Dream's Deductions, Part II

This is continued almost straight from the last chapter. I included the murder/character death warnings only because they alluded to in this chapter. There will be much squickier dealings later.

Disclaimer: I'd like to thank Rowling for letting us play with her characters. Such a nice authoress to us poor folk.

I wanted to have an interesting name for Blaise Zabini's mother, just because I really like the idea of her. My mother suggested I name her after a video game character, but I only heard video game when she said it. Hence, Bejeweled Zabini was born.

Chapter 6: Dream's Deductions, Part II

Narcissa and Bellatrix each had one of my arms, and Illiad prodded at my back. I didn't have any time to protest. I barely caught flashes of the hall we walked down – dark, forest green curtains with silver stitching proclaiming the numbers one through seven, and an eighth door at the far end of the hall. Under the third curtain on the right we went. The trio finally let me go. I spun out from the combined momentum, barely managing to right myself on a bedpost.

"Welcome home!" Illiad said, giving me one last push on the shoulder. "This is our dorm."

"You don't have to say the obvious, Illi."

"Well, maybe she's never seen a dorm before!" Illi said indignantly.

"She's right, I haven't," I said, coming to her defense. She had called me her sister – and to me, that meant she as good as was.

The dorm was dominated by four tasteful, large four-poster beds with long curtains the same color as the one in the door. A large wardrobe sat by each bed, along with a bedside table. The far wall was all glass, looking out into the lake beyond. Several fish swam past, their scales reflecting the moonlight from outside. The time was magically superimposed at the top of the glass in a vibrant green.

Illi stuck her tongue out at Narcissa and Bellatrix before continuing as though she hadn't been interrupted. "We share our bathroom with the rest of the girls in the dorm. I know it might seem weird, but our bath is really big. That's where we go swimming. I'll show you how to do your laundry in the morning, too."

The other girls showed me a charm for cleaning teeth – Dentibus Abluo, all three remarking how much of a pain toothbrushes are during the break. I laughed with them. It really was much easier to do things by magic. It made me keen on my seventeenth birthday – if we ever figured out what my birthday was. Then we all turned our backs on one another and dressed for the night. I just wore another A-shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms.

We talked a bit longer, but soon the edges of my eyes began to burn. I muttered something and turned to the bed.

I struggled a moment with the hangings, keen on keeping the privacy I'd become accustomed to at home. At first, I left my wand on the bedside table. For some reason, it unnerved me to be without my wand even for a moment in this unfamiliar place. My hand snaked out soon after, curling around the vine wood and pulling it under my pillow. Much more secure, I nestled my head into the pillow, my body into the cool satin silver sheets, and fell asleep.

The Great Hall was lit up for the welcoming feast beautifully. I made my way down the center of the aisle, alone. Scorpius wasn't with me. The faces around me were scrubbed out, as though someone had placed a multifaceted bowl over each one. I was speaking to a stranger beside me.

"Hermione Granger?" asked the woman. With a start, I realized that I had moved forward without thinking. My feet carried me all the way up to the stool. I opened my mouth to protest, to tell the woman that I most certainly was not Hermione Granger. Before I could do anything of the sort, however, my traitorous body had sat down and the Hat plunked down on my head.

"Hmm... my dear, I believe that you are going to be difficult. Plenty of smarts in that brain of yours, perfect for Ravenclaw, but your personality... it's most becoming of a Gryffindor."

"But I'm not either," I protested aloud in spite of that. "I'm a Slytherin. You've already Sorted me and my brother both."

"My dear, you show very little inclination toward Slytherin. You are Muggle-born, after all. Snape would have my brim for a biscuit if I put a Muggle-born in Slytherin."

"What does Severus have to do with any of this? And I am not Muggle-born, I am half-blood."

The Hat chortled lightly. "Miss Granger – "

"My name is Hecate Taylor, thank you."

"Whatever your name is, I cannot place you in Slytherin House."

"Miss Granger, whatever is the matter with you?" asked the woman who had placed the Hat on my head. "You would rather subject yourself to Snape than be in my House? Or Filius'?"

"I am not Hermione Granger any longer, Professor McGonagall," I said with venom as I stood. I placed the Hat into her outstretched hands and strode from the Hall.

I woke with a timorous gasp. The dream was so real, the boy's lips so soft and warm. Who was he? I racked my brain, trying to re-emerge the memories that had opened up subconsciously. Nothing came back fully, just like the memory flash in Diagon Alley. I groaned in frustration.

The only thing that remained was that I had recalled the name. A name. It was rather large, and fuzzy in my mind. Still, like trying to put yarn through a regular sewing needle, it was impossible. Her... Her... something. I sighed and sat up. Through the cracks in my hangings, I could see the time – 5:55.

Everyone would be waking up in only five minutes time. I sighed heavily once again and began pulling a new set of robes out for the day. Illi, Bellatrix, and Narcissa all stirred five minutes later, sleepily doing the same.

"C'mon," Illi said, grasping my elbow after grabbing just knickers, a bra, her skirt, and her shirt. "I'll show you how to do laundry. Grab something that's dirty."

Obediently, I placed my school shirt from yesterday on the pile of clean clothes. Illi led the way down the hall. Little Ali and the other two female first-years came out of their curtain. I took a moment to study the little girl. I hadn't really had the chance to do so in the light of day.

Her hair wasn't blond, precisely, but rather a very pale reddish color that reminded me of strawberries and cream. Her cheeks were so pale they glowed even in the dim light of the hall. Her eyes were a washed-out looking green, and right at that moment they were smiling shyly up at me.

