Hey everyone! I finally got up chapter twenty! YEA! I'm so sorry it took so long, but I had some problems writing this chapter - I ended up with a small case of writer's block. Plus, once I finally did have my breakthrough, I was super busy studying for Economics, so it wasn't until last night that I finally got the chance to finish writing it. I was going to post it then, but it was getting late, so I figured I'd just put it up today, and here it is!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or his world. I'm just here to experiment and mess around and have fun and play! :)
xoRetributionox: Thank you! Yeah, it's about time they finally figured out their true feelings right? :)
Ks21178: Thanks! Yeah, I think the whole enemies falling for each other thing is addictive in a way...:)
Loslote: Thank you so much! Haha, I agree, Draco's pretty awesome when he's being nice :)
sappheiros: Thank you very much! Oh, there will definitely be more to come, and yes, you're right - Hermione's and Draco's confessions are definitely not the end of it! Thanks, I'm glad I got the Yule Ball dream/scene down okay :)
Torch-SherlockWho-Wood: Thank you for reviewing! Haha, I'm glad you're excited! :)
Ginnyx34eva: Thank you! I'm glad you were anticipating the confession! :)
The Scratch Man: Thank you for reviewing! Sorry it took me so long to update, but here it is! :)
Ethereal Thoughts: Thank you! I would still love a beta! But where should I e-mail you? I think maybe my e-mail's acting up, I don't think I got your entire message. Could you PM me or something? Thank you! I'm trying to keep their growing friendship/relationship at a natural, steady pace :)
somegirl21: Thank you very much! Here it is! :)
LoonyMoony1396: Thank you! Yeah, sorry about that, this one's short as well :( Anyway, thanks! :)
OBLuvr13: Thank you! Yeah, it took them forever! :)
Oh my gosh! I just checked the number of reviews for this story I've gotten so far, and there's ONE-HUNDRED EVEN! SO THANK YOU EVERYONE SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING, IT MEANS SO MUCH! YOU ARE ALL FANTASTIC! :) 3
And of course, to everyone who has story alerted or favorited this story, THANK YOU! YOU ARE ALL AMAZING! :) 3
Also, to everyone who has taken the time to read this story! YOU ARE ALL AWESOME! :) 3
Chapter Twenty – Really Adds to the Creepy Factor
Ginny dropped her head into her hands. "I think I'm going to need a therapist to get past that last sentence," she groaned.
"I'm sorry," Hermione apologized in a small voice.
"Don't be," Ginny advised her, lifting her head up so that she could meet Hermione's eyes. "I knew you had a crush on Draco, it was so obvious! You two enjoyed bickering way too much."
"But what does that have to with anything?" Hermione demanded, frowning a bit.
"Sexual tension, my dear friend. You two have way too much. No wonder you two can't get along to save your lives. The tension is so thick you could probably cut it with the sword of Gryffindor."
"Okay, that is a huge exaggeration," Hermione insisted. "It's not that bad."
"Oh please, you should have seen you two when Harry and I opened the door to the bathroom."
"We were actually enjoying hanging out with each other!"
"Because you were with each other."
"So? I like being with Harry, and I like being with you."
"Yes, but you like being with Draco in a – ahem – romantic way."
"Why are we even arguing about this? This is stupid. I have a crush on Draco Malfoy, that's all. Nothing else to it."
"Ah, and we're back to the stage of denial."
"Ginny, if you keep that up – !"
"Or you'll what? Hmmm? What exactly are you gonna do?"
Hermione groaned, and then got to her feet and stomped into the tent. She found Harry and Draco in the middle of the tent, talking.
"Your girlfriend's driving me crazy," she informed Harry. "She's out of her freaking mind."
Draco snorted. "I could have told you that when she first got off the Hogwarts Express."
"Hey!" Harry protested. "She is not – I mean – oh forget it!" and he threw his hands up and marched out of the tent to sit guard with Ginny.
"So," Draco said, turning to Hermione. "Why is Ginny driving you crazy?"
"What? Oh, no reason, just, you know, being herself I guess…" Hermione let her voice fade out, before jerking her thumb in the direction of the kitchenette. "I'm starving? Are you hungry?"
"Famished," Draco answered automatically, shocked by the sudden directional change of the conversation.
"I'll make eggs," Hermione volunteered, already backing away towards the stove. "What kind do you want?"
