A/N: I am writing for myself so if you don't want to review that's fine but this is the funniest chapter yet.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters and indignatia. No coppright infringement is wanted. Bla
To: Lauren (My best flutey friend)
Chapter 5: Hesitation: The Bet
Hermione woke up with her face covered in sweat. She looked at the now torn picture in her hands of Blaise Zabini. She had had the nightmare of the Quidditch match.
With her shivering hand, she grasped the wand off of the bedside table, and whispered, "Incendio.", pointing to her candles. She would have liked to open the windows, but seeing as they were in the dungeons, she couldn't. She settled for some dim light instead to replace the moon.
In her head, over and over again, she replayed what had happened. She stood up to a Malfoy and left him speechless, she befriended a Slytherin 'beside Blaise, she mentally added continuing with her list: She met all of her young teachers, Harry's parents, the betrayer, Remus, and Sirius.
'Oh Merlin!' She shivered to herself and remembered what happened with him. 'Oh Merlin!' She repeatedly thought. She was not supposed to have done that. What she felt for Sirius was physical...
Harry! 'Oh Merlin!' She thought again as realization dawned on her. Like Harry! 'Oh Merlin....' For someone so smart, she sure could be stupid sometimes. What she felt for Harry was platonic. Beyond that was physical attraction.
She blinked repeatedly, not believing anything that was happening. She almost, ahem, with Sirius, she hurt the person who she liked beyond attraction, and most strangely, Snape reminded her of Blaise. She was falling for Snape.
'Wonderful.' She thought to herself. Hermione wasn't sarcastic very often, but when she had to, she had to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That Sunday morning was very, umm, revealing for Hermione? She continually slapped herself on the head for her stupidity. Now she was stuck in the past, and Blaise would find someone new. What about Snape though? She decided to deal with one thing at a time.
She still had to get rid of Pettigrew.... Wait. What was she thinking there? She can't change the course of the future!!!!! She slapped herself on the head again. She wrote a short letter to Sirius saying that he was very gullible to believe her story. It said that she got a dare from her friends at Beauxbatons that she had to make someone look stupid and sexually frustrated. It asked him is she had succeeded with an air of being sarcastic. She had to fix this somehow. She wouldn't go back to her time the nicest person, but she would not change the past.
Going down to breakfast, Hermione braced herself for the worst. It couldn't be that bad.... Right?
She entered as quietly as she could and slipped into a seat next to Snape, hoping that Sirius wouldn't notice her, but even more hoping that he wasn't there. Snape greeted her friendly enough, well that was before she was pulled out into the hall.
"What the hell?" Sirius screamed at her. She almost flinched, but she refrained from doing so in front of him.
"What ever might you mean, my dearest Gryffindor friend?" She smirked. Hey, years of being in contact with a Malfoy whose face was frozen in a smirk rubbed off on her.
"Back off, Black." She whipped around to see Snape pacing after her. She was about to open her mouth when Snape got in front of her and held his hands out.
"Defending your whore, Snape?" Sirius snapped at Snape.
"Oh, you're jealous, are you? Did she dump you already? Come on, Black, I thought you would have learned after Brown." Snape drawled, reminding Sirius of painful past experiences.
"I can take care of myself, thanks." She said, a little mad at Snape for assuming she was helpless.
"I know you can, but I don't want Black to run away to his mum crying." Snape laughed at his own joke while Hermione rolled her eyes.
"So you fell for it, huh? Well, that's just fine. I mean I knew you were stupid, but bloody hell Black." Hermione laughed evilly, making herself worry. Maybe she was spending a little too much time with the Slytherins.
"So everything you said was a lie? I can handle that but what about Harry Potter?" Sirius asked.
"What about Harry?" She stepped forward, drawing her wand, "He's my best friend. Anything else?" He was getting suspicious so she needed to change the subject quickly.
"And yesterday meant nothing to you?" It broke her heart seeing Sirius hurt. He would have to go through so much pain, but she had to do this.
"There was a reason we didn't go all the way." 'Yeah, Blaise, Harry, and maybe even Snape.' She thought bitterly.
