little miss perfect ; hermoine granger

chapter 24

I pushed open the door, but not all the way, and peeked into the room. There was a massive table in the middle, with people filling every seat but one. I looked around, only to see... Draco Malfoy? What was he doing here? Where even was here? I saw his mother and father sitting next to him, and Bellatrix Lestrange next to them. She was psychotic. She killed Sirius in cold blood, and I know if she saw that I was standing here, she wouldn't hesitate to do the same to me. Then, I looked to the head of the table, and saw that Voldemort was sitting there, with a huge snake slithering around the floor. 

I tried to leave the room and shut the door, but it creaked loudly and suddenly everyone who was sitting at the table turned to look at me. I made eye contact with Draco, who looked scared, as I turned and started to sprint away. I could already hear people getting up from the table to chase after me, but I didn't look back. I ran down the dark hallways, not knowing where I was going, just determined to get away. These must be the death eaters. The people who loyally served the dark lord. I knew that Draco's father was a death eater, but I never thought that Draco would become one of them.

I tripped on a carpet that was in the middle of the floor, and fell onto my knees. I quickly got up, and started to run again, but was losing my momentum. The men behind me were gaining too much speed on me, they'd catch me soon. I tried to turn a corner to get away, but then I felt a pair of hands grab my waist.

 This has to be a dream, right? There's no way that I could actually be wherever this is. But the hands picked me up violently, and threw me over their shoulder. I kicked and screamed and tried my hardest to get away, but it was no use. I was carried back into the room with the table, and everyone still sat there. But instead of being thrown onto the floor, or killed the second I got in there, I was set in a chair, at the opposite side of the table from the dark lord. I was breathing heavily, from just having to run so much, and I had tears streaming down my face. Were they going to kill me? "Hello, Ana. Nice to finally see you again." The dark lord told me in his bone chilling voice.

"I apologize for the way we last met, it was quite rude of me to hit you like that, we had planned things very differently." What? I know that he was the one who hit me, but how would the dream version of him understand? How would he know? "What do you mean, differently?" I asked, with a scowl on my face. "Well, we were going to bring you here. We had to change our ways a little, but with the help of our dear Draco, you're here now." He said, giving me a creepy smile.

"Draco, what does he mean? What does he mean?!" I raised my voice while saying that, practically yelling. What did he do? Draco didn't say anything, instead he looked at me, with that terrified look still plastered to his face. "Why am I here? Are you going to kill me?" I turned to Voldemort and asked. He stared at me for a second, and then started to laugh, with all of the other people at the table joining in, Bellatrix's laugh was the loudest. Then, I heard one that I'd recognize anywhere. Snape. "Professor, what are we doing here? What's going on, please tell me!" I practically begged him. He opened his mouth to talk to me, but then was cut off. "Let me explain, my dear." I heard the dark lord say, as tears were streaming down my face.

"You're smart. Very smart. I thought you'd realize by now." He told me, as I sat there, scared for my life. "Realize what?" I asked meekly. "You, Ana, are the only descendant of the great dark lord." He said, and my eyes opened in shock. "No. You're wrong!" I yelled at him through my tears. "No, my daughter. I've been looking for you for quite a long while. Your mother hasn't told you about me, I assume?" He asked, but I couldn't answer. "Oh my god, oh my god." I kept repeating, not even knowing if I was saying it out loud or in my head. This can't be happening. This has to be a dream. Please let this be a dream. Please. 

"Don't you think she seems a little, ungreatful, my lord? I could fix that up in a second for you!" Bellatrix shouted antagonizingly, but the dark lord hit her with some sort of spell I've never heard before, and sent her flying across the room. "You seem overwhelmed, daughter. I'll give you some time to think, but we'll be seeing each other again, very soon." He told me, as some men got up from the table, and started to walk towards me.

Remembering that I wasn't bound to the chair I was in, I stood up and tried to run out the door again, but then was grabbed by one of the men, who cast a spell on me that I couldn't hear because I was so terrified, and everything went black.

I woke up with a gasp, immediately looking around rapidly, only to realize that I was in my dorm room again, in my bed. I ran my hand through my hair, and looked out the window. It was still dark out. I picked up a glass of water, and drank a little, because my throat was sore. Then, I heard a knock on my door. "Um, come in." I said, still confused on how that dream felt so real. The door opened, but no one was there. Then, I realized that someone was using the invisibility cloak. It fell to the floor, revealing Hermoine, Ron and Harry, who all looked concerned. "Where the bloody hell were you all day? Are you sick or something?" Ron asked me. What does he mean? I went to all my classes yesterday.

"And what happened to your head? Are you alright? Did someone attack you again?" Hermoine said, sitting on my bed and brushing my hair back, to look at something that was on my head. "What do you mean? I went to all my classes. And my head's fine now, remember? It healed a couple of days ago." I told them, but they still had the same looks on their faces. "No, it looks...burnt, almost." Harry said, coming closer to look at the wound that was apparently on my head. "What are you talking about? You didn't come to anything today. All the professors were wondering where you were." Ron said, as I pushed them all away to stand up and go look in the mirror.

There was something on my head, just like they had told me. It looked like a burn, but how could it have got there? Wait... "What day is it today?" I asked them, turning around to face them. "It's the 27th of November. Are you okay, Ana?" Hermoine asked again. Oh god. I went to sleep on the night of the 26th, and now it was the night of the 27th. What if it wasn't a dream? What if it was real? What if i'm... I can't even think about it. But what else could've happened? I was missing for a day, and the mark on my head was just where the man put his wand on me to put me to sleep.

I dropped the glass of water I was holding, the pieces of it shattering all over the floor. "Merlin!" I heard Ron yell, but I didn't care. I had to go. "Oh god. I have to find him." I said, quickly walking towards the door, until a hand grabbed me to pull me back. It was Hermoine's. "Ana! What are you doing? What's wrong? Who are you talking about?" Her face looked very concerned, and so did the guys' behind her. 

I looked at her wordlessly, pulled my hand away, and ran towards the boys dorms.