A/N: After the review by gw4e, I thought that I would give it a try again and see if lightning would strike three times. This take place after the events of both 'What dreams may come' and 'Dream a little dream of me'. Please tell me what you think of it. Please… Thanks.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The name Tel'anran'rhiod belong to Robert Jorden and the 'Wheel of Time'
Dreaming of You
Chapter 1
Start of School
Hermione Granger stepped down from the Hogwarts Express, lugging her huge trunk, filled with the books from first-year to fifth-year books, down the train. Or rather, she was trying, but the task was simply too big for her. Stopping to take a breather, she looked around in hope of finding someone kind-hearted enough to help her, but most of the students had already leave the station, save only one or two still chatting away, completely ignoring her. Hermione sighed and dropped down on the truck.
"Great." She murmured. "The one time Harry and Ron wasn't here, this have to happen to me…"
Two weeks back, Hermione had received a letter from Dumbledore telling her that both Harry and Ron had gone to Hogwarts earlier, and that they would meet her at the station. Well, here she was at the station, and they were nowhere to be found. What a nice welcome. And she was so eager to see her best friends again too. Especially Harry… So eager, in fact, that she had somehow managed to fall asleep in the train and had ended up being the last to leave the train, thus her current situation.
"Having problems, mudblood?" A voice said smugly. Hermione groaned. Of all the people that could have remained behind, why must it be him? Why? Why? Why?
"Soot off, Malfoy." Hermione said wearily. "I'm not in a mood to deal with you now."
Draco Malfoy stood in front of Hermione with his two bodyguards at his side, smiling his irritating smile, the one that always make Hermione want to smack him.
"Come on now. I'm here out of the goodness of my heart." Draco said with a smug, placing one hand over his heart. "To help you. I saw you looking for help just now."
"Thanks, but no thanks." Hermione said primly. "I'll rather not be in your debt."
"I'm hurt!" Draco took a few steps back, clenching his heart in mock pain. "The lady hath rejecteth me! Oh the pain!"
"Quit it, Malfoy." Hermione said, shaking her head slowly. "I'm not impressed."
"Indeed." Said Draco with another small smile. "However, I must insist." With that, Draco lifted his wand. A swish and a flick later, Hermione was on the ground, with her truck floating above her.
"That is not funny, Malfoy!" Hermione said, glaring at him while getting up to her feet. "Give me back my truck."
"Of course." Draco laughed. "If you can catch me!"
He turned to walk back to the castle, still laughing, and found himself staring at a wand, held at chest level. His eyes followed the wand up the arm, hidden in the black Hogwarts robes, into a pair of bright green eyes.
"Well, well, well. The hero appeared to save the damsel." Draco mocked, waving his wand around, making the truck jump about in the air dangerously. "What a surprise."
"Drop it, Malfoy." Ron said from beside Harry, who was holding the wand. He was fingering his own wand, contemplating if he should just blast him, to hell with the rules, or not.
"Drop what?" Draco asked, one eyebrow arched. "This?" He gestured at the floating truck, still happily bopping around.
"Yes. That." Harry grinded from between clenched teeth, his wand still pointed at Draco's chest.
"Sure." Draco shrugged his shoulders. "It's just a joke anyway." He released the truck from the spell, and it immediately dropped like a rock. Just before it reached the floor, however, it suddenly bounded a little before settling on the ground.
"Nice cushion charm, Granger." Draco drawled as he watched the trunk fall. "Saved the lives of your books."
"Get out of here now, Malfoy." Harry said, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "Before I curse you to all the way to next week."
"As if you can do that, Potter." Draco replied.
Harry did not make any replies, he just stared at Draco, his ward still lifted threateningly.
"Let's go." Draco said shortly, suddenly dropping the smiling mask, matching Harry's eyes glare for glare. "Your time is limited, Potter. I suggest you make the most of it before the Dark Lord kill you." With that, Draco wheeled about and stalked off, Crabbe and Goyle hurrying after him. Harry watched him walk out of sight before turning to Hermione.
"Are you alright?" Hermione nodded with a smile, before she turned to Ron, a dangerous look on her face.
"What are you thinking of, asking Malfoy to drop my trunk from that height?" She yelled at Ron.
"Huh? Did I do something wrong?" Ron asked, confused.
"If I didn't catch it with the cushion charm, all my things would have been broken!" Hermione continued, her volume and pitch now enough to ratter the windows of the train behind.
"But, but I…" Ron stuttered, taken aback by the sudden wave of words by Hermione.
"When we get to Hogwarts, I'm going to drop your trunk. See if you like that!" Hermione concluded with a small smile. She turned to Harry. "Come on, let's get going. We'll be late if we stick around here any longer."
"Wha… Wait a minute." Ron's brain had finally caught what Hermione just said. "Why are you dropping my trunk? What does my trunk got to do with anything."
"You asked Malfoy to drop mine, so I do the same to yours. That's fair, isn't it?" Hermione said in a reasonable tone.
