Chapter 4: Book Of Dreams
Hermione was lying on her bed studying a book on snakes while Ron sat near her on the floor doing his own homework. She scribbled down some important facts she would use for her essay and then set her quill down. Ron hadn't even looked up the whole time, he was trying to figure out some lies to put down on his dream calendar for Divination. So she returned back to her next homework on her list.
"Are you done yet?" Hermione asked after an hour of working on their assignments. Ron shook and scratched his head. She stared at his bright red hair and sighed. It didn't matter how many times he cut it, it would grow back over his ears.
"What if I said I dreamed of a dragon chasing me? Would that convince her?" Ron asked. She knew he was talking about Professor Trelawney. Hermione thought she was a fake and couldn't read minds at all. Why Ron choose to stick to this class still struck her odd.
"It sounds good. Why did you choose to take her class?" Hermione asked patting her legs up and down the side of her bed.
"Because it's a easy class. I need the marks." Ron replied putting his quill and parchment away. Hermione glanced at the text book Ron was about to put away and grabbed it. "What?!" Ron asked.
"This book, it has information on dreams right?" Hermione asked.
"I guess so, why?" Ron asked.
"Can I borrow it? I want to see if I can get any information on Harry's dream." Hermione replied.
"Sure, whatever. Just give it back tomorrow after lunch." Ron said. Hermione nodded and stuffed the book in her own bag. Ron got up and glanced at her alarm clock. "I should get going. I need to talk to Harry about when Quidditch practices start."
"Okay." Hermione nodded and Ron walked through the door that lead to his room. Hermione still couldn't figure out why there was a small door joining their rooms. Wasn't one door enough? She tried not to think about it as she placed the bag near her book shelf. It was half an hour before dinner and Hermione was getting bored. She walked down stairs and relaxed herself on the couch and watched the fire crackle. Five minutes later, Pansy came downstairs and sat down on the opposite couch. Ever since the fight, Hermione hadn't see her. Now Pansy looked all pale, almost ghostly, and her hair came down all stringy. She, like Hermione, still had her school uniform on but for some reason Pansy's looked like a mess. Hermione wondered what happened to her but decided she shouldn't care.
"So mudblood, how's your shoe?" Pansy said with a large smirk on her face. Hermione wanted to run over to her and slap that smirk off her face but realized that's exactly what Pansy wanted from her.
"Never knew that you cared about my shoes that much, if it makes you feel better you can lick it as well." Hermione said sternly. She watched Pansy from the corner of her eye, it seemed that Pansy couldn't come up with another insult and stalled off to her room.
Another couple of minutes passed by when Draco walked through the portrait hole with Goyle and Crabbe. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued to lie comfortably on the couch. Draco paced around the room and frowned when he saw her.
"It seems that we can't get any privacy around here." Draco said coldly, speaking to his two goons. Goyle and Crabbe nodded and stared at Hermione. She felt dirty the way they looked over her body although she was completely covered except for the little leg she showed because of her uniform skirt.
"They're not suppose to be here in the first place, and if you want privacy go to your damn room." Hermione said coldly. Draco glared at her and stood right in front of the couch.
"If Potty can come in, so can my friends. So I suggest you shut your bitchy mouth and secondly, it's my choice where I want my privacy." Draco sneered. Hermione wasn't going to take this for another second, so she stood up and stared him dead in the eyes.
"You know what Malfoy, be as rude and tormenting as you want but just leave me alone, in peace. If you hate mudblood's so much stay away from them. Stay away from me!" Hermione screamed. Draco was taken back by this because Hermione could see the confusion in his grey cold eyes. Sometimes she wondered if he ever smiled or was ever happy at all.
"You're acting like I want to go near you! Get a hold of your stupid hormones because as much as I am good looking you'd never get close to me. So don't worry about me staying away, I suggest the same for you!" Draco yelled back. Goyle and Crabbe began to laugh and Hermione felt really angry.
"Hermione? What's going on?" Ron asked as he came in with Harry. Harry glared at Goyle, Crabbe and Draco.