"That's fine, Granger. That is just wonderful. Just remember that you aren't welcomed within the Gryffindors anymore." Sirius said walking back into the great hall.
"And what was that all about?" Snape asked her. She shrugged. Grabbing his hand she walked with him back to Slytherin common room.
Once they arrived, she pulled out a photo album, changing all the Hogwarts robes to Beauxbatons robes. They magically adjusted to the house the person would have been in there.
"You were in that house? I heard it was like our Gryffindor house." She smirked, laughing on the inside. He would never know.
"Yes. This is my best friend Harry, my best friend Ron, and the rest are just housemates." She said pointing to a picture on the Quidditch pitch.
"What about him? He's wearing different robes." She looked at where he was pointing and smiled.
"That's Blaise." She let her old self slip out while saying that, "Old boyfriend."
"He looks familiar." Severus stated simply, noticing her change of demeanor he added, "You loved him. You still do."
Hermione looked down at her feet, tears coming to her eyes. She wouldn't break down to anyone, especially not Snape. Snape on the other hand, had different plans. She put up her hood on, but he took it off. Taking her hand, he kissed it. She pulled away from his touch, afraid of poor judgement in vulnerable situations. He took her hand again, and he just held it for a while.
"I still do." She said after a while. She got up, leaving her photo albums there and went to her room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the first time in her life, Hermione was glad that she was walking to her last class of the day. It was N.E.W.T potions level 2. Last year there had to be two N.E.W.T classes for people who wanted to take that class. She was quite surprised that that many people wanted to take potions. Then again, the Dark Lord brought out a lot of Aurors, including Neville.
This year, in her time, there was only one class. Too many people had dropped. Ron, Harry, herself, and Neville were the only people from Gryffindor to stay in that class. Neville was still so ever afraid of Professor Snape, but he had to take it so he could become an Auror.
Half of the class was Ravenclaws. She had a lot of Ravenclaws in her classes. Maybe she was placed in the wrong house. Surprisingly, the lot of them dropped the class with their beloved potions master. Malfoy remained in the class, however, so she felt not the slightest difference in rude comments. There was just more of Malfoy's voice. Just like right now to think of it.
She approached the classroom to hear Malfoy's voice. Well, Malfoy senior anyway, "Put your money where your mouth is, you useless little Gryffindor. That is, if you have any."
Hermione backed into a corner so she wouldn't be seen. She wanted to know what was happening now, and if she was seen they might stop talking.
"Let's go, Malfoy." James Potter. She was getting slightly worried. He seemed outraged, and that only meant one thing. A fight was about to breakout if the situation was dealt with wrongly.
"Alright Potter, I bet you, five galleons, that I can bed a Gryffindor before you can bed a Slytherin." She shook her head, men.
"With a twist then, Malfoy. We pick each other's bedridden woman." James put out his hand. She heard a connection that meant Lucius had taken his hand.
"I bet that you can't bed Granger." She stopped breathing at the sound of her name...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK TO FIRST YEAR
"Miss Granger. Are you quite sure she is of Muggle heritage?" An eleven year old overheard the conversation on her way to the library. Tomorrow they were going to cover the levitating charm. She had to be prepared.
"It seems familiar to me also, Severus. I am, however, sure that she is of Muggle heritage. I met with her family myself. They seemed to be hiding something however." She thought about it for a moment. Of course they couldn't be talking about her. Her name was Granger, but it was a common name. Of course her parents were Muggles.
"I seem to remember a Granger in my day..." She heard her mean Professor trail off.
"Yes, treat her as a normal student..." Eleven year old Hermione Granger skipped along. Of course she wasn't back in his day. That must have been a million years ago. He seemed so big...
END FLASHBACK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Granger? I bet you can't bed Sirius's cousin, Narcissa." Hermione passed by the same spot they stood as soon as she came back to life. Of course she wasn't going to let that happen.
Walking into the half empty classroom, she sat at an empty desk. Either she was early or the class was very small.
