I just had to quickly take the time to recognize all my awesome reviewers:
Son Christine, Silver Hanyou: You guys are the best. Thanks so much for reviewing- even when you totally didn't have to. I was just thinking about the great FL times…SOO FUN!! Seriously, I will love you if you can tell me what you honestly think of my story, instead of just praising me because I'm your friend…Love ya, anyway!
Lady Paine: I'm glad that you love 'kick-ass 'Mione' because I do too! But you know, because this is a romance that one day soon she will have to suck it up and give in… But I'll try, if I can, to have her hold out till the very end! Thanks for reviewing though!
mintytoothpick, lucy: I am glad that you picked my story out of all of the ones out there and I hope you stay tuned throughout my story, even if you are hating the way its going, because I will promise you that it will get better!! Thanks for your reviews!
HPFanatics311, hotaru420, ali potter, chisox727: I know you all hate cliffhangers, and that's what makes me the same as you guys. I hate my self for not updating sooner and I am soo sorry for the long wait! Now that school is over, my updating should become more regular and frequent. Hope this chapter satisfies most of the cliff you were left with at the end of the last chapter!! Thanks so much for the review!
Steve Lover: Long reviews aren't stupid! I was so happy for it! Your extensive writing was well appreciated. As far as what is coming up in the chapters ahead, I can't really give too much away, but I can say that if everything went the way that you hope, it would be your story and not mine. Now, that just sounded really bitchy, but I'm writing it how I want it, of course with some discrepancy because of reviews. I am not saying that your review was worthless; I'm just not going to make MAJOR plot changes to fit the wants of one person. Sorry! Oh, now I'm making myself feel bad for being so mean to you. THANKS OOOOODLES FOR YOUR FANTASTIC REVIEW (Did that even partially compensate for the meanness? I hope it did at least a little bit…)!!
Destiny13: Thanks oodles for checking out my story! I have to tell you that I absolutely love yours… so good! I really hope you like the new installment. Good luck on your finals; I have them this week, too. They are so…eych. Update soon and I will too!
Also, I made a few format changes and changes in the Author's Notes to the last two chapters, so if you read them immediately as I posted them, you may want to go back and skim them over.
In response to one of the unanswered questions from the last chapter:
tchotch·ke (chatch kuh)
n. Slang
1. A cheap showy trinket.
2. The Nauti Dolphin's favorite word!
I am such a complete dork… Oh, god, someone please save me.
Well, finally. Here it is!
Chapter 3: The Sidetracked Search
I need serenity,
In a place where I can hide.
I need serenity,
Nothing changes; days go by.
Where do we go when we just don't know?
…when will we learn to control?
Serenity, Godsmack
Draco felt a soft hand touch his cheek. He was too drained of energy, even after sleeping to open his eyes and find whom it was. He didn't even know where he was. Wherever he did happen to be, it smelled of crisp linen and there was an unnaturally clean odor that stung his nostrils. He supposed he must be in some kind of medical institution. Not St. Mungo's, or at least he hoped he wasn't that badly injured. He must be in the Hospital Wing. He was finally able to open his eyes and see who it was standing at his bedside. The sun stung his eyes as though he had never been exposed to light, but he forced himself to open his eyes again because he thought he must be mistaken as to what he saw. Why on earth is Granger here? Shouldn't she be off in the library studying or something? Why does she care about whether I live or die? With his need to find answers to his questions, he finally mustered up enough strength to forcibly murmur, "What in all hells is going on?"
Hermione shushed him. "You shouldn't try so hard to talk. You might hurt your frail, weak body. Not that I really care, anyways." She sat down in a chair next to his bed. "I was beginning to think you would never wake up. Boy, can you snore. You've been conked out for almost two days. The only reason I'm here is because I was assigned to check up on you since I was the last person with you before you passed out. Why did you do that, anyways?"
Draco turned away from her. He had wondered himself what happened. All he remembered from that night was the gash on his arm reopening, trailing blood across the cold bathroom floor, making his way to the corner, and finally the ground coming closer and closer until all was black. He couldn't believe it had been almost two days since then. I must be the hot gossip topic of the week. I'll just turn it around on someone else, but for now there is nothing I can do. He felt as though he would never be able to move again. He did feel weak, but he would make no moves to let Hermione know that was true. The thought that she was the last one with him bugged him out. Which made him think about how exactly it was he got out of the prefects' bathroom in the first place. "How exactly did we get out of the bathroom, exactly?"
