8. Lucky

Author's Note: Argh, 'twas a pain uploading this chapter. Fanfic would not accept my .doc document. I was about to give up on the whole story when I decided to just try copy-and-pasting the story into Notepad and saving as a .txt document, and guess what? I was able to upload! Yay! Okay, so...this chapter is shorter than the rest, because there is no flashback. There will be more flashbacks in the future - I thought maybe I should just use this chapter to explain a couple of things about the new Hermione, and that's all. Thank you to everyone who read my last chapter, and who liked it...even if they weren't so crazy about new!Hermione. ;)

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. It never was, and it never will be.

The old man caressed his lengthy beard as he stared at the familiar-looking girl sitting in front of him. His eyes twinkled, and a small smile played at his lips. He glanced over first at Draco, then over at Harry and Ron and said matter-of-factly, "This is not Hermione Granger."

Looking confused, Ron said, "Huh? But she looks just like Hermione, sir."

Professor Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed she does, Mr. Weasley. What I meant to say is that she is not the Hermione Granger you knew and loved. She has not, as you put it, been brought back from the dead."

"I don't get it," Ron said, shaking his head.

"I do," Harry said softly. Everyone's eyes turned to him. "She's -"

"From a different world," Dumbledore finished for him. "Remarkable. Truly remarkable."

Draco glanced curiously at the old man. Once again, he had managed to figure everything out. Hermione was giving the man a similar look.

"I've known witches and wizards who have traveled to other dimensions, but I've never met one so young," Dumbledore continued. "How did you do it, Miss Granger?"

Hermione looked uncomfortable as everyone in the room turned their attention to her. "A-a spell. It was a spell."

"Hmm," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "And what, exactly, brings you to our world?"

"I…" Hermione's voice trailed off. She seemed unsure of what to say, or how to say it. "Well, I didn't know I would end up here. The spell – it wasn't exact. I mean, I wasn't able to pinpoint exactly where I would end up traveling to. For all I knew, I could have ended up on a deserted world, or a world run by giants. I really had no way of knowing."

Dumbledore shook his head. "What reason would a young woman have to take such a risk?"

Hermione lowered her head. "I…I was marked for death."

Draco's eyes widened a bit. She hadn't told him that. Why hadn't she told him that when he had asked her why she left her own world?

"I've been running from Death Eaters for months now. They seem determined to kill me. So determined, in fact, that I had to leave my world, or let them get me. Call me crazy, but I chose the first option. Even if I had landed in a horrible world, it wouldn't be as bad as what the Death Eaters had planned for me."

Ron, whose mouth had been agape so far during the entire conversation, said, "Why do they want to kill you?"

Hermione snorted. "Because I'm close friends with Harry Potter."

Draco's breath caught in his throat. He glanced over at Harry, whose face now donned a pained expression.

The room fell silent for a moment, as if everyone was slowly registering the girl's story. Finally, Hermione spoke up again.

"They – the Death Eaters – targeted me because I'm close with Harry. They figured that I would be the perfect way for them to get to him. They figured if they killed me, it would ruin him. They figured he would become weak, making him easier to manipulate, I suppose."

"How do you know they are after you?" Harry asked. "I didn't know that Death Eaters normally gave their victims a warning before attacking them."

Hermione stared down at the floor, then slowly lifted her hand to the neckline of her shirt and pulled down on it a bit, revealing a nasty scar located a couple of inches below her collarbone – close to where her heart was. Draco quickly looked away. This girl may not have been the same Hermione he had known, but she looked just like her, and seeing that scar brought back way too many bad memories.

"I guess you could say that was my warning," she said quietly, releasing her shirt and smoothing it back out. "That's my souvenir from the first time they tried to kill me."

"How did you get away from them?" Ron whispered. Clearly, this was affecting him just as much as it was Draco.

