Chapter 7
Friday 25 August
The festival was every bit as vile as I thought it would be. There were loads of beered-up muggle lads wearing those ridiculous velvet jesters' hats with the bells on -at least that meant you could hear them as they sneaked up behind you and tried to cop a feel. But even they weren't as bad as the masses of hippies in the healing field who were walking around bare- ass naked, ensuring I'd never be able to eat another cocktail sausage as long as I lived.
After breakfast (well, lunch if we're going to get technical about it) of fresh donuts from a nearby stall, everyone spilt up and I was left alone with Draco. The girls had gone off to the fair and although they'd begged me to go with them, Draco had kept a tight grip on my hand and made it plain that we wanted to spend some quality time with each other.
We started walking down the main stage and I forgot how nervous I was about what we'd planned to do once we were at the festival. He was just Draco, he wasn't scary. In fact, we spent the next half hour bonding as we moaned about the medieval bathing facilities (i.e.: there wasn't any) and the annoying hippie brats that kept running into our legs every five minutes. Why is it little kids have no spatial awareness?
Draco and I sat and watched a couple of muggle bands and I thought, this is good, this is what normal couples at a festival do, as we sat on the grass, holding hands and supping lukewarm lager.
In between sets, Draco turned to me and took of his shades. "I don't know how you do it," he said musingly.
"Do what?"
"You've hardly had any sleep, I know you're dying for a shower 'cause you've told me ten times, but you look fantastic, like you've just stepped out of a Fellini film," he said admiringly.
I didn't actually know who Fellini was (although I guessed he was some hip foreign film director) but I pulled a face. I did not look fantastic, not by anyone's standards. I had a crumpled t-shirt on and a pair of pink peddle pushers that were already covered in grass stains and however much sun block I smeared on my face, my freckles were multiplying by the minute. I tugged my fingers through my tangled hair. "It's nice of you to say it, Draco," I began. "But I look and feel horrible. I don't know how you managed to stay smart." And it was true. Draco didn't have a crease in his Ben Sherman shirt and twisty leg Levis. He must have slept standing up. Draco smirked. "I'd be quite keen on getting a bit more rumpled." Here we go. I raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled. "Let's go back to the tent," he murmured seductively. "And I'll show you what you've been missing." I didn't say anything for a while. The tension hummed in the air between us and I knew that Draco was holding his breath. I couldn't put it off any longer. "OK," I agreed with a sigh. And he grinned and pulled me to my feet. "You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that," breathed Draco, leaning in to kiss me.
It had taken us half an hour to get down to the main stage but with Draco tugging at my hand we made it back to the tent in ten minutes.
I stood there feeling completely detached, almost as if I was outside of myself, while he unzipped the canvas. Draco held the tent flap open for me as I crawled inside; he was already unbuttoning his shirt as he inched towards me. This is it, I thought. I'm about to have sex in a tent, in the middle of a field, in broad daylight. It was not how I'd imagined this moment.
Draco reached for me and pulled me down so I was lying on top of him and started to kiss me. His hands were stroking under my t-shirt as he whispered, "You've got too many clothes on."
I wriggled my t-shirt off and wished this was happening to someone else as Draco began to fumble with the clasp on my bra. His eyes were roaming all over me and his hands weren't being gentle as he twisted at the fastening. There wasn't a whole lot of tenderness going on. But how could I tell Draco that I'd made a mistake when I'd promised him I'd finally do the deed? There wasn't any going back.
Draco managed to get my bra undone and was trying to coax me to slip it off when we heard a scuffling noise outside the tent. I froze. Well I froze even more than I already was.
"What was that?" I hissed as Draco rolled me over so he was pinning me to the ground.
"What was what?" he said impatiently.
"I heard a noise," I said. There was another scrabble at the tent canvas. "There it is again!"
The next second, to my horror, Susan's head appeared through the flap.
"Oh my God!" we both squeaked.
Susan's head retreated and I grabbed my discarded t-shirt and held it to my chest.
