Ah yay. Another chapter out. Aren't you proud of me?
Anyways, it's been an absolutely dismal week. Not only am I getting very little sleep (like I said, five hours if I'm lucky), but lordy, all of a sudden all this drama breaks out. And for someone who's worked really hard to be well-liked and with a large circle of friends but never clique-y enough to be included in spats of any kind, this is just a bit much for me. Stupid people? Yes, I think so. Because everything we did was on a professional level, and you weren't supposed to take it personally, or personally attack us for that matter. But I also think we need to meet up and work this all out as mature folks. No screaming, no yelling, just calm explanations. Is it really that hard? Just stop saying horrid things about us behind our back, okay?
I think I want a break from school/ extracurriculars/ everything else. I'm tired of getting straight As, of taking on impossible schedules, of enthusiastically throwing myself out there to do absolutely thankless jobs. I'm tired of being the one who always has to smile, who always has to amend things, who always knows the right thing to say and the right thing to do. For once, I'd just like to be able to show that I'm not always the happy/ perky/ intelligent little girl who gets by with no problems. It's harder than you think.
Oh a brighter note: The other day, my newspaper friends and I were in the computer lab at school working on layout. Sometime between writing a headline and fact-checking a couple articles, one of my friends began this heated debate on Harry Potter. It was absolutely fantastic, but the best part was when it got to the point where we were reprimanded (twice) for being too loud. Her- "I think Harry's going to end up with Luna." Me- "WHAT?! No way! It's Ginny!" Across the room- "Yeah! It won't be Luna!" The older senior reporters- (scoff) "Are you guys talking about Harry Potter?!" Us- (unabashedly) "Of course!" Haha, good fun, that was.
Enough ranting, I think. Sorry you had to read that. My heartfelt thanks to my reviewers: Chantal J, BrownPryde, Amy Lampion, Rebekahek623, Tru Lys, Shinegami's Little Sis, ZayneLily, AmyChris, catherine, elvengirl9, Hermione182, Stillhopeful, Reina del Noche, and squidward.
viper676- Thank you! I'm so delighted that you found the characters in character... Oh and I love the mini-Trelawney as well... In fact, I just love Trelawney. Anyway, my cousin's movie was already shown in SoCal (sorry) but it's coming to DVD soon. I'll get you the facts when I can.
Leoking- Thank you for your encouraging words! Life is bizarre right now; but good reviews makes it better. Anyway, I'm quite excited about the progression of this story as well. Hope you like this chapter!
SnakeEyesHannah- Aww... your compliments towards my writing were so sweet! I feel fuzzy now... Anyways, glad you're liking the plot. Tis a bit bizarre, I know, but hopefully everyone's following it. I tried to get this chapter out as soon as possible, so I hope the wait was worth it. Enjoy!
Death Immortalitis- It's okay that you didn't review for the last chapter; I wasn't crossing off names of reviewers and going "Rawr, this person must die because he/she didn't review last time". Well, I'm so glad you're liking this story and sticking with it. My regular reviewers make me so happy (sniffle). So enjoy!
Kingmaker- Ah yes. The fun of junior year (insert big, slightly hysterical grin). Hope you're doing well in school, and yes, I know, it is kind of weird that you've a bigger reputation as a reviewer than a writer. Just for the record, I glanced at your stuff, but as I've never read any LOTR book, it seemed kind of pointless to read something I knew nothing about. Your comments about my writing made me smile- THANK YOU. Yeah, actually, I love Harry, and I wanted a happy Harry in this fic, so I thought "what the heck, why not? it's my story!" Lol. Hopefully he's not ooc. WEll thank you thank you thank you for reviewing!
JamieBell- Haha! I love how in your review you were describing asian males playing video games in an internet cafe in Taiwan (giggles!). Oh lord, so typical. Anyways, thank you for all your "gushing"; twas very sweet of you! Oh yeah, I understand what you mean though. If I were in Hermione's place, I would die of embarassment. It'd be terrible! Anyways, thank you so much for reviewing!
Oh your reviews make me so happy! They make my day that much better; so please continue!
"Colin, you're wonderful!" Lavender gushed as she sat on the floor of the Room of Requirement with her fellow Gryffindors.
Before them were laid out several photographs, most of them copies of one perfect picture in which Ron and Hermione were hugging. And then, of course, there was the absolutely adorable one (the girls had squealed in delight when they had seen it) where Hermione had quickly pecked Ron on the cheek.
They were better than they had ever hoped.
Colin blushed noticeably and muttered something under his breath about it being no trouble at all.
The rest of the Gryffindors ignored him and continued with their planning.
When they had entered the room that night, it had magically become filled with comfortable cushions, suspiciously similar to the ones in Trelawney's classroom.
There was a hot pink chalkboard, which produced loud sighs of appreciation from Lavender and Parvati, while the males in the room stood by with open-mouthed horror.