Hermione glanced up. "Professor Dumbledore saved me." She looked over to the old man and smiled as a tear trailed down the side of her face. "He happened to stumble upon us as the Death Eaters were attacking me, and he saved my life. After that, he gave me some protective charms to ward off any future attacks, but…but they found ways around the protective spells, and they kept trying to hurt me. They even came after my parents. Can you believe that? They went to a muggle neighborhood to kill my parents."

"And…did they?" Ron asked tentatively. He seemed to be the only one out of all of them who was able to speak at all.

"Luckily, no," Hermione replied. "But they burned their house – my house – down. Fortunately, my parents were not home at the time, but we lost everything. It was after that that I began to realize that it was no longer about Harry Potter. These Death Eaters, they couldn't accept the fact that I had been saved from them, and they were determined to finish what they had started. They no longer wanted me dead because of Harry – they just wanted me dead." She paused for a moment and said, "So that's why I came here. That's why I left my world. They would have kept coming after me…after my friends and family. I had to leave."

Draco watched as tears fell from Hermione's eyes and he fought the sudden urge to hold her – tell her everything was going to be all right. She looked heartbroken and scared, and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to help her.

"That is unfortunate," Dumbledore said. "Well, rest assured that for the time being, you will be safe here. Is there anyway your spell can be tracked?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, sir. I took extra precautions. There is no way anyone could track me to this world. Unfortunately, though…I have no way of finding my way back home. That was the only way I could assure I'd be safe wherever I ended up."

Dumbledore nodded. "I suspected as much." Slowly, he stood up from the chair. "I think it best that you remain within these living quarters for the remainder of the weekend. It would be better that nobody, save everyone in this room, finds out about this for the time being. Of course, I will be notifying the staff as well. On Monday, I will address the students during the breakfast feast." He stopped and turned to look at Draco, Harry and Ron. "I suspect you all can keep a secret?"

The three boys nodded.

"Very well, then. Miss Granger, welcome to our world."

"Thank you, sir," she said politely.

The old man gave her a pleasant smile, then proceeded to give one to the three boys as well. "See you all on Monday." And with that, he left.

Another awkward silence filled the room at once. It looked as though Ron had finally run out of things to say, and it appeared as though Harry wanted to say so many things but couldn't choose which one to go with. So finally, he went with, "I-I have to go."

Ron blinked. "What? Harry, but – Hermione is -"

"Ron, you can stay if you'd like, but I just…I can't be here right now."

"How about you both leave?" Draco said, trying to sound as rude as possible. "I'm sure Granger here would like some time alone to rest. She's had quite an exciting day. So if you'd both be so kind as to let yourselves out, I would appreciate it."

Ron glared at him, but Harry just stared at the floor.

"Fine," Ron said. "We'll be back later, you can count on that." He turned to Hermione and stuck out his hand. "Hermione, it was a pleasure to…meet you?"

Hermione smiled slightly and shook his hand. "Likewise."

Ron placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "C'mon, Harry."

Harry nodded and glanced up at Hermione one more time before following Ron out of the common room.

After they were gone, Hermione gave what Draco thought sounded a lot like a sigh of relief. "I think Harry hates me," she said, looking somewhat amused.

"Hates you?" Draco said. "Nah, I don't think he hates you. I'd say he's a little weirded out by you. But that is certainly understandable."

Hermione's eyes flickered over to Draco. "Are you weirded out by me?"

"Honestly?" Draco said. "Yes, I am."

"Oh," Hermione said, lowering her eyes.

Draco crossed his arms over his chest. "Does it bother you that Potter has reacted this way?"

Hermione shrugged. "Should it?"

"Well, I don't know. I guess it all depends on how close you were to him in your world." Draco paused and narrowed his eyes. "Oh, please don't tell me you two were…close." He said the last word suggestively.

For a brief moment Hermione stared blankly at him, but then quickly burst out laughing. "Me? And Harry Potter? Close like that? Oh, no, no, no. Heaven's, no. Why? Were they…close here?"

The question hit a nerve, but Draco was able to hide it. "No, they were just friends. But…I don't know. I think Granger had a slight thing for Potter." Ha, he thought to himself, that's an understatement.