"Good morning, Ali," I said.

"Morning, Heck," she said, grinning. "These are my dorm mates, Bejeweled Zabini and Kiticalus Horntail. But she likes Kiti instead."

Bejeweled was a tall girl for her age and had sumptuous chocolate skin and beautiful slanted eyes that glittered with flecks of gold amongst honey. Kiti looked much like her nickname's sake: tiny, kittenish, and playful. Her hair was a wildly-curling combination of pale pink, white blond, and strands the color of freshly-cut blood. Eyes the color of molten silver graced her wide eyes, and her cupid's bow lips were the same color as the pink portion of her hair. My mind supplied it before I even got a chance to take her in: Metamorphmagus.

"It's nice to meet you," I said, smiling at the two girls.

Illi touched my shoulder. "Well, come on, then, Ali, Kiti, Bejeweled. I was about to show Hecate how to do laundry, so you can watch her, too."

Kiti and Bejeweled made almost identical looks of distaste on their faces, to which Illi just laughed. "Well, if you really don't want to have clean clothes this term..."

That hustled all four of us into the back curtain. What met my eyes was entirely outside of what I had expected.

When Illi had mentioned that our baths doubled as our swimming pool, I hadn't thought it would be quite so... large. The room itself was roughly half the size of the Great Hall, with the low ceiling I was now used to seeing from the Slytherin common room. However, it was made of glass, showing off a disconcerting view of the underside of the lake.

At the center of the room was a literal lake, right there underneath the real one overhead. Huge granite boulders bordered the clear, steaming blue water. Alcoves, big enough for two or three, sunk down by some of the boulders, six-foot waterfalls flowing into them. I noticed that there were several types of soap sitting on a shelf inside the nearest one. Illi gestured toward some swimming sixth- and seventh-year girls, whom were all nude. Some had large breasts, others smaller, and some had broad hips, and others narrow. None, however, had large waists.

"All right, then, come on over here," Illi said, pointing to another area of the room. This particular corner had a table, a large hole at one end of it. "Put your shirt in the hole, Heck."

I did as told, and to a squeal of delight from the three first-years, it reappeared folded neatly on the table beside the hole. I grinned indulgently at Ali. "Now that's convenient."

"It'll do that for anything," Illi said. "Come along, girls."

Illi led the way over to yet another corner where several clothes sat on more tables by a long series of toilet stalls. I set my clean clothes down there. Somehow nervous, I sent my gaze back toward Illi. She was stripping.

Ali, Kiti, and Bejeweled all exchanged glances. Then, slowly, Bejeweled tugged at her black camisole, revealing barely-formed breasts. Ali, Kiti, and I followed Illi and Bejeweled's movements. Nonchalant, Illi shimmied into one of the alcoves. Kiti and Bejeweled followed her.

"Come on, Ali," I said. "We'll find our own."

She grinned and took my hand. Together, we stood under one of the granite waterfalls, luxuriating in the experience of rough water pounding on our heads. Now I understood why Buddhist monks did this – it truly felt as though I were cleansing all of my soul. Ali drew me out from under the water and offered up a bit of cloth and soap shyly. I studied her body surreptitiously while I soaped myself. She was adorably shy in many regards and painfully so in others. Her body had yet to start developing her breasts. She was definitely a late-bloomer.

"Don't forget behind your ears," I said, tapping her slight nose. "Or I'll do it for you."

She laughed and obeyed after another moment. We finished washing and clambered up the stones and into the pool. Illi, Narcissa, and Bellatrix were taking laps on the far edge of the pool. They looked so somber, as though this were a serious part of their daily routine. Recalling the way the waterfall had made me feel, I could see why.

"Can you swim?" Ali asked.

I grinned at her. "Nope. How about you teach me?"

Her pretty little face lit up in both embarrassment and pleasure. "Sure. Um... just... get in the water, first."

I must have learned to swim before because I caught on rather quickly. Ali clapped her hands in pure joy at having known something to teach me. I didn't disabuse her the notion that she'd been summarily helpful. There was precious little she was proud of.

Unfortunately for every student in the school – in my opinion – it was a Sunday. The nervous excitement of my first lesson the next morning made my knees bounce, and I unconsciously chewed on my lower lip for the rest of the day.

Lucius and Illi seemed to have taken me personally under their wings. They spent the entire day teaching me about pureblood manners at the table and in various other social situations. By the time dinner was winding down, my head was spinning.

"Why do the tines have to point down?" I asked, flipping the fork over for the umpteenth time.

"Pointing them up is American," Illi said, not answering my question at all.

"And that's bad?" I asked, spearing a tiny bit of my steak. Before, I'd always just cut it all up and be done with it. Pureblood table manners dictated (literally) that I had to knife each and every piece off separately. Knife in right hand, fork in left. I wanted to grind my teeth. Had I known all this before? Learning a lifetime of information was increasingly getting on my nerves.

That night, I had another dream.

I sat in the Gryffindor common room, entirely shocked to be there at all. A red-haired boy – was it the same one? – sat beside me, and a black-haired boy who looked much like James Potter sat on the other side. Both had their hands on my shoulders in sympathetic comfort.

"We love you, Hermione."

The dream slipped away with my Muggle alarm clock's raucous ringing. I seized hold of the final parting words of the two unknowable boys. My name. My name is Hermione. I held fast to it, repeating the information again and again in my mind. I pulled out a piece of parchment quickly, as I could feel it leeching away with the rest.

Hecate Hermione Taylor.

It wasn't an answer, entirely, but it was enough.