"Yeah… that's true…" Ron said, trailing off. "Wait a minute. That doesn't seem right."
"Alright, alright." Harry suddenly stood between the two of them. "I take my hats off you. Barely five minutes after you two meet, and you are quarreling already."
"Just glad to see you guys after so long." Hermione answered with a smile. "We better get going. The feast is about to start."
"Alright then." Ron started up the path to Hogwarts, his eyes alight at the prospect of food.
"Wait a minute." Hermione said, crossing her arms.
"What?" Ron asked gruffly. He really wanted to get to the feast.
"Aren't you guys forgetting something?" Hermione asked, pointing to her trunk.
"Oh yeah." Harry said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Come on, Ron. The faster we get this in, the faster we can eat."
~~~~~~~~~~
Ginny sat, all alone, at the Gryffindor's common room. It was almost time for the Start-of-the-Term Feast, but Ginny didn't really want to go down at this point. The reason is very simple. Hermione.
Ginny sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her head on it. How could she have forgotten about her? Didn't they decide to wait and see who Harry would chose? And yet, now she's Harry's girlfriend. How on earth is she going to explain this to Hermione? For the past two weeks, Ginny had been trying not to think about this question, but now that Hermione is coming, it couldn't be delay any longer. She could still remember the talk they had last year, while Harry was still sleeping under the influence of the sleeping potion after the disastrous Triwizard Tournament…
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"Are you alright? Hermione?" Ginny asked softly as she sat down next to Hermione in the hospital wing, watching over Harry. Hermione looked up, tears standing in bloodshot eyes, before she wiped them off with her sleeve and gave Ginny a watery grin.
"I'm fine." Hermione said, just as softly, before turning to look at Harry.
"How's Harry?" Ginny asked, a little awkwardly. The hospital wing was deserted, only the two of them and Harry was there. The silence was more than a little deafening.
"Still sleeping." Hermione answered, without taking her eyes off Harry. He looked so peaceful there, but they knew it was only due to the sleeping potion that Harry had taken. If not for the potion, Harry would still be fighting in his nightmare.
They sat there for a few more minutes, neither able to think of anything to say. Finally Hermione broke the silence.
"Hey, Ginny." She said.
"Yes?"
"Do you… still like Harry?"
Silence…
"Ginny?" Hermione sounded a little concerned.
"I… really don't know…"
"Oh…"
"I mean…" Ginny continued. "It doesn't seem like last time, when I just seemed to lose my mind in his presence." Ginny smiled a little at the memory of her putting her elbow in the butter, just before starting her first year at Hogwarts.
"Really…so, how is it like now?" Hermione asked.
"… When Harry disappeared just now, at the Tournament, and didn't appear for so long, I started to worry. Every minute that went by only add to that worry, till it was all I could do to stay in my place and not go into the maze to look for him myself…"
Hermione did not say anything; she just sat there looking at Ginny.
"And when he finally appeared, I was so relived, I felt as if all the wound up energy of being nervous had just leaked away, leaving me without any strength. Then Mad-Eye Moody took him away, and I suddenly wanted to be close to him. I tried to follow, but the prefects had blocked off the area, so I had to sneak in here just now."
Ginny stopped suddenly, aware that she had been the one doing the talking this whole time, conscious of Hermione's look at her.
"Sorry, I was blabbering." Ginny said, bowing her head.
"Don't worry about it." Hermione said. "But you know, I felt more or less the same as you, so I understand what you feel…"
"Really…?" Ginny was surprised. "But I thought… you and Ron…?"
"You and everyone else." Hermione laughed softly. "But… no. I don't like Ron that way. We are just friends."
"Oh… I see." Ginny replied. "Ron is going to be disappointed."
"Why's that?"
"You don't know? He had a crush on you."
"Really?" Hermione thought about it for a while. "So that's why he was acting all weird at the Yule Ball…"
Ginny shook her head slowly. "You must be just about the last to know… well, other than Harry here. He's just about the densest person I've ever seen when it comes to things like that."
As if the mention of Harry was some kind of switch, both of them stopped talking and turned to look at Harry's sleeping face. After a few more minutes, Hermione sighed and turned to Ginny.
"So… What are we going to do about this?" She asked.
"About what?"
"Well, Harry."
"Oh…You like Harry that way?" Ginny asked tentatively.
Hermione nodded.
Silence…
"I think it's better if we let Harry chose." Ginny said finally. "I mean, he might not even like us."
"Yeah… Last I heard, Harry is still mooing over Cho Chang."
"Besides, I don't think Harry will be interested in a relationship now. He has a lot on his mind now…"
"You're right." Hermione said with a sigh. "So we wait."
"Yeah…"
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What should she do? How is she going to tell Hermione? Ginny was almost ready to tear out her hair in frustration. Suddenly a scrapping sound was heard, as the Fat Lady swung open, followed by the loud voice of Ron and Hermione's laugher. They have arrived.