Chapter 6: The truth, Halloween and Quidditch
Hiya all! Let's see how long this chapter takes! Lol. Reviews, reviews!!!
*~*ILUVRONWEASLEY: tim does fly doesn't he? Time also tends to fly. Lol. Anyhow, I hope you like this next one, and yes, I do agree that no-one's perfect.
*~*electra*27: hiya. Thank you so much for reviewing. I'm feeling a bit sparse on the review front at the moment, in case you haven't noticed.
*~*bombshell: indeed, cool is the word.
Disclaimer: I own. . . my cat, my brain and my consistent back pain. Ow.
OK, I think that's all. Let's begin.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Harry! Ron! I must have dozed off . . . I. . . ouch!'
'Hermione, what is it?' asked Ron, panicked.
Hermione was clutching her arm. Harry took her hand off it, and saw the fingernail marks there. Hermione lifted up her jumper slightly, and Harry and Ron saw the bruising she'd gotten from there. They looked at her in alarm.
'Hermione, how'd you get those injuries?'
Hermione didn't really know. She shook her head. 'I was dreaming. . . and. . . I got hit there. . . I don't understand it. . . do either of you?'
Harry and Ron looked somewhat guiltily at each other. Hermione was confused.
'You do know! How come I wasn't told? What's happening to me?'
Harry sat down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. 'Hermione, please understand us. We wanted to tell you, but Dumbledore forbade us until you were well again. We'll tell you now. Won't we Ron?'
'Yup,' said Ron. 'Absolutely.'
'So?' asked Hermione, looking from one of them to the other. 'What is it?'
'Hermione,' said Harry, taking hold of her hand. 'There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to say it. You've got Kedua's syndrome, Hermione.'
Hermione's eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. She did, naturally, know what it was. . . having just read about a famous Romanian King who had gotten it. 'No . . . I can't . . . only pure-bloods get that . . . '
'The resources aren't always accurate on that Hermione,' said Ron. 'It's very powerful witches and wizards that tend to get it. Powerful witches and wizards tend to be purebloods, because they have more concentrated magic in their veins. You are, however, Hermione, very powerful, despite being muggle born. Thusly, you are quite susceptible to Kedua's syndrome.'
'Oh,' Hermione replied.
There was an awkward pause. Ron began fidgeting. Hermione looked down, then up again. Nothing had changed . . . and her stomach was hurting quite a bit now.
'Um. . .' she said. 'Has anyone . . . um . . . died from it?'
'Just one person,' replied Harry. 'They couldn't cure him, and he dreamt himself drinking poison.'
Hermione, now notably frightened, then said. 'Right. So how do we prevent that from happening?'
'Well,' said Harry, 'Kedua's syndrome is caused by a powerful witch or wizards need for something worldwide and something personal. A lot of people need these things, but because powerful people are more powerful, when they're deprived of something, there will be more of a reaction, and Kedua's syndrome can occur. To cure it, you need to achieve these things.'
'Ahh,' said Hermione. 'But, something worldwide could be huge. What if I don't achieve it?'
'I read about this,' said Ron. 'That won't kill you. In all the cases of Kedua's syndrome (like, all 10 of them), the worldwide thing was eventually achieved.'
'OK. How will you know what these things I need are?'
'Well, that's the stinger,' said Harry. 'We're going to have to monitor your dreams.'
'Hmm,' replied Hermione thoughtfully. 'My dreams aren't very descriptive at the moment though-'
'Dumbledore said they wouldn't be. The disease has to develop. When we find out what the things you need are, we'll get them for you. Then you should be cured. Savvy?'
'Savvy,' replied Hermione slowly. She stood up, wincing. Harry and Ron watched her, concerned.
'Are you all right? Do you need to go down to the hospital wing?'
'No,' replied Hermione. 'No, I'm fine. Tired though. . . I'll go to bed. Good night.'
With that, Hermione went upstairs, leaving Harry and Ron's eyes trailing with immediate concern behind her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione woke up the next day with a slight headache. Great, she thought. Just when I thought they were gone. She'd had a feeling however that she hit it against a stone in the dream she'd been having. She got up, got dressed, and went down to breakfast.