Draco, God rot him, started to laugh. "Foiled again," he said, lying back with his arms behind his head.
I turned my back to him, did up my bra and pulled on my t-shirt before crawling out of the tent. And colour me puce 'cause every inch of me was blushing.
"I'm so sorry," Susan gabbled. "I had no idea."
"It's alright," I muttered. I actually wanted to get down on my knees and kiss her feet in gratitude but I managed to restrain myself. "What's up?"
She pulled me away from the tents. "I don't want to be anywhere near him," she said scathingly, and then remembered what we'd been doing the last time she saw him and winced.
"Forget him for a minute," I advised her, wishing I could do the same. "And tell me why you're so upset?" Susan gave a cry of frustration. "Penny has gone missing. I turned my back for a second and she'd disappeared."
"OK, where were you?" I asked, my Miss Efficiency auto-pilot kicking in.
"I was in the dance tent," Susan wailed. "But I've looked all over. And the others are all looking and I can't find her anywhere."
"Alright, we'll get Draco to stay here in case she comes back and we'll go look for her," I decided. "He's got his wand and we've got wands between us. So we can sent sparks up, but remember to use the ones only visible to witches and wizards otherwise we're gonna have the Ministry of Magic after our blood. Ok? We'll find her."
"Jeez, Hermione, I never knew you were so sensible," Susan exclaimed as I poked my head through the tent flaps.
Draco was lounging back on a rolled up sleeping bag and smirked when he saw me.
"Ah, there you are," he said wolfishly. "I was beginning to think you'd abandoned me."
"There's been a change of plan," I said quickly, as he gave me an annoyed look. "Penny has gone missing. Susan's in a complete state and I need you to stay here in case she turns up. Alright?"
"But Herm." he started to say but I waved at him vaguely and turned back to Susan.
"You go to the Missing Persons' tent and I'll check the animal welfare stalls," I told her as we began to hurry down the hill.
"Thanks Hermione," Susan said. "I don't know what I'd do without you. I can't seem to think straight."
"You're just worried about Penny," I panted as we picked up speed.
"Well, I'm sorry I've been such a Hag," said Susan.
"Forget it," I said again, and meant it. "But please don't tell anyone about me and Draco.how we. what we were doing when you saw us."
"Why would I tell anyone about that?" Susan shrieked. "It's scarred me for life!"
I checked all the animal rights stalls and went back to the healing field but I couldn't find Penny anywhere. I'd bumped into Dean and Seamus but they'd had no luck either. I was just about to call it a day and head back to find the others when I thought I saw Penny in the crowd. I pushed through people to get closer but she'd gone. I looked around helplessly and then I saw her. She was with a group of Muggle lads.
They were all staggering about and laughing, Penny included, but she looked pale and confused. One of the bigger lads slung his arm round her and the pair of them looked like they were about to topple over. I rushed towards her and Penny threw her arms round me.
"Hermione! Lovely Hermione," she gasped. "You look all weird."
Her pupils were massively dilated and she was all floppy as if she couldn't stand properly.
I turned to the lads who were standing there giggling feebly. "What have you done to her?" I yelled at them. There was no response, just more giggles.
I poked the one nearest me. "What has she taken?" I demanded grabbing the front of his t-shirt. I was half tempted to force him to tell me with magic, but the risk was too great, being in a field of Muggles and all. But he spoke in the end anyway.
"Some stuff," he mumbled. "I'll let you have a tab for a fiver."
"You stupid moron," I yelled (well actually I called him something much ruder than that.) "Was it acid or E?"
"It was probably acid," suggested a boy from the crowd, which was rapidly gathering, around to watch. "You wouldn't spike someone E, it's too expensive."
"Whatever," I said distractedly, turning back to Penny and trying to keep her upright with one arm while I still had a grip on the lad's t-shirt with the other. "You're lucky it was me who found you," I snarled at him. "If it had been her sister or one of our boyfriends, you'd be lucky to still have kneecaps." I gave him a hard push and he fell over on the ground, still laughing at some private joke. I glared at his mates but they were just gazing at me like I should come with subtitles or something.