"What? Oh, well, apparently Professor McGonagall was on her way to her dormitory when she heard my 'unearthly' scream upon me seeing you covered in blood on the ground. She rushed to the bathroom and brought us both to the Hospital Wing, as I had also fainted, with Snape's help. While you obviously got excused from the rest of your week's detentions, I have to serve another Thursday night. But at least you got me off of three of them," Hermione added with a slightly grateful laugh.
"Right. So, I suppose I'm who everyone's been talking about lately and the butt of every joke."
Hermione snorted. "Don't flatter yourself. Anyone who even noticed you were gone is just under the impression that you have the flu."
"So, you're the only one who knows otherwise?"
"Along with McGonagall, Snape, Madam Pomfrey, and the Headmaster, I'm sure, then, yes."
"You didn't run off and tell Potty and the Weasel? I'm surprised," Draco said, lips curling into a snarl.
"I don't tell them everything, you know."
"Betraying your best and only friends?!" Draco gasped in mock astonishment. "That can't be good, as far as your social life is concerned."
"I have other friends," Hermione said, though the thought of telling him Lavender, the Patils, and Ginny were her new mates didn't seem like such a great comeback. "But what I don't have is time for you. It's too bad you're here instead of six feet under- where you belong. But, then again, that would put you out of your pain and suffering." Hermione turned on her heel and sped out of the Hospital Wing.
It was at times like these that Hermione would have gone to find Ron and Harry and told them about her whole screwy situation with Malfoy. But that would be doing just what Draco expected of her. It would turn out to be just another thing he could taunt her about. She wasn't about to just hand herself over to him. Hermione desperately needed to tell someone, but no one else could understand her and the ongoing Draco-suffering the way Harry and Ron did. She just needed someplace to herself where she could curl up in front of a fire and read a good book. I could use some practice on my Flame-Freezing Charms, she thought to herself. She sped in the direction of her common room on the fifth floor to get her Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7.
Upon entering the common room which she shared with him, Justin called out, "Hey Hermione!" from the center of a group of their fellow seventh-years. Dean, Seamus, Ernie Macmillian and two other boys Hermione was not quite familiar with echoed the Head Boy's greeting. "We were just talking about you," Justin said, "and we were, er, wondering… izitruabowunRon?"
"Pardon me? I don't think I quite heard you correctly," Hermione coolly replied, while picking up her spell book off the common room floor and wondering exactly why she was the hot topic of conversation among her fellow male classmates.
"Er, are you and Ron, er, romantically involved?" Justin queried sheepishly.
"My gosh, no!" Hermione exclaimed, suppressing a laugh at the thought of how silly the idea was. "I mean, Ron's one of my best mates, but me? With him? Not since last time I checked." Hermione's amused mood turned colder as she remembered that these boys had just been talking about her. "Why do you ask?" she ferociously questioned. "Who even mentioned the idea to you, anyway?"
Justin feebly replied, "Well, Ernie's the one who brought it up-"
But Ernie cut him off, "I did not!" At Hermione's stern look, he rethought his answer. "Well, really I did. But I didn't make it up! I heard it from Zacharias Smith!"
Seamus filled in, "Zacharias told me that he heard it from a Slytherin."
At the utterance of that last word, Hermione went stiff and a very uncomfortable silence overcame the room. After a few seconds of this dead silence, which seemed to last for ever, and Hermione brooding over the looming thought that she knew exactly who had instigated the rumor, she angrily and just as equally threateningly muttered, "Malfoy will pay…" She headed for the door, spell book clenched tightly to her chest. Without another word, she was gone. All that could be heard was the light, jolly crackling of the fire, which did not at all suit Hermione's current mood.
Justin finally broke the quiet, "Brilliant, Seamus, telling her it was a Slytherin…"
"What was I supposed to say?! It was the truth!" he retorted.
"But still, you got her all pissed off. Oh, jeez," Justin sighed as he sunk back into his armchair. "I suppose I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place."
"Ya think?!" Seamus responded, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
'o'
Hermione finally reached the portrait of Barnabas the Balmy trying to teach trolls to dance ballet, out of breath from her hurried pace and frustration towards Malfoy. She paced back and forth quickly in front of the stretch of blank wall, concentrating on her desires to be in a place where she could be alone and relax by reading a book. She opened the newly formed door to the room across from the strange painting, finding the room filled with exactly what she needed: a crackling fire, endless shelves of books, comfortable armchairs, and most importantly, solitude. Thank god for the Room of Requirement, Hermione gratefully thought.
She walked towards the hearth and sunk into the most inviting armchair and opened up Miranda Goshawk's book, turning to page 374 and began to read.
