A/N- Hello all. The second to last chapter is here and we find ourselves at the climax! I do hope it you all enjoy it!I don't own Harry Potter.
It was mid exam season and Hermione was strangely fine. For three years, she was a stress feind when exams were in the air. Of course, she had yet to experience O.W.Ls or N.E.W.Ts which were almost definitely going to create a whole new dimension of anxiety for her. But, in the May of her fourth year, after the exam season had started, she was feeling alright.
She wasn't as overly stressed as she normally was, and she was sleeping a comfortable 7 hours, at least, every night. It was completely unheard of for the study feind that made most Ravenclaws look like Gryffindors. Undoubtedly, it was her friends that brought out this side of her. She studied well with the girls and they helped each other, as they always did. Somehow, being a part of the community made the experience of studying for exams less overwhelming and she discovered her confidence was being boosted by how well she and her friends were all doing.
Everyone put their heads together when someone was stuck on something. Everyone volunteered pertinent information to help each other progress. Everyone was doing exceptionally well. It was clear that she was not the only one benefitting from the new friendships she had formed over the past year.
Lavender and Parvati had made incredible progress over the year. Even Snape didn't sneer so outwardly at them because he could tell there wasn't as much to sneer about. They were even given house points most days for volunteering answers to questions in class, most generously by Professor Lupin. He had always been the kindest Professor at Hogwarts.
Faye had also made brilliant progress this year, but had been more advanced than her friends anyway. Together, the four of them had even managed to encourage the boys to be more studious. Lav had actually dragged Ron and Seamus by the ears to the library as Neville, Dean and Harry had followed behind, laughing. She went as far as to smack them on the back of the head whenever they tried to distract each other. Hermione nearly got told off by Madam Pince, for the first time ever, over the noise when she cackled the first time she witnessed this.
Oh, how times had changed. And she wouldn't change it for the world. She had no doubt that the reason she was so level headed and, mostly, stress free during this exam season was because of her amazing friends.
As had become the norm, it was Friday night and she and Padma had used the Invisibility Cloak to join their companions into the Gryffindor Common Room. She had come to peace with this infringement of school rules because she deemed it incredibly unfair that she, according to the rules, wasn't allowed to spend time with her friends in the most relaxed and comfortable areas of the castle because they were in different houses. No wonder there was so much aggressive and, sometimes, violent rivalries between the houses. They were kept apart wherever possible. She felt this rule was an incredibly poor decision so felt less and less guilt about breaking it.
It was around 8 o'clock and they had only returned from dinner about 15 minutes prior but were already settled, very comfortably, in each of their favourite positions. Dean was sat in front of the fire, his hands holding him upright behind him, while Seamus lay beside him, his head rested on Dean's outstretched legs. The first sofa, on their right, was only big enough for two so Neville and Ginny occupied that one, Ginny's head rested on his shoulder. Ron was opposite them, glancing at them suspiciously every few minutes. Beside him was Lavender and Parvati, that sofa being quite a bit bigger. Padma was on the floor, her head leant on her sister's knees as Parvati plaited her hair.
Then, finally, the largest sofa between those two had Faye, on the side closest to Parvati, and Hermione, with her legs folded onto the sofa next to her, as she lent her side against Harry's at the other end. In a comfortable, platonic way... Obviously.
"Defence has to be the hardest one so far." Neville was saying.
"What are you on about?" Harry asked, incredulously. "Defence was easy. That practical was so simple, and the essay on the Unforgivables? Come on! Discuss why they are considered Unforgivable and assert the primary methods of defending against them. Seriously? That was, like, first term! We've been over that like a thousand times!"
"Easy for you to say." Faye interjected. "Your dad fought in the last war and is one of the most celebrated aurors of the modern day! You have an unfair advantage."
"That's not fair! Just cause my dad's good at this stuff doesn't mean I automatically am just as! I mean, I started at the same point as you lot!"
"Now, that's just not true Harry." Hermione rebutted with a light chuckle. "You told me, not three days ago, that your dad talks about that stuff all the time. We're not saying we resent it, but there's absolutely no way you don't have an advantage when it comes to Defence! Or transfig! You know what, or Potions cause of your mum!" His jaw dropped in mock offence, only causing Hermione to laugh in his face.