Hermione decided instead of being angry, she was going to fight this head on. She was also going to give Narcissa Malfoy, or wait, Narcissa Black a full head's up. They were going to get married anyway, so a little problem couldn't cause that to change.
"Hello Hermione..." A voice purred in her ear. She tried hard not to roll her eyes.
"Potter." Hermione decided she was going to humiliate him for trying to pull this on the smartest witch in a millennium. She put a well placed hand on his inner thigh.
She felt him tense at the unexpected move, but she continued to work her way up. He got too uncomfortable, so he stood up and walked over to sit with Lily who was glaring at him. She slapped him and told him to take a hike. He got what he deserved.
She turned around to see Damien Zabini and Severus sitting there. She smirked at them and winked in order to convey to them that they were not the only ones who knew about Lucius's and James's bet.
"You wench." Damien smirked at her and patted her on the back. Severus merely looked down.
"What's wrong Sev?" She teased. He gave her a sad look and continued fiddling with his wand. Damien shrugged and looked over to James who was pouting in the corner.
He was upset about last night's conversations most likely. He had feelings for her and she wasn't over someone whose father was sitting right behind her. She felt her stomach lurch as the class filled up and Narcissa sat down beside her.
The class started and they began a Polyjuice potion, which was supposed to be extremely difficult. She huffed at the thought. She had brewed it successfully in her second year.
She turned around as the professor came to a halt as Severus's cauldron. He was already done. She knew her potions master was good as potions but he was done so quickly.
"Mr. Snape. As always you are done. Wonderful job! Twenty points to Slytherin.
She had her first step done in record time after her motivation to catch up to Severus. She was free the rest of class seeing as the potion had to rest for quite a few weeks before the next ingredient could be added.
The professor was making his rounds again and looked at Hermione's potion with glee, "Oh my. I reserved double potions for this and you and Mr. Snape. my dear, are already done. Twenty points to Slytherin." Most people were very impressed with her.
"Thank you, Sir. It really is quite an easy potion to brew." She boasted. Most students knew by now that she was even smarter than Lily Evans, but this proved it. Lily was not even half done with the first step and most people were behind her.
"What would you like to do for the remaining hour and a half?" The professor asked the two of them as everyone else continued to brew their potions.
"Would it be possible for Severus and me to go to the library to finish some of our homework?" Hermione asked.
Before Snape had an opportunity to object, the professor agreed and Hermione grabbed both of their bags and Severus and dragged them out to the common room.
"Look Severus. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings-" He cut her off right there.
"I should be apologizing. You still love this Blaise boy and I shouldn't be the one to interfere with-" She cut him off now.
"I won't be seeing him for Merlin knows how long, and I do have feelings for you. Strong feelings. Not just because you remind me of him in some odd way but because I like you Severus. I care for you because you're you." Hermione expressed her feelings to him and to her. She knew what she said was the truth. She hated him for six years and now after such a short time, she was falling for him. She was falling hard, and it shocked her.
"Please do not try to spare me my feelings. Be truthful from now on. I am not some pathetic Gryffindor that cannot handle the truth." His words hurt him and they hurt her, too. You couldn't break him that easily, and even as much as he wanted to believe her he just couldn't. He couldn't let himself, the true him, be let out to be hurt. He saw how the world was, and he wasn't one of those pathetic souls. So instead of falling in her arms, he stood up and walked out of the portrait hole, leaving her vulnerable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione awoke after a good sleep to see her clock saying that it was time for dinner. She changed her tearstained blouse and her crumpled skirt into something a little more practical. She took a dark green cloak, some excess money, and her wand before she headed out of her room to a statue she had helped Harry through during third year.
She said the password quickly and left for Hogsmeade. She needed to let out her emotions somehow, and there was one way she knew of since she was a little girl: dancing.
After what seemed like an eternity, she arrived right under Honeyduke's. She wrapped her cloak tightly around herself. It was approaching winter and nights got very cold in England.
She walked around Hogsmeade in search of any place she could dance. She found none that admitted people her age. She sighed in frustration. She would making a small aging potion his weekend if she remembered. For now she headed to The Three Broomsticks for something to warm her insides.
