A Better Tomorrow
by AngelzGaze
"Hmpf! Just go somewhere else!"
"Where am I supposed to go?"
"Anywhere but here!"
"Why don't you go somewhere?"
"I... I... I was here first!"
"Actually, I was the first one who walked inside this room. Remember? Right after we decided a password, I tapped on the statue and said the password, and then I walked inside. So technically I was the first one here."
"Oh never mind I'LL go!" Hermione turned around and left.
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Chapter 5: 20 Things I Like About You
Hermione went back to her room, yet again. She took out a quill and decided to write a letter to Harry and Ron. She hadn't spoke to them for a while. Hermione wondered if they knew what happened. Ron would probably know. Mr. Weasley might have known and told him. But Harry.... Harry wouldn't have known unless Ron had known, because then Ron would have written him right away and told him what happened. However, if Ron and Harry already knew, why hadn't they written to her? Confusing, isn't it? So the question still remained. Did they know? There was only one way to find out. Write. She held the quill in her hand and carefully wrote a note to Harry.
Dear Harry,
Hi, it's me Hermione. But of course you already know that. I am not sure if you know, but I am currently at Hogwarts right now. Something has happened.
She stopped. For some reason Hermione didn't feel right writing this down. She felt as if she had to tell him in person. But would Dumbledore let her leave campus to visit the Weasley's or Harry? Probably not. After all You-Know-Who was after her parents and is most likely after herself. She crumpled up the paper and throw it into the garbage can. She walked around her room many times.
"What to do? What to do?" she asked herself. She walked around her room again. Hermione suddenly spotted a gigantic box in the corner of her room. She walked towards it curiously. Hermione had never noticed it before. She took off the lid and instantly tears came to her eyes. Pictures were inside, pictures filled with memories. She instinctively started to put the lid back onto the box, but she stopped herself. She dropped the lid beside her.
Hermione picked up the box and brought it to her bed. She grabbed a handful of pictures and slowly started flipping through them. Each picture was filled with a special moment. More tears poured out of her eyes, tears of joy, laughter, and yes, sorrow.
Hermione cherished each memory as it flashed through her brain. She picked up a picture of herself when she was about two, getting her first haircut. She remembered that day as if it was yesterday. She smiled. She then turned to a picture of a picnic. It was a picnic that occurred about two weeks before the death of Hermione's parents.
This was too much. Hermione bursted into tears. She sat there, quietly crying. It seemed impossible that her parents were gone. It felt.... well... as if there wasn't one word in the dictionary that could describe it. It's amazing how one day a person is here and the next, they're gone. All this time at Hogwarts she had felt as if her parents were still alive. When they were living, Hermione couldn't imagine how it would feel if her parents were dead. And now? She still couldn't believe how they could be gone. How she would never see them again until her time was over. Did they know she loved them dearly? What was the last thing she had ever said to them? She couldn't remember. Hermione closed her eyes as a sharp pain pierced her heart. She brought her knees slowly to her chest and rested her head on her knees. She rolled back onto her side. And cried herself to sleep.
**************
Hermione was surrounded by thick, sparkly fog.
"Where am I?" she asked to no one in particular.
"You are in the Mists of Marcay, a land forgotten by most. Follow the light," said a beautiful voice inside her head. Hermione cautiously walked towards the light.
"Who are you?"
"There is time for questions later. Follow the light."
After a while Hermione stumbled upon a door. She opened the door slowly. Surprising the fog was inside the room too. She could barely make out two couches facing each other.
"Is anyone there?"
"Sit down, please. Wait for the other one," answered a voice, the same voice that had been speaking inside her head minutes ago. Hermione obeyed. Hermione studied the voice's owner. It was a tall woman with long flowing hair. The fog was to thick to see her face, but she was sure it was a pleasant one. She looked around her, she saw another person enter the room. A few seconds later a person entered the room. He, well Hermione thought he was a he, hesitantly sat down. Hermione could not make out his face.
"Welcome. Our meeting will be brief. You know who I am, for this is not the first time you have seen me. I have appeared to both of you previously in your sleep. You have not forgotten. I made sure of that. Perhaps it is stored far back in your memory. But I assure you it IS there. There is a power you two hold. A power stronger than anything you could think of. This power will be strange to you at first. Let it grow, and you two will be able to overcome anything."
"I'm confused. What power ARE you speaking of?" a familiar voice asked.
"If you do not know now, you will know soon, very soon," she laughed, not a evil laugh of course, but a gentle one. "Our time together is almost up. Let me leave you with these words - expect the unexpected."
