Make Some Real Magic 8

I Don't Know You Anymore

Disclaimer:  I did not create Harry Potter or Savage Garden.  I'm just a very big fan!

I would like to visit you for a while

Get away and out this city

Maybe I shouldn't have called but someone had to be the first to break

We can go sit on your back porch

Relax

Talk about anything

It don't matter

I'll be courageous if you can pretend that you've forgiven me

Hermione woke up later than the other girls.  They were already downstairs for breakfast.  She had the most amazing dream.  It was another dream about Draco again.  She had a pleased smile on her face.  She found an envelope next to her nightstand and it had her name written on it with black ink.

Thinking it was from her beloved Draco Malfoy, she snatched it up with a big grin on her face and tore it open.  Her heart beating fast, she read it anxiously. 

Dear Hermione,

I can't hold it in any longer.  I've been so in love with you for as long as I can remember.  I know I made mistakes but maybe you can forgive me.  I can't stand to lose you to Draco Malfoy.  You are smarter than this.  He doesn't care about you.  He doesn't care about anyone but himself and you know that. I want you back.  Harry wants you back.  The whole house wants you back.  You sleep in Gryffindor tower, but it's like you're never here.  You eat at the Slytherin table.  They're changing you into one of them.  You're not a Slytherin. You're a Gryffindor.  Don't forget who you are.  I don't even know who you are anymore, but I still love you.  When you're ready to come back to me, I'll be waiting.  I'll be your knight in shining armor and I'll come rescue you.

Love,

Ron

Hermione laughed, thinking there was some mistake.  It couldn't be from Ron.  Just couldn't.  He didn't love her.  They quarreled like a pair of wild dogs.  She was disappointed that it wasn't from Draco.  Her disappointment turned to anger and she went to confront Ron.  He was still in bed, as she suspected.

"Ronald Weasley!" she shouted.

Ron jerked up, "Gryffindor wins…."

She pulled the blankets off him.  "What's the meaning of this?  Hmm?"

He blinked and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He focuses on Hermione.  "Oh, it's just you.  What do you want?"

"Oh, don't act like you don't know!" She shoved the love letter in his face.  "What are you meaning to do, sending me love letters, Ron Weasley?  Are you trying to embarrass yourself even more?"

Ron looked the letter over.  "I didn't write that."

"It has your name on it."

"Well, someone must've wrote it as a joke," Ron groaned.  "That's not my handwriting.  But you wouldn't remember what it looks like anyway because you're with him all the time, aren't you?"

Hermione double-checked the letter.  It did look awfully neat to be Ron's writing.  "All right…then who did?"

"I don't know," Ron got out of his bed and nearly fell, as if he had a hang over or something.  "And I don't care."

"You don't care about anything!" Hermione shouted.

Ron looked at her. "Oh really?  Well, if that's what you think, Hermione Granger, then you don't know me at all."

"Well, you're right there," Hermione said, "I don't know you."

"And I don't know you," Ron sighed, walking to the window.  "Not anymore."

"I'll find out the truth about this, Ronald Weasley!"

"I'm sure you will," Ron muttered.

"You're such a jerk!"

Ron turned and frowned.  "How can you call me such names when you're the one took pleasure in hurting Cho's feelings last night?  You let a lot of people down!  You're the jerk!"

Hermione stepped back and turned away.  Ron slammed his hand down on the windowsill.  He wanted to find out who wrote that letter himself…but who could've wrote it?  Who knew about his true feeling for Hermione? It's not like he told everyone how he felt.  Then he realized it.  Fred and George, of course.  They were playing tricks on everyone and they knew Ron had a thing for Hermione.  He quickly dressed and searched the school for his two meddling brothers.

******

Because I don't know you anymore

I don't recognize this place

The picture frames have changed and so has your name

We don't talk much anymore

We keep running from the pain

But what I wouldn't give to see your face again

"Ginny, are you all right?" Harry asked at breakfast  "You look kind of nervous."

"Hmm?  Who, me?" she joked.  "Oh, no. Ha-ha.  I'm fine."

"Then how come you're about to drink my milk?"

