Chapter 19 ~ Mysterious Ways
"Never knew I could feel like this; like I've never seen the sky before,
Want to vanish inside your kiss, everyday I want you more and more.
Listen to my heart, can't you hear it sing?
Telling me to give you everything.
Seasons may change, winter to spring,
But I love you, until the end of time." - "Come What May" from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack
Carefully looking around one more time to make sure there was no one in the Gryffindor common room that could be paying attention to her, Hermione continued to unwrap the delicate packaging around the mysterious present which had no receiver. Being the perfectionist that she was, Hermione was careful not to tear the wrapping, to save it for another year. She wanted to shred it open and find out what the package contained, but knew she would have to be patient.
The next thing that Hermione's eyes had laid themselves upon made Hermione gasp. Underneath the wrapping paper that she had delicately tore open, she saw something that resembled gold silk. Leaving the wrapping on the floor, she took another look at the present and found that it was gold silk...or at least something extremely similar to it. At first Hermione thought it was just a long piece of gold silk, but then she realized that it was a scarf.
Gasping with shock, Hermione ran her fingers over the scarf, to find that it was real. It had beautiful patterns all over it, and as Hermione looked at it, amazed, she forgot all about her problems – she forgot that she her relationship with Oliver was now on hold, she forgot that a Slytherin was murdered and that a funeral was going to be held shortly, she forgot that Voldemort was probably roaming around the school at that very moment – everything vanished from memory.
Embraced in the moment, Hermione tightly wrapped the scarf around her neck, which covered up the necklace which she had received from Oliver. Hermione stood up to look at the full-length mirror which was in the Gryffindor common room, and had to admit that it looked gorgeous on her. The gold silk looked perfect with her light brown, bushy hair.
Hearing footsteps approach the Fat Lady portrait outside, Hermione quickly took off the scarf and stuffed it into her cloak pocket. She heard the oh- so-familiar password to the Gryffindor tower, and watched as the portrait swung open, revealing Harry and Ron, back from their trip at Hagrid's.
Not a moment too soon, Hermione looked down, realizing that the wrapping to the present was still on the floor. She kicked it softly with her heel, and it was sent underneath the chair that she was sitting on. "Harry, Ron!" she greeted, with a big smile on her face.
Ron smiled, but Harry chose to look at her curiously. "What was that you just kicked underneath that chair?" he asked her.
Hermione shrugged. "What? Oh, nothing important. Just some trash."
Harry crossed his arms. "Since when does Hermione Granger leave trash on the floor?"
"Since...now?" Hermione asked hopefully.
"Come on Hermione, what is it?" he pressed.
"It's just some wrapping paper!" Hermione exclaimed, finally giving in. She bent over and picked it up, waving it at Harry. "Does this make you satisfied?" Turning around on her heel, she took the wrapping paper with her up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.
Ron raised his eyebrows. "Is it just me, or does she really have the time of the month?" he asked.
Harry elbowed him and rolled his eyes. "I don't think it's that girly stuff Ron," Harry told him. "I just think Hermione's keeping a secret that she shouldn't."
Lying on her bed, Hermione took out the scarf that she had shoved in her pocket, and continued to look at it. All the other girls were already asleep, so she didn't have to worry about them constantly asking her questions about where she had gotten in, and why she would deserve a gift like that.
In fact, Hermione herself was wondering how she could deserve something as extravagant as that. She knew it must have cost at least five galleons, perhaps even more, and the thought of someone buying her something so expensive was something new. She knew that Harry and Ron couldn't have done it as a surprise, since they had already given her great gifts already.
Eventually, she found herself falling asleep with the gold silk scarf in her hands, and found herself dreaming about the many people who could have sent it to her. Her first thought was immediately of Oliver. Sure, they were supposed to be 'over', or at least for a while, but this was a Christmas present. And although Hermione had considered that it wasn't him because he had already sent her a gorgeous necklace, she still had reasons to believe it was him. Her second thought was her parents. She also knew that they had given her plenty of Christmas presents, including the expensive quill which she had received, but maybe they wanted to give her something more ... although there was no receiver noted so it couldn't be her parents. And the third thought, which was perhaps the most bizarre, was Draco Malfoy.