**************
Hermione woke up with a jerk. She looked at the clock, 6:45. Had she been sleeping that long? The dream felt so short. "Oh shoot! Dinner!" She jumped out of bed and started out to the Great Hall. But what about Malfoy? Did he remember about dinner? Reluctantly, Hermione turned around a pounded on Draco's door.
"What?!?!" shouted back a very irritated sleepy voice.
"Dinner! Hurry up or we'll be late!" Hermione yelled back. All she heard was a grunt in return.
Five minutes passed. "Are you coming?"
"WAIT!"
Ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
Finally after twenty minutes, Draco opened the door and grumbled as he walked past Hermione and started out to the Great Hall. Hermione followed.
"What were you doing in there? Counting the hairs on your head?"
"I was getting ready, thank you very much! Besides I have a lot on my mind."
"Hmpf! You took a twenty minutes! I took less than five minutes!"
"Look at me!" Draco demanded. "Now look at yourself! See a difference? Not that even thirty minutes would help you any." Hermione glared. No other words were exchanged as they walked to the Great Hall. As soon as they got there, Professor McGonagall immediately stood up.
"Mr. Malfoy. Ms. Granger. May I ask while you are late?" Professor McGonagall gave a threatening glance.
"Well, Professor, Malfoy here took a HALF HOUR to get ready!"
"Granger told me dinner was about to start. And I assumed that she woke me early enough, so I could get ready."
"I specifically told him when I woke him up that if he didn't hurry we'd be late."
"Did not," Draco said calmly.
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did. Too."
"Did not."
"DID TOO!" shouted Hermione.
"THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!" Professor McGonagall interrupted. "You both are acting like 1st Years! There is much more expected of the Head Boy and Girl! I believe you have been arguing ever since you both have come to Hogwarts this summer. It is time for this bickering to end! Ms. Granger. Mr. Malfoy. I want you each to write a list of twenty things you have in common with each other."
"Twenty?!?" exclaimed Hermione.
"Let's make that thirty!"
"Thanks a lot, Granger."
"Is that so, Mr. Malfoy? Let's make it thirty things you have in common and twenty reasons you like the other." Hermione and Draco exchanged looks that could kill. "You both better grab something to eat and get started." Hermione and Draco ate quickly and rushed back to their dormitory. They both grabbed parchment and quills and sat down at opposite sides of the couch.
"This is your fault, you know?" growled Draco.
"My fault? We originally had to write twenty things. I just increased it by ten. You, on the other hand, increased our amount by twenty!"
"If you hadn't said, 'Twenty?!?' I wouldn't have said what I said!"
"Oh whatever. We just need to get this over and done with. Ok... where shall we start. What do we have in common? First of all, we both have magical blood. Second, we both attend Hogwarts. Third, we both are seventeen. You ARE writing this down too. Right?" said Hermione.
"Yes!" snapped Draco. "Are you always so damn pushy?"
"Just give some more ideas!"
"Fine then. Fourth, we breath oxygen. Fifth, we both are born of the human race. Sixth, we both can speak English. Seventh, we are over five feet tall. Eighth, we weigh more than one hundred pounds. Ninth, we both own more than one pair of robes. Tenth, we don't have red hair. Eleventh, we... we... we don't have black hair. Twelfth, we don't have green hair. Thirteenth, we don't have gray ha-"
"Ok, Malfoy, we can't just list we don't have blah-blah-blah color hair."
"And why not?" questioned Draco.
"We... we... we just CAN'T!"
"Can you think of anything else?"
"Well, no......."
"What else are we supposed to do then?"
"Get to know each other."
"Why, Granger, are you suggesting?" said Draco slyly.
"Oh sod off, Malfoy!"
"I was just joking you know? Do you always take everything so seriously?"
"Yes, I do! We're starting this assignment over! If Professor McGonagall sees our list of what we have in common, we're going to have to do it all over anyhow! The point of this punishment is for us to stop fighting and get to know each other. So let's start over - though I suppose we could keep 'we both have magical blood, we both attend Hogwarts, and we both are seventeen.' What is your favorite class at school?"
"Arithmancy," Draco said bluntly.
"Seriously?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"Yes."
"Well, I guess that's one thing we have in common."
"Okay. Well, I suppose I should just list things I like or believe, until you hear something you have in common as well."
"Okay."
"Let's see, where shall I start? My favorite color is silver. I enjoy reading."
"I do too!"
"Nah! Really, Granger? Who would have thought!"
"Shut it, Malfoy. Keep on talking!"
"How can I shut my mouth and keep on talking at the same time? That would be pretty hard. Don't you think?"
"Just go on..."
"I am interested in Greek Mythology."
"Same here," Hermione said, as she added to the list.
"Well, what else is there to say?"
"What..... what is your favorite fruit?"
