Recap: "Grindylow" Malfoy said in a clear voice to the door.
Immediately the door swung open, and the light from inside flooded onto them, making their eyes hurt from the sudden changing of brightness.
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Chapter 7
(Hermione's POV)
Everyone watched as the door swung open to reveal four figures squinting away from the light and holding up their hands so that they could see around it.
"You're five minuets late" Ron said in a low, movie-live voice as he turned the lamp's head away from the door so that the people could sufficiently see into the room.
It had a very homey look to it, with a soft rug that took on the look of a wood floor and many chairs and couches of various styles circled around a large chestnut-colored oval table that shined with the reflection of a flickering fire.
Although Ron wouldn't have moved the lamp if he'd realized that one of the figures was none other than Draco Malfoy.
"D-Draco?" Hermione gasped in surprise. 'What on Earth is he doing here?!' She thought.
The girl next to Hermione snapped her head up at the sound of the name.
"Hey guys!" Christina called, and appeared from behind Draco. She smiled at the tense hostility between the people in the room as Jen and Jake entered behind her
"These are our friends Draco and Jake" She said as she gestured towards the two boys on either side of her. "Who did you bring?"
"I brought Seamus" Harry said robotically; never taking his eyes off Malfoy.
"Nevil" Hermione followed, and pointed to a chair to her left in which Nevil was occupying. He gave a small wave at them before returning his hand to his lap again.
"Luna" Ginny announced as well.
"Lavender" Ron said in a trying-to-be-causal way, while crossing his arms and leaning back against a wall
"Hey Draco!" Lavender wiggled her fingers at him which caused her shoulders to rise up as she tilted her head to the side a little.
Draco nodded in in acknowledgement of her presence. Everyone else in the room besides Lavender felt pretty awkward in the silence that followed, but Lavender was too busy smiling and flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Oook…" Jen broke the silence. "So… when's Seamus going to get here?"
"In about 3 minuets" Harry replied, and there was the sound of paper being folded from where his hand was hidden in his cloak.
"Right-o!" Ron clapped his hands together "So what are we going to be playing Hermione?"
"Well," Hermione cupped her hands together and placed them in her lap while leaning forward a little.
Everyone else followed suit unconsciously and leaned in a little.
"I was thinking of something like a hide and seek game this time" she said with a smile on her glossed lips.
"Normal Hide and Seek? Or Wizard's Hide and Seek?" Draco asked.
Now all the attention was shifted to Draco as Ginny asked "What's Wizard's hide and seek?"
"Well," Malfoy explained and shifted his weight onto his right leg "It's basically the same principals, except that there are more then one person being found, and that the people hiding can move around. But the one major thing that makes it different, is that when you find someone, you stun them, then levitate them in the air so that when people go by they can see who has already been found. But, of coarse, the people who stun have to remember where they stunned them or it'll be a hard explanation for the professors in the morning, not to mention the fact that the person would be rather unhappy."
"I like it!" Ron said with a huge smile on his face, and everyone else was nodding excitedly at the idea too.
Suddenly there was a light knock on the door.
"Oops, I guess we forgot to give them the password too!" Ginny flustered, and ran towards the door to welcome the new arrivals.
"Ok, so we're all here now!" Lavender said excitedly.
"Ya, let's do this thing!" Jen exclaimed.
"Ok, but we have to decide who's going to be hiding first" Draco stated
"Well, how many people are usually supposed to hide Malfoy?" Harry questioned.
"About half" Draco replied.
"Ooo Ooo!" Lavender jumped up and down "lets have it girls against guys! It's exactly even!"
"Oh, I like that idea!" Jake added in. "Girls first though" He grinned.
"Ok, I suppose" Hermione said with mock exasperation, and walked over to the door to group together with the other girls.
"How much time do we have?" Jen turned to Malfoy.
"Exactly 2 Minuets…Go." He said while consulting his watch with a smile.
