CHAPTER EIGHT:
DIFFERENT
That night, Hermione, Harry and Draco had spent their time talking over what happened. Draco sat in the chair as Hermione sat snuggling in his lap. Harry had a sad face upon him; Hermione didn't know what was wrong.
"Harry... something wrong?" Hermione asked, hugging Draco around his waist.
"Oh... no nothing." Harry sighed; Hermione knew he was obviously lying. She sat up on Draco's lap.
"Harry, something wrong... please tell me!" Hermione begged, Draco was simply wondering as well. Harry sighed.
"Nothing, just me and Ginny broke up today at breakfast, things seem so different now." He said with a sigh and sat on the couch, staring into the fire. Hermione sighed.
"Oh, Harry I'm sorry." She said, regretfully. Harry smiled.
"No it's ok... I think she was jealous of Cho." Harry and Hermione giggled.
"Cho Chang? The seventh year?" Draco asked and Harry and Hermione nodded.
"The one Ron threw a pig at." Harry giggled, and Draco's jaw dropped with a laugh.
They all had a long talk with each other. Everyone giggled back and forth and Harry and Draco became good friends by the end of the night. Hermione was still nervous on how Ron would think of this. But she didn't give it much thought.
"Harry..." Hermione started, and Harry looked to her "How did you get Dumbledore to believe that Pansy did it?" Harry smiled.
"Remember that girl we met on our first day? She had long silver – like hair..."Hermione nodded. "Well she is dating Dennis Creevey, and she is cousin to Rita Skeeter." Harry paused and Hermione gave a hiss.
"Now now, she can't be all bad." Draco started, and Hermione looked at him. Draco gulped loudly. "Never mind." He smiled an innocent smile and she laughed.
"You told her lies Draco…" Hermione started and Draco interrupted.
"It was Pansy." He glared at Pansy's door to her room and Hermione sighed in regret for accusing him.
"Anyways," Harry started "she let me borrow Rita's Quick Quotes Quill or whatever it may be called." Harry laughed, and Hermione nodded.
"I wondered what you meant by writing it down." She laughed.
"Oh, I have my ways." Harry said and they all laughed as he started to mock Rita Skeeter.
"Thanks Harry, for everything." Draco started, and Harry gave a nod. "And you too Hermione, if you hadn't found me in time then I would be dead for sure." Draco sighed as Hermione put a hand over his mouth.
"Don't talk like that Draco, as long as you're safe… I'm happy." She smiled, kissing him on the cheek.
"Sorry." He said and Hermione made a giggle.
"Hey Hermione, what classes do we have today?" Harry asked, looking at the clock that was about to strike 5:00. Hermione shrugged.
"We have potions at six" Draco said, "Snape is making us review for our exam." Harry rolled his eyes as he slouched on the couch.
"Just what I need, an entire hour with Snape." Harry said sarcastically and Hermione giggled.
"At least it's not Divination." Hermione hissed at the class.
"That old bat is full of it, she knows nothing." Draco laughed.
"Every time I walk in she tells me different ways that I'm going to die." Harry said and everyone laughed, knowing it wasn't true.
"Wow, and I thought I was mentally challenged." Draco laughed and Harry sighed.
"Wait a second!" Harry shouted, standing up and facing Hermione.
"What?" She asked, looking back and forth from Harry to Draco with confusion.
"How did you know it was Pansy?" Harry asked, staring at her with softened eye.
"Oh, you know the puppet?" Hermione asked with a smile and alarmed.
"Yeah?" Harry wondered, staring at her still and looking at Draco for a second, then back to Hermione.
"Well, I saw an engraved mark on the low neck line." She turned and pulled down the collar of Draco's shirt a little to show him exactly where. "It had P.P on it, and I know it must have stood for Pansy Parkinson."
"Tricky..." Draco said with a laugh.
Harry sat back down, relieved that she didn't have some sort of power that he didn't know about. The last time that happened, it wasn't very good. They spent that night talking about what the next task should be, just to be ready.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
By the end of their potions class, everyone was pretty drowsy. Ron had found out about Draco and Hermione, but he didn't really care as much as they thought he would. Draco and Hermione were hand in hand and Harry walked beside them. They made it to the Selected People's common room, and walked in.
Harry went to his own room, doing a little of his homework and then went to bed. Draco and Hermione went into her room for the night. Hermione first changed while Draco was on the balcony, only proper. And Draco only removed his shirt, like always.
Hermione wore a long, pink nightdress that was a silky material. She slid into her bed, turning the lap off on the bedside stand, and settling herself into the covers. Draco slid in with her and wrapped his arms around her waist. They talked all night, about what happened. Hermione and Draco both drifted off to sleep at about 11:00.