"Fruit?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "Strawberries and cream."
"Oooooh! I just love strawberries!" replied Hermione, not even noticing the way Draco had said his answer. "Ok, so now we have seven things total on our list."
"Ok then. As we are on the topic of food, my favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate. I like Italian food, lasagna the most."
"Eight things total."
"I speak four languages fluently, including..."
"Four!?!"
"Yeah.... why? Is it that unbelievable?"
"Oh, well, I guess so. I just didn't think you had a knack for learning languages."
"How many do you speak fluently?"
"Two....kind of....." replied Hermione, flustered.
"What?"
"French..... but not fluently...."
"And what else?"
"What do you think? English!"
"Oh yeah...."
"Well what do you speak?"
"English, French, Italian, and Japanese."
"Wow.... Japanese?"
"Impressed?"
"Say something."
"In Japanese?
"No, in English." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Baka."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. Add we both speak French to the list."
"Okay then," Hermione said uneasily, still wondering what he had called her. "We have a total of nine things now.... twenty-one things to go." Hermione sighed. Maybe she should have went with Malfoy's idea.
"What am else is there?"
"I dunno. Just talk about you. That should be easy enough for you," Hermione grinned, and surprising Malfoy didn't scowl. He....Hermione blinked. No, he didn't... did he? Was it possible that the only-knows-how-to-laugh-at-other-people Malfoy laugh at himself? No. Way.
"Well. Well. Aren't you right. I am after all my favorite topic," said Draco.
"But of course," Hermione said uneasily. It was weird hearing Malfoy actually laugh-laugh. And not at her.
"It all began that cold autumn evening....." Malfoy went on. And as he spoke, Hermione took down notes whenever she heard something familiar that happened in her own life. Surprising there were many. Like their favorite childhood toy.... a teddy bear. Mind you, Draco's teddy bear had claws that were actually sharp (which he used to taunt other children visitors). But a bear's a bear, right? Hermione wrote and wrote, not even paying attention to the number of things they had down. Draco stopped.
"Erm, Granger, how much stuff do you actually have down?" Hermione looked down at the parchments she on her lap.
"Um. I honestly don't know."
"Count," Draco suggested. Hermione began counting the statements on her list. She looked up, blushing.
"Fifty-three," she said sheepishly. Draco was shocked.
"Are you positive?"
"Yeah... pretty much."
"Why didn't you make me stop talking?"
"I didn't even notice we were past thirty."
"Oh well.... I suppose we'll score points for writing more than assigned."
"Yeah."
"Well, I'll be off. Gotta write the twenty things I like about you," Draco winked as he headed to his room."
"Good night."
"Good night."
Hermione went to her room. Sat on her bed and stared at the blank parchment. What was she supposed to write? She liked the color of his hair? "Oh yeah, I've always wanted to be blonde," she laughed quietly to herself. Malfoy. He had a lot of good qualities, though many have never noticed. He had a sense of humor, brave, cunning, and she must admit, extremely good looking. She closed her eyes and sighed. Then she snapped them back open. What was she thinking? That mental image she saw when she closed her eyes was.... too weird to be said. She nodded herself out of her thoughts. She took out her quill and started writing things she liked about Draco. And unexpectedly she reached the number twenty in a matter of minutes. It was easier than she thought. Hermione smiled. She lied down on her bed and feel asleep.
...........
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Hermione heard a scream and woke up with a jerk.
"Malfoy?!?!?" Hermione jumped up and began to run out of her room. But before she reached the door, she caught her reflection in the mirror. She gasped.
*A/N* Wow, I really don't have this updating thing down, do I? So yeah, I beg of your forgiveness....... *kneels on the floor and looks up at you with puppy dog eyes* PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE forgive me!!!!!!! *waits for an answer*............Ok then....... you want to know why I have updated??? Lets just say I got sucked into the anime/manga world. For anyone who reads manga here - you have to, HAVE TO, read Mars by Fuyumi Soryo. It's like the BEST MANGA EVER!!!!!!!!! Ok, then.... lol....... another reason is I haven't gotten inspiration - and if I just force myself to write.... it turns out crappy (just like this chapter lol!) So umm yeah.....I'm sorry I left you guys hanging..... I still want you people to keep on reading!!!! Even if you hate me ^_~ I have the next chapter started..... can't make promises on when that will be done..... Oh and btw - I will never ever just stop this story right now! Ok? So yeah - it might take a while for me to get the next chapter up... but it WILL be up sooner or later (most likely later .) but yeah............ go and review now!!!!! Oh wait... for you peeps that don't know, 'baka' means idiot, stupid, along those lines, in Japanese. Now you can go and review!
