Chapter 29

Slughorn's Memory part 1

While Harry was in Dumbledore's office, the tension at the table where Hermione, Ginny and Ron sat was extremely heavy. Ron couldn't prevent his hand from resting on Hermione's lap after finishing with his breakfast.

Ginny who was looking intently at them, couldn't stand it much longer as her feelings towards them weren't precisely friendly, so she decided to leave them with the excuse that she was extremely tired and that she was going to bed.

She headed towards her dorm and halfway there, Professor McGonagall appeared to inform her that her things had been placed in the Sixth years' Girl Dormitories for the duration of the holidays for her safety and that she would be able to move to her dorm afterwards.

This news had a terrible effect on Ginny. As if in a trance, she thanked the Head House Mistress and went to her new room, a shared room with Hermione. It was only after she had entered the room and closed the door behind her, that the realisation of everything that happened until now hit her hard.

For the first time, after so many times when she had wished to be near Hermione, she didn't want to stay nor could she bear to be in the same room as her. Hermione was still the love of her life but she was with Ron, her bloody brother Ron, who had stolen the only woman she had ever loved from her. She was so pissed with Ron that she could barely stand it; she wanted to punch him as if he were a useless bag of potatoes.

Her eyes were filled with tears, her face was red as a tomato and her fists were balled up so tight that were turning purple. Crying loudly, she let herself fall to the floor on her knees and cried there for what seemed hours to her.

Hermione had said good night to Ron and was arriving to her dorm door when she heard Ginny crying from behind the door. Her heart beat speeded just thinking that Ginny was there, she knew that something was wrong with Ginny, so she entered the room, and the sight left her speechless. She couldn't stand to see Ginny crying, and her instinct took over, making her run towards the crying girl and holding her to comfort her. When Ginny realized who was holding her, she resisted a bit, finally surrendering to Hermione's warmness.

Hermione kissed Ginny on the top of her head, smelling in the process Ginny's citric shampoo, a mix of lemon and grass. The closeness to Ginny, her smell, everything about her was making Hermione crazy…

The feelings that she had for her were emerging and she couldn't control herself any longer. Gently, she took Ginny's face in her hands. In that instance, their eyes locked and Hermione painfully and slowly, moved towards Ginny and kissed her tenderly on the lips. Hermione felt as if her heart would pour out of her chest, the feeling of Ginny's soft lips against her own were a lethal but sweet drug. She wanted more, she needed more and she prayed silently to every god that Ginny would return the kiss.

As if hearing her, Ginny kissed her back, but she wasn't satisfied with simply placing her lips against Hermione's. She deepened the kiss, pouring in it her heart and soul. Their hearts were speaking for them, neither wanting to release the other for they knew in their subconscious that they would be separated again by real life.

The need for air was much heavier than their desire and made them separate. Breathing heavily, they looked at one another as if for the first time. Ginny, entranced by Hermione's beauty and what she had made her feel, felt compelled to get close to Hermione, inch by inch closer to her lips. She kissed Hermione once more but the kiss didn't last long as Hermione pulled away.

Hermione's mind, momentarily relaxed and soothed by the kiss...sped up. Her body and heart longed to continue kissing Ginny and to touch her skin. She wanted it so much, yet her rational mind told her that this wasn't right, that this wasn't the time to take matters further. Her heart told her otherwise though; it urged her to give Ginny the love she felt.

Yet mind ruled over heart, and Hermione reprimanded herself silently. She whispered, "I'm sorry, Gin… I can't."

With renewed tears on her eyes, Ginny asked Hermione, "Why?"

"Because this is not right, Ginny. I'm with Ron," Hermione answered, her cool face in place.

Ginny's heart was breaking once again into million pieces, and her aching heart made all the talking that was needed, "Why did you have to chose him, Hermione? Have you forgotten the Christmas party? Oh right, you don't remember it. Let me refresh your memory…"

"You came to me that night, complaining to me about spending my time with lots of girls, other than you, and then, you pinched me to the wall and kissed me on the lips and proclaimed your love for me to the Hogwarts' walls. You said you loved me Hermione… and right now, you said it, not with words; your body said it to me… Why? Why to choose my brother over me instead of saying what you well know you feel for me?"

