AN 70 reviews *does dance* Yay I'm happy! OK, I'm gonna answer this one
reviewer ahead of chapter just because:
Shadow Angel- *shakes finger* N-n-n-n-no. When I said that ONE fluffy chapter (5) was gonna make up for every other chapter in the fic, I meant it. Major angst ahoy, but you can re-read chapter five over and over if that makes you feel any better. Also, even if it spoils the story, I almost always have happy endings. What's the fun of a sad one? My aim isn't to make you all depressed! So, prepare yourself for the depression, *sob* the heartache, *sob* the PAIN! *sob sob*
Last Time:
"I thought…we were going to have a sort of…perfect last night together before we left for the summer…"
"I did too, Draco" Hermione said in a very small voice before she burst into tears. Draco sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed, wresting his chin on her head. **Why does this always have to happen to Hermione and me? **
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Hermione sat on the airplane, resting her head on her tiny, hard window to the outside world. She watched the rain run down the glass and the unnatural orange light shine down on men loading luggage onto the cargo part of the plane. She vaguely noticed when the plane's engine's started and totally ignored the lady who was giving safety instructions.
"Would you like some headphones, ma'am?" Asked a young flight attendant politely. He had blonde hair that looked a bit like Draco's. Draco. Hermione sighed.
"Yes, thank-you." She said, unsmiling, much to the boys chagrin. He shrugged and made his way off to other young ladies on the plane. Man, he scored with chicks a lot now he was a flight attendant! Too bad you get the odd one who doesn't want any.
Hermione stuffed her headphones in the pocket of the seat in front of her and turned back to the window. A tall, thin well-dressed older man sat in the seat next to her.
"Good day to you! Miserable weather, isn't it?" He said in a chipper voice, buckling himself into his seat and taking out a newspaper.
"Mmm, Quite." Hermione said, still staring out the window. The man looked at her over his newspaper, his glasses sliding down his long nose. Everything about him was rather long, Hermione noted.
"Not too chipper, eh?" He said.
"Not really." The man nodded his head, surmising (correctly) that she didn't want to talk, and went back to his newspaper. Hermione studied him briefly before going back to being forlorn.
Flashback***************************************************************
"Ahem" Someone cleared their throat, startling Hermione and Draco. Hermione looked up, wiping the tears off her face. Snape stood there, looking very apologetic and embarrassed. There was a sort of stare/glare off between him and Draco, before he said,
"Ms. Granger, you must leave now if you are to catch your flight." Hermione nodded miserably, ignoring the growing lump in her throat, and stood up, pulling Draco with her.
"My trunk?" She asked, already suspecting the answer.
"Already packed, Ms. Granger." Snape said quietly. "I shall leave you two to… say your good-byes." He said, nodding quickly and hurrying off toward the castle in the growing dark. Draco pulled Hermione into a hug.
"I'm going to miss you."
"Not half as much as I'm going to miss you." Hermione said dryly.
"It won't be that bad."
"Yes it will. I'm stuck with my Father and Stephen in a place where everything will remind me of Mum."
"But you'll survive. And remember… I love you. Maybe I can drop by sometime over the summer."
"So we can all sit in the living room drinking lemonade and feeling awkward. Draco, you don't want to be there. Stephen will be running around screaming and throwing toy cars at you, my Dad will be either moping or checking you out, I'll be depressed and probably cutting myself again, and you'll be embarrassed and never want to see me again."
"That's not true. We'll be sitting in the living, drinking lemonade, and your little brother will be sitting in my lap telling me about school, and your Dad and I will be talking about those people, ehm, oh… you know the ones, the sporty ones with the ball…"
"Footballers?"
"Yeah, those ones! Anyway, we'll be talking about them and I'll have my arm around you and we can have Sunday dinner and it'll be nice! And then you can come meet my parents!" Hermione groaned.
"Oh, yeah that'll be real nice. That will not happen. You're living a dream. I'll go over to your house and guess who pops in for a friendly visit? Voldemort! And then we'll all have tea and your Mum and I will talk about you when you were a baby and do each others hair and your Dad will take you off to his office and give you the 'birds and the bees' talk. I'm sure Draco. Don't delude yourself." She said sarcastically.
"Don't be so pessimistic."
"Don't be so optimistic."
"Let's not spend our last few minutes like this."
"Let's not."
"I'll owl you every day."
"I'll owl you back every day."
"I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too."
"Promise me you won't cut yourself."
"I promise you I won't cut myself."
"I love you."
"I love you." And then they kissed. It was a warm kiss, filled with the promises they had just made, a sealing of the deal. They broke apart and Draco kissed her forehead.
"I guess I'll see you soon." Draco said as Hermione started walking down the path towards the castle. Hermione ignored this, she didn't think she'd be seeing him anytime soon. She turned back only once, and they waved at each other sadly. Then she continued on to the castle, where Snape and McGonagall were waiting.
End Flashback************************************************************
"D'you want some peanuts, Miss?" Said the man sitting next to her.
