Awakening

Hermione only realized she was still alive several minutes after opening her eyes.

Everything before her was blurred in hazy light and shadow, impossible to make out clearly. She was so weak that she could not even manage such an easy movement as turning her head, and the sounds reaching her ears were muffled by a constant buzzing. So although she wanted to know who the three people standing beside her bed were and what they were saying to her, she was powerless to do so.

Hermione lay quietly in bed, staring at several spinning crystal bubbles beneath the ceiling that illuminated the ward.

She had never seen bubbles like these, glowing with halos of light. That meant she was not in the Hogwarts dormitory or the Hospital Wing. She was somewhere entirely unfamiliar.

How had she come here, and why was she here?

Hermione knew nothing about any of it. Her memories ended with Professor Breen appearing beside her and telling her not to worry, that he could save her.

At the thought of the young professor, Hermione felt her weakened heart give a powerful beat. Warmth surged from her heart and swiftly flowed through her body. It hastened her recovery; Hermione felt the murky white light before her eyes fading faster, while the voices that had seemed separated from her by a dream became clearer.

Of the three people beside her bed, one seemed impatient to help her sit up. But another sharply slapped the back of that person's hand and sternly rebuked him.

Professor McGonagall?

I remember.

Hermione's dry lips moved as she tried to say it, but all that came out was a faint gurgle.

Then many people in dark robes crowded into the cramped room and drove the three people away from her bedside. Next,