Chapter 6 – Diaries and Dances
"Do you mean to say that he still hasn't asked you to the dance?" said Ginny, with disbelief. Hermione was in the Great Hall having an early breakfast because she couldn't sleep, and surprisingly, she had found Ginny doing her homework alone.
"Who do you mean by 'he'?" Hermione pronounced, even though she perfectly knew who Ginny was talking about.
"Ron! Who else?"
Hermione's cheeks were getting warmer. It had kind of occurred to her too, wondering why Ron still hadn't asked her to go to the Halloween dance with him. Consciously, Hermione had prepared for it. All of those long daily visits had a lot of value for her, along with the endless homework Ron had helped her finish the night before. If felt kind of reassuring to have someone there for her that protected, helped, and watched over her, and Hermione wanted that feeling to last forever.
He had had about a hundred chances to ask her, but he hadn't. Maybe he's already going with someone...
Apparently, Ginny seemed to know what was going on inside her head, "He's not going with anyone."
"Maybe he would prefer to wait and ask another girl, you know how he is-"
"He's a coward, that's what I know." Ginny smirked, "You haven't been around for a while to know what's going on around here. Harry has been teasing Ron because they know that Ickle Ronnie worships you in every single way, but doesn't have the guts to tell you, or make a move."
Hermione snorted. "He worships me? That's just bull."
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "You know more than I do that Ron's liked you for ages, but he was too dimwitted to figure it out, and lately, his hormones have been working over time."
""No, I think that would be your hormones." Hermione retorted, suddenly thinking of Dean.
Ginny ignored her. "Viktor Krum. Need I say more?"
"Boo-hoo." said Hermione, in a boring voice, "but he has been acting really strange, and I kind of miss having the old Ron around. I don't even get to argue with him anymore."
"How sad..." Ginny said sarcastically, as she gathered her things and got up from the table to leave for Quidditch Practice.
"You know what?" Hermione started, "I don't care. If he wants to ask me, he can, and if he doesn't, then that's that. Plus I can think of about a dozen other things to do than waste my time on silly dances."
"Well, all I have to say about this is the person that says they don't care is actually the one that cares more than they think they do. So if I were you, I would give him a Love Potion or something of the sort to get him back to reality and stop acting like a moron, not that I am you..."
...
Hermione was now in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Tonks stood in front of the class with a smile on her face, her vivid pink hair spiking up on her head.
"Today, we will be continuing with learning about countercurses and counterjinx, and then tomorrow they will be put into practice. Take notes please!" said Tonks.
A whole hour passed with Tonks lecturing about the most common curses and jinxes. Normally, a Defense against the Dark Arts class was exhilarating and fast paced, but today it seemed slower than a History of Magic Lesson.
As the Professor rambled, Hermione took out her diary. She didn't know why, but she did not feel like taking notes on a subject that had been mastered in her mind years before. For the first time ever in an ongoing class, her mind was somewhere else.
October 14,
The days are going by rather quickly. Yesterday, Harry, Ron, Neville, and I had a meeting where I found out that Harry's planning to go to the Department of Mysteries again. Every time that place is mentioned, I get an eerie feeling. I imagine how Harry must deal with it, the place where Sirius died...
Ron and I can't stop him anymore. I think we should start nwow by preparing him, teaching him all of these countercurses that Tonks is talking about right now...
...What Ginny said at breakfast is true. Ron needs to be confronted, but I don't know how to approach him. If I say one offensive thing, he'll put on his defensive barrier and act like an idiot...
But I can't believe that he's been acting so weird! It's like he's totally another person. Last night, he helped me out with all of my homework. For a minute, I was shocked. For the past six years, I have been doing his homework and helping him get through in their classes, but yesterday...wow. I always knew Ron had some academic potential, but I never thought I would actually be around long enough to see it. Maybe I should just ask him to the dance. It would be really awkward...
"Er-what are you writing in?" Hermione was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she jumped at Harry's voice.
"Nothing." She said, which gave Harry more suspicion but stayed quiet. Hermione frantically closed her diary and let Tonk's voice tune back in her head.
"...One of the most powerful and effective curses, followed by the Unforgivable Curses, is the Morbida curse, which can damage a person's brain and cause short-term memory loss. A countercurse is provided, which works when you say the word 'defendo'. It is similar to the Shield Charm..." Hermione was anxious to try the countercurse for that the next day, just in case Malfoy decided to ambush her again.
