Hooray! I love my cousins... anyway, my cousin Victor Vu has gotten us tickets to the invitation only premiere of his new movie! He's an independent screenwriter/director/producer, and I'm incredibly jealous of him, lol. But this is exciting stuff! Check out his movies if they come to your town- they're not bad... (Actually I've only seen one, but it was good! I promise!) And also, my cousin Connie's getting married and I just went to get measured for a new ao dai. Fun stuff, the seamstress should have it done in two weeks. So right now, I'm a pretty darn happy person.
Anyway, I love all of you who review dearly. So I shall blow kisses to: cherryblossom08, brownpryde, Chantal J, JessyNick, airhead14, blank-cd, AmyChris, Tweek's Panda and squidward for your wonderful reviews! MUAH.
Emily T- Why thank you for your review! I loved the hysterics too... rather reminded me of myself. Lol, kidding, but in all seriousness, I had fun reading your review. Although it does make me wonder why you know so well how one bad day can tarnish a great reputation (raises eyebrow suspiciously). Kidding of course!
Poky- I'm so glad I made you laugh- humor isn't exactly my strongpoint, but I'm certainly trying (and hopefully succeeding!). Anyway, I will assure you that yes Ron and Hermione will end up together because I wouldn't have it any other way in this fic. That would just be... not right.
JamieBell- Yay! Hi you! Thanks for reviewing- and I hope you like it! Yes, Hermione snapped. A shame really. But in this chapter, she's back. Kind of. Things might get psycho again later, but for now, she's under the impression that she's got it all figured out. Aww and look, you reviewed my new story! (Tears up) Thank you so much! And by the way, you really helped me with my writing when I was starting up, so I owe it all to you. Oh dear, I sound sappy and stupid. Ah well... you are much appreciated and I hope you enjoy reading my stuff. Oh yes, and I enjoy reading your stuff too. Yes, that was a hint, lol.
Tru Lys- Lol, you talk to yourself? I only do so occasionally- when I'm alone. Or stressed out (which is why Harry suddenly assumes that Hermione's stressed). Anyways, I'm sorry I didn't wake up your sister... I'm actually having issues making this fic as funny as "Summer at the Burrow" (although, if you ask me, "Summer at the Burrow" was only my sad attempt to be funny). And of course, when Hermione calls the Potions essay "horrid", it is atypical for her, but remember, she's not really thinking straight. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this, and thanks for your review!
Kingmaker- YAAY. You've found your way over to my new story! Anyhow, first, thank you for your review for "Summer at the Burrow", it made me smile. Although the double entendres thing... I actually did read it again, and tsk tsk, that's dirty. Haha, and thank you for your review here- I'm glad you're liking my potrayal of the characters. Here is the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy!
Death Immortalitis- Ah! Thank you so much for loving my story... you are too cool! Although I would never say that I write like JKR, actually I was quite frightened when you said that. That's a huge insult to JKR! Lol, but I'm extremely flattered anyway! And I'm glad you liked it; I love the hysterical Hermione too! Alright, so here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it!
Oh and I want to know where in the world Leoking has gone to! Come back!!! You are missed! Anyways, proceed and read, and hopefully review!
Hermione was, in one word, furious.
How could those two, her best friends in the world, be this distrusting of her? Didn't they accept her reasoning? Didn't they love her enough to end her suffering?
Ugh.
Even thinking of the word 'love' sent shivers down her back as her mind wandered back to a classroom filled with the sickeningly sweet scent of aromatic candles, crystal balls placed on the tables, teacups stacked on the shelves...
She shuddered.
No, not the nightmare about the evil, matchmaking teacups again! Anything but that!
It was all the fault of that evil woman.
Hermione was beginning to suspect that Trelawney was more perceptive than she seemed, that she had seen Hermione's fleeting (albeit secretive) glances at Ron and was using this against her! Yes, the woman had wanted to make her life miserable ever since she'd stormed out of her classroom. Hermione was sure of it.
But even as she fumed on and on about the evils of her friends, the evils of her former professor, and the evils of pastel teacups, she couldn't help but smile a bit as she looked at the red headed boy, asleep on the chair beside hers.
He had insisted on her sleeping in the Common Room that night (he and Harry had even dragged down piles of bedding from the dormitories to make her a comfortable bed on the long sofa) with him there to "guard" her. Although she suspected that he was only there to stop her from doing anything rash and dangerous, she couldn't help but find the gesture endearing.
The way his hair was adorably rumpled, the way he sighed happily and snuggled deeper into his blankets as he dreamt away...
Oh boy.
