"You're watching me again." Hermione commented without raising her eyes. I grinned embarrassedly, nodding my head. I'd been caught.
It was really late, at least eleven. Hermione was sitting at her favorite couch, her books spread out on the table in front of her as she caught up on her homework. I was sitting on the floor across from her, working on some equations for our fever fudge. I couldn't focus on my work though, my eyes kept drifting back to her. I was still feeling on edge from this afternoon, and honestly, I was feeling vulnerable. I mean, I'm not the most attractive guy in the world, I have no money, and I'm not incredibly clever. My sense of humor is my best attribute, and that goes over the top at times.
Hermione was being pursued by someone who was extremely handsome, painfully rich, rather smart, and unbelievable famous. She pretty much had a guy that any girl would kill to have, mooning over her. I really couldn't compete with him, and I was scared she'd go for him. I was scared she'd wake up at some moment, look over at me and go 'why am I with this guy when I could have him?'
I really needed to get some sleep. I was being silly, I know, but I couldn't help it. I was nervous and angry and extremely jealous.
"Why do you keep watching me?" She asked, raising her eyes this time and capturing mine with hers.
"I like to watch you." I said simply, studying her. She grinned softly before biting her bottom lip in a slightly self conscious way.
"You do?"
"Yes." I said, studying her again.
"I can't be all that interesting." She countered. I sat up and leaned forward on my knees so I was leaning over the table, closer to her.
"Ah contraire, mademoiselle." I said with a slight French accent. She grinned softly, her eyes still locked on mine, a slightly vulnerable look in their brown depths. "You are quite interesting, and beautiful." I said, whispering the last words.
"George," she started. I stopped her with a finger to the lip.
"No, I mean it, Hermione." I said, standing up and walking around the table until I was sitting next to her. "I like watching you." I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, brushing her cheek as I brought my hand back around.
"I like watching you as well." She said softly, blushing at her statement. I grinned at her, feeling oddly relieved. She lowered her eyes and fidgeted with her hands awkwardly. "George?" She asked.
"Yes?" I encouraged, grasping her hand.
"Would you mind… I mean, could I…" She trailed off again, looking unsure how to pose her question.
"Just spit it out, Hermione. You know I'm not particularly gifted at mind reading." She blushed even more brightly, glancing around the nearly empty Common Room.
"Could I lean against you?" I grinned excitedly, holding my arms open and swinging my legs off the couch so that she could move closer to me. She did after a moment, settling into my arms with a satisfied sigh. I tightened my grip on her and couldn't stop my grin as she leaned back into me. Even though we'd been dating for over two months she was still shy about touching, seeming un sure as to what I would be okay with. I think she wasn't getting the fact that I was a guy and I thrived on touching. I was slowly getting her to realize it though.
She opened her book again, one on charms, and started to flip through the pages again. I found myself reading the book with her, and it was actually fun. I was enjoying reading with Hermione. Funny enough, but moments like these were becoming my absolute favorite times. Not our dates, just moments like these. Peaceful, calm, fun, almost perfect. It seemed like there was no one else in the world but us two. We read for a while longer until we were the only ones in the common room. Hermione hadn't stirred for a while, and I realized with a start that she was asleep. She'd fallen asleep in my arms.
I grinned at her, gently brushing her hair aside before closing my own eyes and following her into the peaceful oblivion of sleep.
For the first time in a long while, I wasn't even slightly worried about Krum.
-o-O-o-
We are halfway through March! Fifteen more days and Fred and I will be of age. Watch out world, we will be allowed to do magic anywhere anytime!
On a side note, I still haven't managed to complete my plan to get Krum back. The Bulgarian has started to avoid me for some reason, maybe he finally got a hold of some brains.
Fred and I made our way to the Gryffindor table and settled down next to Hermione and Lee. She gave me a quick side hug as I sat, which I returned with a kiss to the top of her head.
"Morning, love." I said, grabbing myself a sausage and egg.
"Good morning to you, as well." She replied, grabbing my hand under the table and giving it a little squeeze. I smiled at the action before tucking into my breakfast. Hermione was officially getting comfortable with touching me, she would initiate hugs, initiate kisses, and even lean into me when I was sitting on the couch. I was slowly dragging her out of her shy shell, and it was going to be pure bliss once I finally had her out.
