A/N - (More drum roll) finally a chapter in which something is happening! Yay! It's pretty interesting if I might say so myself, so 'Colours of the Wind', I'd appreciate it if you'd look at the story itself and go a little easy on my mistakes! LOL. Nah, I'm kidding. Criticism is as welcome as encouragements are. But, anyway, I'm quite excited about this chapter, so, without further ado, let me present Confusion, Anger and Love.

Chapter 9 – Confusion, Anger and Love

Hermione woke up with all the perplexing thoughts and feelings of the previous day rushing through her head. She groaned. Why did life have to be so complicated? Why couldn't things just be simple, organised and systematic? This was why she buried herself in her books; she found them much easier to understand.

By the time she got ready and went down for breakfast, her parents had already left for work and she was alone with the housekeeper, who was too busy cooking and cleaning to talk to her. She wanted to talk to someone, but at the same time she didn't want to admit to anyone that she still had feelings for Draco. It had been hard enough admitting it to herself. And, really, what could anyone say? Draco had probably never looked at her that way (though sometimes she thought he did, but dismissed it as her imagination running wild) and so her whole situation was hopeless. She supposed she should just forget about Draco and stay with Kevin, but then Kevin was another problem, since she wasn't sure how she would tell him about the whole witch thing. Apart from that, she somehow didn't want to give up Draco...

She went to the living room and watched TV for a while, which was just another sign of how frustrated she was, since she was hardly the type who sat in front of the TV in her free time. This time it just depressed her more, since she automatically switched on the news channel and was swarmed with information on floods, riots, corruption, terrorism and all the other things that have become so frequent in the world today. She found herself dwelling on peace and the absence of it in both the muggle and the wizarding world. Yes, Voldemort had been defeated, but that didn't mean that those of his followers who were still alive meekly submitted to orders of Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge, who had given a long speech on how it was now useless for those followers to do anything stupid, since their master was no longer there to repay them or support them, and that they had been spared so they could reform and live more honourable, quiet lives. They had been outraged when Voldemort had been destroyed (he could not be 'killed', as such) and many had scrounged the area of his death, hoping and looking for some kind of sign that showed he was still alive. They had found none, but like those overtaken by disease, they still hoped and prayed and caused little disturbances with the wish that someday their master would return and reward them. But he would not return. Even those who had predicted and believed he would return the first time he had disappeared while trying to kill Harry now lived with the faith and reassurance that he was truly gone. It was only Dumbledore who spared a thought for the future, when he believed an even greater and more terrible force could arise. He had said, addressing Hogwarts after he and Harry had defeated Voldemort, "A great evil is gone from our world and we should be grateful and joyful for it. But let us not become careless in our gratitude and joy, for, though one evil has been defeated, many more still exist and there is no guarantee that one of these evils, sometime, somewhere, will not gain power and unleash a reign of terror even more horrific than the previous one. The evil, my students, is inside even each one of you and it is only a few choices that separate you from that force which we have just defeated. The first time Voldemort vanished, we grew careless, greedy and blind in our pleasure, and it only served to destroy many more lives and bring much more pain than was necessary. Let us not make the same mistake again." Even if no one else had, Hermione had listened to the speech and she fully agreed with what Dumbledore had said, though she wasn't as troubled about it as Dumbledore was. She felt that, though he was absolutely right, they did deserve to enjoy themselves after everything they had been through.

She switched off the TV after a while and went to get Protecting Magical Creatures to read. She was able to forget all her troubles while reading, getting completely absorbed in the book, so she was a little annoyed when the phone rang and she had to be torn away from her source of joy.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, Hermione," Harry said from the other side.

"Oh, Harry! I was going to call you, but I didn't have your new number...I don't even know if you have a phone there!" she said.

"Yeah, I wasn't sure whether I should get one, but then I decided there was no harm in it, so I got one installed, though with great difficulty, since no one here's heard of a telephone," he replied, sounding amused.

Hermione laughed. "I bet they haven't!"

"Yeah, anyway, Mr Weasley's got the tickets and the game's at four o'clock on Saturday. Ron will come to my place and we're going by broom. He's got his and I'll take you on mine," he said.