"Well, speak for yourself Hermione! I bloody hate him! He's bugger of a show off." Ron chimed in. Everyone laughed, except Harry.
"Now, come on! I'm not a show off!"
"Oh please!" exclaimed Neville. "There was no need for you to use a stunner on that Grindylow in Defence! Lupin showed us the very simple way to handle them but you just had to use a spell not taught until fifth year. We could see you just itching to show how much better you are than us!"
"That's not true! It was a reflex! I'm not that bad!" Hermione snorted at that. He turned to look at her again, raising his eyebrows, daring her to disagree.
"Oh! So, we're supposed to just forget about that whole Transfig incident, are we?" she challenged.
"Oh, seriously? That wasn't an incident! McGonagall had left the room and I was helping Seamus fix the stool he was using!"
"Mmmhmm." she hummed, a smug smile playing at her lips. "Sure."
"No, I'm sorry. I will not accept being called a show off by Hermione Granger! Or you, Neville. Mate, you answer every question in Herbology AND your work is always used as an example. Hermione, you literally lost 20 points the other day for telling Snape he wrote the wrong instructions down on the board! I help people!" he insisted.
"I help people too! First year! I helped Ron with his pronunciation of Wingardium Leviosa but I just got called a know-it-all! Just cause people think you're cool!"
"I thought we got past that!" Ron whined. Hermione chuckled a little.
"I'm just making the point." she reassured him. Harry then interrupted, hardly a second later.
"Hey, people think I'm cool because I am cool!" he said puffing out his chest comically.
"Pfft!" Hermione responded, dissolving into giggles. "You are not cool! You are a dork!" Harry stared at her indignantly. "It's not a bad thing! It's just, I'm pretty sure there's a reason you don't tell people you've got a copy of Cinderella under your bed!" There were several gasps around the group as Hermione bit her lip to hold back her laugh and Harry's jaw dropped. He leaned in close to her, a dangerous look on his face.
"I told you that in confidence." he whispered, the dangerous expression matched with his tone.
"It's alright Harry. Nothing to be embarrassed about! We're all friends here!" Hermione responded.
"Wait, Harry, you've genuinely got Cinderella in our dorm?" Dean asked incredulously.
"Look, it's been one of my favourite fairytales since I was a kid! I'm not embarrassed about it!" he said, a death glare sent Hermione's way.
"Well, it seems that you must be!" Seamus piped up. "Otherwise you wouldn't have hidden it under your bed!" he said through more laughter.
"Yeah, I mean come on man!" Neville said, a little exasperated. "You know who we live with. If you'd have told us about it, you'd be fine. But, you've hidden it for nearly fours years now! You're screwed!"
"For God's sake!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione couldn't stop herself from giggling, despite the hard stares she was still receiving from Harry.
"Is anyone else wondering what in the name of Merlin's saggy left bollock Cinderella is?" Ron demanded. The whole group fell about in even more laughter, Harry included this time.
"Seriously, Ron?" asked Ginny. "Did you never pay attention in first and second year muggle studies? We learnt about loads of fairy tales there!"
"Maybe you did, our year didn't."
"Ron, how do you think we all know about it?" Lavender asked in disbelief.
"Seriously?" The common room was overwhelmed by their laughter for another few minutes. "Well, I mean, nothing beats the Tales of Beedle the Bard anyway. So, who cares about muggle folklore?"
"Come on! Open your mind Ron." Harry complained. "Other cultures are fascinating."
"No, they're boring! It's just muggles pretending to know anything about magic!" he rebutted. "All muggles stories are boring compared to ours!"
"I will bet you two galleons that if you read Harry's Cinderella book, you'll enjoy it!" Hermione insisted. "Better yet, I'll bet ten galleons that, if I get you a copy of... say..." she paused as she considered. ".. Little Women, you will cry!"
"Why would I cry? Out of boredom?"
"No, because it's emotional! And just a brilliant book!"
"It is a beautiful story Ron." Harry added. "I cried. It's brilliant."
"You've read Little Women, as well, Harry?" asked Dean, curious rather this time, rather than taking the mick.
"Yeah, it's one of my mum's favourites so she persuaded me to read it last year."
"See?!" Hermione said, pointedly, to Ron.
