Chapter 9: Invisible Tears

Christmas was only a few days away. Hermione was about to head out when Beth came rushing out of the bathroom and then the door. She ignored her sister and went to breakfast. Soon she was done and decided to pay a visit to Ginny and the girls. Ginny was just coming out of the portrait, the girls behind her.

"Oh Hermione! We were just going to get Luna, I thought Beth said you couldn't come." Ginny looked puzzled. Just then, Beth walked out, and Hermione was simply fuming on the inside.

"Oh, well, yeah. I just came by to say bye. I have stuff to do, so I'll see you later, Gin."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course. Go have fun."

"Alright. See you later then."

They all began to walk away, Ginny telling Beth all about Hogsmeade. Just before they turned the corner, Beth looked back and smirked at her. That smirk said it all to Hermione. She was fighting a losing battle. It had happened before. Hermione brought her friends over. They met Beth. Suddenly, they were coming over to hang out with Beth, not Hermione. Suddenly, they were Beth's friends instead of hers. It wasn't their fault, Hermione reasoned to herself, it was Beth. She was conniving, and manipulative, she got you right where she wanted you and you wouldn't even know it. It had taken years for Hermione to realize it, and she lived with her. Almost immediately after that, she received her Hogwarts letter, and had tried desperately to make herself separate from Beth. She permed her hair; she worked harder at school, wishing for people to see her as Hermione, not just Beth's sister. That was the exact reason she had never told anyone she had a sister. And now she feared that she would once again become known as 'Hey, aren't you Beth's sister?' She needed a walk.

Draco was watching the snow when it started to rain. Shocked, he looked around. Spotting a solitary figure making it's way around the grounds, he was even more shocked to find it was Hermione. He looked at her, then at the rain falling. Looking at her again, he realized she was crying. Hermione Granger was crying invisible tears; the rain. He watched her until she went back inside, and sure enough, the rain turned to snow once more. He prepared himself for his lone trip to Hogsmeade. After all, he had a plan, and it was time to put it in action.

Christmas morning came, and her parents simply demanded they open presents together in the common room. They even invited Draco, but he declined, of course, saying he had to mail a letter before breakfast. While he was gone, she slipped into the bathroom, through the door into her room, searched under the bed, and then went through the bathroom again. She was standing in front of his door when her mother called her, so she gathered her courage. Dashing into his room, she set the present on his bed, then looked around. It really was an organized mess. She could see where each thing had its place, and wasn't surprised to see his room was dressed in black, silver, and green. He had told her those were his favorite colors, even before Hogwarts. And she had to admit, out of all the houses, Slytherin's colors were the best. This time, her dad called her, and she was forced to leave.

Just as she was about to get up and leave the table an owl swooped down right in front of her. It was a school owl, but she could tell it was from him by the writing. Hurrying towards her room, she was so anxious to open it. Hermione tried shaking, everything little to trick to try to distinguish what it was, to no avail. Breezing past her family in her hurry, she went into her room, and slammed the door. Sitting down on her bed, she ripped it open. Full of stuffing, she removed over half of it before finding the little black box. Untying the green ribbon, she took of the lid and gasped. There, lying atop a note, was a beautiful necklace. It was a very thin silver chain with an emerald star, outlined with black onyx stones. When she put it on, the small pendant fell directly into the little dip that her collarbone made. After looking into the mirror for a minute or so, she remembered the note. Racing back to the bed, she snatched it up.

Hermione,

I hope you like the necklace, it's one of a kind. Meet me at the Astronomy Tower at midnight on New Year's Eve. It's a two-part gift.

Lightning

She dropped the note, letting it flutter to the floor, and started jumping up and down excitedly. Oh, she couldn't wait! New Year's Eve suddenly seemed so far away! It was only a week. Sighing excitedly to herself, she decided to go straight to the library. She had to distract herself. After some good old gloating in front of Beth, of course. It was turning into a wonderful Christmas!

When Draco walked into his room, he didn't even notice it at first. Then he stopped, and looked. He could tell someone had been in his room. It was something you picked up when you became a Pretender. It wasn't long before he spotted the gift. Rushing over to it, he sat down and ripped the wrapping off. There, in the center of the slim box, was a book. One of the very books he had wanted for such a long time. A copy of the collected Sherlock Holmes short stories. He had never been able to get a copy before, due to it being a muggle book. He gently opened the book, only to be shocked. It was signed! Then he saw the note.

Lightning,

Do you like it? I wasn't sure it was enough, so I managed to go back in – nevermind, it's signed, so I guess you can see very clearly what I did. I just didn't want to write it down, ya know, plausible deniability doesn't work when they have a signed confession. So, I hope you like it, Merry Christmas.

Love, Hermione

God, he just wanted to go kiss her right now. No, you've got a plan, he told himself, stick to it. Not yet.

It was rainy and dreary outside. (They were having a very warm winter.) The skies were overcast with clouds, and there was a chill everywhere. Even near the fireplace. It was New Year's Eve. It was a beautiful morning! Hermione could not control the enormous smile that crept onto her face and simply wouldn't leave. Nothing could bring her down today. She skipped into the common room in her white cotton stretch pants and her purple off-the-shoulder top that had a skull and bones in white on the back. She flopped down on the couch and ignored her parent's strange looks.

"Isn't it a wonderful morning?" She looked at them. "What?"

"It's raining. And cold. And you aren't a morning person. Hermione, tell me right now what you took!"

"Oh please, I'm smarter than that. I'm just in a happy mood. Even though that was extremely mean and untrustworthy of you, I'm going to ignore it. Nothing is gonna get me down today!"

She got up and headed for the door.

"Hermione, wait. Since we'll be going back to that room in a few days, your father and I are going to spend the day in Hogsmeade. And watch out for Beth, she snuck out last night."

"Ok." She said happily.

Just then, she heard Draco's voice. He was standing in the doorway of his room.

"Why so perky, Granger? Have a secret meeting to solve yet another conspiracy against Scarhead?"

She scoffed, and he noted that she did that a lot.

"Absolute ludicracy. And even if I was, I wouldn't tell you."

She skipped out before any one could say anything and then lazily wandered to the Great Hall. Once there, she began eating and talking happily with those around. She noted periodically that Draco hadn't shown up. Soon enough it was the end of breakfast, but Hermione continued to chat on. Finally, Ginny asked her.

"Hermione, I know this will sound really strange, but you've been acting all perky and peppy and happy, and it's morning, but why are you like this? (She made her voice drop low and leaned in) Did you get laid?"

Hermione looked shocked for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"You guys…you actually…I…you…" She couldn't stop laughing. Still laughing, she got up and left. They all looked after her, totally bewildered. Was the question really that funny?

She was still chuckling to herself as she walked into the common room. Then, mid-chuckle, she stopped. And yelped. Her day had just come to a crashing stop, burning up, bringing her down very fast. Beth had her arms around Draco (his back to her front), and was kissing his neck.
Well, how's that for a cliffy! Oh, yeah! I'm so good! Woohoo! Ok, I know, enough of me being silly. But seriously, isn't that just horribly dreadful of me? Anyhow, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update, it's been like over a week, hasn't it? SORRY! I just had other stuff and wasn't really in the mood to write. So, I'll just leave you with that and go type up the next chapter because I know you're all ready to kill me right now. Bye!

Dizzy