Willowfairy : Thank you for your words of wisdom (that sounded stupid) and
my friends are already gone (boo hoo). I hope to update real soon!
Spaced Out Space Cadet : Oh wow, thanks for the compliments!
Ickle Ronniekins Girlie!! : Thanks, and I made you cry again? Is that good or bad? Thanks for the `constructive criticism`.
justice rain : thanks, and you, keep reading, I like reviews!!
Chinagurl : Sheesh, what is this with my writing and making people cry? Do I make EVERYONE cry? =D Please continue to read and thanks for the compliments!!
Ceallaigh : Thank you for the view on the suggestions, and I really didn`t have any intention of changing my story, I just had one part where I didn`t know what should happen and I had four different ways to go and I didn`t know which way to go!! Thanks for liking my story (great great great works for me) and please continue to read!
Morgan : lol, maybe. . . =D Review more please!
Xaein : I made you cry too? Ack! Thank you for your opinion and please continue to read!
Cherryplum11 : thanks for the compliments and I`m sure that you could update the same, if not better, than me.
The SimonCowel of Fanfiction : Wow, thanks for the compliment and I`m really sorry about your dad, I hope that the story doesn`t offend you in any way or anything. If it does, please don`t read it.
Imperfectionist : lol! This is Malfoy, nothing is that simple.
Freakyfairy : I used your favorite poem ever? Cool!
LP Draconis: You. . .?
Iluvharrypotter3927 : Oh, thanks very much. I have read some of those cheesy fics and I just don`t like them, they aren`t realistic.
Angel125 : Thank you!
Tabii : Thanks so much! I will continue ASAP.
Lorien : Thanks for the good ideas and I hope you like this next chapter!
Purple Spotted Hedwig : I am aware that it was a little OCC, but I think some things will make sense later (that or I`m losing ``the touch``)
Darkmoon of Shadows : You like the word good, I like the word good, everything is good! =D
tjs91989 : Thank you and I won`t. Please continue to read.
Artemis MoonClaw : Hey, Lisa Ou! How are you? The story is happy and sad, cool!!! Please read more!
Blueamber : Paint walls black and write the poem over and over? Hmm . . . that`s a LITTLE too far, don`t you think? Cool! Tell me when your fic comes out so I can check it out!
Azhure : Thanks for the views and wow, you don`t like D/H but you`re reading mine? Thanks very much, that`s a compliment in itself.
WOW! I have so many reviews this time! That is amazing, but it bugged me when I tried to open my e-mail and it says, `You have 23 new messages` and I COULDN`T OPEN THEM!!! ACK!
Please read more and tell me what you think!!
---
Chapter 18
Despite what she told herself, Hermione found herself sneaking glances at Malfoy during classes and in between classes. She needed to know how pretending to comfort her would play into his hands, because she was sure that he wouldn`t do anything without it giving him something in return.
She couldn`t think of what he would gain though, because everything she thought of made absolutely no sense. How could he achieve anything by being kind to her?
Hermione shoved the thought from her mind, and not a moment too soon. Professor Snape seemed to enjoy the idea of torturing his students, and he saw his classes as a perfect opportunity to do so, as he has assigned the strongest truth potion that was within all laws set by the ministry of magic.
``Every student will be required to ask one student a question, and they will give the answer. If their face is blue, they have lied. We shall see how many people have blue faces at the end of the lesson.`` Professor Snape seemed to enjoy this idea, but everyone else seemed to think that it was cruel and unusual punishment that nobody deserved, but they all resigned themselves to their fate.
Hermione ended up with Dean Thomas, and she figured that it could have been much worse than it was, because she could have been paired with someone that couldn`t tell a teaspoon from a table spoon.
Together, in pure silence, they brewed the potion, and by the time they were done Dean had a large and blotchy red mark where Hermione slapped his hand whenever he was adding the wrong ingredient or wrong amount of ingredient. Speaking to him didn`t seem to work, so she reduced her actions to physical actions.
