It was a lonely walk for Hermione. No one had herseen leave the dungeon, small miracle, and she didn't see anyone in the hallways. She bypassed the great hall, she wasn't very hungry and she didn't want to see Harry or Ron.
She was much like a ghost drifting along numbly. Unaware of where she was heading, she bumped right into Peeves the Poltergeist.
'Hey, Look who it is…
Its Hogwarts brightest kid.
Walking lonely in the halls'
No More friends at all.'
He sang in his annoying singsong voice that sounded much like a constipated bird, not that Hermione new quite exactly what a bird in that… kind of stress sounded like. 'Why you look so sad, did you just figure out that you had no real friends?'
'Oh push off, Peeves, before I get the Bloody Baron.' Everyone knew that the only person…or ghost, I suppose you'd say, that Peeves feared was the Bloody Baron. He was the Slytherin Ghost.
It worked, Peeves grumbled all the way down the hall and around the corner.
Deciding to just go and lay down in her own bed, Hermione turned to the opposite direction of Peeves, and headed to the tower. But just as she turned the corner, Ginny appeared at the end of the hall.
'Wrong turn…' Hermione thought. It grated her to talk to Ginny nowadays; all she wanted to do was talk bout her crush, and she wouldn't even tell her who it was.
'Hermione!' Ginny came running towards her without stopping, Ginny ran right into Hermione and twirled her in a big bear hug circle. Inside, Hermione screamed bloody murder. 'Ah, Hermione, you alright?' Ginny asked upon seeing Hermione's wincing face.
'No you bloody Git, I'm not alright! I'm in pain!' but she wasn't quite sure if it was physical pain she was referring to. She knew yelling at Ginny wouldn't do any good, either. Unfortunately. 'Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired.'
'Oh, so you had a late night rendezvous as well.' Winking at Hermione, she stood back in speculation. 'Anyway, Guess What?'
'Blaise Zabani is a guy?' Not caring, Hermione shot this out.
'No, but he would make a very pretty looking guy.' Ginny stopped and thought about it. Hermione rolled her eyes; she could be very feather-headed at times.
'What Ginny?"
Shaking herself out of a daze, 'Oh, Oh yeah right. I spent all night with him. I slept on his lap in the Astronomy Tower.' She grinned hugely.
'With Who?' Hermione asked impatiently, she just wanted to sleep, and forget about anything that happened last night. Or did she?
'With Ha—' she stopped abruptly. 'Ah, nice one, almost had me there. With my crush, of course!' She grinned, showing offall her teethand looked as if she was going to give Hermione another suffocating hug. She tried to be happy for Ginny, she really did, but if she couldn'tbe happy for herselfright now, she didn't think she could be happy for anyone else's happiness.
'Your crush, huh?' Hermione asked, trying her best to sound interested. She must have pulled it off because Ginny fervently nodded her head, she kind of looked like an exceptionally pretty dog, begging for a bone. 'Well, I have to go Hun, I'm really sorry, I have homework to catch up on.' It was the first thing she could think of that wouldn't be too out of character for her.
'Oh come on Hermione, it's the weekend, Saturday for Pete's sake! Take a break, come to breakfast with me.' Ginny managed to look pleading and exasperated at the same time.
'I just ate, actually, and I think I've had enough of a break last night, if you know what I mean.' She winked to try and convince Ginny of her lie.
'Oh Alright, I'll talk to you later then, and when I say talk to you later, I do mean to talk to you later, I want to hear every detail. Bye!' Ginny trotted off, her little yellow jumper bounced enthusiastically.
'You won't get every little detail, especially not the one where I think I might be in love with Draco Malfoy.' Hermione slowly walked back to the Tower.
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That evening when everyone was eating at dinner, except one person.
'Where's Hermione?' Ron asked, slopping garlic potatoes on his already over-flowing plate. He asked no one in particular, but he expected an answer.
'Honestly, Ronald, there's plenty of food, why do you stuff your plate until it's starts to fall off the sides?' Ginny asked, annoyed, she returned her eyes to her plate, which held only little morsels of food.
'Yeah, well you eat like a bird. So what would you know?' Ron retorted. "Anyway, where's Hermione?'
'I don't know, I haven't seen her all day.' Harry replied. He was busy giving Ginny glances from over the table. These went unnoticed by Ron.
'Oh I saw her this morning. She was walking to the Tower. She looked pretty sad. Didn't say why though.' Ginny interjected, she delicately placed a piece of tart on her tongue, where it disappeared moments later, into her mouth. Harry watched this, intrigued. Never had he seen anyone eat this delicately, considering she had a brother, who was even now stuffing his mouth full of meat and potatoes while chatting away at Seamus.
'I wonder if she's okay. I should probably pamper her tonight.' At Harry's confused stare, she sighed. 'It's a girls way of getting plastered and getting over problems.'