When performing a Flame-Freezing Charm, it is important to enunciate…
I need to talk to someone…
When performing a Flame-Freezing Charm, it is important to enunciate…
I've never had to endure something like this alone…
When performing a Flame-Freezing Charm, it is important to enunciate…
I want to tell them, but I can't give Malfoy the satisfaction…
When performing a Flame-Freezing Charm, it is important to enunciate…
When Hermione finally realized she has read the same line four times over, she knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate on reading at all, which was something that didn't happen to her very often. It was really ridiculous. She had no reason to let him occupy her thoughts. As much as she longed for the solitude only found here, she new she would go mad if she stayed for much longer. Very reluctantly, she dragged herself out of the chair, away from the hearth's flickering warmth, and towards the door. She needed to find Harry and Ron.
'o'
Upon entering the Fat Lady's corridor, Hermione realized that she had been missing a lot of what it felt like to be a Gryffindor. She wasn't in the common room nearly as much as she was in previous years, even though she used to constantly be in the library. She just felt so much more a part of the Lion House spirit when she still lived there. Not that she was complaining about having her own common room; she just missed being so included as a Gryffindor. Regardless, she muttered, "Merlin's beard" at the portrait and stepped into the common room. Much to her comfort, she found the common room much unchanged from how she remembered it, sporting everything, from hearthrug to armchairs in bright golds and reds. She spotted, on a table in the corner, a Wizard's Chess set she was sure belonged to Ron. Some familiar faces called out a "Hey, Hermione!" in her direction, which she politely and quickly responded to on her hurried way to find the two awol boys.
Hermione opened the door leading to the spiral stone staircase of the boys' dormitories. She opened the door to the room in which the Gryffindor seventh year boys shared. Upon entering, she heard voices from behind the curtains drawn around one of the five beds in the circular room. "Harry James and Ronald Bilius! I know you're in here…" She ripped back the crimson drawings from the bed to reveal Neville and Lavender in a compromising lip-lock. "Oh, gosh," Hermione gushed after getting over the initial shock, turning around immediately, "I'm so sorry to have interrupted-"
"No, it's okay-I was just leaving," Lavender cutting Hermione short. "Neville…he…I… Let's go back to the common room, 'kay, Herms?"
"Right," Hermione uncomfortably replied, catching one last glance at Neville's flushed cheeks and Lavender giving him one last kiss and whispering something inaudible to Hermione into his ear. Lavender adjusted her robes and headed with Hermione to the door.
Once they were out of his earshot, Lavender gushed, "Omigod, I'm so sorry you walked in on that…"
"It's fine," Hermione replied as comfortingly as she could. "I just had no clue. Since when have you two…?"
"Well, it's kind of a recent development, but he has gotten a lot better-looking since our first year, you've got to admit."
"I guess I can see where you're coming from…"
"Exactly," Lavender said matter-of-factly. "But he's no where as hot as that stud muffin Malfoy…" she swooned.
And just like that, Hermione went from pleasantly forgetting the whole Malfoy situation to having it painfully tear into each of her conscious thoughts, turning Hermione's light-hearted mood to the icy cool portrayed only by a frozen-solid heart.
'o'
A few minutes later, Hermione had reached the common room and, politely as she could manage, broke away from Lavender and Parvati's frenzied talk of Lavender's new relationship. Poor Neville, Hermione thought to herself as she scanned the common room for a sign of Harry or Ron.
Instead she laid eyes on Ginny, who was sitting in a corner, surrounded by books and furiously scribbling on a piece of parchment. Ginny felt Hermione's presence, cleared the books off of the chair next to her and welcomed Hermione to join her. "It may seem as though I'm doing homework, but I don't think you would ever see me this concentrated on a Potions essay," Ginny said, with a small laugh at her own joke.
Hermione smiled, though not put out of her horrible mood, and sat down in the newly open chair. "So, who's the new guy you're writing to?" Hermione questioned knowingly.
"Me and Dean've decided to see each other again," Ginny replied sheepishly. "It really just wasn't working out with Anthony Goldstein. Turns out he's quite the prat… I was having an awful row with him out near the lake, and Dean came by and told him to shove off. It was so adorable! Besides, I was just talking with Dean about how neither of us really knows why we split up in the first place. He's really great," Ginny concluded dreamily.
"I'm sure," Hermione responded skeptically, "but why are you writing him instead of talking to him?"
"Oh, well his gran's not well, so he's taken a bit of a short holiday. I thought I'd give him something that might cheer him up in what's got to be a very gloomy atmosphere back home," Ginny explained.
"That's too bad. I hope she feels better," Hermione said with as much sympathy she could muster. "Really tragic. What I was really here for was to see if you could possibly tell me where your brother and Harry have gotten to."
