Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I own only the plot and my devilish mind.
A/N: Mm, my muse is doing well so far. I'm able to write a new chapter whenever I have the urge. Yeah! Unlike my D/G romance, which is slowly dying…. Read and review! (excuse typos/grammar mistakes-I didn't proofread…)
THE MAGIC OF LOVEBy: Katrina Four A Match To Remember
The night air whipped at Hermione's face as she dragged her tired body back inside the castle after a horrible Quidditch practice, which was thankfully masked by the darkness. Although it had been a chilly evening, she was drenched with sweat and could barely walk straight. Hermione couldn't care less how Harry and Ron managed to stay on their brooms and perform their Quidditch tricks; she was going to keep both her feet on the ground once she gets out of this warped world.
After Hermione put her Nimbus 2001 away, she dove into her homework. It seemed ironic that being a professor herself she was forced to do the homework she'd done six years ago again. At least for once, I don't have to go to the library and research on Snape's potions, Hermione thought as her quill flowed easily on the parchment.
"So, Hermione," Padma said when she entered the dormitory, her hair wet from a shower. "How was the team practice?"
"Umm…" The truth was, Hermione did not call a team practice. Her fellow 'teammates' could find out about her lack of skills and talent tomorrow. "It was good," she lied, not looking up from her essay. "Umm…yeah…Padma, you know I have the flu, right?"
Padma laughed. "So finally you admit it?" she asked, sitting herself on Hermione's bed.
Hermione nodded. "So I was wondering if the reserve Chaser could play tomorrow," she said carefully. "My flying abilities might be hampered by my…er…disease."
"You've been listening to Madam Pomfrey for too long," grinned Padma. "No worries. Hermione, you never get that sick, and even if you do, you can still do the work of three Chasers. Which is why we don't have a reserve Chaser anyway and our other two Chasers basically suck."
Uh-oh. "And anyway, don't worry," Padma said, getting off her bed. "You'll do fine, I promise. You always managed to score at least half the points we earn. Sometimes even if Cho doesn't catch the Snitch, we win anyway. You're such a perfectionist! Well, off to bed I go. You better get some sleep too."
"Oh, right." Hermione finished her Potions essay and decided to leave her Arithmancy essay till tomorrow, something she would've never dreamt of doing when she was really fifteen. She pushed away her books, packed up her quills and ink, and after a moment's debate decided to take a shower anyway.
The corridors were dark and quiet and rather foreboding when Hermione exited out into it from her common room, clutching her nightgown and a few amenities and of course, her wand. Although she should know the school pretty well, having been a professor for three years, she had never been in the Ravenclaw section of Hogwarts before. "Lumos," she said, lighting her wand, not caring if Filch catches her. He could actually help me find the bathroom.
The light cast a shadow and made the hallways even more eerie. Hermione tried to remember the way she got to the bathroom earlier in the day, and couldn't remember very well except that she bumped into a few wrong passages before finding the right one. Finally, she made it out of the Ravenclaw tower and found the Prefects' Bathroom again, but this time noting the exact way she got there. "Soap bubbles," she said, stepping into the bathroom, but before the door closed all the way, she held her breath.
Hermione had heard footsteps echoing behind her.
Just as the door closed all the way, whoever it was paused in front of the bathroom. Please don't come in, Hermione begged. Please don't come in. She listened breathlessly. "Maybe it's just Harry trying to scare me," she tried to convince herself. "I shouldn't be so paranoid. It could be any student." But still, she could not shake away the feeling of fright.
There was a knock on the door. Hermione swallowed and clutched her wand in front of her. Impedimenta and then I will bolt out of this bathroom, she told herself. But what if it's just a student and I'm really just suffering from paranoia? There was another knock, harder and more impatient. Hermione swallowed again nervously as knock after knock came, persisting. She was growing more annoyed than scared. "Look," she snapped finally. "If you don't know the password, then you aren't supposed to be using this bathroom!"
Instantly the knocking stopped. "Oh," a voice said, and the footsteps faded away as the person left. Something about the voice scared Hermione. It sounded very cold and very unlike the voice a student was capable of making. Still shaking, she reinforced the door with a charm of her own before daring to undress and bath in the swimming pool.
After she was bathed and dressed in her nightgown, Hermione gathered up her stuff and prepared to leave the bathroom.
When she heard the footsteps again. She was sure it was the same person. Hermione bit her tongue to keep herself from crying out loud. "You have been warned," the same voice whispered, somehow knowing that Hermione would still be in the bathroom.
The voice. It sounds familiar. Hermione clutched her wand and stepped back a few steps. "You have been warned," repeated the voice, and then the footsteps died away.