"Nothing..." Hermione said staring at Draco. "...nothing important." Hermione walked over to them and followed them outside of the portrait whole. Ron and Harry quickly began to discuss their first practice meeting in three weeks. Hermione just walked along with them feeling left out, and lonely. Again for the second time that day she felt lonely. She couldn't explain it. She always had Harry, Ron, Neville and sometimes Ginny and her weird friend Luna Lovegood. But today, it was like her heart felt a tinge of depression. Hermione couldn't understand it herself so she decided to forget completely about it as she made her way to the Gryfindor table.
"Harry! Ready to kick some asses?" Seamus said happily. Seamus was referring to Quidditch and once Harry and Ron sat down, all three of them went into a boys-only conversation. Ginny came in a minute later and sat next to Hermione.
"Hi Hermione." Ginny said nicely. Luna sat down across from them and smiled at Hermione.
"Hello guys. Finally some women to talk to." Hermione said loud enough for Ron and Harry to hear. But those two hadn't even bothered to look at her. Ginny gave a giggle and started stacking herself something to eat.
"Do you want to know what I heard today in the girls dorm?" Ginny whispered. Hermione arched her eyebrow at her, she never really cared at all about silly rumors or gossips but then again she could use some entertainment for tonight.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Lavender thinks that you and Malfoy have some kind of sexual relationship." Ginny whispered. Luna coughed to signal that Lavender and Pavarti were coming in. Hermione was angry, how could Lavender say something like that? It wasn't even true! Hermione had another person on her little hit list. 'Kill Malfoy, Kill Pansy, Kill Lavender...' She never said anything horrible about her why would she do that?
"That's a lie." Hermione said sternly and angrily. She mentally noted to have a word with Lavender.
"Good." Luna and Ginny said at the same time.
"What's good?" Ron asked.
"Girl stuff." Hermione replied. Ginny and Luna snickered and returned to their meals. After dinner, Ron left Hermione and Harry for detention. It was a perfect chance to catch up and research about Harry's dream.
"Let's go to the library." Hermione suggested.
"Why?" Harry said a bit confused.
"Your mark!" Hermione said annoyed. How could Harry forget about it? Was Quidditch that much more important?
"Oh, my bad. Let's go then." Harry said. They both walked to the Prefects house to pick up her bag while Harry waited outside. Hermione quickly made it back and then headed to the library together. She took out Ron's Divination text book and began to glance through the pages.
"Where did you get that?" Harry asked.
"Ron's." Hermione said. She continued flipping the pages until something caught her eye. "Look Harry." Harry leaned in close to see what she was looking at. There was a long article about dreams.
"Some wizards and witches believe that dreams have hidden meanings, even if it isn't intentional. Dreams have been known to tap into the past, present and future. It also has been discovered by Professor Hipping that dreams sometimes become so realistic you wake up feeling as though everything was repeated. But there are different categories of dreams-" Harry read out loud.
"-skip this part. Go down here." Hermione said pointing at another part of the article. Harry glanced down and began to read from where she pointed.
"Since back many years ago, dreams were used as a tool to read the minds of others and to also signal for help. Usually when one goes through a dream such as this, will encounter the same experiences. Many wizards have claimed to be feeling the same emotions and-"
"-oh my god." Hermione interrupted. As Harry was reading an idea came to her head, what if Harry was just a part of someone else's experience?
"What?" Harry asked annoyed.
"Harry tell me about your dream again." Hermione asked.
"Umm..I was kidnaped by death eaters while I was sleeping and was taken to the hut in the forest. Then the death eaters began shouting and yelling at me for no reason but one of them, the head leader I guess took out his wand and a flash of white light hit me and I screamed. Then I woke up with this-"
"-thats it!" Hermione said jumping up.
"What's it?" Harry asked confused.
"Remember the beam of light? And the man that screamed? And remember how we found Malfoy unconscious on the floor? What if it was him who screamed? What if it was him who was attacked? What if you and him had-"
"-whoa! Slow down!" Harry said raising his hand to her. "Are you telling me that you think I've experienced the same thing Malfoy has?" Hermione nodded and opened her mouth to speak. "But.." Harry said making her close her mouth. "...that doesn't explain my mark." Harry answered.
