SAME DISCLAIMER AND SUCH AS THE FIRST CHAPTER .
AN: thanks to my one reviewer . . . sorry it wasn't long enough, hope this helps!
True to her prediction, Hermione heard Crookshanks before she saw him. Although she did not lock him in her dormitory, Crookshanks preferred to stay there in the evenings when the common room was full. The window she nearly always left open for him, unless Pavarti complained of the chill. The instant she opened the door, he was weaving insistently around her legs. Hermione laughed and dropped her bag by her bed.
"Okay, okay you crazy cat, I'll feed you! Did you think I wouldn't?"
Crookshanks did not seem to believe her. He continued his pattern, rubbing and meowing. This hindered Hermione's walk to her trunk, as she continually had to dodge him.
"You know, it would be much faster if you would just leave me alone so I could GET to your food." Crookshanks stopped at this and backed away, sitting primly by his dish and watching her intently. His noisemaking, however, did not cease.
After filling the heavy ceramic dish, and thus silencing Crookshanks, Hermione sat wearily on her four-poster bed for a moment and stared into empty space. After a moment, she rose again and retrieved her books. Sitting at her desk, she opened her Arithmancy book and began working problems in her neat script on a sheet of parchment. Hermione didn't know why she was so tired. It was unusual. She decided that she must have just had a more tiring day than she'd realized.
She had hardly worked her way through the fifth problem when she heard Crookshanks hissing. This scared her. The last time she had heard him hiss was when he was confronted with Wormtail, the amaigus traitor that had hidden under the guise of Ron's rat for years. He had made a better rat than a human.
Turning around, Hermione saw Crookshanks, fur on end, spitting at the air above her bed. No, that couldn't be right.
"Who's there?" Hermione questioned uncertainly. There was no response and she tried once more. "Hello?" This time Hermione was rewarded with a high- pitched squeak that was definitely not Crookshanks. Maybe it was an evil spirit.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" she demanded in the direction that Crookshanks was staring.
Whatever it was squeaked again and Hermione began to walk slowly towards the bed. Crookshanks, however, reached it faster. He sprang up into the empty space and locked his claws onto the air. Hermione could see now, however, that it was definitely not just air.
"Help!" it cried as it began to flicker into view.
Hermione recognized the appearing form immediately. "DOBBY!"
Dobby was struggling with Crookshanks, who now had him pinned to the bed. "Crookshanks NO!" she cried, racing to pull the cat off of his prey. Prying Crookshanks from Dobby turned out to be no mean feat. Every time she managed to get one paw unhooked and began to work on the next one the unfastened paw refastened itself. It didn't help that Dobby was writhing and squealing in terror at being caught by a cat as large as himself.
"Dobby, why don't you just transport yourself somewhere else?!" she puffed between breaths as she wrestled with the cat, remembering Harry's tales of the way the elf blinked away.
"C-c-can't! It would be too easy!"
"Crookshanks you should be ashamed of yourself!" she said, managing to pull the cat's two front paws off of Dobby and hold them in the air. The cat ceased its struggling, Dobby did not. She lifted the cat fully, unhooking his back feet with relative ease now and dropping him roughly on the floor. Turning her attention to Dobby, she saw that the house-elf was huddled on her bed, shaking. Every second or so he would briefly flash away into invisibility, only to return a moment later looking as terrified as ever.
"Dobby, what are you doing here?"
"Danger. Danger and Dobby couldn't tell Master Potter. No, he mustn't know, he wouldn't believe Dobby."
"What danger, Dobby, what is wrong?" Hermione asked, somewhat relieved. Whatever it was, it couldn't kill Harry, he was the main character, after all. At least he hadn't come to tell her that she had gotten an A-. Heaven forbid.
Dobby opened his flickering mouth to speak and then his green eyes widened even more, an action Hermione would not have thought possible. He disappeared for longer now, obviously trying to accomplish something. Then Hermione heard a faint pop and an even fainter whisper of a word. "Malfoy." The door to the dormitory opened at that moment and Lavender entered, smiling.
"Hermione?" she asked, her smile fading slightly at the look on Hermione's face. "What happened? Is something wrong?" Hermione recovered quickly and looked up at Lavender.
"No, nothing's wrong. Just thinking, that's all."
Lavender looked at her disbelievingly. "No you weren't. Something's wrong, I can tell."
Hermione bit her lip; Lavender would never believe what had just happened even if Hermione considered telling her. She couldn't tell Lavender because it would be more fun for the author if she made up some random reason as to why the look on her face was there. She knew that Lavender would continue pressing her until she said something, so she said the first thing that came to mind.
