!" she shouted down. The figures looked up at her. They were all wearing masks...Death Eaters. Hermione realized as her blood ran cold. "What do you think you're doing down there?" she shouted down to them.

They looked at one another and moved forward; out of her vision. There was a sound downstairs of a door opening. The girl frowned and exited the room quickly. Hermione followed. As they went out into the foyer, they saw the cloaked figures already in the house. "That door was locked..." she heard the girl whisper fearfully. She turned and ran back into her room, Hermione right behind. The girl locked the door and ran behind her bed, hiding.

"Locks won't help you..." Hermione said quietly to the girl.

The girl didn't respond; just lay behind the bed, muttering quietly to herself. "It's ok...they can't get in here now...I'm fine...It will be okay...mom will be home soon..." Hermione shook her head sadly. There was a stream of light from the keyhole--Hermione saw it, but the girl didn't from where she was behind the bed.

"Run...run!" Hermione shouted as the door quietly squeaked open. A tall, cloaked figure came in so softly you couldn't hear it walk. The girl's breathing was loud from where she hid--she was obviously terrified. The figure was holding an ebony wand out in front of it, walking towards the girl's hiding place. "No..." Hermione said quietly. "He'll kill you!"

The figure rounded the bed and the girl screamed. "NO!" Hermione shouted as the figure raised its wand. "Stupefy!" a voice said from under the hood. Hermione and the girl both screamed--there was a knock on the door, and there was darkness again.

Hermione sat up in her chair, head pounding from the screams as she realized the knocking was real. She stood up and grabbed the door handle, dazed. Pulling it open, she saw a very wide-eyed Ron and concerned Harry staring back at her. They were holding the invisibility cloak. "Hermione?" Ron said, bewildered. "Was that you screaming?"

Hermione opened her mouth to say no, but then assumed she must have really screamed. "Um...yes. Yes I guess it was me." Her voice was shaky, as was the rest of her.

"What happened?" Harry asked. Hermione shrugged slightly, and then turned back to the first thing she could sit on--the chair. She collapsed onto it as if she had just run a marathon.

Harry and Ron came in, shutting the door slightly. "What happened?" Harry repeated earnestly.

"I-I don't know," Hermione said. "I think I had a horrible dream. I barely remember the details. There was a girl...and there were Death Eaters...they came to her house...she hid..." She took a deep breath. "One of them came into her room and stupefied her..." She looked fearfully up to the door as a figure appeared. It was Snape.

"What is going on here? There was a scream..." Harry and Ron realized he must have been going somewhere--he had a cloak on. He looked from Ron to Harry and then over to Hermione. As his eyes met Hermione's, and Hermione suddenly screeched again and sat back in the chair.

"What? What is it?" Ron asked, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. She stared at Snape as if she had never seen him before, eyes terrified. "Severus..." she said in a voice unlike her own before collapsing in the chair where she was.

Ron and Harry looked at one another and behind them in fear. Snape was staring at Hermione frightfully, backed up and ran out as if he had just seen a ghost. He ran, and didn't stop running until he had reached the fireplace in his room. He lit a fire quickly and muttered into it: "Albus Dumbledore." Five minutes later, the white hair and blue bed cap of the Headmaster appeared in the flames.

"Severus? Why are you--" He saw the look on his face and paused. "What's wrong?"

Snape was shaking uncontrollably. "Miss Granger--she's---she's not herself. She's not--it can't--I won't--"

"What are you trying to say?" Dumbledore asked concernedly.

"Her voice was Guenevere's. I heard Guenevere again..."

~~~

Harry and Ron were keeping a close watch on Hermione as she slept fitfully in the Hospital Wing, having no idea what had come over her. They had rushed her into the Wing almost as soon as Snape had disappeared. Madame Pomfrey had told them to put her in one of the beds and leave her there for her to take care of. She then shuffled them off to bed, muttering about curfews. They had returned as soon as they could the next morning without eating breakfast.

"She said his name!" Ron said disbelievingly for about the twelfth time, shaking his head from where he sat.

"She wasn't herself, Ron, for the last time! She didn't even sound like herself! She sounded...different. Like a different person." Harry was staring at Hermione.

Ron nodded. "Still, she said his name..." Harry shook his head, annoyed.

Hermione's eyes shot open. She sat up and looked at Harry and Ron so quickly they jumped. "Snape! You have to get me Snape!" They looked at her, open mouthed.

"Hurry!" she said exasperatedly, as if it were the simplest thing in the world to go find Snape.

"Hermione..." Harry started to say, "you're under a lot of stress. You don't know what you're saying. You should lie back down and--" She interrupted him.

"No! You don't understand! You have to get Snape here!" Hermione said pleadingly, looking from Ron's face to Harry's. They were just about to protest when the door opened from the outside hallway.

"He won't be coming," a voice said quietly from the doorway.

