About a week after Christmas, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were loading
their bags onto the train. Like at the beginning of the year, Mrs. Weasley
seemed too busy to be able to accompany them. Not that it was necessary, of
course.
"You know," Ginny said absently a few minutes after the train had begun it's route.
Three faces looked expectantly at her.
"We don't have a name for her yet," Ginny finished, nodding her head at the kitten she was playing with. She was taking up a whole side of the compartment, lying on her stomach and trailing a string in front of her for the kitten's amusement.
"I do," Ron said very suddenly. "Chudley. From the Chudley Cannons."
"It's a girl!" Ginny cried out. She turned over onto her back and plopped the kitten on her stomach, as if to protect it. "You're not naming my kitten, Ron. Stay away."
Ron grinned at her. "You got to name *my* owl. And a bloody ridiculous name too."
"That's different," Ginny protested.
"How?"
Ginny opened her mouth to explain 'how', but she couldn't think of a reason her brother would accept.
Ron reached his abnormally long arm over and picked the kitten up by the back of it's neck. "Hi, Chudley," he greeted, pulling the kitten to look dead on at him.
"Give it back! You're hurting her!"
The kitten began to purr so loud that it filled the compartment and Ron gave Ginny a smug look.
"Harry, make him give it back," Ginny said in as sweet a voice as she could muster.
Harry shrugged at her.
"Oh, you're no fun!" Ginny said. She threw the string at him, but it didn't travel very far. This made the whole compartment burst into laughter, even Ginny herself.
"Chudley is an ugly name though," Hermione commented. She took the kitten from Ron and began to coo nonsense words.
"You're scaring the poor girl," Ron said, taking the kitten back.
"She's purring, Ron," Hermione said, annoyed.
"Because of me," Ron said proudly.
"Somebody's head is a little big," Hermione said pointedly.
"Don't you know it."
"Oh, oh. Eeew," Ginny said, putting her hands over her ears. "Don't even start it."
Hermione shrugged and reached over to give the kitten to Ginny. "Sorry. I just feel really . . ." She trailed off with a shrug. "I don't know."
"Nice weather, eh?" Harry said suddenly, looking a bit sick.
"Very," Ginny agreed forcefully.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You two are unbelievable. I try to share my feelings and you just shrug them off like I don't even matter!"
"Wha--"
"I don't even want to hear it," Hermione said, putting a hand up. She turned her hand over to offer it to Ron. "Let's go. I can tell when I'm not wanted."
That had been a bad comment to make because, unluckily, a certain visitor showed up at that moment.
"You'd be the master of it, Granger, since I don't know a single soul who *would* want you," Draco said, coming inside with his two sidekicks.
Hermione spun around and glared at him. "Shut up, you bastard."
Draco looked a little surprised at this. "Make me, you mudblood."
Hermione shrugged and closed the space between them with a single step. Then she pulled back her fist with as much force as she could muster (which happened to be quite a lot) and punched him straight on in the mouth. A smack echoed in the compartment and everybody stared, shocked, at Hermione.
"You imbecile!" Draco hissed at Hermione, cupping his lip. His hand came back covered in blood and with a white object that looked strangely like a tooth. "When I tell my father you'll wish you'd never been born."
Hermione, however, decided to deal with this by bursting into tears. She clutched at Draco suddenly. "I'm so sorry, Malfoy! I didn't mean to hurt you!"
This made everyone even more shocked than before and Draco was struggling to get away with her.
"You're crazy," he finally spat at her when he'd gotten away. He backed up until Crabbe and Goyle were in front of him for protection. Then he spun around and began his descent back to his compartment.
Hermione choked back a sob and sat down next to Ron. "I didn't mean to hurt him," she whispered.
Ron looked confused as he put an awkward arm around her. "Hermione, it's Malfoy, you're *supposed* to hurt him. Especially when he says things like that."
Hermione nodded, but began crying harder. "I'm a horrible person, Ron, and I'm gonna be a horrible mother too!"
"No, you're not. That was a wicked blow you gave him," Ron congratulated. He looked to Harry and Ginny as if for advice, but both of them looked baffled.
Hermione pulled away from Ron and wiped at her face. "I better go find him and tell him that he's a special person and that he doesn't need to be mean to people."
"Hermione, somehow, I don't think you've got it right," Ron said.
"No, no. Malfoy *is* a very, er, "special" person," Harry said, trying hard not to grin.
Hermione nodded eagerly with Harry. "Yes, he is. So are you, Ron."
"Thanks," Ron said, looking like he wondered whether that was the right response.
