Chapter 10: Leading Up to Christmas
Hi again everyone. I'm glad you seem to be enjoying the story so far, all of you. I'm not sure how many reviews I've got but I'm hoping I'll have more with the inclusion of this chapter.
Reviews:
*~*ILUVRONWEASLEY: well I don't want Ron to become a perfect little Mary Sue (but male) character. Poking is essential! Lol. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed that. Yay, go Kurt! I was going for him. Did you hear what our judge said: 'You have the voice of an angel but the looks of a hobbit.' Hehe, go Dicko! Ahh yeah, I seem to repeat things. And lastly, yeah, the motto. It's Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (I find myself very smooth for being able to remember that), I think Draco means Dragon, Dormiens means Sleeping, Nunquam means never and Titillandus means tickle. And if you swap around the sentence and everything, it will mean 'Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon'. Latin's a lot like Spanish, which my dad's fluent in.
*~*rupy: are you American? You can say happy new year anyway, I'm not fussed. I mean, it's the 3rd of January here and it still feels stubbornly like 2003. :S. If you wanted my story finished soon you may have to wait a while, I still have half the year, plus Hermione and Malfoy's relationship, the winning over of the good side, etc, to go. I'd recommend you keep reading, and make sure this story's on you author alert list because it will take me a while.
*~*sarah(): that's so sweet, thank you for that. And yeah, I hate it when they do that too. True love realised at the end, all the way! Hehehehe. Thanks for your review and keep reading!
*~*sarah (again): will do. Thanks!
*~*Tigergurlz14: next is this chapter, I am updating right now, I have two other stories but I am not continuing with them . . . this one is my one and only. I'm hoping I'll actually finish this story, because I write heaps of stories and I only get about halfway, or whatever. I'm sure, some time, I will work on finishing them. But for now this is my story. Thanks for the compliment. Love your name btw.
*~*ghypscee: well, I was experimenting with ways in which to get more people to review. I'll stop it though . . . my self image is appauling. Thank you for the compliments, and I'm glad you're enjoying my story.
*~*paprika90: yes I'm glad I helped you understand. I don't want my readers to not understand the plot! Lol. And keep reading, yes!
*~*Serena: hello! Yes, read, read many-a-time!
*~*Serena (again): that's great, and yes I'm on it.
*~*Amy: sounds good!
A handy suggestion for you all: if you wish to be continually updated as to when I have a new chapter up, rather then checking the hard way, I suggest you put my story (and any others that fit this criteria) on the Author Alert list. That way you get a nice friendly email telling you there's another new chapter up.
OK, I think that's all . . . oh wait . . .
Disclaimer: OK, on New Years Eve I went shopping with a friend, and I bought two new mobile phone covers, a calender, a diary and a chocolate Christmas tree that I got $10 off. Can't eat it for a few weeks though. Grrrr . . . and hopefully before Australia Day (26th Jan . . . it's hard to believe that other countries don't have Australia Day or Anzac Day) I'll have a video camera. Mum's gonna buy it from the States if I can persuade her. And guys, please remember, my name will be temporarily changing to paulm-my-luv. Only temporarily, mind.
All right, let's begin!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Two weeks later, Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room, and flopped down on the couch in complete exhaustion.
Malfoy had been working her quite tirelessly. She was doing the same to him, and they'd come to a mutual agreement that they both needed to rest for an afternoon. They'd both been seeing each other in the Quiet Room every day to make plans for the Christmas ball, and then holding prefect meetings about it.
Hermione, as she was lying on the couch, ran through the conversation held in today's meeting.
*~*~
'So . . .' said Edward, who was sitting next to Susie, playing a game of Exploding nap with her 'When's the end of term?'
'This Friday,' replied Hermione, smiling blissfully to herself. She really needed the break.
'Right,' replied Edward, as he banged a card down, causing the pack to explode and both he and Susie to have rather scorched eyebrows.
'I'm confused,' said Portus McLachlan. 'What was it that's happening with us getting here again?'