It was the end of class, and Hermione, Ron, and Harry got up to leave when Tonks beckoned Hermione to her desk.
"All right there, Hermione?" said Tonks with deep concern, "you were in the Hospital Wing for quite a long time."
"Yeah, unfortunately. What do I have to catch up on?"
"More than you can handle, I'm afraid." said Tonks, and gave her a roll of parchment with full of assignments written. "What are you going to the Halloween Dance as?"
"I don't know yet. Actually, I might not go." said Hermione.
"You cannot miss the Halloween Dance! I will be going as a banshee. I'm going to have my voice magnified and my skin paled. I hope I scare the cloaks off those kids."
Hermione gathered her books and left the classroom. She was walking slowly in the corridor when she realized that her diary was missing. Her heart jolted in and out, and all kinds of thoughts ran inside her head. What if someone took it? What if someone read it? What if Tonks found it?
Calm down, Hermione told herself as she rushed down on the opposite side of the corridor and back into the Defense Against the Dark Arts Room. Tonks's next class hadn't begun yet, so the classroom was still empty.
Tonks looked up in surprise.
"Erm-I forgot something-can I look for it?" Hermione muttered, breathing heavily.
"Of course." said Tonks.
Hermione scanned her seat, the desks, and she put her head down to check under the desks, but nothing was there.
Oh no. Someone had her diary, and for all she knew, they could be reading it right now. In it was things about Ron, her dreams, the Order, and other things that she didn't want other people to read. Why didn't I put a spell on it to lock it? Why couldn't I have written in Invisible Ink?
"Found it yet?" Tonks asked from across the room.
"Hermione got on her feet. "No, maybe someone took it.
Tonks said that she would inform her if she found something, and Hermione took her leave once again.
...
The evening settled in as Hermione headed to the Gryffindor Common Room. Rain was pouring outside and lightning thundered, blowing away the trees in the Forbidden Forest. She spotted Harry sitting on a chair, immensely absorbed in something, with his back turned to her. She peaked over his shoulder, and in an instantaneous moment, she screamed.
"Do you mean to say that he still hasn't asked you to the dance?" said Ginny, with disbelief. Hermione was in the Great Hall having an early breakfast because she couldn't sleep, and surprisingly, she had found Ginny doing her homework alone.
"Who do you mean by 'he'?" Hermione pronounced, even though she perfectly knew who Ginny was talking about.
"Ron! Who else?"
Hermione's cheeks were getting warmer. It had kind of occurred to her too, wondering why Ron still hadn't asked her to go to the Halloween dance with him. Consciously, Hermione had prepared for it. All of those long daily visits had a lot of value for her, along with the endless homework Ron had helped her finish the night before. If felt kind of reassuring to have someone there for her that protected, helped, and watched over her, and Hermione wanted that feeling to last forever.
He had had about a hundred chances to ask her, but he hadn't. Maybe he's already going with someone...
Apparently, Ginny seemed to know what was going on inside her head, "He's not going with anyone."
"Maybe he would prefer to wait and ask another girl, you know how he is-"
"He's a coward, that's what I know." Ginny smirked, "You haven't been around for a while to know what's going on around here. Harry has been teasing Ron because they know that Ickle Ronnie worships you in every single way, but doesn't have the guts to tell you, or make a move."
Hermione snorted. "He worships me? That's just bull."
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "You know more than I do that Ron's liked you for ages, but he was too dimwitted to figure it out, and lately, his hormones have been working over time."
""No, I think that would be your hormones." Hermione retorted, suddenly thinking of Dean.
Ginny ignored her. "Viktor Krum. Need I say more?"
"Boo-hoo." said Hermione, in a boring voice, "but he has been acting really strange, and I kind of miss having the old Ron around. I don't even get to argue with him anymore."
"How sad..." Ginny said sarcastically, as she gathered her things and got up from the table to leave for Quidditch Practice.
"You know what?" Hermione started, "I don't care. If he wants to ask me, he can, and if he doesn't, then that's that. Plus I can think of about a dozen other things to do than waste my time on silly dances."
"Well, all I have to say about this is the person that says they don't care is actually the one that cares more than they think they do. So if I were you, I would give him a Love Potion or something of the sort to get him back to reality and stop acting like a moron, not that I am you..."