"Yes, sure." Hermione said, taking the bag. "Thanks."
"My pleasure. My name's Mr. Milligan."
"Pleased to meet you Mr. Milligan. I'm Hermione Granger."
"That's an interesting name, Hermione, I mean."
"My Mum got it from the Shakespeare play 'Winter's Tale'"
"Oh, well… she must be very well-versed in Shakespeare?"
"Yeah, she is."
"Well you know…" And they proceeded to have a lengthy conversation about famous literature. 20 minutes later, Hermione was saying,
"And so, you see clearly why Zelazny is superior to McAffrey, what with the… Mr. Milligan? Mr. Milligan?" Mr. Milligan had fallen asleep. "Oh well, what can I expect, he's just gotten back from Africa. Probably got horrible jetlag." She said, shrugging. She turned to look out the window again. Just as she started to drift off to sweet dreams of Draco…
"We'd like to announce that our news hour is showing now." Said a smarmy- sounding voice. Hermione sighed and put on her headphones. Might as well get caught up in the Muggle world…
There was no news on the 'hunt for Osama bin Laden'. *No surprise there*, the Queen Mother had died *pity, she had a little fighting spirit…*, there was a little news about the Tony Blair, and then…
"There has been no progress in the search for evidence on the murder of the Shrewsbury woman who was found tortured to death outside her rural home…" A picture of Titania Granger (another Shakespearean name…) flashed briefly across the screen before the newscaster moved on to other subjects.
Hermione removed her earphones. Tortured to death. Gee, McGonagall and Dumbledore had conveniently forgotten that, hadn't they? Hermione looked numbly out the window; they were approaching the airport. Soon she'd be back home, the house where she'd grown up with her Mother. The house outside of which her Mother had been found tortured to death. 'Should be fun', Hermione thought bitterly. A tear ran unnoticed down her cheek as she squinted to make out the airport below.
TBC
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AN OK, I know that was shorter than usual, but give me a break, I've got school tomorrow and I had a Ruhi class and dinner appointments tonight. I will not be able to update as often now that school has started again, so bear with me as I struggle against the evil teachers at MDJH…
Thanks to Reviewers:
Gryffpam- yep, fluffy's my middle name (not really, but…)
Harry + Hermione 2gether 4ever- I love getting reactions out of people…
Howler- I'll send you this chapter to beta…
hermioneG89- don't worry, it's always superman-I-mean-Draco to the rescue!
Cassondra- it's pretty, it's wonderful, how could I resist! I had to write more with an offer like that!
Icy Stormz- GRR… must go kill yahoo groups thingy, where's my pitchfork?
Shadow Angel- *shakes finger* N-n-n-n-no. When I said that ONE fluffy chapter (5) was gonna make up for every other chapter in the fic, I meant it. Major angst ahoy, but you can re-read chapter five over and over if that makes you feel any better. Also, even if it spoils the story, I almost always have happy endings. What's the fun of a sad one? My aim isn't to make you all depressed! So, prepare yourself for the depression, *sob* the heartache, *sob* the PAIN! *sob sob*
Last Time:
"I thought…we were going to have a sort of…perfect last night together before we left for the summer…"
"I did too, Draco" Hermione said in a very small voice before she burst into tears. Draco sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed, wresting his chin on her head. **Why does this always have to happen to Hermione and me? **
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Hermione sat on the airplane, resting her head on her tiny, hard window to the outside world. She watched the rain run down the glass and the unnatural orange light shine down on men loading luggage onto the cargo part of the plane. She vaguely noticed when the plane's engine's started and totally ignored the lady who was giving safety instructions.
"Would you like some headphones, ma'am?" Asked a young flight attendant politely. He had blonde hair that looked a bit like Draco's. Draco. Hermione sighed.
"Yes, thank-you." She said, unsmiling, much to the boys chagrin. He shrugged and made his way off to other young ladies on the plane. Man, he scored with chicks a lot now he was a flight attendant! Too bad you get the odd one who doesn't want any.
Hermione stuffed her headphones in the pocket of the seat in front of her and turned back to the window. A tall, thin well-dressed older man sat in the seat next to her.
"Good day to you! Miserable weather, isn't it?" He said in a chipper voice, buckling himself into his seat and taking out a newspaper.
"Mmm, Quite." Hermione said, still staring out the window. The man looked at her over his newspaper, his glasses sliding down his long nose. Everything about him was rather long, Hermione noted.
"Not too chipper, eh?" He said.
"Not really." The man nodded his head, surmising (correctly) that she didn't want to talk, and went back to his newspaper. Hermione studied him briefly before going back to being forlorn.
Flashback***************************************************************
"Ahem" Someone cleared their throat, startling Hermione and Draco. Hermione looked up, wiping the tears off her face. Snape stood there, looking very apologetic and embarrassed. There was a sort of stare/glare off between him and Draco, before he said,
"Ms. Granger, you must leave now if you are to catch your flight." Hermione nodded miserably, ignoring the growing lump in her throat, and stood up, pulling Draco with her.
