Chapter 17 – It Was Just a Nightmare
A tear trailed down her cheek as she stepped outside on the frosted grass of the desolate Hogwarts grounds She sat on one of the benches and breathed heavily, feeling completely dumbfounded. What had she done?
She couldn't believe she'd attacked another person in front of everyone and gotten a detention. She, Hermione Jane Granger, the smartest witch of the year and Head Girl, had deliberately attacked another student in front of everyone…
What was happening to her? She should have been able to control her temper back there…but she was after Ron. Hermione couldn't let that happen, but she guessed that it didn't matter anymore. It was over. He had left her for another girl, and even if he came back to explain she wouldn't listen to him. As she thought this, more tears fell down and chilled her cheek, due to the bitter-cold atmosphere.
After a few minutes, Hermione looked up and perceived a figure with fiery hair coming out of the castle and following her tracks. She wiped her eyes hastily.
Ron settled himself next to her and she turned the other way immediately.
"I think I've gotten two cracked people in my hands now." said Ron sarcastically.
"What do you want? Shouldn't you be somewhere else discussing private matters with your pretty little girlfriend?" snapped Hermione.
"I am." He replied, reaching out his arm and turning her face towards him, "It was only a test."
"A-what?"
"A test, to see how jealous you would get when you saw me talking to Serenity. There's nothing going on between us. She just agreed to go along with it."
Hermione gazed at Ron's innocent face. Deep down she knew he was telling the truth but that didn't justify anything. "That's the dumbest thing ever! You can't play with me like that! I'm not your doll! Just go away and leave me alone! I got a detention because of you!"
"Me?" said Ron, pointing to himself, "You're the one who attacked her! How was I supposed to know you would take it that far? Even I didn't curse your precious friend Malfoy-"
So that's what this was all about. Ron had tried to get back at her for being partners with Draco.
"Who's stupid idea was it, anyways?" she barked.
"It was a brilliant idea," said Ron, smiling, "Now I know how crazy you can get over me." He laughed, and when she glared at him, he continued, "Ginny told me to do it yesterday. She said it would work perfectly."
"Ginny!" she wailed, "How dare she-"
"It worked, and you should've seen yourself. You were so furious. I guess we're even now."
"We are NOT even. I wasn't the one who was flirting with Draco-"
"YOU skipped me and went to work with him! Did you ever think about how that would make me feel? Why else would you-"
Hermione covered his mouth, "Just shut up for a minute."
Ron looked furious at her impudence, but she didn't take much notice of it. However, she did realize that she must have really hurt Ron when she'd deserted him like that. She at least had to apologize for that.
"Look, Ron, I know why you were mad at me, but I personally invited Draco to the DA meeting, and it wouldn't be fair of me if I just left him there alone. I had to work with him. It wasn't like I was choosing him over you. You need to know that you're the only one I care about. Do you understand?" said Hermione.
"I suppose so." said Ron uncertainly.
Good, she thought silently, because I was going to break up with you if you didn't.
"I'm sorry for what happened back there…I guess it was stupid, but it seemed like a good idea before. And what came over you? Attacking that poor girl was very unlike you." said Ron, wiping her tears away.
"I can't believe I got a detention!" Hermione stroked her arms in frustration.
Again, Ron giggled, "Welcome to the other side."
She observed him. Despite his annoying personality and jealous nature, she couldn't resist him. Hermione felt her negative emotions melting away.
"So are we okay now?" he said, glancing at her.
She hugged him as a response.
"Ron?" Hermione spoke.
"Yeah?"
"If I fail my Ancient Runes test, I'm going to kill you."
…
The next couple of weeks went by in a flash. Hermione was on much better terms with Ron now, but she still watched what she said and did around him. She hardly had any free time to do anything because of her regular duties, the piling amount of homework which kept on increasing day by day, DA meetings held twice a week, and her Animagi classes once a week.
The Animagi classes weren't going as well as she had expected. She didn't master the lesson's concepts in the first or second try like she was used to; for example, in one of the practical lessons, she had to transfigure herself into a chair and the only advantage was that she was allowed to use a wand. Out of the fear of staying an old wooden chair for the rest of her life, she made incompetent efforts to perform the Transfiguration. It took her a surprising whole two-hour lesson to do it right, and being a chair had given her the most peculiar feeling ever. They had done human Transfiguration in normal class, but they had never transformed into such big objects.
To her astonishment, her detention had been very similar to her usual Head duties, except that it was in a place that she hadn't been in for the past four years. She had to clean all of the unusual objects in Trelawney's classroom, and Hermione was so relieved to see that she wasn't there at the time. It would be very awkward to see a teacher you'd walked out on because she was a fraud, and then three years later find out that she was capable of making a true prophecy.
The night was late when Hermione returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, and saw that Ginny and Ron were still up.