"What have you taken?" I demanded of Penny, who had her face buried in my shoulder.
"They brought me some water," she said dreamily, "and it made me feel all funny."
"Do you need some help?" asked the hippie boy. He told me his name was Azure as he helped me get Penny to the First Aid tent. He was so beautiful that in more normal circumstances I'd have been fighting for breath and losing myself in his amazing turquoise eyes, but I sternly told myself to stop it. This was not the time or the place. And besides, Penny was babbling about how much she loved me and how some people looked like they had animal spirits inside them and she was beginning to seriously worry me.
Azure disappeared once we got to the First Aid tent, after telling me that if I ever needed his services again I could find him on the astral plane. The paramedics looked Penny over, told me that she'd probably had her drink spiked with some acid and the best thing I could do was sit quietly with her and make sure she drank plenty of fluid. Of course, then I realised I'd left my wand in the tent so I had to fill in a form to get the DJ on the main stage to make an announcement so the others knew where to find us. I was never going to another festival as long as I lived.
Once the medics were sure that Penny wasn't going to OD (over-dehydrate), they led us to a little portakabin and I persuaded Penny to lie down. I sat there with her head on my lap while I stroked her hair and half-listened to her non-stop chattering.
Penny was all sunburnt and the curly ginger hair that looked all rock chick on Susan, just looked messy on her. She was such a strange little critter but I had the feeling that when Penny got a bit older she was going to kick serious ass. Plus she was going to be really pretty once she did something about her hair and stopped hiding her face behind her hands all the time. I s'pose it was hard having a sister like Susan. Susan was so determined and cool that any siblings were forced to flail helplessly in her wake.
Penny started trying to kiss my hands and I tugged them away gently.
"I'm so glad you're here, Hermione," she said, trying to focus her eyes on me. "You're my friend, not just Susan's. I wish you were my best friend."
"Of course you're my friend," I told her consolingly. "Why don't you try to get some sleep."
"When I close my eyes I see this satanic version of Donald Duck's nephews," she informed me solemnly. "I wish I could remember their names."
"Huey, Dewey and Louie," I supplied.
Penny gave a chuckle. "You know everything."
"Remind me to come and see you next time I need my ego boosted," I laughed.
But then Penny clutched my hands tightly and started saying how she idolised me and she wanted to be just like me and have boys fighting over her. "You're my witch hero," she insisted, getting more and more distressed.
"Please calm down," I begged her. She looked at me accusingly. "I'm not witch hero material," I told her bitterly. "My life's a complete mess. I'm meant to be making all these big decisions about my future but I can't even decide what I want to do tomorrow. And I don't have boys fighting over me, I just have Draco and, y'know, he's, well, he's Draco!"
Penny was silent after my outburst and I thought she'd dozed off but all of a sudden she opened her eyes and hit me with a question from hell.
"So why did you kiss Ron?" she asked baldly.
"Me and Ron?" I whimpered. "That's a whole other story."
But Penny wanted to hear it and so I told her. Everything. All the whys and wherefores. And all the stupid ways we'd managed to hurt each other. And why it was over now. And when I finally got to the end, which must have been an hour after I started, Penny looked at me with the steadiest of gazes and said, "Why are you with Draco when you still love Ron?"
I started trying to deny it but Penny interrupted. "I hate Draco," she announced dreamily. "He tried to kiss me at your barbecue. After I'd seen you and Ron, I was coming downstairs as Draco was coming up. He pressed me against the wall and said he'd give me a go when I got a bit older. And then he kissed me and I didn't do anything because I knew that if he went upstairs he'd find you and Ron."
"Oh Penny I'm so sorry," I had this strange urge to wrap her up and protect her so no one could hurt her. I also had a less strange urge to find Draco and kick him right in the place where he did most of his thinking. Penny might have been Planet Acid but she wasn't lying. And Susan hadn't got her version of events wrong either. It sounded exactly like Draco. I could even hear his voice in my head drawling out the line about waiting 'til Penny was older. I felt sick at the thought of what I'd been prepared to do to keep him. He must have been laughing himself stupid at me for months. He was evil.