Hermione settled backwards and rested a hand on her abdomen. "I don't like Malfoy," she stated sleepily.
"Then what the bloody hell was that about?" Ron demanded.
Hermione opened her eyes to reveal a tear slipping down her cheek. "You hate me, don't you?"
* * * * *
The minute the train stopped, everyone but Hermione was rushing to get out of the compartment. Harry and Ginny, being smaller than Ron, managed to twist out together ahead of him and lose themselves in the crowd. Ron turned around and nudged Hermione awake.
"Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked sleepily, looking cautiously around.
"She and Harry went on ahead. I think they where hungry."
"Ah," Hermione said, nodding. She followed Ron out of the compartment and was immediately engulfed in a hug on Dean's behalf. Seamus took her next.
"Congratulations!" Seamus exclaimed, slapping her on the back. "We heard you scared Malfoy to death."
"He lost a tooth too," Dean added. "You didn't even use your wand!"
Ron started to tell them not to bring it up again, fearful of Hermione's sudden need to apologize to Draco once again, but Hermione was beginning to act normally again. She beamed up at the two Gryffindors and told them exactly what happened, letting out the part about crying and hugging him fiercely.
The four chatted amiably about what a prat Draco Malfoy was until they reached the Great Hall and separated at the Gryffindor table.
Hermione sat down next to Ginny, who gave her a cautious look, and Ron was stuck with walking around the table to sit across from Hermione, next to Harry.
"I'm sorry I acted so crazy on the train," Hermione apologized. "I have no idea why. I feel normal now, but it was probably hormones. I should look it up in a book. I just feel so unprepared for all of this!"
A gasp sounded from beside Ron and they turned to see Lavender and Parvati staring at Hermione in awe.
"Where did you get that ring?" Lavender asked, keeping her voice carefully even.
Hermione blushed and put her other hand over it to hide it from the girls' eyes.
"Ron proposed to her," Ginny answered unconcernedly.
"He *what*?" Parvati squealed. "Oh, Hermione, let us see!"
Ron and Hermione were both blushing as Hermione let her hand be carried across the table for careful examination.
"Oh, Ron, you big sweetheart," Lavender sighed. "That is *so* romantic."
Ron mumbled something inaudibly in response, but Lavender and Parvati were paying more careful attention to the ring.
"Did he pick it out?"
"No. We did together."
Lavender and Parvati did a multi-syllable 'awww' in unison, finishing with a drawn out sigh. Hermione had the sudden urge to pull her hand away. She did, and the two girls let it go. They had become too distracted by chatting with each other about romance and their own boyfriends.
Hermione glared at Ginny. "Why did you tell them?" she hissed.
Ginny shrugged. "They would have found out anyways. Besides, don't tell me you didn't like having those girls jealous of you."
Hermione shook her head, but didn't say anything.
"It *is* romantic," Ginny said, coming out of nowhere.
"Don't start again," Ron said, looking a bit horrified.
Ginny threw a roll at him. "I can swoon over anything as often as I want to *whenever* I want to, thank you very much."
"I didn't say you couldn't, just don't start on your theories of romance when I'm within hearing distance," Ron said.
"Fine," Ginny huffed. She leaned backwards on the bench in a pout, then suddenly sat upwards. "My kitten! Where is it?"
"Chudley's probably up in your room already," Hermione assured her.
"Her name isn't Chudley," Ginny protested.
"Oh, come off it, Gin, she even comes when you call Chudley. It's her name," Ron said.
"Shut up," Ginny growled.
1. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Author's Notes: First of all, thank you so much, Jay. I really, really, really, really, really liked that comment about holding the audience on. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)
I am so *so* sorry I didn't get this up sooner. First, I was all flu-like sick for one day. Then the next day my throat was really sore. Then the next day I found out I had bronchitis. The bronchitis didn't start feeling better until Monday, then Tuesday I stayed over at my friends house until Thursday. Tuesday, in fact, I wrote this, but I was really stupid and didn't think to email it before I left so that it would have been ready to post yesterday. Sorry.
And . . . I HAVE A PRINTER!!! I know not many of you know much about my personal life, but with my primitive computer this is a *huge* improvement. The best part is that it's only a few years old, works perfectly, and I got it FREE. I would get up and dance, but I'm not completely better and I don't think I have enough energy.
Oh, which reminds me. How come nobody told me trashy romance novels are so good? I bought one at the store the other day with my friend and haven't been able to put it down. (I actually bought the book so we could laugh and make fun of it together but . . . go figure.)
Can I have 510 reviews? (Wow! 510, baby! How cool is that? I'll shut up, but let me just remind you that 500 is indeed half of a THOUSAND. Did I mention my last series only got 74 reviews?)