'You remember,' said Helen, giving Portus a shove on the arm. 'We catch the Hogwarts express on 11 o'clock on Christmas Day. We'll arrive at the school in the evening, about 2 hours before the Ball is scheduled to begin. That'll give us time to dress and such.'
'Ahh, right,' said Portus thoughtfully.
'Yes,' said Malfoy. 'So that means we need to finish planning by Friday. Or most of it anyway. Is anyone besides me staying around for the holidays?'
'I am,' said Susie. 'My parents don't think they could handle me this year. Anyway, they're going to visit my brother in Madrid. So I can help out.'
'Fantastic,' replied Malfoy. 'No-one else then?'
No-one raised a hand.
'OK, that's fine,' said Malfoy, though Hermione could tell he was slightly miffed. She felt a little sorry for him, having to stay around here for the holidays with no-one to talk to. His Slytherin friends had kind of abandoned him, and he didn't really want to socialise with them anyway. Hermione had begun to think that perhaps she was the only friend Malfoy really had. They had gotten a lot closer throughout the course of the year. However, despite his lack of friends, Hermione silently believed that he'd be very able to deal with it all, just like she had when she didn't have any friends. She just privately thought having friends was a lot better, that's all.
'OK everyone,' she'd said at the meeting. 'I think that's all. We'll see you again on Friday, give you a little break. In the meantime, Ravenclaws, PLEASE talk to Flitwick about what he's doing about the decorations in the Great Hall, and is he using that colour-changing tinsel Hermione and I made.'
'Yes yes,' said the Ravenclaws, looking annoyed at Malfoy's distrustment of them.
*~*~
Hermione had no idea where Harry and Ron were. They probably still hadn't quite gotten over Gryffindor's spectacular win over Ravenclaw. It was fairly hard to believe Gryffindor could pull it off against Ravenclaws Keeper, Hans Dephree (who was, incidently, the best Keeper Hogwarts had ever seen for several centuries. Only in 2nd year as well). But Harry had pulled through with a great catch of the Snitch.
All this thinking was making her very tired (you know how when you think a lot and you're really tired, you get even more tired? I'm using that). Before she could stop herself, she'd fallen asleep.
She was walking along a corridor, this time. There were blurry images all around her. One of them seemed to be going in the same direction as she was going, so she decided to follow it. They walked left, right, left again, and left again . . . until they stopped, the blurry image made a motion, and they walked for a few more paces, and stopped before another blurry object.
The object then made a sound. Hermione strained her ears to listen. It was hard to hear because it was so distilled. She heard it say faintly 'Hermione?'
Hermione was shocked. She nearly fainted. 'Mum?' she said. And she tried to reach the blurry image, which seemed to be getting clearer . . .
And suddenly she was hit, and pushed away by another blurry image. She was hit again, hard, on the head. She kept trying to reach the image she believed was her mother, but she couldn't get it at, she was being hit even more, and more . . . trying to reach . . .
Hands were shaking her, and someone was yelling 'Hermione, wake up!'
'No!' she yelled, being hit again, this time really really hard in the stomach. 'I need to get to her . . .'
'Wake up Hermione!'
And she woke. She was in the common room again, and Harry and Ron were there, both with a hand on her shoulder.
'Harry! Ron!' she exclaimed. 'My mum, my mum!' then she fainted.
'Ron, look!' said Harry. Ron looked where Harry was pointing, and saw the heavy mark on Hermione's head, where she'd obviously been hit. It looked bad.
'Ron, she might have concussion, come on!' said Harry.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione woke up in the hospital wing. She tried to sit up but received a sharp bite by her stomach as she tried to do this, so settled on flopping back down again.
'What day is it?' she asked the ceiling.
'Hermione!' said a voice that was obviously Harry's. 'You're awake!'
'It's Thursday, by the way,' said Rons unmistakable voice.
'What happened?' asked Hermione.
'Well, you fainted, but before you did, you said something about your mother,' Harry started.
'So,' Ron continued 'You're in the Hospital wing until Christmas Eve. 'We've figured out your dreams have advanced enough for the hospital staff to begin trying to decipher them.'
Hermione felt the other side of her head, and there was some sort of contraption there.