"I wish my first kiss had been different," mused Penny.
"They get better," I promised. "When Ron kisses me it feels like, like I have this itch that only he can scratch but better than that."
Penny gave me a smile and promptly fell asleep and I sat there going over my life since Draco had arrived to screw it up. By the time Susan, Dean and Seamus arrived; I was stuck into a big, bad gloom.
When I started to explain what had happened to Penny, Susan burst into tears. Then Penny woke up and started crying too. I was severely tempted to join them. Once she's calmed down, Susan was so sweet to Penny. I thought she might have given her a lecture about no-good Muggle boys and accepting drinks from them, but she was more concerned that Penny was OK. I wished I had a big sister. I might not be in the mess I was in now. While I sat there cuddling Penny and Susan, Dean found a paramedic to give Penny another check. The medic reckoned that she just needed to sleep and that she might be a bit shaky tomorrow. Then Dean (his super-hero tendencies kicking in) picked Penny up and Seamus put his arms round Susan, and I trailed along behind them as we went back to the tents.
All I wanted to do was go home, crawl into bed (preferably one with freshly- washed sheets on) and stay there 'til the 'rents got home. While everyone was fussing over Penny, I snuck into my tent and looked for the site-map to see how I could get home using public transport. I heard the tent flap open and prepared myself for a confrontation with Draco. I whirled round but it was Cho.
"Oh, it's you!" I said, "I didn't mean that the way it came out."
"Glad to hear it," she said reproachfully. "Well, you're a little heroine on the quiet, aren't you? I guess Susan's forgiven you for that Draco-gate incident."
I shuddered. "Don't talk to me about him," I hissed. "He's as good as dead."
Cho raised her eyebrows, opened her mouth to say something and then thought better of it.
"Sorry, didn't mean to take it out on you," I mumbled. "I bet you're fed up with me and my psycho-dramas."
"Hey, what are friends for," Cho said lightly. "So what I actually came to tell you was that I've just spent a fiver on a box of Tampax. Rip off, much!"
I goggled at her. "Does that mean you're not.?" She bounded over and hugged me. "My period's come! I'm not pregnant," she crowed.
"Oh, I'm so pleased for you," I said, trying to muster some enthusiasm. "You're happy, right?"
"Ecstatic but I wish I wasn't surfing the crimson wave at a festival with rudimentary toilet facilities," she said, pulling a face.
"I hear you."
"So what has Draco done now?" Cho asked curiously.
"Oh I don't want to talk about it," I groaned. "Put it this way, we are over. We're more over than any couple has ever been. But I haven't got the energy to go into detail. He's just pathetic, cheating, conniving." I ran out of adjectives and stood there, breathing and trying to calm down from my hissy fit.
Cho didn't ask any more questions but said that she and Harry were going to get something to eat and then planned to spend what was left of the evening in the cinema tent and I'd better have a damn good reason for not coming with them.
Draco was waiting for me as I left the tent.
"There you are," he said with a flash of irritation. "I'm going to have to magically tag you."
I was in no mood to have it out with him, especially as I could see the others (minus Veronique and Ron who'd been missing in action all day) watching, even though when I glanced over at them they all pretended that they were looking at something particularly fascinating on the ground.
I glared at Draco, throwing every ounce of hatred I felt into it. He stepped back.
"What have I done now?" he sighed.
"Just get the hell away from me," I snarled. "Don't talk to me, don't touch me, don't even flamin' breathe near me."
"Hermione you're being really stupid," he began but I cut him off simply by flouncing over to the others while he was still in mid-sentence.
"Are we going to get something to eat or what?" I asked them and although the looks I got made it clear that Cho had filled them in on what I'd said earlier, everyone sprang into action and spirited me off down the hill, while Draco stood there looking furious.