The sight she saw before her was interesting. Draco Malfoy was standing in mid air (someone was levitating him) and he was talking to everyone in the school.
'. . . we believe that if everyone in the school worked together, this could be the best Halloween in Hogwarts history. All those for it say aye!'
'AYE!' yelled everyone. Hermione came up to Malfoy and tugged at his cloak. He looked down.
'Ah, Granger. How nice of you to join us. Come up here and back me up.'
Hermione rolled her eyes, but asked Dean to levitate her. Soon she was at Malfoy's eye level.
'You move fast don't you?' she whispered to him.
Malfoy smiled evilly at her. 'Faster then you'd care to know.'
Hermione was about to reply when Malfoy turned to face everyone else. 'So it's settled. I want all of you that signed this sheet of parchment to come to a meeting with Hermione and I at 4:00 this afternoon. We'll assign you jobs then. Thank you everyone.'
Everyone left abruptly, appearing to forget that Hermione and Malfoy were still hovering in mid-air, and the both of them fell to the ground a little too quickly.
'Ouch!' said Hermione. She'd landed on her stomach, which was still in pain. She clutched it.
'Don't die on me Granger,' said Malfoy, getting up. 'What's wrong with you anyway?'
For a split second, Hermione considered telling Malfoy about Kedua's syndrome. She immediately shook the thought off however, thinking 'what am I, stupid? This is MALFOY we're talking about. There's no way he'd care' . . . but she couldn't help feeling that he might . . .
'Nothing. Don't worry,' she said, standing up abruptly. 'Where are we meeting these people this afternoon?'
'Hmm? Oh, the History Of Magic room,' Malfoy replied. 'See you there,'
'Yeah', said Hermione to herself, as Malfoy walked off. 'See ya.'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
That evening Hermione made her way to the History Of Magic room in high spirits. She'd successfully managed to turn a porcupine into a precipice successfully, and nobody else had gotten close. She knew it was mean, but she loved it when she came out on top . . . she got reminded every time that she was still good at something. . . which comforted her sometimes.
She walked into the room to find that Malfoy wasn't there yet. She saw several eager beavers there though. She smiled that them all.
'Hello.'
'Hi Hermione,' said a familiar voice. Hermione turned her head slightly and saw Susie Bellnak grinning at her.
'Hello Susie. How've ya been?'
'All right,' she replied. 'Harry's been training me hard for Quidditch. Our first match is soon.'
'This weekend, right?'
'Yup! I can't wait.'
'Who're you against?'
'Slytherin.'
Hermione started. 'Ah. I was wondering why Harry'd begun muttering 'Kill' in his sleep.'
Susie laughed. 'Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me.'
Hermione was about to continue when Malfoy entered the room. She instead winked at Susie then joined Malfoy, who grinned down at her. Hermione could swear he'd gotten taller.
'For God's sakes Malfoy, don't you ever stop growing?'
'In exactly what way Granger?'
Hermione shook her head. 'You sicken me.'
'All right everyone. Are you all here?' Malfoy began addressing everyone else.
'All present and accounted for SIR!' pronounced Susie.
'Very good Ms Bellnak. OK, listen to the categories. Rides, Showbags, Stalls, Games, Foods, Drinks and Specialty. Every year gets one, and you all get to choose.apart from specialty . . . that's for the seventh years.'
'What's specialty?' asked Edgar Bussing, a 4th Year.
Hermione looked at Malfoy curiously. He winked, tapped his nose and said 'Never you mind. It's a surprise.'
Hermione narrowed her eyes at Malfoy. She didn't like the sound of this.
When everyone else had been assigned their various roles, and had left, so that Draco and Hermione were the last people in the room, Hermione turned to him and went 'Specialty? What are you thinking of for that Malfoy?'
'Don't be so cold towards me Granger. I did mean to consult you about it, but unfortunately, because of that last disagreement we had in Ancient Runes, I didn't have a chance to chat to you about it today.'