"Oh good, the mails here!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly, pointing towards a great gray owl that was heading towards us.
"Expecting a letter?" I asked with a small grin, feeling only slightly worried. She was working on her shyness, I was working on my jealously.
"No, it's not that," She said, her eyes on the gray owl, "I've taken out a subscription to the Daily Prophet. I'm getting sick of finding everything out from the Slytherins."
"Good thinking!" Harry said, dropping his fork and looking up at the owls. "Hey, Hermione, I think you're in luck -" The gray owl was soaring down towards Hermione but he wasn't carrying the Prophet.
"It hasn't got a newspaper, though," she said, looking thoroughly disappointed. "It's -"
The owl landed on her plate anyway, along with six others. Who was writing to her and since when had she gotten so popular? Who was I kidding, she'd been annoyingly popular all year. The question was, who was writing her instead of just coming up and talking to her?
"How many subscriptions did you take out?" Harry asked, catching her goblet before it was knocked over by the cluster of owls, all of whom were jostling closer to her, trying to deliver their own letter first. I swallowed my bite of egg and looked over at her expectantly.
"What on earth - ?" she said, taking the letter from the gray owl, opening it, and starting to read. "Oh really!" She sputtered, turning red and looking horrified.
"What is?" I asked, feeling extremely worried now. Tears were threatening to fill her eyes as she read the letter.
"It's - oh how ridiculous -" She thrust the letter at me and I picked it up. It looked like a ransom note or something, all the words were cut out from the Prophet. It was creepy enough by it's self, but the message made my blood boil.
YOU'RE A WICKED GIRL. HARRY POTTER DESERVES BETTER. GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM MUGGLE.
"They're all like it!" She exclaimed as I finished the letter. "'Harry Potter can do much better than the likes of you. . . .' 'You deserve to be boiled in frog spawn. . . .' Ouch!"
She had just opened a yellow envelope, and a greenish pus poured out of it, covering her hands which erupted into large yellow boils. I recognized the substance in an instance, being a prankster. Apparently Ron did as well.
"Undiluted bubotuber pus!" He gasped, picking up the envelope gingerly and sniffing it. I had turned towards Hermione in horror and was trying to get the pus off her fingers with my napkin, but her poor little hands were covered in so many sores that I couldn't touch her without hurting her. Fury began to fill me as my eyes shot back to the unmarked envelope.
"Grab that, Fred." I told him, standing up and helping Hermione out of the bench. "We're going to the hospital wing." I turned towards Harry once I had Hermione free of the bench. "Tell Sprout what happened, she'll give her the day."
I turned back towards Hermione and wrapped my arm around her shoulders before helping her run out of the hall. I didn't give her a chance to object, just taking her out and away. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and rage had tied my stomach up in an extremely unhappy knot. I hope Fred had gotten my message and kept that envelope. I was going to but a back tracing charm on it and find out just who had sent it. They were going to be getting a taste of their own medicine along with a letter telling the truth. Very rarely in my life had I wanted to hurt someone as much as I wanted to hurt whoever had just sent that letter.
My list of people to get back was getting rather long.
-o-O-o-
"Hermione? Are you alright?" I asked, sneaking around the curtain that was blocking her bed. Pomfrey had kicked me out of the hospital the minute I'd brought Hermione. She'd ushered her away and towards this spot. I'd waited exactly ten minutes, and then I snuck back in.
Pomfrey would kick me away if she found me in here, but no way I was leaving Hermione alone.
"I'm fine George." She said quietly, her voice still thick from crying. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, her back to me. Her soft curls were hanging down her back, and her thin shoulders were barely showing through them. She made no move to turn around and face me.
I moved around the bed, and bit back a gasp as I saw what was going on. She had her hands in a bowl of brown goo, and her sore covered hands were bleeding profusely into the bowl. Her face was covered in tears and she was nearly shaking from the force of them. I sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling like someone had just dropped a stone into my stomach.
"Oh, Hermione." I breathed out, dropping down next to her and wrapping my arm around her shoulder. She turned her head towards me, tears staring to spill out of her eyes again and she pressed her face into my shoulder, tears freely falling as she wept against me.