"My trunk?" She asked, already suspecting the answer.
"Already packed, Ms. Granger." Snape said quietly. "I shall leave you two to… say your good-byes." He said, nodding quickly and hurrying off toward the castle in the growing dark. Draco pulled Hermione into a hug.
"I'm going to miss you."
"Not half as much as I'm going to miss you." Hermione said dryly.
"It won't be that bad."
"Yes it will. I'm stuck with my Father and Stephen in a place where everything will remind me of Mum."
"But you'll survive. And remember… I love you. Maybe I can drop by sometime over the summer."
"So we can all sit in the living room drinking lemonade and feeling awkward. Draco, you don't want to be there. Stephen will be running around screaming and throwing toy cars at you, my Dad will be either moping or checking you out, I'll be depressed and probably cutting myself again, and you'll be embarrassed and never want to see me again."
"That's not true. We'll be sitting in the living, drinking lemonade, and your little brother will be sitting in my lap telling me about school, and your Dad and I will be talking about those people, ehm, oh… you know the ones, the sporty ones with the ball…"
"Footballers?"
"Yeah, those ones! Anyway, we'll be talking about them and I'll have my arm around you and we can have Sunday dinner and it'll be nice! And then you can come meet my parents!" Hermione groaned.
"Oh, yeah that'll be real nice. That will not happen. You're living a dream. I'll go over to your house and guess who pops in for a friendly visit? Voldemort! And then we'll all have tea and your Mum and I will talk about you when you were a baby and do each others hair and your Dad will take you off to his office and give you the 'birds and the bees' talk. I'm sure Draco. Don't delude yourself." She said sarcastically.
"Don't be so pessimistic."
"Don't be so optimistic."
"Let's not spend our last few minutes like this."
"Let's not."
"I'll owl you every day."
"I'll owl you back every day."
"I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too."
"Promise me you won't cut yourself."
"I promise you I won't cut myself."
"I love you."
"I love you." And then they kissed. It was a warm kiss, filled with the promises they had just made, a sealing of the deal. They broke apart and Draco kissed her forehead.
"I guess I'll see you soon." Draco said as Hermione started walking down the path towards the castle. Hermione ignored this, she didn't think she'd be seeing him anytime soon. She turned back only once, and they waved at each other sadly. Then she continued on to the castle, where Snape and McGonagall were waiting.
End Flashback************************************************************
"D'you want some peanuts, Miss?" Said the man sitting next to her.
"Yes, sure." Hermione said, taking the bag. "Thanks."
"My pleasure. My name's Mr. Milligan."
"Pleased to meet you Mr. Milligan. I'm Hermione Granger."
"That's an interesting name, Hermione, I mean."
"My Mum got it from the Shakespeare play 'Winter's Tale'"
"Oh, well… she must be very well-versed in Shakespeare?"
"Yeah, she is."
"Well you know…" And they proceeded to have a lengthy conversation about famous literature. 20 minutes later, Hermione was saying,
"And so, you see clearly why Zelazny is superior to McAffrey, what with the… Mr. Milligan? Mr. Milligan?" Mr. Milligan had fallen asleep. "Oh well, what can I expect, he's just gotten back from Africa. Probably got horrible jetlag." She said, shrugging. She turned to look out the window again. Just as she started to drift off to sweet dreams of Draco…
"We'd like to announce that our news hour is showing now." Said a smarmy- sounding voice. Hermione sighed and put on her headphones. Might as well get caught up in the Muggle world…
There was no news on the 'hunt for Osama bin Laden'. *No surprise there*, the Queen Mother had died *pity, she had a little fighting spirit…*, there was a little news about the Tony Blair, and then…
"There has been no progress in the search for evidence on the murder of the Shrewsbury woman who was found tortured to death outside her rural home…" A picture of Titania Granger (another Shakespearean name…) flashed briefly across the screen before the newscaster moved on to other subjects.
Hermione removed her earphones. Tortured to death. Gee, McGonagall and Dumbledore had conveniently forgotten that, hadn't they? Hermione looked numbly out the window; they were approaching the airport. Soon she'd be back home, the house where she'd grown up with her Mother. The house outside of which her Mother had been found tortured to death. 'Should be fun', Hermione thought bitterly. A tear ran unnoticed down her cheek as she squinted to make out the airport below.
TBC
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AN OK, I know that was shorter than usual, but give me a break, I've got school tomorrow and I had a Ruhi class and dinner appointments tonight. I will not be able to update as often now that school has started again, so bear with me as I struggle against the evil teachers at MDJH…
Thanks to Reviewers:
Gryffpam- yep, fluffy's my middle name (not really, but…)
Harry + Hermione 2gether 4ever- I love getting reactions out of people…
Howler- I'll send you this chapter to beta…
hermioneG89- don't worry, it's always superman-I-mean-Draco to the rescue!
Cassondra- it's pretty, it's wonderful, how could I resist! I had to write more with an offer like that!
Icy Stormz- GRR… must go kill yahoo groups thingy, where's my pitchfork?