Chapter 10

After lunch with Ginny, Harry and a bashful Ron, Hermione headed for the library to see if she could find a solution to her nightmare problem. She walked through the doors and looked around. She took a deep breath of the slightly stale air and smiled. This was her place. She knew this library like she knew her own hand. Over her past six years, she had memorized where every section of the library was; practically where every book was. She knew where the Dark Arts sections were, the muggle books, and even the divinations books, though she didn't believe in the subject. Before she had taken it in her third year, she had done some preliminary research on the subject. She had looked for a creditable source or incident. She had found a few, but nothing to change her mind completely on the fishy subject.

But that was the section she was heading for today. It contained the books on dreams and dream interpretations. To find anything on dreams, she would have to look through books written by people like Professor Trelawny. The thought of reading pages and pages of over zealous predictions and unlikely conclusions made her groan. It was going to be a long search to find something to convince her but she was determined to find a logical excuse as to what Ron's sleeping next to her had to do with stopping her nightmares.

On her way to the divination section, she passed the new books and paused to take a look. There was a book on dragons and what they ate, a new book on the latest quidditch teams of England and the US, a book on advanced infatuation potions, and a couple of the latest revised editions of Hogwarts, a History. She was about to continue on when she remembered what Ron had said about the staircase.

Curious, she stepped toward a book and picked it up. She flipped through it to the chapter on the different houses and found the section on Gryffindor tower. She skimmed the part about the girls' stairwell.

" when a boy steps foot on the staircase, the stairs will turn into a slide and cause anyone on the stairs to slide downward. However, in the years of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, it was found that the stairs could tell when a boy had honorable intentions and would not always transfigure." Hermione read to herself. "Hmmm he was right." She muttered to herself as she remembered Ron's reasoning for his being able to get up to her dormitory.

She replaced the book on the shelf with a grin. She then continued deeper into the library to the divination section. Once she wandered the shelves dedicated to the art of consulting the future, she slowed her pace to find a title that might help her. After flipping through a few books here and there, she found one that might contain some useful information, Dream Interpreting by Hilda H. Demz.

Hermione walked over to a nearby table and sat down. She flipped open the book and began to flip through it. After a few minutes or so she came across a section that caught her attention.

"Often dreams can be a way for the subconscious to display a person's true feelings, hopes, joys, or fears. In most cases these dreams are meant to push the dreamer to realize what their deepest wants and needs are. While some dreams specifically reveal what is needed or wanted, in many it is not always apparent. In these cases it is up to the dreamer to filter through the meaning of certain points or events that happen within the dream." Hermione read. She sighed. "I think Ginny must have spent some time in the library."

Hermione skimmed the rest of the book and found nothing else that could be of any used to her. "Ah well, it's told me what I wanted to hear." She muttered to herself. She knew that she dreamt of Ron dying because she loved him. She didn't want to lose him. It wasn't a matter of not being able to admit to herself but rather admit to him. She wanted to, oh how she wanted to, but she was afraid that he might not understand. And that, above almost anything else, scared her. She didn't want to risk the friendship she had with him.

Hermione sighed. Who was she kidding? She knew Ron cared about her. He had watched out for her and taken care of her all throughout the war. She had seen some of it in his eyes when she had woken from a nightmare on the couch in the common room the other day. She had seen it when he had rushed up the stairs to see if she was okay last night. She knew by the way he had kissed her yesterday when he had woken from his nightmare. He really did love her, just like Harry said. But she couldn't break down the last little bit holding her back, to tell him.

"Why tell him now? He's still dealing with the war." She muttered out loud to herself. She wanted to tell him. But she couldn't get herself to do it until she knew he was in the here and now and not still back in the war.

Suddenly Hermione felt something slide down her cheek. She reached up and realized she had started to cry.

"Oh god, look at me. I'm falling to pieces again." She whispered to herself. She didn't want to cry, she didn't want to think through the whole Ron ordeal again.

She took a deep breath and looked down at the book. "Maybe there is something in here to help decipher what my last dream meant." She mumbled to herself as she leaned over the book. She flipped through the pages to find the introduction. Finally she flipped to chapter 5, Interpreting the pieces.

She began to read through the chapter, following instructions here and there. Finally it asked her to write out her dream. At that, she stopped. She looked up and around the library. She swallowed and bit her lip. She didn't think she could relive her dream. She didn't want to think about it again. Ever again if she could help it.

She delayed as long as she could but finally she picked up a quill and a spare piece of parchment and began to write. As she relived the tea party, the dark clouds, the appearance of the Dark Lord, Ginny and Harry being killed, watching Ron die right in front of her eyes, Voldemort's words, and actions, she began to weep. She couldn't stop the tears as she couldn't stop the visions passing in front of her mind's eye.

Finally Hermione couldn't take it anymore. With tears running down her cheeks, she pushed the chair out of her way and rushed out of the library. She ran to the entrance hall and rushed out into the coming night, with only her light school robes to keep her warm.

Around seven, Harry, Ginny and Ron headed for the great hall for dinner. When they walked in, Harry noticed that Hermione was not there waiting for them.

"I wonder what happened to Hermione. Maybe someone should go look for her." Harry said as the trio walked to their usual spot along the Gryffindor table.

"I think I heard her say something about going to the library earlier." Ginny interjected as she took a seat. She looked directly around at Ron with a look that said 'you should go find her'.

Ron took a deep breath. "I'll go see if I can find her." He said and headed back toward the door they had just entered.

He entered the library a few minutes later and began to walk between the shelves.

"Hermione?" he asked in a whisper. No response came. "Hermione?"

Finally he came across the open book, parchment and quill. He recognized the handwriting as Hermione's and couldn't help but pick up the paper. As he read, his eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped.

"No wonder she can't sleep." He muttered when he finished. He shook his head, feeling dreadful for Hermione. He knew his nightmares were horrible but he was at least able to block them from his mind when he was awake. Hers seemed to disturb her day and night.

"Poor Hermione," he whispered looking down at the paper again. He felt his stomach tighten as he took another look at what she had written. Her dreams were exactly like his. Ron looked up suddenly and glanced around. He had gotten a sudden feeling that someone ways watching him. At that point, he folded up the piece of parchment and shoved it into his pocket. He strolled to the door and headed back to the great hall.

When he reached the Great Hall, he found Hermione sitting across from Harry. He went over and sat down next to her, giving her a smile. "How was your afternoon?" he asked as he helped himself to some boiled potatoes.

She looked over at him. "It was okay," she replied. "How was your afternoon?"

"It was okay, nothing too interesting. No nightmares so far. That's a good thing." He said with a smile. "You?"

Hermione smiled in return. "None so far," she responded, passing him the green beans.

He smiled again. "Well may they continue to stay away," he wished as he began to eat.

AN: Chapter edited 6-10-07