A/N: I'm back! Sorry I'm late. Things were a little hectic as my parents just left to go on a cruise to Alaska, and my dad's brother and his wife came up from Texas to join them. Unfortunately, that meant that my mother came up with a whole lot of housecleaning chores for me to do. The good news is, my computer is finally fixed! The bad news is my hockey team (the Vancouver Canucks) is out of the running for the Stanley Cup. Oh well, at least on Canadian team (the Toronto Maple Leafs) is still in the playoffs.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine, but that's okay, because for the next week the house is mine and the sun is shining!
~***~
Hermione stood beside Ron watching the boys and the rest of the team swoop down to where they were standing. Her mind was reeling. Did Ron just kiss her? Again? She didn't have any urges to throttle him like the last time, however, she was a little stunned.
Her eyes followed Harry's, Fred's, and George's movements as they landed lightly in front of her, before clapping their hands on Ron's shoulders in congratulations.
"Nice landing little bro," George said to Ron, elbowing him in the ribs. Fred said something in addition, but Hermione paid no attention and her eyes widened at the thought of them seeing her being kissed.
She opened her mouth to intervene, protest, or do something, but all she let out was a little squeak, which no one heard anyway.
"You have good skills as a Keeper, but we may need to work on your landing skills Ron," Angelina said teasingly.
Hermione realised that no one was paying any attention to her at all. "They must not have seen us as the seats partially blocked their view," she thought in relief.
"So do we get to have our first practice now?" Ron asked eagerly, brandishing his broom
"Not yet," Harry laughed. "You would think you'd be slightly tired either way!"
"We still have to decide who's going to be Captain, Ron," Fred explained. "We haven't had on since Oliver left."
"And what a sad occasion that was," George said, pretending to wipe away a tear from his eye. The team laughed with shouts being interjected such as, "Yeah, no more 6 am practices. Gee, I miss those."
"All right, all right, calm down. How do we want to do this?" Angelina asked, looking around.
Hermione stepped a couple of paces back and just watched them unnoticed.
"Don't look at us," Fred and George held their hands up as if to ward them off. "You know we wouldn't be good for the team as captain."
She watched as the team stared at each other trying to figure out whom to pick.
"I think Angelina should be captain," Harry said finally.
"What? Oh, but I was thinking that you should be Captain, Harry," Angelina replied earnestly.
"No, not right now," Harry said with a look in his eye that Hermione didn't like. "I'm not ready to lead anyone right now."
No one said anything, and Hermione knew Harry was thinking about Cedric again. She decided that she and Ron would have to do something, otherwise Harry will be feeling guilty all his life.
Soon after, they agreed that Angelina would be the Captain and Fred and George ran off saying there would be a Gryffindor party that evening. Hermione rolled her eyes thanking her lucky stars that they were graduating this year, although, she had to admit that the idea of a party would be a little fun, if it didn't get carried away. Of course, it will get carried away since Fred and George Weasley were there.
Soon after, only the three of them were left on the stands. Ron and Harry started talking about Quidditch and she just focused as to where her feet were going. She supposed she should get used to this, as their conversation will probably be more like this since both of them were on the Quidditch team.
Hermione waited in the common room allowing the boys to change and get ready for lunch. Luckily not many people were there since it was a Saturday and it was sunny too so she managed to get a comfy chair near a window. Placing her elbow on the armchair, she laid her chin in her hand and looked pensively outside. It was one of those days where she wished she had an older sister, or even her mother there beside her.
Her eyes drifted down when she noticed a shadow alongside her chair. She jumped slightly before realising it was only Ron.
"Ron! Stop sneaking up on me!" she gasped, holding her hand against her rapidly beating heart.
"Well, sorry, but I did stomp down the stairs and I thought you would have noticed," Ron protested, flopping down onto a chair nearby.
"Where's Harry?"
"Still up there. He's trying to control his hair, and the mirror's giving him a hard time for it," Ron said grinning evilly.
Hermione placed a hand against her mouth stifling the laughter that was trying to escape. Her face sobered up a few moments later though.
"I'm surprised he didn't want to be captain," Ron mused, looking out the window as she was not too long ago.
"Yeah, me too. I think Angelina will be good as Captain, but Harry needs to start trusting himself again." She sighed, before catching the sound of footsteps coming down from the boys' tower.
"Shhh, he's coming," she said in a low voice.
"Oh sure, you notice him coming down, but not me, eh?" Ron replied with a mock look of being appalled.
"Ha ha," she said, sticking her tongue out at him and making a face.
"Real mature Hermione. I haven't seen you pull a face like that for a long time now," Harry said laughing as he came to their side.
"You boys bring out the worst in me," Hermione said haughtily, pulling herself out of her chair and heading out of the common room. She turned just as they saw them high five each other.