"Alright Miss Granger. That should be long enough-what are you doing here?" Pomfrey's voice came behind us, but I didn't move. I heard her make a disgruntled 'hrumph' but then she heard Hermione.
"I'll just take that bowl." She said quietly, leaving us alone. Hermione wrapped her arms around me, crying even harder as I held her tighter.
"I'm scared." She whimpered, mumbling the words into my robe. I stroked her hair, feeling even angrier. "I'm scared to open my mail."
"Then let me." I said quickly, lifting her chin up quickly. "I'll do it for you."
She froze, tears still falling down her cheeks as she looked at me with large, surprised eyes. "You-you'd do that for me?" She questioned. I nodded my head, feeling self conscious, would she get mad? I'd only meant be nice, to be helpful.
She pressed a hard kiss to my lips, making me forget my own name, let alone that fear.
She pulled away after a moment though and grabbed me back in a hug. "You don't have to, George."
"I know," I said, coming back to earth slowly and raising my arms to hold her again, "but I want to."
-o-O-o-
"No, no! It's supposed to be five tendrils of Venitain Homocus!" Fred shouted behind me. I turned in time to see him throw his body over the top of his cauldron protectively, blocking Lee from dropping his ingredient in. Lee sent Fred a fierce scowl and shook his head.
"This is Venetian Homocus!" He exclaimed, trying to pry Fred off the cauldron so he could see the pink spotted leaves.
"But that's the new born stuff." Fred stated, still blocking the cauldron.
"Am I going to have to separate you two?" I asked, smacking my chalk against my hand in a disapproving manor like Binnis always did. Fred and Lee both looked up, smiling slightly sheepishly.
"No," Lee apologized, straightening up and setting the rejected plant aside.
"It was his fault again." Fred insisted, sitting up and dusting off his robes. Lee stuck his tongue out at my twin.
"Was not."
"Was too."
"No, I gotta go with Lee on this one Fred. You didn't specify the age of the plant." I cut in, turning back to the board.
"Really?" Fred asked, sounding surprised. "My mistake then. Get me some old Venitain Homocus." Lee nodded his head, grinning.
"It will be my pleasure." He said with an exaggerated bow. He turned back to our stock and grabbed an older version of the plant, pulling off five tendrils."Will this suffice?"
"Yes." Fred said in a pompous voice that reminded me so much of Percy I couldn't help but laugh at the sound of it.
"You both are mental." I said, finishing up my equation for the fever fudge.
"And proud of it!" Fred and Lee said together. I grinned at them over my shoulder before turning back to my board. I had a half hour before Hermione would be finished with Arithmancy, and then I'd probably hang out with her while I did some more research on the daydream charms.
"Is it boiling yet?" Lee questioned, settling down on the ground beside Fred with a somewhat bored expression.
"No."
"You know the saying, a watched cauldron never boils." I said, smirking. "While you're waiting, why don't you finish up that batch of Ton Tongue Toffee's?" Lee made a face and shook his head. He couldn't stand toffee's.
"Don't you have a date with Hermione?" He asked, probably hoping I would change my mind. I checked the clock and grinned. If I left now I could probably find them heading back to the common room..
"Yes, I do, but you have a date with those toffee's." I said, tossing my chalk onto the board and heading for the exit.
"The water's boiling!" Fred exclaimed as I left.
I ran down the hall, excitement filling me at the thought of spending the day with Hermione. I passed the third floor corridor, where her class was, and I saw the Trio walking in front of me. I ran up behind them, catching drift of their conversation.
"Aren't you two ever going to read Hogwarts, A History?" Hermione asked sounding exasperated.
"What's the point?" Ron asked. "You know it by heart, we can just ask you."
"All those substitutes for magic Muggles use - electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things -they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's too much magic in the air. No, Rita's using magic to eavesdrop, she must be. ... If I could just find out what it is ... ooh, if it's illegal, I'll have her ..."
"Haven't we got enough to worry about?" Ron asked her. "Do we have to start a vendetta against Rita Skeeter as well?"
"I'm not asking you to help!" Hermione snapped. "I'll do it on my own!" She marched past them angrily, headed towards the marble staircase that led to the library.