"Ahh, well not in my world. Harry and I were strictly just friends – nothing more, nothing less."

"Well then – you've found at least one thing that's different from your world."

Hermione smiled. "I guess I have."

Draco cleared his throat. "Well," he said, getting up from his chair. "You really should get some rest. Feel free to sleep on the couch."

Hermione frowned slightly. "The couch? I was thinking maybe I could sleep in Hermione's room."

He'd been hoping she wouldn't suggest that. The truth was, he couldn't stand the thought of anyone sleeping in that room. Hermione's bedroom had remained pretty much untouched since the day she died - except for the few times he had gone in there - and he wanted it to stay that way. However, Dumbledore would be appointing a new Head Girl pretty soon anyway, and that girl would be moving in with all of her belongings, and the last bit of Hermione's memory would be shipped away to her parents forever. Since it was impossible for Hermione's room to stay untouched forever, he figured who better to stay in that room than Hermione's parallel universe twin?

"Yeah, sure," he mumbled. "Make yourself at home."

Hermione yawned. "Thank you so much for this. I mean, thank you for not being so weirded out by me that you banished me from the building or something." She paused and then said, "You know, for the first time in a long time, I feel safe."

"Good," Draco said. "I'm glad. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll be heading out for a while, let you get some rest. You think you'll be okay here by yourself?"

Hermione nodded. "Sure."

"Okay, then," Draco said, avoiding her gaze. Suddenly, he felt what Harry must have been feeling a few minutes ago. The emotions of seeing Hermione alive and well – even though it wasn't really her – were just too overwhelming. He needed some time to process everything. He needed time to clear his head.

"I'll be back later," he mumbled as he headed for the portrait hole.

"Wait, Malfoy?" she called after him. "Before you go, I was just curious…how did I…I mean, how did she die?"

The question stopped him in his tracks. He stood there for a moment, his back toward her, and closed his eyes. He knew she'd be asking that question sooner or later, but he had hoped she would ask later, and the she would ask someone else. He preferred not to think about how she died, and he tried very hard everyday to push it out of his mind whenever it managed to find its way in.

After a long pause, he said softly, "She was killed." He turned around to face her. "By a Death Eater. Because she was close with Harry Potter."

Hermione's eyes widened slightly. "Oh," she said quietly.

"Yeah, so…I suspect that's why Dumbledore was quick to say you could stay here for now. Obviously, your story has hit close to home for everyone. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Dumbledore views this as some sort of a second chance for him. Like…I don't know. He was unable to save Hermione. So now he can at least try and save you."

Hermione gave a weak smile. "Lucky me."

"Yeah," Draco muttered. "Lucky you."

He couldn't help but feel like this was just a bit unfair. This girl would have people protecting her here. Hell – she'd even had them protecting her in her old world. Where was their Hermione's protection when she'd needed it? Why hadn't their Hermione's life been saved? Suddenly, he found himself glaring at the girl in front of him.

"Do not leave these living quarters," he snapped. "Do not answer the door under any circumstances, do you understand?"

Hermione nodded. She either had not picked up on the anger in his voice, or she had chosen to ignore it. "Where are you going?"

"I told you. I just…I need to get out for a while. I won't be gone too long."

"Okay," she said quietly. "I'll see you later then, I guess?"

Draco did not acknowledge her before leaving. He just grabbed his jacket and his green-and-silver-striped scarf and rushed out of the portrait hole as quickly as possible. The second he set foot out into the hallway, he let out a sob - but only one. That was all he would allow himself. Quickly, he regained his composure and put on his signature expression of arrogance and indifference. He ignored the knight in the portrait that guarded his common room, who asked if he was all right, and continued down the hallway.

Seeing this girl who looked like Hermione was too much for him to handle right now. It brought back too many memories, and it stirred up too many conflicting emotions inside of him. He would deal with the whole situation later. But for right now, all he wanted was to forget it all.