Hermione sat in the back of the library... away from prying eyes. She had two tests the next day and was diligently studying for each of them... simultaneously. It was nearing Decemeber and the Professors of Hogwarts felt the need to cram much of their studies before the break started. Many students complained for they hadn't really been on task, but Hermione didn't mind. She actually liked to study. The feel of knowing so much and gaining so much knowledge gave her power. It made her feel important and she knew that people looked up to her. It was the only way she ever did feel good about herself. In all other aspects she didn't feel all that great. The feel of getting back the highest grade was bliss to her.
Hermione tapped her temples as she memorized a line from her notes. Transfiguration was a very interesting subject, but also hard at that. Ron sat across from her, twirling his feather quill between his fingers, and humming very loudly. His books lay before him open, but none of his attention was put on them. Hermione looked up from her books... she watched as Ron idly whistled to a new Weird Sisters song... she couldn't take it.
She lifted her hand and smacked his head from the side.
"Hermione! What was that for?"
"Your whistling! It is driving me up the wall!"
"Well you don't have to slap me!... Bloody hell..."
"Why don't you put some effort into your homework Ron. If you don't finish it now, you'll be whining about how much work you have to do with Quidditch practice."
"That's why I have you though... when I am too overwhelmed with work... you come in and save the day!" Ron said.
"Try doing your own work for once Ron. I won't help you with that essay McGonnogall gave us that is due tomorrow."
"Ofcourse you're going to help me Hermione. I have NO idea what is going on in that class. You wouldn't want me to do terrible would you?"
Ron made a puppy face and widened his big blue eyes. Hermione sat there and looked at Ron. He really did have a way of pushing her buttons. She rolled her eyes.
"Can't you do it on your own?"
"No I can't because again, I have no idea what is going on in that class. I seriously don't know how I got a good O.W.L. in Tranfiguration. I guess I'm smarter than I thought." Ron said as he shrugged.
"Weasley... you will never have any intelligence... ever."
Hermione looked behind Ron and saw a pair of familiar cold, grey eyes. His hands reached up to Ron's chair and pulled he pulled it from underneath him. Ron fell to the floor and looked up, his face immediately turning a bright shade of red. He scrambled up to his feet and shoved Draco hard against the other table behind him.
"Who says you have any intelligence. The only reason you achieved anything is because you bought your way in."
Draco smoothed out his robes. He walked in closer to Ron and whispered audibly.
"Atleast I have money..."
Hermione stood up from where she was sitting and decided it would be best for Ron to leave... before anything else happened. She grabbed his backpack.
"Ron, turn around and lets go... don't get into trouble because of him."
"Hermione stay out of this!"
"Yea Granger... keep your nose out of things that are none of your business." He said as he looked towards Hermione. He slipped in a wink.
Ron saw the gesture and shoved Draco against the chairs again.
"Don't you ever look at her like that again. Don't speak to her, don't talk to her, and don't look at her."
"Since when did you get to control everything I do. I can do whatever I want. So how is your pudgey father anyway. Still working at the Ministry. I swear, with the kind of office and pay he gets... he shouldn't even be a wizard. Always so facsinated with muggles, he should just turn his wand in and call himself a Muggle."
"You take that back!"
"Does your mother still knit those ugly sweaters? You can't even afford real clothes can you? Who made your socks Weasley... your sister? Oh no nevermind... she's a hot number herself... she can come in handy anytime I'm bored!"
Hermione knew that was the last straw. She grabbed Ron's arm and tried to pull him away from Malfoy, but Ron shoved Hermione away and punched Draco in the face. Madame Pince heard the commotion and waddled over to their corner.
"FIGHTING? FIGHTING IS NOT ALLOWED! DETENTION! ALL THREE OF YOU!"
"Madame Pince... I..." Hermione began
"NO EXCUSES. YOU WILL REPORT TO CARETAKER FILCH AFTER DINNER TOMORROW!"
She waddled back to her desk... muttering about teenage wizards being careless.
"Well thanks to both of you, I'm in detention as well."
Ron grabbed his backpack from Hermione, muttered a goodbye, and stalked away... the red shade had not yet left his ears. Hermione looked to Malfoy, who was smiling and wiping away the blood that stained his pale face. "You are disgusting." She said as she walked over to her things. Hermione stuffed everything into her bag pellmell and began to head for the door.... Draco in her wake. She walked swiftly towards the common room... aware that she was being followed by him... but still attempted to get rid of him. She stopped at the portrait hole and turned around.
"Why are you following me?"
"I'm not following you Granger, I need to clean myself up. I live here too... you keep forgetting that."
"... so... impossible.... "
"Password..."