"Ginny… please, stop. I can't…" Hermione said, she paused momentarily, several tears threatening to come out of her eyes. She ran towards the door, opened it and shut it very fast. Then, she stood there and let her tears flow, allowing her sadness to show. On the other side of the door, Ginny stood, broken hearted once more by the woman she loved.

Still crying, Hermione went to the Library to distract herself from what happened. She took down a random book and set it on the table and started reading but her aching heart didn't allow her to concentrate on the text before her. Instead, her mind was conjuring images of kissing Ginny, and those fateful words resonating like an echo.

Harry appeared in that moment and seeing Hermione crying went towards her and rested his hand on Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione turned and saw Harry, "Oh, It's you," she said, drying some of her tears.

"Is everything ok between Ron and you? Should I go and kill him?" Harry asked.

Hermione said seriously, "Things with Ron are fine, Harry. I really don't want to talk about it right now." Changing the subject, she added, "How was your lesson with Dumbledore?"

"My lesson with him was all right. This time, he not only showed me a couple of memories but asked me to get him a memory from Slughorn." Harry said, and told her everything that he had seen and heard, recalling in even the smallest details.

"Horcruxes you say? I've never heard of them."

"You haven't?" Harry asked her a bit disappointed that her best friend, known to know everything didn't know this and therefore couldn't give him a hint as to the meaning of Horcruxes.

"My guess is that is probably a spell of some sort, very advanced and dark magic. That's the only reason I can think of for Voldemort wanting to know about it. It is indeed a very important memory and so it will be hard for you to get it from Slughorn, Harry. You should be very cautious and plan your approach to the matter carefully," Hermione advised Harry before heading to their dormitories.

Hermione crossed the girl dormitories door after saying good night to Harry, closed the door and stood motionless for a couple of seconds. When she moved, she headed towards Ginny and her shared room and stood frozen for a few more seconds, thinking about what she could expect to find inside. Then, sighing audibly to try and summon bravery, she stepped inside.

When she entered the room everything was dark and quiet. Ginny's bed curtains were drawn and apparently she was sleeping, so Hermione headed to her bed, removed her clothing, put the pyjamas on and got in bed, falling asleep instantly.

The next morning, Hermione woke up at 8:00 am with a jolt. Tears rested in her eyes from the nightmare; Ginny had been murdered by a Death Eater in front of her. She looked around, her eyes diverted towards Ginny's bed.

Crepting out of bed, she made her way towards Ginny, opened the drapes from one side, slowly and carefully to not wake Ginny just in case. She looked inside and saw her sleeping peacefully. Her face didn't show any sign of her crying from the previous night. Hermione couldn't help look at the woman she loved: She looked so beautiful with her hair loose like that; her pearled skin, full with freckles, the marvellous features of her nose, her lips…

Hermione's gaze fixed on Ginny's lips… remembering how good they had felt against her own, the warmness that they had provided. This image was so vivid on her mind that made her became aroused. Her blood was boiling inside, and she started feeling things that she had only experienced when she had been in bed, thinking of Ginny.

She shook the thought off her mind by shaking her head vigorously from side to side. Silently closed the drape and went to the bathroom to take a much needed cold shower. Then, she head back to retrieve her clothes for the day, got dressed and went to get breakfast.

When she entered the Great Hall, she saw that most of the tables were set aside and in the centre were some golden hoops that caught her attention momentarily. She sat down on the table next to Ron and Harry who were already on the table and were enjoying their food.

"What are those huge gold hoops for?" Hermione asked.

"We don't have a clue, Hermione, we thought that you might have an answer for that." answered Harry.