"I met them on my way up the stairs; I think I heard them mention something about the Great Hall…"
"Thanks, Gin. I'll talk to you later. Good luck, with Dean and all." Hermione headed for the door, but turned back to face Ginny when she remembered something she had to tell Ginny. "Oh, and as my duties as Head Girl, it is my responsibility to prompt you to, in turn, do all of your prefect duties for the day before dinner!" Hermione reminded Ginny in a joking yet serious way.
"Right, I'll be on that," Ginny called unpromisingly at Hermione's once again turned back as she headed for the portrait of the Fat Lady.
Based on the information she had just received form Ginny, Hermione headed to make her way down seven flights of the Grand Staircase. When she reached it, the staircase was teeming with students down near the fifth floor. She saw Hannah Abbot, one of the prefects, taking care of the situation.
She ducked down the sixth floor corridor, heading for a secret passageway that led almost directly to the Great Hall. When she finally reached the empty classroom in which this passageway, she opened the door and made her way towards the back of the classroom.
Hermione picked up A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter-Actions down its thick, leather-bound spine from the middle of the shelf and opened it to page 523. She tapped the center of the page with her wand, uttered a spell, and the bookcase slid out of the way, revealing a long, dark, stone, spiral slide. She mumbled "Lumos" and began to slide down the six flights to the Great Hall. Too concentrated on getting to Harry and Ron, she took no pleasure in the rush of speeding down the seemingly never-ending chute…
'o'
Hermione came upon the Great Hall and stormed through the gigantic double doors, from which was drifting the light chatter of students waiting to be served their dinners. She made her way to the Gryffindor table, spotting Ron's unmistakably vibrant red hair, bowed down and almost touching his forehead to Harry's scarred one. Hermione marched over to the two of them, loudly enough so that they were aware of her coming and able to cease their deep conversation before she came within earshot.
When she finally reached them, she was greeted with two toothy smiles and demanded to know, "Where have you two been?! I've been looking everywhere for you!"
Their smiles faltered. "Er… we… er- Harry?" Ron passed the explaining-to-do off to Harry, but he was in turn saved by Dumbledore.
The Headmaster had risen out of his chair, as if to make a speech. "I know you all must be very hungry," the Professorhead began, adjusting his half-moon spectacles, "But I have a few words that I would like to share with you,. Before I begin, I wanted to quickly congratulate Ravenclaw on their Quidditch victory over Hufflepuff yesterday," he paused to allow some mild applause from one of the long middle tables covered in a long blue table cloth to which house the victors belonged. "But the real reason I am momentarily denying you your dinners is because I have some exciting news. In a few weeks, we will be receiving a troupe of students from Betagamma Institute for the Magically Inclined as part of a foreign exchange program." There were collective oohs and ahhs from the students as Dumbledore paused yet again. "I hope you will give them all a warm welcome to Hogwarts. Any student over sixteen wishing to be part of this exchange program and travel to Greece should contact Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress. I would also like to see the Head Boy and Girl and all prefects in my office after dinner has finished. Thank you for your valuable time."
As soon as Dumbledore sat down, excited chatter erupted from all parts of the Great Hall, echoing up to the bewitched ceiling, which depicted dark grey clouds revealing only a few shining stars between them. "I wanted to talk to you about something," Hermione said to the two boys who were ravenously wolfing down the newly present feast on their plates.
"Thoot," Ron thickly directed her through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
"Well, I'd rather not talk to you about it here. It's not really top secret or anything; I'd just rather tell you later. Come to my common room after dinner." Hermione stood up to leave, unable to eat due to Malfoy-induced loss of appetite.
"Where are you running off to?" Harry asked after quickly taking a big gulp of a mouthful of shepherd's pie.
"I'm not hungry, so I may as well go to see what Dumbledore needs us for now," she replied. "I'll tell you everything, including what we are being summoned to the Professorhead's office for, when I see you afterward," she promised. "You do know how to get there right?" After Ron's, then Harry's, nods of assent, she called, "See you later," over her shoulder and made her way towards the Headmaster's office, wondering what on earth Dumbledore could want.
A/N: Okay, okay, I admit that there could have been way more Draco/Hermione action, but I have to build up the plot, peoples! I am also sorry for not updating for so long. I'm just a lazy-ass and there is no excuse. I really hope you like it. I also realize that I didn't answer that many questions that I presented you with in the A/N of the second chapter… I'm really sorry, but they will all be answered in due time, I promise!
But here are some things that will be coming up in the next chapter: Why was Hermione summoned to the Headmaster's office? Will Hermione ever get the chance to finally talk to Harry and Ron? How soon will I be able to update now that school is over? Other questions you have may also be answered, but since I don't know what you're questions are, you'll just have to review and tell me! :D
Charlotte ;)