Hermione muttered the password and stepped into the portrait hole with Draco tagging behind. She was certainly about to burst... she had never been so angry in her whole life.
"You know you really didn't have to beat up Ron. He did absolutely nothing to you at all."
"Yes he did... he was born."
"You think you are so big, pure blood and all... but you have no heart. Did you know that?"
"Yea... I get that a lot... but I have money, he doesn't"
"You're not even half the man he is. He cares and doesn't make fun of other people who have less than him!"
"People have less than him? Wow thats pretty low Granger... I can't even imagine anyone having less than the Weasleys." Draco said with a sheepish grin.
"I loathe you."
"I loathe you too! See we have so much in common... now help me fix this up... I'm dripping with blood."
Hermione raised her eyebrow.
"Yea... right."
"I'm not joking... I'll scar."
"I'm not your servant!"
"Why... yes you are!"
Before he could talk any further, Draco felt all of his breath knocked out of him. He clutched his stomach and bent over. Hermione felt a lot better by hitting him with her overly stuffed backpack...
"Good ten pounds this is... want to know what it feels like over your head?"
"What... was that for???" Draco said as he wheezed.
"You are an insufferable, little, annoying, bouncing, ferret Malfoy. Plus you were born."
Hermione plopped herself down onto the couch and pulled out her homework. Draco sat on the opposite side of her on the couch and dabbed at his nose with his handkerchief.
"It'll be your fault if this is permanent."
"Well you really did deserve it. Plus... it'll be a sign that you lost a fight."
"I didn't lose it!?"
"He hit you... you didn't hit back. Obviously he won."
Draco glared at Hermione and crossed his arms, he stared into the fire... watching the flames flicker and the ember burn. His eyes glazed over as the fire reflected from his eyes and his mind began to wander aimlessly... a dream... a girl... hurt and pain. The dream had played into his mind on and off, usually during classes. He was curious. Who was the girl. It had reminded him of someone... someone dear to him. Someone like the only person that he felt would be the only one to understand him. He looked at Hermione who was biting her lip and writing furiously.
::Had it been her?::
Draco shook his head and dismissed the idea away. If it was her... no, it hurt too much to think like that. Who was it that had sent the curse? Someone who knew that this girl meant something to Draco.
He stared at the hot embers that burned hot orange in the fireplace. He shaped out the unknown girls' face... it was undefined yet still had the glow she had had in the dream. The glow that made him feel secure.
"Malfoy?..."
Draco bit his tongue hard.
"Ow!"
"What?"
"Nothing. What do you want?"
"Animagus training. At 9. Did you pick an animal."
"Ahh I completely forgot!"
"It's been over two months Malfoy, how can you forget???"
"It's not that big of a deal. Why, what did you pick?"
"Well I picked... wait I don't want to tell you."
She looked back down at her parchment and picked of the feathers from her quill.
"That secretive??"
"You'll find out sooner or later."
"I guess."
Hermione looked behind her. The rest of the room looked dark except for the area in which they were sitting... enlightened by the glow of the fireplace. It was cozy. She curled up her legs underneath her and rest her head on the arm of the couch. The window had been bitten by jack frost... they glistened like crystals. Whirlwinds of snowflakes danced around each other ... the howling wind made the castle creek. It had hit her then just how huge it was... how massive the castle was. She looked to the winding stairs... only the first step visible. It was a bit creepy, thought Hermione. The rest of the steps seemed to have vanished underneath a veil of deep darkness.
And out of the veil, she saw a pair of yellow slit eyes... Hermione lifted her head from her hands that lay on the armrest. The eyes moved in closer... slowly moving its way down. Hermione's eyes were fixated on that one spot... until the eyes jumped out and Crookshanks leapt onto the table tearing up the parchment and hissing madly. Hermione yelpt as he jumped out of the dark staircase. Malfoy had stood up and was trying to remove his quill from the hissing cats claws.
"Ruddy cat!!"
"Crookshanks!!!"
The ginger hair stood up on end and Crookshanks hissed even louder. Hermione grabbed the cat from his midsection and picked him up... picking up many pieces of parchment as well since it still clung to the cats sharp claws.
"Crookshanks what's wrong."
The cat wriggled madly... trying to jump out of its owners grasp. Finally, as a last resort, he lifted a claw and scratched Hermione hard across the face. Hermione let the cat drop and clutched her bloody cut. Malfoy kicked the cat away... Crookshanks bounded towards the portrait hole and ran out.
"Ohh... what has gotten into him?"
"I always hated that cat." Draco said.
He walked over to Hermione and lifted her hand away from the cut. A deep red gash lay upon her pale cheek. Draco took out his clean handkerchief and wiped it away.
"Why did you get that flat faced cat anyway?"
"You're just like Ron!"