A few minutes later, McGonagall and Dumbledore appeared on the Great Hall. They said good morning and then the Gryffindor Head Mistress asked where Ginny was. When she was informed that she was still sleeping, Professor McGonagall told them that they would be getting special apparition lessons before the term started and asked them to join Professor Dumbledore who was waiting for them in front of the hoops that Hermione had seen when entering the room. After sending a message to Ginny asking her to join the apparition lesson, Hermione joined Dumbledore and the others.

A few minutes later, Ginny showed up. Her hair was tied into a ponytail and her clothes gave sign that she had put them on in a hurry. She said morning to everyone, avoiding Hermione's eyes and focused in the lesson.

Once the lesson was over, Ginny disappeared quickly from sight. She needed to be alone; she couldn't stand near Hermione. She needed to heal her heart and wanted something to erase how she felt. She thought of a potion she could brew to help her ease her pain and she headed towards the Library. Once there, she started researching.

Meanwhile, Harry, Hermione and Ron remained in the Great Hall, when they acknowledged that Ginny was missing, the boys didn't do much but shrug and sat down in one of the tables. Hermione gave a sigh before joining the boys and they started discussing what they could do to get the memory from Slughorn.

Suddenly, Ron's brain gave a sparkle of light and said, "You just need some luck, Harry."

"Luck! That's it, Ron… You're a genius! I don't know why I hadn't thought of that." said Hermione. Ron blushed madly at her comment.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry looking at both of them with questioning eyes.

"Use the lucky potion that Slughorn gave you, Harry. It's the only way." Hermione instructed Harry.

"I was sort of saving Felix Felicis for a special occasion, but you're right. This might be the only way to get that information from Slughorn," said Harry thoughtfully.

In that instant, an owl entered the Great Hall, flew towards them and released a letter in Harry's hands.

The parchment looked very old and was corrugated. The rope appeared to be some sort of lace which had some fibres pulling out from it. Harry untied the knot, opening the letter to find an unintelligible handwriting stained with tears all over. He recognized the writing as Hagrid's:

Dear Harry, Hermione an' Ron,

Aragog the spider died last night. It would mean a lot to me if yeh'd nip down fer the burial. I'm plannin' on burin him next to the pumpkin patch round twilight. Wouldn't ask, but I can't face it alone.

Hagrid

"Aragog is dead and he wants us to attend the burial," said Harry to Hermione and Ron as he gave the letter to Hermione.

"For heaven's sake, Hagrid and his pets," said Hermione exasperated. Her mind was wondering for the umpteenth time to where Ginny was and what she was doing. She passed the letter to Ron dismissively.

"No, No, No," said Ron while shaking his head vehemently from one side to the other, "I'm not going. That spider told its kind to eat Harry and me! If Hagrid expects us to go and cry over that…. hairy… thing, he is mental!

Harry took the note back from Ron, looking once more at the scattered tears on the parchment, his heart sinking at the thought of seeing Hagrid so sad.

"You're not thinking of going, Harry. Are you?" asked Hermione

Looking at a dubious Harry, Hermione said, "You can't go, Harry. You have to get the memory that Dumbledore asked you from Slughorn."

"I know… you're right," said Harry, "Let's head back to the common room to get the potion."

The three of them walked to the boy's dormitory and headed to Harry's trunk. Harry kneeled and opened it. He looked for the potion, mixing the contents inside, finally remembering that he had put the vial inside one of the socks that Dobby had given him for Christmas. He took out the socks and pulled from them a gleaming little bottle.

Examining it for a bit, Harry uncorked the bottle and carefully measured a small gulp. Harry felt extremely lucky, everything seemed possible and easy. "I'm going to Hagrid's."

"What?" Hermione and Ron said in unison.

"No, Harry. You have to go and see Slughorn," said Hermione.

"Hermione, I can't explain, I feel like… No, I know that I have to be with Hagrid. It's the right place to be." said Harry and didn't wait for a reply; he put the Invisibility cloak on and left them with their mouths agape.

He crossed the portrait quickly; his ears picked the sound of a crying girl, coming from behind one the tapestries. He headed towards where the sound was coming from, pulled the fabric and saw Ginny crying her heart out disconsolately.