7. Doppelganger

Author's Note: Thanks once again for all of the reviews. I heart each and every one of you! Keep the cake/cupcakes/other assorted goodies coming. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the idea behind Harry Potter, nor do I own any of the characters. I do own the books, though. They take up quite a bit of room on my bookshelf.

The girl began to pace back and forth, much like she had done the night before. "This is going to sound silly and farfetched, and you probably aren't going to believe a word I say, but I had all night while you slept to think of how I was going to explain this so…"

She took a deep breath and began her story.

"I'm Hermione Granger," she said slowly. "I'm just…not the Hermione Granger you think I am. Does that make any sense?"

Draco just stared blankly at her.

"Of course it doesn't make any sense," she mumbled. "Oh gosh, how can I explain this? I'm…not from this world."

"Not from this world?" Draco said incredulously. He shook his head. "You're right, I don't believe you. So tell me who you really are, and what kind of spell you are using to make yourself…appear this way."

"No, just listen!" she exclaimed. Her pacing became faster before she finally stopped and took a seat in one of the chairs. "There was a spell involved, but not the kind of spell you are thinking of. Look, I know this must seem kind of weird and a bit…impossible to you – seeing me here and all, but…I really am not from this world. I've just sort of…jumped planes, I guess you could say."

"Jumped planes?" Draco snorted. He rubbed his temples, trying to soothe the searing pain that was suddenly shooting through his head. "So you're telling me that you're Hermione Granger…from a alternate universe? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes!" Hermione said excitedly, jumping out of her seat. "That's exactly what I'm saying! You do understand!"

"Oh, I understand perfectly fine," Draco mumbled. He began to chuckle. "I understand that I am going fucking insane. I mean, the dreams were bad enough, but at least then I had an excuse to be seeing you. At least then I could say I had no control over whether or not you appeared to me. But now I've managed to concoct some fucking ridiculous alternate version of you in my head and I'm seeing you when I'm awake? Yes, I understand - I need help."

Hermione's smile quickly faded. "You don't believe me. I can't say as if I blame you, but why are you so hell-bent on convincing yourself that I'm just a figment of your imagination?"

Draco buried his face in his hands. He thought maybe if he closed his eyes and concentrated long enough, when he opened his eyes again, she'd be gone. But when he opened them back up, she was still there – this imposter Hermione. In fact, she was kneeling right in front of him, staring up at him with Hermione's signature big brown eyes.

Reaching out, she placed her hand on his arm. "Can figments of your imagination touch you, and can you feel them when they do?" she asked softly.

As he stared into her eyes, Draco was overcome with a sudden rush of emotions – confusion, sadness and excitement. No dream had ever felt this real before, and no figment of his imagination could ever be this accurate. The girl kneeling before him was real – he could see her, feel her and smell her – she smelled like vanilla and strawberries. Draco's breath hitched in his throat. "How is this possible?"

Slowly, Hermione began to smile again. She sat atop the table in front of him and stared down at her hands. "Honestly? I don't quite know, myself. This is all a bit weird for me too, you know? I mean, I knew what I was doing with that spell, but…I wasn't expecting this." She motioned around the room with her hands.

Draco sat back on the couch. He shook his head slightly, asking himself why he was humoring this girl. But suddenly, he wanted to know everything. So he asked, "What do you mean, you weren't expecting this?"

Hermione shrugged. "Well, so far, this world appears to be practically identical to my own. Of course, I'm only basing this fact on you and this room – you're both identical in my world. But still…I wasn't expecting on landing in a world so similar to my own. And at first, I thought I hadn't landed anywhere at all. When I got here, I thought I was still in my old world, and that the spell had failed. That's why I probably seemed so strange to you last night."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "If what you are telling me is true…why are you here?"

Hermione sighed. She stood up and began to walk slowly around the room. "I couldn't stay in my world."

"Why not?"

"It's a long story," she replied.

"And I've got all day to hear it," Draco said.

Hermione hesitated for a moment, and then said, "It was either leave my world, or die. I chose the first option."

"That was a fairly short story."

"Yes, well…it's the only story I really care to give right now. I promise I will tell you more later."

"You're right," Draco said, "you will. You will tell both me and Dumbledore."

Hermione's eyes widened a bit. "Dumbledore," she said pleasantly. "I sure hope he's the same Dumbledore from my world."

"Ancient? All-knowing? Intrusive? Shaggy?"

Hermione smiled. "Wise. Caring. Soft-spoken. Friendly."