Finally, when Hermione's pounding heart calmed, she tentatively exited the bathroom, prepared to yell out the Stunning Spell at any moment. Thankfully there was nobody in sight. She gently closed the door behind her and started to leave, but she stepped on something.
A piece of parchment.
Hermione picked it up. Someone most definitely dropped it, she thought, reading it to see if a name was written anywhere. She froze.
Get rid of the girl, it read.
~*~
"You didn't sleep well, did you?" Padma commented as she got up. "You look so tired."
Hermione yawned. Padma was right. She was insomniac for most of the night. And I have a good reason to, she thought dryly. "I'm all right," she lied, examining the circles under her eyes in the mirror. "Just a case of pre-game jitters, I'm assuming."
Padma grinned. "Oh okay, then," she agreed. "I'll be cheering you on in the stands. Don't worry. You will be wonderful."
Hermione forced a smile. "I'm sure," she said, taking out the Nimbus 2001.
Down in the locker rooms, Hermione pulled on her blue Quidditch robes and looked at her fellow teammates nervously. Cho Chang had her arms crossed across her chest, leaning back on one of the lockers, a confident yet bored look on her face. The Beaters were playing a mock game of Muggle baseball with their bats, and the other Chasers were currently snoring. The only person who seemed to pay attention was the Keeper, but it must be because of the fact that he was a second-year.
"So," Hermione said lamely. "I hope we will play a good game."
The cheering outside only stretched her nerves further to almost the point of breaking. Hermione forced a smile and led her team out, cursing at the unfairness of it all. Out across the Quidditch field were seven green-clad figures, and she saw Harry in the front. The Slytherin look was back on his face, and he looked impassive as they met in the center of the field. "Granger, Potter, shake hands," said Madam Hooch.
Harry extended a hand toward Hermione coldly. When they shook hands, however, Harry gave Hermione's hand a slight squeeze and a faint smile passed over his eyes fairly quickly.
The whistle blew and Hermione forced herself to kick into the air. "Aaaaaaaaand they're off!" shouted a commentary, and Hermione recognized the voice as Lee Jordan's. One more thing that SEEMED normal, she noted with a grim smile.
Her fellow Chaser threw the Quaffle at her. Oh Merlin, am I supposed to catch it? Hermione was screaming inside. She was not about to take her hands off the handle of her broom. Surely she would fall off. As the Quaffle sailed toward her in a graceful arch, she looked toward Harry. Harry and Cho were fighting each other, looking for the Snitch. Just do it! She practically ripped her hands off the handle of her broom to grab the Quaffle. Thankfully she caught it before the Slytherin Chaser grabbed it. She sighed with relief when her broom merely dropped a few inches, but none of the spectators seemed to catch that as a lack of experience, but rather something thrilling Captain Hermione Granger was showing off.
"Not," Hermione muttered to herself, flying toward the goal post. A Bludger shot toward her, but thankfully it made contact with another Chaser instead of her, so Hermione managed to get out of the way.
The goal post seemed well-guarded, but the Keeper paled at the sight of Hermione. Might as well use that to my advantage, Hermione thought, although she was feeling less confident by the minute. Remembering how her mother used to shoot baskets, she pushed her broom forward slightly, scaring the Keeper out of the way, and threw the Quaffle in the goal post.
It went through.
Before Hermione could sigh with relief, she heard a shout behind her. Looking round, a Bludger was heading for her head. Just before it hit her, someone flew in front of her and used his broom to chase away the Bludger. It was Harry. "Hey, thanks," she said, but Harry did not look down at her. Cho had gone in a dive and Harry was following Cho closely.
Meanwhile, the Slytherin Chasers had scored quite a number of times. "Hello, help us!" shouted one of the Chasers.
Hermione started to head toward her side to catch the Quaffle her teammate was passing her when it happened. There was a burst of light from the stands and it hit her broom, setting it aflame. Horrified, Hermione watched as the broom slowly disintegrated into ashes, but she caught a glimpse of a cloaked shadow disappearing before she found herself falling.
Get rid of the girl, that note had said, and indeed she was being getting rid of. At least I won't be laughed at for my lack of Quidditch skills anymore now that I'll be dead, Hermione thought sarcastically. And maybe my corpse will make it back to the world I actually belong to.
A pair of arms grabbed Hermione and pulled her onto the person's broomstick. Hermione recognized the Firebolt. It was Harry. Loud applause rippled through the stands. Hermione was reminded vaguely of her third year, when she was riding Buckbeak the hippogriff. She didn't like it one bit, but she remembered the feeling of security as her arms were wrapped around Harry.
Just like how his arms were tightly wrapped around her right now.
Hermione turned around to look at Harry. His green eyes were filled with concern and worry, but he smiled faintly at her. "You okay?" he asked.
