I don't own these guys.

Chapter 4- At the Edge of the Forest

"What, is my hair sticking up?" Ron said, feeling the top of his head.

Hermione shook herself. "No, it's fine." Ron dumped the food on a table and immediately began eating. Hermione picked up a pear and started to much on it. She chewed each bite slowly, trying not to look at Ron. She kept glancing at the heart.

*So it was him. I should have known.* The gifts didn't seem to fit, but really, how many people could be in love with her?

"Are you all right, Hermione?" Harry said worriedly.

She struggled to look serious, realizing the goofy expression her face must have displayed. She nodded distractedly. Biting into her pear, Hermione found that she had already eaten it down to the core, and threw the rest into the fireplace.

"Harry, how about a game of chess? And Ginny, no helping this time."

Hermione left them to their game and went through the portrait hole, not bothering to change. She wandered aimlessly through the halls, contemplating. Ron was in love with her. The Love Revealer spell only showed true love. It was real, but she was not sure what to do.

"Walking around in your pyjamas again, Granger?" snarled a voice behind her. "I trust you are not still sleepwalking."

"No, Professor," she said, in a very formal tone. "Your potion worked."

"Of course it did. I would not have made it, Granger, but the headmaster insisted. 'We cannot have students walking about the school at night, with no knowledge of where they are going. Especially Prefects.' I could not, of course, refuse."

"Yes, Professor."

"Don't take that ungrateful tone! If you weren't-"

"Good morning, Severus." Dumbledore approached them calmly.

"Headmaster."

"Professor Dumbledore."

"Hello, Hermione," he smiled, eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles. "How was your outing last night?" Snape cleared his throat. "Yes, Severus? Have you something to say?"

"No, Headmaster. I was headed to my office."

"Very well." Snape stalked down the hall. Dumbledore turned back to Hermione. "Hagrid had to ask permission to take you to the Satyr Dance, of course. He invited me to come along, but I declined. Once is enough." The corner of his mouth twitched.

Hermione could not help giggling at the memory of the previous night. "It was wonderful."

"And there is nothing bothering you?"

Hermione almost wanted to tell him the truth. "No." Dumbledore did not need to know about her love life.

The headmaster's face creased in a smile. "If you have any problems, you can come to me." He turned after she returned his smile, and glided slowly down the hall. After a few paces, he faced one of the portraits. She heard him say quietly, "Sol noctis." The portrait swung inward and Dumbledore entered. Hermione was not sure whether he had known she was still there.

Checking the corridor, she found it empty. She padded as softly as she could to the picture Dumbledore had entered. She did not plan to go in herself. She only wanted to look. The picture was a skilled representation of a forest of leafless trees. At first she saw nothing that moved, but in a moment a winged horse alighted within the trees.

The horse looked right at her with its large, bright eyes. Its coat was a mix of cream and gray. She was filled with a contentment she had not expected. The Pegasus took flight, and the picture changed with the horse's movements. He flew amid the sparkle of stars in a pitch-dark sky.

*Funny,* she thought. *I walk this hall every day, but I've never seen this painting before. I must have walked by it a million times.* She started when she saw Ginny running toward her.

"There you are!" Hermione stepped away from the painting before Ginny reached her. "Ron and Harry want to have a snowball fight. You want to join us?"

Hermione very much wanted a snowball fight. "You guys go ahead. I have a small thing to take care of, but I'll be out in a few minutes." Ginny nodded and continued outside.

After a little consideration, Hermione chose a vivid fuchsia ink. She put the quill to the maple leaf patterned paper and scribbled her note. She used a spell to disguise her handwriting and surveyed what she had written quickly.

*Ron,

Meet me at the edge of the forest at midnight.

3*

She had signed with a heart because she did not want to write "your secret admirer". She planted a kiss on the paper and put it in place.

In another five minutes, she was coming up behind the others with an impressive snowball in her hand. She threw it at Ron's head.

Hermione let out a satisfied laugh when it hit him square in the face. Ron grinned and held up a snowball in each hand. She shrieked and ran, gathering snow as she went. She felt each of his snowballs hit her. Stopping suddenly, she threw her own back at him. Laughter burst out behind her as she was hit by Seamus, Ginny, and Harry at once. Neville had somehow sunk into the snow to his waist.

Five hours later, they all trekked into the Gryffindor common room, cold and wet but happier than most cold wet people.

"I never knew *Prefects* were capable of throwing snowballs," Ron teased.

"Oh, shut up, Ron. I can still have fun. And I managed to hit *you* enough." The rest put their hands to their mouths in mock-serious shock. Hermione was sure Ron blushed, but he was already so red from the cold, there was hardly any change.

At dinner, Hermione had a difficult time not staring at Ron. This was partially due to the heart, a radiant beacon of love sitting in the air atop his head. He noticed her odd glances eventually. Through a gargantuan bite of chicken he said, "Ah yo ahr ine, Huhmynee?"

She rolled her eyes and threw a creampuff at him. He tried to eat it, but it didn't fit in his mouth.

