Shifted: Book Two

Chapter Fourty Three - An Unsettling Wake Up Call

Hazel didn't feel awake, but her vision was given back to her, only this time, her surroundings were disappointingly familiar. She expected to find herself in the destructed ruins of the Ministry, that's where she last recalled being. However, instead, she was stood outside her house in her old, grey reality.

It was chilly, and the street was empty. Though she did notice that her door was swung open, so naturally, she walked in. Everything thing was the same, the same coats were hung up, the same, glossy banister leading up to the same landing by the stairs. Every photo was the same too, and she stroked her finger over the photograph of her and Eleanor. Suddenly, she heard a voice call for her. It was familiar, young, and sounded a little similar to her own, and it came from upstairs. She slowly crept up the steps, and into her bedroom, where she discovered that everything was exactly the same as she left it, her bowl of cereal was beside her alarm clock, still soggy too, and her diary was still underneath her pillow, just peeking out from the case.

Everything was the same. Hazel panicked, her heart raced, she looked left, right, up, down, desperately trying to find an imperfection to reassure her that it was all just a dream.

"No, no! I couldn't have shifted back to my old reality", Hazel spoke to herself, almost weeping at the devastating thought.

"This can't be happening- I need to shift back", she added frantically, pacing up and down her room, then rushing back down the stairs again.

She ran straight out her front door, and was greeted by a blinding, white light. It shone so hard, a headache quickly formed in her mind, her eyes almost burned at the light, and she stumbled to the ground, to be greeted by her old friend, darkness, for a brief couple of seconds.

Hazel's eyes suddenly reopened, as the dim lights shone down on her from the ceiling. She slowly adjusted, and she tilted her head up, still in a little pain. To her surprise, surrounding her were her friends, and she couldn't be any more happy to see them. She was back at Hogwarts, and she was relieved. Hazel couldn't remember anything after she had been struck, for the second time, by Voldemort. Though, when she did regain consciousness, her body ached greatly.

"Where am I?", Hazel asked, rubbing her eyes as Hermione softly helped her sit up.

"Hospital wing, you've only been out for a day", Hermione said, her voice trembling a little, though she was relieved to see Hazel awake.

"You bloody scared us, that's for sure", Ron added, looking a little glum.

"What happened after I went out?", Hazel asked.

Everyone stayed quiet, suspiciously quiet.

She scanned the faces around her; Hermione, Ron, Neville, Fred, George and Harry, who was lightly stroking her bandaged hand. She smiled lightly, as her eyes met with the boy her heart belonged to, though he didn't know it yet. However, as happy as she was to see her familiar, friends' faces, they all showed expressions of confusion, and concern.

Dumbledore entered the hospital wings quietly. Fortunately for him, Hazel was the only one inside being treated. Following Dumbledore was a small group of familiar faces, including McGonagall, Snape and the members of the Order. Dumbledore lead the group to Hazel's bed, as they all surrounded her, meanwhile, McGonagall politely asked Madame Pomfrey to leave the room, and to not let anyone else in.

Hazel sat up a little higher, she got an awful feeling that something wasn't quite right.

"What's going on?", Hazel asked, looking at Harry who kept quiet.

"Hazel", Dumbledore spoke softly and slowly, trying to think of the right things to say.

"Voldemort struck you with the Avada Kedavra curse, yes?", Dumbledore asked, wanting some confirmation.

Hazel nodded gently, as her brows furrowed in confusion.

"And you don't remember anything else that happened after that?", he asked, squinting.

"No- what's this about? I don't understand", Hazel said, her voice starting to crack and tremble.

The teachers exchanged worrying expressions, as Hazel's friends and the Order stayed quiet, glancing at each other, subtly concerned.

"You said something, a couple hours before you woke up just now, you don't remember?", Harry asked, slowly letting go of her hand.

Hazel's eyes shifted from face to face in utter puzzlement.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on, I don't remember and-", she said, now panicking.

Hermione softly placed her hand on Hazel's shuffling arm, relaxing her back down into bed.

Dumbledore and Snape looked to each other, then Snape nodded his head.

The next few sentences Dumbledore spoke pierced through Hazel; her mind raced with a million different thoughts and worries, her breathing intensified rapidly and her body started to shake in panic. It wasn't possible, was it?

Dumbledore asked Hazel something she wish he hadn't discovered.

"Hazel, you said you thought you had shifted back to your old reality".

"You're not from here, are you? So tell me...".

"What is shifting?".