Hermione woke at about 6 and stood from her bed. She saw that Draco was still asleep, and didn't want to wake him. She left the room, tip – toeing out and trying not to make a sound. She entered the common room, where Harry sat and uneasily staring into the fireplace.
Hermione sat next to him with a smile. He smiled back and continued looking into the fire. Hermione slouched on the couch, wrapping herself in a robe to warm her faster. She sighed.
"Something wrong?" Harry asked, she only shook her head.
"Nah, just still a little tired." She said with a yawn. Harry smiled.
"Yeah, but everyone else has to wake up soon." Harry said, changing his look from the fire to Hermione.
"What…why?" she asked, with a confused look.
"Well, it's about six now, and we have a meeting at eight." Harry said with a yawn and she sighed.
"A meeting… yay!" She said in a sarcastic voice, Harry laughed.
"I see your excited… or not." He joked and she laughed a little.
"Wow, it's earlier than I thought it was." She said with a yawn.
"Yeah, I didn't expect you up this early." He said and she only sighed. He watched how she struggled to keep her eyes open, for her eyelids were becoming heavy.
"Oh well." Hermione said with a sigh, her eyes opened where she was distracted by a large gong noise, meaning it was already 7:00. They were pausing for a while, after each one spoke.
"Best be getting the others up." Harry said, walking to the doors and knocking calmly on the doors.
"Yes." Hermione nodded, knocking on Justin's and Susan's (Hufflepuff) rooms. She then walked into her own room, walking over to the sleeping Draco with a smile. "Come on sweetie, time to get up." She said in a soothing voice.
She shook him lightly and rubbed his back. Draco's eyes fluttered open and the silverish colored gray eyes gazed at Hermione. She smiled lightly, moving his hair out of his eyes and giving him a kiss on the forehead.
"We have a meeting in an hour, you need get up." She said softly, and he smiled at her.
"Ok, I'm going... I'm going." He said with a moan and she laughed softly. "Why do we have a meeting?" He asked, sitting up from the bed and pulling on his shirt.
"I don't know, Harry told me and that's how I know." She paused thinking a bit "It's probably something that has to do with the next task." She yawned.
"Probably," Draco said as he stood from the bed. Hermione changed right there in the room, not even caring that he was watching her.
She slipped on some jeans then pulled off her nightdress, and covered herself with a light blue shirt. She threw her nightdress on the bed and took a seat at her desk. Looking into the mirror that was attached to it, and she slowly and delicately braided her hair.
Draco put a slight smile on his face, walking next door through the mirror hallway with a yawn. In there he changed into his usual (black) clothing. He had walked next door, after wetting his hair down so it didn't look so greasy. Hermione, who had taken a bath the previous night, finished brushing and braiding her long hair.
She then slid in two dangling earrings through the tiny holes that were in her ear lobes. Hermione pushed the button on a small box that played music. It wasn't a stereo because that was made by muggles. It was the same thing, but made by magic.
The music started playing a soft tune, and she sang to it. It was muggle music, but that wasn't against the rules at Hogwarts, only the system was illegal. She knew all the words, and she knew what the band was called. Draco found it rather funny.
"You've been searching the world to find true love, looking in all the wrong places. When all of the time you been blind to love, its plain as the nose on your faces. It's here, it's now, open your eyes and see it. Right here, right now, open your eyes to love." Hermione sang this, and Draco laughed lightly, not knowing she sang.She turned around, "What?"
"Nothing," He said with a smile and walked to her, bending down and kissing her lightly on the neck. She smiled.
"I think the song is right about us." She laughed and he laughed with her.
Draco lightly picked her up, laying her on the bed and smiling. He kissed her deeply on the lips, while laying himself on top of her. Hermione thought it was too early to be what he was doing or thinking, but she seemed rather comfortable. She wouldn't let it get out of hand.
Draco moved his hands down her thighs and her legs, while he kissed her. He stopped, looking at the door because someone was knocking on it. Hermione gently moved him off of her and walked to the door, opening it. Harry stood there, looking over Hermione and seeing Draco lying on the bed. He laughed softly.
"Yeah Harry it's so funny..." She said sarcastically with a laugh. "Now, what do you want?" She asked, and Harry shook his head at Draco.
"Oh... the meeting is going to start soon; you best come and sit in the common room." Harry said, moving his hand behind Hermione's back and giving Draco the thumbs up. She of course didn't see it.
"We'll be out in a minute." Hermione smiled and Harry gave her a nod and walked away, hearing the slam of Hermione's door.
It was forty minutes till eight, and Hermione and Draco still weren't out of her room. They finally came out, ten minutes till eight and everyone stared at them. Hermione put a smile on her face, and sitting down in the chair as Draco sat on the arm of it.
"What took you so long?" Harry asked, raising a brow.
