It Was Just a Dream

Hermione moaned softly and sat up in bed. The painful collision her head made with the shelf placed precariously low on her wall dislodged the last remaining strands of her dream from her head.

It had been a strange dream. A disturbing dream. A dream that had made no sense and at the same time had made all the sense in the world. And now all she remembered was that it had had something to do with a certain boy named Draco Malfoy.

She shivered despite the warm summer's night air coming in through the open window near her bed. She was only 17 years old after all, and she had exams she had to worry about this year! She couldn't afford to be thinking about anyone like that yet. Not Harry, not Ron and most certainly not Draco Malfoy.

It had been he who had, over the last six years, tried to make her life and, not to mention, the lives of her two best friends, hell. So why was she dreaming about him now?

She shook her head, desperately trying to rid herself of those thoughts. In an act of desperation she turned her thoughts to other things. Just a week ago she had received the letter informing her of her new duties as Head Girl at Hogwarts. She had immediately sent a letter to Ron to see if he had gotten his letter, and whether he was Head Boy. But for some reason, she hadn't gotten a reply.

Hermione sighed. Last year had been so hard for the trio, Harry above all. She'd been hoping that both he and Ron were alright. Harry hadn't been able to concentrate on anything at all since Sirius had died. Everyone seemed to try to choose their words carefully around him now, but not without reason.

He had taken to not talking to many people and turning very pale whenever the conversation turned to death or anyone said "seriously", as strange as that may seem. Anything at all that would remind him of Sirius would be too hard for him to bear.

Hermione wondered how he could possibly be getting along at the Dursley's, when they so obviously didn't care about his feelings one bit.

These thoughts brought tears to Hermione's eyes as she tried to think of something happier, but her dream was the only thing that would come. She forced it out of her head and, knowing that it couldn't possibly make her any more upset, deliberately thought of what tomorrow would bring. To Platform 9 ¾ to board the Hogwart's Express and finally see her two best friends again.

She quickly ran over all her things in her head, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything while she had been packing two nights ago, after returning from London with her parents. The only reason she hadn't stayed at the Leaky Cauldron was that her parents needed to work and still didn't feel comfortable leaving her in the middle of London by herself. They felt especially so after hearing of the fact that she hadn't heard from neither Ron nor Harry for over a month now.

'I'm going to be 18 in less than a month! I won't always be their 'little girl',' She thought part angry and part amused, 'they really don't want to let me go do they?'

She glanced at the alarm clock on her desk. It read 6:30 am. Still much too early to be awake. She settled herself back onto her pillows and willed herself not to think of Malfoy. But as soon as she tried thinking of something else, his piercing green eyes, white blond hair and smirking mouth came into view behind her closed eyelids. 'Stop it!' She mentally scolded herself. She yawned, closing her eyes once more. Soon sleep carried her away and she remembered nothing of her second dream as she awoke, refreshed and happy, at 9:30 to get ready to go back to Hogwarts, her home away from home.