New story. I never say no to inspiration. (Or a writing spell)

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"That stupid cat is scaring Pig."

"Hush you," Hermione said, scooping up Crookshanks and muffling his ears so he wouldn't hear the insult. "You're hurting his feelings."

Ron snorted and followed Harry into Quality Quidditch Supplies, leaving Hermione to stare after them. Crookshanks meowed under her chin, and scraped a claw on her sweater to avoid being neglected. Mind made up, Hermione resolutely turned on her heels and walked to somewhere they both could be appreciated.

"You'd like to be pampered, won't you?" she crooned, stopping outside the small shop. It had opened recently, and yet to attract the money-spinners the other, more established shops attracted. But it was something new she was willing to try, and hoped Crookshanks wouldn't mind.

"Who goes there?" someone barked. A Thai lady emerged from the back storeroom.

"Only me," she squeaked and added "With Crookshanks" as an after-thought. Crookshanks hid his head under her collar, which was unusally shy of him. She looked around and wondered why there was so many pictures of cats derrieres. Did this lady have a fetish?

"Hello Only me," the thai lady reached out to shake her hand. "I'm Helena, can the both of you follow me?"

"Uh, It's actually Hermione," she said, starting to follow her peculiar host. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Helena."

"Yes, yes," The woman was impatient to get formalities out of the way. "Can you pop that little delicacy on the mat? I need to do an examination first."

"Examination?" Hermione brightened up. "I always love an examination."

"Not for you," both of them turned to look at Crookshanks. "I mean the cat."

Even here, the curious trend of hanging pictures of cats derrieres continued. There was all sorts of cats- siamese, and Persian. Big fat ginger messes and streamlined black panthers- but each picture was coquettish and slightly voyeristic. She felt like she was intruding on something intimate, as the cats meowed and moved in their frame.

Crookshanks looked green as the examination begun. She willed him not to fail, because she couldn't do the test for him. Hermione watched as Helena shone her wand into nooks and crannies, and even used the wand to prod Crookshanks bottom. Crookshanks was having none of that. Finally abandoning his last bit of patience, the cat hissed and spun on the witch, raking his claws down her arm.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione cried, appalled. "She's trying to help you."

The cat jumped of the mat, and strutted out of the room, tail held high. Hermione shot an apologetic look at the lady, and followed her cat. She should've known better than throw a surprise at her pet. Crookshanks didn't really like new things, and getting a wand up the bottom was one of them. Feeling contrite, she hurried after the cat, barely keeping up as it slunk from corner to corner.

She kept trying to reason with it.

"I shouldn't have brought you there. I'm sorry, okay? It was my mistake."

Crookshanks prowled on.

"What would make it better? A really big fish? If that's what you really want, I'm sure it can be arranged."

She was so focused on keeping her eyes ground-level, she didn't really notice the difference between stepping from Diagon to Knockturn Alley. One moment there was hustle and bustle behind her, and the next, it was replaced by an eery calm. A whistle blew down the alley, causing goosebumps to errupt from her arms. She hugged herself, and looked up- nearly screaming when she saw the dark, broken down shops.

"Oh, Merlin," she stopped, realizing her mistake. "This doesn't look right."

"You can say that again."

Hermione spun, and nearly fell on her heels, when she a group of loutish boys standing slightly behind her. They must have been standing there for quite a while, but she hadn't noticed them on her way in. It was unfortunate they now blocked her way out.

"Are you looking for this?" One of the boys held up Crookshanks, and shook the cat at her. She immediately reached out for him.

"Not so fast. What are you doing so far in, pretty?"

Pretty? Hermione's eyebrows rose up at this unexpected compliment. Maybe these lads had rose tinted glasses on, or maybe they hit on anything with a pulse. But it was still a surprise, they were wasting their time on her when other shoppers were crawling by. And what were they trying to do? Target her as a victim, or genuinely flirt with her until the cows went home?

Harry, she thought with a pang. Ron. They were probably wondering where she was by now.

"I'm here to peruse," she said, snootily, easily adapting to one of her favourite voices. "But I can't see anything I like. So if you can hand me my cat, please, I'll be on my- Accio CROOKSHANKS!" Oh, fuck it. She couldn't handle speaking to them anymore, like they were capable of human compassion. The cat zoomed out of their grasp, and into her clumsy one as she tucked Crookshanks down her sweater.

"I found you. Yes I did," she rubbed noses with him.

And then she was running. Shouldering past the boys, and sprinting to the finish line. Except she didn't quite reach there, because one of them grabbed her around the neck and brought her to a halt. They converged on her like a pack of meat, sniggering and joking. It was no trouble for them, to lift her on their shoulders, and walk into Borgin & Burkes like it was anyday of the week.

"Hey, Mr Burke," one of the boys greeted by name. "We've found another one to chuck down the Vanishing Cabinet."

Hermione's eyes widened, and she started struggling more to get her feet on the ground. But it was kind of hard to do that, when it felt like she bouncing up and down a herd of buffalos. Mr Burke didn't say anything. He just waved them through, still staring at the magazine.

"Wait," she said, as they set her down in front of a familiar looking cabinet. "You can't send me down there. It's link with the other cabinet's been destroyed! I'd be dead! I'd be worse than dead!"

"Do I look like I care?" one of the boys said, prising open the panelled door.