Hermione didn't know what to hink about him anymore. For six years he had been cruel, and then on the Yule Ball, she truly thought that he had changed. But of course, just when Hermione thought that she had everything sorted out, his mean personality shone through once again...but Hermione, for those few seconds in her dream, thought of him giving her that gift. It was a bizarre thought, and Hermione knew that if it really was him she'd give it back in an instance, but there was a slight possibility that it actually was from him.
Once she had woken up, she found that several of the girls had already headed down to the Gryffindor common room, or to the Great Hall, yet Hermione's curious present was left untouched. She sighed with relief, glad that none of the girls were curious as to what her present was, or who it was from.
Leaping from her bed, she quickly went to the washroom to wash her face, comb her hair, and do other necessities before putting on her robes. She pocketed the scarf, not for any particular reason, but just because she felt like it. But as soon as she went towards the exit of the seventh years room (she would sleep in the Head Girls' room, but didn't want to), she was stopped by Lavender Brown.
"Hey Hermione," Lavender greeted. "Ron just wanted me to tell you that he and Harry went for a walk around the grounds, you know, to get some fresh air. And they also said that they might stop off at Hagrid's, so if you wanted to go ... you can find them outside."
Hermione smiled, wondering why Lavender and her weren't the best of friends, since Lavender was such a nice person. "Thanks Lavender," Hermione replied, quickly running towards her dresser to get her gloves and other winter essentials.
As Lavender turned to leave, Hermione had found herself at yet another dilemma, although she was sure she was just exaggerating. She now had two scarves – her Gryffindor one, as well as the one that she had just received. She took the scarf out of her pocket, then quickly wrapped it around her neck. She knew that it looked wonderful on her, but also knew that if she wore that, it would probably lead to many exhausting questions for Hermione.
With one last exasperated sigh, she wrapped her Gryffindor scarf around her neck, just enough to cover the golden silk one that lay beneath. She quickly ran through the portrait of the Fat Lady and through the many corridors and staircases that would lead her to the main entrance and towards the Hogwarts grounds. Her neck grew hot very quickly, but she knew that once she was outside in a very chilly winter wonderland, she wouldn't regret it.
As soon as she took a step through the large wooden doors that led to the Hogwarts grounds, her last exhaled breath was an icy chill. She swung her head around in an attempt to find Ron and Harry, but the most she saw was two snowmans standing very close to each other. Taking a closer look, she realized that the two snowmans were making quite a struggle to move. And finally, taking an even closer look, she realized that there were glasses on one snowman, and two eyes were peering out, looking very frightened.
Running closer, she realized that there were humans in the snowmen. And not just any humans either. As she ran even closer she heard a struggled yell saying, "Hermione! Get us out of here!"
Taking out her wand, which now seemed handy quite often (and was also always in her pocket for protection in case any snakes decided to chase her again), she shouted a spell, and immediately the snow around the two figures vanished, leaving a very purple Ron and Harry in her midst.
"What happened to you?" Hermione asked with widened eyes.
"Fred and ... George," Ron replied, his teeth chattering extremely loudly.
"They ... thought it would be fun to ... put a spell on us so we'd be trapped as snowmen," Harry added.
"What?!" Hermione asked with shock. "You could have died. Don't they know you could get pneumonia or hypothermia by being in the cold for so long?"
"Apparently ... not," Ron replied, his teeth now knocking each other every time he announciated a syllable.
"We need to get you two sorted out," Hermione decided. "Let's head towards the Gryffindor common room – the fire will probably warm you up again, and if that doesn't work, we can always go to Madame Pomfrey."
Harry and Ron agreed with chattering teeth, and they were just about to turn around and when they came face-to-face with Snape. He smiled in an amusing way at the sight of Harry and Ron, whose faces were blue and lips were purple. He then turned his gaze to Hermione, near her neck area. "What's that underneath your house scarf?" Snape snarled, pulling off her Gryffindor scarf. She gasped in surprise and made a desperate attempt to hide it, but the golden silk scarf was already revealed.
Snape raised an eyebrow, and even Harry and Ron managed to stop their chattering of teeth for a moment to glance at the beautiful scarf that was on Hermione's neck. Smiling with amusement, he chose to say, "Who on earth would buy you such a lovely scarf? I'm sure no one would be able to afford something like that for you."
