Author's Note: Yup-yup! I'm definitely hanging on for a bit of surprise this time! Nyahaha!!! I wanted to explore my imagination so I decided to create a fiction of JK Rowling's Harry Potter... BUT the main character isn't Harry. Guess who? Hermoine Granger... sniff, sniff... I'm a guilty fan of Draco & Hermoine... I don't exactly know why but I'm really drawn to the- might I add- odd pairing...
The title (AND ONLY THE MEANING & CONCEPT OF THE TITLE) has been inspired from the OST of Shrek 2, sung by the Counting Crows. Dear me... how I love that song!!
Anyways... hope you like this one. Read and review!
PROLOGUE
IT HAS BEEN a rather tough month for Hermoine, Harry and Ron. Despite the fact that the Dark Lord Voldemort has finally been defeated and all Death Eaters has been exterminated- if not sent to rot in Azkaban or be treated in St. Mungo's for losing their screws- the seventh year students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry did not escape the agonizingly torturous exams in preparation for the young witches and wizards to face the reality of the wizarding world. They are finally leaving the secured walls and hallways of Hogwarts as fully trained wizards and witches.
However, after receiving their examination results- with Hermoine getting the highest mark in their year as expected- the dynamic Gryffindor trio had a small talk in the great halls that may indeed finally separate them after seven years of sticking up for each other. It seems like all of them have different plans of their own...
"Following Mr. Weasley isn't such a bad idea, Ron..." Harry grinned at Ron as he helped himself with a couple of roasted chicken and a slice of bread. "After all, Professor Dumbledore told me that Fudge would step down from his position as the head of the Ministry of Magic..." He shrugged with a really delighted smile; "I don't see any problems concerning his continuous blabbing anymore."
"Which raises a very important question..." Ron's brows furrowed as he stared down on his plate and began filling it with his preferred food. "WHO would replace him?"
"I hope it'll be Dumbledore..." Hermoine finally spoke after drinking up a glass of pumpkin juice. "I mean... who could do a better job other than the headmaster?"
The whole Gryffindor table stared at Hermoine with glittering eyes- hopeful that what she just said isn't just wishful thinking. I didn't say it THAT loud, did I? Hermoine threw them a very innocent look and then uncomfortably shifted back to face Ron and Harry. "You agree with me, right?" She interrogated, confident that her friends would agree with her.
"Bloody yes, I agree..." Ron nodded and stuffed his mouth with food as if there was no tomorrow.
"But would the professor agree with it?" Harry asked and turned his head towards the teachers' table. The headmaster is currently discussing something with Professor McGonagall and as if sensing immediately that someone's looking over at him, he turned his head and met Harry's green eyes. The same twinkling eyes were almost dancing behind his pair of spectacles as he raised his goblet towards Harry, sending him his regards and best wishes on his graduation day. Harry answered back with a smile and turned back towards his friends.
"I'm having this weird feeling, Harry..." Hermoine raised his pair of eyebrows skeptically- now properly trimmed after getting an "advice" from Lavender and Parvati. "Does the headmaster speak to you telepathically? Or is it just a talent that has developed through the years between yourself and him?"
Harry chuckled at her comment and earned a slight balling of eyes from Hermoine. Ron on the other hand was too busy with his food to even hear their conversation. "The latter Hermoine..." Harry let out another chuckle and drank his pumpkin juice. "But it'll be wicked if he does speak to me telepathically..." His green eyes sparkled and were suddenly emphasized by a little mischievous grin, lighting up his whole face.
"Who's talking telepathically?" Ron asked with half his mouth full with food.
"Nobody..." Hermoine frowned at Ron and began eating; finally realizing that she had ran out of things to say and didn't even bother repeating her words over and over again to Ron.
All that the redhead Weasley did was shrug and continued on stuffing more food in his mouth. All the examination and adventures this year had almost caused his senses to break down. But the worst thing was the awful medicine that Madam Pompfrey has been forcing him to take in saying that it'll do him good. Fortunately, she was right but the side effect was, he almost lost his proper sense of taste. Given a few more days with that medicine would've drove him to the brink of starvation due to the illicit taste of that awful medicine.
"So what are your plans after school, Hermoine?" Harry raised his head up and shot a questioning look at Hermoine's face. "I'm planning on becoming an Auror..." He grinned thoughtfully.
"And..." Ron began while munching up his food, "I've... deshided... choo... follow on dad... in..." Hermoine rolled her eyes around as Ron continued on speaking with his mouth stuffed with food. "The Ministry of Magic..." He swallowed the food on his mouth and looked questioningly at Hermoine. "And you?"
"Obviously, you've taken for granted your table manners, Ronald Weasley." Hermoine sighed and earned a shrug from Ron and a very amused chuckle from Harry.
"Blame it on Madame Pompfrey's weird concoctions of healing potions..." Ron frowned and stuffed his mouth with food. "I can shtill tashte it even if the food tashte good!" He munched in another batch of food and sent it down through his throat. Hermoine and Harry laughed. "Oh stop it you two!" Ron frowned and drank up his pumpkin juice, almost emptying it completely. "Are you going to tell us your plans after school, Hermoine?" Ron raised an eyebrow at the muggle-born witch.
