Chapter 4
Hermione walked in a daze towards her room. She confessed to Ron about everything, and he was trying to make sure it happened. He was right; she shouldn't deny what she felt. That had been (one of the rare) smartest things that Ron had ever said to her. She said the password ('Snuffles') to the portrait guarding her room. She went over to her dresser and pulled out a pair red and white striped pajama bottoms and an overlarge white shirt. She dressed and fell onto her bed, thinking about Harry and how on earth Ron was going to push them together. At the moment, she felt like she was on top of the world. Nothing could bring her down. She quickly fell asleep, and didn't wake until morning.
The next morning, Hermione woke up, feeling rested and full of energy, although she had only slept four hours. She jumped into the shower, still thinking about Ron's plan. She wouldn't know what to do if Ron hadn't said that he would help her. Hermione thought about how things would be like if Harry liked her back. They would walk down the corridors together, hand in hand. They would kiss. Hermione sighed and walked out of the shower, drying her hair with a towel and another towel covering her. She dressed quickly, packed up her unfinished homework into her bag, hoping that she would have enough time to finish at least some of it at breakfast.
Hermione continued to think about her future relationship with Harry. She imagined their first date, which would only occur if Ron and Ginny were successful...
There would be flowers, not roses, but several variations of wildflowers, thought Hermione, Harry and I would have a wonderful candlelit dinner, maybe in Hogsmeade somewhere, and he'd take me flying on his Firebolt afterwards. Then we would kiss, and all problems would've drifted away...
"Hermione? Hermione!" Ron disturbed Hermione's thoughts as he waved his hand in front of Hermione's face. Hermione looked around startled; she had reached the Great Hall. "I know what she's thinking about, Ron," said Ginny when she saw Ron's strange look, "Or I should say who she's thinking about. Her face says 'Harry' all over it!" Hermione blushed, caught, and Ginny squealed, not noticing the stares from the rest of the Hall. At that moment, the object of Hermione's affection walked into the Great Hall. His hair was disheveled as usual and he had a cute grin on his face that was so irresistible to all girls. "Hey Gin, I could hear your squeal from corridors away, what's going on?" Harry asked, still wearing that smile. Hermione suddenly felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks, and Ron attempted to come up with a believable lie. "Er... uh, well Ginny here was just telling Hermione about this guy that she liked and I dunno. Ask Ginny," faltered Ron.
Harry gave Ron a quizzical look, shrugged, and walked into the Great Hall. Every girl stopped whatever they were doing at the moment as he walked by and stared at Harry like he was a piece of meat. Hermione noticed this. Apparently the fact that Harry and Cho were no longer a couple had traveled all around the school by now. Bloody hell! I guess I'm not the only one thinking about dating Harry now that he's single... Ginny also noticed the girls and gave Hermione a sad look, but in a second, her face brightened again and said, "Don't worry about them, 'Mione, Harry knows that most of those girls only want him because he was 'The Boy Who Lived'," Hermione breathed in deeply and she, Ron and Ginny walked towards their usual spots and the Gryffindor table. Hermione sat in her spot and took her uncompleted work out of her bag. She worked hard on her work, trying to block out the girls who were not so subtly flirting with Harry. One girl, a third year, had even walked up to Harry, squealed, much like how Ginny had earlier, and threw her arms around his neck, claiming to love him with all her heart and wanting to have his children. The whole Great Hall had a laugh at that and at the Slytherin table, Hermione saw Draco and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, already making fun of the situation. She looked at Harry and saw him awkwardly hugging the poor girl, looking at his friends with a look that simply said, Help me! No one knew what to do, but the young girl finally realized that the whole school was laughing at her and mocking her actions and let go, mumbling "Sorry," and left, blushing furiously.
Harry, relieved that the girl had let go of him, returned to his oatmeal, blushing ever so slightly. Hermione patted his shoulder, attempting to console him, when Harry eventually snorted into his oatmeal, laughing about the poor girl. Hermione tried to not laugh, she was Head Girl after all, but she too, eventually cracked. Soon later, she went back to her work. In fifteen minutes, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny left the Great Hall. The trio had Potions and Ginny had Divination.
