Bewitched by You (A Marvel/Harry Potter Crossover) COMPLETED

Chapter Twenty-Four: Can't Take You Anywhere

The thing that woke Hermione was the sense of concern churning in her gut. Even before she willed herself to sit up in this strange, misty, inconsistent form, she knew the feeling was ebbing to her from Bucky.

Her gut reaction was to go to him, but she knew that was not currently possible. Well, technically she supposed it was, but she could not waste time by testing the theory running through her head at the moment that, if she did slip from the chamber to stand out there beside him in her astral form, he would sense her presence. True, they were able to sense when Loki was near, so that should be enough of a gauge. Perhaps it only occurred to her to try because she and Bucky and not truly been apart since the moment they'd met.

Giving her head a shake, she stood and took a few steps, getting her bearings. Don't look, Hermione, it'll be weird . . . . And yet, she could not stop from turning to look back at herself.

There was her physical body just floating there, hands folded over her midsection as she held the orb. She had to admit, she looked peaceful, even as disconcerting as it was to be staring at herself like this.

The glowing silver thread that drifted from her back to her unconscious form was a comfort. Studying this phenomenon previously had taught her coming back to her body would be as simple as willing it so, and the silver cord was a tether so her astral form could not be set adrift from her physical body.

Her fingers twitched involuntarily around a cool, smooth surface and she raised her hand to see she clutched a reflection of the locator stone. She was relatively certain this little adventure she was about to embark on was not something she ever wished to duplicate, so she hoped this would be the only time she had to do this.

Freeing though it felt on levels she could never have imagined, she needed solidity and form and rules that bloody made sense. The rules of the astral plane were the text book description of madcap.

Hermione drew a deep breath and let it out slow, trying to release both her own anxiety, and her awareness of Bucky's concern, still so palpable to her. As she exhaled, she shifted her focus to the glass sphere in her hand.

"All right, let's start easy," she said, uncertain why she was whispering. The orb was an incredibly old mystical artifact, not entirely dissimilar from ancient magic, and old mysticism was as simple to command as it was complex to craft into tools. "Show me a path to the room."

The dancing lights within the orb flickered, but did not do much else. Perhaps she needed to be more specific?

"Show me a path to the room Loki showed me?"

Flickering.

Damn. Loki had never specifically called the room by any name or title, so she did not know what the orb would recognize it as. She frowned, thinking back on both times she'd been there. No windows, no doors . . . . Only those glowing sigils everywhere that painted the walls in soft gold.

Indeed, that golden illumination seemed its only defining feature.

Nodding to her own thoughts, she tried once more. "Show me how to get to the golden room."

The orb shuddered in her grasp, the lights inside swirling in an explosion of color and frequency. She held tight to it, shutting her eyes against the brightness.

Its shuddering stilled, and the dance of colored light within slowed.

Hermione opened her eyes at the sense of the orb going dead in her hands. "No!"

She lifted it in examination. In its depths, sparkling hues still pulsed and she breathed a sigh of relief. How odd that she nearly felt as though this stone was alive.