Gulping, she almost began to say, "I'm not really sure who gave it to me", but managed to choke out, "My parents gave it to me for Christmas." She glanced over at Harry and Ron, hoping for their support, and despite their confusement they nodded in agreement.
Eyeing her carefully, Snape began to speak softly. "Are you aware, Miss Granger, that wearing regular scarfs underneath a Hogwarts scarf is not permitted?"
Hearing Snape's last comment, Hermione was overcome with such rage that she almost felt like cursing Snape. Instead, she snapped back with, "Actually, I wasn't aware. And, with all due respect Professor Snape, where else am I supposed to wear it? I stay at Hogwarts during the winter holidays, and I can't exactly wear a scarf during the summer vacation."
"Are you mocking me?" Snape asked with a stern voice, while Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows in astonishment of how Hermione was handeling the situation. "I suggest you take off that scarf this instant before I add another detention to the one you already have for talking back to a professor."
Hermione's jaw dropped. She had only been given detentions on extremely rare occasions, and this was one of them. And being given detention for wearing a gift underneath a school scarf? Hermione couldn't stand for it, and for once, she actually wished that Oliver would arrive on the scene, saving her again – even though she knew that couldn't happen since then Snape would be even more suspicious than he already was of their close relationship. "With all due respect, Professor Snape, being given a detention for wearing a scarf that is supposedly not allowed underneath a scarf that is allowed is preposterous!"
"I suggest you hold your tongue before I give you yet another detention, Miss Granger," Snape said coolly. "You will join several another classmates who feel they shouldn't follow the rules at seven o' clock tonight. I'm sure you'll have some enjoyment cleaning the paths around the greenhouses for easy access for Professor Sprout. Without magic." With that, Snape walked away, which was a good thing since Ron chose that moment to do a very rude sign with his hand as soon as Snape's back was facing them.
Snape suddenly turned around again, just as Ron released himself from that rude gesture, and approached Hermione again. He released his hand, and the Gryffindor scarf fell into her hands. With that last move, he turned around again and headed back into the castle.
"That's harsh! He shouldn't have done that!" Ron exclaimed, as soon as he was sure Snape was finally gone.
"Well, it's not like you did anything to help me!" Hermione snapped. "All you did was chatter your teeth!"
"What to do you mean?!" Ron snapped back. "We nodded in agreement, and besides, what else were we supposed to do especially since we didn't have a clue what this scarf business was all about!"
"Look Hermione," Harry cut in, in a desperate attempt to stop Ron and Hermione bickering again, "I'm sure it won't be all that bad. Clearing the paths of snow will be much more easier then the detentions I've had to go through."
Hermione smiled, feeling a little sympathetic for Harry, knowing how bad it was in their fifth year when Professor Umbridge forced Harry to write lines until his hand bled.
"And another thing!" Ron said, his face still purple, but with a slightly reddish hue. "Who did you get that scarf from, anyways? It looks really expensive!"
"To tell you the truth," Hermione replied, "I really don't know. It was sent anonymously, but it was addressed to me."
Ron, apparently, did not think that answer was good enough. "You – you don't have to lie to us, you know!"
"I'm not lying!" Hermione roared back. "I would obviously tell you if I even knew who gave it to me! Would you at least trust me, for once? You seem to be very trusting with my History of Magic notes, so you should at least listen to what I'm telling you!"
"Stop it!" Harry yelled furiously, trying his hardest to make sure his teeth wouldn't chatter uncontrollably. "Look – look, let's all calm down! Why don't we just head to the common room, make sure our temperature is above freezing level, as well as below boiling level, and how about we go and visit Hagrid afterwards, hmm?"
Hermione nodded, glad that Harry had made the suggestion. "Let's go, then, shall we?" she asked both Ron and Harry.
After a half an hour of sitting by the fire, Ron and Harry had decided that their temperatures were relatively normal now, and they set off to Hagrid's hut, along with Hermione. She was dreading the detention tonight, but appreciated Harry and Ron's desperate attempts to get off of that subject.
Once they had reached his hut, leaving their footprints behind in the snow, Hagrid beckoned them inside and they took off their cloaks and scarves (Hermione only wearing her Gryffindor scarf at the moment).
"Good of yeh to come an' visit me!" Hagrid exclaimed, once he had offered them a few cups of tea and rock cakes. "I started to think yeh didn' want to see me anymore, Hermione!"
