A Journey Between Realms

By Pandor4

Chapter 1: Inter Regna Itinere

It was two years after Harry had finally defeated Voldemort and Hermione felt as if the wizarding world had changed little. A little over one year ago she had applied to various jobs within in the ministry of magic. At the time her heart had been set upon a position within the department of mysteries, or even the Regulation and Control of Magical Animals. Instead the ministry had offered her a clerical position within the Department of Magical Transportation, and Hermione absolutely hated her job.

When she had first started working there, her hopes had been large. It was the opportunity to work within the Ministry, and surely she would be able to slowly work her way into a more desirable position once her supervisors saw what a fantastic employee she was. Unfortunately, this was not the case and today had proved it. Her co-worker, a girl a year older than her, not terribly bright (in Hermione's opinion) and a rather vocal pureblood had just been given a promotion to a position that Hermione knew she herself was better suited for. It was obvious to Hermione the reason that their department head had passed over her, but there was still no concrete way in which Hermione could object to her co-workers promotion while she herself was left within the meaningless clerical position.

Sighing in frustration Hermione continued to walk down Diagon Alley towards a small magical grocery store. With her mind focused on the injustice that continued to be found within the wizarding world, Hermione was unfortunately not in her most observant state of mind. As soon as she was past the store front windows of the apothecary she felt to strong hands grab her and pull her into the small space between the buildings. With one of her captor's hands clamped firmly over her mouth, and her captor's other arm wrapped around her arms and chest, pulling her deeper into the tiny space Hermione felt a cold flash of panic begin to grip at her mind.

She tried to pull away, but the man was strong. She screamed against his hand, but the rational part of her mind knew that no one would likely hear her. She had been working rather late, and the Alley was almost all but deserted at this time of night.

Struggling fiercely against her captor she was caught off balance when he roughly pushed her away. She tumbled over her own feet, crashing into the wall of the small alleyway before falling to the ground. Her hand immediately went to the holster on her arm where her wand was safely tucked away, but before she had even gotten her hand halfway there a deep voice growled out, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Hermione's mind cried out in terror as her body froze. She was on her knees facing away from her captor and her eyes strained to see who was behind her. There was a soft rumbling chuckle and slowly the man walked around to stand in front of her. It was Antonin Dolohov. Through the dim light Hermione could see that there was a mad gleam in his eyes. He was one of the few death eaters that had somehow managed to escape imprisonment at the Battle of Hogwarts. While he had been defeated by Professor Flitwick, he had not been killed and in a moment of his captor's absence he had been rescued by one of his fellow death-eaters.

He was one of the last few remaining death-eaters out there and Hermione knew why. He was smart, and while he was terrible and cruel, he was also extremely sharp whited. It had not surprised her over the past year to hear Harry and Ron, coming back from working with the Aurora's ,complaining of how Dolohov had escaped their grasp time after time.

And now he was attacking her. If she had not been held still by his curse she knew she would be trembling.

With a mocking smile he stared into her eyes as he reached out to her and pulled down on the collar of her shirt to reveal a jagged scar that ran down from her collar bone. "I almost had you that time," he whispered, his thumb stroking the soft silvery skin of the scar. "So close, if only my aim had been a bit truer that day."

Hermione could feel the tears filling her eyes. Unable to blink them away her vision began to blur. Unfortunately this only seemed to please the man more. In a soft cooing voice he coddled her. "There, there. Don't cry now. This will all be over soon." Dolohov knelt down in front of her so that they were at eye level. "Besides, I am not going to kill you. That would be too good of an end for you," he said with another mocking smile. "No, I have something much better in store for you."

Dolohov brought his wand up and pointed it directly between Hermione's eyes. The tears were flowing freely down her face now, and she could barely make out face of her captor. "Do try and have a good time with this," Dolohov said with a hollow laugh.

"Inter Regna Itinere!"

Hermione was blinded with violent purple light and then she watched in horror as the building and Dolohov seemed to stretch before her into long towering bands of color, growing brighter and brighter until finally it was only white light that enveloped her.

Thorin was not having one of his best days. Firstly, it was raining. Secondly, the roof of his workshop had numerous leaks. Scowling up at the beams of the workshop, Thorin vowed to himself that he would leave this miserable little town soon. He had left the Blue Mountains to find work as a blacksmith in some of the far outlying towns of men, but with his coin purse growing fatter once again it was time to start thinking about returning home to his sister and her sons.

With a frustrated sigh Thorin set aside his blacksmith's hammer and undid the thick leather apron. His father would be laughing at him now if he could see him. Thorin Oakenshield, the King-in-Exile, was now a common blacksmith. With a scowl firmly set on his face he walked back towards the corner of the small workshop while listening to the pitter-pattering of the rain on the roof.

The workshop was not technically his, hence its state of obvious disrepair, but the men of the town had granted him access to it, and allowed him to lodge within it so long as he was doing work for the townspeople. He had arrived here over a fortnight ago and found that the town was generally lacking in any type of simulating work. There were farmers that came to him to commission new tools or to repair their old ones, and a few of the housewives came to ask him to make new pots or pans for their kitchens. None of it was a challenge, and it only worsened his mood.

Sitting down at the small table that occupied the space along the back wall, Thorin lit a small candle. Digging into the covered basket that sat on the table, he came back out with a chunk of cheese and a small loaf of bread, both of which he had purchased earlier that morning. He wondered what his sister, Dis, was serving tonight, and had to figure that it was something more appetizing than plain bread and drying cheese.

Slicing into the cheese with his knife, Thorin dejectedly stared out his open doorway at the street which was very quickly becoming a lake of mud. There would be no new work today, or even possibly tomorrow with everyone staying inside to avoid the rain and mud.

With that thought in mind, he decided abruptly that once the roads had dried, he would leave. He was spending almost as much money living here as he was bringing in from the small jobs that the town was able to provide for him. It was time for him to go home again. Home. The thought made him laugh bitterly to himself. While it had been many years since he had finally given into calling the Blue Mountains home, it still made his heart ache and remind him of what had been lost.

'One day…One day we really will go home…" he thought to himself. His thoughts turned to Erebor, he almost jumped when a blindingly bright flash of light illuminated his doorway and the one window that led outside. "Lightning?" was his first thought. He sat still, his ears straining to pick up the sound of thunder, but none came.

He was about to dismiss it when a figure appeared in his doorway. It was a young woman, soaking wet and covered in mud.

"May I come in?" she asked as her eyes landed on him.

He gave a curt nod, and stood up, wondering all the while what in the world she was doing traveling to his workshop on such a day.

A.N. – I hope you have enjoyed this first installment of the Journey Between Realms. It is currently without a beta reader. If anyone is interested in being a beta for this story, or even just being someone to bounce ideas back and forth with please let me know.

As always, I hope you will continue to read and review!

Thank you!