"I'm good. Any book that makes you cry is not a book you should read. Crying is not a good review." he replied. Hermione leaned further into Harry and whispered,
"Well, I guess you weren't wrong about the boys avoiding emotions, huh." He snickered at that, quietly.
After a short silence, the next big sound from the group came in the form of a monstrous yawn from Padma. The sudden sound came as a gentle shock to a few of them, resulting in giggling.
"It sounds like Padma needs to head to bed, guys." Parvati said, her head leaning forward to look Padma in the eyes. When their eyes met, Padma nodded her head reluctantly.
"Sorry, guys. It's been a busy day. And, plus, we've got our Charms study group at half eight tomorrow morning so I need to go to bed early anyway." Padma explained, gesturing between herself and Ginny.
"Yikes, I'm glad I'm not you tomorrow." Ron commented.
"Careful, don't jinx it Ron." Dean warned. He got a few blank looks from the group. "What? I'm muggleborn, I don't know if that's a thing in the wizarding world or not. I didn't want Ron to go all Freaky Friday on us!" It seemed, Hermione was the only one who got the reference.
"What? It's Saturday tomorrow." Ginny stated, confused. Dean locked eyes with Hermione and they both burst into fits of giggles a moment later.
"Anyway, I guess it's time Padma and I made our exit, then." Hermione said, having recovered. She leaned into Harry a little harder and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. She leaned over and hugged Faye goodbye as well.
"Oh, Hermione, I didn't mean for you to feel you had to leave too!" Padma pleaded, guiltily.
"It's alright, Padma. There's only one Invisibility Cloak and I'm getting tired now too. It just makes sense for us both to head out now." she replied as she got up and bent down to hug Ginny and Neville. Padma got up now too and started hugging people goodbye.
Hermione bent down for a one-armed hug with Dean and blew a friendly kiss to Seamus, still laid down, and then moved over to Lavender and Parvati. She hugged them both goodnight and kissed them both on the cheek. She looked over at Ron, smiled at his look of discomfort, and settled for just ruffling his hair as she walked past. She turned back to Harry.
"You're alright if I hand you the cloak back tomorrow?" she asked.
"Of course." he said with a smile. She blew him a kiss and waved to the whole group as she turned to the portrait hole and enveloped herself and Padma in the Invisibility Cloak. Neither of them could hold back their sniggering as they heard the Fat Lady complain about their being some kind of fault with the magic around her portrait.
"Oh, for pity's sake! No one's there, I need to talk to the Headmaster about this."
Once they had walked for around three or four minutes, they checked that the coast was clear and shed the cloak, Hermione stuffing it into her robe pockets. They continued in silence for another few minutes.
"Right, Hermione. This is becoming painful. There has to be something developing between you and Harry, right?" Padma insisted, suddenly.
"What? Oh, you can't be serious?!"
"I'm absolutely serious!" she responded, indignantly. "It's so clear! You guys are so close! I mean, he told you about his Cinderella book and no one else! Even people in Ravenclaw have started asking questions!"
"You what?"
"Yup, our fellow eagles have started taking an interest in your life. Why do you think Cho Chang came up and actually spoke to you yesterday?" Hermione looked back at her, baffled.
"Pad, she asked me of she could take a chair from our table!"
"Yeah, and? Has she ever done that before? And did you not see her scanning what you were writing? She was clearly fishing for information! Fishing in a fairly hopeless area but people are desperate." Padma ranted with wide, determined eyes. "Out of nowhere, the school loner, sorry, starts spending more and more time with Harry bleeding Potter! People are fascinated. Some are even jealous."
"That's ridiculous. Why would Cho care? Didn't she start going out with Cedric Diggory back at Christmas?"
"Well, yeah, but everyone knows she's got the hots for Harry too! There's no way in hell she wouldn't give anything to have them both, any which way how."
"Padma!" Hermione admonished.
"What? It's true!"
"You've been spending way too much time around Lavender!" Padma just laughed at her. After a moment, though, she became a little more serious.
"Honestly, though? Why haven't you gone after anything more there?" Hermione turned to her, preparing to admonish her once again. Although, when their eyes met, she saw the seriousness in her eyes. She wasn't trying to tease her, she genuinely wanted to know. This wasn't gossip, but an honest talk about her feelings.
