A/N: Yes, I'm late. And I'm Sorry. I do have some reasons for this though. I've had a lot on my mind... I write slow, and I'm lazy. Allso, everone was so kind to me in their reviews for the first chapter that i got slightly terrified that my second chapter wouldn't be as good...
Don't get me wrong though, i would like to thank everyone that reviewed. I live for you:)
I just didn't expect that many nice words from the start. You startled me a little, but i' fine now. I hope... Anywho, after rewriting it ONE MILLION times. I give you... chapter 2.
Hope you like it :)
A light morning rain
filled the air outside Hogwarts. It had been raining most of the time
for over a week now, so nearly all the students who were not in class
were now in the common room. Chatting away or playing games near the
warming fire.
Hermione sat with Harry
and Ron, watching them (and pointing out mistakes) as they struggled
to finish their homework in divination.
Ron stopped his scribbling for a second, looking slightly puzzled.
"Hermione, Just WHY is it that you know all the answers to our homework, when you don't have divination?"
Hermione just shrugged at this.
"Just because I don't take a subject doesn't mean I don't read about it"
Ron, figuring he'd get an answer like that, just sighed and continued to try and figure out what Venus had to do with his apparent death within the week. On the opposite side of the table Harry laid down his scroll, For the moment giving up all attempts trying to read the future. Instead he turned to Hermione.
"Have you seen Ginny lately?"
This snapped Hermione out of her thoughts "What? Why? No, should I have?"
Harry raised an eyebrow at the outburst but continued "It's just, she's been looking a bit down and tired lately. That maybe none of my concern, but professor McGonagall also told me that her grades are falling" he turned and looked questiongly at Ron who looked at his homework like he was going to tear it up any second.
"Ron, Ginny's you sister. Aren't you concerned at all?"
Ron, who was only half
listening to what Harry was talking about, made an effort to throw
his homework in to the fire. The quills whoever (earlier hexed by
Hermione) simply turned in the air and flew out again. "Oh damn
it…"
Realizing Harry had
said something and backtracking to what it was he'd been saying he
just snorted.
"She's playing drama queen Harry, every time something bad happens she gets all distant"
Hermione suppressed the sudden urge to get up and slap Ron over one of his, not to bright, cheeks. What he said next though, made her want to hug him instead.
"If she's having trouble with her grades though, that's different. Mom's going to have a fit… Do you think you could like Tutor her or something Hermione?"
As he said the last part he turned and looked pleadingly at her.
"I would do it myself but… yea, you know me and studies don't get along"
He gave the quills on the floor a sour look to emphasize the point.
Hermione made it seem as though she was thinking it over.
Upon hearing the
question a silent battle started to rage inside her.
If she said yes, it would be a perfectly innocent reason to get close
to Ginny again. But, being close to her
would inevitably lead to her saying or doing something stupid...
Then again, Ginny was a
smart girl. Maybe all she needed was a little encouragement to lift her grades… and
after they were fixed they could maybe stay just a little closer than
they were now. Maybe she could keep it under wraps this time…
Yea, who was she to
turn down a friend in need because of her selfish reasons.
Both Harry and Ron looked expectantly at Hermione who broke out of her chain of thoughts and tried to sound normal as she spoke.
"Sure Ron, No problem"
Both boys sighed with relief and went back to their homework. Confident that, when Hermione Granger took something on herself, she rarely failed.
Hermione just though of
the time that she and Ginny would be spending together. The happy
feeling faded a little, however, when it downed on her that she would
have to talk to Ginny about her failing grades. She knew Ginny would
be feeling guilty about it.
She had to somehow help
her with this and not let her emotions get the better of her…
"oh well" she though "Better get it over with…"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The lake lay big and silent in the evening. Totally oblivious to the little girl that sat next to it, and she preferred it like that. As the darkness tightened its grip of the world around her, the moon became the only source of light. Turning the lake in to a black mirror, making the fireflies that played on its surface look like little portals leading to the world on the other side. It was beautiful in a sad way… no one would ever go there, and no one were likely ever to try.
Ginny sat with her back against a big tree that she had found about a year ago. Somehow it had managed to stay alive and grow big, without the help of a forest to protect it. The tree made her feel like there was some hope still... It was her own little place in the world. She liked to sit here on nights like these and enjoy the silence and try to sort out her troubled thoughts. She had spent more time than usual here lately, and her grades were beginning to suffer from it. Her mind were not her own anymore, thoughts invaded at all times. The only thing that seemed to help was some time alone to just give the thoughts time to roam on their own.
She silently whispered a spell from memory that made her wand glow with a soothing white light. Moving slowly at first but then picking up speed she used her wand to connect the light of the fireflies, creating random patterns just above the surface of the lake. It was Hermione's spell. Not a very powerful one, but it was still homemade. Ginny had learnt the spell the first time she and Hermione shared her room. Hermione had whispered the spell to her, saying it was a secret only they knew. Only Hermione was bright enough to create her own spells at that age.. All night had they lain together, giggling and painting pictures in the sealing using only the light from their wands.
Everything was so simple back then. She was a better painter now, but she had no one to show it to anymore.
"Hermione" she whispered. Wanting to hear the name, and maybe somehow draw strength from the sound of it. She never expected an answer...
A/N (again?): Eh, I'm going to visit my grand parents now for like two weeks so... I won't be able to go online during that time. I'm going to write chapter 3, or at least start, while I'm there however. So, don't give up on me, k?
Love and hugs everyone!
