N/A: The voting results are out! It's… 'Drumroll' H/G!!!!!!
To hp+hg=LOVE, I'm very sorry to disappoint you. You were a very loud voice in support of H/H. Alas, it was a lonely voice…
To the others, namely: Julephenia, bucky, King Crimson Fan On a Mac, tenshi-chan, mione(No, they wouldn't be together. Nothing personal, but I think those who support Hermione and Draco are out of their mind, as that's not likely to happen.) , Some Dude(I know that, but someone still asked for H/H, therefore I asked your input.) and Ksiezniczka. Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it. Comments and suggestions are more than welcome. Bring'em on!
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 3
Heart Talk
"Is it true?" Harry asked, after going over the shock of hearing it. "That you are … in love with me?"
Hermione blushed a little, but nodded. "Since Ginny had already said it out, there's no real reason to hide it anymore, is there?"
"But when you do hide it, you do it really well." Harry replied. "I had no idea as to how you feel…"
"It wasn't that difficult." Hermione said, playing with a lock of her hair to hide her nervousness. "You were too busy to really take notice of anything."
"Really…?"
"I did thought of telling you last year, but what with the Triwizard Tournament and … what happened then, I didn't think that's a good time to say anything about it."
"Hermione…"
"And then Dumbledore wouldn't allow me to send any mail to you." Tears were gathering in Hermione's eyes again as she spoke. "And I was so worried for you the whole summer… worried that the muggles would ill-treat you, or death eaters coming after you, or Voldemort would come and kill you… or… or…"
By this time, Hermione was too chocked up with tears to continue, tears rolling silently down her cheeks, while Harry looked on helplessly, unsure of how to help her.
"And… and I was so looking forward to seeing you again… and when I got here… Ginny told me…" Hermione continued brokenly, stopping now and then to sniff and dash her tears away.
"It's ok, Hermione. That's enough." Harry said gently, awkwardly placing his hand Hermione's shoulders. With a cry, Hermione fling her arms around Harry and sobbed.
"There, there." Harry said soothingly. It was, on reflection, not the best he could have said, but he really couldn't think of anything else to say. He patted her shoulders clumsily, trying to comfort her. "There, there."
~~~~~~~~~~
Ginny turned away form the door where she's been eavesdropping on Harry and Hermione, feeling a little sick inside.
'So that's how it is…'
Why would Harry want her when Hermione was available? She had known that she couldn't really be compared to Hermione. Didn't Ron tell her many times how attractive Hermione was, how clever, how smart, how much Hermione she was compared to her? Part of the nervousness she faced while waiting for Hermione to appear earlier was due to the fact that she was afraid that Harry would leave her for Hermione if Hermione's feelings were made known to him. Well, that had came true. Harry was in Hermione's arms now…
As Ginny made her way back to the common room, she missed out on what Harry said to Hermione after she had stopped crying. If she had heard it, it would have save her much trouble…
~~~~~~~~~~
"Feel better now?" Harry asked Hermione, smiling at her.
Hermione sniffed and untangled her arms from Harry. "Yeah… I'm sorry for crying out like that…"
"It's ok. I'm still your friend." Harry replied.
"Only friend?" Hermione said, looking down for a moment.
"Hermione… you know that Ginny and I…" Harry started to say, but Hermione cut him off.
"I know." She said. "And don't worry about me. I'll be alright once I get used to it."
"That's a relive." Harry said. "At least I know you wouldn't go and kill yourself because of this…" He shivered as he remembered a newspaper article he read in the muggle newspaper a few weeks back about a girl who jumped down from a ten-story building because her boyfriend left her.
"Hey! You underestimate me!" Hermione laughed through her tears. "You forgot that I am Hermione the Sensible! I wouldn't kill myself because someone, who shall remain nameless, chose to rejected me."
"Yeah… that's right." Harry replied sheepishly.
"So… how did you guys get together?" Hermione asked, sitting down on the floor. Though it was a little dirty, Hermione didn't mind it. Compared to its usual condition, it could be considered very clean. At least the floor was dry.
"Well, have you read about Tel'anran'rhiod?" Harry asked as he also sat down next to Hermione.
"Somewhat. It's supposed to be the place where you go when you sleep, right." Hermione answered.
"Yup. Ginny visited me through Tel'anran'rhiod once about two weeks back"
"What! But I thought humans can't go there!" Hermione exclaimed, surprised.