Friday 25 August
The festival was every bit as vile as I thought it would be. There were loads of beered-up muggle lads wearing those ridiculous velvet jesters' hats with the bells on -at least that meant you could hear them as they sneaked up behind you and tried to cop a feel. But even they weren't as bad as the masses of hippies in the healing field who were walking around bare- ass naked, ensuring I'd never be able to eat another cocktail sausage as long as I lived.
After breakfast (well, lunch if we're going to get technical about it) of fresh donuts from a nearby stall, everyone spilt up and I was left alone with Draco. The girls had gone off to the fair and although they'd begged me to go with them, Draco had kept a tight grip on my hand and made it plain that we wanted to spend some quality time with each other.
We started walking down the main stage and I forgot how nervous I was about what we'd planned to do once we were at the festival. He was just Draco, he wasn't scary. In fact, we spent the next half hour bonding as we moaned about the medieval bathing facilities (i.e.: there wasn't any) and the annoying hippie brats that kept running into our legs every five minutes. Why is it little kids have no spatial awareness?
Draco and I sat and watched a couple of muggle bands and I thought, this is good, this is what normal couples at a festival do, as we sat on the grass, holding hands and supping lukewarm lager.
In between sets, Draco turned to me and took of his shades. "I don't know how you do it," he said musingly.
"Do what?"
"You've hardly had any sleep, I know you're dying for a shower 'cause you've told me ten times, but you look fantastic, like you've just stepped out of a Fellini film," he said admiringly.
I didn't actually know who Fellini was (although I guessed he was some hip foreign film director) but I pulled a face. I did not look fantastic, not by anyone's standards. I had a crumpled t-shirt on and a pair of pink peddle pushers that were already covered in grass stains and however much sun block I smeared on my face, my freckles were multiplying by the minute. I tugged my fingers through my tangled hair. "It's nice of you to say it, Draco," I began. "But I look and feel horrible. I don't know how you managed to stay smart." And it was true. Draco didn't have a crease in his Ben Sherman shirt and twisty leg Levis. He must have slept standing up. Draco smirked. "I'd be quite keen on getting a bit more rumpled." Here we go. I raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled. "Let's go back to the tent," he murmured seductively. "And I'll show you what you've been missing." I didn't say anything for a while. The tension hummed in the air between us and I knew that Draco was holding his breath. I couldn't put it off any longer. "OK," I agreed with a sigh. And he grinned and pulled me to my feet. "You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that," breathed Draco, leaning in to kiss me.
It had taken us half an hour to get down to the main stage but with Draco tugging at my hand we made it back to the tent in ten minutes.
I stood there feeling completely detached, almost as if I was outside of myself, while he unzipped the canvas. Draco held the tent flap open for me as I crawled inside; he was already unbuttoning his shirt as he inched towards me. This is it, I thought. I'm about to have sex in a tent, in the middle of a field, in broad daylight. It was not how I'd imagined this moment.
Draco reached for me and pulled me down so I was lying on top of him and started to kiss me. His hands were stroking under my t-shirt as he whispered, "You've got too many clothes on."
I wriggled my t-shirt off and wished this was happening to someone else as Draco began to fumble with the clasp on my bra. His eyes were roaming all over me and his hands weren't being gentle as he twisted at the fastening. There wasn't a whole lot of tenderness going on. But how could I tell Draco that I'd made a mistake when I'd promised him I'd finally do the deed? There wasn't any going back.
Draco managed to get my bra undone and was trying to coax me to slip it off when we heard a scuffling noise outside the tent. I froze. Well I froze even more than I already was.
"What was that?" I hissed as Draco rolled me over so he was pinning me to the ground.
"What was what?" he said impatiently.
"I heard a noise," I said. There was another scrabble at the tent canvas. "There it is again!"
The next second, to my horror, Susan's head appeared through the flap.
"Oh my God!" we both squeaked.
Susan's head retreated and I grabbed my discarded t-shirt and held it to my chest.