Ginny, Hermione, Jen, Luna, Christina, and Lavender all scrambled out the door as Hermione quickly informed Luna about what they were going to be doing.
"This could get interesting" Seamus laughed with the other boys when the girls had left.
"So are we considered to be on a team?" Nevil asked, who was quite hoping that he wouldn't have to stumble around the dark castle all by himself.
"Pretty much, although you mainly are trying to find more of the girls then anyone else." Draco imformed.
"Oh ok, so partners are a bad idea?" Nevil prodded
"Ya, I don't exactly recommend them."
Nevil mumbled something under his breath incoherently, but from the tone of it you could tell that he would have much rathered they all stay together.
There was silence for a little while, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. It was merely the kind of silence you get when everyone in the room is deep in thought at the same time. As they all pondered there for a moment Jake leaned in and whispered something in Draco's ear. Draco laughed and nodded at him.
"Fine, but I call the mudblood, she's probably the best competition out there" Draco whispered back so that only Jake could hear it.
On the other side of the room Harry was whispering to Ron.
"So who do you think you'll go after first?"
"Probably Lavender, you know, because I brought her mate, and ya, it'd be weird if anyone else did, you know?"
"Uh, sure I do. But I reckon you should go after Hermione too right? Did you two fancy each other? Like last week?"
"Nah, I don't suppose so. It was more like a little crush if you ask me. I don't think anythings going to come of it." Ron replied.
At that point a ghostly green snake sprung out of Malfoys watch. It hovered and inch above his wrist as it followed the watch band. Once it had made a complete circle around it's circumference it dove back into the glass face of the watch as if it were a deep pool of water.
"Time's up" Draco said deviously.
The others reciprocated his expression as they all made it out the door.
"Ready or not here we come" Seamus joked in a hushed voice.
Once outside they took off down different hallways in search for their prey.
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She raced down the hall as fast as she could and skidded a little in order to make a sharp right turn down a different corridor. This made a soft 'squeak', which she immediately regretted. In order to not get caught she mustn't make a sound. Caught; by either teacher or student. She quickly took another left and continued to silently sprint down this hallway as well. She was getting tired and her hurried pace was starting to slow down, but a certain fear pushed her forward. A fear of the dark that she put behind her, and a fear of the dark in which was in front of her. It wasn't the dark its self which frightened her; it was what she couldn't see that did. Who knows who or what could be lurking around in these walls. Was someone watching her right now?
Her legs and lungs began to burn and ache, and at this point she knew that she needed to rest. Up ahead she could make out the faint outline of a statue. She stumbled up to it and dove behind it, gasping for air in which to relieve her lungs. Without the speed, and the wind that accompanied it, her long scarlet-tinted hair fell in front of her face. As she sat there she could feel the heat come to her as a result of her sudden exercise, and the heat was starting to make her sweat. This was confirmed when she whipped the back of her hand against her forehead and felt the slight precipitation.
After about two minuets she felt recovered and ready. She was about to leave from her hiding place when she heard footsteps at the end of the corridor. She instantly flung herself back into her crouched position and listened with all her might so as to hear who might be coming. It was hard to hear over the loud pounding of her pulse which now filled her ears, but she was just able to pick up a pair of slow footsteps shuffling her way. The person was saying something, apparently to themselves although she couldn't make out the words quite yet. As they inched closer and closer she could easily recognize the figure to be Nevil, who was trembling as he went by holding out his wand as if the paintings would jump out and attack him.
Eventually Nevil shuffled down the next hallway and she thought it safe enough to immerge from her hiding place. Once she was back on her feet again she headed back down the hallway she came from before in an attempt to get as far away as she could from the only boy she had located. She hadn't gone very far before she heard another pair of steps. Panic came to her as she searched desperately around her for a hiding place but there was none. The hallway was empty and long; even if she tried to run they would hear her and run after her. Besides the facts that if she went back then she would run into a petrified Nevil, who would probably curse her the second he could hear her. The steps were fast as if the person was running; running her way.
