Disclaimer: Thankfully, JKR owns all this jazz and I do not. I amvery glad for this, seeing as I suck, where she frickin rocks.
Daisies
"Thanks so much, Hermione. You really saved me on this one," Parvati Patil said, as she unceremoniously stuffed her books and papers into her book bag.
"Your welcome, Parvati. Just ask if you need any more help, ok?" Parvati nodded and scurried out of the library to her next class.
Hermione had been helping her study for a big upcoming Charms test. Parvati had been pretending to predict things for Divination with Lavender in Professor Flitwick's class, and so was no where near as prepared as she needed to be. Hermione was a bit miffed at Parvati for not paying attention in class, under the influence of that old bat Trelawney, but, and this was a chance to get an ally, or at least get her to stop talking about the "Golden Trio". Normally, Parvati was one of the number of people who whispered continually about Harry and his friends, so in helping her, being nice, Hermione figured she'd stop, and maybe get Lavender to shut her trap as well.
Stacking her papers in order and putting her Charms book back in her bag, Hermione noticed a dog-eared book laying open and crumpled on the floor. A closer look identified the book as Parvati's own Charms book. Hermione rolled her eyes. After they had just worked with the book, Parvati goes and forgets it. She must have dropped it.
Picking it up and holding it in the crook of her arm, she swung her bag over one shoulder and went to find what Parvati's current class was.
"Excuse me, Professor," Hermione chirped. Professor McGonagall didn't have a class this period, and was shuffling through some papers on her desk.
"Yes, Miss Granger? Can I help you with something?" she said, forsaking the papers and folding her hands in front of her on the desk.
"I needed to return this book to Parvati Patil. I would just return it to her later, but she needs it for her next class and she forgot it in the library. I wondered if you could tell me what class she has now."
"Don't you have somewhere to be, Miss Granger?"
"No, Professor. I took an extra class last semester, so I have a free study hour on Thursdays, remember?"
"Yes, of course. How forgetful of me. One moment." The Transfiguration teacher opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a little box full of small cards. She thumbed through them, muttering "Patil…Patil…" until she pulled one out carefully and looked down through her spectacles at it.
"Right now, Miss Patil has Advanced Divination. I'm sure Professor Trelawney won't mind if you return the book quickly and quietly. Good day, Miss Granger," she said, sliding the card back and replacing the box. She returned to her papers, summarily dismissing Hermione, who headed for Trelawney's tower room.
Hermione hated it there, it was stuffy and you couldn't even breath without getting a lungful of smoke. She didn't see how anyone could concentrate while being asphyxiated. But Parvati, and of course Lavender, loved Divination, and Hermione took on a philosophy of "to each his (or her) own" in this case.
Upon entering the Divination classroom, Hermione heard professor Trelawney teaching the class. Her curiosity breached once again, Hermione listened for a moment justinside the roombefore letting anyone know she was there.
"Daisy Divination is a complex art. It seems mediocre, yes. But it truly is not if done properly. You must link your inner mind to that of the flower, let it know your past, present and future. In this you must also know your inner mind, or the daisy cannot possibly. This is why so few witches and even fewer wizards have ever accomplished this feat.
"Now, center yourselves, pour your heart into these flowers, just when you feel that it's about to flood into the roots, snap the stem." Hermione heard only silence for a few moments, and some shuffling about, as the students apparently picked daisies from their roots.
"Now, focus on one unknown aspect of your life, in which there are only two predictable outcomes. A problem, if you will." More silence. Hermione found herself thinking of Ron. If there was ever a problem in her life, one that was a continual eyelash in her eye, it was him.
"When you feel that the daisy has enough, you may begin to pick off the petals one at a time, each petal being a different answer. For example: the classic 'he loves me, he loves me not'. Begin with the positive answer. Start."
Hermione was intrigued. But she needed to return Parvati's book.
She walked into themain part of the room"Excuse me, Professor. I need to return this book to Parvati Patil."
Trelawney looked a tad angry, but she sighed ("centering" herself, Hermione noted humorously) and said, "Yes, of course. Go ahead."
Hermione looked around. Usually during class if someone walked in everyone would turn and stare at the person, but here everyone seemed intensely consumed by the little daisies they all clutched. She spotted Parvati and wove her way through the randomly placed furniture and set the book on the table, not bothering to knock Parvati out of her flower-induced stupor.
Hermione left quickly. The room had felt even weirder than usual.
She still had an entire free period left and she wanted to try that flower thing. It couldn't hurt, and all her homework was finished.
Heading for the Room of Requirement, she began pondering the question she would use. The first thing that came to mind was Ron. Ginny and Harry kept hinting that he liked her, and she didn't know if she felt that same way or not. But what use could that question be other than to tell her that he liked her. And what if this daisy rubbish was just that: rubbish. What if it told her that he liked her, and there was a big deal over it. There were so many complications.
Then it hit her. Ron would say she was thinking it to death. She agreed. She should do it, just to be spontaneous. Do it, just to do it. That's when she reached the Room, having decided her question.
She paced, thinking of what she needed for this…spell. A book on Daisy Divination would be nice. Just so she knew what she was getting into.
Inside, there was a small table with a few daisies arranged in a spiral on top, a very small bookcase had four books on Daisy Divination, and she picked the one that didn't also have "Inner Eye" in the title. She sat down at the table.
Reading, she found that different kinds of Daisy Divination existed. One was that it would answer a question, but another made the outcome that the flower reached true. It made it real. It seemed unnatural to her, so she just picked the first one. It was what Trelawney had been teaching the Advanced Divination class.
Picking up a flower, she thought point of no return was the correct sort of phrase for this. She began, closing her eyes.
She thought about everything. She tried to consciously widen her thoughts. Harry and Ron were there all the time. They were a huge part of her life now. She knew they'd been best friends since the troll incident in first year, maybe they didn't think so then, but they had been.
After a very long period of thinking, reminiscing she got the distinct feeling that she could continue now. She thought about Ron and how Ginny always said he was jealous of Victor. She thought of how he'd reacted after she wrote Victor letters. She thought of how he blushed tot he tips of his ears, and how he'd looked when she'd kissed him in fifth year, for luck. She hadn't even thought abut the kiss then, she'd just done it. Even she didn't know why.
The flower grew warm in her hand, and she opened her eyes. "He loves me," she said picking the first petal. "He loves me not." This continued, Hermione being very careful about only picking one petal at a time, in fear of messing up the prediction. She came to the last ring of petals. She closed her eyes, she couldn't watch. Touching the petals, she gingerly picked one at a time, having to feel instead of see.
"He loves me. He loves me not." In her mind's eye she saw Ron's face, that goofy grin he wore all the time. "He loves me," she picked another petal and set it on the table, and reached for another one.
There weren't anymore. Her eyes snapped open. He loved her? It couldn't be true. Could it? Was it?
She stopped thinking about it. She just knew that he did. She'd known for a long time that she loved, or at least liked, him since...oh it didn't matter since when. She did. That was what mattered.
"I love you, too," she whispered.
A/N: Alright. I think this one is a little bare-boned. I just couldn't get any more details in there. Please review.
A special thank you to JKRowling for leaving such a cliffhanger of an ending for us to jump off of for ourselves over...and over and etc. Until 2007, Jo. Hopefully, anyway.