Hermione blushed. That last time in Ancient Runes Malfoy had aimed her wand at Hermione's hair, wanting to use a spell that the medieval mastermind Gwendolis used in the 1600's to make anyone he disliked bald. Unfortuantely before he'd had a chance to do it, Hermione had done it to him. This resulted in a humongous duel, and the teacher eventually replacing Malfoy's hair and taking 200 points off each of their respective houses. . . oh, and the promise never to go anywhere near the other one for the rest of the time they were at Hogwarts.
'So,' Malfoy continued. 'I'll tell you about it now.'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Half an hour later Hermione returned to the Common Room. Malfoy's idea was brilliant. The whole school would be in stitches of laughter all through the Halloween feast. She couldn't wait to unveil it on the day.
She entered the Common Room to find Harry and Ron sitting there, in the middle of what was obviously a serious discussion. Hermione sat down next to Harry on the couch.
'So,' Harry was saying. 'I'm going to have to get the snitch pretty quickly. Crabbe and Goyle have gotten nastier over the holidays.'
'That's possible?' asked Ron.
'Apparantly so. Either that or stupider. Any rate, them with a Beater's bat is the last thing we want to associate with. Also, Malfoy's gotten a bit more deadly.'
'So? You always beat Malfoy. He's a pushover.'
'This time we might not be so lucky,' said Harry.
'Harry,' Hermione interrupted. 'It's nothing to do with luck. It's skill. Malfoy doesn't have as much as you. Relax! Susie's really hyped up . . . I'm sure everyone else is too.this one's in the bag.'
Harry was about to come up with a disagreeing retort when Ron said 'Hermione, hi. How was the Halloween meeting. Is it going to be a fun day?'
'Oh yeah. Malfoy and I have got the best surprise for you all.'
'You and Malfoy? Quite the team here I'm seeing,' said Harry teasingly.
'Yes, well, it's what you get when you're partners-in-Head. I'd much rather anyone else though, quite frankly.'
'We know Hermione, we know.'
Or did they know. Hermione was beginning to find Malfoy marginally OK to hang around. He still had the stupid expressions, the annoying tendency to fuss over his hair, the drawling voice, the uppity walk.and basically everything else that was wrong with him. But.Hermione was, for some reason, beginning to find him kind of.charming.
Charming? But this is Malfoy we're talking about. I hate him. He bullies Hagrid. He hates Harry and Ron. He's on the Dark Side . . .
Wait, no he's not. He's reformed.
Why's he still such a jerk then?
Or is he? He's been a lot nicer then usual.
This is too confusing. I'm going to sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was Saturday, 9 am. Hermione woke up with a start. Her head was hurting. She walked over to the mirror, pulled back the hair that had drooped over her eyes, and noticed a bump there. She'd fallen over in her dream. Also, her stomach felt worse. She grimaced and went downstairs. Harry and Ron wee sitting there. They looked up at Hermione and attempted to smile.
'Morning,' said Hermione.
'Hi,' replied Ron. 'Sleep well?'
'Look at this,' said Hermione. She pointed to her forehead, and Harry and Ron saw the bump there.
'I fell over in my dream,' Hermione explained. 'I think I also ran into something front on, because my stomach feels worse. I tell you, it better not get much worse then this because I'm not happy.'
'Hmm . . . you'll still be able to come to the Quidditch match though, right?'
'Of course. This is nothing. What about you two. Feeling pumped up?'
'Yeah. . . if slightly sick,' said Harry, attempting to grin.
'You'll be fine,' replied Hermione. 'I opt we go down to breakfast now, and get some food into you both.'
The pair of them nodded reluctantly, and the trio went down to the Great Hall. Hermione was about to sit down when Malfoy yelled at her.
'Granger! Come here! I have to ask you something!'
'I'm coming,' she mumbled, walking over to the other side of the Hall. Malfoy, in his Quidditch robes, looked amusedly at her Gryfindor supporting emblams and such.
'Lovely costume Granger. I suppose you think Gryffindor's going to win.'
'I think that every time Gryffindor play against Slytherin. After seven years it's become a habit . . . because you see Malfoy, we always win.'
'Uh-huh. And what are the heels for?'
Ahh, so Malfoy noticed that Hermione was sporting 2-inch heels 'They make me taller'. This was the absolute truth. She couldn't believe she was admitting it to him though.