"All right, it'll be fun," she replied.

"Hmmm. So what have you been doing? You must be pretty bored," he asked.

She bit her lip, wondering whether she should tell him about Kevin or Draco. "Umm...I've been going out and all. I've kept myself pretty busy."

"I'm glad, else you would've been brooding out Hogwarts again," he replied.

"Hmmm, it is pretty sad, isn't it? But I've sent my article to The Miscellaneous Files and I'm waiting for a response from them," she said.

"That's good. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll love it," he said encouragingly.

"Well you would know for sure if you had bothered to read it!" she said, pretending to be annoyed.

"Oh, c'mon, Hermione, you know this spew and spaw stuff is out of my league," he replied.

"It's S.P.E.W. and S.P.A.W.!" she retorted.

"Well you can't expect people to actually call them that; it's too long. Spew and spaw are much easier to say," he said.

"Harry!" she said, exasperated. "If you people, as my best friends, don't respect my organisation, how can I expect other people to?"

"It's not about respect! It's just about the name being too damn long! Of course we respect the organisation. We think you're doing something really good," he said in a tone that he thought was very convincing, but Hermione wasn't so easily fooled.

"Something really good indeed! You don't even know half of what I want to do! At least Draco listens!" she blurted without thinking. The silence that followed made her deeply regret her words, but she couldn't unsay them.

"Harry, I'm really sorry. I don't know what...I shouldn't have said that."

"Hermione, you're one of my best friends in the whole world, but..." he said. "I have to go right now. I'll talk to you later."

"Harry, I..."

"I have to go," he said again and hung up.

Hermione felt dreadful. Mainly because she knew that what she had said had been true and she also knew that Harry knew it and was obviously hurt by it. She knew he didn't mean to be so careless and unconcerned about her work, but she did feel a little sad about it sometimes. Like she was to him, he was one of her best friends in the whole world and she felt that, if he didn't know what was going on, who would? Especially about such major things like her work and what she was dedicating her life to. Still, she didn't want him to be hurt. He was the perfect friend in every other way. She decided to give him some time to cool down and then call him (thank God for caller ID!).

She went up to her room, lay down on her bed and buried her head in the pillows.

Her dinner date with Kevin that day was pretty okay, even if nothing else did. She was finding it increasingly difficult to talk to him about her past, so she deliberately stuck to other topics. She knew it couldn't last like that, but she didn't feel ready to tell him yet. He didn't take her to a fancy restaurant like Draco, but to a smaller, quieter place and she liked it. They talked about lots of things and he was very charming. She even enjoyed herself now and then and realized she was lucky to have found such a great guy like Kevin, but somehow her heart was not in it and when he dropped her home that night, he asked, "Are you feeling okay, Hermione? You looked a little pale today."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I've just been feeling a little under the weather," she replied.

He looked concerned. "Will you be all right?"

She smiled. He really was great and she quite snapped out of her depression. "Don't worry, I'll be right as rain by the morning."

"I certainly hope so, because I was thinking we could go to this fair that's only in town tomorrow and day-after," he said.

"Oh, that'll be great! I love fairs!" she exclaimed, getting excited. She felt it was just what she needed to cheer her up.

"I'm glad, because I wouldn't want to go without you," he said, smiling and moving a little closer.

"Hermione, I know we hardly know each other and it may seem way too soon...but, I just...I can't deny it. I love you...I really do," and he bent down and kissed her fully and passionately on the lips before she had time to think about what he had said.

He finally pulled away after about ten seconds. They were both breathless, though she was also taken aback, perplexed and many other things besides.

"I better get going now. I'll call you in the morning and we can talk. I know you must be very surprised and everything and I understand that. I don't expect you to say anything right now," he said.

"Kevin, I..." she began, but he put his hand gently over her lips.

"Sshh. It's okay. Think about it. Consider it. I'll still be there in the morning to hear everything you want to say," he said and with that and one last smile he left, leaving her alone at her doorstep, staring disbelievingly at him.