Hermione winced guiltily. She remembered all the occasions when Ron and Harry had gone down to visit Hagrid, while Hermione stayed behind to meet Oliver. "Sorry Hagrid," Hermione apologized, standing up to help with the tea. "I've just been rather busy lately."
"Eh, I don't blame yeh," Hagrid told her. "An' I understand. Yeh all got yer N.E.W.Ts coming up soon ... the teachers haven' brought it up yet, I know, but I reckon they'll start pressurin' you soon enough."
Hermione gulped silently. The career that she had chosen for her N.E.W.Ts was a journalist – she either wanted to write novels, or she wanted to write for the Daily Prophet, to finally bring some informative news to the wizarding world. But, as Professor McGonagull informed her, in order to become a journalist you needed top marks in every single subject, because 'the news could be about any topic, and you must know what your topic is about if you plan to write such magnificent pieces', as Professor McGonagull had told her.
"So are you three all right?" Hagrid asked them, handing each of them a mug of tea.
Hermione looked at him puzzled for a little while, then realized what he had meant. "I'm still a little shocked," she spoke up, as Harry and Ron lowered their heads. "I mean ... Hogwarts would usually close after a situation like this, but I'm surprised that Professor Dumbledore hasn't taken so many precautions as he was likely to do before."
"He's plannin' somethin', Hermione, I can tell yeh that much," Hagrid said mysteriously. He set his own mug down on the small table next to his chair, then added, "Only I'm not supposed ter tell yeh, I could lose my job fo' that."
Harry and Ron's heads rose slightly. "Come on, Hagrid!" Harry urged. "We won't tell a soul!"
Hagrid waved his hand dismissively. "Yeh'll all find out soon enough," he told them, pouring them each some tea. "Stop tryin' teh be so nosy! Try an' concentrate on schoolwork, Quidditch, friendships. The professors an' everyone else concerned will take care o' it. All righ'?"
"It's a little hard to concentrate on anything when a fellow classmate has been murdered," Ron murmured softly, a statement which rather shocked Harry and Hermione, not expecting him to be so sentimental, especially about a Slytherin.
Hermione knew that Ron was right, although she wanted to erase the comment from her mind. It seemed as though the stress had been piled onto her as of recently – being the Head Girl, attempting to keep school grades up whilst keeping a relationship secret, trying to deal with the confusement of Draco, as well as trying to maintain healthy friendships was one thing, but now she had the death of a student with bear with as well. The cup that she had taken in her hands was now shaking softly. Tears swelled in Hermione's eyes, but whether it was from Ron's comment, the fact that her relationship with Oliver was practically over, or that the things that she was once so sure of had now vanished, wasn't entirely known to her.
She felt a teardrop roll down her cheek, making a rather large thud as it landed in her tear. Hagrid caught a glance at her and he gasped. "'Mione, are you all right?"
By now, Harry had noticed as well and Ron forgot about the fact that a murder had occurred, giving a concerned look towards Hermione. Her eyes were blurry, the water distorting her vision, and while she meant to force a gulp of tea into her mouth to perhaps pretend that the tea was hot and that that was the cause of her watering eyes, the cup instead shattered to the group. Everyone jumped slightly, but especially Hermione, who looked down at the cup in horror.
"I – I have to go!" she exclaimed rather lamely, and getting up from her seat, she left Hagrid to attend to the smashed teacup as Fang began to bark softly at the alarm of the crashing noise; Harry and Ron were gaping at her with interest, wondering what had happened with her, and wrapped the scarf that had caused her detention around her neck, flinging out of Hagrid's hut and down into the snow-covered fields, going on the edge of insanity, as well as her footsteps coming extremely close to the Forbidden Forest.
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Oh my God, I ACTUALLY UPDATED! It's a miracle! And I understand it's incredibly short, but with my lack of updates and my lack of inspiration of writing, I hope that you'll be able to cut me some slack this time around. I understand that three-quarters of you will probably have to reread the past several chapters in order to get a hint of the plot again, but I really hope that you enjoy!
I realize it's been much more than a year, but I really hope that I'll be forgiven, and I hope that you'll regain the hope that I will continue to write, despite the lameness of this chapter. PLEASE READ/REVIEW! ^____^
"Never knew I could feel like this; like I've never seen the sky before,
Want to vanish inside your kiss, everyday I want you more and more.