"I guess so," said Hermione, blushing slightly, remembering the note again. "Meet me at the library after lunch," she whispered quickly. "I have something to tell you."
Harry nodded. Hermione didn't want to look away. His eyes were enchanting, and had always intrigued her in the past. She wasn't aware of the people around her.
Had she always felt this way when Harry looked at her? She thought about all these times in the past when it had been just she and Harry, either because Ron was hurt or Ron was not speaking to one of them. She had always felt something she used to dismiss as fright when she was alone with Harry. After all, Hermione was with the biggest hero of all times.
But…could it be something else? Hermione wondered, reflecting upon her mixed feelings during Harry's 'wedding'. A surge of relief that the wedding was almost when Christina kissed Harry had overwhelmed her. Or could it be jealousy? Hermione found herself leaning closer to Harry till their foreheads were touching. She wasn't sure if he'd been leaning closer as well but she found his lips just millimeters from hers when-
"You'll be fine now," Harry said, breaking his grip on her as his teammates headed toward him and Hermione's toward her. "The library." His lips merely brushed against her cheek briefly, a brotherly peck, as he pulled away and headed back to his teammates nonchalantly.
Disappointment flooded over Hermione's heart for some reason. He's your best friend! She thought to herself. He's your best friend, and nothing else. It's platonic between you and him. What were you thinking? She lightly brushed her cheek where Harry's lips had touched them dazedly. "You all right?" asked Cho.
"Yeah…" Hermione said vaguely. "I guess I am…"
Padma was running toward Hermione. "Oh Hermione!" she cried, flinging her arms around Hermione. "I was so worried. I came back from the bathroom-sorry, I missed your spectacular scoring-and I think I saw someone run by me but I'm not sure, and then people were all pointing at you and said you were falling and then Potter actually had the good heart to catch you?" She sounded amazed. "But did you see who did it? Could it be the person I passed by?"
"I don't know," shrugged Hermione, thinking that there was no need to scare Padma, but inside she thought it was pretty obvious. The whole school was outside watching the 'match'. Why else would someone run back inside the castle unless he had just set someone's broom aflame?
Professor Flitwick came and started asking Hermione questions, just like Snape was doing to Harry at the other end. After her teammates and Padma had left, Flitwick said urgently, "Did you see who it was?"
Hermione nodded. "I saw someone…cloaked…"
"Like a Death Eater?" Flitwick asked.
"I'm not entirely sure, but the cloak wasn't the Death Eater's kind. It's more like the kind you can buy in Diagon Alley." Hermione frowned at her own words. Something sounded fishy. But why? She wondered. This isn't a real world, as Harry had said…is it Voldemort's plan to kill him here?
She bit her lips and twirled a lock of her hair, something she'd never done before. "But why would I be involved?" she wondered aloud. "Why would anyone want to kill me?"
There was no answer for that. Flitwick had heard the question, but his expression only said too clearly that he had no more clue about this than she did.
A/N: My Quidditch description sucks! Yeah and does it seem predictable? Mmm…kay I promise a kiss is coming! I swear! And HOPEFULLY the suspense is building up. Any guess on whom the mysterious person might be? All right, the only thing left for you to do is…REVIEW!
~Katrina
Immense thanks to:
Eternal Queen-well, in chapter two, Harry said that this is not a real world but it's kind of like an alternate reality. You'll see in this chapter that there are bad guys, if not D.E. and our lovely Voldemort. Draco is in Gryffindor; let's say he's best buddies with Neville. Lol. There is a reason why they're brought here. I just need to figure it out…x) Ooh, thanks for your compliment on Christina's lipstick! That popped in my head and glad you like it.
kate-ooh, thanks! I promise I won't take very long to update.
E. C. R. Potter-it's going pleasantly? Yea! =) Hope you liked Hermione's Quidditch scenes, but personally I think they kind of suck because I can't seem to write them as well as I'd like to.
ChristinaLupin01442-I'll check out your stories very soon. Very happy you like my writing.
wildgoldowl-go you! =) You are very smart! BTW, thanks for putting me in your favorites.
VipyGirl831-thank you!
Sisgo-why thanks!
richelle-I feel special! Lol.
Lucida Luna-ooh thanks! I'm imaginative! *does a little jig*
Hien Nguyen-I'm glad you like my approach. Sometimes I find to have them liking each other but not admitting it kind of clichéd, no offense to any writers of coruse.
Kit-I email all my readers who leave their emails. Thanks for the compliment.
depth-so happy you think it's origina!
jc-glad you think it's cool.
Angel-Wings-thanks! ^^
If I missed anyone, tell me and then murder me after I add you, okay? =)