Grinning, Harry scooped up a spoonful of chocolate pudding and flung it at Ron, who picked up a piece of bread and threw it at Harry. Harry ducked, and the bread hit a young Ravenclaw. She launched a large quantity of mashed potatoes in Hermione's direction. They covered Neville instead. This slowly escalated until even Professor Flitwick had joined in. The full fledged food fight continued for longer than anyone had expected, and they were still hitting each other with desert a few hours later.

Hermione's eyes widened as she felt her feet fly out from under her. Before she could fall, strong arms caught and steadied her. "Are you all right?" People seemed to be asking her that a lot lately.

"Yeah, thanks, Ron," she said breathily. Hermione had not realized how strong Ron was. She turned after a moment to find a cream pie flying toward her. She darted behind Ron, and it hit him just as her snowball had earlier that same day.

It took them a few seconds to realize that all other food had ceased to be airborne before the pie hit. There was a moment of confused silence, then the entire hall burst out laughing. Dumbledore stood at the head table, his wand out. As far as the rest could gather, he had sent the pie toward them.

"I suggest you all go back to your dorms, unless you want to end up cleaning this."

In another few seconds, the entire hall was empty of students.

************************************************************************

After washing all remnants of dinner from her hair, Hermione dressed and headed down to the common room. For about an hour, she sat watching a group of them playing Exploding Snap, looking at the clock every few seconds. The minutes dragged on. She swore it was nine forty-two for about an hour.

At about half past ten, she left Gryffindor tower, sneaking her cloak under her arm. She was restless, too excited about her midnight rendezvous to sit still without her legs bouncing furiously.

She found herself in front of the picture of the Pegasus, watching him glide gracefully through the air. She wondered what Dumbledore had behind this one. She knew the password…

"Hermione, what're ye doin'?" Hagrid asked as he trudged up, dragging the huge Christmas tree from the Great Hall behind him. As she had done when Ginny found her in this hallway, Hermione stepped back from the portrait.

"I was watching this Pegasus. He's beautiful." She said. It was the truth, if not all of it, and looking at the pictures on the walls was not against any rule.

"Ah, yes, Inori. He used to be somewhere up in the North Tower, but he agreed to guard the… I shouldn't 'a told you that."

Hermione sighed. "Thank you again, Hagrid. Last night, I've never had more fun. And my Christmas present- that was incredible."

"Yes, well, ahem, it was difficult to come by," Hagrid said, glancing around.

"I don't doubt it," Hermione grinned. She squeezed Hagrid's giant hand. He smiled and lumbered on down the hall.

Hermione realized how long she must have been standing there. She slipped into an empty room and pulled up the hood of her cloak.

Snape stood in front of the door, apparently waiting for someone. *Come on, move, you greasy git.* She could pass him without him seeing, but he was not a complete idiot. He would be suspicious if the door opened by itself, though he would most likely suspect Harry- he didn't know she had an invisibility cloak. For that matter, neither did anyone else.

Hermione became so impatient, she started fidgeting. She winced when her foot scraped the floor. Snape turned his head, and she cursed him silently. Before he could come to investigate, a knock came on the door. He opened it after doing something she couldn't see with his wand.

"Finally," he whispered. "Hurry up."

A tall, cloaked figure ducked into the castle. "I apologize for the delay. I had to wait for Halofac to arrive. I want you to know, this is not something I do lightly. After a great amount of consideration, I have decided to help. Where is the injured one?"

"This way." Snape touched the arm of the figure and led the way down the hall. Hermione held her breath as they passed. The cloaked figure turned slightly as they passed her, but said nothing. It glanced back in her direction once before they disappeared around the corner.

The figure's voice had told her nothing more than the conversation had. She did not even know whether it was male or female. She wondered what they were doing, but she did not have time to creep after them and see.

*I'm as bad as Harry or Ron. It's none of my business.* But she had a feeling she would have followed them any other night.

She tiptoed to the door and opened it slowly, hoping it wouldn't creak. It didn't. Sighing with relief, she slipped out and pulled the door shut behind her.

Nothing stirred on the grounds, aside from her. She used a spell to prevent footprints from showing in the snow. Despite the spell, she sank in up to her ankles at every step.

The forest was cold and shadowed, but Hermione only had a few minutes to wait. She sat on a flat rock that she did not remember seeing before. Maybe Hagrid had just put it there.

That tall figure was a puzzle Hermione could not fit together. She couldn't even tell if it was human. She doubted it. Most humans did not arrive at Hogwarts in the middle of the night.

Inori the Pegasus was also a mystery. She knew a little about the winged horses. They were usually peaceful, but deadly if opposed. Their trust was usually difficult for humans to earn, and they were supposedly indifferent to all other animals. It seemed like a lonely existence, but that was the way it was.

Hermione stood as she heard footsteps approaching.

End Chapter 4

Oh, it's late and I'm really tired. You might have to wait a while for chapter 5, but I promise I'll put it up as soon as I can. In the meantime…

Teaser: "I slept in the common room," Hermione said casually. "With Ron."

The girls glanced at each other, then settled their eyes on her expectantly. She smiled sweetly at them as she took out a fresh shirt. Impatiently, Lavender said, "Well, what happened?"

Evil Laughter. Evil Laughter fades off.

Please Review. Review will now always be capitalized, because I love it when you Review. Even if it isn't simply to tell me how great I am. Yes, so Review. Now.