They headed to the dungeons, and when they got there, Pansy Parkinson had her arms around Draco, squeezing him to death, and squealed exactly like the young girl at breakfast. Then she said, "Oh Harry! I love you! Have my children! I don't have a life but then again neither do you so we're the perfect match! Oh Harry! And you see this scar on my arm? It's almost like yours! Oh Harry, marry me!" Crabbe and Goyle sniggered on the sidelines and Draco almost fell over from laughing so hard. Hermione, flustered and angry about their repulsive behaviour, went to punch Malfoy in the face. No one was going to make fun of MY Harry! Just as she was about to punch Malfoy, Snape came. "Thirty points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger. Anymore fighting and it will be fifty," Hermione didn't dare speak up for herself. She simply glared at Draco and mouthed you're lucky and stalked into the class.
The class went on for what seemed like hours, but Hermione was glad. Here she was, sitting beside Harry, his arm lightly brushing against hers as they took notes. It was there that Hermione realized that as long as she was with Harry, she could be happy. She was happy in Potions for heaven's sake!
The rest of the day went by, and Hermione felt lightheaded and woozy every time Harry was around. If only he knew how she felt! She couldn't just go and snog him senseless until they both turned blue! She wanted to, of course, but she just couldn't. She glanced at the clock, it was almost 7:30. Hermione had finished her homework and she was waiting for Ron and Ginny in her room. She didn't have to wait long, however.
She heard the portrait open and in came Ron and Ginny, both looking irritated. "Bloody hell!" Ginny exclaimed, "You don't know how hard it was to get Harry out so he wouldn't disturb us. He kept asking question after question about where we were going! It drove me absolutely mad! I could rip my hair out!" Hermione smiled and Ron said, "Yeah, she could rip her hair out, but she chose to rip out mine instead," Ron glared at his sister as he showed Hermione the small bald spot at his crown. "You owe us big time after this," Ron said, "And we still have to come up with a plan!" Hermione sighed and hugged both of her friends, and Ginny said, "Well, Harry won't be outside on his broom all night you know, so we better come up with something fast!" They traded off ideas as to what they could do. By the end of the evening, Ron and Ginny left. After all the ideas, some stupid of course, they came out victorious with a plan that they hoped wasn't foolproof.
(Ron came up with the stupidest one: 'Well, why don't you just march up to him and snog him senseless? I mean, Harry's gotta figure out that you like him when you do that... he's not a stupid bloke like Crabbe and Goyle!' which resulted in Ginny smacking him in the back of the head and said 'Well that idea just proved that you are!')
Hermione walked in a daze towards her room. She confessed to Ron about everything, and he was trying to make sure it happened. He was right; she shouldn't deny what she felt. That had been (one of the rare) smartest things that Ron had ever said to her. She said the password ('Snuffles') to the portrait guarding her room. She went over to her dresser and pulled out a pair red and white striped pajama bottoms and an overlarge white shirt. She dressed and fell onto her bed, thinking about Harry and how on earth Ron was going to push them together. At the moment, she felt like she was on top of the world. Nothing could bring her down. She quickly fell asleep, and didn't wake until morning.
The next morning, Hermione woke up, feeling rested and full of energy, although she had only slept four hours. She jumped into the shower, still thinking about Ron's plan. She wouldn't know what to do if Ron hadn't said that he would help her. Hermione thought about how things would be like if Harry liked her back. They would walk down the corridors together, hand in hand. They would kiss. Hermione sighed and walked out of the shower, drying her hair with a towel and another towel covering her. She dressed quickly, packed up her unfinished homework into her bag, hoping that she would have enough time to finish at least some of it at breakfast.
Hermione continued to think about her future relationship with Harry. She imagined their first date, which would only occur if Ron and Ginny were successful...
There would be flowers, not roses, but several variations of wildflowers, thought Hermione, Harry and I would have a wonderful candlelit dinner, maybe in Hogsmeade somewhere, and he'd take me flying on his Firebolt afterwards. Then we would kiss, and all problems would've drifted away...
"Hermione? Hermione!" Ron disturbed Hermione's thoughts as he waved his hand in front of Hermione's face. Hermione looked around startled; she had reached the Great Hall. "I know what she's thinking about, Ron," said Ginny when she saw Ron's strange look, "Or I should say who she's thinking about. Her face says 'Harry' all over it!" Hermione blushed, caught, and Ginny squealed, not noticing the stares from the rest of the Hall. At that moment, the object of Hermione's affection walked into the Great Hall. His hair was disheveled as usual and he had a cute grin on his face that was so irresistible to all girls. "Hey Gin, I could hear your squeal from corridors away, what's going on?" Harry asked, still wearing that smile. Hermione suddenly felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks, and Ron attempted to come up with a believable lie. "Er... uh, well Ginny here was just telling Hermione about this guy that she liked and I dunno. Ask Ginny," faltered Ron.