~Haley~
"You know," Ginny said absently a few minutes after the train had begun it's route.
Three faces looked expectantly at her.
"We don't have a name for her yet," Ginny finished, nodding her head at the kitten she was playing with. She was taking up a whole side of the compartment, lying on her stomach and trailing a string in front of her for the kitten's amusement.
"I do," Ron said very suddenly. "Chudley. From the Chudley Cannons."
"It's a girl!" Ginny cried out. She turned over onto her back and plopped the kitten on her stomach, as if to protect it. "You're not naming my kitten, Ron. Stay away."
Ron grinned at her. "You got to name *my* owl. And a bloody ridiculous name too."
"That's different," Ginny protested.
"How?"
Ginny opened her mouth to explain 'how', but she couldn't think of a reason her brother would accept.
Ron reached his abnormally long arm over and picked the kitten up by the back of it's neck. "Hi, Chudley," he greeted, pulling the kitten to look dead on at him.
"Give it back! You're hurting her!"
The kitten began to purr so loud that it filled the compartment and Ron gave Ginny a smug look.
"Harry, make him give it back," Ginny said in as sweet a voice as she could muster.
Harry shrugged at her.
"Oh, you're no fun!" Ginny said. She threw the string at him, but it didn't travel very far. This made the whole compartment burst into laughter, even Ginny herself.
"Chudley is an ugly name though," Hermione commented. She took the kitten from Ron and began to coo nonsense words.
"You're scaring the poor girl," Ron said, taking the kitten back.
"She's purring, Ron," Hermione said, annoyed.
"Because of me," Ron said proudly.
"Somebody's head is a little big," Hermione said pointedly.
"Don't you know it."
"Oh, oh. Eeew," Ginny said, putting her hands over her ears. "Don't even start it."
Hermione shrugged and reached over to give the kitten to Ginny. "Sorry. I just feel really . . ." She trailed off with a shrug. "I don't know."
"Nice weather, eh?" Harry said suddenly, looking a bit sick.
"Very," Ginny agreed forcefully.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You two are unbelievable. I try to share my feelings and you just shrug them off like I don't even matter!"
"Wha--"
"I don't even want to hear it," Hermione said, putting a hand up. She turned her hand over to offer it to Ron. "Let's go. I can tell when I'm not wanted."
That had been a bad comment to make because, unluckily, a certain visitor showed up at that moment.
"You'd be the master of it, Granger, since I don't know a single soul who *would* want you," Draco said, coming inside with his two sidekicks.
Hermione spun around and glared at him. "Shut up, you bastard."
Draco looked a little surprised at this. "Make me, you mudblood."
Hermione shrugged and closed the space between them with a single step. Then she pulled back her fist with as much force as she could muster (which happened to be quite a lot) and punched him straight on in the mouth. A smack echoed in the compartment and everybody stared, shocked, at Hermione.
"You imbecile!" Draco hissed at Hermione, cupping his lip. His hand came back covered in blood and with a white object that looked strangely like a tooth. "When I tell my father you'll wish you'd never been born."
Hermione, however, decided to deal with this by bursting into tears. She clutched at Draco suddenly. "I'm so sorry, Malfoy! I didn't mean to hurt you!"
This made everyone even more shocked than before and Draco was struggling to get away with her.
"You're crazy," he finally spat at her when he'd gotten away. He backed up until Crabbe and Goyle were in front of him for protection. Then he spun around and began his descent back to his compartment.
Hermione choked back a sob and sat down next to Ron. "I didn't mean to hurt him," she whispered.
Ron looked confused as he put an awkward arm around her. "Hermione, it's Malfoy, you're *supposed* to hurt him. Especially when he says things like that."
Hermione nodded, but began crying harder. "I'm a horrible person, Ron, and I'm gonna be a horrible mother too!"
"No, you're not. That was a wicked blow you gave him," Ron congratulated. He looked to Harry and Ginny as if for advice, but both of them looked baffled.
Hermione pulled away from Ron and wiped at her face. "I better go find him and tell him that he's a special person and that he doesn't need to be mean to people."
"Hermione, somehow, I don't think you've got it right," Ron said.
"No, no. Malfoy *is* a very, er, "special" person," Harry said, trying hard not to grin.
Hermione nodded eagerly with Harry. "Yes, he is. So are you, Ron."
"Thanks," Ron said, looking like he wondered whether that was the right response.
Hermione settled backwards and rested a hand on her abdomen. "I don't like Malfoy," she stated sleepily.
