Riddle [Tomione, On Hold]

Chapter Three

Chapter Three
Normalcy

"Is she even alive?"

"What do you think happened to her?"

"Look at all those cut and bruises!"

Hermione awoke to whispered questions and exclamations, her brain furiously pounding against her skull like a mad drum. She could feel warm sunlight shining against her closed eyelids and the bed (she assumed) she was laying on slightly shift and creak as the voices slowly grew louder. Despite wanting to fall into the tempting bliss of nothingness once more, Hermione was reminded of the events from the night before by the shooting pain originating from her right thigh. Groaning, she forced herself to fully open her eyes, alerting her not-so-subtle audience of her awakening.

At this point in her life, Hermione could say that she was some sort of an expert in odd things; having a ghost for a History professor (Professor Binns), turning (quite by accident) into a cat on the effects of a Polyjuice Potion, trying to teach a giant (Hagrid's half-brother, Grawp) to speak, and so on and so forth. Nothing, however, could have mentally prepared her for the curious sight that stood (and sat) before her.

A lean girl with piercing green eyes and fiery red hair peered at her from the foot of the bed, immediately ducking down, her hair flying (and reminding Hermione of a candle flame), once she realized that Hermione had finally awoken from her slumber. Sitting on a small stool at her right side was a stocky boy with inky black eyes and a mop of (to Hermione's surprise) pure white hair who, unlike his friend who was now unsuccessfully attempting to hide from view, simply stared back at her, as if challenging the young witch to speak. Sitting at his opposite was another girl who (although Hermione couldn't quite put her finger to it) slightly resembled someone she knew, with her familiar dirty blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Hi," she greeted Hermione cheerfully and— despite how awkward the situation was— gave a friendly wave. "So I guess you're awake!"

"Uh, hello," Hermione greeted back stupidly as she attempted to adjust her eyes to the brightness.

Silence.

Were they... watching me sleep?

Willing herself to shift her attention elsewhere, Hermione surveyed the room curiously, first taking in the numerous windows that lined the walls and rows of beds and curtains that separated each space. Although things were almost, if not exactly, identical as they were— or will be?— in her original time, Hermione could not help but devour every detail within the room, from the small dust particles that floated through the air to the familiar shade of the bed sheets, hoping that she was in a better version of 1998 with everything in Hogwarts as it should be— no evil wizards to fight, no loss of loved ones, no anything.

But she knew that was impossible: she had travelled back to 1944 from the battle at Hogwarts, just as she had planned.

"So," the cheery blonde started, obviously taking the silence as an invitation to speak. "I'm Charlotte Brown, it's nice to meet you!"

Oh, a younger aunt of Lavender Brown, maybe?

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione noticed Charlotte nudge her two other friends to introduce themselves.

"I- I'm Freya Adley," the other girl said shyly, cautiously pulling herself up from her hiding spot, as if she was unsure whether or not she should either run or hide.

"Liam Malley," the boy said simply, managing what Hermione hoped to be a small smile as the corners of his mouth twitched up for about two seconds before settling back down to its nonchalant state.

"It's nice to meet you," Hermione answered as nicely as she could, although the presence of other people seemed to contribute to her growing headache. "I'm Hermione—"

She paused, thinking.

She couldn't possible use the name Granger, could she?

The name of a particular smiling and
obnoxious blonde seemed to stick to Hermione's mind and, unable to shake the thought away, she promised to give her throbbing brain a slap later for conjuring that image into her mind.

"—Lockhart. Yes, my name is Hermione Lockhart."

"Oooh! Nice name!" Charlotte exclaimed and, to Hermione's surprise, grabbed the two of her hands and clasped them together. "When I heard that Tom had found an injured girl somewhere within the Hogwarts grounds, I didn't know that she'd be so nice! I honestly expected you to be some grungy Grinde-whatever victim or something!"

Although Hermione was sure that Charlotte had meant no offense by clearly calling one of the most famous dark wizards of all time 'Grinde-whatever' and speaking as if his victims were out of season designer robes, she could start to feel herself itching to tell them to go away and come back when she was feeling more sociable.

"Sorry about her," Freya apologized, blushing as she tried to speak over her blonde friend's seemingly endless chatter. "She just loves to meet new people, that's all."

Hermione forced a smile, crinkling her eyes at the corners a little bit to make it seem more genuine. Freya, seeming to have appreciated the smile, stood with her back a little straighter and beamed at Hermione.

Not wanting to seem rude, Hermione tuned back in to Charlotte's ongoing retelling of how she came across a talking cat. As she listened to Charlotte drone about the details of the cat's shiny black coat and intelligent blue eyes, Hermione felt something stir inside of her chest; a feeling that seemed to spread warmth all over her body as she sat on her cot, listening to her new friends tell stories and joke with one another.

It took a few moments for Hermione to finally guess what that feeling was.

Normalcy.

Hermione will be meeting Tom
in the next chapter, I promise ♡