"All right!"
"We're doing our job properly Ron," Harry said earnestly.
"Honestly! You two are just as bad as Fred and George sometimes," she told them, not being able to hold the smile that was forming on her face.
"Who, li'l ol' us?" Ron asked innocently.
"Out!" And she opened the portrait hole, pointing for them to get out. Of course as soon as they did so, they pulled her along and the three of them started laughing and talking as they usually do.
When they were near the Great Hall, Hermione felt Ron's hand brush near hers. She watched in slow motion as his hand moved towards hers again. She quickly stuffed her hands in her robe's pockets, not even realising she was doing so, until it was already done.
Harry was oblivious to what was going on, or at least he was pretending to, but she couldn't avoid the hurtful look on Ron's face.
"Just keep moving to the table," she kept telling herself, willing herself to place her feet in front of her. Amazingly enough, she did so, for a few steps only until she bumped into someone.
Barely catching herself, she laughed a little laugh.
"Real graceful Hermione," she said with a shake of her head. She brushed off a few specks of lint and dust on her robe. "Sorry about that." Looking up she realised it was Viktor she bumped into. His friends from Ravenclaw were around him and looking at her appraisingly.
"Probably thinking I'm the biggest klutz, which I am," she admonished herself, shaking her head again.
"Are you okay Herm-own-ninny?" he asked with concern watching her shake her head for no apparent reason.
Hermione blushed a little, and hated herself for it. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that again."
She watched as a smile grew on his face. "No problem. You can bump into me anytime," he told her jokingly.
Rolling her eyes, "Thanks for the offer Viktor, but hopefully I won't need to all that often."
But instead of seeing him smile, she watched his pale blue eyes darken and his smile turn into a scowl. She looked up at him more than a little confused as to why his mood changed all of a sudden. Turning her head slightly behind her, she saw with a sinking heart that Ron was at the entrance of the Great Hall, and he looked furious.
Hermione turned around to face Ron squarely, but he wasn't even looking at her. She watched as he took a few steps closer.
"Viktor" Ron acknowledged coldly.
"Hello Ron," Viktor replied. When Ron didn't say anything, Viktor continued, "I hear you haf been chosen as the new Keeper."
Nothing.
Hermione groaned.
"Umm, congratulations. I vas asked to be the new Seeker for Ravenclaw," Viktor continued, trying to lower the tension.
Harry's mouth dropped. Fred and George ran to tell Angelina.
The Ravenclaws around Viktor smirked at the Gryffindors.
Ron just stood there.
Hermione moved out of her trance. "Oh, congratulations Viktor. I'm sure –"
"We'll see how good of a team you are," Ron interrupted. He moved until he was right against Viktor's face. "Third game of the season is Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, and I'm looking forward to it."
He turned on his heel and walked to the Gryffindor table. Harry and Hermione stood there looking at Viktor and the other Ravenclaws.
Hermione made eye contact with Viktor, "I'm so sorry. I…" She didn't really know what to say and just ended up shrugging her shoulders apologetically.
"It's not your fault Herm-own-ninny," he replied.
"We should really go and, you know," Harry said, nodding his head towards Ron.
She nodded, smiled a little smile at Viktor, and followed Harry to the Gryffindor table leaving Viktor with his housemates.
~***~
It had been a week, and still Hermione and Ron refused to talk. She tried talking to him as soon as that stupid confrontation took place, but he refused to talk to her. In fact, as soon as she sat down, he stood up and stomped out of the Great Hall. Later on, he accused her of fraternising with the enemy, or something like that. Since then, neither of them spoke to each other, and she was perfectly happy with the situation.
Working on their DADA assignment was a little awkward for Harry and Neville, since they were now the unofficial communicators of the group. The four of them tried working together, but the strain grew too much, and Ron walked out of the common room and to the library. After that meeting, Neville or Harry would work with one of them, and the two of them would later meet and share the information.
This was fine with Hermione. If Ron wanted to act like a git, so be it. She was in the library on a rainy Saturday morning with Neville researching the project. What had seemed to be so much fun for her partners was turning out to be more work than they expected. They spent more time on the DADA project than even Potions or Transfiguration. It seemed that no matter what answers they came up with, Professor Andsware would throw a curve ball at them in their next class, and they all had to trudge back up to the library to figure out the new information given to them.
This was the stage that Neville and her were at. Neville was having a hard time with it all. Professor Andsware scared him more than McGonagall, but less than Snape. When asked why, considering Andsware saved them from Snape, he answered, "Exactly! If she can do that to Snape, who knows what she can do!"
The problem with the new information was that it disputed the theories that the group came up with. It was leaving Hermione very cranky and disgruntled with it all.