So, the first thing she did was take a moment to think. Why hadn't she? Because he was her best friend of course. And friends don't do that.
Except many friends do. That's a normal thing that can bloom out of long friendships. Long friendships. Is that why? Had it not been long enough? That must be it. There wasn't enough friendship to build a relationship upon.
But, then, she couldn't help but notice that they behaved in a very particular way. They spoke to each other about things they never spoke to others about. If she only had the girls, and not Harry, would she have spoken at all about her difficulties surrounding her parents? Would she have started writing about more personal things in her recent letter? Would she have had an opportunity to cry in someone's arms about all the painful emotions she had bottled up over three years? Would she trust anyone like she trusted Harry?
Would anyone trust her like Harry trusted her? Would anyone seek solace in her arms when crying? Lav and Parvati have each other, Luna and Ginny have each other. Padma confided more with her sister than anyone else, but she has other friends in her year as well. The boys would have been less likely to be friends with her without Harry. Where would she really fit in without Harry?
She wouldn't. Would she? She wouldn't have found her way into this group without him. She trusted him more than anyone else in the world at this point. That may be quite quick to have claimed, but he had proved it time and time again. He always makes her feel comfortable, always makes her feel included. He is a brilliant hugger. She was always physically comfortable around him as well. He never refused a hug or any kind of physical contact with her, which not everyone would do.
And there it was. All of that, that was how she knew. She didn't know how deep it was, but she knew she liked him. She really liked him. The idea of kissing him, of snuggling up on a sofa with him, of falling asleep with him in her arms and vice versa made her smile. But, she remembered she wasn't alone, so forced the smile down.
Did she want to talk about this with Padma? Was this the time to be completely honest with someone? She looked over at Padma, who's eyes had not left Hermione at all, and she looked so eager to find out. The only reason Hermione had actually thought about this properly was because Padma had seemed so genuine and curious.
But, did she want to have this conversation with anyone but Harry first? It was all about Harry. It was all about the fact that she was the most comfortable around him than anyone else. She was the most honest with him than anyone else. Was it fair if she admitted how what she felt to Padma, rather than to him? She couldn't be sure, but she knew what she wanted to do.
"Because he's my best friend, I guess. If I even considered anything more, I'd be setting myself up for disappointment. Or, a breakup and the loss of my best friend. I'm happy right now, and I don't feel any inclination to change that." It seemed easy to tell the same lie she had been telling herself.
"But, what'll happen if the two of you never give it a go and then he finds someone else, or you do, having convinced yourself it would be a bad idea with him and then end up settling for someone, rather than with Harry?" Padma countered.
"Well, I'd be happy for him. And I'm sure he'd be happy for me. I wouldn't ever let myself settle for someone who didn't make me happy, Pad." she forced out in response. The sudden image of what Padma had described was torturing Hermione's mind now. She didn't want to think about that. She could lose him if he moved on to someone else. She could lose her best friend, her... No, it's definitely too early to call him that.
"Ummm... Alright then, if you're sure. But, make sure you are though? OK? Be sure!" Padma finished and then, mercifully, dropped it.
But the drama didn't cease as long as she'd hoped. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy walked round the corner a few moments later.
"Well, hello there, young eagles. Why so late?" he drawled out with a sneer.
"You know I'm older than you, right Malfoy?" Hermione said, immediately undermining his intimidation tactics. His smug expression immediately faltered. Hermione couldn't, however, deny his admirable determination. He hardly faltered for a moment before his sneer returned.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Granger, I haven't given you the credit you deserved in the past. I've been overconfident, and I've been unprepared to challenge you." Hermione could tell where this was headed, but his sudden candidness made her feel uneasy. However, she was confident she could take on Malfoy. Fairly confident. She could do it. Definitely. "But, I'm prepared this time. Don't think you can humiliate me again, Mudblood." he said, brandishing his wand.
"Seriously, Draco?" she said, hoping to undermine him a little more by using his first name. "Do you really think challenging me in a hallway, by yourself, not even 100 yards from Ravenclaw tower, is a good idea?"