"We needed to talk." Hermione said looking at Draco with fury and Draco sighed.
"She's mad at me." He sighed and she crossed her legs and folded her arms with anger.
"Ok then?" Harry said, looking away and towards the others with confusion.
They didn't say anything to one another till the painting that lead into their common room swung open. Dumbledore walked in, wearing his occasional long blueish green robes. As he walked in, they all stood for a proper greet.
"Good Morning Professor." Harry said and everyone else repeated it.
"Good evening Mr. Potter and all." He said with a smile and his usual wink. "How are all of you on this fine morning?"
"Good." They all said, but Hermione and Draco stayed silent.
"I have come here to ask for your next task, do you know yet?" Dumbledore asked, looking at each of them for a second.
"We have had some choices, but not a chosen one." Draco pointed out, and Harry nodded in agreement.
"What are you thinking about?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Draco and Harry.
"Well, we were looking for the best animagus in the sixth year," Harry started and Draco finished,
"And the other one was best potion." Draco said and Dumbledore gave a nod.
"Hmm..." Dumbledore was thinking, and looking at all of them "Not bad choices actually," he bent down to Harry and Draco "I'd go with the first one." He whispered, with a wink and they both nodded.
They smiled innocently at the others that didn't hear. Dumbledore left not too long after that, he talked about some other things and left at about nine, and then they had to go to breakfast.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
At breakfast, things were better then usual. Hermione and Draco weren't fighting and Hermione wasn't mad anymore, and Ginny and Harry had made up. They didn't get back together though; they decided to just stay friends.
Harry had his eyes on someone else, someone that no one knew very well. He didn't say anything, just gazed at her. Hermione smiled as she saw Harry's eyes stare deeply at Luna Lovegood with feeling, or that's what she thought.
"Luna?" Hermione said, astonished and Harry looked at her.
"What?" He wondered, looking around innocently.
"You like Luna, don't you?" She asked and Harry shook his head. Hermione crossed her arms and raised a brow, knowing he was lying.
"Well, she isn't as bad at you think." He was trying to cover it up.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, biting a piece of egg off her fork.
"Well, she's nice. People called her Loony Lovegood last year, but she is smart. She reads all the time and she has some of the greatest ideas!" Harry said blushing and sweating a bit, and Hermione dropped her fork in unbelief. Was he being serious?
"That's so cute!" Hermione said, awkwardly.
"Ok?" Harry said with a blush and playing with his food.
"Wait a second, why Luna?" She asked, hoping it wasn't that rude of a question. Harry sighed and gave in.
"OK! I WASN'T LOOKING AT LUNA!" Harry sprung, and Hermione gave him a confused look.
"Huh?" Hermione asked, speechless.
"You jumped to Luna and I covered it up... and I..." He stopped, stuffing his mouth with food.
"Then who were you staring at?" Hermione asked, analyzing the table.
"Mi girfund" he said, not making any sense because of all the food in his mouth.
"What?" Hermione asked
"Oh my god!" Ginny screamed in excitement and Hermione was even more confused.
"What?" She asked and Ginny smiled. Ginny whispered something in Harry's ear and he began blushing even more, Ginny knew she must have been correct. "WHAT?" Hermione repeated.
"He said he was staring at his girlfriend, he's back with Cho." Ginny smiled in excitement and Hermione laughed.
"That's great!" Hermione said, encouragingly. "But, then why do you look so miserable Harry?" she wondered.
"I'm not... just thinking" He said, pacing himself while he ate.
"About?" she wondered, and he didn't say anything at first.
"Nothing, just nothing." He said, in a deadly serious voice. Meaning he wasn't going to tell her and it wasn't any of her business anyway.
"Oh..." she sighed, eating and not saying anything else to make him mad.
That breakfast was quiet, it was usually quiet. They seemed to never have fun anymore. Ron still had detention and Ginny didn't bother hanging out with them anymore. Hermione talked on and on about Draco, and Harry barely ever got to see Cho.
Harry seemed rather alone, but that's not exactly what bothered him. It was more then being left out. Everyone was busy, why is it that he had nothing to do? It was if it was all about Hermione this year, was Harry actually becoming jealous? Or have the days just gotten so short, the world is becoming different?
Harry had no idea what to think. Nothing had gotten him to think that Lord Voldemort would be around, nothing to do to save the day. Has everyone gotten sick of Harry being the one to always save the day? Not alone, but awkward. Things were different.
Different, it was defiantly different.
Author's Note:
Hello all, this chapter is probably the worst of all of them. But I'd like to thank my fans, you guys are great! I hope you like this chapter, I don't really but I promised I would update every Sunday, and I stick to my words! So R&R and have a great Easter!
Airalynn
UPDATED: MARCH 20, 2005