"It actually hurts to look at it," Dean whispered, awe tingeing his voice.
The girls paid no attention to his comment.
There were numerous love-advice books lying about, their glossy red and pink covers creating a very oppressive and squeamish atmosphere for not only the boys, but also many of the girls. Several younger girls were seen gulping loudly as they skirted around the books, watching in horror as cheesy-smiled wizards from the front covers winked suggestively at them.
The boys had a similar reaction.
Poor Neville ran from the room in horror, unable to bear the life-sized poster of Gilderoy Lockhart adorning a wall, proclaiming in large, bold letters, "THE ANSWER TO YOUR LOVE LIFE MAY BE FOUND IN A SIMPLE POTION."
Apparently, the words "love" and "potion" in the same sentence were too much for him to take.
"Anyways," Parvati clapped her hands together chirpily, completely oblivious to the discomfort of her fellow students. "Let's start brainstorming."
Picking up a lighter pink piece of chalk (so as to contrast against the horrendously bright background of the chalkboard), she smiled expectantly at the group.
Five hours later, they emerged from the room with secretive grins on their faces. Each student carried a folder of photographs from the owlery to be used at a later date. But for the time being, they had another plan.
"Remember, comrades," Lavender commanded authoritatively, "We've got to know their everyday habits, their schedules. And then we'll wreck havoc."
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"Why are they staring at us?"
Hermione turned to glance over her shoulder and noticed that indeed, her best friend was not being too paranoid. There was a little group of Gryffindors that had been following them closely from behind for the past two days. Of course, they did try to be secretive.
The kind of "secretive" that made Hermione snort and roll her eyes, that is.
Every time she (or Ron) would glance over their shoulders, the whole huddled group would slowly tiptoe across to the nearest wall and hide in the imaginary dark shadows.
In actuality, they were in broad daylight and looked rather silly, if you asked Hermione. Despite the fact that she was sorely tempted to casually meander over to their not-so-inconspicuous corner and let loose her temper, she merely shrugged in reply to Ron's question. "They've been following us for days," she growled lowly. "I honestly think they've gone insane."
He nodded absently, casting a quick, puzzled look over his shoulder. "They probably are. I don't know why they'd want to follow us around though. Maybe they're just bored."
Hermione nodded inattentively, mind mulling over the strange behavior of most of the Gryffindors for the past couple of days.
She knew for a fact that it was definitely not, despite what Ron had suggested, the fact that they were merely bored. Goodness gracious, if they were bored, why would they follow her of all people? Why not follow Harry and Ginny- one famous and adventurous, the other vivacious and spontaneous- if you were really looking for some excitement in your life? Those two had recently become rather close friends and were often seen gallivanting about the castle together, off to do random things (which Hermione suspected was their definition of "pranks", as since they had become close friends, the Gryffindor Common Room had been bombarded with flying sparks all night, and on another occasion, the Slytherins had come down to breakfast, only to find, much to their dismay, that their robes had "GIT" stamped in large luminescent letters across the front). So why in the world was everyone following her and Ron?
For god's sake, they had even followed her into the library, and even she had to admit that was boring.
Watching someone write an essay in silence for two hours? No thanks.
"Hey Hermione?" Ron's tentative voice floated through her thoughts.
"What?" she snapped back at him, stopping momentarily.
He bit his lip, wide-eyed as he meekly pointed to the space in front of her. "Well, you were going to walk into the wall."
Oh. Right.
There was a turn there; I certainly knew that.
She groaned inwardly. If Ron and Harry hadn't already been absolutely convinced that she was out of her mind, well, this was just more proof to add to the growing pile of evidence.
She snorted.
More like the growing landfill of evidence.
Smiling back weakly, she laughed lightly, trying to cover up her mistake. "Right... I was just trying to see if you would notice. You know, keep your reflexes sharp."
She plastered a fake smile on her face, hoping that he would believe her.
Good job, Hermione. That was, quite possibly, the most ridiculous thing you've ever said in your life.
Ron gave her a dubious look, but decided not to comment on it. "Well, on to Care of Magical Creatures, then," he simply stated, continuing onward as if nothing had happened.
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. So for now, she was still considered sane. That was certainly an improvement. And for now, she and Ron were on friendly terms again, and that was excellent.
But you want it to be more, don't you?
She frowned at the little insinuation from her inner-voice. Whoever said that having a conscience was a good thing was sorely mistaken, she decided. That little voice in the back of her head was probably Voldemort, tired of bothering Harry.
And so of course, it made perfect sense that he would come to reside in her head and torture her throughout the day with maddening thoughts about Ronald Weasley.
I'm not Voldemort! her inner-voice protested indignantly, I thought the other day you were calling me "mini-Trelawney". Anyway, you're being quite stubborn, my dear. You know that deep down inside, you really want to snog the boy senseless.