Draco, God rot him, started to laugh. "Foiled again," he said, lying back with his arms behind his head.
I turned my back to him, did up my bra and pulled on my t-shirt before crawling out of the tent. And colour me puce 'cause every inch of me was blushing.
"I'm so sorry," Susan gabbled. "I had no idea."
"It's alright," I muttered. I actually wanted to get down on my knees and kiss her feet in gratitude but I managed to restrain myself. "What's up?"
She pulled me away from the tents. "I don't want to be anywhere near him," she said scathingly, and then remembered what we'd been doing the last time she saw him and winced.
"Forget him for a minute," I advised her, wishing I could do the same. "And tell me why you're so upset?" Susan gave a cry of frustration. "Penny has gone missing. I turned my back for a second and she'd disappeared."
"OK, where were you?" I asked, my Miss Efficiency auto-pilot kicking in.
"I was in the dance tent," Susan wailed. "But I've looked all over. And the others are all looking and I can't find her anywhere."
"Alright, we'll get Draco to stay here in case she comes back and we'll go look for her," I decided. "He's got his wand and we've got wands between us. So we can sent sparks up, but remember to use the ones only visible to witches and wizards otherwise we're gonna have the Ministry of Magic after our blood. Ok? We'll find her."
"Jeez, Hermione, I never knew you were so sensible," Susan exclaimed as I poked my head through the tent flaps.
Draco was lounging back on a rolled up sleeping bag and smirked when he saw me.
"Ah, there you are," he said wolfishly. "I was beginning to think you'd abandoned me."
"There's been a change of plan," I said quickly, as he gave me an annoyed look. "Penny has gone missing. Susan's in a complete state and I need you to stay here in case she turns up. Alright?"
"But Herm." he started to say but I waved at him vaguely and turned back to Susan.
"You go to the Missing Persons' tent and I'll check the animal welfare stalls," I told her as we began to hurry down the hill.
"Thanks Hermione," Susan said. "I don't know what I'd do without you. I can't seem to think straight."
"You're just worried about Penny," I panted as we picked up speed.
"Well, I'm sorry I've been such a Hag," said Susan.
"Forget it," I said again, and meant it. "But please don't tell anyone about me and Draco.how we. what we were doing when you saw us."
"Why would I tell anyone about that?" Susan shrieked. "It's scarred me for life!"
I checked all the animal rights stalls and went back to the healing field but I couldn't find Penny anywhere. I'd bumped into Dean and Seamus but they'd had no luck either. I was just about to call it a day and head back to find the others when I thought I saw Penny in the crowd. I pushed through people to get closer but she'd gone. I looked around helplessly and then I saw her. She was with a group of Muggle lads.
They were all staggering about and laughing, Penny included, but she looked pale and confused. One of the bigger lads slung his arm round her and the pair of them looked like they were about to topple over. I rushed towards her and Penny threw her arms round me.
"Hermione! Lovely Hermione," she gasped. "You look all weird."
Her pupils were massively dilated and she was all floppy as if she couldn't stand properly.
I turned to the lads who were standing there giggling feebly. "What have you done to her?" I yelled at them. There was no response, just more giggles.
I poked the one nearest me. "What has she taken?" I demanded grabbing the front of his t-shirt. I was half tempted to force him to tell me with magic, but the risk was too great, being in a field of Muggles and all. But he spoke in the end anyway.
"Some stuff," he mumbled. "I'll let you have a tab for a fiver."
"You stupid moron," I yelled (well actually I called him something much ruder than that.) "Was it acid or E?"
"It was probably acid," suggested a boy from the crowd, which was rapidly gathering, around to watch. "You wouldn't spike someone E, it's too expensive."
"Whatever," I said distractedly, turning back to Penny and trying to keep her upright with one arm while I still had a grip on the lad's t-shirt with the other. "You're lucky it was me who found you," I snarled at him. "If it had been her sister or one of our boyfriends, you'd be lucky to still have kneecaps." I gave him a hard push and he fell over on the ground, still laughing at some private joke. I glared at his mates but they were just gazing at me like I should come with subtitles or something.