"I'm in love with Ron."
AN: thanks to my one reviewer . . . sorry it wasn't long enough, hope this helps!
True to her prediction, Hermione heard Crookshanks before she saw him. Although she did not lock him in her dormitory, Crookshanks preferred to stay there in the evenings when the common room was full. The window she nearly always left open for him, unless Pavarti complained of the chill. The instant she opened the door, he was weaving insistently around her legs. Hermione laughed and dropped her bag by her bed.
"Okay, okay you crazy cat, I'll feed you! Did you think I wouldn't?"
Crookshanks did not seem to believe her. He continued his pattern, rubbing and meowing. This hindered Hermione's walk to her trunk, as she continually had to dodge him.
"You know, it would be much faster if you would just leave me alone so I could GET to your food." Crookshanks stopped at this and backed away, sitting primly by his dish and watching her intently. His noisemaking, however, did not cease.
After filling the heavy ceramic dish, and thus silencing Crookshanks, Hermione sat wearily on her four-poster bed for a moment and stared into empty space. After a moment, she rose again and retrieved her books. Sitting at her desk, she opened her Arithmancy book and began working problems in her neat script on a sheet of parchment. Hermione didn't know why she was so tired. It was unusual. She decided that she must have just had a more tiring day than she'd realized.
She had hardly worked her way through the fifth problem when she heard Crookshanks hissing. This scared her. The last time she had heard him hiss was when he was confronted with Wormtail, the amaigus traitor that had hidden under the guise of Ron's rat for years. He had made a better rat than a human.
Turning around, Hermione saw Crookshanks, fur on end, spitting at the air above her bed. No, that couldn't be right.
"Who's there?" Hermione questioned uncertainly. There was no response and she tried once more. "Hello?" This time Hermione was rewarded with a high- pitched squeak that was definitely not Crookshanks. Maybe it was an evil spirit.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" she demanded in the direction that Crookshanks was staring.
Whatever it was squeaked again and Hermione began to walk slowly towards the bed. Crookshanks, however, reached it faster. He sprang up into the empty space and locked his claws onto the air. Hermione could see now, however, that it was definitely not just air.
"Help!" it cried as it began to flicker into view.
Hermione recognized the appearing form immediately. "DOBBY!"
Dobby was struggling with Crookshanks, who now had him pinned to the bed. "Crookshanks NO!" she cried, racing to pull the cat off of his prey. Prying Crookshanks from Dobby turned out to be no mean feat. Every time she managed to get one paw unhooked and began to work on the next one the unfastened paw refastened itself. It didn't help that Dobby was writhing and squealing in terror at being caught by a cat as large as himself.
"Dobby, why don't you just transport yourself somewhere else?!" she puffed between breaths as she wrestled with the cat, remembering Harry's tales of the way the elf blinked away.
"C-c-can't! It would be too easy!"
"Crookshanks you should be ashamed of yourself!" she said, managing to pull the cat's two front paws off of Dobby and hold them in the air. The cat ceased its struggling, Dobby did not. She lifted the cat fully, unhooking his back feet with relative ease now and dropping him roughly on the floor. Turning her attention to Dobby, she saw that the house-elf was huddled on her bed, shaking. Every second or so he would briefly flash away into invisibility, only to return a moment later looking as terrified as ever.
"Dobby, what are you doing here?"
"Danger. Danger and Dobby couldn't tell Master Potter. No, he mustn't know, he wouldn't believe Dobby."
"What danger, Dobby, what is wrong?" Hermione asked, somewhat relieved. Whatever it was, it couldn't kill Harry, he was the main character, after all. At least he hadn't come to tell her that she had gotten an A-. Heaven forbid.
Dobby opened his flickering mouth to speak and then his green eyes widened even more, an action Hermione would not have thought possible. He disappeared for longer now, obviously trying to accomplish something. Then Hermione heard a faint pop and an even fainter whisper of a word. "Malfoy." The door to the dormitory opened at that moment and Lavender entered, smiling.
"Hermione?" she asked, her smile fading slightly at the look on Hermione's face. "What happened? Is something wrong?" Hermione recovered quickly and looked up at Lavender.
"No, nothing's wrong. Just thinking, that's all."
Lavender looked at her disbelievingly. "No you weren't. Something's wrong, I can tell."
Hermione bit her lip; Lavender would never believe what had just happened even if Hermione considered telling her. She couldn't tell Lavender because it would be more fun for the author if she made up some random reason as to why the look on her face was there. She knew that Lavender would continue pressing her until she said something, so she said the first thing that came to mind.
"I'm in love with Ron."