"You're wrong." Harry said, smiling a little at the expression of Hermione. She wouldn't take kindly to being told that she's wrong. She prided herself at being right most of the time. "I myself have been there twice."
"Oh?" An ached eyebrow.
"Of course, I didn't do it alone." Harry added quickly. "A star helped me."
"A star?" Hermione said disbelievingly.
"Let me explain." Harry said. "I was feeling sorry for myself that night, and I made a wish to a shooting star that was passing by. I wished not to be along again…" He remembered that night, when he had felt as if everyone had abandoned him. Looking back now, he should never have doubted his friends.
"And?" Hermione prompted, seeing Harry silent after a few minutes. Harry jumped a little, startled out of his musing.
"Sorry, just remembering that day." Harry apologized. "Anyway, Ginny made a wish too. To help me, in any way apparently."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Star must have thought it's a good deal, two wishes in one."
"Star?"
"Oh, sorry. That's the name of the shooting star."
"The shooting star?" Hermione was surprised. They named a shooting star?
"It's not just a ball of gas." Harry replied, guessing Hermione's thoughts. "It's a person. A lady. Her name was Star."
"Oh. Okay…"
"Anyway, she helped Ginny get into my dream, and we talked, really talked. I can't remember any time that I had a serious conversation with Ginny before, so that could count as the first time that happened. I even showed her my nightmare about the event last year. You know, when Voldemort was reborn?"
Hermione nodded to show that she understood.
"Somehow, during that time, it was like she and I was in the same body. I could feel the things she was feeling, and I'm sure it's the same for her. Her fear of Voldemort, the joy of seeing me escape him. I could feel her feelings as clearly as I could feel my own. Everything she felt, I felt it too, even her love for me…"
Harry's eyes had became vague, a half-smile on his lips. Hermione recognize that look. It was the same look that her father had when he told her the story of how he met her mother. 'It's the real thing…' She thought sadly. 'This isn't a crush, nor is it a fling. This is true love. As true as it can get…' She pulled her attention back to Harry's voice as he resumed his story.
"We planned on meeting at the Hogwart's Express. But as it turned out, we met much earlier than planned. When I woke up, I found out that I was in Ginny's body."
"What?" Hermione interrupted. "In Ginny's body? What do you mean?"
"Yeah, I was surprised too. Imagine, I went to bed a boy, I woke up a girl." Harry chuckled. "But more surprising was Ron's reaction. He didn't kick up a fuss or anything."
On seeing Hermione's disbelieving look, Harry quickly amended. "Well, maybe a little, at first. But once I explained that I am Harry in Ginny's body, he took it surprisingly well. 'Course, it helped that my scar was also transferred along, else I suspect that it would take a lot longer to convince him."
Hermione laughed. "I knew it wouldn't be so easy. So how did Ginny take it?"
"I have no idea. We didn't really talk about it."
"I see…"
"She disappeared into the toilet once, though. No idea what she did inside."
"She didn't!"
"She did. We were at Hogwarts then. Dumbledore thought it would be safer here than for us to remain at either the burrow or my aunt's place. Dumbledore was just about to tell us about his own experience in Tel'anran'rhiod when she suddenly asked to be excused and disappeared to the toilet. She nearly got me into trouble though. Turn out that as she was coming out of the toilet, Snape caught her. As she was in my body, Snape assumed that I was going into girl's toilets!"
"Oh dear. So how did you get out of that?"
"Dumbledore told Snape that he told her to go to the girl's toilet. You should have seen Snape's face then. I nearly laughed out loud." This time, Harry did laugh out loud as he remembered Snape's expression. Hermione joined in a moment later. Though she didn't see Snape's expression at that time, her imagination made up for it.
"What happened next?" Hermione asked after she managed to get her laughter under control.
"Well, Dumbledore continued telling us about the dark days of Grindelwald…"
"Wait a minute. I thought he was about to tell you about his time in Tel'anran'rhiod?"
"He was, only Grindelwald was mixed up in it too. Dumbledore was looking for a way to defeat Grindelwald when he too made a wish on a shooting star. It was in Tel'anran'rhiod that Grindelwald was defeated. I don't know the details though. Dumbledore never told as that much."
"I see. I'll have to ask him myself."
"I would advice you not to do that. I think it's something private and personal.
"Oh… alright then. Please continue your story."
