Hi all! I've decided to write another chapter, and depending on my mood, I just might make this a novel or something. *lopsided smile* Imagine. All this from a random story idea! ^_^ Okay, I just want to thank some people for corrections and/or motivation. And they are:
starheart: for correcting me on PROFESSOR McGonnagal and MADAME Pomfrey. Thanks!
Snake Eyes: for wanting more and being so adamant! ^_^ Thanks.
Aderyn Du: for being the first one to review. That means a lot to me. ^_^
It's been a while since I've read the Harry Potter books, so please bear with me or tell me what I do wrong if I do some mistakes. That makes everyone happy!
Oh yeah, I do not own any Harry Potter characters!
Hermione's Pickle
by
Utena_Anthy_Antics
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Hermione wrinkled her nose. Ugh, she thought, why does everything smell like…? Words failed her, and she rolled over, bringing an arm up to sweep oddly bouncy bangs away from her face. Licking her dry lips, she grimaced when a faint after-taste of something…pickled, bombarded her tongue.
"Great," she grumbled under her breath, "It wasn't a dream."
"'Fraid not, 'Mione," a soft voice chuckled above her, and Hermione cracked open her eyes to see the evilly-grinning eyes of Ginny Weasley.
"You mean I was actually in that pickle?"
Ginny nodded. She lightly tapped her friend's nose, leaning in to whisper, "And because of that, you're going to smell like brine for a while."
Hermione sighed, wiping her hand over her face. Looking up at the white ceiling of the infirmary, she sighed again, propping herself up on her elbows to sit against the head-board. "Is this the punishment I get for not feeding Crookshanks last week?" she moaned, rolling her eyes at her friend to try and get her to laugh.
The younger girl did, her expression suddenly turning serious as she moved from her seat next to the hospital bed to slide herself over to sit next to Hermione, her head lolling back against the head-board. Crooking her lips into a smile at her friend, she shook her head, "I never would have imagined you in a pickle at all before this happened."
"You think I would have?" Hermione asked, making her eyes wide and innocent. "Maybe I just woke up this morning and decided to get trapped in a pickle by Neville so my True Love could…" She trailed off, suddenly feeling a little nervous around the other girl.
An uncomfortable silence permeated the room, neither of the girls daring to look at each other. It was broken only by the appearance of Madame Pomfrey at the door. She bustled in, seemingly ignoring the tension between the two. Hustling Ginny off of the bed and out the door – Ginny shot her a quick farewell grin – the friendly witch turned back and smiled brightly.
"How's our patient?" she asked, whipping out her wand to make the sheets around Hermione more comfortable. Not waiting for an answer, she handed her a cup of water and urged her to drink, "I suppose you're thirsty now. We were able to get most of the pickle off of you, and even managed to wash your hair, but it was kind of impossible to clean out your mouth entirely. Brine DOES have a tendency to stick around."
"We?" Hermione asked, accepting the cup and sipping thankfully. Her throat WAS a little parched, and the water helped soothe the scratchiness in her throat. That explained why her hair was bouncy; it always got fluffy when it was washed, she thought.
Madame Pomfrey nodded. "Miss Weasley helped. In fact, she stuck around during the rest of classes to be by your side." Shaking her head, she put her hand against Hermione's forehead, clucking thoughtfully, "That girl really is a good friend. It's too bad what happened to her in her first year."
Madame Pomfrey's words fell on deaf ears. For some reason, Hermione's heart beat doubled when the image of Ginny's fingers running through her hair to wash it, brushing against her scalp… She cleared her throat, and asked, "How did you wash my hair?"
"Hmm? What, dear? Oh, a simple spell. I'm surprised you wouldn't know that. In fact, I believe it's in one of last year's books…"
Hermione's agitation came to a dead stop. Of course, she thought viciously to herself, not truly knowing why she did, You're at Hogwarts, not home anymore! There would be no reason to wash your hair manually! Get over yourself, Hermione Granger!
Truly ignoring the subject of her thoughts, Hermione sat back to let Madame Pomfrey check for any damage from the lack of air she had suffered. There was no way she was going to acknowledge the implications of what had happened to her. Ginny was her friend – and nothing more.
"Hey, where are you going with Hermione's books?" the voice of Ginny's older brother spoke up from behind her. Turning to look at him, Ginny shrugged, adjusting her grip on the books.
"I just thought she would like to catch up on her homework, that's all. You can't fault me for that."
Ron sighed and shook his head, causing his red hair to briefly cover his eyes, "You're right. It IS a Hermione thing to want her books."
"Good. Then I'm going."
"Uhm, no, Ginny. I think you shouldn't." Ron lightly grabbed her shoulder and reached for the stack of books she was carrying.
She furrowed her brow and moved back, out of the way of Ron's reach. "Why ever not?" she humphed, wanting to cross her arms and glare at her brother, but couldn't because of the books. "If it's because of the stupid True Love thing, you've got to be kidding. You don't actually believe it's true!"
Her brother shifted on his feet, glancing uneasily everywhere but at her face. A slight blush heightened on his cheeks, and he mumbled, "But Professor McGonnagal said that…"
Ginny rolled her eyes! "Listen, Ron, have you ever heard of ANYONE getting trapped in a pickle before?"
He shook his head.
"Than how do we know that it IS true that only her True Love could save her?? Couldn't it only be true that maybe the only reason I got her out was because I'm another female? Did you ever think of that?" Not waiting for Ron's reply, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the Gryffindor Common room, stepping out of the painting.
Pausing for a second, the young girl closed her eyes and whispered, "I hope it's not true. What I just said; it's not true. There's no way McGonnagal could be wrong. Oh Ginny, what have you gotten yourself into?"
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And I'll stop there. So, that ends Chapter Two of my now on-going story. Hope you enjoyed it!
Oh yeah, side note. I think most of the chapters will be like this; i.e. little segments of time for both Hermione and Ginny. If you have any feedback or ideas as to where you want this story to go, please tell me! That would be much appreciated! ^_^ My E-Mail, once again, is revolutionary_rose@hotmail.com. See you later!