"Well, judging by your friend, I can't have gone far wrong." he replied. She turned to see Padma, shaking and, seemingly, on the verge of tears. She was stuck. What should she do? Does she ask him to let Padma pass? Would he do that? Would he just say no and start duelling? Would he say yes and then attack her when she passed him? She could not trust anything Malfoy would say, could she? She remembered Harry's warning, and decided she would just have to protect Padma as best she could. She wouldn't be able to get her away.
She steeled her expression, turned back to Malfoy and brandished her own wand. Their glares met, his smirk making him seem above her in some way. She just glared at him, lips pressed together and eyebrows low in determination. She had beaten him before. Humiliated him even. This would definitely end with him whimpering on the floor. It had to.
"Well then." she said. "What are you waiting for?" They both adopted battle stances as Padma retreated to press herself up against the wall closest to her. Hermione made no move. She was determined to not cast first, but she had her protego ready. The following thirty seconds of silent tension was heavy. She could barely breathe, the weight of the apprehension lying directly on her chest. Her gaze never left Malfoy's and he never betrayed a single falter or doubt or movement, until he struck.
"Expelliarmus." he stated, a blue jet of light rocketing straight to her wand.
"Protego." she responded, his curse deflecting straight back at him. This time, he was ready for it. His own shield charm which managed to direct the spell elsewhere, hitting the wall. The tense silence returned for another few moments, their gazes piercing each other's. Now, however, Hermione saw the anger in Malfoy's eyes. He wanted this, badly. He was so angry that she had bested him. She knew then that the outcome was not so set in stone. She had never seen his eyes like this. She had never seen any eyes like this. This was not just a juvenile, playground duel. This was combat, born of juvenile emotions.
"Petrificus Totalus!" he chanted, a little more assertively this time. Hermione was, again, able to quickly block it. He sent another few spells at her, more of the same really, all of which she blocked. However, the next one she wasn't expecting.
"Bombarda!" he announced, a shot of orange power advanced on her. She cast her protego but it didn't protect her as well this time. The power of Draco's curse made her shield charm shatter while Hermione herself was forced backwards, having to struggle to stay upright.
Then, her approach changed. She was cross now. She was not going to try and patronise him now. She was going to force him back.
"Petrificus Totalus! Expelliarmus! Incarcerous! Rictusempra!" she rattled off jinx after jinx, curse after curse. Malfoy deflected all of them, some more successfully than other. The rope she sent with her Incarcerous whipped him in the face as he deflected it. He was, now, sporting a short cut on his cheek. She felt a sort of grim satisfaction from that.
Then, she registered that feeling. She started to feel good about hurting him. When had that happened? When had this changed from defending herself into truly defeating him, as much as she could? She faltered for just a moment as she registered that she was trying to hurt someone. Sure, it was Malfoy, but feeling satisfaction after hurting someone was something she never wanted to feel.
During her hesitation, Malfoy found an opportunity to send another Bombarda her way. Just as he did, she caught a glimpse of his eyes. They had changed again. They weren't angry anymore. They were desperate, fearful. She couldn't consider this for long because the orange ball he conjured was approaching. She conjured another shield but the force of this shot forced her back further, and onto the floor.
Now, she was bleeding. She felt blood trickling down her forehead. It wasn't a lot, she could tell. It was only a small cut from the stone tiles on the floor. But it was enough. She knew then that she needed to end this quickly. She want to find herself powerless, nor did she want to hurt him more, fearful of what that would do to her. So, she tried something she had never tried before. A spell she had read about and seen in action only once. She knew the movement, and she knew the power that was meant to use it, so she mustered all she had.
"Stupefy!" she yelled. But, horrifyingly, nothing happened. She'd done something wrong. What did she do wrong? She looked up at her adversary, wide eyes in horror. He, however, was grinning, relieved. His smile turned into a toothy grimace in his effort as he, once again, shrieked "Bombarda!".
She didn't have time, nor the focus, to produce her shield this time. She was still shaken from her failed attack. So, all she could do was roll out of the way. She ended up behind Padma, pressed up against the wall as she heard the floor burst apart. She felt small bits of rubble collide with her body.
This shocked her even more. He was truly trying to kill her. This was surely going way out of hand. She had lost control. Lost all control of her surroundings and herself. She was powerless. The exact thing she tried to avoid by using the stunner. But it didn't work, and now she was lost.