"Please... never say that ever again. But I'd have to agree with him on this. Look what he did to you. I'd pick a more faithful cat next time."
Draco applied pressure on Hermione's cheek with the handkerchief.
"Crookshanks is very loyal... and he's extremely intelligent thank you very much."
"Right."
Draco looked down at Hermione's face. It looked worried. He let go of her face.
"He'll come back."
"Oh I know he will... but I just..."
"What?"
"... have a weird feeling."
Draco put his thumb on the very apparent cut. He bent down and kissed it lightly.
"I'm hungry."
Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Me too."
With that, Hermione grabbed her wand and headed out of the portrait hole with Draco following behind.
"What happened to your face??" Ron said as he poked at Hermione's cheek.
"Crookshanks went mad."
"Hermione, Crookshanks is mad." Harry said with a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
"Mad, but intelligent. Well... a lot more intelligent than you'll ever be."
"Hermione, Ron will never surpass anything more than a dinglebot worm." Ginny said as she grabbed a spoon full of mashed potatoes.
"Shutup Ginny! Who said you could join in."
"I did." Hermione raised her hand.
"Yule ball is coming up guys. Harry who are you taking? Please don't set me up with any of the Patil twins ever again!" Ron said as she stuffed a piece of chicken into his mouth then spit it back out as Parvati hit him above the head... as she was passing at that exact moment.
"Oh well... I was thinking of asking someone." He said as he stole a furtive glance towards Hermione. Hermione looked back down at her plate.
"Yea? Who?"
"Umm.. no one"
"Not Cho Chang I hope?"
"Oh Ron you're so stupid. Cho was ages ago." Ginny replied.
"Yea but she's not bad looking. Who is it Harry?"
Hermione looked up from her plate. She saw Ginny eye Harry who sat next to her... she pushed the food around her plate.
"I..."
"Harry I think you should go with Ginny." Hermione blurted out.
Harry's eyes widened. Ron's mouth dropped open as he stared at Hermione.
"Hermione... I don't think Harry wants to go with me..." Ginny began.
"No, no I think it's a great idea. Ginny would you like to go to the ball with me."
"Well... I'd love to."
"Good. Then that's settled. Now all we have to do is find a date of Ron and Hermione." He looked to Ron and slowly moved to Hermione... she could feel his gaze pierce into her.
"I already know who I'm going with."
"Who?" The three said in unison.
"Hermione! Want to go with me??"
"Ugh... Ron you can do better than that you know."
Ron put his chin in his hands and absentmindedly scratched his stubbly chin. He began to shake his head.
"Eh... No I really can't 'Mione."
"Yes you can Ron so I will say thanks, but no thanks Ron."
"You can't turn me down!?"
"I just did!"
"Hermione please!"
"Ron, you are known to be a very handsome man. I think you should have the opportunity to go with someone else."
"But that's such a hassle... asking people. I know you, I'll have more fun."
Hermione closed her eyes and silently counted to ten.
"Fine, I'll go with you."
"Yes! Mission accomplished."
"Yes well, I'm off to the tower. I'm really tired." Hermione said as she got up.
Hermione walked towards the Great Hall doors... pausing she looked back. Draco sat the the Slytherin table... he was tormenting a Ravenclaw 1st year who was passing by. Disgusted, Hermione pushed the doors open and left. As she walked soundly back to her common room, taking a moment to look at the paintings, she felt her arm being jerked back by someone. The person swirled her around, bringing her face to face with Harry.
"Why did you say that?"
"Say what?"
"Hermione!"
"Harry... I just. I'm confused right now. I wanted you to go with Ginny."
"You knew I wanted to ask you in private. It's like your trying to get rid of me."
Hermione looked down at her hands.
"Harry, the last thing I want to do is get rid of you."
Harry let in a small smile.
"Promise me a dance?"
"Promise."
"Pinky swear?"
"Pinky swear."
Harry held out his pink and Hermione curled hers around his.
"If you break this... I will have to kill you."
Hermione laughed outloud and Harry chuckled in response. His green eyes captured Hermione's.
::They're twinkling..?::
Harry moved in closer, her face in his hands, and lightly captured her lips with his. Hermione responded... and this time eagerly. This time, it wasn't being forced. What was going on? Hermione trailed her hands up his chest and around his neck and he responded as he clinged to her back. His hands were much more gentle and a lot more careful for where he was going... it was a lot more different from Draco. Hermione deepened the kiss and Harry followed in the same way. He inched her towards the wall and she rest herself against it. Hermione played with his untidy hair with her hands. It was soft and warm against her hands. Harry broke the kiss and began to kiss her jawline.
"I love you..."