I ran past them, ignoring their yells, and headed after Hermione. They didn't get why she was so mad. Harry might have, but Ron couldn't. He hadn't had all those lies told about him, he hadn't had his hands wrapped in so many bandages that he couldn't move his fingers. He hadn't had to be scared to look at his mail, let alone actually open it.
I ran up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time in my haste to catch up to her. I managed to reach her just before she reached the library.
"Hermione!" I called, skidding to a stop beside her and breathing a little heavily. She turned towards me with a frown until she saw it was me.
"George?" She asked, sounding slightly worried.
"I saw you running this way and wanted to ask if I could join you." I said, catching my breath again. she smiled softly at me and nodded her head.
"If you don't mind hanging out with someone who is apparently too stupid to leave well enough alone." She said bitterly.
"I've never left well enough alone, love." I said with a mischievous grin. She grinned at me, looking happier and straightened up.
"Then you're just what I need."
I followed her into the library with a big grin, not caring that I was voluntarily going into this room again. I'd practically just spent the last month of my life here, and Hermione was already coming back for more. It was one of the reasons I liked her though. She liked what she liked and she went with it regardless of how others took it. (An example would be SPEW-an organization I'm now part of. She asked me to join after we made up from our fight. I was a little fuzzy minded from the intense snogging session we'd just had, so I'd said yes without much thought.)
I sat next to her and opened my notebook and the charm book that I'd found the dream charm in. I grabbed a self inking quill out of my bag (something Fred and I had made during a long history of magic lecture.) and began to go over the spell again. I took it apart to its basic pieces, putting them through several formulas to see how it worked. I was trying to decide if it would be possible to make it into a potion that we could turn into a candy, or if it would be something we'd need to make a candy for, and then charm to do what we wanted. I was leaning towards charming it right now, but I needed to do some more research to be sure.
This was the boring part of inventing, but it was necessary. However, it was much more fun when I was sitting next to a particularly hot witch that had her hand on mine and was stroking her thumb against the back of my hand in a way that was maddeningly innocent. She had no idea of the affect she could have on me. She didn't realize how hard I had to hold myself back sometimes not to completely ravish her beautiful body.
I wasn't even sure she knew about all of that, she was only fifteen after all…
I shifted around in my seat, uncomfortably warm as those kinds of images filled my mind. Images of a hot and sweaty nature, Hermione, myself, an abandoned broom closet…
"George? You feeling alright?" Hermione's soft voice drew me back to reality, and to the fact that I was grasping her hand more firmly in my own. Merlin, that could have been embarrassing. Thank Godric I wasn't prone to talking in my daydreams.
"I'm fine, Love." I said with a smile. She looked at me suspiciously so I turned in my seat to grab at my bag. I pulled a bottle of water out of it in hopes that I could cool myself down.
"George," A voice I hadn't heard in a while sounded behind me and I jumped, tensing up and turning around with a very disapproving frown, gripping Hermione's hand tighter.
"Yes, Katie?"
"I wanted to apologize for everything I did back at Christmas." She said, stepping closer to me. Her eyes shot to Hermione and narrowed briefly before they turned back to me. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
I blinked at her, feeling stiff and extremely uncomfortable. I had already been uncomfortable from how in to my daydream about Hermione I had gotten into, but that discomfort completely faded at the sight of Katie. She was still scary. She hadn't said anything to me since the Yule ball, but she hadn't stopped watching me. She just did it quietly now, which honestly was even more unnerving.
"Umm, sure Katie. As long as you've accepted the fact that it's Hermione that I'm dating." She cringed at my words but nodded her head slowly, seeming unwilling to admit that I was dating Hermione.
"Alright, I'll see you later, George." With those words she turned around and headed back down the aisle, leaving me and Hermione alone again.
"Well that was weird." I said with a frown. Hermione nodded her agreement, frowning fiercely at Katie's retreating back. I took a sip of my water without a thought and froze as the cool liquid hit the back of my throat. There was something not quite right with the flavor. I turned towards Hermione with wide eyes, intending on telling her to get Fred, but my thoughts grew fuzzy and I couldn't move as the world around me faded away.
A/N: Thansk for reading, and remember, reviews are love so don't forget to leave one! :D