"Oh my gosh!  This is yours?" she gasped.  "Sorry, Harry."  She set it down and picked up another goblet.  "This is mine, right?"

"Yes."

Ron ran to the dining hall and slapped the back of his brother's heads as they were drinking their orange juice.

"Ron!" Fred and George spat.

"You two, up, now," Ron muttered.  "We need to talk."

"Can't we finish our breakfast?" George demanded.

"I wonder what Fred and George did this time," Harry said as George and Fred reluctantly followed Ron outside the dining hall.

"Uh-oh," Ginny whispered.

"All right, you two!" Ron muttered.  "What are you trying to do to me?"

"What are you talking about, Ron?" George asked.

"Shut up, George," Ron snapped.  "You know what I'm talking about!"

"I'm not George," George lied, "he's George.  I'm Fred."

"Honestly, man," the twins joked, "You call yourself our brother."

Ron sneered, "I don't have time for this!  Which one of you wrote the letter to Hermione?  Was it you George?"

"Letter?" George mumbled.  "What letter?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me," Ron ordered, "I want to know which one of you wrote that letter to Hermione and I want to know now!"

George grinned, "oh, look Fred…our little brother's in love!"

Ron almost charged George and Ginny yelled at him to stop.

"What's going on here?" Ginny demanded.

"Do you know who wrote the letter to Hermione?" Ron asked.

"We didn't write a letter," Fred said. 

"Don't lie to me!"

"Neither of them wrote the letter, Ron!" Ginny cried, "I wrote the letter and left it at her nightstand."

Ron blinked, "you, you wrote it?"

George and Fred gasped, "Whoa…could she possibly be our sister?"  Fred asked.

"I don't believe it," George mumbled.

"Yes, I wrote it, okay?" Ginny sighed.

"Why?" Ron demanded, his surprise turning to anger.  "If I wanted Hermione to get a letter I would've wrote it myself!"

"No you wouldn't, Ron!"  Ginny said.  "I wrote the letter to Hermione because I know you wouldn't do it on your own.  I was just trying to help."

"Ah, that's so sweet," George said, pretending to wipe a fake tear away.

"Quiet!" Ginny snapped.  "All right, maybe I made a mistake giving Hermione that letter…but I had to do something!" 

Springtime in the city

Always such relief from the winter freeze

The snow was more lonely than cold if you know what I mean

Everyone's got an agenda

Don't stop keep that chin up you'll be all right

Can you believe what a year it's been

Are you the same?

Has your opinion changed?

She stormed back to Gryffindor tower and found Hermione wiping her face with a wet cloth and taking her braid out.  Apparently, Hermione had partied a little too hard last night and went straight to bed without bothering to take her make up out.  She still had her dress on. 

"Finally woken up, hmm?" Ginny demanded.

"Why, hello, Ginny," Hermione said in mock politeness.  "Did you have a fun time with Potty?"

"Harry," Ginny corrected through clenched teeth.  "And I would've had a better time if you and your date didn't upset my brother!"  She didn't need this right now.  She was upset enough already.

"Ooh, tough talk," Hermione said.  "Now if you excuse me, I need to take a bath and get this gel out of my hair."

Ginny would have let her go, not without letting Hermione getting a peace of her mind.  "I don't' think so, Hermione," she said, pushing her back.

"Excuse me?"

"You've hurt my brother far enough!" she shouted.  "And all he's ever done was love you!"

Hermione laughed out loud as if Ginny had told the funniest joke.  "Oh, you must be mistaken.  But there is one thing that I don't understand.  Maybe you can help me with that.  Ron left me a letter but he wouldn't confess that he wrote it."

"That's because he didn't!" Ginny snarled, "I wrote the letter!"

"You?  Hmm, that explains why the writing was neater than his," Hermione mumbled.  "But why would you do such a thing?  Why didn't Ron leave me the letter?"

"Because you've hurt him," Ginny retorted, "and he doesn't know what to do.  I was trying to help so I wrote the letter.  And it's true.  He does love you!"

"What would I want with a poor boy like him?" Hermione demanded.  "Hmm?  When I got a fabulously rich man like Draco Malfoy?"