"Hey, guys," said Hermione, as she got comfy on her chair, "have you ever noticed that we're always the last ones in here?"
"Yeah, unfortunately," said Ron, eating Chocolate Frogs, "I just stayed up to ask you a question."
"What is it?"
"Do you prefer dark, milk, or white chocolate?"
What a random question, "White chocolate, but why?" inquired Hermione.
"You'll find out soon enough," said Ron, getting up and kissing her, "Goodnight."
"Wait-" Hermione protested, but Ginny interrupted, "Oh, let him go. It's for a good cause."
"Meaning?"
"Are you stuck in some other time warp? Valentine's Day is coming up, so he's probably going to sneak up to Hogsmeade tomorrow with Harry to get some gifts," said Ginny, helping herself to some Hot Tamales. Her face didn't show any different when she chewed the spicy candy.
Hermione watched her in amazement, "I forgot about that, but they shouldn't break the rules! Ron is a Prefect! He should know better!"
"Chill, Hermione. They're getting gifts, not mugging stores."
"Whatever, it' still the same thing, and anyways, I think it's a dumb holiday. Guys have a day to be 'extra' romantic when it should be every day."
Ginny raised an eye, "Very negative attitude. Ron has something very special planned for you."
She felt herself smile, "Really? What is it?"
"I can't tell you!" Ginny snorted, "You'll find out soon enough."
While wondering what Ron's surprise would be, Ginny said, "You know, I'm surprised my sweet brother hasn't already gone to extreme lengths to prove his love-"
"What do you mean?"
"You know…" said Ginny in a secretive way.
Hermione stared at her densely, and Ginny rolled her eyes, "I didn't know I would have to give lessons. When a girl and a guy love each other so much they express their emotions intimately-"
"Never mind, I got it." Hermione cut in. Ginny cackled.
"How do you know that Ron-me-haven't-?" said Hermione, trying to find the right words.
"It's obvious, and plus, I know my brother." said Ginny.
"You mean you have-"
"Of course."
Hermione stayed as mute as a mime. She had never discussed the subject of sex with Ron and that kind of thing wouldn't just pop up in a conversation…it would just happen naturally, or so she thought. But was she ready for that step? As she looked at Ginny in wonder, she thought how amazing it was that two people could be intimate with each other without knowing if they were the 'one' or not. Hermione knew that her heart said that Ron was the 'one' for her, but she still had her doubts. Could they actually stay together for a long time…or forever? Couples broke up everyday; what if they broke up as well? Maybe Ron would join forces with the dove-faced girl Serenity or some other bimbo that would make him forget about her…
Ginny proved to be smarter than Hermione thought to be, "Don't doubt him, or yourself. Just because your parents split up doesn't mean it'll happen to you."
"Really?" said Hermione hopefully.
"Really."
"Really?"
"Yes! Really!" scowled Ginny, throwing a book at her. Hermione caught it.
"I actually wanted to ask you something." said Ginny.
Hermione waited for her to elaborate.
"Do you think Harry…"
"Likes you?" she finished Ginny's sentence, "I don't know…maybe. He's never actually said if he likes you or doesn't like you in front of me." Hermione had the impression that Ginny was the kind of girl who couldn't live without a man in her life.
"You want me to ask him?" Hermione went on.
"Yes."
"All right, I will." said Hermione, but hoped that Harry didn't for Ginny's sake. Harry wasn't exactly the most romantic and tactful person right now and she didn't want Ginny to get hurt.
Yawning, Hermione said good night to Ginny and scrambled up the spiral staircase to her dormitory and opened the door to their quiet room, where Parvati and Lavender were in deep slumber.
She changed into her nightwear and popped in bed and closed her eyes. No thoughts entered her head tonight because she was extremely sleepy, and she felt herself drifting off into a doze.
Hermione didn't know where or when, but an image materialized in front of her.
It was dark. It was so dark that Hermione had almost convinced herself to be blind. She had no idea where she was, but felt a sign of danger a full three hundred sixty degrees around. A foul smell lingered in the air heavily like a sewer and Hermione thought that that was where she was. But suddenly, a stream of brilliant white light struck her, but instead of making contact, it went right through her and lighted up her surroundings.
She was standing in an enclosed gloomy-painted room that could have been the exact replication of half the Gryffindor Common Room, but with no doors or windows. Hermione wondered how she'd gotten in here.
A signified gasp made her jump and she turned to see a sweating young man situated in front of her. He had a wand in one hand and a small white disfigured object like a crystal in the other, glowing dazzlingly on the edges.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, but Harry did not take any notice of her. He was glaring ahead past her with fury, and Hermione rotated in fear. In the light stood a tall sallow-skinned wizard robed with an overgrown black cloak, staring in her direction with catlike red eyes burning fiercely with flame. Perhaps Hermione would have had more time to sink in the face that she was facing the one and only Lord Voldemort, but the next few things happened so fast that she thought she'd been placed in a fast forwarding time with her being the only slow thing.
