Another Chance
By Cedar1
A/N hey, decided to start another story, my mind was going a bit whirly (is that even a word?) concentrating on just one story. The plot for this one is probably a bit clichéd, so I'm sorry for my lack of originality, but I hope u enjoy it and will try and avoid making it too fluffy. As ever am ecstatic when I get reviews, so go on click the review button and know u made someone v.happy! For those of u who are reading "Immortal" (my other one) Chapter 6 shud b out pretty soon, sorry 4 the wait. For those who haven't as yet please do and let me know what u think! Think have covered everythin so I'll stop babbling and let u get on with the story.... (hope u like it!)
Disclaimer: I could lie, but am too poor to get sued, so don't own anything, apart from maybe a plot
Chapter 1: Past love?
Hermione Granger made her way up the deteriorating stone steps, minding not to tread on any loose rocks that would enviably lead to her nursing a bruised ankle. She smiled at the memory of Harry and Ron when she first brought them here and how they had looked dubious when she attempted to convince them that the dangerous foot path was all part of the little house's charm. She had bought it around a year ago, finally moving out of the hovel she had been sharing with her two best friends. There was only so much talk of quidditch and Lavender Brown's ever unnatural figure a girl's ear could take, at first the boys - maybe she should be saying young men- anyway they were disappointed. Of course they would be, they were losing their personal maid. When the boxes had been packed, and labeled appropriately; 'kitchen', 'bedroom' etc she had left the flat with their sad eyes, and slight frowns plaguing on her mind. So much so that the night had been filled with guilt ridden feelings, thus she had gone to work the next day prepared to desert the new love of her life and move back in. But when she saw their smiles and usual cheerful attitude she realized that they had learnt to appreciate the benefits of having a Hermione Granger free house. No nagging about unwashed dishes, no Crookshanks (a big bonus for Ron), and no embarrassment when they came across Hermione's underwear drying on the shower rail - she never trusted doing magic on her delicates.
Well all that had led to her present happy situation, living in a lovely Victorian house in the midst of a mainly muggle populated area. Reaching her blue door she started sifting through her black briefcase searching for her ever-elusive keys. You would think that Hermione Granger would have a special compartment in her bag for such an item, but such a simple idea never entered her mind. But instead she commenced on her nightly ritual hunt, filtering through the scrap pieces of paper that littered her bag. So occupied in her jumble of things that she had been unaware of the figure that was fast approaching her. "Accio keys," declared a strong voice from the darkness behind her. In a state of confusion Hermione watched as her keys whizzed out her bag bursting through the rubbish that had hidden it, and traveled straight to an awaiting palm. Hermione mentally kicked herself; of course she could just say that every night and avoid wasting time. Fool! Suddenly she became aware of the presence behind her, when the sound of shuffling feet reached her ears. Her hand slowly slid into her jacket, and on finding her wand in the inner pocket her fingers curled around one end ready for action.
" You would think the cleverest witch from Hogwarts could remember that simple charm," came a mocking tone.
Recognizing the voice Hermione allowed her fingers to release their death grip around her wand and turned round to face her critic, and decided to remark on his rudeness rather than her stupidity. " Don't you know it's bad-mannered to scare someone like that? Creeping up behind me, you should be ashamed of yourself Ronald Weasley," stated a haughty Hermione Granger.
" If you forgive me, I promise." he laid his hand over his heart, "...not to make Harry aware of the information that a former head girl could not recall a spell made for 1st years."
Hermione felt her cheeks blush in embarrassment.
"Alrite it's a deal," she confirmed, as she snatched the keys from Ron's outstretched hand. Noting the fact that the shivers that had once occurred in childhood when they grazed against each other were no longer present. A few months ago she and Ron had embarked on a relationship, much to the approval of Harry who had always felt that they were perfect for one another. Her initial feelings had been of excitement, as she reminisced about her earlier crush on the young Weasley - that being before her heart had been broken, or more precisely shattered. Not having been on a date since then, she had felt that Ron would be a good starting point considering their past. However after a few empty kisses they both realized that earlier feelings could not be evoked from the dredges of time and be utilized in the present, and the love affair had ended as abruptly as it began (despite Harry's attempts at rekindling the fire). Perhaps whatever feelings transpired in the past, would remain there and never re-surface. For people and their circumstances change over time and maybe it's not possible to feel the same about a person always, perceptions are bound to change, Hermione thoughtfully reflected as she opened the front door for her and Ron.