``Dean, NO!`` Hermione almost yelled as she completely forgot her slapping routine. He seemed to think that they needed to put the vial of pink substance into the mixture when it was already simmering how it was supposed to, but Hermione knew that the results would be catastrophic.
Dean, however, didn`t seem to be paying attention to anything that she said and he was seconds away from ruining their potion when he stopped. Her words seem to have sunk in ten seconds after she spoke them.
``Huh, wha?`` he said stupidly and she rolled her eyes.
``Never mind, just don`t touch anything unless I tell you to, alright?`` Hermione asked, and found that he was simply staring at her, his mouth hanging slightly open, and looking at her in an odd way.
Hermione stared at him inquisitively. What was he doing? Why was he staring at her like that, and what was the reason for his tongue to be hanging out of his mouth in that fashion?
Hermione waved her hand in front of his face.
``Dean?`` When she got no response, she tried again.
``Deeeeeeeean?`` she repeated, holding his single syllable name out as though it were not thirty-three syllables.
He shook his head, and looked ashamed.
``Uh . . . sorry.`` he mumbled and Hermione brushed off the thoughts that were coming to her mind. He was only a half-moron, not a complete one.
``Since you imbeciles aren`t able to retain this much information, you will finish the assignment next class period where I expect an eight foot essay on the uses and meaning behind the Revolution in Potions in 1788.`` Professor Snape said, and Hermione thought that her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets and roll around on the floor like Mad Eye Moody`s.
Eight feet? That was the same as ninety-six inches, and all due in two days time. How would she find time for that and everything else that was happening in her life? Her homework didn`t even seem to be an important aspect of her life anymore, she had things that were taking precedence, such as her family problems and trying to solve her sinking depression along with the fact that every time Malfoy stepped into her life, it got more and more confusing.
Just when she would start to think that she knew ``what he was all about`` he would completely revise her thoughts, making it near impossible to tell who he really was, and there was something about him that made her want to be around him, but then the ``Jerk Malfoy`` would kick in and she would want nothing more than to jinx him until his head fell off. It all depended on her mood.
Hermione stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder as she marched out. She was taking the next three classes off to try to find some more information on the time reversals and such that Professor Dumbledore had asked them to do. She wanted to know why he had chosen them to do the job, but hadn`t asked for fear that she would sound too nosey or rude, something Malfoy didn`t need to strive for.
Every time she looked at Malfoy she felt something in her stomach, but she couldn`t quite place what it was, so she always dismissed the feeling for some new version of hate.
Hermione sighed and walked toward the library.
~+~
To her immense displeasure, Malfoy had chosen to take three classes off, and two of their classes off overlapped, meaning that she had to spend one and a half hours in the same library with Malfoy, and the prospect wasn`t looking too bright or happy for Hermione.
Hermione slouched over to the table that he was at and plopped down on the table, drew her breath to say hi, and saw the look of dislike on his face, and decided that a greeting would not be a good idea at this time.
Hermione glared at him and made an odd noise that she didn`t know she could make.
``Hi, I`m human, what are you?`` he said sarcastically and Hermione longed to hit him over the head with `Advanced Magical Theory and Relevant Terms in Which Degglius Pornitable has Explained in Thirty - Thousand Magical Graphs and Charts`, but decided that this wouldn`t make the impression she wanted, although the dent in his skull may be impression enough.
``No, Malfoy.`` she said, a smirk that she had picked up from him crawling up her lips. ``Any similarity between you and a human being is purely coincidental.`` He smirked even wider, and Hermione lost any hope of them being civil to each other, knowing that it would only go downhill from here.
For the next thirty minutes they traded insults, with each minute the insults becoming more and more hurtful and intrusive. It got to the point where Hermione had to ``get up to find more books`` in order to get away from him and his harsh words that plagued her study time.
She walked to the part of the Restricted Section that was against the wall and reached for a book entitled, `The Key to Time Travel`. The second she pulled it from its shelf the entire wall began to fade away and she could hear various clicking, clacking and dinging noises from behind the wall.
