The sphere had somehow flattened itself out and was now more disk shaped. The center of the black disk was swirling with colors but Harry could not make out what shape they would take. A moment later the images formed and to Harry's shock he saw Hermione talking to a taller woman with bright green hair. Although he could see their mouths moving he could not hear anything they were saying. Finally Hermione nodded at something the woman said and stepped out of the disk.
"Harry! Daphne!" Hermione said in surprise at seeing her two friends. "What are you doing here?"
"What have you done, Hermione?" Daphne asked seriously. "What is this?"
"I'll explain everything." Hermione answered. "This is-"
"Ah, so this must be Harry Potter." the green haired woman said from the other side of the portal, interrupting Hermione. "Perhaps one day we shall meet again, that would be interesting wouldn't it? Remember my words, gatekeeper! You must never forget your promise." With that the woman waved her hand and cast a wandless spell that caused two thin, silver bracelets to appear on each of Hermione's wrists. "It is done. Farewell."
The woman turned and began walking away and as she did the portal began to shrink until it finally disappeared. When it was gone the room appeared to have gone completely back to normal. Hermione raised her hands to look at the bands that had appeared on her wrists and was caught off guard when Harry rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug.
"Hermione!" Harry said in relief, "We were worried about you!"
"Sorry, Harry." Hermione answered, returning the hug. "How long was I gone?"
"You don't know?" Daphne said suspiciously. She was not ready to trust Hermione right away after seeing what had happened.
"Time passes differently where I was." Hermione replied. "For me, it's been almost four days."
"No one had seen you since you left the infirmary last night." Harry informed her. "That was almost twenty hours ago. Where did you go?"
"I can't tell you exactly what or where it is, that's one of the rules." Hermione began. "But I've spent the last few months trying to solve this riddle, and last week I finally did."
"The Ritual of Heron." Daphne said in understanding.
"Exactly." Hermione answered in surprise, but then realized she had left her notes lying on the floor. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Harry. I know I should have. But at first I really wasn't going to do it, I just wanted to figure out how to do it because no one ever had. Then Voldemort came back and I found out that you had died… I panicked, and I did something I know was risky and foolish.
"You didn't know what the ritual was going to do, did you?" Harry asked.
"No." Hermione answered, lowering her head a little in shame. "I had reason to think it wasn't very dark, but beyond that I didn't know. Last night, for you at least, I came here after I left you two in the infirmary. I just couldn't get the thought that this was the only way to protect my friends and family out of my head. So I set everything up and went through with it. Apparently the only purpose of the ritual was to open the connection between our world and another, like you just saw, and allow the person who performed the ritual to go through the gateway."
"Who was the woman?" Daphne asked.
"I must not speak her name, nor the names of anyone I met on the other side. That is another one of the rules. They believe if a person on this side knew a person on that side's name it might give them a certain amount of power over them." Hermione explained. "They have worked hard to keep their world a secret from us, and I won't betray them."
"So what did she want from you?" Harry asked.
"She was able to read my mind and determine my motives for opening the portal. She saw everything I knew about Voldemort and the war and eventually decided to offer me the chance to go with her to the other side. I couldn't have made it through without her because she is currently the gatekeeper on that side." Hermione said.
"What do you mean, 'gatekeeper'?" Daphne asked.
"I'll get to that." Hermione promised. "The people on the other side are all from different worlds, or perhaps dimensions or realities. I'm not quite sure how it works to be honest. Not all of them are human, but most seem quite intelligent. She offered me the help of her people to aid in my struggle."
"At what cost?" Daphne asked, knowing that nothing good ever came so easily. Hermione frowned somewhat at the question, and Daphne knew the cost would be high.
"That's the hard part to explain." Hermione started. "I was offered the chance to become the gatekeeper on this side, which would allow me to open a portal like the one you just saw. Through the open portal I could summon help from someone on the other side when it was most needed, but only one at a time and opening a new portal is said to be quite difficult. But in order to do that I had to… bind my soul to that world."
"What?" Harry shouted. "You sold your soul for a little bit of help that we don't even know will matter?"
"No!" Hermione yelled back. "I did not sell my soul. I merely… rented it out for a little while." As she said it Hermione knew her explanation sounded weak.
"For how long?" Daphne asked.
"I honestly don't know what happens when a person dies." Hermione said. "I know Dumbledore said death is the next great adventure, so I doubt even he knows. But I had to agree that when I die in this world I would have to be reborn in theirs to serve others as they had served me. Everyone in that world was at one point like I am now. For a thousand years I will be bound like that and then will be given the choice to stay or go off into the 'next great adventure.' Until then I am instructed to grow stronger so that I might better serve others."
"So for their help in ending your war you had to pledge to fight other people's wars for a thousand years." Daphne said. "Magic does love irony, doesn't it."
"What were you thinking?" Harry asked. "It's not worth it!"
"It might be." Hermione responded. "This war will be brutal, you know it as well as I do. This was my way to help you make it through. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about what I was doing, but if it even gives either of you a fractionally better chance at surviving it will be worth it to me."
"But it's your soul, Hermione!" Harry answered back. Daphne watched the two friends bicker with a sad look on her face. She too thought that Hermione was foolish for accepting the deal but realized there could have been worse results. Perhaps being bound to that other world for a millennium wouldn't be too bad, at the very least Hermione knew death wouldn't be the end for her. Harry would calm down eventually and realize his friend had mostly good intentions even if her common sense had momentarily failed her.
"Yes, Harry, it is. And it is still mine." Hermione replied. "That has not changed. I've made a lot of mistakes this year, I know that, but I want to be by your side when you have to face whatever it is that Voldemort throws at you. Please, let me do that."
"You know I was never going to push you away like that." Harry said, his tone softening a little. "I'm scared for you, Hermione. Things have been happening so fast these past few days and I don't know what's going to happen. Just promise me you won't risk yourself for me."
"Would you make that promise to me?" Hermione asked.
"No, I wouldn't." Harry answered truthfully.
"Then you have my answer as well." Hermione said. "I will be careful from now on though, and I expect you to be as well. We'll talk about the rest of it later, ok"
"Sure." Harry finally said. "Let's get out of here, and we will be talking about this later. But I do have something to do before we leave. Can the Room of Requirement makes something that's already in it appear even if it isn't currently being used?" As soon as he asked the question Ravenclaw's Diadem, which is what he had been thinking of, appeared on the floor next to him. "I'll take that a yes."
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