The two of them were sitting at a table in the international section of the library and she was pouring over books trying to come up with some defensive strategies her Australian wizards could use. It was very hard because the people in the pictures would never move to where she wanted them to go to. They always ended up on the coast lying in the sand trying to soak up the sun.
Pushed to her limit, she slammed the book shut and reached for the book about the town specifically. It was pretty quaint, but nice all the same. She flipped the page to their holidays and local celebrations and saw a photo of a country fair. There was a farmer's market in one end, an area for children in another, and even a butterbeer garden. She shuddered a little, recalling her last experience with butterbeer. She was about to flip the page when something caught her eye. Bringing her face down to the point where her nose almost brushed against the book she peered closely at the wizards and witches sitting in the butterbeer garden. Some of them started turning towards her and making faces but one stood out on his own.
She grabbed the book and leapt out of her seat.
"Where are you going?" Neville asked from where he was sitting.
Hermione waved her hand dismissively at him and ran out of the library after signing it out to a disapproving Madam Pince. She sprinted down the corridors until she panted the password to the portrait and pushed her way in without even a 'thank you'.
She spotted Ron and Harry at a table working on their parts and skidded to them dropping the book in the middle of them.
"Look!"
"Hermione? What's going on?" Harry asked confusedly.
"Just look!" she insisted.
She watched impatiently as they looked at the picture of the town's carnival.
"So?" Ron asked. "A bunch of people having a good time, big deal. They're having more fun than we are." He added sourly.
"No you prat, look at this guy." She pointed towards the man off to the side.
"Uh huh. What about him?" Ron asked raising his eyebrows.
"He's the guy I saw at the Leaky Cauldron and at the Three Broomsticks!" she announced excitedly, flopping into the seat across from them.
"How can you tell Hermione? It's not a very good picture," Harry said peering into the book once more.
"Here's where it gets interesting," she lowered her voice conspiratorially, and leaned forward over the table. "Remember that man I saw with Andsware on the first day of classes?"
She looked at two blank faces facing her. "Oh come on! I told you guys. The one I saw from my window?"
"Errr, I don't think you told us Hermione," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders at Ron.
"Of course I did! I told you just before DADA class…" she paused. "Oh, maybe I didn't, now that I think of it." She frowned a little before shrugging it off. "I forgot my wand and ran back to my room, and I saw Andsware and a man near the bushes by the front gates before our class."
"Yeah, so? Maybe it was a messenger," Ron reasoned.
"No, it's him!" she stated, jabbing a finger in the photo, causing the inhabitants to scatter around like ants.
"Hermione," Harry said slowly, "how could you tell? The gates are far away from your window. It may not be this guy."
"Maybe not," she conceded, "but I'm sure it is! I remembered the profile, and when I glanced at his picture I knew it was him. And then I looked closer, and I saw that this was the same guy at the bar."
Ron finally took a closer look at the picture, "Okay, this could possibly be the guy we saw at the Three Broomsticks." He ignored the glare given by her at the word 'possibly', "I still don't see how this concerns any of us."
Hermione leaned back in her chair and looked incredulously at her two friends. "I can't believe you two! You both who have managed to get into trouble since we started this school," they both shifted guiltily in their seats, "now think you shouldn't get into something that sounds too close to be called coincidental?! Hah!"
"Well, what do you want us to do? We don't know who this guy is, or even if this is the same guy that talked to Andsware. We don't know his name, why he's here, nothing," Harry reasoned with her.
"Fine, if you two don't want to do anything, go ahead. I'll figure it out," Hermione said in a huff, grabbing the book and walking quickly to the girls' tower so that the boys wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.
She had just reached her door, and hoped that Lavendar and Parvati weren't in there, else they would never leave her alone.
She just started to open up the door, when she felt a hand on her arm. Turning around she saw Ron standing there like a lost little puppy, shifting from one foot to another.
She watched him struggle with whatever he wanted to say. She didn't say a word. She wanted to, but she figured that he after her for a reason.
"You really think this guy is the same?" he finally asked, pointing with his chin to the book still in her free hand.
She nodded silently.
"And you really think he's important enough for us to research him?"
She glanced down, "I don't know Ron." Looking up at him she continues, "It just seems a little strange. We see this guy at Diagon Alley, Andsware comes to Hogwarts, I see them talking, and we see him again at Hogsmeade. There's something there that just keeps telling me not to dismiss this right away." She shakes her head ruefully, "I can't really explain it."
Hermione stood there and watched him place his hands in his pockets and sigh.
"Okay Hermione, Harry and I have learned not to ignore your gut feelings, or your intellect," he smiled a little, "we'll help you with this."
"Thanks Ron," giving him a smile in return, "I really do appreciate it." She started to turn back into her room when he called out to her one more time.
"Hermione, why don't you want to go out with me?"