She tried to hold on to the little things she could control. So, she cast a reparo in the ground where Malfoy's curse had hit and all the rubble returned to the hole that had been formed. She looked back to Malfoy then and saw that he was slowly advancing towards her, still grinning maniacally. He raised his wand again, and she nearly sobbed.
"Serpensortia!" he incanted and a small serpent was ejected from the end of his wand. It landed with a thud, and it's gaze found Hermione immediately. It started slithering towards her, it's tongue shooting out and blowing raspberries at her in threat. She was frozen to the spot.
"Flipendo!" she heard from a slightly shaky voice. It wasn't hers though. Padma was sat up now, her wand extended, pointed right at where the snake had just been. It flew back and landed beside Malfoy. Hermione looked over at Padma, who reciprocated, and smiled at her gratefully. Then, they both nodded and rose together, turning to face Malfoy.
The first thing Hermione did was remind herself that the snake was born of Malfoy's magic so was not truly alive, so she was able to obliterate it without guilt.
"Incendio." she stated, and the snake disappeared in a burst of flame and ash. Malfoy was looking frustrated now. He breathed in and readied himself in his stance again. The two Ravenclaws did the same.
They started trading jinxes and curses back and forth. However, Malfoy was now having to do more defending up against the pair of them. Hermione could see his eyes changing back to desperate and fearful. They could do this.
And then she saw movement behind Malfoy. Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode appeared, seemingly, out of thin air. She, also, heard footsteps behind her. The spell trading stopped and she glanced behind her to see Crabbe and Goyle glaring at them. She turned back to Malfoy and scowled.
"I thought you wanted to beat me yourself, Draco. But you couldn't handle me without having your back up here." She glanced around them again. "Disillusionment charms?"
"That, and a Notice-Me-Not or two." Pansy repsonded, sneering. Actually, they were all sneering, except Millicent, who was trying to look intimidating, but just looked unsure.
"Very clever. Very sneaky. So, what happens now? This suddenly looks more like an ambush than a duel." she asserted, trying to sound more confident than she felt.
"Well," Malfoy started. "I think it's time you were the one who's humiliated." At that, Pansy disarmed her, and one of the boys behind them disarmed Padma, before they had time to react.
"Well, how humiliating it must be to be downed by five people, compared to just the one. This will do nothing for my reputation." she said sarcastically. In her continued attempts to undermine him, it seemed to just fuel his anger. His nostrils flared and he raised his wand, emphatically.
"Flipendo!" he announced. But, before the spell could collide with her, Padma tried to push her out of the way. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time, so they were both forced back and hit the ground. They then heard Goyle cast "Incarcerous" and felt a rope tie them together, and gradually kept getting tighter.
Malfoy approached and made his way round so his feet were by the heads, his back now facing where Hermione and Padma had come from. He raised his wand again, but what he was planning to do, they would never know because, suddenly, a rope of light wrapped itself around Malfoy's neck and tugged him back. She recognised this spell as the same one she had used on him two years prior.
She shifted herself so she could look down the corridor to see where it had come from. The sight she found brought relieved and happy tears to her eyes. Lavender, Parvati, Faye, Dean and Seamus were all stood at the end of the corridor, looking like a superhero team as they stared the Slytherins down. But, in front of them all, stood Harry Potter, whose wand was where the rope of light was now retreating. He saved her. She didn't know from what but she didn't care. He had come. They all had.
Malfoy made a strangled groan from the ground, pulling her attention back to him. He was starting to get up again. But, the other Slytherins had already taken up arms and started sending assaults at the Gryffindors. But, they weren't a match for them. Most Slytherins were all either disarmed or downed in a matter of seconds. Hermione saw Harry's wand move in her general direction and then felt the ropes around her and Padma relent.
She fiddled with them to get herself out but saw Malfoy moving. He was quickly raising himself up and looking towards Harry. Harry wasn't looking though. He was in the final moments of disarming Goyle. In that moment, Hermione looked to her wand, reached out and grabbed it.
She saw Malfoy subtly raise and point his at Harry. In her hurry, the first spell that came to her head was the stunner. She thought she had done it right. It was a difficult spell, so she shouldn't berate herself too much, but she'd been so sure. She had to focus more power than typical because its such a powerful spell, which she had, and it was a twisting movement, which was not a typical one, and she had... Not. She hadn't twisted. She had flicked instinctively. Her eyes widened and her wand found Malfoy.