'Oh, that thing. We didn't get the finer details, but apparently it provides a detailed account of what's going on inside your head while you're sleeping.'
'So no-one can read my thoughts now?'
'No. Just when you've got a Kedua-related dream, will this thing switch on. So never fear.'
'OK.' Hermione lay there, looking at the ceiling, thinking about this.
'Until Christmas Eve then?' she said finally.
'Yeah,' replied Ron, seeming a bit downcast. 'Sorry we couldn't have you over, but Madam Pomfrey is insisting that they monitor you now, before it's too late, and it requires at least a week.'
'Well, it is exactly a week away from Christmas Eve,' said Hermione. 'Let's hope they figure it out by then, I guess.'
'Yeah.'
Hermione raised her hand to her face then, to check her watch.
'9.00 in the morning? Shouldn't you guys be in class?'
Harry checked his as well. 'Hmm yeah, you're right. We'll see you this afternoon, Hermione.'
And with that, Harry leant over, kissed her on the forehead, and he and Ron departed.
Hermione sighed. She wondered if she could ask for a book.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At around midday Hermione had another visitor. Guess who.
No, there's not prizes, sorry.
'Hello Granger.'
'Oh boy,' said Hermione mockingly, under the cover of Transfiguration in Practise. 'Just what I need.'
Madam Pomfrey had, by then, taught Hermione how to raise her bed, so she proceeded to do so, and saw Malfoy leaning against the doorway, smiling.
'I am so sure.' He walked over to the nearest chair. 'So how you going?'
'Err.my stomach is in very large amounts of pain, I have a weird gismo in my head, and I'm missing out on school. You?'
'Well, pretty good, because now I've got something to do during the first week of the holidays. That is, visit you.'
'I'm thrilled,' said Hermione 'That I am a reliable source of entertainment for you.' She meant it jokingly of course.
Then they both heard the magical buzzer ring, signalling the beginning of the next lesson.
Malfoy stood up and, pretending he was raising a top hat at her, went 'Fare thee well, my fair lady,' and headed out.
Hermione smiled. She was kind of glad Malfoy was her friend now. It was a very weird thing to think about; them being friends. Considering how much they'd hated each other before. Evidently the whole 'opposites attract' thing came into play; when they were forced get close enough to each other.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Term ended. Harry and Ron went to visit her just as they were leaving, and they each gave Hermione a huge hug as she left. She thanked them both, and assured them many-a-time that she would be just fine, and they didn't need to worry.
For the days leading up to Christmas Hermione was entertained quite pleasantly by Malfoy, who came and visited her during the day. Malfoy would tell her stories about life at the Manor. It sounded as though he'd been through a fair amount (or rather, an unfair amount, lol).
The day before Christmas Eve Hermione asked him a question that most probably took him by surprise.
'Why were you so keen on being in Slytherin? And are you still keen about it?'
After the initial shock, Malfoy smiled at her and said 'Well, people change. I did want to be in Slytherin because it was family heritage and it's a powerful house. And of course, the most evil witches and wizards alive were in Slytherin.'
'So . . .' said Hermione 'You wanted to be evil?'
'Of course,' replied Malfoy. 'I'd dreamed about it since I was five. I knew the dark Lord would be back, and I wanted nothing more then to be part of his power. I wanted to be his second-in-command. That was my childhood dream.'
Hermione felt sad that this new friend of hers once had such opposing beliefs to her own. She didn't like that.
'So what made you change your mind?' she asked.
Malfoy sighed, and came closer to her. 'I guess I realised, in the summer, while Dad was doing important Dark Lord stuff, that it wasn't right. My father is willing to kill, and torture (Hermione smiled grimly), innocent people, just for a little bit more power. I still want power, I still want to be known, but I don't want to hurt people in the process.'
Malfoy paused, thinking it over.
'And of course now,' he said, thinking about it 'I have certain friends that I don't wish to hurt any more then they have been hurt already.'
Hermione smiled at him, truly touched. 'Thank you.'