'Ahh . . . you are upset about your appearance then -'
'What did you want to ask me, prat?'
'Relax Granger. Just keeping conversation. I wanted to find out if you'd perfected the Sonorus charm for the Halloween Day.'
'Malfoy, I've been able to do that spell for over a year. If you needed to know how to make the voices have effects and stuff like that, I can look that up for you.'
'Yeah.that would be good.'
'OK fine. I'll show you the results on Monday.' The Quidditch teams were beginning to leave the Hall. 'You better go get slogged by us. When you're done losing I'll be right there to rub it in.'
'I'm sure Granger. Goodbye.' And with that he walked off, flicking his hair behind him.
Prick, thought Hermione, as she went to find the Patil's and Lavender, who were working on making a huge banner for Gryffindor before the match.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At 11 o'clock everyone began filing into their seats. Hermione, between the Patil sisters, looked around excitedly for signs of Harry and Ron coming on. She was nervous, just as she normally was before a Quidditch match. She began bouncing up and down in anticipation.
Finally, out the 14 players came out of the change rooms, flying around and getting use to the air. Hermione caught Harry's and Ron's eyes, and they both waved furiously to her as they took their positions. Madam Hooch asked the captains to shake hands. Harry, Hermione could tell, was finding it a bit hard to Stun the Slytherin captain. She shook her head and sat back, ready to watch the game.
The whistle blew, and Dean Thomas, the new commentator the game's proceedings, began to talk.
'Well good morning everyone and welcome to the proceedings of today's game. I am Dean Thomas, ready to provide you with insightful commentary as to how the game is progressing. All right, it's Weasley to Bellnak. Susie Bellnak, by the way, is Gryffindor's new Chaser, and what a Chaser! She's SCREAMING along the pitch . . . '
Susie was, indeed, very good. Ginny and Lesley Lewis, a girl in Ginny's year at Hogwarts, who was essentially Alicia Spinnet's replacement, found it hard to keep up with her. Within the first 10 minutes, Susie had scored 3 goals. This did, however, compare with Slytherin's two . . . two that would have been 4 if it weren't for some nice saves by Ron.The tension was on. Hermione could see Harry and Malfoy giving each other the evil eyeball half the time and scanning furiously for the Snitch the other half.
'Bellnak to Lewis, Lewis to Weasley, Weasley running along, ooh! Hit in the gut by the Bludger. Quaffle taken by Pegsley, Pegsley to Sherriff . . .'
Suddenly Harry dived, looking very intently at the ground, Malfoy imitated him.
'Ahh, the Seekers seem to have found -SCORE BY BELLNAK! 40-20 to Gryffindor. As for the Seekers, Potter seems to be intent on finding that Snitch. Ooh, dodges a speeding bludger . . . nicely dodged too, because Malfoy got a clip off it and seems a little shaken. Potter rushing forward . . . YES!'
Harry had caught the Snitch! All right! Hermione screamed at the top of her lungs, then ran down towards the ground to congratulate Harry, as he and the rest of the team flew down to the ground.
Harry was having his back slapped and hair ruffled by anyone on sight. Harry saw Hermione and beamed. Hermione ran over to him and threw her arms around him.
'Oh Harry! Congratulations! You're ahead in the league now!'
'Ta Herms. Did you see Ron's save against Sherriff?'
'Yes! It was great! OK, Lavender and the Patil's and I are going.somewhere.' Hermione winked at Harry. 'We'll be back in half an hour.'
Hermione grabbed the other three girls and they all snuck off to the kitchens to get some much needed food for the Gryffindor party. Before they left, however, Hermione saw Malfoy's team. All 6 of them being harassed by the captain, Malfoy's head down in shame, most likely because he'd been a fraction too slow when Harry first saw the Snitch. Hermione felt sorry for him.for about a second. Then she remembered how Gryffindor won and that it was all good on her part so rar for that.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ha-har! I am done with this chapter. Sorry it's kinda.well.crap. There's only a few more days of school left for me, so rest assured there shall be many more chapters to come. Stick around. Review in the meantime! Make other people read the story! And etc!