On stepping into the lit hallway, a ginger cat lazily padded its way to its owner. Hermione picked Crookshanks up, and tickled him affectionately under his chin the cat purred contentedly. It then became aware of the other person stood behind his owner, almost as if it knew exactly who it was it stopped purring and glared intently at Ron.
"Stupid bloody cat," mumbled Ron.
"Ron!" Hermione gasped turning round, it's your fault he doesn't like you, remember, you stood on his tail once when you came back home drunk. Ron's eyes glazed as he recalled the fond memory, chuckling under his breath, a smile playing on his lips. Hermione merely harrumphed when she saw the look of amusement on Ron's face, and headed to the living room; leaving Ron who was happily reliving that particular occasion.
Hermione threw her bag on to the coffee table in the middle of the room, the contents spilling onto the tabletop as she threw her jacket on top of the pile, it missed and fell to the floor. Each lamp in turn was lit, as Hermione pointed her wand at all of them uttering "Lumos" each time. The room was now filled with a cozy glow, and Hermione collapsed on her favourite worn armchair. Kicking of her shoes, she wriggled her toes as she released them from their previous confined state.
"Ahhh.." Hermione sighed as she felt the cushions surrounding her envelope her body, as tiredness consumed her. Closing her eyes, she felt herself drifting into blissful sleep. Nearly there she thought as darkness began to cloud her mind.
"Hermione!" Damn it! She had forgotten he was there. Reluctantly she opened her eyes, meeting the steady gaze from Ron's blue ones.
"Oh sorry." not really meaning it, "..what was it you wanted to talk about." Weariness clearly apparent in her voice; in truth she might have played it up in the hope that Ron would make it quick.
As if reading her mind Ron replied, " I'll be quick, Harry wanted me to give you this."
Reaching into his robe pocket he pulled on a brown manila folder, and handed it to her. It took all of Hermione's will power to lift up her hand and receive the folder. She glanced down slightly puzzled, "Why didn't you just owl it?"
"Oh its top secret, don't want it getting into the wrong hands," answered Ron knowingly winking at her, "Well best get going."
"Hot date?" questioned Hermione jokingly. At the mention of the word date Ron's cheeks immediately flushed.
" Err yes. Yes, yes I have," he stammered as if he too needed clarification.
"Oh!" Hermione was appalled as herself when she detected the trace of disappointment that tinged her words. Why shouldn't Ron go out, just because she was a lonely spinster didn't mean that he had to endure the same fate.
"Oh," she repeated. This time no disappointment thought a proud Hermione, only jealously her inner voice successfully pointed out. " So who's the lucky girl?" asked Hermione, feigning interest. In all honesty she didn't care, Ron was getting on with his life and she wasn't, still suffering from the same heartache that cursed her more than 10 years ago. Ron sat down on the chair opposite her, his face lit up with excitement.
"Susy Richards, you remember her, dark haired, from Hufflepuff, in our year." Hermione simply inclined her head, recognizing the name but not so much the face.
"Well we met in the lift at the ministry, she's working in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. And well we got talking and she asked me to dinner. Can you believe it she asked me for dinner?" Ron gave no time for Hermione to answer as he rapidly resumed his story. "Well we're going out to the Wilting flowers, its amazing they have all these flowers on the walls and tables, and they change according to the mood and..." It was somewhere around this point in Ron's rambling that Hermione felt herself nodding of, her eyelids gradually falling. Then she was dreaming, strangely she was floating on a bed of rose petals, which were altering from red to green. So comfortable, she shuffled herself further into the exquisite flowerbed, welcoming the warmth that overcame her.
"So what do you think?" inquired Ron for a third time. Lifting his eyes from the floor, he was greeted with the sight of Hermione snuggled into the chair, a contented smile featuring on her full lips. "Oh well looks like I'll have to decide whether to take chocolates or flowers by myself," Ron sighed to himself. He walked over to her, and could not resist moving the stray curl that had escaped her regulation bun, and was now resting on her face. Carefully he pushed it back to its correct position, tucking it behind her ear. Although the task was now complete he could not bring himself to remove his fingers from the side of her face. It should be you I should be buying chocolates or flowers for, not Susy Richards. Looks wise she hadn't grown up to be stunning like Cho Chang, but there was just something about her that Ron could never understand. Something that made his heart ache every time he saw her, and knew she was not with him and never would be. It pained him to think of that summer day when she, the only one for him, turned round and explained to him that she felt nothing when she was with him, nothing when he kissed her or held her in her arms. In his state of anguish Ron simply agreed with all that was being said, not wanting his best friend to know how much she was killing him. As the memory of that day came flooding back Ron jerked his fingers away from her soft skin, as a burning sensation came over them. It was no point loving someone who was obviously still in love with someone else. Turning his back away from her Ron apparated to his awaiting date, deciding to pick up roses, because Hermione would have liked them.