Listen to my heart, can't you hear it sing?
Telling me to give you everything.
Seasons may change, winter to spring,
But I love you, until the end of time." - "Come What May" from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack
Carefully looking around one more time to make sure there was no one in the Gryffindor common room that could be paying attention to her, Hermione continued to unwrap the delicate packaging around the mysterious present which had no receiver. Being the perfectionist that she was, Hermione was careful not to tear the wrapping, to save it for another year. She wanted to shred it open and find out what the package contained, but knew she would have to be patient.
The next thing that Hermione's eyes had laid themselves upon made Hermione gasp. Underneath the wrapping paper that she had delicately tore open, she saw something that resembled gold silk. Leaving the wrapping on the floor, she took another look at the present and found that it was gold silk...or at least something extremely similar to it. At first Hermione thought it was just a long piece of gold silk, but then she realized that it was a scarf.
Gasping with shock, Hermione ran her fingers over the scarf, to find that it was real. It had beautiful patterns all over it, and as Hermione looked at it, amazed, she forgot all about her problems – she forgot that she her relationship with Oliver was now on hold, she forgot that a Slytherin was murdered and that a funeral was going to be held shortly, she forgot that Voldemort was probably roaming around the school at that very moment – everything vanished from memory.
Embraced in the moment, Hermione tightly wrapped the scarf around her neck, which covered up the necklace which she had received from Oliver. Hermione stood up to look at the full-length mirror which was in the Gryffindor common room, and had to admit that it looked gorgeous on her. The gold silk looked perfect with her light brown, bushy hair.
Hearing footsteps approach the Fat Lady portrait outside, Hermione quickly took off the scarf and stuffed it into her cloak pocket. She heard the oh- so-familiar password to the Gryffindor tower, and watched as the portrait swung open, revealing Harry and Ron, back from their trip at Hagrid's.
Not a moment too soon, Hermione looked down, realizing that the wrapping to the present was still on the floor. She kicked it softly with her heel, and it was sent underneath the chair that she was sitting on. "Harry, Ron!" she greeted, with a big smile on her face.
Ron smiled, but Harry chose to look at her curiously. "What was that you just kicked underneath that chair?" he asked her.
Hermione shrugged. "What? Oh, nothing important. Just some trash."
Harry crossed his arms. "Since when does Hermione Granger leave trash on the floor?"
"Since...now?" Hermione asked hopefully.
"Come on Hermione, what is it?" he pressed.
"It's just some wrapping paper!" Hermione exclaimed, finally giving in. She bent over and picked it up, waving it at Harry. "Does this make you satisfied?" Turning around on her heel, she took the wrapping paper with her up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.
Ron raised his eyebrows. "Is it just me, or does she really have the time of the month?" he asked.
Harry elbowed him and rolled his eyes. "I don't think it's that girly stuff Ron," Harry told him. "I just think Hermione's keeping a secret that she shouldn't."
Lying on her bed, Hermione took out the scarf that she had shoved in her pocket, and continued to look at it. All the other girls were already asleep, so she didn't have to worry about them constantly asking her questions about where she had gotten in, and why she would deserve a gift like that.
In fact, Hermione herself was wondering how she could deserve something as extravagant as that. She knew it must have cost at least five galleons, perhaps even more, and the thought of someone buying her something so expensive was something new. She knew that Harry and Ron couldn't have done it as a surprise, since they had already given her great gifts already.
Eventually, she found herself falling asleep with the gold silk scarf in her hands, and found herself dreaming about the many people who could have sent it to her. Her first thought was immediately of Oliver. Sure, they were supposed to be 'over', or at least for a while, but this was a Christmas present. And although Hermione had considered that it wasn't him because he had already sent her a gorgeous necklace, she still had reasons to believe it was him. Her second thought was her parents. She also knew that they had given her plenty of Christmas presents, including the expensive quill which she had received, but maybe they wanted to give her something more ... although there was no receiver noted so it couldn't be her parents. And the third thought, which was perhaps the most bizarre, was Draco Malfoy.