Hiya all! Let's see how long this chapter takes! Lol. Reviews, reviews!!!
*~*ILUVRONWEASLEY: tim does fly doesn't he? Time also tends to fly. Lol. Anyhow, I hope you like this next one, and yes, I do agree that no-one's perfect.
*~*electra*27: hiya. Thank you so much for reviewing. I'm feeling a bit sparse on the review front at the moment, in case you haven't noticed.
*~*bombshell: indeed, cool is the word.
Disclaimer: I own. . . my cat, my brain and my consistent back pain. Ow.
OK, I think that's all. Let's begin.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Harry! Ron! I must have dozed off . . . I. . . ouch!'
'Hermione, what is it?' asked Ron, panicked.
Hermione was clutching her arm. Harry took her hand off it, and saw the fingernail marks there. Hermione lifted up her jumper slightly, and Harry and Ron saw the bruising she'd gotten from there. They looked at her in alarm.
'Hermione, how'd you get those injuries?'
Hermione didn't really know. She shook her head. 'I was dreaming. . . and. . . I got hit there. . . I don't understand it. . . do either of you?'
Harry and Ron looked somewhat guiltily at each other. Hermione was confused.
'You do know! How come I wasn't told? What's happening to me?'
Harry sat down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. 'Hermione, please understand us. We wanted to tell you, but Dumbledore forbade us until you were well again. We'll tell you now. Won't we Ron?'
'Yup,' said Ron. 'Absolutely.'
'So?' asked Hermione, looking from one of them to the other. 'What is it?'
'Hermione,' said Harry, taking hold of her hand. 'There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to say it. You've got Kedua's syndrome, Hermione.'
Hermione's eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. She did, naturally, know what it was. . . having just read about a famous Romanian King who had gotten it. 'No . . . I can't . . . only pure-bloods get that . . . '
'The resources aren't always accurate on that Hermione,' said Ron. 'It's very powerful witches and wizards that tend to get it. Powerful witches and wizards tend to be purebloods, because they have more concentrated magic in their veins. You are, however, Hermione, very powerful, despite being muggle born. Thusly, you are quite susceptible to Kedua's syndrome.'
'Oh,' Hermione replied.
There was an awkward pause. Ron began fidgeting. Hermione looked down, then up again. Nothing had changed . . . and her stomach was hurting quite a bit now.
'Um. . .' she said. 'Has anyone . . . um . . . died from it?'
'Just one person,' replied Harry. 'They couldn't cure him, and he dreamt himself drinking poison.'
Hermione, now notably frightened, then said. 'Right. So how do we prevent that from happening?'
'Well,' said Harry, 'Kedua's syndrome is caused by a powerful witch or wizards need for something worldwide and something personal. A lot of people need these things, but because powerful people are more powerful, when they're deprived of something, there will be more of a reaction, and Kedua's syndrome can occur. To cure it, you need to achieve these things.'
'Ahh,' said Hermione. 'But, something worldwide could be huge. What if I don't achieve it?'
'I read about this,' said Ron. 'That won't kill you. In all the cases of Kedua's syndrome (like, all 10 of them), the worldwide thing was eventually achieved.'
'OK. How will you know what these things I need are?'
'Well, that's the stinger,' said Harry. 'We're going to have to monitor your dreams.'
'Hmm,' replied Hermione thoughtfully. 'My dreams aren't very descriptive at the moment though-'
'Dumbledore said they wouldn't be. The disease has to develop. When we find out what the things you need are, we'll get them for you. Then you should be cured. Savvy?'
'Savvy,' replied Hermione slowly. She stood up, wincing. Harry and Ron watched her, concerned.
'Are you all right? Do you need to go down to the hospital wing?'
'No,' replied Hermione. 'No, I'm fine. Tired though. . . I'll go to bed. Good night.'
With that, Hermione went upstairs, leaving Harry and Ron's eyes trailing with immediate concern behind her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione woke up the next day with a slight headache. Great, she thought. Just when I thought they were gone. She'd had a feeling however that she hit it against a stone in the dream she'd been having. She got up, got dressed, and went down to breakfast.