Draco sneered. "Sounds identical. We can go see him now if you'd like…"

"No, not yet," Hermione said, shaking her head. "I'm not ready yet. I just need a little time to adjust here. I need to clear my mind first. Traveling to an alternate dimension is taxing, you know?" She gave him a weak grin.

No, he didn't know. He didn't know what traveling to another universe was like. Up until just a few minutes ago, he hadn't even been positive that plane jumping was even possible. Yet, the girl in front of him had clearly succeeded in doing just that. As much as he didn't want to believe her, he felt he had no other choice. It was either believe she was from an alternate universe, or believe he was going completely insane. He liked the first choice better.

"So…where is her bedroom?" Hermione asked.

"In the same spot it is in your world, I imagine," Draco replied. When Hermione began glanced around the room in search of it, Draco added, "It's over there," and pointed to the door.

"Thanks," she said. "If you don't mind, I think maybe I'll go -"

She was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Fuck," Draco groaned. Standing up, he said, "Go in the bedroom and stay there. Do not come out until I tell you it's safe to, alright?"

Hermione nodded. She hurried over to the bedroom and disappeared behind the door. Once she was out of sight, Draco made his way over to the portrait hole. He wondered who would be coming to visit so early on a Saturday morning. He figured it probably wasn't Pansy – she liked to sleep in on the weekends. It was most likely Dumbledore, coming to lecture him again. Deep down, he almost hoped it was Dumbledore. The old man could most likely help him with his little alternate dimension Hermione problem.

Draco opened the portrait hole, but who stood on the other end was not the person he was hoping it would be. In fact, it was the two people he least wanted to deal with at the moment: Ronald Weasley…and Harry Potter.

Bloody hell.

Once the realization had sunk in that he could possibly have more-than-animosity feelings toward Hermione, Draco set out to make damn sure those feelings went away. So the first thing he did was make it a point to spend more quality time with Pansy. The second thing he did was make it a point to spend less quality time with Hermione. He avoided being in the same room as her when they were in their living quarters at the same time – for instance, every morning he would listen carefully at his bedroom door for the sound of the portrait hole closing. That was usually a safe time for him to come out. Sure, he'd have to then rush around quickly to get ready for classes, but it was worth it.

However, one place Draco could not avoid Hermione was class – specifically, on this particular day, Transfiguration class.

He was minding his own business, paying no attention to what Professor McGonagall was talking about in front of the class, when he suddenly got the bright idea to ask Pansy to the Yule Ball. There was little doubt that she had been hoping that he would ask her, but he had kept putting it off for unknown reasons. But now, there was no time like the present, so he wrote her a note saying, Will you accompany me to the Yule Ball? and floated it on over to her when McGonagall's back was turned to the class.

Seconds later, he heard a squeal coming from the back of the class. Draco turned around to see Pansy grinning from ear to ear. When their eyes met, she emphatically nodded her head.

McGonagall stopped talking and spun around. "Miss Parkinson," she said in a low voice, "is there a problem?"

Pansy's grin subsided only slightly as she shook her head and said, "No, Professor. I just…thought I saw a spider, that's all."

Draco smirked, as McGonagall seemed to accept Pansy's answer and continued on with her lesson. He winked at Pansy and turned back around in his seat. As he did so, his gaze met with Hermione's and his smirk immediately vanished.

She gave him a curious look, complete with a slight frown. Draco shrugged as if to say he had no idea what was up with Pansy, and she turned her attention back to McGonagall. But Draco's gaze lingered on Hermione for a moment, silently willing her to look back at him again. For what exact reason, he did not know.

She never did glance back, though. Minutes later, the bell rang and she stood up and began to place her books back into her bag. Draco began to do the same. When he heard Pansy call out his name from the back of the room, he pretended not to hear her.

"Class dismissed," McGonagall said, even though half of the students were already gone. "Oh, Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy," she added, "may I please have a word with you both?"

Finally, Hermione glanced back at Draco. She had a puzzled look on her face, and once again Draco slightly shrugged. Both left their book bags on the their desks and followed McGonagall to the head of the classroom, where she took a seat at her desk.

"As I'm sure you are both well-aware," she said, looking up them over her spectacles, "the Yule Ball is coming up." When Draco and Hermione both nodded, she continued. "Well, I just wanted to give you fair warning that you two will be expected to…dance together."

"What?" Hermione exploded. Draco grimaced at the sound of disgust in her voice. He opened his mouth to complain as well, but McGonagall continued on.

"It is customary for the Head Boy and Girl to start off the Ball with a dance together. Don't worry; it's just one dance. We aren't expecting you to be each other's date. I just thought I would give you a heads up so that perhaps you can prepare. I assume you both know how to dance?"