Harry gave Ron a quizzical look, shrugged, and walked into the Great Hall. Every girl stopped whatever they were doing at the moment as he walked by and stared at Harry like he was a piece of meat. Hermione noticed this. Apparently the fact that Harry and Cho were no longer a couple had traveled all around the school by now. Bloody hell! I guess I'm not the only one thinking about dating Harry now that he's single... Ginny also noticed the girls and gave Hermione a sad look, but in a second, her face brightened again and said, "Don't worry about them, 'Mione, Harry knows that most of those girls only want him because he was 'The Boy Who Lived'," Hermione breathed in deeply and she, Ron and Ginny walked towards their usual spots and the Gryffindor table. Hermione sat in her spot and took her uncompleted work out of her bag. She worked hard on her work, trying to block out the girls who were not so subtly flirting with Harry. One girl, a third year, had even walked up to Harry, squealed, much like how Ginny had earlier, and threw her arms around his neck, claiming to love him with all her heart and wanting to have his children. The whole Great Hall had a laugh at that and at the Slytherin table, Hermione saw Draco and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, already making fun of the situation. She looked at Harry and saw him awkwardly hugging the poor girl, looking at his friends with a look that simply said, Help me! No one knew what to do, but the young girl finally realized that the whole school was laughing at her and mocking her actions and let go, mumbling "Sorry," and left, blushing furiously.
Harry, relieved that the girl had let go of him, returned to his oatmeal, blushing ever so slightly. Hermione patted his shoulder, attempting to console him, when Harry eventually snorted into his oatmeal, laughing about the poor girl. Hermione tried to not laugh, she was Head Girl after all, but she too, eventually cracked. Soon later, she went back to her work. In fifteen minutes, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny left the Great Hall. The trio had Potions and Ginny had Divination.
They headed to the dungeons, and when they got there, Pansy Parkinson had her arms around Draco, squeezing him to death, and squealed exactly like the young girl at breakfast. Then she said, "Oh Harry! I love you! Have my children! I don't have a life but then again neither do you so we're the perfect match! Oh Harry! And you see this scar on my arm? It's almost like yours! Oh Harry, marry me!" Crabbe and Goyle sniggered on the sidelines and Draco almost fell over from laughing so hard. Hermione, flustered and angry about their repulsive behaviour, went to punch Malfoy in the face. No one was going to make fun of MY Harry! Just as she was about to punch Malfoy, Snape came. "Thirty points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger. Anymore fighting and it will be fifty," Hermione didn't dare speak up for herself. She simply glared at Draco and mouthed you're lucky and stalked into the class.
The class went on for what seemed like hours, but Hermione was glad. Here she was, sitting beside Harry, his arm lightly brushing against hers as they took notes. It was there that Hermione realized that as long as she was with Harry, she could be happy. She was happy in Potions for heaven's sake!
The rest of the day went by, and Hermione felt lightheaded and woozy every time Harry was around. If only he knew how she felt! She couldn't just go and snog him senseless until they both turned blue! She wanted to, of course, but she just couldn't. She glanced at the clock, it was almost 7:30. Hermione had finished her homework and she was waiting for Ron and Ginny in her room. She didn't have to wait long, however.
She heard the portrait open and in came Ron and Ginny, both looking irritated. "Bloody hell!" Ginny exclaimed, "You don't know how hard it was to get Harry out so he wouldn't disturb us. He kept asking question after question about where we were going! It drove me absolutely mad! I could rip my hair out!" Hermione smiled and Ron said, "Yeah, she could rip her hair out, but she chose to rip out mine instead," Ron glared at his sister as he showed Hermione the small bald spot at his crown. "You owe us big time after this," Ron said, "And we still have to come up with a plan!" Hermione sighed and hugged both of her friends, and Ginny said, "Well, Harry won't be outside on his broom all night you know, so we better come up with something fast!" They traded off ideas as to what they could do. By the end of the evening, Ron and Ginny left. After all the ideas, some stupid of course, they came out victorious with a plan that they hoped wasn't foolproof.
(Ron came up with the stupidest one: 'Well, why don't you just march up to him and snog him senseless? I mean, Harry's gotta figure out that you like him when you do that... he's not a stupid bloke like Crabbe and Goyle!' which resulted in Ginny smacking him in the back of the head and said 'Well that idea just proved that you are!')