As she sat in the bar, someone approached her from behind. She was just about to look when she heard whispering, "Don't turn around."
She ordered wizard's fire whiskey. The same effect as Muggle but without the chances of a hangover. She had a few shots without turning around.
"How about a dance?" Before she was just too frustrated too care who the voice was, but now she was just a bit tipsy. She wasn't totally drunk, but she was just a tad loosened up. She was in the state where everything made sense.
"There isn't any music playing, Love." She said finally turning around, "Jamesy! How are you? What about the wife and kid?" She asked him getting up to hug him.
"I'm not married Hermione, nor do I have children." She quickly sobered a bit just as she was about to say, 'What do you think Harry is then?'
"I've got to get back to the castle before I get caught. Bye Jamesy." She purred in his ear, taking one last shot and paying so she could make up lost ground when she sobered.
She ran back to the castle, to her dormitory and her room, ignoring the thumping that was coming from the sixth and seventh year dormitories. Everything was right again until morning.
A/N: Review please! Tell me what I'm doing right or wrong or just to tell me I should keep going...
"Heart Attack"
Remember when there was nothing else to do, but lie in bed and,
wonder how it was always up to you, and no one else and,
Early mornings, plagued by warnings, what's the point of the alarm that I'm ignoring?
It's even raining, I'm not complaining, but waking up is hard to do so,
[Chorus:]
Turn my head its back to bed with no delay,
Can't be bothered by the phone ten times a day,
Why get up when morning doesn't even start till two?
Forget reality waking up is hard to do.
Remember when we would hang out every day, and we would rather,
Not be told what to do or what to say, cause nothing mattered.
Never boring, slept in mornings, not ashamed of bad habits that I'm forming.
Its not important if days are shortened, I can't make time when nothings new,
Cause waking up is hard to do so,
[Chorus]
What's a day when it all ends up the same, and lasts forever?
Can't complain when there's nothing there to blame, and things can't be better.
Summer evenings, teenage grievings, got no problem with the life that I've been leading.
No concentration on hesitation, I can't make time when nothings new, Cause waking up is hard to do so!
[Chorus]
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters and indignatia. No coppright infringement is wanted. Bla
To: Lauren (My best flutey friend)
Chapter 5: Hesitation: The Bet
Hermione woke up with her face covered in sweat. She looked at the now torn picture in her hands of Blaise Zabini. She had had the nightmare of the Quidditch match.
With her shivering hand, she grasped the wand off of the bedside table, and whispered, "Incendio.", pointing to her candles. She would have liked to open the windows, but seeing as they were in the dungeons, she couldn't. She settled for some dim light instead to replace the moon.
In her head, over and over again, she replayed what had happened. She stood up to a Malfoy and left him speechless, she befriended a Slytherin 'beside Blaise, she mentally added continuing with her list: She met all of her young teachers, Harry's parents, the betrayer, Remus, and Sirius.
'Oh Merlin!' She shivered to herself and remembered what happened with him. 'Oh Merlin!' She repeatedly thought. She was not supposed to have done that. What she felt for Sirius was physical...
Harry! 'Oh Merlin!' She thought again as realization dawned on her. Like Harry! 'Oh Merlin....' For someone so smart, she sure could be stupid sometimes. What she felt for Harry was platonic. Beyond that was physical attraction.
She blinked repeatedly, not believing anything that was happening. She almost, ahem, with Sirius, she hurt the person who she liked beyond attraction, and most strangely, Snape reminded her of Blaise. She was falling for Snape.
'Wonderful.' She thought to herself. Hermione wasn't sarcastic very often, but when she had to, she had to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That Sunday morning was very, umm, revealing for Hermione? She continually slapped herself on the head for her stupidity. Now she was stuck in the past, and Blaise would find someone new. What about Snape though? She decided to deal with one thing at a time.
She still had to get rid of Pettigrew.... Wait. What was she thinking there? She can't change the course of the future!!!!! She slapped herself on the head again. She wrote a short letter to Sirius saying that he was very gullible to believe her story. It said that she got a dare from her friends at Beauxbatons that she had to make someone look stupid and sexually frustrated. It asked him is she had succeeded with an air of being sarcastic. She had to fix this somehow. She wouldn't go back to her time the nicest person, but she would not change the past.