"Scrambled I guess, preferably still a bit runny."
"And what do you say?"
Draco frowned, his brow furrowing as he struggled to come up with the right answer. "Please?"
Hermione smirked at him before cracking an egg into a bowl. "I knew there was hope for you."
He stuck his tongue out at her and she giggled.
"So seriously," Draco continued on. "Why is Ginny driving you crazy?"
"Does it even matter?" She pulled a frying pan out of the cabinet to the side of the stove and placed it on the stove, lighting the burner with her wand.
"No, but now I'm curious, and I won't stop pestering you until I get the answer. And you know how annoying I can be. We're talking endless hours of Norma Jean blasting out of the laptop with no headphones."
So she was faced with an ultimatum: Possible complete humiliation, or bleeding eardrums…
"She just has this absolutely insane idea that you and I – I mean – that we – you know – have sexual tension."
As nonchalantly as she could, she poured the eggs into the frying pan and began stirring them.
Draco's jaw dropped. "She does huh?"
Hermione could feel her face heating up. "Crazy, I know."
"Well, maybe not quite that – "
"I'VE GOT IT!" Harry's voice erupted from outside the tent.
He came dashing into the tent, Ginny right behind him, a bewildered expression on her face.
"You've got what?" Hermione asked, startled, spatula an inch away from the eggs in the pan.
"Instead of trying to figure out a new way to kill the horcrux, why don't we just go with the original way?"
"Maybe you hit your head or something, because you're obviously forgetting something extremely important – we no longer have the sword. So unless you want to steal it back – " Hermione's voice trailed off as Harry nodded eagerly, his emerald green eyes glinting with excitement.
"No! Absolutely not! Are you as crazy as your girlfriend?"
"Hey!" Ginny protested, glaring at Hermione, but the other girl ignored her.
"Harry, we don't even know which goblin has the sword! Do you really want to raid every goblin's home in Great Britain?"
"Well, it's easy enough to figure out," Harry said, sliding onto a stool and folding his hands patiently on the counter. "I imagine whichever goblin family crafted the original sword is the one that the sword is with now."
"Yes, but therein lies the problem Harry – we don't know which goblin family it is."
"No, we actually do! Don't you remember what Griphook told us when we were making the deal with him to break into the Lestrange's vault?"
Hermione shook her head, and Harry gaped at her in astonishment.
"This has to be recorded somehow or other – for the first time in living history, Hermione Granger doesn't remember the answer to a question!"
"Just tell us the freaking name!"
"Okay, okay, keep your hairnet on – "
"I don't wear a hairnet!"
"It's a saying!"
"And a really stupid one!"
"It's better than the one about keeping your pants on!"
"WHAT'S THE DAMN NAME?"
"RAGNUK THE FIRST!"
"NOW WAS THAT SO HARD?"
"STOP YELLING!"
"ONLY WHEN YOU STOP!"
"FINE! I'VE STOPPED!"
"NO YOU HAVEN'T!"
"WELL, NEITHER HAVE YOU!"
"AAAAAGH! YOU'RE AS INSUFFERABLE AS RON IS, YOU KNOW THAT HARRY?"
Draco leaned over towards Ginny. "And here I thought I was the only one who could drive her crazy."
Ginny smirked. "Believe me Draco, when it comes to Hermione, it's a short drive. Incase you didn't notice earlier, I managed to drive her up the wall."
"Yeah, about that – why did you say we have sexual tension?"
Ginny shrugged, eyes on Harry and Hermione as they continued to yell at each other about who was yelling at who. "Because you do."
"No we don't!"
"Yes you do! You're just too bone-headed to see it."
"Hey!"
"Well it's true."
"No it's not!"
"Oh puh-leeze, it's so obvious. You two are anything but subtle."
Draco made a face. "Hermione's right – you are crazy."
Ginny grinned. "Ah, but that's why you guys love me so much!" and she pranced right in-between where Hermione and Harry were now standing face to face in the kitchen, screaming bloody murder at each other, while the eggs slowly turned to charcoal.
She cupped her hands around her mouth and hollered, "SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!"
They both stopped in the middle of mid-yell and turned to look at her. She smiled sweetly at them and propped herself up onto the counter. "Thank you. By the way, I don't think the eggs are any longer edible."
Hermione turned to the burner and swore. She pulled her wand back out and began muttering spells, transfiguring the eggs back into something that people might actually want to eat.