With a sudden jerk she was thrust into another room that she had no idea existed, and wished that she still were blissfully unaware of its existence, because she didn`t like the view that she was getting now.
There were the traditional skeletons and random bones in shackles on the walls, but there were also ghosts of her gory bodies that Hermione would have liked to had not seen, but it was too late. There were book shelves lining two of the walls, blood was spattered in the oddest places in the room, and there was a knife with blue blood still dripping down the handle as though it were just plunged into a living being and placed on the table for her to see.
Hermione wished to scream, but she couldn`t, as her throat was unusually dry and she didn`t have any movement of any of her major limbs or any other muscle in her body to be precise.
Hermione stumbled backward and fell through the wall, and she landed in a heap on the floor. She heard foot steps, but didn`t bother to even look at who it was, she would know soon enough.
``Geez, Granger, you can`t even get a book without falling down?`` Malfoy said, laughter in his voice and Hermione wanted nothing more than to strangle him.
``Oh, and thank you for helping me win my bet.`` he said sardonically and Hermione turned to look at him, still in a heap on the floor.
``I . . . what?`` Hermione, obvious confusion in her voice.
``I won a bet. Some guys thought that I couldn`t end up with you in my arms, and you helped me win 300 galleons.`` Malfoy said, and Hermione stared at him, her eyes widening and horrible realization dawning on her.
``Thought I actually cared about you, Mudblood?`` he asked in a mocking tone and Hermione couldn`t have felt worse, although she should have been expecting this reaction or something similar to it, because she knew that she was dealing with Draco Malfoy.
Yet she was still hurt by what she was told. How could he have toyed with her emotions as though they didn`t matter? She was so vulnerable, and she had trusted his judgment and he had been given her heart and the key to her soul, and what had he done? He had torn her further apart than she was before.
``. . . oh.`` Hermione said in a quiet voice, hoping the pain that she was feeling didn`t shoe on her face, but knowing it probably did. What ever was left of her wanting to be open was gone. She wasn`t going to allow herself to take any more pain. She would never feel it again.
Her wall of no-emotion rose and she stood up, brushed herself off, and walked past Malfoy, leaving her book bag and all of her things lying on the floor. She didn`t care about them anymore, she didn`t care about anything anymore. She would never feel pain again.
~+~
Hermione was as undelighted as she could have been when she was assigned to sit next to Malfoy during their next Advanced Transfiguration class, but was happier to learn that they were going to begin the first stages of being Anamagaii.
It was hard to tear herself from her thoughts, but Hermione desperately wanted to learn this material and prove that she wasn`t losing her mind like most people thought she was - she still hadn`t told anyone that her father had died, and everyone thought that she was going through a hormonal stage in her life or something to the same effect that bothered Hermione.
There was no time for it to bother her though, because Professor McGonagall had begun talking about their training.
``I will ask you to cast the charm that shows you the animals that you can transform into, and then you will pick ONE,`` she stressed the one, as you can see. ``Of the three animals that should be present, keep in mind that some people may have a different number of animals.`` Professor McGonagall said and everyone pulled out their wands and within ten seconds two people were writhing on the floor in what looked like enormous pain.
Professor McGonagall called order and instructed the students on what to do next.
~+~
` Anamagaii conjunctus mancy.` Hermione muttered, knowing that she would get the spell right this time because she had been practicing it before to make sure that she wouldn`t need Malfoy`s help anymore.
Instantly the three smoky and shadowy figures sprung up in front of her, and she was trying to concentrate on what Professor McGonagall was saying because it sounded awfully important.
``When you have made your decision of animals then I want you to recite the name of the animal three times and then jab the figure with your wand.`` Professor McGonagall said, and Hermione thought that this was strange but followed the instructions.
There was a slight problem though. She had to choose which animal she wanted and she didn`t know how she would be able to. There were pros and cons for every animal that was there to choose.
The cat was a common animal and people wouldn`t give it a second glance normally, but she would run the chance of being captured and used for other purposes that she wanted to avoid.