My pleasure,' he replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. 'Game?'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
That night as Hermione was sleeping, the gizmo in her head activated.
Madam Pomfrey, who was finishing some papers on students that ad been in the Wing, noticed this. 'About time too,' she said aloud.
She walked over to Hermiones bed, and waved her wand around in a seemingly basic, however hard to perfect, way.
A magical image projected in front of Hermione, a translucent view of Hermione's dream. Mdam Pomfrey, clipboard in hand, began trying to figure out what the dream meant. She was watching Hermione, trying to guide her way through blurry images . . . 'Oh my God,' Madam Pomfrey said.
She took a pouch of powder out of her pocket, and threw a handful into the fireplace.
'Albus!' she said. 'Wake up! You have to see this!'
3 seconds later Dumbledore came out of the fireplace, in his sleeping gear.
'What's the matter Poppy?' he asked.
'Look,' she replied. 'Look at Miss Granger's dream.'
Dumbledore turned to face Hermione, and hence see her fighting through the blurry objects.
'I'm not half as good at interpreting dreams as you Poppy. I don't understand this.'
'OK,' said Madam Pomfrey. 'Look at where she's trying to get.'
Dumbledore followed Hermione's stare, and saw another blurry object, but this one didn't seem as blurry as the others. It seemed to, in fact, get less blurry as Dumbledore watched it.
'What is that?' he asked.
'It's Peace, Albus,' she replied. 'And Love.'
Dumbledore stared back at the image.
'So, what Miss Granger needs is Peace, evidently the end of the battle between us and Voldemort.'
After Madam Pomfrey recovered from Dumbledore saying the name, he continued. 'And Love'.
'So . . . so nobody loves her . . .'
'It would seem that way Poppy.'
They noticed then that Hermione was taking, again, a fair beating, and they both rushed to her side in order to wake her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sorry, everyone, that this chapter is so short. I couldn't continue from that however. It just wouldn't be right.
So, there you go. I don't think I took that long. Hehe. Review oh please review. I feed off these reviews. Also, you might need a question answered. I can answer this, trust me.
Also, are you all aware of my change of name?
Hi again everyone. I'm glad you seem to be enjoying the story so far, all of you. I'm not sure how many reviews I've got but I'm hoping I'll have more with the inclusion of this chapter.
Reviews:
*~*ILUVRONWEASLEY: well I don't want Ron to become a perfect little Mary Sue (but male) character. Poking is essential! Lol. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed that. Yay, go Kurt! I was going for him. Did you hear what our judge said: 'You have the voice of an angel but the looks of a hobbit.' Hehe, go Dicko! Ahh yeah, I seem to repeat things. And lastly, yeah, the motto. It's Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (I find myself very smooth for being able to remember that), I think Draco means Dragon, Dormiens means Sleeping, Nunquam means never and Titillandus means tickle. And if you swap around the sentence and everything, it will mean 'Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon'. Latin's a lot like Spanish, which my dad's fluent in.
*~*rupy: are you American? You can say happy new year anyway, I'm not fussed. I mean, it's the 3rd of January here and it still feels stubbornly like 2003. :S. If you wanted my story finished soon you may have to wait a while, I still have half the year, plus Hermione and Malfoy's relationship, the winning over of the good side, etc, to go. I'd recommend you keep reading, and make sure this story's on you author alert list because it will take me a while.
*~*sarah(): that's so sweet, thank you for that. And yeah, I hate it when they do that too. True love realised at the end, all the way! Hehehehe. Thanks for your review and keep reading!
*~*sarah (again): will do. Thanks!
*~*Tigergurlz14: next is this chapter, I am updating right now, I have two other stories but I am not continuing with them . . . this one is my one and only. I'm hoping I'll actually finish this story, because I write heaps of stories and I only get about halfway, or whatever. I'm sure, some time, I will work on finishing them. But for now this is my story. Thanks for the compliment. Love your name btw.
*~*ghypscee: well, I was experimenting with ways in which to get more people to review. I'll stop it though . . . my self image is appauling. Thank you for the compliments, and I'm glad you're enjoying my story.