Hermione shook her head. "But Professor…I can't…I mean…I wasn't planning on even going to the Yule Ball."

Draco's eyebrows shot up. He hadn't been aware of this news, and frankly he was shocked to hear it. Granger wasn't going to the Yule Ball?

"Miss Granger, I'm afraid this is Hogwarts tradition, you have to go -"

"With all due respect, Professor, I really do not want to go, and I'm not planning on it. Thank you very much."

It was McGonagall's turn to be shocked. "Miss Granger, I wasn't asking if you'd like to go to the Yule Ball. I was telling you that you are going. And that is final."

"But -"

"I do not want to hear it," McGonagall said, waving her hand dismissively. "You will at least show up for the dance with the Head Boy. After that, I do not care what you do. Stay, leave – it's up to you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Hermione opened her mouth as if to speak again, but quickly shut it. She must have figured it would be useless to argue. So instead, she marched over to her desk in a huff, grabbed her bag and headed for the door. Quickly, Draco followed at her heels and caught up with her just outside of the classroom.

"So I take it you don't have a date to the Yule Ball," he said, breaking into stride next to her.

Hermione glared at him and picked up her pace a bit. "Sod off, Malfoy. I'm not in the mood."

"Hey," he said defensively, "I wasn't trying to taunt you. I was merely making an educated guess. And I'm assuming it was a good guess."

"Well, congratulations. You guessed correctly. Now sod off. Please."

"Granger, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," Draco said, trying hard to ignore how relieved he felt to learn she was dateless. "And it's not as if the Yule Ball is tonight, or anything. There is still enough time for you to be asked by somebody."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Right," she said sarcastically. "There is still enough time for some – what was the term you used – unfortunate soul to ask me? Oh, the anticipation." She rolled her eyes. Draco grinned.

"Now it's my turn to make an educated guess," Hermione continued, obviously anxious to get the topic of conversation off herself. "You're taking Pansy to the Ball."

"Wow, you and I have got to be two of the best guessers in this school," Draco said.

"Mmhmm." Hermione smiled. "And let me take yet another guess and say that I'll bet you asked her via note-passing in Transfiguration today. Am I right?"

Draco smirked. "That you are, Granger. Tell me, how did you figure it out?"

"She seemed way too happy for somebody who had thought she had just seen a spider." Hermione chuckled. "That girl is easily excited, isn't she?"

Draco laughed. "Yeah, you'd be surprised at what kind of things make Pansy squeal."

Hermione's face turned a light shade of pink and suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

"Hmm…that sounded bad, didn't it?" Draco said with a chuckle.

"That it did, Malfoy," Hermione said, smiling slightly. She cleared her throat. "Well anyway, I told Ginny and Luna I'd meet up with them before lunch, so…I guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Hermione nodded and turned to go, but Draco stopped her. "Wait, Granger -"

"Hmm?" She spun back around to look at him.

He paused for a moment, and then said, "You, me, tonight, common room, dance practice."

Hermione smirked. "Fine. Whatever." With a slight wave, she continued on her way.

Draco mentally slapped himself. Well…so much for trying to distance himself from Hermione…

Later that evening, he arrived back to the common room soon after the feast to find Hermione already there, her nose buried in a book as usual. She probably couldn't wait for the dance recital, Draco thought with a smirk.

When Hermione failed to acknowledge his presence, he walked over to where she sat, cleared his throat and held his hand out to her.

"May I cut in?"

Hermione glanced up at him, amused. "I don't think so. My book gets jealous very easily."

"Tell your book that I have no intentions of stealing you away. I just want one dance."

Hermione arched an eyebrow. "Oh…you were serious about that?"

Draco scoffed. "Of course I was serious, Granger. I do not joke about dancing. Now get up and let's get this over with. You do know how to dance, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Hermione said, jumping up from the couch. "And I'll bet I know more than you do."

"Oh, you think so, do you?" Draco asked with a bit of challenge in his voice. With a wave of his wand, the table and chairs in the center of the room all moved over to the side, clearing off the floor. Placing a hand gently on her waist, he said, "Okay, then. Show me what you got."

For a split second, Draco could have sworn he saw Hermione blush and falter slightly as he made contact with her, but if she had, she was able to quickly regain her composure.

"Prepare to be amazed," she said, draping her arm casually over his shoulder, while grabbing his other hand with her own.