Voldemort vanished in a zip and then half a second later reappeared right behind Harry. Harry swerved around and immediately, Voldemort screamed a spell and Harry flew across the room and hit the wall with a deafening crash.
Hermione gasped. She ran to him and made an effort to help him up, but her hands went right through him like a ghost's would. Harry's face distorted in intense pain and Voldemort's deadly voice rang out in the room, "Give me the crystal. Now."
Harry was on his feet now, and to Hermione's astonishment, he laughed recklessly, "Or what? You'll kill me? You can't kill me without this."
Voldemort's snakelike face twitched with a half-smile, "Maybe not, but I can kill him."
At first, she didn't know who he was referring to, but when she looked in the direction Voldemort was devouring at, her heart gave a deadly leap. In a corner, Ron was sprawled on the floor with blood gushing out of his knee, watching dazedly at the whole scene. He didn't have his wand.
"Give it to me, or your friend dies." Voldemort whispered dangerously and then made hissing and spitting sounds. A black poisonous snake slithered out of his cloak, making Hermione's eyes widen. It slid towards Ron and took position to attack.
"No." Hermione uttered, desperately hoping they would hear and see her and even kill her instead. She stroked her pajamas violently, but there was no wand there.
"Don't give it to him, Harry-" said Ron weakly, paying no attention to the venomous snake in front of him, "He'll kill you."
"Give me the crystal!" Voldemort snarled.
"If you die, you know what'll happen!" said Ron, more strongly this time.
Give him the crystal, give him the crystal, Hermione chanted inside her head. Give it to him, give it to him…
Harry looked from Ron to Voldemort, still in pain, and held out his hand hesitantly.
Voldemort gave a truly evil grin, "Fools. Accio Crys-"
"NO!" Ron bellowed and blasted forward with all his might and snatched the crystal from Harry's hand and then instantly fell to the ground.
Hermione froze on the spot, not moving an inch. However, she did have enough strength to yell, "DO SOMETHING HARRY!"
It was almost as if Harry had heard her. He Disapparated into thin air but Voldemort was too quick for him, who had done the same a second ahead of him and appeared right beside the beaten-up Ron. Harry reappeared and Voldemort screamed, "Petrificus Totalus!" The spell hit Harry square on the chest and he froze as stiff as a board, clattering onto the floor.
"HARRY! RON!" Hermione screamed in terror, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"What a waste." said Voldemort, with a pretend concerned look on his face. With his wand, he rounded on Ron and shrieked, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
"ROOOOON!" Green light hit Ron with full force. The little strength that was left in him faltered as he perished flat down.
"NOOOOOOO!"
…
Hermione's eyes opened. A gloomy silhouette of a four-poster bed faced her and beside her were the worried faces of Parvati and Lavender.
"Oh, thank god, finally you're awake," Lavender sighed, "you must have had a hell of a nightmare because you scared the shit out of us."
"A nightmare…" Hermione said, finding tears on her cheeks.
"Yeah, you were screaming so loud I thought you would wake up the whole castle."
Hermione stared at them but not really realizing they were there. She felt as if she was still back in that place…but there was not dark room here, no Voldemort, no Harry, no Ron…Ron!
She bolted up instantly as if lightning had struck her and leaped out of her bed. Parvati and Lavender jumped.
"Where are you going?" exclaimed Lavender, as she grabbed her wand from the desk and opened the door.
"I just had the worst dream…I think something terrible has happened to Ron…"
Parvati and Lavender exchanged surprised looks, and Parvati said, "How do you know?"
"I just saw him die!" Hermione spat out.
"What do you-"
"In my dream!" and without another word, she stormed out of the room and heard Parvati yell after her, "It was just a nightmare!"
No, it wasn't. A horrible feeling inside her body told her it wasn't. It had felt so real, like she had been there before or was going to be there…She had to make sure Ron was safe and if that meant going to the boys' dormitory in the middle of the night, then so be it. She just had to make sure Ron was safe and sound in his room, not sprawled lifelessly somewhere in the world.
As she passed the Gryffindor Common Room along her way, a thought occurred to her. What if they weren't there? Maybe something had happened in the middle of the night and they'd left the castle…but they couldn't call her because they weren't allowed in the girls' dormitory.
With this thought piercing her heart, she ran up the staircase and opened the door to the designated room. It was completely black with no sound or motion taking place. Thankfully, no one stirred awake because of her abrupt entrance.
Hermione kneeled down to Ron's bed in complete darkness and muttered, "Lumos." She expected to find Ron's peaceful face shining in the yellow light, but it wasn't. Ron wasn't there.