Hermione didn't know what to hink about him anymore. For six years he had been cruel, and then on the Yule Ball, she truly thought that he had changed. But of course, just when Hermione thought that she had everything sorted out, his mean personality shone through once again...but Hermione, for those few seconds in her dream, thought of him giving her that gift. It was a bizarre thought, and Hermione knew that if it really was him she'd give it back in an instance, but there was a slight possibility that it actually was from him.
Once she had woken up, she found that several of the girls had already headed down to the Gryffindor common room, or to the Great Hall, yet Hermione's curious present was left untouched. She sighed with relief, glad that none of the girls were curious as to what her present was, or who it was from.
Leaping from her bed, she quickly went to the washroom to wash her face, comb her hair, and do other necessities before putting on her robes. She pocketed the scarf, not for any particular reason, but just because she felt like it. But as soon as she went towards the exit of the seventh years room (she would sleep in the Head Girls' room, but didn't want to), she was stopped by Lavender Brown.
"Hey Hermione," Lavender greeted. "Ron just wanted me to tell you that he and Harry went for a walk around the grounds, you know, to get some fresh air. And they also said that they might stop off at Hagrid's, so if you wanted to go ... you can find them outside."
Hermione smiled, wondering why Lavender and her weren't the best of friends, since Lavender was such a nice person. "Thanks Lavender," Hermione replied, quickly running towards her dresser to get her gloves and other winter essentials.
As Lavender turned to leave, Hermione had found herself at yet another dilemma, although she was sure she was just exaggerating. She now had two scarves – her Gryffindor one, as well as the one that she had just received. She took the scarf out of her pocket, then quickly wrapped it around her neck. She knew that it looked wonderful on her, but also knew that if she wore that, it would probably lead to many exhausting questions for Hermione.
With one last exasperated sigh, she wrapped her Gryffindor scarf around her neck, just enough to cover the golden silk one that lay beneath. She quickly ran through the portrait of the Fat Lady and through the many corridors and staircases that would lead her to the main entrance and towards the Hogwarts grounds. Her neck grew hot very quickly, but she knew that once she was outside in a very chilly winter wonderland, she wouldn't regret it.
As soon as she took a step through the large wooden doors that led to the Hogwarts grounds, her last exhaled breath was an icy chill. She swung her head around in an attempt to find Ron and Harry, but the most she saw was two snowmans standing very close to each other. Taking a closer look, she realized that the two snowmans were making quite a struggle to move. And finally, taking an even closer look, she realized that there were glasses on one snowman, and two eyes were peering out, looking very frightened.
Running closer, she realized that there were humans in the snowmen. And not just any humans either. As she ran even closer she heard a struggled yell saying, "Hermione! Get us out of here!"
Taking out her wand, which now seemed handy quite often (and was also always in her pocket for protection in case any snakes decided to chase her again), she shouted a spell, and immediately the snow around the two figures vanished, leaving a very purple Ron and Harry in her midst.
"What happened to you?" Hermione asked with widened eyes.
"Fred and ... George," Ron replied, his teeth chattering extremely loudly.
"They ... thought it would be fun to ... put a spell on us so we'd be trapped as snowmen," Harry added.
"What?!" Hermione asked with shock. "You could have died. Don't they know you could get pneumonia or hypothermia by being in the cold for so long?"
"Apparently ... not," Ron replied, his teeth now knocking each other every time he announciated a syllable.
"We need to get you two sorted out," Hermione decided. "Let's head towards the Gryffindor common room – the fire will probably warm you up again, and if that doesn't work, we can always go to Madame Pomfrey."
Harry and Ron agreed with chattering teeth, and they were just about to turn around and when they came face-to-face with Snape. He smiled in an amusing way at the sight of Harry and Ron, whose faces were blue and lips were purple. He then turned his gaze to Hermione, near her neck area. "What's that underneath your house scarf?" Snape snarled, pulling off her Gryffindor scarf. She gasped in surprise and made a desperate attempt to hide it, but the golden silk scarf was already revealed.
Snape raised an eyebrow, and even Harry and Ron managed to stop their chattering of teeth for a moment to glance at the beautiful scarf that was on Hermione's neck. Smiling with amusement, he chose to say, "Who on earth would buy you such a lovely scarf? I'm sure no one would be able to afford something like that for you."