~~~

Harry and Ron turned around to look. There in the doorway was Dumbledore, looking incredibly tired and as if he had seen something he would rather not talk about. He walked in stiffly and cleared his throat as he reached them. "Harry, Ron, if you wouldn't mind leaving..." he gestured to the door. Ron stood up in protest.

"Headmaster, I think we should stay right where we are--" Harry placed a hand on Ron's shoulder and he stopped. Dumbledore gestured them out, and Ron and Harry exited. They were not without suspicion, however, and stayed outside the door to eavesdrop.

Dumbledore turned slowly towards Hermione and walked forward slowly...cautiously. Obviously he knew what was wrong with Hermione. She looked up at him. "I'm--I'm sorry. I don't know anything about what happened. All I know is that Snape has something to do with...all of this." Hermione waved her hand vaguely as she spoke.

"It's all right," he said finally, sitting down in a chair across from her. He looked around the room. "You wouldn't know about all of that--or at least, you shouldn't." He turned back to look at her. "How you know about Guenevere..." He shook his head. "Only a few people knew of her. And only two of them reside within this castle."

"Who are they?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Severus and I." His piercing blue gaze searched her. "And now you." He moved closer. "Hermione, how did this start?"

Hermione shrugged. "Only during Transfiguration."

"Nothing before that?" he encouraged.

She thought. "Well, I did think I saw something...different about Snape yesterday morning. During breakfast. He looked different."

"Different how?" Dumbledore asked inquisitively.

"Erm...he looked younger somehow. Not as tired..." she trailed off. "Just different."

Dumbledore nodded. "So his appearance was different."

"Yes, that's exactly what it was," Hermione agreed.

Dumbledore looked at her for another moment before sighing. "Hermione, I don't know if you knew this or not, but some of the teachers here at school are using appearance charms."

Hermione looked excited to learn something no one else knew. "Really? I never read that in: "Hogwarts, a History."

"That's because we didn't want people to know," Dumbledore said pointedly. "I do hope you won't tell anyone about this?"

"No, of course not," Hermione said, aghast that he would even suspect that.

Dumbledore smiled. "Well, then I suppose I can tell you a bit more." He stood up and began to walk around the room. "When Severus first came to us, he was quite young. He could not become a teacher right away, of course. Not without years of study. But eventually he did make his way back here." Dumbledore looked over the rim of his glasses at Hermione. "Severus wasn't the most comely of boys, but we were still worried about the reaction of students to a young teacher within the school."

"Lockhart," Hermione noted.

Dumbledore laughed heartily. "Yes, that is precisely why we use the charm. He was an exception but...well, he was an exception for most everything else as well." He paced. "Severus has had that charm for years. There is no way you could see through that charm unless you had some other power helping you."

Hermione frowned. "Some other power? But what could that be?"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "I don't know. I will have to see what I can find on the subject." He sat down and looked at her again. "Hermione, I ask you not to tell anyone about this. Keep this between you and Harry and Ron." He looked pointedly at the door to the outside corridor, and Hermione heard hurried footsteps running away. He smiled and looked back to Hermione. "If anything else happens again, I want you to find me and tell me."

Hermione nodded. "Of course, Headmaster."

"You can go now." Dumbledore stood up and went to the door.

"Headmaster?" Hermione called.

"Yes?" He turned to look at her.

"Why didn't Professor Snape come?"

Dumbledore's face darkened. "Hermione...these memories you keep seeing..." he paused, "they are not your own. In a way, they are Severus', as well as Guenevere's." He shook his head. "Snape does not wish to remember them, and seeing you again would certainly bring them back full throttle."

"But what about Potions? I have another class tomorrow!" Hermione cried.

Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't know. I will have to talk with Severus about that..." He left, leaving Hermione deep in thought.

~~~

A/N: Pink Floyd belongs to Pink Floyd. Like the story so far? I hope I get around to writing more soon...I'm so busy with a novel I'm writing that this keeps getting pushed behind...