"Well, what if Malfoy has it too?" Hermione asked.
"What if Malfoy has what?" Ron asked coming over to them to sit down. She hadn't realized how loud they were talking.
"Hermione thinks that me and Malfoy have the same mark and that I had the dream because Malfoy was going through it." Harry replied. Ron stared at Hermione confused.
"What?!" Ron said as though he hadn't heard Harry.
"Just work with me here! It's a start. We just need to see if Malfoy has the mark." Hermione said.
"But how?" Harry asked.
"What?" Ron said again, he still was shocked and baffled.
"I don't know how, we just need to see his arm. Maybe when he has his shirt off or something." Hermione replied ignoring Ron.
"What!!!" Ron said this time screwing his face in disgust.
"I don't mean it that way! I mean, there's no other way. He's always wearing his robes so it will be difficult to-"
"Are you bloody mad?!" Ron piped in. "I don't need to see Malfoy shirtless nor do I want to see his arm." Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at Harry instead.
"What do you think, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Umm..I'm not so sure, but it's a start. How the hell are we going to see his arm?" Harry asked.
"Why don't you seduce him?" Ron said sarcastically. Hermione was getting annoyed by her friend every second.
"Ronald! Shut up already. I'm serious here." Hermione said sternly.
"Fine, fine." Ron said quickly. Hermione bit her lip and started to think about how she was going to see his arm, she knew he probably didn't have any t-shirts and if he did he would have his cloak over it. Somehow...Then Hermione had an idea.
"What do you guys wear when you go to bed?" Hermione asked. Harry's and Ron's jaw fell, they looked at her shocked and appalled.
"W-why?" Harry asked confused.
"Just answer me!" Hermione hissed. They were definitely being hard to work with, luckily she was the only sensible one in the group.
"We wear pajama's, bed time clothes. You know." Ron said.
"So you guys never wear boxers?" Hermione asked. Harry and Ron again looked at her shocked with wide eyes.
"What?! Why?" Harry asked.
"Well I need to know, cause I have a plan." Hermione replied.
"What does this plan of yours have to do with our boxers?" Ron asked.
"Not yours! I mean I was planning for me and Ron to sneak in Malfoy's room and-"
"-I will not steal his boxers!" Ron hissed. "And I will not go to his room!"
"We're not stealing boxers! Shit, just listen." Hermione said angrily. "What were going to do is check his arm out while he's asleep. If he's shirtless that's a plus because I don't want to touch him as much as you do. So I was wondering what guys wore for bed. But if Malfoy is as conceited as I know he is, he'd probably wear boxers for bed." Hermione concluded. Harry nodded understandingly while Ron just stared at her with wide eyes.
"Let me get this straight." Ron said after a minute of silence. "You want me and you to go into his room and see him half naked just to check if he has a damn mark on his arm?" Hermione glared at the way he summarized her plan but nodded. "Then you're on your own. Why don't you just seduce him?"
"Because that's just absurd! Ronald Weasley, stop acting immature! I just want to see if I'm right about Harry's dream." Hermione hissed.
"Then go alone, I'll keep a look out or something." Ron said. Hermione raised her hands up in a why-do-I-bother way. Harry was listening to them bicker the whole time but hadn't said anything.
"Harry what do you think?" Hermione asked.
"It's a good idea, I guess. But what if you get caught in his room?" Harry replied. Hermione thought about that for a second then came up with another idea.
"Can I borrow your invisible cloak?" Hermione asked.
"Sure." Harry said.
"I can't believe you like her idea. It's crazy." Ron piped in.
"It's the only way and because of you're immaturity I have to do this alone!" Hermione piped back. Ron opened his mouth to say something but then closed it and shook his head. Hermione felt like snapping at him some more but decided there was no point. Afterwards all three of them decided to get up and leave to get their plan set up.