The golden fox was not something that you commonly saw on the streets but in the forest it was normal and she couldn`t think of any things that it was used for that would result in injury, however many muggles used their fur for coats and wizards did like to keep them as pets on farms to chase away the wild birds and such.
The phoenix seemed to be the best choice that she had, but Professor McGonagall had also warned them that dragons, phoenixes, water nymphs and sun fairies were the hardest to transform into because of their magical nature and shouldn`t be chosen unless the person was sure that they were powerful enough to transform, because some witches and wizards had become stuck as the animal they chose to transform into because they weren`t powerful enough to transform themselves back, and Hermione didn`t know if she was powerful enough to perform something like that.
Professor Dumbledore`s words echoed in her mind as she thought this though, because he had said that her and Malfoy were the most powerful students in this school and she had over heard some teachers talking about how there were some students that were more powerful than they had ever hoped to be.
Her mind was reeling. Which animal should she choose?
Hermione closed her eyes and imagined which animal would best suit her. She didn`t want to appear cocky and choose the phoenix, and she was worried about what may happen to her if she did.
Better to go with something that was safer.
Hermione stared between the cat and the fox. She would be better off if she chose the fox, and she always would have Crookshanks to look back at and play with, so the fox was the better choice.
`` Golden Fox, Golden Fox, Golden Fox.`` Hermione said, and then she took her wand and jabbed the smoky figure that looked like the fox.
Her world began to spin and smoke was wafting around her everywhere. Her hair was shrinking, her face was being bent. She closed her eyes and willed the strange happenings to go away.
Hermione`s eyes flew open and she saw that she was a golden fox, and she looked around at the other people - or what used to be people - and saw that they were all animals, and she noticed that Draco Malfoy had chosen to be a show-off, like always, and had chosen to be the dragon.
Hermione rolled her eyes, or tried to, and found herself wondering how she was going to transform back into a human, she couldn`t exactly spend the rest of her life as a fox.
Before she had a chance to do anything though, she felt the world spinning again.
~+~
``If myself or anyone else catches any animals running around the school I will make sure that there is punishment to pay, and I assure you, it will not be fun. We will continue to work on these charms tomorrow. Be here after dinner.`` Professor McGonagall swept from the dormitory leaving behind less than a dozen dazed students.
~+~
Later that night, Hermione felt thoughts muddling her mind and she couldn`t tell one from the other.
First she thought about how arrogant of Malfoy it was to choose the dragon, but it suited his attitude well, he liked to gloat at every possible opportunity. She couldn`t believe that he thought that highly of himself.
Her thoughts slowly drifted to the room she had encountered in the library. Why was that kind of room there? It wasn`t a nice room, Hermione was sure of that, but she still wondered what it had been used for because it resembled a torture chamber, but there was no sense in it. Why had that knife looked fresh? Why had the skeletons been in shackles? Why did it look so cliché?
Hermione rolled over and thought about random things, her thoughts settling on Malfoy again.
Why did she have that stupid feeling whenever she saw him? Maybe it was the newest way to hate someone, she thought. Yes, that had to be it because there was no other way to describe what she was feeling.
Hermione snuggled down into the blankets and closed her eyes.
Images of her father flooded her memory, and tears leaked out of her eyes despite the fact that they were closed. Her father, her dad, the man that would always be there, and now he was gone, forever.
Hermione remembered when she was three and her ice cream had fallen on the floor. Her dad had picked it up and dropped it on his head just to make her laugh, and she remembered, vividly, the bright blue drops that slid down the side of her face and she could almost hear his laughter while he picked her up and spun her around.
She wouldn`t see him ever again. He was gone.
Even as she thought it, she remembered the poem that Malfoy had recited and moaned as she rolled over again. Everything in her life somehow led her back to Malfoy, and it was unnerving her.
No matter how she started thinking, her thought would end up on Malfoy.
Why does he have to make my life so damn confusing? Hermione wondered as she drifted off into sleep.
~+~
A/N: I apologize for this taking so long, and it may take this amount of time from her on out because my internet isn`t working. Some dude is coming out in a couple of days to fix it, so the next chapter may take just as long to update.