Hermione blinked furiously, intent on responding to her inner-voice with a scathing remark, but stopped herself before she attracted the attention of anyone else.
It simply wouldn't do to start talking to herself again.
They reached the dungeons, and Hermione frowned again as she realized that all the Gryffindors were once again clumped together. Harry meandered over to her and Ron, giving them both relieved smiles.
"You're talking to each other again!" he stated cheerily for the fifth time that day.
Hermione scowled at him impatiently. "Oh yes, we've noticed, Harry. Come on, was it really that obvious when we weren't talking to each other?"
Harry opened his mouth for a moment, intent on retorting that yes, in fact, the two had been just as obvious as a giant purple dinosaur suddenly crashing into Hogwarts and lassoing up students left and right.
But then he decided against that, opting instead to shrug at Hermione and simply give her a grin. "Well," he commented casually, turning away, "Snape'll probably have us work in pairs today, so why don't you two work together? I really wanted to work with Neville today."
That was a lie, of course. Not that Harry didn't like Neville; rather, he considered the boy a close friend. But of course, his grades were already failing, and working with Neville had never proven to be successful at all.
They'd better appreciate this. He walked away, glancing once over his shoulder to smirk at the confused looks on the faces of his best friends.
As expected, the students were expected that day to brew a potion in groups of two. Hermione glanced up at the blackboard to read the directions.
Hair Growth Potion2 hairs of a magical ape
3 tablespoons of hogsweed
14 grains of salt
2 drops of shampoo
Fill cauldron halfway with mineral water. Let simmer, and then drop in fourteen grains of salt. Wait until water is boiling and stir counterclockwise four times. Wait for about thirty seconds (need not be precise) and add the hogsweed, one tablespoon at a time in intervals of five seconds. Let sit for three minutes (approximately is fine) or until potion turns an oily black. Coat hairs of magical ape with the shampoo and drop those in. Stir clockwise thrice. Let cool and bottle.
She frowned slightly. The potion was by far one of the simplest she had seen since first year. Either Snape was in a wonderfully good mood (which was unlikely, as his face seemed to be frozen in a perpetual scowl) or... She bit back a grin.
I knew it! His hairline's been receding quite a bit lately...Across the room, students gazed at the directions in baffled bewilderment. Neville cautiously did the first several steps with Harry's help and practically yelped in surprise when after adding the hogsweed, the potion yielded the exact desired result.
Snape watched over the class distractedly, stopping (Hermione noticed with glee) ever few moments to run a hand over his oily slick hair.
Or what's left of it!Needless to say, the potion was a simple one, and all the students were able to finish it without problem in half the class period. To further their bafflement, at this point Snape merely told them to stay put, and that they could do what they wanted for the rest of the period as he disappeared to the back (presumably, Hermione thought, to eagerly test out one of the potions).
As soon as Snape left, Hermione sighed, resting her head on the desk as she glanced furtively at the large group of Gryffindors that had congregated on one side of the room.
What were they up to?She would've never guessed.
The students sat in the Room of Requirement, cross-legged and attentive as they gazed up at the chalkboard much like young schoolchildren. Their hands folded neatly, they took in every word that the young woman before them uttered.
"Remember," Lavender quickly scribbled out a diagram onto the hot pink chalkboard, looking strangely authoritative as she perkily grinned at her fellow classmates, hands on hips. "After we know their everyday habits, what makes them paranoid, what little things attract their attention, we're going to work on giving them hints. Little things that will serve as reminders of the time they spent together, or something. Remember, we're not interfering with fate; we're simply helping it move along faster."
Parvati sighed in agreement. "Oh, Professor Trelawney would be so proud of us!"
As Hermione sat idly, twirling her quill as she listened to the excited chatter of Ron and Harry (who had approached their table and begun an animated, but hushed conversation ridiculing a certain professor), something on her parchment caught her eye, something she hadn't noticed before. There, scrawled in her own handwriting was a little heart, with the initials RWHG inside.
Oh the horrors! Quickly, she scratched it out and covered the parchment with her arm; heart pounding as she glanced over to make sure that no one else had seen it. Ron, thank god, was still engaged in conversation with Harry, and those nearby were in their own conversations. Cautiously, she lifted her arm, curiously gazing upon the faint outline of a heart that she could barely make out through her vicious scribbling over it.
She hadn't... she hadn't actually written that had she? What strange things were manifesting in her mind without her even knowing it? How could she write that thoughtlessly while she took notes in a class? Did that mean... that she could have unknowingly written- or heaven forbid, SPOKEN- other self-incriminating things at other times? Frantically, she began to dig through her book bag, pulling out her notes from her other classes as she scanned the neat handwriting, looking for evidence of her little infatuation with Ron.
From across the room, Parvati Patil snickered, nudging Lavender Brown. The group of Gryffindors gazed up, their faces simultaneously breaking out in large grins as they watched Hermione flip through her notes, her expression flustered.
Things were going according to plan.