Gulping, she almost began to say, "I'm not really sure who gave it to me", but managed to choke out, "My parents gave it to me for Christmas." She glanced over at Harry and Ron, hoping for their support, and despite their confusement they nodded in agreement.
Eyeing her carefully, Snape began to speak softly. "Are you aware, Miss Granger, that wearing regular scarfs underneath a Hogwarts scarf is not permitted?"
Hearing Snape's last comment, Hermione was overcome with such rage that she almost felt like cursing Snape. Instead, she snapped back with, "Actually, I wasn't aware. And, with all due respect Professor Snape, where else am I supposed to wear it? I stay at Hogwarts during the winter holidays, and I can't exactly wear a scarf during the summer vacation."
"Are you mocking me?" Snape asked with a stern voice, while Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows in astonishment of how Hermione was handeling the situation. "I suggest you take off that scarf this instant before I add another detention to the one you already have for talking back to a professor."
Hermione's jaw dropped. She had only been given detentions on extremely rare occasions, and this was one of them. And being given detention for wearing a gift underneath a school scarf? Hermione couldn't stand for it, and for once, she actually wished that Oliver would arrive on the scene, saving her again – even though she knew that couldn't happen since then Snape would be even more suspicious than he already was of their close relationship. "With all due respect, Professor Snape, being given a detention for wearing a scarf that is supposedly not allowed underneath a scarf that is allowed is preposterous!"
"I suggest you hold your tongue before I give you yet another detention, Miss Granger," Snape said coolly. "You will join several another classmates who feel they shouldn't follow the rules at seven o' clock tonight. I'm sure you'll have some enjoyment cleaning the paths around the greenhouses for easy access for Professor Sprout. Without magic." With that, Snape walked away, which was a good thing since Ron chose that moment to do a very rude sign with his hand as soon as Snape's back was facing them.
Snape suddenly turned around again, just as Ron released himself from that rude gesture, and approached Hermione again. He released his hand, and the Gryffindor scarf fell into her hands. With that last move, he turned around again and headed back into the castle.
"That's harsh! He shouldn't have done that!" Ron exclaimed, as soon as he was sure Snape was finally gone.
"Well, it's not like you did anything to help me!" Hermione snapped. "All you did was chatter your teeth!"
"What to do you mean?!" Ron snapped back. "We nodded in agreement, and besides, what else were we supposed to do especially since we didn't have a clue what this scarf business was all about!"
"Look Hermione," Harry cut in, in a desperate attempt to stop Ron and Hermione bickering again, "I'm sure it won't be all that bad. Clearing the paths of snow will be much more easier then the detentions I've had to go through."
Hermione smiled, feeling a little sympathetic for Harry, knowing how bad it was in their fifth year when Professor Umbridge forced Harry to write lines until his hand bled.
"And another thing!" Ron said, his face still purple, but with a slightly reddish hue. "Who did you get that scarf from, anyways? It looks really expensive!"
"To tell you the truth," Hermione replied, "I really don't know. It was sent anonymously, but it was addressed to me."
Ron, apparently, did not think that answer was good enough. "You – you don't have to lie to us, you know!"
"I'm not lying!" Hermione roared back. "I would obviously tell you if I even knew who gave it to me! Would you at least trust me, for once? You seem to be very trusting with my History of Magic notes, so you should at least listen to what I'm telling you!"
"Stop it!" Harry yelled furiously, trying his hardest to make sure his teeth wouldn't chatter uncontrollably. "Look – look, let's all calm down! Why don't we just head to the common room, make sure our temperature is above freezing level, as well as below boiling level, and how about we go and visit Hagrid afterwards, hmm?"
Hermione nodded, glad that Harry had made the suggestion. "Let's go, then, shall we?" she asked both Ron and Harry.
After a half an hour of sitting by the fire, Ron and Harry had decided that their temperatures were relatively normal now, and they set off to Hagrid's hut, along with Hermione. She was dreading the detention tonight, but appreciated Harry and Ron's desperate attempts to get off of that subject.
Once they had reached his hut, leaving their footprints behind in the snow, Hagrid beckoned them inside and they took off their cloaks and scarves (Hermione only wearing her Gryffindor scarf at the moment).
"Good of yeh to come an' visit me!" Hagrid exclaimed, once he had offered them a few cups of tea and rock cakes. "I started to think yeh didn' want to see me anymore, Hermione!"