Please read and review!!!
--Saquoia--
Spaced Out Space Cadet : Oh wow, thanks for the compliments!
Ickle Ronniekins Girlie!! : Thanks, and I made you cry again? Is that good or bad? Thanks for the `constructive criticism`.
justice rain : thanks, and you, keep reading, I like reviews!!
Chinagurl : Sheesh, what is this with my writing and making people cry? Do I make EVERYONE cry? =D Please continue to read and thanks for the compliments!!
Ceallaigh : Thank you for the view on the suggestions, and I really didn`t have any intention of changing my story, I just had one part where I didn`t know what should happen and I had four different ways to go and I didn`t know which way to go!! Thanks for liking my story (great great great works for me) and please continue to read!
Morgan : lol, maybe. . . =D Review more please!
Xaein : I made you cry too? Ack! Thank you for your opinion and please continue to read!
Cherryplum11 : thanks for the compliments and I`m sure that you could update the same, if not better, than me.
The SimonCowel of Fanfiction : Wow, thanks for the compliment and I`m really sorry about your dad, I hope that the story doesn`t offend you in any way or anything. If it does, please don`t read it.
Imperfectionist : lol! This is Malfoy, nothing is that simple.
Freakyfairy : I used your favorite poem ever? Cool!
LP Draconis: You. . .?
Iluvharrypotter3927 : Oh, thanks very much. I have read some of those cheesy fics and I just don`t like them, they aren`t realistic.
Angel125 : Thank you!
Tabii : Thanks so much! I will continue ASAP.
Lorien : Thanks for the good ideas and I hope you like this next chapter!
Purple Spotted Hedwig : I am aware that it was a little OCC, but I think some things will make sense later (that or I`m losing ``the touch``)
Darkmoon of Shadows : You like the word good, I like the word good, everything is good! =D
tjs91989 : Thank you and I won`t. Please continue to read.
Artemis MoonClaw : Hey, Lisa Ou! How are you? The story is happy and sad, cool!!! Please read more!
Blueamber : Paint walls black and write the poem over and over? Hmm . . . that`s a LITTLE too far, don`t you think? Cool! Tell me when your fic comes out so I can check it out!
Azhure : Thanks for the views and wow, you don`t like D/H but you`re reading mine? Thanks very much, that`s a compliment in itself.
WOW! I have so many reviews this time! That is amazing, but it bugged me when I tried to open my e-mail and it says, `You have 23 new messages` and I COULDN`T OPEN THEM!!! ACK!
Please read more and tell me what you think!!
---
Chapter 18
Despite what she told herself, Hermione found herself sneaking glances at Malfoy during classes and in between classes. She needed to know how pretending to comfort her would play into his hands, because she was sure that he wouldn`t do anything without it giving him something in return.
She couldn`t think of what he would gain though, because everything she thought of made absolutely no sense. How could he achieve anything by being kind to her?
Hermione shoved the thought from her mind, and not a moment too soon. Professor Snape seemed to enjoy the idea of torturing his students, and he saw his classes as a perfect opportunity to do so, as he has assigned the strongest truth potion that was within all laws set by the ministry of magic.
``Every student will be required to ask one student a question, and they will give the answer. If their face is blue, they have lied. We shall see how many people have blue faces at the end of the lesson.`` Professor Snape seemed to enjoy this idea, but everyone else seemed to think that it was cruel and unusual punishment that nobody deserved, but they all resigned themselves to their fate.
Hermione ended up with Dean Thomas, and she figured that it could have been much worse than it was, because she could have been paired with someone that couldn`t tell a teaspoon from a table spoon.
Together, in pure silence, they brewed the potion, and by the time they were done Dean had a large and blotchy red mark where Hermione slapped his hand whenever he was adding the wrong ingredient or wrong amount of ingredient. Speaking to him didn`t seem to work, so she reduced her actions to physical actions.
``Dean, NO!`` Hermione almost yelled as she completely forgot her slapping routine. He seemed to think that they needed to put the vial of pink substance into the mixture when it was already simmering how it was supposed to, but Hermione knew that the results would be catastrophic.