...
Hermione was now in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Tonks stood in front of the class with a smile on her face, her vivid pink hair spiking up on her head.
"Today, we will be continuing with learning about countercurses and counterjinx, and then tomorrow they will be put into practice. Take notes please!" said Tonks.
A whole hour passed with Tonks lecturing about the most common curses and jinxes. Normally, a Defense against the Dark Arts class was exhilarating and fast paced, but today it seemed slower than a History of Magic Lesson.
As the Professor rambled, Hermione took out her diary. She didn't know why, but she did not feel like taking notes on a subject that had been mastered in her mind years before. For the first time ever in an ongoing class, her mind was somewhere else.
October 14,
The days are going by rather quickly. Yesterday, Harry, Ron, Neville, and I had a meeting where I found out that Harry's planning to go to the Department of Mysteries again. Every time that place is mentioned, I get an eerie feeling. I imagine how Harry must deal with it, the place where Sirius died...
Ron and I can't stop him anymore. I think we should start nwow by preparing him, teaching him all of these countercurses that Tonks is talking about right now...
...What Ginny said at breakfast is true. Ron needs to be confronted, but I don't know how to approach him. If I say one offensive thing, he'll put on his defensive barrier and act like an idiot...
But I can't believe that he's been acting so weird! It's like he's totally another person. Last night, he helped me out with all of my homework. For a minute, I was shocked. For the past six years, I have been doing his homework and helping him get through in their classes, but yesterday...wow. I always knew Ron had some academic potential, but I never thought I would actually be around long enough to see it. Maybe I should just ask him to the dance. It would be really awkward...
"Er-what are you writing in?" Hermione was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she jumped at Harry's voice.
"Nothing." She said, which gave Harry more suspicion but stayed quiet. Hermione frantically closed her diary and let Tonk's voice tune back in her head.
"...One of the most powerful and effective curses, followed by the Unforgivable Curses, is the Morbida curse, which can damage a person's brain and cause short-term memory loss. A countercurse is provided, which works when you say the word 'defendo'. It is similar to the Shield Charm..." Hermione was anxious to try the countercurse for that the next day, just in case Malfoy decided to ambush her again.
It was the end of class, and Hermione, Ron, and Harry got up to leave when Tonks beckoned Hermione to her desk.
"All right there, Hermione?" said Tonks with deep concern, "you were in the Hospital Wing for quite a long time."
"Yeah, unfortunately. What do I have to catch up on?"
"More than you can handle, I'm afraid." said Tonks, and gave her a roll of parchment with full of assignments written. "What are you going to the Halloween Dance as?"
"I don't know yet. Actually, I might not go." said Hermione.
"You cannot miss the Halloween Dance! I will be going as a banshee. I'm going to have my voice magnified and my skin paled. I hope I scare the cloaks off those kids."
Hermione gathered her books and left the classroom. She was walking slowly in the corridor when she realized that her diary was missing. Her heart jolted in and out, and all kinds of thoughts ran inside her head. What if someone took it? What if someone read it? What if Tonks found it?
Calm down, Hermione told herself as she rushed down on the opposite side of the corridor and back into the Defense Against the Dark Arts Room. Tonks's next class hadn't begun yet, so the classroom was still empty.
Tonks looked up in surprise.
"Erm-I forgot something-can I look for it?" Hermione muttered, breathing heavily.
"Of course." said Tonks.
Hermione scanned her seat, the desks, and she put her head down to check under the desks, but nothing was there.
Oh no. Someone had her diary, and for all she knew, they could be reading it right now. In it was things about Ron, her dreams, the Order, and other things that she didn't want other people to read. Why didn't I put a spell on it to lock it? Why couldn't I have written in Invisible Ink?
"Found it yet?" Tonks asked from across the room.
"Hermione got on her feet. "No, maybe someone took it.
Tonks said that she would inform her if she found something, and Hermione took her leave once again.
...
The evening settled in as Hermione headed to the Gryffindor Common Room. Rain was pouring outside and lightning thundered, blowing away the trees in the Forbidden Forest. She spotted Harry sitting on a chair, immensely absorbed in something, with his back turned to her. She peaked over his shoulder, and in an instantaneous moment, she screamed.