"You Only Live Twice"

Sequel to "Leah"

by Dorthey Star

Chapter Two: Let's Talk About Love

          After she'd been at Hogwarts a week, Hermione was sitting in the library, trying to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when Draco and Pansy walked in together. Draco was saying something to her and she was giggling. Hermione rolled her eyes and tried to concentrate on the words.

"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.

"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.

See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!

They are waiting on the shingle- will you come and join the dance?

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?

          Pansy giggled again, and Hermione slammed the book shut, earning herself a disapproving glare from Madame Pince as she left the library. Hermione started heading in the direction of the Gryffindor Common room, but then realized she didn't want people carefully handling her like a shaken up bottle that was about to explode. She decided to go sit out at the Quidditch Pitch and think, something she'd been doing too often, but couldn't seem to do enough.

          Hermione went up to her room to get her cloak. When she'd become Head Girl, Hermione had been given a room to herself. She pulled the soft black cloak out of her trunk and headed down the stairs to the portrait hole.

          "Where are you going?" Harry asked.

          "Um…to the library?" Hermione lied, finding that she didn't want Harry's company, yet she knew he'd come with her if she told him that she was going outside.

          "You're lying," he said, frowning.

          "Okay, so I am. I'm going outside," she sighed.

          "Do you want me to come with you?" he asked, starting to stand up.

          "No, Harry, I just want to be alone for awhile where it is quiet so I can think," she explained gently. He nodded and sunk back into his chair, keeping his piercing green eyes on her as she left the common room. 

          Hermione pulled her cloak on as she left the school. She walked down to the pitch and sat down on the cold metal stands. She let her mind drift, finally. All she could think about was Draco. She thought about how he'd acted that summer and how he was acting now. Maybe it was all a curse…maybe he didn't love me at all and I didn't love him at all, she told herself hopefully. Somehow, however, she knew it wasn't true. She wanted him so bad, yet she wanted him as far from her as she could get him.

          She hated him because he couldn't trust her enough to tell her the truth, yet she loved him because she had discovered that he could be sweet and was really a good person underneath.

          "Maybe everyone has a good side underneath it all," she quietly mused aloud to herself. She looked at the twinkling stars above and amused herself for several minutes by finding different constellations.

          "Harry told me I'd find you out here. He also told me that you didn't want company, so don't blame him," came a quiet voice from behind Hermione. She turned around and saw Ginny, who had puffy eyes and a red nose.

          "What's wrong, Ginny?" Hermione asked, making room for the slender girl to sit next to her.

          "It's Harry. I still love him, very much, but I still get the vibe that he loves you and is in love with you like I told you. He's just so distracted and that look in his eyes when you came back to life…it was like he got a second chance, yet he knew he didn't have a chance at all," Ginny said quietly.

          "Ginny, I don't love Harry like that. I love, well, quite frankly no one like that at the moment," Hermione sighed. Ginny studied her for a moment.

          "I think you are in love with someone…I think we're the same; we can't get our guys to give us the time of day…God, it just isn't fair!" Ginny let out a growl in frustration.

          "And who do you propose I'm in love with?" Hermione asked softly, though she knew the right answer.

          "You know. Malfoy. He's still in love with you, too. I can tell it by the way he looks at you when he thinks no one's looking," Ginny said.

          "Since when do you know about love, Weasley?" asked a drawling voice from behind them. They flew around to see none other than Draco Malfoy.

          "Leave, Malfoy," Hermione growled.

          "No, I plan to stay. Don't let me be an interruption. I want to hear your answer to Weasley's question. Pansy," he drew her name out, "would love to know, I'm sure."

          "You and your fiancée can go and jump off a cliff," Hermione muttered before sweeping past Draco and going into the school.

Disclaimer: everything, except the title, belongs to JKR. The title belongs to someone else.

Author's Note: please review. Pretty please?