The sight she saw before her was interesting. Draco Malfoy was standing in mid air (someone was levitating him) and he was talking to everyone in the school.
'. . . we believe that if everyone in the school worked together, this could be the best Halloween in Hogwarts history. All those for it say aye!'
'AYE!' yelled everyone. Hermione came up to Malfoy and tugged at his cloak. He looked down.
'Ah, Granger. How nice of you to join us. Come up here and back me up.'
Hermione rolled her eyes, but asked Dean to levitate her. Soon she was at Malfoy's eye level.
'You move fast don't you?' she whispered to him.
Malfoy smiled evilly at her. 'Faster then you'd care to know.'
Hermione was about to reply when Malfoy turned to face everyone else. 'So it's settled. I want all of you that signed this sheet of parchment to come to a meeting with Hermione and I at 4:00 this afternoon. We'll assign you jobs then. Thank you everyone.'
Everyone left abruptly, appearing to forget that Hermione and Malfoy were still hovering in mid-air, and the both of them fell to the ground a little too quickly.
'Ouch!' said Hermione. She'd landed on her stomach, which was still in pain. She clutched it.
'Don't die on me Granger,' said Malfoy, getting up. 'What's wrong with you anyway?'
For a split second, Hermione considered telling Malfoy about Kedua's syndrome. She immediately shook the thought off however, thinking 'what am I, stupid? This is MALFOY we're talking about. There's no way he'd care' . . . but she couldn't help feeling that he might . . .
'Nothing. Don't worry,' she said, standing up abruptly. 'Where are we meeting these people this afternoon?'
'Hmm? Oh, the History Of Magic room,' Malfoy replied. 'See you there,'
'Yeah', said Hermione to herself, as Malfoy walked off. 'See ya.'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
That evening Hermione made her way to the History Of Magic room in high spirits. She'd successfully managed to turn a porcupine into a precipice successfully, and nobody else had gotten close. She knew it was mean, but she loved it when she came out on top . . . she got reminded every time that she was still good at something. . . which comforted her sometimes.
She walked into the room to find that Malfoy wasn't there yet. She saw several eager beavers there though. She smiled that them all.
'Hello.'
'Hi Hermione,' said a familiar voice. Hermione turned her head slightly and saw Susie Bellnak grinning at her.
'Hello Susie. How've ya been?'
'All right,' she replied. 'Harry's been training me hard for Quidditch. Our first match is soon.'
'This weekend, right?'
'Yup! I can't wait.'
'Who're you against?'
'Slytherin.'
Hermione started. 'Ah. I was wondering why Harry'd begun muttering 'Kill' in his sleep.'
Susie laughed. 'Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me.'
Hermione was about to continue when Malfoy entered the room. She instead winked at Susie then joined Malfoy, who grinned down at her. Hermione could swear he'd gotten taller.
'For God's sakes Malfoy, don't you ever stop growing?'
'In exactly what way Granger?'
Hermione shook her head. 'You sicken me.'
'All right everyone. Are you all here?' Malfoy began addressing everyone else.
'All present and accounted for SIR!' pronounced Susie.
'Very good Ms Bellnak. OK, listen to the categories. Rides, Showbags, Stalls, Games, Foods, Drinks and Specialty. Every year gets one, and you all get to choose.apart from specialty . . . that's for the seventh years.'
'What's specialty?' asked Edgar Bussing, a 4th Year.
Hermione looked at Malfoy curiously. He winked, tapped his nose and said 'Never you mind. It's a surprise.'
Hermione narrowed her eyes at Malfoy. She didn't like the sound of this.
When everyone else had been assigned their various roles, and had left, so that Draco and Hermione were the last people in the room, Hermione turned to him and went 'Specialty? What are you thinking of for that Malfoy?'
'Don't be so cold towards me Granger. I did mean to consult you about it, but unfortunately, because of that last disagreement we had in Ancient Runes, I didn't have a chance to chat to you about it today.'