That was definitely the drowsiness talking.
She shut her eyes, willing herself to stop thinking about him.
She could be calm; she could be rational. She would not give into the raging hormones of the teenage years!
It was just, like Harry said, all that stress.
She didn't really like to stare at Ron while he slept, a silly smile on her face. Really!
She groaned, burying her face in a pillow. This was ridiculous. She really needed some sleep.
And with that in mind, Hermione kept her eyes resolutely shut (no peeking at her best friend!) until she fell asleep.
Teacups...
Must get away...
"You will fall in loooooove... with that Weasley boy!"
No, not Ron. She doesn't know about Ron!
...A bony hand with long fingers, reaching out for her wrist...
"Hermione? Hermione?" She was gently shaken awake, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself looking up into Ron's worried face.
Just a nightmare...
"Are you alright?" he asked, helping her to sit up. "You were whimpering, and mumbling something about me..." he looked at her imploringly, confusion apparent on his face. "Were you having a nightmare about me or something?"
She felt her mouth go dry, and she blushed furiously.
But Ron's baffled expression reassured her that, no, he hadn't heard the part of the dream where, erm, Trelawney made her little prediction.
"Yeah," she lied, trying to keep a straight face. "I was having a dream where you were attacked by lawn gnomes and they dragged you into the bushes and tied you up and giant spiders came and fed on your flesh."
She almost regretted having said that when she saw his horrified expression.
"Ugh!" He shuddered, rubbing at his shoulders even though it was quite warm inside.
"But," she added guiltily, "I'm really very glad that you're alright and alive."
He nodded distractedly, giant flesh-eating spiders apparently still on his mind.
Oh well.
At least he hadn't guessed the truth.
That would have been an even more horrid experience than the day before, and the day before had been absolutely terrible for her.
He was still looking a bit pale and traumatized when Harry came in, yawning, and his perpetually messy hair even messier than usual.
"Hi guys," he mumbled sleepily, smiling when he saw that Hermione was calm and contemplative. "Feeling better?"
Hermione nodded and smiled at him in return, but Ron shook his head nervously.
"No..." he muttered, giving Harry a sheepish grin. "I just started thinking about giant spiders again."
Harry nodded sympathetically, accustomed to dealing with his friend's fear by now.
Turning to Hermione, he asked, "So, you're definitely alright today?"
Resisting the urge to snap back at him, she smiled, nodding sweetly. "Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better. I'm glad," she said, lying through her teeth, "That you two made me calm down. I feel a lot less stressed, and I know yesterday I was a bit hysterical. But I'm definitely okay now!"
Both boys grinned happily, their plan having worked perfectly.
"That's great, 'Mione!" Ron said enthusiastically, the giant spiders forgotten.
She smiled back at them, genuinely this time because they obviously thought that she had returned to normal. And because of this, she refrained from telling Harry all about her nightmare over breakfast.
Instead, when Ron briefly mentioned her distress during the night, she simply laughed it off, repeating the same giant spider story she had used with Ron that morning.
He's so predictable, she thought fondly as she watched Ron pale at the mere mention of spiders.
Wait... had she just thought of Ron fondly?
... Well couldn't she think of him fondly and still only have purely platonic feelings towards him?
Oh lord, but that Trelawney woman was making her so paranoid!
She shook off thoughts of Trelawney turning back to her friends and the conversation at hand, which was something about Ginny's current love interest. The girl talked animatedly, pealing with laughter as the other girls at the table teased her.
Hermione sighed.
If only she could be like that.
If only she wasn't so bloody sensitive about her love life!
She glanced around the table idly, noticing that Neville gave her quite a frightened glance, as did many of the other Gryffindors. In fact, some looked positively startled when she glanced at them, even jumping out of their seats.
Well, she'd certainly have to be on her best behavior for a while.
Don't bite anyone, she told herself rationally. Just don't pick any fights, smile at everyone, spread love and peace and everything should turn out wonderfully!
"Hey Hermione," Ginny addressed her, breaking into her thoughts. "Who do you like, hmm?"
"Yeah!" Parvati added. "You never tell us anything, Hermione. You're always so, so secretive about everything."
Lavender nodded in agreement. "Hermione, we know you've got to be interested in things other than books. Namely," she added slyly, "Living, breathing, teenage males!"
Harry and Ron chuckled, exchanging amused glances as they looked over with interest to see how their female friend would respond.
Hermione blinked.
They were all out to get her.
She couldn't go anywhere without escaping the subject of her dratted love life!
Forcing a smile, she shrugged her shoulders at the girls and replied, much to their disappointment, "No one at the moment, girls. I'm really too busy to fancy anyone."