She was trapped, and before she could clearly think out a plan in her boggled mind, the steps were only 15ft away. She didn't have a clue as to what to do. She just stood there, frozen, in the middle of the hallway like a deer in the headlights; her emerald eyes wide and fearful. As the figure shot towards her she tried to see who it was, but to no success. The person spotted her and quickly grabbed her wrist and dragged her along with them without slowing down. She was practically pulled off her feet by the person, but wasn't quite sure what was going on so she didn't protest.
The person slammed on the brakes and bolted down a hallway to the left that she had forgotten about. The person continued to drag her down this corridor until they reached a classroom, in which the figure wrenched open the door and pulled her inside. They quickly closed the door behind them and moved to the far corner of the room.
"Ginny! What were you doing!" Hermione yell-whispered with a smile. "You looked like a statue when I found you!".
"I thought you were a boy!" Ginny explained in an equally quiet voice.
"Haha nope, but I was being followed by one" Hermione panted.
"You were?!"
"Ya, so keep it down for a little bit". Hermione put her index finger in front of her lips and glanced side-ways toward the wall.
Sure enough they heard footsteps go running past the room and down the hall. When they could no longer hear the boy they assumed he had continued walking and was far away enough to engage in conversation again.
"This is kind of fun" Ginny smiled over to Hermione.
"Hell yes it is! It's like super-spy missions, but not as serious. I mean, you are dead afraid of whose coming, but it's in a fun way too since, well, we're being tracked down by guys!" Hermione said excitedly.
" I know! This is so awesome! I really hope that Se-Harry is out looking for me!" Ginny said and then searched Hermione's face to see if she'd caught her slip-up; but she hadn't.
"We probably shouldn't stay together though since if we got caught, then that would be two girls down" Hermione thought out.
"Ok, good plan. I'll try to sneak out the front door while you take the secret passage at the back. Do you know where that is?" Ginny asked.
"Of coarse I know where it is" Hermione waved a hand at her. "Right-oh, well I guess I'll catch up with you later then!"
"Alright, Bye!" Ginny responded.
The two girls hugged then separated towards their own exits. With one glace back at Hermione, Ginny silently opened the front door and looked around. Whoever had been following them before was no where in sight. She crept out and closed the door behind her. She inched down the hall slowly with her arms in mid-air, forming a cautious and protected stance. As she turned the corner she found herself in a large spacious area that connected 3 hallways. It had a high ceiling that consisted of ornate carving and glass chandeliers. The third wall that did not protrude into a hallway held massive glass windows, which graciously welcomed the moons light inside.
The moon looked beautiful tonight and Ginny stood transfixed for a moment staring at it. The moon had a brilliant pearly glow to it, and it was the perfect night so that you could see every little crater it held. It was this distraction that caused a small 'swish' from the shadows to go undetected.
"Sorry about this" A low voice muttered from its concealed place in the darkness. "Stupify!"
Ginny just had time to turn half-way before she lost all ability to move what so ever. The figure immerged from the darkness, and Ginny was shocked once more to see Seamus standing in front of her.
From the way he was looking at her Ginny could tell that he had never been stunned before. To him she was more like petrified; not having the ability to see or hear him; like she was in some kind of coma.
He walked up to her slowly and examined her, circling around to observe every part of her. Then he looked straight into her eyes and sighed.
"How I wish you were mine. I'd be such a better boyfriend then Potter. I can only hope that you'll see that someday. But of coarse this wish is probably in vain because you are in love with him." He looked down. "Wow, saying it out loud makes it sound so permanent……..oh Ginny…"
As he said this he walked up to her and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. He stared at her for a little while longer; his blue eyes connecting with her green, before he levitated her into the air like he was told to do. He started to leave after this, but stopped and glanced back longingly at her for the last time before disappearing down the hallway to his left.
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A/N: Sorry this took so long guys! I was waiting to post it until I had finished the hide and seek scene entirely but it was taking forever so here's some of it and I'll get the rest of it to you later )