Dean, however, didn`t seem to be paying attention to anything that she said and he was seconds away from ruining their potion when he stopped. Her words seem to have sunk in ten seconds after she spoke them.
``Huh, wha?`` he said stupidly and she rolled her eyes.
``Never mind, just don`t touch anything unless I tell you to, alright?`` Hermione asked, and found that he was simply staring at her, his mouth hanging slightly open, and looking at her in an odd way.
Hermione stared at him inquisitively. What was he doing? Why was he staring at her like that, and what was the reason for his tongue to be hanging out of his mouth in that fashion?
Hermione waved her hand in front of his face.
``Dean?`` When she got no response, she tried again.
``Deeeeeeeean?`` she repeated, holding his single syllable name out as though it were not thirty-three syllables.
He shook his head, and looked ashamed.
``Uh . . . sorry.`` he mumbled and Hermione brushed off the thoughts that were coming to her mind. He was only a half-moron, not a complete one.
``Since you imbeciles aren`t able to retain this much information, you will finish the assignment next class period where I expect an eight foot essay on the uses and meaning behind the Revolution in Potions in 1788.`` Professor Snape said, and Hermione thought that her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets and roll around on the floor like Mad Eye Moody`s.
Eight feet? That was the same as ninety-six inches, and all due in two days time. How would she find time for that and everything else that was happening in her life? Her homework didn`t even seem to be an important aspect of her life anymore, she had things that were taking precedence, such as her family problems and trying to solve her sinking depression along with the fact that every time Malfoy stepped into her life, it got more and more confusing.
Just when she would start to think that she knew ``what he was all about`` he would completely revise her thoughts, making it near impossible to tell who he really was, and there was something about him that made her want to be around him, but then the ``Jerk Malfoy`` would kick in and she would want nothing more than to jinx him until his head fell off. It all depended on her mood.
Hermione stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder as she marched out. She was taking the next three classes off to try to find some more information on the time reversals and such that Professor Dumbledore had asked them to do. She wanted to know why he had chosen them to do the job, but hadn`t asked for fear that she would sound too nosey or rude, something Malfoy didn`t need to strive for.
Every time she looked at Malfoy she felt something in her stomach, but she couldn`t quite place what it was, so she always dismissed the feeling for some new version of hate.
Hermione sighed and walked toward the library.
~+~
To her immense displeasure, Malfoy had chosen to take three classes off, and two of their classes off overlapped, meaning that she had to spend one and a half hours in the same library with Malfoy, and the prospect wasn`t looking too bright or happy for Hermione.
Hermione slouched over to the table that he was at and plopped down on the table, drew her breath to say hi, and saw the look of dislike on his face, and decided that a greeting would not be a good idea at this time.
Hermione glared at him and made an odd noise that she didn`t know she could make.
``Hi, I`m human, what are you?`` he said sarcastically and Hermione longed to hit him over the head with `Advanced Magical Theory and Relevant Terms in Which Degglius Pornitable has Explained in Thirty - Thousand Magical Graphs and Charts`, but decided that this wouldn`t make the impression she wanted, although the dent in his skull may be impression enough.
``No, Malfoy.`` she said, a smirk that she had picked up from him crawling up her lips. ``Any similarity between you and a human being is purely coincidental.`` He smirked even wider, and Hermione lost any hope of them being civil to each other, knowing that it would only go downhill from here.
For the next thirty minutes they traded insults, with each minute the insults becoming more and more hurtful and intrusive. It got to the point where Hermione had to ``get up to find more books`` in order to get away from him and his harsh words that plagued her study time.
She walked to the part of the Restricted Section that was against the wall and reached for a book entitled, `The Key to Time Travel`. The second she pulled it from its shelf the entire wall began to fade away and she could hear various clicking, clacking and dinging noises from behind the wall.
With a sudden jerk she was thrust into another room that she had no idea existed, and wished that she still were blissfully unaware of its existence, because she didn`t like the view that she was getting now.