"Ugh, you!" Ginny groaned, rolling her eyes at the typical Hermione answer. "That's impossible and you know it. There's no such thing as being too busy to fancy someone. You just don't want to tell us anything."
Parvati and Lavender turned back to their breakfasts, having lost interest in the conversation.
This was balanced out, however, when Ron joined into the conversation.
"Don't worry, Gin," he chuckled, looking over at Hermione. "We're her best friends and she still doesn't tell us anything. She didn't even tell us when," and here his demeanor darkened, "She was dating Krum."
And during the awkward conversation he just had to bring up that touchy subject.
Great.
"I've told you before," she explained to him, sighing in frustration, "We weren't dating. Well," she bit her lip, "At least not really. I don't think so. Ginny, what constitutes dating?"
Ginny grinned, replying with the flourish of an expert, "Lots of mindless snogging is enough. But of course, it doesn't hurt if he asked you first."
"Hmm," Hermione pretended to look thoughtful, and snickered when she saw the horrified expressions of Ron and Harry, "I suppose it wasn't dating then because we weren't snogging mindlessly."
Ron let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"We were quite deliberate in our snogging."
Ginny burst into giggles, and even Harry had to join in with his own chuckles.
Ron, however, reddened, staring at her, mouth open in horror. "You're not," he stammered, wide-eyed. "You're not actually serious are you?"
The corners of Hermione's mouth twitched upwards, despite her attempt to keep a straight face. Finally, she burst out laughing, responding, between gasps of laughter to Ron. "No," she assured him, "Absolutely nothing happened. In fact," she stopped laughing and frowned slightly, "He was rather boring."
Ron relaxed considerably, returning to his normal color.
"Ah," Ginny nodded understandingly, remarking, "Ever girl wants a boy who'll rush in and sweep her off her feet. There's got to be some excitement involved."
The boys at the table paused and looked up, obviously taking mental note of her comment. In fact, a couple younger years were even seen taking out pieces of parchment and scribbling down her remark furiously.
The bell rang shrilly, signaling five minutes until the start of the first class.
"What do we have today?" Harry asked, getting up from the table and grabbing at his book bag.
The other students in the Great Hall did likewise, abandoning their empty plates as they turned in the direction of their next class.
To no one's surprise, Hermione responded to Harry's question, shouldering her book bag as she called to both him and Ron, "Double Transfiguration today!"
Ginny jumped up from her seat, taking one last bite out of a muffin before scampering off with other students in her year, calling behind her, "Bye guys!"
Transfiguration that day, Hermione decided, passed quite pleasantly.
She had returned to her normal self, much to the relief of all the Gryffindors, Ron and Harry in particular.
Sitting up attentively in class, she had successfully transfigured a toilet seat into a sumptuous cake (not that anyone had the urge to taste it) before the rest of the class.
Neville, she had to admit, was acting quite oddly.
He had seated himself on the far side of the room and sent her frightened looks every time she so much as lifted her hand to perform a spell.
What in the world could've caused this?
She frowned in concentration as she thought back...
She stood over Ron, after having thrown a quill (rather like one throws a dart) that narrowly missed his head.
Ron had looked up at her in horror as he tried desperately to scramble away.
Faintly, she could hear the startled gasps in the background, the hushed whispers of, "She's really lost it, hasn't she?"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a boy shot out, head held high bravely as he rushed in and grabbed Ron, attempting to pull him away.
In her rage, she grabbed a book and aimed it carefully at the boy's hand, resting on the floor. With a cry of fury, she flung it at Ron's savior, making him yelp and leap away.
... Oh.
So that had been Neville.
She turned to give him an apologetic smile and was confused when he shrunk away.
Across the room, Neville looked up to see Hermione, deranged Hermione who had attacked him yesterday, smiling at him. The malicious way the light glinted off her teeth, the secret warning that she was obviously sending him- he shivered as he realized with horror that Hermione was out to get him!
He crouched over his desk for the rest of the class period, hoping that she would forget he was there and spare his life...
And so the rest of the day passed.
True, Harry and Ron did stay close to Hermione, making sure that she didn't have one of her "fits" again, and all of the Gryffindors, for the most part, tried to stay at least several feet away from her at all times, but things were certainly looking up for Hermione.
Or so she thought.
Because just as she was leaving her last class (care of magical creatures- a lovely subject that she actually enjoyed quite a bit), a frenzied, frizzy- haired, bug-eyed woman rushed out into the middle of the hallway, crashing into her.
Oh yes.
Enter Trelawney.