For a moment, they both stared down at their interlocking fingers. Draco began to feel nervous. Not because he was about to slow dance with Hermione, but because he realized he was touching a mudblood, and he wasn't completely disgusted by it. Quickly pushing that realization out of his head, he said, "I'll lead."

He took a small step forward and Hermione followed his lead by stepping backward. So far so good. They began to move slowly across the common room floor in a waltz. Granger hadn't lied – she actually knew what she was doing. This pleased him to no end - he had been worried that he would have to have to spend countless hours teaching her how to dance. He smiled as he let go of her waist, took a step back and with his left hand, he twirled her.

Hermione giggled as Draco reeled her back in and grabbed her waist again, pulling her close to him. Her giggle subsided as she stared up at him. Their sudden closeness was no doubt unnerving to both of them – especially to Draco who, if he didn't say something real soon, was afraid he might just lean down and kiss her.

"I thought you said you could dance, Granger," he said with a smirk. But there was no malice in his voice. In fact, his voice was a little too soft for his liking.

Hermione gave him a mischievous grin, missed a step, and then came down on his foot with her own – with a little too much force for it to have just been an accident. Draco groaned in pain.

"Oops," she said, feigning innocence. "I guess I lied."

Draco couldn't help but smile. At least the pain of her stepping on his foot managed to distract him from the fact he wanted to kiss her. "Maybe the problem is that we're dancing to complete silence."

"I can fix that," Hermione said. She began to hum softly.

Draco was immediately taken aback by the sound of her voice. He had never heard Granger sing or hum before. But now that he had, he never wanted her to stop. "What are you humming?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Hmm?" Hermione stopped humming and glanced up at him. "Oh, it's just a song my mother used to sing to me when I was a little girl. She would sing me to sleep every night, up until I came to Hogwarts." She smiled sadly. "I miss hearing her voice every night here when I go to bed. I'm such a baby. I just love that song so much."

"It's beautiful," Draco mumbled, referring more to the sound of her voice than to the actual song. Actually, he couldn't have cared less what song she was humming. She would have made anything sound beautiful.

Hermione blinked and once again missed a step - then she missed another. She shook her head and gave a bashful smile. "I really am no good at this."

"You're doing fine," Draco assured her. He tightened his grip around her waist.

He took another step forward, but this time, Hermione didn't step back, causing their bodies to close the small gap between them. The sudden contact made Draco's breath catch in his throat. He stared down at Hermione, who was glancing up at him with wide eyes and a look of bewilderment on her face.

"Granger," he murmered. His earlier urge to kiss her had suddenly returned full force, and he realized it was now or never. In the back of his mind, he knew it was a stupid idea, but he was no longer in control of his actions. Unhitching his hand from hers, he instead placed it gently under her chin, lifting her face up slightly. Slowly, he began to lean forward until –

A knock on the door broke them out of their trance. Immediately they jumped away from each other, putting a good couple of feet between them. They stood staring at each other with shocked expressions for a brief moment, until Hermione finally closed her eyes and said, "Harry."

"What?" The last name Draco had wanted to hear at that moment was Harry Potter.

"Harry – I told him to stop by tonight and we'd go over our Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment."

"Wonderful," Draco groaned. It was amazing how quickly Potter could ruin the mood. "I guess this means I'm out of here."

"No," Hermione said quickly. "You don't have to leave, we're just going to be studying -"

"Rules are rules, Granger. They are not made to be broken."

"They are if I say you can break them."

"That's sweet, Granger," Draco said, trying not to sound too sarcastic, "but I have a date with Pansy tonight, anyway."

"Oh," Hermione said, sounding a bit crestfallen.

"Yeah. Actually, I think I'm already late for that, so I'd better get going. Pansy gets kind of testy when I'm not on time."

Hermione nodded. "Okay, well, have fun."

"See you later," Draco mumbled. He wasted no time in turning around and leaving.

The portrait hole opened up to reveal Harry standing there with his mussed up hair and his stupid lightning bolt scar, with his schoolbooks in hand. The sight of him made Draco want to strangle him. Or at least slap some sense into him.

"Malfoy," Harry greeted him with a sneer.

"She's all yours, Potter," Draco said through clenched teeth. He pushed past Boy Wonder and kept walking, not looking back. He wasn't heading in any particular direction; he didn't really have a date with Pansy. If Hermione's guest had been anyone else – even Weasley – he might have stuck around. But he just couldn't take being in the same room as those two, watching Hermione ogle Potter with doe eyes.

Draco Malfoy had always hated Harry Potter, but at that moment, he hated him just a little bit more.

"Malfoy." Harry responded with a sneer of his own.