"About halfway though the story, Star appeared again. It seems that she had brought us all into Tel'anran'rhiod to correct the mistakes regarding our bodies. Most of our memories of what happened in Tel'anran'rhiod were lost when we left Tel'anran'rhiod the last time, so Star offered to show us what happened. Ron also stayed. You can imagine that he didn't enjoy the show much, especially the kissing scene."
"You two kissed?"
"Yeah. Just before we left Tel'anran'rhiod the first time. Ron was really angry with me about it. He even knocked me across the room. After Ginny whispered something to him, he stopped though. Must be something embarrassing for him."
"I'll bet Ginny knows a couple of stuff to embarrass him completely."
"More than a couple, I think. She has been living with him for all her life now, you now."
"True… So what happened next?"
"Well, Star told us that in order to return to our own bodies, we'd have to kiss again."
"Really? Why is that?"
"Star told us that the reason we switched bodies in the first place was because of the kiss we shared when we were in Tel'anran'rhiod last, and a kiss is needed to switch back. You can imagine Ron's reaction to this."
"He must have been red in the face." Hermione said, chuckling at the imagined look on Ron's face.
"I can't say for sure, he turned away from us. Since this can't be avoided, he can't do anything to stop it from happening."
Here, Harry paused again, reflecting on his feelings at that time, when he had first knew that he would always be there for Ginny.
"When we returned to the real world, something about the two of us had changed. Not just our relationship with each other, but in our very way of thinking."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"You know how in the past, we almost never notice Ginny? It's as if she had the ability to sink into the wall and disappear."
"Yeah, That's true. If Ginny didn't come and talk to us, we wouldn't even know she's there."
"Well, now whenever I enter a room and she's there, I would know it immediately. It's as if I had an extra sense that is tuned to Ginny alone."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. And I know her like nobody else does. I suspect it's because for a short time I actually was her. I know her inside and out. I know her every gesture, every move. And it's the same for her. She is the only person who understands me completely. That rather spoils me for anyone else because there's no one else who can understand me like she does."
There was silence for a few minutes as both Harry and Hermione were caught up in their thoughts.
"So there's really no hope for me?" Hermione finally spoke up.
"I'm sorry." Harry answered gently. "But right now, there's no one that can take Ginny's place in my heart."
"I thought so, I just had to ask." Hermione replied. She glanced at her watch and gave a startled cry. "Look at the time! We've completely missed the feast and the sorting!"
"What? Again?" Harry replied. "And I thought I would make it for sure this year, being two weeks early at Hogwarts and all…"
"I'm really sorry." Hermione apologized. "For taking up so much of your time."
"It's ok." Harry smiled in reply. "If I have to miss the sorting, at least it was with a friend…"
"Well, we better get back to the common room before they lock us out of there." Hermione said as she stood up and offered a hand to Harry. Harry gladly accepted her help as his legs had fallen asleep. When he tried to pull his hand out of Hermione's, however, she wouldn't let go.
"Please, just this once." Hermione pleaded. Harry considered it for a few moments before nodding.
"Ok, just this once." He said, smiling at Hermione. Together they made their way back to the common room. When they reached the corridor that leads to the Fat Lady, Hermione dropped Harry's hands.
"Thanks Harry." She said. "Now I know what it's like to hold the hand of Harry Potter."
Harry did not answer to that, he just smiled at her and continued on to the entrance of the Gryffindor's common room.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ron Weasley paced restlessly in front of the fire, anxiety and worry on his face. When he heard the door creak open, he nearly ran to the door.
"What's the matter, Ron?" Harry asked as he stepped into the common room only to see Ron rush towards him.
"Is Ginny with you?" Ron nearly yelled out as he neared them.
"Didn't she return some time back?" Hermione asked.
"I haven't seen her since the time she pulled you out of the room, Harry." Ron answered, almost at panic point.
"What? She should have returned long ago." Harry said, worry creping into his voice too.
"Should we go look for her?" Hermione suggested.
"But the Headmaster asked us all to stay inside the dorm after dinner, or I would have got looking for her myself." Ron answered, nervously twisting his hands.
"Screw the Headmaster. What if Ginny is hurt somewhere? I'm going!" With that, Harry disappeared out of the common room again.
"Wha… Wait up, Harry. We're going with you!" Hermione yelled after Harry's retreating back.
"Hurry up then!" Harry yelled back over his shoulders before rounding the corner.
"Come on, Ron" Hermione said, pulling Ron's hand.
"Okay, okay. I'm coming." Ron replied, scrambling over the ledge of the painting.