There were the traditional skeletons and random bones in shackles on the walls, but there were also ghosts of her gory bodies that Hermione would have liked to had not seen, but it was too late. There were book shelves lining two of the walls, blood was spattered in the oddest places in the room, and there was a knife with blue blood still dripping down the handle as though it were just plunged into a living being and placed on the table for her to see.
Hermione wished to scream, but she couldn`t, as her throat was unusually dry and she didn`t have any movement of any of her major limbs or any other muscle in her body to be precise.
Hermione stumbled backward and fell through the wall, and she landed in a heap on the floor. She heard foot steps, but didn`t bother to even look at who it was, she would know soon enough.
``Geez, Granger, you can`t even get a book without falling down?`` Malfoy said, laughter in his voice and Hermione wanted nothing more than to strangle him.
``Oh, and thank you for helping me win my bet.`` he said sardonically and Hermione turned to look at him, still in a heap on the floor.
``I . . . what?`` Hermione, obvious confusion in her voice.
``I won a bet. Some guys thought that I couldn`t end up with you in my arms, and you helped me win 300 galleons.`` Malfoy said, and Hermione stared at him, her eyes widening and horrible realization dawning on her.
``Thought I actually cared about you, Mudblood?`` he asked in a mocking tone and Hermione couldn`t have felt worse, although she should have been expecting this reaction or something similar to it, because she knew that she was dealing with Draco Malfoy.
Yet she was still hurt by what she was told. How could he have toyed with her emotions as though they didn`t matter? She was so vulnerable, and she had trusted his judgment and he had been given her heart and the key to her soul, and what had he done? He had torn her further apart than she was before.
``. . . oh.`` Hermione said in a quiet voice, hoping the pain that she was feeling didn`t shoe on her face, but knowing it probably did. What ever was left of her wanting to be open was gone. She wasn`t going to allow herself to take any more pain. She would never feel it again.
Her wall of no-emotion rose and she stood up, brushed herself off, and walked past Malfoy, leaving her book bag and all of her things lying on the floor. She didn`t care about them anymore, she didn`t care about anything anymore. She would never feel pain again.
~+~
Hermione was as undelighted as she could have been when she was assigned to sit next to Malfoy during their next Advanced Transfiguration class, but was happier to learn that they were going to begin the first stages of being Anamagaii.
It was hard to tear herself from her thoughts, but Hermione desperately wanted to learn this material and prove that she wasn`t losing her mind like most people thought she was - she still hadn`t told anyone that her father had died, and everyone thought that she was going through a hormonal stage in her life or something to the same effect that bothered Hermione.
There was no time for it to bother her though, because Professor McGonagall had begun talking about their training.
``I will ask you to cast the charm that shows you the animals that you can transform into, and then you will pick ONE,`` she stressed the one, as you can see. ``Of the three animals that should be present, keep in mind that some people may have a different number of animals.`` Professor McGonagall said and everyone pulled out their wands and within ten seconds two people were writhing on the floor in what looked like enormous pain.
Professor McGonagall called order and instructed the students on what to do next.
~+~
` Anamagaii conjunctus mancy.` Hermione muttered, knowing that she would get the spell right this time because she had been practicing it before to make sure that she wouldn`t need Malfoy`s help anymore.
Instantly the three smoky and shadowy figures sprung up in front of her, and she was trying to concentrate on what Professor McGonagall was saying because it sounded awfully important.
``When you have made your decision of animals then I want you to recite the name of the animal three times and then jab the figure with your wand.`` Professor McGonagall said, and Hermione thought that this was strange but followed the instructions.
There was a slight problem though. She had to choose which animal she wanted and she didn`t know how she would be able to. There were pros and cons for every animal that was there to choose.
The cat was a common animal and people wouldn`t give it a second glance normally, but she would run the chance of being captured and used for other purposes that she wanted to avoid.
The golden fox was not something that you commonly saw on the streets but in the forest it was normal and she couldn`t think of any things that it was used for that would result in injury, however many muggles used their fur for coats and wizards did like to keep them as pets on farms to chase away the wild birds and such.