"Stupefy!" she said with determination and confidence. A jet of red light shot at Malfoy, colliding with the back of his head. He slid forward and his head hit the floor. It was over.
It was only a moment later that Hermione felt Harry's arms envelope her. He helped her sit upright and their eyes met for only a moment before they embraced, tightly.
"Oh my god, are you OK?" he said, breathlessly.
"Yes. I'm OK, I'm OK. Everything's fine. Maybe just a little sore." she replied, equally as breathless. He pulled back to examine her. His thumb stroked her cheek, and he leaned forward, placing a kiss on her forehead, right on the cut she received from hitting the floor the first time. She stopped breathing then. She found his gaze again and they held it for another few moments. She could see something. Something in his eyes, something... Intense. But she couldn't quite identify it. She knew what she hoped it was, but she didn't want to give in to wishful thinking.
But, the moment didn't last. She heard the commotion beside her. She turned to see Parvati fussing over her sister and all of the others crowding around them. There were a string of "Are you alright?" and "Are you hurt?" for a few seconds but the two Ravenclaws assured them all that they were fine.
After a moment of relieved sighs and hugs, a question occurred to Hermione.
"Hey, how did you guys know where we were? Better yet, how did you know Malfoy and that lot were attacking us?" Everyone's immediate reaction was to look straight at Harry. She turned to him too, her eyebrows scrunched a little.
"There's one thing I haven't told you about yet." he said, looking sheepish. Strangely, he pulled out a large piece of parchment and tapped it with his wand, saying "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." At those words, ink started appearing on the parchment. In the centre of the from fold were the words "Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present The Marauder's Map."
"What on earth is the Marauder's Map?" she asked in disbelief.
"It's a map of Hogwarts. My dad and his friends created it while they were at school. It shows the whole castle, whoever's in it and exactly where they are. Look." She looked down at the map and found a group of people in the corridor below Ravenclaw Tower. Looking closely, she saw her own name, Harry next to her and all of the others as well.
"That's incredible! So, what, you saw me and Padma and then you saw Malfoy waiting for us?" she asked in awe.
"Well, yeah. As well as the other four. I'm guessing they were hidden in some way, given that they were all pressed up against the wall until just before we got here?"
"Yeah, they were disillusioned. You were right, Harry. They're all more capable than they seem. But just as deceptive." At that, she let her eyes wander around, when they landed on a flower that poked over the sill of the low windows. It was beautiful, but it still filled her with dread.
It was a Snapdragon.
Was it Malfoy? Was that what the flower had been warning her about? Or was it herself? Had it been saying that she would be lying to Padma about her feelings? Or just telling her that she was lying to herself? But most importantly, was she really realising that there may be some legitimacy in Divination?
"Ooh look, here they come." Seamus' voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She saw everyone looking at the map so she joined them. There were four people hurrying towards them from around the corner. Professors Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall, lead by the one Gryffindor friend of hers that was currently absent. Ron Weasley.
She looked up and the four of them appeared from around the corner. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall looked incensed, Snape looked determined to maintain his blank, unfazed expression.
Her eyes, then, met Ron's. He was staring at her, and sighed deeply out of relief when she smiled at him. He smiled back, more sincerely than he ever had. She couldn't stop revelling in how much her life had changed for the better over the past year. If this had happened this time last year, would anyone have known? Would anyone have come to help her?
Would she be able to lean backwards, plant her head on Harry's shoulder and sigh, relieved, in the knowledge that she was safe now and never had to endure whatever Malfoy had been about to put her through?
She couldn't be sure at all. But, she didn't care, because reality was sure. So, she did lean back onto Harry and revel in the comfort his presence provided her. But, she couldn't stay like that for too long because she and Padma had to be escorted to the Hospital Wing. She did, however, ensure Harry stayed with her for as long as he could. After what she had accepted only moments before the ambush, she didn't want to be away from him for too long at any time. Hopefully, she'd be able to talk to him soon. To be honest with him and maybe, even progress with him. But, better not get ahead of herself, she thought. She still had to take the first step.
Hopefully, she wasn't a coward.