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"Huh." Hermione awoke from her pleasant nap, her exclamation reverberated around the empty room.
" Ron." She called, sleepiness still evident in her voice. No answer. He must have gone concluded Hermione. Yeah, gone on his hot date with Susy whats her name, she thought irritated. Wiping her hand against her mouth, she removed the remnants of drool that sleep inevitably invited. That's why you've not got a boyfriend Hermione Granger, you're a slob. As if she needed further evidence, her eyes flicked over the coffee table, her things scattered on the surface. Determined to start a new life slob-free Hermione sat up and reached out to the table, prepared to begin the weary job of tidying up. She couldn't even be arsed to get her wand, which had somehow been dropped on the floor and had now rolled into the adjoining kitchen. But she was quickly distracted from her plan by the sound of papers crunching below her bare feet. Bending down she retrieved the contents of the brown folder that had floated out of their protective cover, as the grip of the sleeping Hermione had loosened. Rifling through the mass of documents in her hands, which were no longer in the order in which they had been painstakingly put in, Hermione found what she was looking for, Harry's letter.
She rapidly skimmed over the words; presumed.death eaters ..meetings..rising etc. This confirmed it, it was happening again, Hermione bitterly accepted. The letter was just written affirmation of the rumours that were hushly being passed from wizard to wizard. There was a new dark rising, Hermione felt her body slump, the feeling of tiredness returning ten fold. Voldemort had been killed several years ago, of course the golden trio had been instrumental, but they hadn't basked in the glory not when hundreds had died fighting the bloody war. Instead they faded into the background, continuing to work for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement: Aurors, collecting information on those, if indeed there were any who were wanting to seek revenge. Nothing substantial had been found for years, and the wizarding community had settled down to a strange, but pleasantly quiet life without a dark shadow looming over them. Unfortunately as the old saying goes, good things must come to an end and over the last year there had been reports of familiar acts of muggle torture, and more recently deaths. The letter went on to explain the locations of the meetings, what had been possibly mentioned at such gatherings and finally details on suspected death eaters, or in Hermione's mind murderers. Amid the mass of paperwork were the photographs of the various wizards thought guilty of maintaining their allegiance to the now dead Voldemort. Unsurprisingly as Hermione passed the photos from one hand to another, she came across faces she knew and recognized: Vincent Crabbe, Blaise Zabini to name but a few. Finally she came across the one face that she had been dreading seeing in the collection, but at the same time knew it was inescapable, Draco Malfoy.
Her finger traced the outline of the man's face, that would every so often turn and smirk at her, caressing the features that she used to know as well as she did her own. Maybe she still did. Closing her eyes Hermione conjured up the image of the Draco Malfoy that she had once known. Platinum blonde hair falling elegantly to the shoulders, framing what could only be described as the perfect face; full lips, high cheekbones, a straight pointed nose and not forgetting the crowning glory, the eyes. Not considering the eyes one could describe Draco as handsome, but with them he ascended into a different level, beauty. Silver, with whirls of blue that sucked you in the moment you looked at them. Eyes that could radiate such passion that you could feel yourself melting on the spot from the heat that was generated. Hermione's heart began to pound at the memory of being looked upon with such a gaze; a tingly sensation descended upon her as she recalled images of the two of them, gazes firmly locked. But then those visions faded, as later ones took their place. The same eyes, but there was no heat only coldness. She now remembered why she hated him. The photo slipped out of her grasp and drifted onto the floor. She had to get away from him, rising unsteadily she made her way to the kitchen.
Trembling fingers held the glass under the open tap, permitting water to spill into it. Still haunted by the image of silver eyes Hermione left the kitchen forgetting to turn the tap off. Tilting her head upwards she took a deep gulp, hoping to cure the dryness that was plaguing her throat in one attempt. Satisfied that it had indeed been treated Hermione moved the glass away from her wet lips, dropping her head down. What she saw next made her release her hold on the glass, it fell to the floor, smashing. Shards of glass rebounded of the floor and pierced into her exposed feet. However Hermione was numb to the pin pricks of pain, as she remained fixated on the man in front of her.
A/N well thats chapter one, I'm sorry if it's really slow it shud pick up a bit after. Please review, all are welcome, the: happy, funny, scary, rude, mad, nice, angry etc. Send me any ideas cos I'll need them!
thanx, bye 4 now