Going down to breakfast, Hermione braced herself for the worst. It couldn't be that bad.... Right?
She entered as quietly as she could and slipped into a seat next to Snape, hoping that Sirius wouldn't notice her, but even more hoping that he wasn't there. Snape greeted her friendly enough, well that was before she was pulled out into the hall.
"What the hell?" Sirius screamed at her. She almost flinched, but she refrained from doing so in front of him.
"What ever might you mean, my dearest Gryffindor friend?" She smirked. Hey, years of being in contact with a Malfoy whose face was frozen in a smirk rubbed off on her.
"Back off, Black." She whipped around to see Snape pacing after her. She was about to open her mouth when Snape got in front of her and held his hands out.
"Defending your whore, Snape?" Sirius snapped at Snape.
"Oh, you're jealous, are you? Did she dump you already? Come on, Black, I thought you would have learned after Brown." Snape drawled, reminding Sirius of painful past experiences.
"I can take care of myself, thanks." She said, a little mad at Snape for assuming she was helpless.
"I know you can, but I don't want Black to run away to his mum crying." Snape laughed at his own joke while Hermione rolled her eyes.
"So you fell for it, huh? Well, that's just fine. I mean I knew you were stupid, but bloody hell Black." Hermione laughed evilly, making herself worry. Maybe she was spending a little too much time with the Slytherins.
"So everything you said was a lie? I can handle that but what about Harry Potter?" Sirius asked.
"What about Harry?" She stepped forward, drawing her wand, "He's my best friend. Anything else?" He was getting suspicious so she needed to change the subject quickly.
"And yesterday meant nothing to you?" It broke her heart seeing Sirius hurt. He would have to go through so much pain, but she had to do this.
"There was a reason we didn't go all the way." 'Yeah, Blaise, Harry, and maybe even Snape.' She thought bitterly.
"That's fine, Granger. That is just wonderful. Just remember that you aren't welcomed within the Gryffindors anymore." Sirius said walking back into the great hall.
"And what was that all about?" Snape asked her. She shrugged. Grabbing his hand she walked with him back to Slytherin common room.
Once they arrived, she pulled out a photo album, changing all the Hogwarts robes to Beauxbatons robes. They magically adjusted to the house the person would have been in there.
"You were in that house? I heard it was like our Gryffindor house." She smirked, laughing on the inside. He would never know.
"Yes. This is my best friend Harry, my best friend Ron, and the rest are just housemates." She said pointing to a picture on the Quidditch pitch.
"What about him? He's wearing different robes." She looked at where he was pointing and smiled.
"That's Blaise." She let her old self slip out while saying that, "Old boyfriend."
"He looks familiar." Severus stated simply, noticing her change of demeanor he added, "You loved him. You still do."
Hermione looked down at her feet, tears coming to her eyes. She wouldn't break down to anyone, especially not Snape. Snape on the other hand, had different plans. She put up her hood on, but he took it off. Taking her hand, he kissed it. She pulled away from his touch, afraid of poor judgement in vulnerable situations. He took her hand again, and he just held it for a while.
"I still do." She said after a while. She got up, leaving her photo albums there and went to her room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the first time in her life, Hermione was glad that she was walking to her last class of the day. It was N.E.W.T potions level 2. Last year there had to be two N.E.W.T classes for people who wanted to take that class. She was quite surprised that that many people wanted to take potions. Then again, the Dark Lord brought out a lot of Aurors, including Neville.
This year, in her time, there was only one class. Too many people had dropped. Ron, Harry, herself, and Neville were the only people from Gryffindor to stay in that class. Neville was still so ever afraid of Professor Snape, but he had to take it so he could become an Auror.
Half of the class was Ravenclaws. She had a lot of Ravenclaws in her classes. Maybe she was placed in the wrong house. Surprisingly, the lot of them dropped the class with their beloved potions master. Malfoy remained in the class, however, so she felt not the slightest difference in rude comments. There was just more of Malfoy's voice. Just like right now to think of it.