Hermione blushed. That last time in Ancient Runes Malfoy had aimed her wand at Hermione's hair, wanting to use a spell that the medieval mastermind Gwendolis used in the 1600's to make anyone he disliked bald. Unfortuantely before he'd had a chance to do it, Hermione had done it to him. This resulted in a humongous duel, and the teacher eventually replacing Malfoy's hair and taking 200 points off each of their respective houses. . . oh, and the promise never to go anywhere near the other one for the rest of the time they were at Hogwarts.
'So,' Malfoy continued. 'I'll tell you about it now.'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Half an hour later Hermione returned to the Common Room. Malfoy's idea was brilliant. The whole school would be in stitches of laughter all through the Halloween feast. She couldn't wait to unveil it on the day.
She entered the Common Room to find Harry and Ron sitting there, in the middle of what was obviously a serious discussion. Hermione sat down next to Harry on the couch.
'So,' Harry was saying. 'I'm going to have to get the snitch pretty quickly. Crabbe and Goyle have gotten nastier over the holidays.'
'That's possible?' asked Ron.
'Apparantly so. Either that or stupider. Any rate, them with a Beater's bat is the last thing we want to associate with. Also, Malfoy's gotten a bit more deadly.'
'So? You always beat Malfoy. He's a pushover.'
'This time we might not be so lucky,' said Harry.
'Harry,' Hermione interrupted. 'It's nothing to do with luck. It's skill. Malfoy doesn't have as much as you. Relax! Susie's really hyped up . . . I'm sure everyone else is too.this one's in the bag.'
Harry was about to come up with a disagreeing retort when Ron said 'Hermione, hi. How was the Halloween meeting. Is it going to be a fun day?'
'Oh yeah. Malfoy and I have got the best surprise for you all.'
'You and Malfoy? Quite the team here I'm seeing,' said Harry teasingly.
'Yes, well, it's what you get when you're partners-in-Head. I'd much rather anyone else though, quite frankly.'
'We know Hermione, we know.'
Or did they know. Hermione was beginning to find Malfoy marginally OK to hang around. He still had the stupid expressions, the annoying tendency to fuss over his hair, the drawling voice, the uppity walk.and basically everything else that was wrong with him. But.Hermione was, for some reason, beginning to find him kind of.charming.
Charming? But this is Malfoy we're talking about. I hate him. He bullies Hagrid. He hates Harry and Ron. He's on the Dark Side . . .
Wait, no he's not. He's reformed.
Why's he still such a jerk then?
Or is he? He's been a lot nicer then usual.
This is too confusing. I'm going to sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was Saturday, 9 am. Hermione woke up with a start. Her head was hurting. She walked over to the mirror, pulled back the hair that had drooped over her eyes, and noticed a bump there. She'd fallen over in her dream. Also, her stomach felt worse. She grimaced and went downstairs. Harry and Ron wee sitting there. They looked up at Hermione and attempted to smile.
'Morning,' said Hermione.
'Hi,' replied Ron. 'Sleep well?'
'Look at this,' said Hermione. She pointed to her forehead, and Harry and Ron saw the bump there.
'I fell over in my dream,' Hermione explained. 'I think I also ran into something front on, because my stomach feels worse. I tell you, it better not get much worse then this because I'm not happy.'
'Hmm . . . you'll still be able to come to the Quidditch match though, right?'
'Of course. This is nothing. What about you two. Feeling pumped up?'
'Yeah. . . if slightly sick,' said Harry, attempting to grin.
'You'll be fine,' replied Hermione. 'I opt we go down to breakfast now, and get some food into you both.'
The pair of them nodded reluctantly, and the trio went down to the Great Hall. Hermione was about to sit down when Malfoy yelled at her.
'Granger! Come here! I have to ask you something!'
'I'm coming,' she mumbled, walking over to the other side of the Hall. Malfoy, in his Quidditch robes, looked amusedly at her Gryfindor supporting emblams and such.
'Lovely costume Granger. I suppose you think Gryffindor's going to win.'
'I think that every time Gryffindor play against Slytherin. After seven years it's become a habit . . . because you see Malfoy, we always win.'
'Uh-huh. And what are the heels for?'
Ahh, so Malfoy noticed that Hermione was sporting 2-inch heels 'They make me taller'. This was the absolute truth. She couldn't believe she was admitting it to him though.