The phoenix seemed to be the best choice that she had, but Professor McGonagall had also warned them that dragons, phoenixes, water nymphs and sun fairies were the hardest to transform into because of their magical nature and shouldn`t be chosen unless the person was sure that they were powerful enough to transform, because some witches and wizards had become stuck as the animal they chose to transform into because they weren`t powerful enough to transform themselves back, and Hermione didn`t know if she was powerful enough to perform something like that.
Professor Dumbledore`s words echoed in her mind as she thought this though, because he had said that her and Malfoy were the most powerful students in this school and she had over heard some teachers talking about how there were some students that were more powerful than they had ever hoped to be.
Her mind was reeling. Which animal should she choose?
Hermione closed her eyes and imagined which animal would best suit her. She didn`t want to appear cocky and choose the phoenix, and she was worried about what may happen to her if she did.
Better to go with something that was safer.
Hermione stared between the cat and the fox. She would be better off if she chose the fox, and she always would have Crookshanks to look back at and play with, so the fox was the better choice.
`` Golden Fox, Golden Fox, Golden Fox.`` Hermione said, and then she took her wand and jabbed the smoky figure that looked like the fox.
Her world began to spin and smoke was wafting around her everywhere. Her hair was shrinking, her face was being bent. She closed her eyes and willed the strange happenings to go away.
Hermione`s eyes flew open and she saw that she was a golden fox, and she looked around at the other people - or what used to be people - and saw that they were all animals, and she noticed that Draco Malfoy had chosen to be a show-off, like always, and had chosen to be the dragon.
Hermione rolled her eyes, or tried to, and found herself wondering how she was going to transform back into a human, she couldn`t exactly spend the rest of her life as a fox.
Before she had a chance to do anything though, she felt the world spinning again.
~+~
``If myself or anyone else catches any animals running around the school I will make sure that there is punishment to pay, and I assure you, it will not be fun. We will continue to work on these charms tomorrow. Be here after dinner.`` Professor McGonagall swept from the dormitory leaving behind less than a dozen dazed students.
~+~
Later that night, Hermione felt thoughts muddling her mind and she couldn`t tell one from the other.
First she thought about how arrogant of Malfoy it was to choose the dragon, but it suited his attitude well, he liked to gloat at every possible opportunity. She couldn`t believe that he thought that highly of himself.
Her thoughts slowly drifted to the room she had encountered in the library. Why was that kind of room there? It wasn`t a nice room, Hermione was sure of that, but she still wondered what it had been used for because it resembled a torture chamber, but there was no sense in it. Why had that knife looked fresh? Why had the skeletons been in shackles? Why did it look so cliché?
Hermione rolled over and thought about random things, her thoughts settling on Malfoy again.
Why did she have that stupid feeling whenever she saw him? Maybe it was the newest way to hate someone, she thought. Yes, that had to be it because there was no other way to describe what she was feeling.
Hermione snuggled down into the blankets and closed her eyes.
Images of her father flooded her memory, and tears leaked out of her eyes despite the fact that they were closed. Her father, her dad, the man that would always be there, and now he was gone, forever.
Hermione remembered when she was three and her ice cream had fallen on the floor. Her dad had picked it up and dropped it on his head just to make her laugh, and she remembered, vividly, the bright blue drops that slid down the side of her face and she could almost hear his laughter while he picked her up and spun her around.
She wouldn`t see him ever again. He was gone.
Even as she thought it, she remembered the poem that Malfoy had recited and moaned as she rolled over again. Everything in her life somehow led her back to Malfoy, and it was unnerving her.
No matter how she started thinking, her thought would end up on Malfoy.
Why does he have to make my life so damn confusing? Hermione wondered as she drifted off into sleep.
~+~
A/N: I apologize for this taking so long, and it may take this amount of time from her on out because my internet isn`t working. Some dude is coming out in a couple of days to fix it, so the next chapter may take just as long to update.
Please read and review!!!
--Saquoia--