She approached the classroom to hear Malfoy's voice. Well, Malfoy senior anyway, "Put your money where your mouth is, you useless little Gryffindor. That is, if you have any."
Hermione backed into a corner so she wouldn't be seen. She wanted to know what was happening now, and if she was seen they might stop talking.
"Let's go, Malfoy." James Potter. She was getting slightly worried. He seemed outraged, and that only meant one thing. A fight was about to breakout if the situation was dealt with wrongly.
"Alright Potter, I bet you, five galleons, that I can bed a Gryffindor before you can bed a Slytherin." She shook her head, men.
"With a twist then, Malfoy. We pick each other's bedridden woman." James put out his hand. She heard a connection that meant Lucius had taken his hand.
"I bet that you can't bed Granger." She stopped breathing at the sound of her name...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK TO FIRST YEAR
"Miss Granger. Are you quite sure she is of Muggle heritage?" An eleven year old overheard the conversation on her way to the library. Tomorrow they were going to cover the levitating charm. She had to be prepared.
"It seems familiar to me also, Severus. I am, however, sure that she is of Muggle heritage. I met with her family myself. They seemed to be hiding something however." She thought about it for a moment. Of course they couldn't be talking about her. Her name was Granger, but it was a common name. Of course her parents were Muggles.
"I seem to remember a Granger in my day..." She heard her mean Professor trail off.
"Yes, treat her as a normal student..." Eleven year old Hermione Granger skipped along. Of course she wasn't back in his day. That must have been a million years ago. He seemed so big...
END FLASHBACK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Granger? I bet you can't bed Sirius's cousin, Narcissa." Hermione passed by the same spot they stood as soon as she came back to life. Of course she wasn't going to let that happen.
Walking into the half empty classroom, she sat at an empty desk. Either she was early or the class was very small.
Hermione decided instead of being angry, she was going to fight this head on. She was also going to give Narcissa Malfoy, or wait, Narcissa Black a full head's up. They were going to get married anyway, so a little problem couldn't cause that to change.
"Hello Hermione..." A voice purred in her ear. She tried hard not to roll her eyes.
"Potter." Hermione decided she was going to humiliate him for trying to pull this on the smartest witch in a millennium. She put a well placed hand on his inner thigh.
She felt him tense at the unexpected move, but she continued to work her way up. He got too uncomfortable, so he stood up and walked over to sit with Lily who was glaring at him. She slapped him and told him to take a hike. He got what he deserved.
She turned around to see Damien Zabini and Severus sitting there. She smirked at them and winked in order to convey to them that they were not the only ones who knew about Lucius's and James's bet.
"You wench." Damien smirked at her and patted her on the back. Severus merely looked down.
"What's wrong Sev?" She teased. He gave her a sad look and continued fiddling with his wand. Damien shrugged and looked over to James who was pouting in the corner.
He was upset about last night's conversations most likely. He had feelings for her and she wasn't over someone whose father was sitting right behind her. She felt her stomach lurch as the class filled up and Narcissa sat down beside her.
The class started and they began a Polyjuice potion, which was supposed to be extremely difficult. She huffed at the thought. She had brewed it successfully in her second year.
She turned around as the professor came to a halt as Severus's cauldron. He was already done. She knew her potions master was good as potions but he was done so quickly.
"Mr. Snape. As always you are done. Wonderful job! Twenty points to Slytherin.
She had her first step done in record time after her motivation to catch up to Severus. She was free the rest of class seeing as the potion had to rest for quite a few weeks before the next ingredient could be added.
The professor was making his rounds again and looked at Hermione's potion with glee, "Oh my. I reserved double potions for this and you and Mr. Snape. my dear, are already done. Twenty points to Slytherin." Most people were very impressed with her.
"Thank you, Sir. It really is quite an easy potion to brew." She boasted. Most students knew by now that she was even smarter than Lily Evans, but this proved it. Lily was not even half done with the first step and most people were behind her.
"What would you like to do for the remaining hour and a half?" The professor asked the two of them as everyone else continued to brew their potions.