'Ahh . . . you are upset about your appearance then -'
'What did you want to ask me, prat?'
'Relax Granger. Just keeping conversation. I wanted to find out if you'd perfected the Sonorus charm for the Halloween Day.'
'Malfoy, I've been able to do that spell for over a year. If you needed to know how to make the voices have effects and stuff like that, I can look that up for you.'
'Yeah.that would be good.'
'OK fine. I'll show you the results on Monday.' The Quidditch teams were beginning to leave the Hall. 'You better go get slogged by us. When you're done losing I'll be right there to rub it in.'
'I'm sure Granger. Goodbye.' And with that he walked off, flicking his hair behind him.
Prick, thought Hermione, as she went to find the Patil's and Lavender, who were working on making a huge banner for Gryffindor before the match.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At 11 o'clock everyone began filing into their seats. Hermione, between the Patil sisters, looked around excitedly for signs of Harry and Ron coming on. She was nervous, just as she normally was before a Quidditch match. She began bouncing up and down in anticipation.
Finally, out the 14 players came out of the change rooms, flying around and getting use to the air. Hermione caught Harry's and Ron's eyes, and they both waved furiously to her as they took their positions. Madam Hooch asked the captains to shake hands. Harry, Hermione could tell, was finding it a bit hard to Stun the Slytherin captain. She shook her head and sat back, ready to watch the game.
The whistle blew, and Dean Thomas, the new commentator the game's proceedings, began to talk.
'Well good morning everyone and welcome to the proceedings of today's game. I am Dean Thomas, ready to provide you with insightful commentary as to how the game is progressing. All right, it's Weasley to Bellnak. Susie Bellnak, by the way, is Gryffindor's new Chaser, and what a Chaser! She's SCREAMING along the pitch . . . '
Susie was, indeed, very good. Ginny and Lesley Lewis, a girl in Ginny's year at Hogwarts, who was essentially Alicia Spinnet's replacement, found it hard to keep up with her. Within the first 10 minutes, Susie had scored 3 goals. This did, however, compare with Slytherin's two . . . two that would have been 4 if it weren't for some nice saves by Ron.The tension was on. Hermione could see Harry and Malfoy giving each other the evil eyeball half the time and scanning furiously for the Snitch the other half.
'Bellnak to Lewis, Lewis to Weasley, Weasley running along, ooh! Hit in the gut by the Bludger. Quaffle taken by Pegsley, Pegsley to Sherriff . . .'
Suddenly Harry dived, looking very intently at the ground, Malfoy imitated him.
'Ahh, the Seekers seem to have found -SCORE BY BELLNAK! 40-20 to Gryffindor. As for the Seekers, Potter seems to be intent on finding that Snitch. Ooh, dodges a speeding bludger . . . nicely dodged too, because Malfoy got a clip off it and seems a little shaken. Potter rushing forward . . . YES!'
Harry had caught the Snitch! All right! Hermione screamed at the top of her lungs, then ran down towards the ground to congratulate Harry, as he and the rest of the team flew down to the ground.
Harry was having his back slapped and hair ruffled by anyone on sight. Harry saw Hermione and beamed. Hermione ran over to him and threw her arms around him.
'Oh Harry! Congratulations! You're ahead in the league now!'
'Ta Herms. Did you see Ron's save against Sherriff?'
'Yes! It was great! OK, Lavender and the Patil's and I are going.somewhere.' Hermione winked at Harry. 'We'll be back in half an hour.'
Hermione grabbed the other three girls and they all snuck off to the kitchens to get some much needed food for the Gryffindor party. Before they left, however, Hermione saw Malfoy's team. All 6 of them being harassed by the captain, Malfoy's head down in shame, most likely because he'd been a fraction too slow when Harry first saw the Snitch. Hermione felt sorry for him.for about a second. Then she remembered how Gryffindor won and that it was all good on her part so rar for that.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ha-har! I am done with this chapter. Sorry it's kinda.well.crap. There's only a few more days of school left for me, so rest assured there shall be many more chapters to come. Stick around. Review in the meantime! Make other people read the story! And etc!