"Draco Malfoy is nothing but money!" Ginny snarled, "and insults!  But my brother loves you.  I just don't see how you could hurt him the way you do, you brat!"

"I don't need your brother to be my knight in shining armor," Hermione muttered.  "I can take care of myself."

"Who are you trying to convince, Hermione?" Ginny demanded, "me and everyone else or yourself?  Admit it, you need my brother more than you realize."

"Listen, there's nothing I want from your brother, understand," Hermione said, "and there's nothing he can give me.  He's just a poor boy and no one loves him.   Your family is pathetic."

Because I don't know you anymore

I don't recognize this place

The picture frames have changed and so has your name

We don't talk much anymore

We keep running from these sentences

But what I wouldn't give to see your face again

"Oh, that's it!"  Ginny shouted.  "No one talks about my family that way!  I'm going to show you what we Weasleys are all about!" Ginny lunged at Hermione with a cry and pulled her to the ground.  Surprised, Hermione stayed still for a moment or two then tried to get up. They rolled around and scratched at each other's faces.

"You were the closest thing to a sister to me, Hermione!" Ginny yelled, "but I now I don't even know you!  You know your popularity won't last and you'll end up Hermione the Mudblood again!"

"Don't call me that, you Weasel Girl!" Hermione growled reaching up and pulling on Ginny's hair.  Ginny screamed but didn't give up.

"MUDBLOOD! MUDBLOOD! MUDBLOOD!"

"Do you hear that?" Lavender asked Parvarti as they walked up the stairs.  "What in the--"

"CATFIGHT!" Parvarti cried.  "Ginny's kicking Hermione's can!"

Girls crowded around Hermione and Ginny, cheering Ginny on.

"This is for my brother!" Ginny said, punching Hermione across the face.  Hermione stumbled back.

"Wanna see what this mudblood can do?" Hermione demanded, reaching to her hip where she usually had her wand.  "Oh, curses!"  She hurried to her bed to get her wand but Lavender picked it up.

"Nah-ah-ah!  Ginny's unarmed!"

Hermione straightened up.  "All right, you've made your point.  I don't need to rumble with you to make mine.  I'm going to take a bath."  She got across the room when Parvarti stuck her leg out and Hermione tripped over it.  The girls laughed.

"You'll thank me, Hermione," Lavender said, but her voice didn't seem threatening.  "We don't know you anymore.  We just know the old Hermione and we wish she'd come back, so if you see her, give her the message, won't you?"

Hermione sneered and left the dorm and the girls ran over to congratulate Ginny.  Ginny wasn't very proud of herself.

"My mother's going to be so mad at me!" she wailed.

*****

I know I let you down

Again and again

I know I never really treated you right

I've paid the price

I'm still paying for it every day

As she took off her dress and stepped in the bath, Hermione hoped for no interruptions. She was wrong when she felt the water become cold.

"I think you look better when you grew whiskers," Moaning Myrtle said, appearing at the end of the bathtub.

"Go away, Myrtle," Hermione grumbled, "I got enough trouble with the living, I don't need it from the dead too."

"You were nicer then too," Myrtle said.  "Well, just for that, I won't tell you then."

"Tell me what?" Hermione asked.

"No, no.  You don't care about anything money so you wouldn't care if Draco was just using you too."

"Using me?" Hermione muttered, "ha--ridiculous.  Using me for what?"

"He wants to make you a Slytherin," Myrtle said.  "And so far he's succeeded."

"How would you know this?" Hermione demanded.

"I'm a ghost," Myrtle reminded, "I can move freely anywhere in this school, you know.  And I was here when Pansy was gabbing about it with some friends of hers.  Draco paid Greg and Goyle 20 galleons to be nice to you.  He promised Pansy that they'd go on a date and he bribed the other Slytherin students with money too.  They're playing you for a fool, Hermione."

"I don't believe you," Hermione grumbled.  "You're just jealous that I'm becoming popular and you were never popular when you were alive and even dead you still annoy people."

"Well, I told you what I needed to say," Myrtle said.  "I just don't know you anymore."

"I wish people would stop saying that!" Hermione groaned.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Myrtle said and faded out into a wall.  The water became warm again and Hermione poked the bubbles in her bath. 