*~*paprika90: yes I'm glad I helped you understand. I don't want my readers to not understand the plot! Lol. And keep reading, yes!
*~*Serena: hello! Yes, read, read many-a-time!
*~*Serena (again): that's great, and yes I'm on it.
*~*Amy: sounds good!
A handy suggestion for you all: if you wish to be continually updated as to when I have a new chapter up, rather then checking the hard way, I suggest you put my story (and any others that fit this criteria) on the Author Alert list. That way you get a nice friendly email telling you there's another new chapter up.
OK, I think that's all . . . oh wait . . .
Disclaimer: OK, on New Years Eve I went shopping with a friend, and I bought two new mobile phone covers, a calender, a diary and a chocolate Christmas tree that I got $10 off. Can't eat it for a few weeks though. Grrrr . . . and hopefully before Australia Day (26th Jan . . . it's hard to believe that other countries don't have Australia Day or Anzac Day) I'll have a video camera. Mum's gonna buy it from the States if I can persuade her. And guys, please remember, my name will be temporarily changing to paulm-my-luv. Only temporarily, mind.
All right, let's begin!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Two weeks later, Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room, and flopped down on the couch in complete exhaustion.
Malfoy had been working her quite tirelessly. She was doing the same to him, and they'd come to a mutual agreement that they both needed to rest for an afternoon. They'd both been seeing each other in the Quiet Room every day to make plans for the Christmas ball, and then holding prefect meetings about it.
Hermione, as she was lying on the couch, ran through the conversation held in today's meeting.
*~*~
'So . . .' said Edward, who was sitting next to Susie, playing a game of Exploding nap with her 'When's the end of term?'
'This Friday,' replied Hermione, smiling blissfully to herself. She really needed the break.
'Right,' replied Edward, as he banged a card down, causing the pack to explode and both he and Susie to have rather scorched eyebrows.
'I'm confused,' said Portus McLachlan. 'What was it that's happening with us getting here again?'
'You remember,' said Helen, giving Portus a shove on the arm. 'We catch the Hogwarts express on 11 o'clock on Christmas Day. We'll arrive at the school in the evening, about 2 hours before the Ball is scheduled to begin. That'll give us time to dress and such.'
'Ahh, right,' said Portus thoughtfully.
'Yes,' said Malfoy. 'So that means we need to finish planning by Friday. Or most of it anyway. Is anyone besides me staying around for the holidays?'
'I am,' said Susie. 'My parents don't think they could handle me this year. Anyway, they're going to visit my brother in Madrid. So I can help out.'
'Fantastic,' replied Malfoy. 'No-one else then?'
No-one raised a hand.
'OK, that's fine,' said Malfoy, though Hermione could tell he was slightly miffed. She felt a little sorry for him, having to stay around here for the holidays with no-one to talk to. His Slytherin friends had kind of abandoned him, and he didn't really want to socialise with them anyway. Hermione had begun to think that perhaps she was the only friend Malfoy really had. They had gotten a lot closer throughout the course of the year. However, despite his lack of friends, Hermione silently believed that he'd be very able to deal with it all, just like she had when she didn't have any friends. She just privately thought having friends was a lot better, that's all.
'OK everyone,' she'd said at the meeting. 'I think that's all. We'll see you again on Friday, give you a little break. In the meantime, Ravenclaws, PLEASE talk to Flitwick about what he's doing about the decorations in the Great Hall, and is he using that colour-changing tinsel Hermione and I made.'
'Yes yes,' said the Ravenclaws, looking annoyed at Malfoy's distrustment of them.
*~*~
Hermione had no idea where Harry and Ron were. They probably still hadn't quite gotten over Gryffindor's spectacular win over Ravenclaw. It was fairly hard to believe Gryffindor could pull it off against Ravenclaws Keeper, Hans Dephree (who was, incidently, the best Keeper Hogwarts had ever seen for several centuries. Only in 2nd year as well). But Harry had pulled through with a great catch of the Snitch.
All this thinking was making her very tired (you know how when you think a lot and you're really tired, you get even more tired? I'm using that). Before she could stop herself, she'd fallen asleep.