"What are you two doing here?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "We wanted to stop by for a cup of tea and great conversation. Why do you think we're here? Dumbledore sent us. And don't pretend like you have no idea what I'm talking about. He told me that he informed you that we would be stopping by."

"Yes, he did," Draco said, "but he didn't specify when. And frankly, Potter, right now is not a good time. So if you could come back later -"

"Bollocks," Harry mumbled. He brushed past Draco, with Ron close behind. "Now is a perfect time."

Draco began to panic. He couldn't have Potter and Weasley walking in to find Hermione there – not until he knew exactly what was going on himself. They would freak out and overreact and – who knows what else they would do.

"Potter," Draco said, following the two boys into the common room. "You can't just barge in here. This is my common room -"

"Yeah, well, it was Hermione's, too, and she would have let us barge in anytime we liked," Harry said, walking towards Hermione's bedroom.

"Well, Hermione's not here anymore, is she?"

Draco's words stopped Harry in his tracks. Immediately, Draco regretted having said that – he hadn't meant for it to sound so insensitive. But apparently, it did, and it pissed off both Harry and Ron.

"You sonofabitch," Ron mumbled, shaking his head disapprovingly.

Harry, meanwhile, had turned back around to face him. "No," he replied icily. "She isn't. Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to gather up her things."

"No," Draco protested as Harry reached for the handle of the door to Hermione's bedroom. He followed them over to the door and tried to block the entrance. "You can't go in there. You can't -"

Ignoring Draco, Harry reached around him and turned the knob. The door flew open. Draco tried his best to block them, but Harry managed to push him out of the way. He took only one step into the room before he froze.

Hermione, who apparently had been going through the clothes in the closet, spun around when she heard their voices. When she saw Harry and Ron, all of the color drained from her face and she dropped the shirt she had been hanging on to.

But her reaction was nothing compared to those of Harry and Ron, who both looked like they had just seen a ghost. Ron's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Harry, however, just stood there with a shocked expression on his face.

"Hermione," he whispered.

"Potter," Draco said cautiously, "this isn't what you think. She's not -"

Harry glared over at him. "What the hell did you do?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice.

Draco blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I said, what the hell did you do?" Harry's voice got louder with every word, until eventually he was shouting. "You brought her back? You sick bastard!"

It took a moment for it to sink in, but Draco finally began to realize that Harry was accusing him of bringing Hermione back from the dead. It was a preposterous accusation, and he wondered why Harry would even think Draco would care enough to try and resurrect Hermione from the grave. But he figured this was just the shock talking.

"Potter," Draco said slowly. "Just listen to me, okay? I will explain everything -"

"Ron, go get Dumbledore," Harry commanded, keeping his glare on Draco.

Ron did not move, nor did he show any indication that he'd even heard Harry speak to him. He just stood there, staring at the girl who looked just like his dead best friend.

"Ronald!" Harry snapped.

Finally, Ron broke out of his reverie and said, rather numbly, "Yes. Dumbledore. Okay." Slowly, he backed out of the room. Once he was out of the room, however, he broke into a run.

Harry finally removed his gaze from Draco and looked over to Hermione, who had backed herself up against the wall next to the closet and was holding herself tightly. Draco wondered why she suddenly looked so terrified.

"Hermione," Harry sputtered. He took a step closer to her, but she recoiled. He didn't even seem to notice, though. Draco could see tears beginning to form in the boy's eyes as he spoke. "Hermione, you're back. I-I can't believe you're really here. I've missed you so much," he sobbed.

Draco had been planning on telling Harry the truth right off – that the girl in front of him was not really his best friend…just a carbon copy of her. But Harry seemed to have forgotten that Draco was even in the room. And it's not as if he would have necessarily believed him, anyway.

But for the first time, Draco felt he could relate to Harry Potter. He could relate to the pain and anguish he saw in the boy's eyes, and he could sense the unadulterated joy he felt to have his best friend back. For some reason, Draco could not bring himself to take that joy away from him – no matter how much he hated him.

Draco would let Harry hold onto that hope for a moment longer. He glanced over at Hermione, who stared back at him with a pleading look that said, don't leave. But he was going to leave this one up to her. She would have to be the one to explain everything to Harry. So he returned her look with one that said, tell him. It was funny how they were already able to communicate without words.

Quietly, Draco turned around and headed out of the bedroom. Once he was safely in the comfort of his own common room, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Leaning up against the wall, he slowly slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. While the Hermione doppelganger was hopefully clearing everything up in the other room, Draco was going to sit here quietly, waiting for Dumbledore's arrival.

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