Hermione winced guiltily. She remembered all the occasions when Ron and Harry had gone down to visit Hagrid, while Hermione stayed behind to meet Oliver. "Sorry Hagrid," Hermione apologized, standing up to help with the tea. "I've just been rather busy lately."
"Eh, I don't blame yeh," Hagrid told her. "An' I understand. Yeh all got yer N.E.W.Ts coming up soon ... the teachers haven' brought it up yet, I know, but I reckon they'll start pressurin' you soon enough."
Hermione gulped silently. The career that she had chosen for her N.E.W.Ts was a journalist – she either wanted to write novels, or she wanted to write for the Daily Prophet, to finally bring some informative news to the wizarding world. But, as Professor McGonagull informed her, in order to become a journalist you needed top marks in every single subject, because 'the news could be about any topic, and you must know what your topic is about if you plan to write such magnificent pieces', as Professor McGonagull had told her.
"So are you three all right?" Hagrid asked them, handing each of them a mug of tea.
Hermione looked at him puzzled for a little while, then realized what he had meant. "I'm still a little shocked," she spoke up, as Harry and Ron lowered their heads. "I mean ... Hogwarts would usually close after a situation like this, but I'm surprised that Professor Dumbledore hasn't taken so many precautions as he was likely to do before."
"He's plannin' somethin', Hermione, I can tell yeh that much," Hagrid said mysteriously. He set his own mug down on the small table next to his chair, then added, "Only I'm not supposed ter tell yeh, I could lose my job fo' that."
Harry and Ron's heads rose slightly. "Come on, Hagrid!" Harry urged. "We won't tell a soul!"
Hagrid waved his hand dismissively. "Yeh'll all find out soon enough," he told them, pouring them each some tea. "Stop tryin' teh be so nosy! Try an' concentrate on schoolwork, Quidditch, friendships. The professors an' everyone else concerned will take care o' it. All righ'?"
"It's a little hard to concentrate on anything when a fellow classmate has been murdered," Ron murmured softly, a statement which rather shocked Harry and Hermione, not expecting him to be so sentimental, especially about a Slytherin.
Hermione knew that Ron was right, although she wanted to erase the comment from her mind. It seemed as though the stress had been piled onto her as of recently – being the Head Girl, attempting to keep school grades up whilst keeping a relationship secret, trying to deal with the confusement of Draco, as well as trying to maintain healthy friendships was one thing, but now she had the death of a student with bear with as well. The cup that she had taken in her hands was now shaking softly. Tears swelled in Hermione's eyes, but whether it was from Ron's comment, the fact that her relationship with Oliver was practically over, or that the things that she was once so sure of had now vanished, wasn't entirely known to her.
She felt a teardrop roll down her cheek, making a rather large thud as it landed in her tear. Hagrid caught a glance at her and he gasped. "'Mione, are you all right?"
By now, Harry had noticed as well and Ron forgot about the fact that a murder had occurred, giving a concerned look towards Hermione. Her eyes were blurry, the water distorting her vision, and while she meant to force a gulp of tea into her mouth to perhaps pretend that the tea was hot and that that was the cause of her watering eyes, the cup instead shattered to the group. Everyone jumped slightly, but especially Hermione, who looked down at the cup in horror.
"I – I have to go!" she exclaimed rather lamely, and getting up from her seat, she left Hagrid to attend to the smashed teacup as Fang began to bark softly at the alarm of the crashing noise; Harry and Ron were gaping at her with interest, wondering what had happened with her, and wrapped the scarf that had caused her detention around her neck, flinging out of Hagrid's hut and down into the snow-covered fields, going on the edge of insanity, as well as her footsteps coming extremely close to the Forbidden Forest.
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Oh my God, I ACTUALLY UPDATED! It's a miracle! And I understand it's incredibly short, but with my lack of updates and my lack of inspiration of writing, I hope that you'll be able to cut me some slack this time around. I understand that three-quarters of you will probably have to reread the past several chapters in order to get a hint of the plot again, but I really hope that you enjoy!
I realize it's been much more than a year, but I really hope that I'll be forgiven, and I hope that you'll regain the hope that I will continue to write, despite the lameness of this chapter. PLEASE READ/REVIEW! ^____^