She was walking along a corridor, this time. There were blurry images all around her. One of them seemed to be going in the same direction as she was going, so she decided to follow it. They walked left, right, left again, and left again . . . until they stopped, the blurry image made a motion, and they walked for a few more paces, and stopped before another blurry object.
The object then made a sound. Hermione strained her ears to listen. It was hard to hear because it was so distilled. She heard it say faintly 'Hermione?'
Hermione was shocked. She nearly fainted. 'Mum?' she said. And she tried to reach the blurry image, which seemed to be getting clearer . . .
And suddenly she was hit, and pushed away by another blurry image. She was hit again, hard, on the head. She kept trying to reach the image she believed was her mother, but she couldn't get it at, she was being hit even more, and more . . . trying to reach . . .
Hands were shaking her, and someone was yelling 'Hermione, wake up!'
'No!' she yelled, being hit again, this time really really hard in the stomach. 'I need to get to her . . .'
'Wake up Hermione!'
And she woke. She was in the common room again, and Harry and Ron were there, both with a hand on her shoulder.
'Harry! Ron!' she exclaimed. 'My mum, my mum!' then she fainted.
'Ron, look!' said Harry. Ron looked where Harry was pointing, and saw the heavy mark on Hermione's head, where she'd obviously been hit. It looked bad.
'Ron, she might have concussion, come on!' said Harry.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione woke up in the hospital wing. She tried to sit up but received a sharp bite by her stomach as she tried to do this, so settled on flopping back down again.
'What day is it?' she asked the ceiling.
'Hermione!' said a voice that was obviously Harry's. 'You're awake!'
'It's Thursday, by the way,' said Rons unmistakable voice.
'What happened?' asked Hermione.
'Well, you fainted, but before you did, you said something about your mother,' Harry started.
'So,' Ron continued 'You're in the Hospital wing until Christmas Eve. 'We've figured out your dreams have advanced enough for the hospital staff to begin trying to decipher them.'
Hermione felt the other side of her head, and there was some sort of contraption there.
'Oh, that thing. We didn't get the finer details, but apparently it provides a detailed account of what's going on inside your head while you're sleeping.'
'So no-one can read my thoughts now?'
'No. Just when you've got a Kedua-related dream, will this thing switch on. So never fear.'
'OK.' Hermione lay there, looking at the ceiling, thinking about this.
'Until Christmas Eve then?' she said finally.
'Yeah,' replied Ron, seeming a bit downcast. 'Sorry we couldn't have you over, but Madam Pomfrey is insisting that they monitor you now, before it's too late, and it requires at least a week.'
'Well, it is exactly a week away from Christmas Eve,' said Hermione. 'Let's hope they figure it out by then, I guess.'
'Yeah.'
Hermione raised her hand to her face then, to check her watch.
'9.00 in the morning? Shouldn't you guys be in class?'
Harry checked his as well. 'Hmm yeah, you're right. We'll see you this afternoon, Hermione.'
And with that, Harry leant over, kissed her on the forehead, and he and Ron departed.
Hermione sighed. She wondered if she could ask for a book.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At around midday Hermione had another visitor. Guess who.
No, there's not prizes, sorry.
'Hello Granger.'
'Oh boy,' said Hermione mockingly, under the cover of Transfiguration in Practise. 'Just what I need.'
Madam Pomfrey had, by then, taught Hermione how to raise her bed, so she proceeded to do so, and saw Malfoy leaning against the doorway, smiling.
'I am so sure.' He walked over to the nearest chair. 'So how you going?'
'Err.my stomach is in very large amounts of pain, I have a weird gismo in my head, and I'm missing out on school. You?'
'Well, pretty good, because now I've got something to do during the first week of the holidays. That is, visit you.'
'I'm thrilled,' said Hermione 'That I am a reliable source of entertainment for you.' She meant it jokingly of course.
Then they both heard the magical buzzer ring, signalling the beginning of the next lesson.
Malfoy stood up and, pretending he was raising a top hat at her, went 'Fare thee well, my fair lady,' and headed out.