"Well, you should know who I am!" Hermione said, digging her feet. "I'm not just somebody you can dispose off, and nobody will find out! Everybody would find out! There'd be a massive man-hunt, you see, because I'm Hermio-" A sweaty sock was shoved into her mouth, cutting her off. She blinked back her rage, incredulous they were still planning to follow through.

"She talks too much," one of them shrugged, in leu of explanation. "Somebody take her wand."

A hand ruffled through her pockets, and emerged with the wand she hastily shoved down there. Hermione wondered if she shouldn't have ran, and just hexed them all, until they learnt a hard but very valuble lesson. Never mess with your seniors. Especially a pissed-off girl. She missed her wand terribly, but felt slightly better when Crookshanks rubbed himself against her chest to let her know he was there.

"On the count of three."

"WAIT!"

They didn't even wait for three, before they pushed her into a space that should've caught her limbs, but instead sent her catapaulting into darkness. It was like taking a floo-journey, except thousand times less reassuring, because she didn't know where she would land up. For what felt like eternity, she hung in fourth dimension until an ominous rattle came from the other end, and she was being spat out.

Rushing out of the cabinet, and into the lap of somebody she did not know.

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"I'm sorry!" was the cry that sprung out of her lips, as she catapaulted into someone faceless, and sent them both crashing to the ground. The body under her went limp, and she immediately scrambled off, feeling guilty. Where was she? For a second she didn't look down, because she wanted to drink in her surroundings. But all she got was a dark room, lit by candlelight, and a thunderstorm raging outside.

A hand curled around her ankle, and all thoughts of displacement were forgotten.

"My goodness! Are you alright?" she dropped to her knees, and wished that she hadn't. The sight that met her was a pitiful one, and she winced and turned her head away. Then she turned back and stared. The man was lurching in and out of unconciousness, and it didn't help he looked as skinny as a rake. Dull blond hair fell into his eyes, as a scraggly beard hid most of his features.

He looked pretty young though. Maybe as young as her.

A quick glance told her he was barefoot. "And in this weather too," she shook her head, tutting. "How the hell did I end up in this place?"

She stared at the man some more. "I don't get it. The vanishing cabinet would have only released me, if it's twin was fully intact and functional. But that got burnt down in the fiendfyre, didn't it? Of what I remember?"

Then she saw it. It was sitting right across from her, silent and towering, that Hermione was stupid to miss it. She scrambled to her knees, and crawled over to the other vanishing cabinet that should've been destroyed in the fyre, but wasn't. She ran a palm over it, questioning.

But behind her, a low cough. The man let the wheeze rattle through his lungs, before he was motionless once more. Stupid, stupid man. Couldn't he see there were better places to pass out, like his bed?

"You have my sympathy for now," she warned the prone figure, hooking her fists through his armpits. She then started dragging him backward. "And I might even stay long enough to nurse you back to health. But the moment I figure out what you're doing with a vanishing cabinet, I'm outta here, you understand? And I'll be back with the authorities."

The man gave a small shiver, but allowed himself to be tugged all the same.

"Where is your room anyway? Crookshanks! Hold on, okay?"

She'd forgotten about her cat, but the moment a single claw dug in, all of it came flooding back. The cat was impatient, and burst out of her clothes before she had time to unzip herself free. The rapid force caused her bra to snap in half, and her jaw to drop open.

"Fantastic," she breathed. "When things looked like they couldn't get any better."

The man lying prostrate on the floor, didn't look like he appreciated her irony. Which was fine by Hermione, as she dumped him in what looked like a living room, and went in search of any form of communication that would link her to the outside world. Unfortunately there was none. There was a disgruntled pigeon nesting in the upstairs attic, but it quickly chased her away with a coo.

"Now what," Hermione said, having caught sight of the view outside the window. What she saw frightened her. Big churning waves, black as inky sea, crashed time and time again into the cliff this house was perched on. And the thing was- there was no other house on this cliff beside this one. It stood in a stronghold of solitude, with no way of escape.

Hermione longingly thought of Quality Quidditch Supplies. A flying broom would do wonders, in a situation like this!

"Up," she told the broom in the kitchen. It resolutely remained in the corner. "I know you can do it- up! Up!"

She glanced around the kitchen. Could it even be called that? There was a sink sure, and maybe a little stove under all that grime. But that was it. No kettle whistling away, or a kitchen whisk beating the life out of some eggs. She couldn't imagine any cooking going on here, actually- which was tragic.

"Hmmm. Maybe he's a real estate agent," Hermione said, not buying it. "And he's just here, until he evaluates property price."

Or maybe he's a dark wizard, her brain whispered, Getting up to no good in the middle of nowhere. Voldemort would love this place.

"Water," came a croak, from the living room and Hermione grabbed a bottle lying on the floor. "W-Water..."

"Alright, I'm coming!" she snapped, jogging into the room. The man fixed his eyes on her, but there was no recognisation that she was a stranger invading his home. Instead all he did, was ask for water again.

She propped his head up, and held the bottle to his lips. The man was beyond weak, he couldn't even attach his lips properly around the neck and suck. Sighing, she poured a little at a time and waited for him to swallow. Eventually, after what seemed like an age, his eyes fluttered and he was lost to the land of the living again.

"Ugh-gh-gh-harry..."

"What?" she turned to him sharply, but it was no use. No more answers for today.

Story Alert if you like. Review if you REALLY like. Favourite, if you're mega wega blown away. (lol. I'm not expecting much for chapter 1)

But still- it would be really nice to hear from you!