"What have you taken?" I demanded of Penny, who had her face buried in my shoulder.
"They brought me some water," she said dreamily, "and it made me feel all funny."
"Do you need some help?" asked the hippie boy. He told me his name was Azure as he helped me get Penny to the First Aid tent. He was so beautiful that in more normal circumstances I'd have been fighting for breath and losing myself in his amazing turquoise eyes, but I sternly told myself to stop it. This was not the time or the place. And besides, Penny was babbling about how much she loved me and how some people looked like they had animal spirits inside them and she was beginning to seriously worry me.
Azure disappeared once we got to the First Aid tent, after telling me that if I ever needed his services again I could find him on the astral plane. The paramedics looked Penny over, told me that she'd probably had her drink spiked with some acid and the best thing I could do was sit quietly with her and make sure she drank plenty of fluid. Of course, then I realised I'd left my wand in the tent so I had to fill in a form to get the DJ on the main stage to make an announcement so the others knew where to find us. I was never going to another festival as long as I lived.
Once the medics were sure that Penny wasn't going to OD (over-dehydrate), they led us to a little portakabin and I persuaded Penny to lie down. I sat there with her head on my lap while I stroked her hair and half-listened to her non-stop chattering.
Penny was all sunburnt and the curly ginger hair that looked all rock chick on Susan, just looked messy on her. She was such a strange little critter but I had the feeling that when Penny got a bit older she was going to kick serious ass. Plus she was going to be really pretty once she did something about her hair and stopped hiding her face behind her hands all the time. I s'pose it was hard having a sister like Susan. Susan was so determined and cool that any siblings were forced to flail helplessly in her wake.
Penny started trying to kiss my hands and I tugged them away gently.
"I'm so glad you're here, Hermione," she said, trying to focus her eyes on me. "You're my friend, not just Susan's. I wish you were my best friend."
"Of course you're my friend," I told her consolingly. "Why don't you try to get some sleep."
"When I close my eyes I see this satanic version of Donald Duck's nephews," she informed me solemnly. "I wish I could remember their names."
"Huey, Dewey and Louie," I supplied.
Penny gave a chuckle. "You know everything."
"Remind me to come and see you next time I need my ego boosted," I laughed.
But then Penny clutched my hands tightly and started saying how she idolised me and she wanted to be just like me and have boys fighting over her. "You're my witch hero," she insisted, getting more and more distressed.
"Please calm down," I begged her. She looked at me accusingly. "I'm not witch hero material," I told her bitterly. "My life's a complete mess. I'm meant to be making all these big decisions about my future but I can't even decide what I want to do tomorrow. And I don't have boys fighting over me, I just have Draco and, y'know, he's, well, he's Draco!"
Penny was silent after my outburst and I thought she'd dozed off but all of a sudden she opened her eyes and hit me with a question from hell.
"So why did you kiss Ron?" she asked baldly.
"Me and Ron?" I whimpered. "That's a whole other story."
But Penny wanted to hear it and so I told her. Everything. All the whys and wherefores. And all the stupid ways we'd managed to hurt each other. And why it was over now. And when I finally got to the end, which must have been an hour after I started, Penny looked at me with the steadiest of gazes and said, "Why are you with Draco when you still love Ron?"
I started trying to deny it but Penny interrupted. "I hate Draco," she announced dreamily. "He tried to kiss me at your barbecue. After I'd seen you and Ron, I was coming downstairs as Draco was coming up. He pressed me against the wall and said he'd give me a go when I got a bit older. And then he kissed me and I didn't do anything because I knew that if he went upstairs he'd find you and Ron."
"Oh Penny I'm so sorry," I had this strange urge to wrap her up and protect her so no one could hurt her. I also had a less strange urge to find Draco and kick him right in the place where he did most of his thinking. Penny might have been Planet Acid but she wasn't lying. And Susan hadn't got her version of events wrong either. It sounded exactly like Draco. I could even hear his voice in my head drawling out the line about waiting 'til Penny was older. I felt sick at the thought of what I'd been prepared to do to keep him. He must have been laughing himself stupid at me for months. He was evil.