Hermione smiled. She was kind of glad Malfoy was her friend now. It was a very weird thing to think about; them being friends. Considering how much they'd hated each other before. Evidently the whole 'opposites attract' thing came into play; when they were forced get close enough to each other.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Term ended. Harry and Ron went to visit her just as they were leaving, and they each gave Hermione a huge hug as she left. She thanked them both, and assured them many-a-time that she would be just fine, and they didn't need to worry.
For the days leading up to Christmas Hermione was entertained quite pleasantly by Malfoy, who came and visited her during the day. Malfoy would tell her stories about life at the Manor. It sounded as though he'd been through a fair amount (or rather, an unfair amount, lol).
The day before Christmas Eve Hermione asked him a question that most probably took him by surprise.
'Why were you so keen on being in Slytherin? And are you still keen about it?'
After the initial shock, Malfoy smiled at her and said 'Well, people change. I did want to be in Slytherin because it was family heritage and it's a powerful house. And of course, the most evil witches and wizards alive were in Slytherin.'
'So . . .' said Hermione 'You wanted to be evil?'
'Of course,' replied Malfoy. 'I'd dreamed about it since I was five. I knew the dark Lord would be back, and I wanted nothing more then to be part of his power. I wanted to be his second-in-command. That was my childhood dream.'
Hermione felt sad that this new friend of hers once had such opposing beliefs to her own. She didn't like that.
'So what made you change your mind?' she asked.
Malfoy sighed, and came closer to her. 'I guess I realised, in the summer, while Dad was doing important Dark Lord stuff, that it wasn't right. My father is willing to kill, and torture (Hermione smiled grimly), innocent people, just for a little bit more power. I still want power, I still want to be known, but I don't want to hurt people in the process.'
Malfoy paused, thinking it over.
'And of course now,' he said, thinking about it 'I have certain friends that I don't wish to hurt any more then they have been hurt already.'
Hermione smiled at him, truly touched. 'Thank you.'
My pleasure,' he replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. 'Game?'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
That night as Hermione was sleeping, the gizmo in her head activated.
Madam Pomfrey, who was finishing some papers on students that ad been in the Wing, noticed this. 'About time too,' she said aloud.
She walked over to Hermiones bed, and waved her wand around in a seemingly basic, however hard to perfect, way.
A magical image projected in front of Hermione, a translucent view of Hermione's dream. Mdam Pomfrey, clipboard in hand, began trying to figure out what the dream meant. She was watching Hermione, trying to guide her way through blurry images . . . 'Oh my God,' Madam Pomfrey said.
She took a pouch of powder out of her pocket, and threw a handful into the fireplace.
'Albus!' she said. 'Wake up! You have to see this!'
3 seconds later Dumbledore came out of the fireplace, in his sleeping gear.
'What's the matter Poppy?' he asked.
'Look,' she replied. 'Look at Miss Granger's dream.'
Dumbledore turned to face Hermione, and hence see her fighting through the blurry objects.
'I'm not half as good at interpreting dreams as you Poppy. I don't understand this.'
'OK,' said Madam Pomfrey. 'Look at where she's trying to get.'
Dumbledore followed Hermione's stare, and saw another blurry object, but this one didn't seem as blurry as the others. It seemed to, in fact, get less blurry as Dumbledore watched it.
'What is that?' he asked.
'It's Peace, Albus,' she replied. 'And Love.'
Dumbledore stared back at the image.
'So, what Miss Granger needs is Peace, evidently the end of the battle between us and Voldemort.'
After Madam Pomfrey recovered from Dumbledore saying the name, he continued. 'And Love'.
'So . . . so nobody loves her . . .'
'It would seem that way Poppy.'
They noticed then that Hermione was taking, again, a fair beating, and they both rushed to her side in order to wake her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sorry, everyone, that this chapter is so short. I couldn't continue from that however. It just wouldn't be right.
So, there you go. I don't think I took that long. Hehe. Review oh please review. I feed off these reviews. Also, you might need a question answered. I can answer this, trust me.
Also, are you all aware of my change of name?