"I've decided..." Hermoine began with a hint of amused and delighted smile, jumbling together in a mixed emotion on her face. "I'm going back to my muggle studies in America..."
Ron and Harry almost choked up their pumpkin juices. Surely, Hermoine isn't talking about studying again... isn't she? "You can't be serious!!" The two boys almost shouted in unison at her, earning a few stares from the Gryffindor table and the other house's table but most of them came from the Slytherin house that was eyeing them despicably but interestingly.
"I'm serious!" She snapped and pouted at the two who was almost gawking miserably at her. "I've already asked my parents about this and they gladly applied me in Harvard University..."
"And?" Harry asked; his airway seemed like a foreign object has blocked it and Ron stared at her with eyes that looked exactly like ping-pong balls. Ronald Weasley doesn't have a clue about who or what Harvard University is but since Hermoine mentioned something about studying... that was enough for him to understand. Ms. Hermoine Granger is going to start studying AGAIN.
"I made it!!" Hermoine answered in pure joy and then noticed that the professors on their table were smiling at her... proudly? Professor Albus Dumbledore was smiling sheepishly at her and then continued on talking with Professor Minerva McGonagall and Madame Pompfrey, both of them possessing a knowingly prideful smile on their lips. She didn't know if they heard it or they just clearly know everything that has been going on around with each and every student of this school. Nonetheless, they all seem to be encouraging her to continue on whatever she was planning after her life in Hogwarts. After all, she's the brightest witch in their year.
"You passed in Harvard University!?" Seamus, along with the other muggle-born witches and wizards on the Gryffindor table stared at her in disbelief. "Bloody hoe, Hermione! It's hard to pass in there! How about Oxford? Did you try out there too?" His eyes were almost popping out of its place as he stared in disbelief at the genius. Hermoine nodded her head jerkily in excitement. "I did..." She let out a satisfied grin, "I also passed but I prefer Harvard... I want to know how it would feel to be in a different environment this time."
Now everybody knows why Hermoine has been sorted in the Gryffindor house. Other than possessing a very courageous heart, she also possesses a nature that really fits the description of a true blood Gryffindor.
Accidentally though, on her peripheral vision, she noticed a blonde Slytherin staring at her direction and then smirked when she turned to look at him with utmost annoyance... Malfoy... She told herself and frowned involuntarily. Hermoine knew that she didn't say it that loud this time so what can possibly be the matter with this annoyingly arrogant bloke? Was it because he still hasn't been used to the fact that she's a mudblood? Or was it because Draco Malfoy is trying to forget about the death of his father?
She shuddered at the thought and remembered the time when Lucius Malfoy has been put in the middle of a very hard choice: it was either the Dark Lord, or the life of his own son...
And at that moment the saying that was long ago been passed down from generation to generation has been proven: Blood is, indeed, thicker than water...
Lucius Malfoy died on the hands of Voldemort after plotting back against him with the Order of the Phoenix. He died an agonizingly painful yet honorable death, reclaiming the honor in the Malfoy name that has been long ago, diminished... destroyed.
"Hermoine?" Harry snapped her back to reality, almost making her yelp out of her seat in the process. She didn't even notice that she has been staring at the Slytherin table for quite some time now, earning a priceless look on Draco Malfoy's face that she identified as discomfort. She laughed involuntarily and turned her attention back at Harry. "Has Malfoy been bothering you again?"
Hermoine shook her head and smiled back at Harry. "No... he's been avoiding me for quite sometime now..." She frowned and threw in a disgusted look, "Except for the smirks and sneers that I continue on receiving from the ferret."
"That's some news, Hermoine..." Ron's eyes grew big as he threw a wondering glance over at Draco. "His father's death may have caused such a blow on his over-inflated head..." the other seventh-year-students who heard his comment snorted and burst out laughing at Ron's comment... save for Hermoine who was now frowning. "I don't think it's funny..." Everyone stopped laughing and threw a very shocked look at Hermoine. "Pay some respect at least... Mr. Malfoy died on our side..." They didn't know why but those who laughed suddenly felt a tinge of guilt and shame. Maybe it was because they all knew that she was right.
Terribly right...
A shrill of silence hovered above their group for a while as they ate in silence. The other Gryffindors on their table continued on chatting, oblivious to what has been said previously among the seventh-year students- with one exception of a sixth year who is in fact Ginny Weasley. Passing on a very uncomfortable silence, Harry cleared his throat and forced on a happy smile on his face, turning his attention back towards Hermoine. "So..." He began and tried his best to look as normally as before, "You just told us what university that you're going in... What do you intend on taking up after this?"
Everyone on their perimeter stopped and held their breaths... waiting for her reply eagerly. They were continuously wondering what could've triggered Hermoine's studying habits into its full height again after staying in Hogwarts for seven years. Hermoine stopped and looked confidently around the table and then finally locked her gaze upon Harry's green eyes. With a small smile lighting up her face, she breathed a sigh and then opened her mouth to speak:
"Muggle Medicine..." The small smile turned into a very girlish grin, "I've always wanted to be a doctor..."
Author's Note: Whaddya think of this one? Will I continue? Or will I dispose of this work o' mines? Please review!!!