Hermione swallowed hard, unsure of what was happening. Harry looked back up and kissed her again. Even softer... if it was possible. Before the moment could linger on, Hermione heard footsteps from the hall.
"Well well... even the Mudblood breaks the rules too?"
Harry jumped back from Hermione. His lips bruised from the kissing, his hair tousled (If again that was possible). It was Draco.
"Malfoy, don't even start."
"What Granger? Afraid I'll tell everyone. But I'm getting the feeling that that is the last thing that you are worrying about hmm?"
Hermione looked at Draco... his eyes wide and furious. He moved in closer.
"I knew if I'd touch you, I'd be cursed... you stupid dirty mudblood."
"Move away from her Malfoy."
"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into Potter. Goodluck..." he said to Harry. "... and Good riddance." he said to Hermione.
"What was that all about?"
Hermione sighed inwardly and closed her eyes. It was getting even worse. She actually felt something with Harry... something she had never felt before.
"I have to go."
"Hermione...?"
"No, I really have to go."
"Did you feel anything?"
"What?" she said as she turned around.
"Did you feel anything... I mean when we kissed?"
"Yes Harry, I did."
"Good... or bad?"
"A bit of both."
Harry smiled.
"I think that's the most I can ask for? Good night Hermione."
"Night Harry."
I'm SO SORRY. It was Prom weekend and I had so much going on and SATs and Finals and AP test... but guess what! I'm on summer vacation now and it's 90 degrees!! I just watched kill bill at my friends house... awesome movie. Girls kicking ass... yea!! Lol! Hope you enjoyed it.
Ahhna - I'm a drug... you'll always be hooked! Lol! Keep reading
ArtemisDracoRock - Keep reading and you'll see I already pointed out my mistake. I know, but revised chapters won't upload for me cuz my computer is being effing retarded
Crystal lies - No review is ever crap!!! I love reviews. Well he is not a dream seer... but you gotta keep reading to find out if the dream comes true or not. I can't reveal that now. Keep reading and you'll find out.
Rachel - Yay I updated
Smile - Awe thanks. I hateeeeeeee out of character people. Like a sex oriented Hermione. Ugh that bugs me. She is so not that kind of a girl!!!
Koehven - Thanks, I love love-hate kindergarten love relationships. They are so much fun to write. And yes, Lassie is very emotional. I cried my eyes out when I saw it. Can't watch it twice.
Zoe - "You can write like JK Rowling" uhhh thats impossible but WOW thanks. BIG COMPLIMENT.
Laurelien - So sorry this update took so long!!! Hope you enjoyed it Caitlin - You would think it was Draco's father hmm? Wait I'm not gonna say anything because it could be and it might not!... you will just have to read and find out
PotterSpayne- America is boring... but that's because I've been living here for 16 years! Keep reading!
RikkuFinalFantasy - Haha thank you so much! And you'll find out later if she is in danger or not. I will not tell you right now.
Gesym - I don't have yahoo messenger :( I have aol though!!! you can have that if you have aim/aol. I HATE when hermione nad draco fall in love in like the first chapter... or start making out. It is so annoying because hermione would NEVER DO THAT! I decided on HG/DM because I just thought that writing that kind of a story would be so interesting because they HATE each other and they come from such different backgrounds, it be cool to see that. Romeo and Juliet! SATs were okay btw
Smile - Thanks, im sorry this took so long!
Rose - Thanks, keep reading
Saturn's Candlesticks - Haha you're so funny. Sorry this update was so long!
James-Prongs - Usually I do it every Friday but I hadnt in like a MONTH! Im so sorry again!
CrazyAntartica - Thanks, you are lucky you don't have them yet, they are a pain
Hi Im Crazy - That happens to me, I read one sentence of a really great book or fan fic and can't go to sleep and guess what... its like 3 AM when I finish. Lol!
Stefy - Thanks, come back for more!
Egad - Again I hateee out of character stuff. So annoying! Don't you think? Hehe thanks
Sets09 - Thats what happens when you fall for a syltherin, dont worry Draco loves her... he just doesn't know it yet
TriGemini - Yea Ginny loves Hermione to death but sees that she doesn't love harry as harry loves her. And Draco is coming into realization for his feeligns for her... hes fighting it back... oh no im in love with a mudblood! Haha Thanks, keep reading
Krittle - I hope you didn't fall off, I haven't updated in a month
Imogenhm - Thanks, I donno if this chapter was fluffy enough but you can't have every chapter fluffy cuz then it looses the affect
Alexian Goddess - I'm just glad that they are over! Suspense... gotta keep reading, can't give anything away.
Nephial Nephilium - No don't cry!!!! Thanks so much for your review it makes me wanna cry ! Lol!
Hopefuly by Friday I'll have 13 up, my friends'll kill me if I don't!