'Oh, Oh okay.' He nodded, a sign of understanding. Ginny rolled her eyes. 'Men, you can't understand them, can't charm them.'
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'Okay, Draco, truth be told. Did you send that love letter to Aine?' Pansy asked. She'd been trying to get his attention and hook him in conversation all dinner, but his eyes kept traveling towards the Gryffindor table. Only God knew why.
'Huh?' He responded. He'd been thinking about Hermione. She hadn't shown up for dinner and he begun to worry. 'Did I hurt her?' Fear gripped his very heart and squeezed with vengeance. 'Oh god, Oh God…' he abruptly got up and stormed out of the Hall, unconscious of the fact that Pansy was staring warily after him.
He marched up the stairs, and turned the corner and there she was. Standing alone, her back to him, she was staring out of the window next to the statue of Helga Hufflepuff. Her hair rained down her back, and the black skirt she wore flowed down her hips, stopping an inch from the floor. Purple was the color of her slinking long-sleeved shirt.
Draco slowly walked towards her, his steps made no sound. He was like a soft wind moving through the trees on a summer's night. As he neared he could tell she was singing. The same song she sang to him, in fact, and he noticed something orange and furry in her arms.
Crookshanks. Only she could ever love a cat that horrid. He didn't want to interrupt her, so he slipped into the shadows, and waited, listening.
'Dreaming of you tonight
Till tomorrow I'll be holding you tight
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be
Than here in my room
I'll be dreaming of you tonight
Endlessly
And I'll be holding you tight
Dreaming...with you...tonight!'
She trailed off. Then sighed.
'Crooks, I don't know what to do.' She looked down at her cat, and her cat meowed. 'I mean, for the longest time I hated him, everyone did. Now I know he's sweet, and gentle…' She stopped, Her breath caught in her voice. Her eyes glistened. 'Look at me; I'm crumbling just at the thought of him. I've never felt this way before.' She leaned against the wall and slid down so she was now sitting under the window.
Draco just looked at her, and felt guilty. He'd never known he could feel so guilty for feeling so happy. He used to love causing pain to others, and now that he was, he didn't think he could take it. She was now crying freely, wet tears streamed down her face. He longed to reach out and cuddle her and wish it all away, to tell her that it didn't matter… But it did matter. It did.
'I think I love him. I've never been in love before, but if this is what I feels like, I don't know why everyone wants it so bad. This isn't anything like the love books I read. I guess that just goes to show that life and love aren't fairytales. I don't even know why I love him. We never talked before yesterday. How could I fall in love so easily? I must be more vulnerable than I thought.' She rubbed her face in Crookshanks soft fur, and just cried.
Draco stepped back and disappeared into the shadows, making his way back to where he belonged: His dungeon. He knew what he had to do, now that he was sure of how she felt, he knew what it was he had to do with Hermione. He was going to break his promise.
Change>
Dear Agra,
It was hard for me not to walk up to you today and kiss those sweet lips that I dreamt about last night. My Princess Aine, you have troubled my dreams with your beauty and I wish not to sleep tonight for the pleasuring torment that I am guaranteed. I long for you in my arms, and to feel your warm lips pressed against mine. Soon, My Sweet, I don't know if I can hold this haunting secret for long. Dream of me tonight, my Love. Manim ashthee Hu
Love, Your very Own
Somewhere, the secret admirer sent a loving letter to his Mahal Ko. Then slipped soundlessly into dreams of love and passion.
And somewhere, a Beautiful girl received the letter of her dreams.
Change>
She fell asleep in his arms. He invited her to his secret place, they spent the last hours talking of things they loved, until she slid into his arms and dreamed.
He watched her sleep; her eyes flutter every now and then, a smile tugged at her lips every so often. Her hair was knotted at the back of her head, and he let if free, it liked it better that way. Fire rained around him, emitting a smell of wild flowers.
That's so her, Wild, and Fire. Her soul matched his perfectly and he knew…He knew then that there would be no turning back for him, he was helplessly in love with the girl he could never have. Looking to where the Mirror of Erised once stood, he thought. 'He never saw the girl with brilliant red hair in his image. I guess that goes to show: don't always believe what you see…you might miss something.' Just then, Harry understood what Dumbledore had said that night so long ago.
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Two souls slept restlessly and plagued. While four, slept hopeful and confident.
'Help Me.' One Restless cried
'Thank You.' One Hopeful whispered with a smile
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A/N: I know I'm concentrating too much on Draco and Hermione, but I think they make the cutest couple. Anyway, I'm still sorry, I'll make sure that in the next chapter, I'll write more about Harry and Ron.
The Song Hermione sang to Draco was Selena's "Dreaming of You"...It's my favorite song of all time!
Please Review! Thank You! SilverUdjet