"I wish my first kiss had been different," mused Penny.
"They get better," I promised. "When Ron kisses me it feels like, like I have this itch that only he can scratch but better than that."
Penny gave me a smile and promptly fell asleep and I sat there going over my life since Draco had arrived to screw it up. By the time Susan, Dean and Seamus arrived; I was stuck into a big, bad gloom.
When I started to explain what had happened to Penny, Susan burst into tears. Then Penny woke up and started crying too. I was severely tempted to join them. Once she's calmed down, Susan was so sweet to Penny. I thought she might have given her a lecture about no-good Muggle boys and accepting drinks from them, but she was more concerned that Penny was OK. I wished I had a big sister. I might not be in the mess I was in now. While I sat there cuddling Penny and Susan, Dean found a paramedic to give Penny another check. The medic reckoned that she just needed to sleep and that she might be a bit shaky tomorrow. Then Dean (his super-hero tendencies kicking in) picked Penny up and Seamus put his arms round Susan, and I trailed along behind them as we went back to the tents.
All I wanted to do was go home, crawl into bed (preferably one with freshly- washed sheets on) and stay there 'til the 'rents got home. While everyone was fussing over Penny, I snuck into my tent and looked for the site-map to see how I could get home using public transport. I heard the tent flap open and prepared myself for a confrontation with Draco. I whirled round but it was Cho.
"Oh, it's you!" I said, "I didn't mean that the way it came out."
"Glad to hear it," she said reproachfully. "Well, you're a little heroine on the quiet, aren't you? I guess Susan's forgiven you for that Draco-gate incident."
I shuddered. "Don't talk to me about him," I hissed. "He's as good as dead."
Cho raised her eyebrows, opened her mouth to say something and then thought better of it.
"Sorry, didn't mean to take it out on you," I mumbled. "I bet you're fed up with me and my psycho-dramas."
"Hey, what are friends for," Cho said lightly. "So what I actually came to tell you was that I've just spent a fiver on a box of Tampax. Rip off, much!"
I goggled at her. "Does that mean you're not.?" She bounded over and hugged me. "My period's come! I'm not pregnant," she crowed.
"Oh, I'm so pleased for you," I said, trying to muster some enthusiasm. "You're happy, right?"
"Ecstatic but I wish I wasn't surfing the crimson wave at a festival with rudimentary toilet facilities," she said, pulling a face.
"I hear you."
"So what has Draco done now?" Cho asked curiously.
"Oh I don't want to talk about it," I groaned. "Put it this way, we are over. We're more over than any couple has ever been. But I haven't got the energy to go into detail. He's just pathetic, cheating, conniving." I ran out of adjectives and stood there, breathing and trying to calm down from my hissy fit.
Cho didn't ask any more questions but said that she and Harry were going to get something to eat and then planned to spend what was left of the evening in the cinema tent and I'd better have a damn good reason for not coming with them.
Draco was waiting for me as I left the tent.
"There you are," he said with a flash of irritation. "I'm going to have to magically tag you."
I was in no mood to have it out with him, especially as I could see the others (minus Veronique and Ron who'd been missing in action all day) watching, even though when I glanced over at them they all pretended that they were looking at something particularly fascinating on the ground.
I glared at Draco, throwing every ounce of hatred I felt into it. He stepped back.
"What have I done now?" he sighed.
"Just get the hell away from me," I snarled. "Don't talk to me, don't touch me, don't even flamin' breathe near me."
"Hermione you're being really stupid," he began but I cut him off simply by flouncing over to the others while he was still in mid-sentence.
"Are we going to get something to eat or what?" I asked them and although the looks I got made it clear that Cho had filled them in on what I'd said earlier, everyone sprang into action and spirited me off down the hill, while Draco stood there looking furious.