"It can't be true," Hermione said to herself.  "It can't be."

Throughout the whole day, Hermione did her best to forget everybody's warnings.  She and Draco talked to each other about how much fun they had with each other at the dance the previous night.  Everyone had to be lying.  Draco had changed.  Hermione was sure of it.  He wasn't the jerk she always pegged him to be.  Or maybe she was the one who had changed and Draco had just been the same he's always been and she got used to it. But there was a certain special way he acted around her. He was still mean to the students of the other houses but he treated her like she was a princess.    

Hermione walked past an empty classroom.  The door was wide open.  On the floor was Hermione's pendant Draco gave her.  Wondering why it wasn't around her neck, she placed her hand there.  She positive she had it on before she took her bath.  How did it end up here in this empty classroom?

"My pendant," she said, stepping into the classroom.  Someone picked up her pendant before she did.  "Hey!"

"We need to talk."  It was Ron.

Because I don't know you anymore

I don't recognize this place

The picture frames have changed and so has your name

We don't talk much anymore

We keep running from the pain.

But what I wouldn't give to see your face again

"I don't think we have anything more to talk about," Hermione said.  "Now give me back my pendant!"

Ron took out his wand, pointed it at the wide open door and shouted something.  The door slammed shut and locked itself.  "No.  Not unless I say what I have to say.  That letter wasn't from me, it was from Ginny."

"Yeah, she told me.  I wonder where she gets it," Hermione said.  "I guess your red hair isn't the only thing that your family has in common."

"Listen, Hermione, I probably wasn't the one who wrote it," Ron began, "But every word is true.  I couldn't have written the letter better myself."

"I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore," Hermione muttered.  "I don't need you to be my knight in shining armor, understand?  I can take care of myself!"

"Hermione, we need you in Gryffindor.  Think what would've happened to Harry if you were in another House.  He needs you, the whole house needs you….I need you, Hermione."

"Shut up!" Hermione shouted, clapping her hands on her ears.  "I don't want to hear it."

"You have to hear it!" Ron said, grabbing her arms. "All the lower classmen are looking up to you.  You're not a Slytherin, Hermione.  You belong in Gryffindor!"

"Oh, yeah?" she hissed, flinging her arms.  "Well maybe the sorting hat made a mistake!"

"The sorting hat never makes mistakes!" he argued.  He kept hold of her arms. "Even if you were to try it on again it will still say Gryffindor.  You are and always will be part of Gryffindor House.  Draco only likes you now because you're older and prettier.  Your teeth aren't as big as they used to be, your overbite's fixed and your hair doesn't look like cat fur--that's why he's paying attention to you now.  He wants to turn one of us into a Slytherin and he chose you!  He doesn't care about you at all! But I do!  He's pretending to be your friend because he thinks you look twice as decent as you used to four years ago!  But just so you know, Hermione Granger, I loved you before all that!"

Hermione stared, "you what?"

Ron let go.  "I loved you for who you are, not because how smart you were, or how beautiful you became."  Ron spoke with his eyes closed, his hands clenched at his sides. "But you don't care anything about that do you?  You're one of them now, right?  You'd rather have Draco's money in your pocket than my heart, huh?  Well, if that's how you want it, Hermione, then I guess we have nothing more to talk about.  I don't even know you anymore!"

"Ron--I--"  Hermione began.

"Just, just don't say anything all right? Go ahead and put the sorting hat on again.  Prove me wrong."  He tossed her pendant back at her.  "I'm through trying to prove myself to you.  I'm going back to Gryffindor House."  He walked to the door and tried opening it. He'd forgotten that he jinxed it so it was locked.

"Here--let--" Hermione said.

"Allahomora!" the door unlocked and he hurried out of the classroom before Hermione could see the tears appearing in his eyes.

"Ron! Wait! Ron!" Hermione came to her senses and ran out the door.  "Ron! Ron."  He was gone.  She clenched her hand in a fist, biting her lip.  "Ron…I'm so sorry…oh, what have I done?"

I see your face

I see your face

Sad huh?  Find out what happens next in Gryffindor or Slytherin?