"So," Harry said as they all dug into their eggs, "what we need to do is locate where the current Ragnuk family is living – "
"And break into their house while they're asleep, make a quick search, find the sword, steal the sword, get ourselves caught, and then make a hasty escape and hope they're not in contact with the
Ministry of Magic, and that they don't have any anti-thief spells on the sword," Hermione proclaimed with an eye roll.
"You complicate things, you know that?" Harry informed her, pointing a forkful of egg at her.
"No, I'm just realistic. Face it Harry, your plan has flaws."
"Which is why we need to talk it out and figure out how to carry it out so that we don't have to worry about those flaws."
"And yet no matter what, every time we have a plan and we work it out, no matter how carefully or thoroughly, something always goes wrong. Remember the Ministry of Magic? Remember Godric's Hollow? Xenophilius Lovegood? How about Gringotts? The cave? Or better yet, Little Hangleton? Don't you get it Harry? No matter what we do to prevent things from going wrong, something always gets messed up."
"Hey, things weren't that bad with the cave," Harry said defensively.
"Are you effing kidding me? Do you not remember what happened to Draco?"
"But that was the worst of it! And he recovered within a few hours. I mean, I'm sorry that happened to him, but it could have been so much worse!"
"Yeah, but think about it Harry! That was the least damaging! Every other time we either almost died or got caught, or both!"
"So you're saying we shouldn't take risks because things probably won't go the way we hope they will?"
"I – " he had her there. "I'm just tired of our lives always being put on the line."
"And you don't think I'm not?" he roared. "Hermione, I would dearly love it if we could just forget about the horcruxes, if we could just head to some sunny, tropical island resort where no one knows or gives a damn about who we are, if we could just stay there for the rest of our lives! But we can't! We're the resistance, the only ones who know how to defeat him, how to stop him from taking over the world and killing anyone who stands up to him!"
"I know that! But – the sacrifices – they need to stop!"
Harry sighed and got off his stool to walk over to Hermione. He put his arms around her and she leaned into him.
"They will. Ron will be the last one of the Order of the Phoenix, the last one of our friends, to be attacked. We're going to make sure of it."
Hermione nodded, and pulled away from him.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice thick and wobbly with suppressed tears. "I've been really emotional lately, I don't know why."
"PMS?" Draco cracked, and Ginny slapped him around the back of the head.
"Hey!"
"It's been since we were at Tonks and Lupin's," Harry said slowly. "That must have set you off, with the reminder of Ron hanging around them."
"I'll try to get myself under control," Hermione promised. "I can't handle being so emotional. It's like I'm a freaking Pisces (A/N: Haha, I'm a Pisces!) or something!"
"Yeah, it's like you're Ron," Ginny said with a smirk. "Except, you know, you don't eat five times your weight in food at every meal."
Hermione smiled weakly. "Yeah, thank heavens for that."
Draco shook his head. "We're all acting completely out of character. It must have something to do with being on the run and all the added stress and tension."
Ginny snickered into her fist, and both Hermione and Draco glowered at her.
"Not sexual tension," Draco snapped at her. "The tension of being chased and almost getting caught by evil people who think that a tattoo of a skull with a snake is the perfect accessory."
"Well," Hermione said, smirking a bit, "it does go well with those long black robes and the masks, really adds to the creepy factor."
"Yeah," Draco agreed. "They are a perfect example of what not to wear – oh shit! I used to be one of those people!"
The others all burst out into laughter, and for just a few moments, the tension and stress eased into relaxation.
Sorry it was another short chapter everyone! And I'm also sorry there wasn't a lot of Dramione in it, it was a bit of a filler :(
Anyway, for those who didn't catch the reference to Pisces, it's a zodiac sign for people born between February 20th and March 20th, and a lot of times they're more sensitive than other people, which is what Hermione was referring to.
I also wasn't planning on having Hermione have ANOTHER breakdown, but it keeps happening! Grrr...I swear, I have no control over these characters, they're too stubborn and independent for their own good...:|
Hopefully the next chapter will be a little more interesting! :)
So let me know what you all think of this chapter, because I love getting and recieving reviews!
Oh, and although most of you guys will probably never see it, thank you to everyone who story alerted and favorited and favorite author-ed my Harry/Ginny Ron/Hermione one-short "Quidditch Love"!
Lots and lots of love!
Science-Fantasy93 ;)