"Then what the bloody hell was that about?" Ron demanded.
Hermione opened her eyes to reveal a tear slipping down her cheek. "You hate me, don't you?"
* * * * *
The minute the train stopped, everyone but Hermione was rushing to get out of the compartment. Harry and Ginny, being smaller than Ron, managed to twist out together ahead of him and lose themselves in the crowd. Ron turned around and nudged Hermione awake.
"Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked sleepily, looking cautiously around.
"She and Harry went on ahead. I think they where hungry."
"Ah," Hermione said, nodding. She followed Ron out of the compartment and was immediately engulfed in a hug on Dean's behalf. Seamus took her next.
"Congratulations!" Seamus exclaimed, slapping her on the back. "We heard you scared Malfoy to death."
"He lost a tooth too," Dean added. "You didn't even use your wand!"
Ron started to tell them not to bring it up again, fearful of Hermione's sudden need to apologize to Draco once again, but Hermione was beginning to act normally again. She beamed up at the two Gryffindors and told them exactly what happened, letting out the part about crying and hugging him fiercely.
The four chatted amiably about what a prat Draco Malfoy was until they reached the Great Hall and separated at the Gryffindor table.
Hermione sat down next to Ginny, who gave her a cautious look, and Ron was stuck with walking around the table to sit across from Hermione, next to Harry.
"I'm sorry I acted so crazy on the train," Hermione apologized. "I have no idea why. I feel normal now, but it was probably hormones. I should look it up in a book. I just feel so unprepared for all of this!"
A gasp sounded from beside Ron and they turned to see Lavender and Parvati staring at Hermione in awe.
"Where did you get that ring?" Lavender asked, keeping her voice carefully even.
Hermione blushed and put her other hand over it to hide it from the girls' eyes.
"Ron proposed to her," Ginny answered unconcernedly.
"He *what*?" Parvati squealed. "Oh, Hermione, let us see!"
Ron and Hermione were both blushing as Hermione let her hand be carried across the table for careful examination.
"Oh, Ron, you big sweetheart," Lavender sighed. "That is *so* romantic."
Ron mumbled something inaudibly in response, but Lavender and Parvati were paying more careful attention to the ring.
"Did he pick it out?"
"No. We did together."
Lavender and Parvati did a multi-syllable 'awww' in unison, finishing with a drawn out sigh. Hermione had the sudden urge to pull her hand away. She did, and the two girls let it go. They had become too distracted by chatting with each other about romance and their own boyfriends.
Hermione glared at Ginny. "Why did you tell them?" she hissed.
Ginny shrugged. "They would have found out anyways. Besides, don't tell me you didn't like having those girls jealous of you."
Hermione shook her head, but didn't say anything.
"It *is* romantic," Ginny said, coming out of nowhere.
"Don't start again," Ron said, looking a bit horrified.
Ginny threw a roll at him. "I can swoon over anything as often as I want to *whenever* I want to, thank you very much."
"I didn't say you couldn't, just don't start on your theories of romance when I'm within hearing distance," Ron said.
"Fine," Ginny huffed. She leaned backwards on the bench in a pout, then suddenly sat upwards. "My kitten! Where is it?"
"Chudley's probably up in your room already," Hermione assured her.
"Her name isn't Chudley," Ginny protested.
"Oh, come off it, Gin, she even comes when you call Chudley. It's her name," Ron said.
"Shut up," Ginny growled.
1. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Author's Notes: First of all, thank you so much, Jay. I really, really, really, really, really liked that comment about holding the audience on. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)
I am so *so* sorry I didn't get this up sooner. First, I was all flu-like sick for one day. Then the next day my throat was really sore. Then the next day I found out I had bronchitis. The bronchitis didn't start feeling better until Monday, then Tuesday I stayed over at my friends house until Thursday. Tuesday, in fact, I wrote this, but I was really stupid and didn't think to email it before I left so that it would have been ready to post yesterday. Sorry.
And . . . I HAVE A PRINTER!!! I know not many of you know much about my personal life, but with my primitive computer this is a *huge* improvement. The best part is that it's only a few years old, works perfectly, and I got it FREE. I would get up and dance, but I'm not completely better and I don't think I have enough energy.
Oh, which reminds me. How come nobody told me trashy romance novels are so good? I bought one at the store the other day with my friend and haven't been able to put it down. (I actually bought the book so we could laugh and make fun of it together but . . . go figure.)
Can I have 510 reviews? (Wow! 510, baby! How cool is that? I'll shut up, but let me just remind you that 500 is indeed half of a THOUSAND. Did I mention my last series only got 74 reviews?)
~Haley~