She froze and turned around slowly. "I never said I didn't want to go out with you," she protested.
"You never said you wanted to," he replied pointedly.
She couldn't really reply to that. "It's not that I don't or do want to go out with you, but, do you really think we're ready?" Seeing as he was about to answer, she interjected hurriedly, "No really Ron. Everytime you see me even talk to Viktor you go ballistic on me. I can't do that anymore. You can't do that anymore."
"I don't trust him Hermione," he growled.
"He's a really nice guy Ron. You liked him so much before last year, and I hope you can like him now," she pleaded.
He pushed himself off the wall he was leaning. "Why can't you trust my gut instincts? How come I'm supposed to trust your instincts, and you won't trust mine?" he yelled, his face going a dark angry red.
"Because you're wrong!" she shouted, tears finally falling freely. "And you'll never admit it when you are!"
"Fine Hermione. If Viktor's so great, why don't you go and date him!" he shouted turning to head down the stairs.
"Maybe I will!" she shouted back before slamming her bedroom door behind her. She fell into her bed and cried until she fell asleep tormented by dreams of the dark stranger and Ron.
~***~
A/N: Okay, so that was a slightly depressing ending. Sorry. Okay, maybe I'm not all that sorry!
Geneviève: I never even thought about Trevor the frog. Trevor was one of my favourite guy's name a few years ago, so I just used that!
Punkpixie87: yeah, sorry it's taken me a long time to write this, but what can you do? Thanks for the compliment though!
Magicalmischiefmaker: My grammar mistakes. I must admit for chapter 18 I never went back to check for grammar mistakes. I just wrote it, and uploaded. Whoops! It's funny that you wrote "you have a firm [grasp] on your plot", because that was one of the major issues I had with my chapter. It seemed my plot was flailing about, and I needed to sit down and think about what I was writing. I'm glad my 'flailing plot' wasn't obvious though! As for the conservative style, as I said numerous times, essays are not my forté. I'm a science girl, so this is a lot harder for me than for other people.
Diagon Alley's website is http://home.nyu.edu/~amw243/ . I had never heard of Schnoogle, but found Lori & Cassandra Claire there as well.
Strife21 is good, as is kirikarin. Davesmom's "Beyond Redemption" was very good and Madame Padfoot's "Love, life, and quidditch" was enjoyable. I really like Reiko's "Serpent's Bride" and Ellelegov's "Once Upon a Dream" is good. I must mention Angel-eyes "Bittersweet Reunion" as well.
I don't really know anyone who would like to be my beta reader, so I guess you're stuck with me! (Unless, you're offering of course)
Esther: Thanks for reading my story!
Taya J Weasley, the Author: I really do enjoy reading and replying to everyone's reviews! It must be annoying to some readers, but they don't have to read my replies, right?
Vy: Sorry about me not writing for a long time. You would think that I'd be continuously updating since I finished school, but I'm doing worse! Snape and Andsware will have more interaction, and it's definitely interesting. Sorry the good feeling of R/H kissing didn't last!
Eliza: Now's that's an amazing compliment! This being the 5th book! Wow!
Anne-girl: I find typing 'anne-girl' in the author section doesn't lead me to you (maybe because of the hyphen?), anyway, I'll read your story very soon!
Angel-eyes: thanks for reviewing my story! Very nice and sweet of you!
Lady lupin: I've never read your story, but I'll do so before I post the next chapter. But I promise, I didn't take any of your ideas!!!
Goddessnmb1: I hoped this explained why Fred & George didn't tease them. You saw Viktor here, but you'll see Andsware later on (for sure!)
Bluetreeleaves: oohh, don't flush computer down the toilet. Big no no. lol! I can understand the feeling. My brother was so fed up with this computer (before it was fixed), that one day he was pounding the cpu, until I ran into the room and stopped it. Very frustrating. I'm definitely not stopping the story, but I had trouble starting this chapter. Sorry for the wait!
Madison: thanks again! You guys (the ones who review every chapter) are totally awesome!!! You make this all worthwhile!
Rally-as-Twidde's: I have come back! It took a while, but I'm here once again!
Buckbeakbabie: I tried to keep away from the hollywood-type story, but it does have certain drama scenes ;-)
Phoenixsong Sorceress: Thanks for reviewing my story! I love it when I come across a story I can read from beginning to end, and I can't believe people think that of my story! Wicked!
A/N: Okay, replies are done. I'm sorry about the wait, but I really did have a hard time getting focussed for this chapter. I kept deleting paragraphs and plots at a time and was getting very frustrated. Good news is that my muse is settled and somewhat happy now, so it should go smoother. And hey, at least you won't have to wait till next year for the next story (ahem, J.K. Rowling, ahem….I want the 5th book NOW!! lol!)
Au revoir mes amis,
Shalara