"Would it be possible for Severus and me to go to the library to finish some of our homework?" Hermione asked.
Before Snape had an opportunity to object, the professor agreed and Hermione grabbed both of their bags and Severus and dragged them out to the common room.
"Look Severus. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings-" He cut her off right there.
"I should be apologizing. You still love this Blaise boy and I shouldn't be the one to interfere with-" She cut him off now.
"I won't be seeing him for Merlin knows how long, and I do have feelings for you. Strong feelings. Not just because you remind me of him in some odd way but because I like you Severus. I care for you because you're you." Hermione expressed her feelings to him and to her. She knew what she said was the truth. She hated him for six years and now after such a short time, she was falling for him. She was falling hard, and it shocked her.
"Please do not try to spare me my feelings. Be truthful from now on. I am not some pathetic Gryffindor that cannot handle the truth." His words hurt him and they hurt her, too. You couldn't break him that easily, and even as much as he wanted to believe her he just couldn't. He couldn't let himself, the true him, be let out to be hurt. He saw how the world was, and he wasn't one of those pathetic souls. So instead of falling in her arms, he stood up and walked out of the portrait hole, leaving her vulnerable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione awoke after a good sleep to see her clock saying that it was time for dinner. She changed her tearstained blouse and her crumpled skirt into something a little more practical. She took a dark green cloak, some excess money, and her wand before she headed out of her room to a statue she had helped Harry through during third year.
She said the password quickly and left for Hogsmeade. She needed to let out her emotions somehow, and there was one way she knew of since she was a little girl: dancing.
After what seemed like an eternity, she arrived right under Honeyduke's. She wrapped her cloak tightly around herself. It was approaching winter and nights got very cold in England.
She walked around Hogsmeade in search of any place she could dance. She found none that admitted people her age. She sighed in frustration. She would making a small aging potion his weekend if she remembered. For now she headed to The Three Broomsticks for something to warm her insides.
As she sat in the bar, someone approached her from behind. She was just about to look when she heard whispering, "Don't turn around."
She ordered wizard's fire whiskey. The same effect as Muggle but without the chances of a hangover. She had a few shots without turning around.
"How about a dance?" Before she was just too frustrated too care who the voice was, but now she was just a bit tipsy. She wasn't totally drunk, but she was just a tad loosened up. She was in the state where everything made sense.
"There isn't any music playing, Love." She said finally turning around, "Jamesy! How are you? What about the wife and kid?" She asked him getting up to hug him.
"I'm not married Hermione, nor do I have children." She quickly sobered a bit just as she was about to say, 'What do you think Harry is then?'
"I've got to get back to the castle before I get caught. Bye Jamesy." She purred in his ear, taking one last shot and paying so she could make up lost ground when she sobered.
She ran back to the castle, to her dormitory and her room, ignoring the thumping that was coming from the sixth and seventh year dormitories. Everything was right again until morning.
A/N: Review please! Tell me what I'm doing right or wrong or just to tell me I should keep going...
"Heart Attack"
Remember when there was nothing else to do, but lie in bed and,
wonder how it was always up to you, and no one else and,
Early mornings, plagued by warnings, what's the point of the alarm that I'm ignoring?
It's even raining, I'm not complaining, but waking up is hard to do so,
[Chorus:]
Turn my head its back to bed with no delay,
Can't be bothered by the phone ten times a day,
Why get up when morning doesn't even start till two?
Forget reality waking up is hard to do.
Remember when we would hang out every day, and we would rather,
Not be told what to do or what to say, cause nothing mattered.
Never boring, slept in mornings, not ashamed of bad habits that I'm forming.
Its not important if days are shortened, I can't make time when nothings new,
Cause waking up is hard to do so,
[Chorus]
What's a day when it all ends up the same, and lasts forever?
Can't complain when there's nothing there to blame, and things can't be better.
Summer evenings, teenage grievings, got no problem with the life that I've been leading.
No concentration on hesitation, I can't make time when nothings new, Cause waking up is hard to do so!
[Chorus]