Chapter One



-The Book-



Her eyes were drawn to the worn leather cover, greedily taking in the implication of a first edition. Before she could stop it, her hand lifted itself and her fingers grazed the embossed letters on the binding.

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

Gasping, she spun around. Leaning against the far wall was Draco Malfoy, a smirk playing across his face.

Her eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about, Malfoy?”

He shrugged. “I’m only looking out for your best interests, Granger.” As she scoffed, he continued, “That book’s not all it seems, that’s all I’m saying.” He looked at her speculatively.

“Professor Snape would never have a Dark book on his private bookshelf,” she retorted, albeit a little uneasily.

He only smirked and turned around, heading back to the private laboratory. At the door, he said over his shoulder, “And by the way, your Adversary Potion is about to break out of its stasis charm.”

She groaned, but by then he was long gone. She quickly followed, the book forgotten for a while on its shelf.

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January always brought an unquenchable sense of restlessness. Potions for the Hospital Wing had been made, preliminary stages of newly developed potions had been finished, and not a cauldron or potion had been horribly mangled in the past two months.

It should then have come as a surprise to everyone but herself that Hermione Granger was bored out of her skull. She had work to do, of course, but even correcting fourth-year essays on the properties of aconite became tedious. The apprenticeship she had worked and strived for, (which eventually became a dual affair with one Draco Malfoy), was beginning to become a bore.

Professor Snape never spoke to her anymore – all of his orders and requests were relayed to her through Malfoy. He didn’t even insult her anymore – she was beginning to think that something was wrong.

“Malfoy,” she said one day, “where’s Professor Snape? I never see him anymore.”

For her efforts, she was told quite politely to mind her own business and that he had no idea.

She’d seen Professor Snape at breakfast a few days later, disproving her theory that he was dead or severely hurt. She didn’t know why she was even concerned – with the fall of Voldemort, she should have expected that he’d be able to take care of himself.

Frowning as she absently measured out a teaspoon of armadillo bile, she let her mind wander onto a different path.

She looked around furtively. For weeks she had been itching to get her hands on the book she’d seen on Snape’s bookshelf. It hadn’t helped that Malfoy had been breathing down her neck, being Snape’s watchdog and sneering at her whenever she glanced toward the book.

Now, though, she was alone for the evening. The potion was done for the day, Malfoy was off shagging a poor third-year (most likely), and Snape – well, Snape wasn’t here so who was going to stop her if she just had a look?

Wiping her hands on her robes, she slowly approached the bookshelf. The book stood out among the rest – faded, worn, but almost glowing – and she knew at that moment that she’d found a book she could be hooked on.

Slowly, she slid the book from between the others and walked over to a desk. Sitting down, she reverently stroked the cover. There was a title, but she couldn’t make it out.

She opened it.

Suddenly a breeze flipped the pages past. She jumped back from the book, startled. The pages were turning rapidly, and then just as suddenly stopped.

She cautiously leaned forward and read.

“Mirror. Mirror. When people speak, whom do they say is the fairest in town?”

Harry held the looking glass up, as always; the duchess stared and primped into it as always. Some things had changed since the first time, however.

There was the smell, to start with. Burnt flesh cut with a clean, metallic scent like the smell before a thunderstorm. There were the cages of animals—all young, all babies—against the farthest wall of her hidden sanctuary.

Hermione felt an unexpected tug, as if her insides were lurching forward.

There was the basket with a bundle in it, a heavy burden that needed to be gone by midnight. There were the vials and pills—blue, blood red, and light purple—with medicines for the duchess’s increasingly frequent fits.

She felt almost like throwing up, and tried to stand up. Horrified, she continued reading, even as she realized that she was unable to move.

And there was one more thing that changed.

Harry ground his teeth and stammered, but the necklace bade him speak.

Suddenly the world around her faded and she could only let out a strangled shriek before a light encompassed her and she was pulled into the pages.

“For all her rags and dirt, those who catch a look at her face, the one called Hermione—they claim she is the most beautiful, fey thing Kenigh has ever seen.”

A steady breeze wafted into the room as Malfoy swept in, scowling angrily as he remembered the incident in the hallway. He stopped short when he saw the book on the desk and Hermione’s bookbag lying on the ground next to it.

The duchess’s eyes might have been hazel, but the look they gave Harry was the blackest he had ever seen.

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A/N: Story response to (or based on) Ladyofthemasque’s Lost in a Book Challenge on WIKTT, based on the story Lost in a (Not So) Good Book by Bubblebunny.

Here’s the Lost in A Book Challenge:

1. Hermione Granger and Severus Snape encounter a wizarding romance novel.

2. They get sucked literally into the storyline, taking on the roles of the hero and heroine.

3. They must complete the storyline of the novel in order to escape the book and return to the real world.

4. They must fall in love with each other during the course of their adventure, though they don’t have to start out that way, if you don’t want. The main genre will therefore be Romance.

5. The sub-genre of the novel can be any category—Western, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Regency, Contemporary, Horror, Medieval, Prehistorical, and so forth…but the MAIN category must remain focused on building some sort of romance between SS/HG (mildly romantic or downright smutty or some combination thereof).

6. The number of “chapters” should be at least 5, though the chapters can be as short as 100 words, or as long as 10,000. (There shall be no limit to the size of the story, but it would be really, really nice if you finished it, and didn’t abandon it…)

7. Severus and Hermione must kiss at least 3 times, though it doesn’t have to be voluntarily at first. Greater levels of passion are at the author’s discretion, but nothing lesser will be accepted.

8. The Deadline for this Challenge (submitting the *first* chapter) will be February 17th, 2006, because it’s my birthday, and I want to read some nice prezzies from all the fine writers here at WIKTT. If there’s lots of enthusiasm, I’ll definitely consider extending the deadline.

9. Feel free to use other HP characters to fill out the various supporting cast roles. CAVEAT: If you decide to place this into a specific genre, such as the Anita Blake series (by Laurell K. Hammilton…mmm, Severus as Jean-Claude…), please be mindful that some fanfic sites do not allow crossover-fics to be posted on their boards (for example, Ashwinder or RestrictedSection.org).

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I have loosely based the storyline on Tracy Lynn’s Snow, which is a retelling of the fairytale of Snow White, but this story is not a crossover. Names have been changed to fit the HP Universe, and the plot has also been somewhat altered. Excerpt for this chapter came from the Interlude: Reflections, page 64. The name Alan was changed to Harry.

Happy Birthday, Ladyofthemasque! I hope you get lots and lots of prezzies :)

And a special thanks to Rhiannon for beta-ing. You saved a HUGE mistake from making it in (Alan to Harry). :) Thanks!