Chapter 7
Hermione crawled onto the sand and spit up all the water left in her throat back into the lake. Her head was pounding and she felt sick to her stomach. How could I ever let that foul evil loathsome little cockroach touch me. She thought to herself. She let herself lie, face down, on the shore silently, for what seemed like hours. Once she finally gained the strength she needed to stand up, she shrugged her clothes back on and sprinted up to the castle while droplets of water sprang from her hair onto the green grass behind her.
She wouldn't talk to him. She wouldn't look at him. She had to get out of tutoring him. She went directly to Professor McGonagall's classroom to speak with her, but Hermione had forgotten that her professor had a class this period. She decided that she would have to endure one more tutoring session with Malfoy, or else McGonagall would become even more furious with her.
Hermione walked without much purpose around the halls for a few hours silently hoping that she would come across Ron. Since her near death experience in the lake, she realized that being only friends with Ronald would be the best option. She didn't want to hate him for the rest of her life, but she didn't have any romantic feelings left for him, so that was out of the question. For Merlin's sake! She still cared about him. He was one of her closest friends.
After a while, she decided she would walk back to the common room and speak with him there. She trailed the halls until she came upon the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Skiving Snackbox," she said to her. Enough with the Weasley twins already!
The common room was still bursting with life because it was eight o'clock and classes were over, but it was too early to be off to bed just yet. She searched around the room, less than frantically, for Ron. Once she spotted him through the mass of students in one of the tall Gryffindor chairs playing Wizard's Chess with Harry, she made her way over.
"Ronald, I would like to speak to you," she said quietly, "alone."
He complied immediately and stood up, leaving Harry alone with Ron's king in check. "What's up Hermione?" he said.
"It has taken me a while to think this through, but I realized today, Ronald, that I forgive you. However, I don't think it would be particularly wise of us to be in a relationship anymore. I don't feel the same way about you as I did before," the giddy smile on his face dropped slightly, but happiness was still ablaze in his eyes.
"Of course Mione! I understand!" he picked her up and hugged her, "I've missed you so much," he whispered into her ear. This gesture shook soft giggles out of her and made many of her worries from that day disappear.
"I've missed you too Ron," she said back quietly as he placed her back onto the ground. She could see Harry smiling in the background, obviously happy that his two best mates had figured everything out. "I think I'm going to bed though, it's been a long day. Give Harry my love." she said to Ron as she began pushing her way through her fellow housemates.
As she walked up to her room, she felt herself becoming more and more tired with each step. Once she reached her bed, she wasn't conscious enough to be able to put on her pajamas, so she collapsed right onto her bed while still wearing her clothes from the day. Her body drifted off to sleep, but some of the worst nightmares of her life would keep her brain alert.
She ran through the dark woods away from something, but she didn't know what. She tried to stop, but her instincts just wouldn't let her. She ran until her legs turned into jelly and she collapsed, hard, onto the ground. Every muscle in her body tensed up as a dark figure strided nearer to her. At first she thought there was only one, but then several more appeared in front of her very eyes. She couldn't see all of them, and the ones that she did see, she didn't recognize. They began coming closer and closer to her, so she shut her eyes and spun around violently, but they all passed her. All, but one. They were headed towards a familiar looking blonde boy who was also crouched on the ground in fear. Draco? She thought. Why was he here? Each of the figures near him raised their wands as he began to cry. Just before they shot down at him, the person standing near Hermione whispered into her ear, "You wish this was just a dream." Then everything went black.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry I've been gone for so long! I have been so consumed with my freshman year in High School that I had no time to really write. Sadly, finals are coming up so I wont be updating all the time, but I will try as hard as I can. PLEASE REVIEW!
Love,
Luna Fleur Marie
