CHAPTER TEN

ALL ALONG

The gang seemed mostly quiet after Hermione had stormed out of the common room telling everyone that Easter was officially over. Harry and Draco felt now more relaxed, they could breathe without having Hermione jump at them about holiday spirit.

Hermione walked back in the common room, Harry and Draco quickly hid behind the couch away from her. Hermione didn't even see them; she shrugged and walked to the couch. Not seeing her lay down, Harry and Draco peeked from the side of the couch.

"I think she's gone." Draco whispered and Hermione lurked over the couch's back.

"Not this time" She said loudly. They jumped back and sighed.

"Hello Hermione... glad to see you." Harry said, rather sheepishly. Hermione raised her eyebrow at him.

"Face it Harry, she caught us." Draco said with a sigh. "But Hermione, will you stop pouncing on people?" Draco asked with a small laugh.

"Sorry Drakie, it's just... Holiday Spirit!" She laughed.

Harry started to giggle as Draco grew red in the face. He and Hermione began to have a row about whether he should be able to be called "Drakie" or not. Draco, obviously, apposed the situation and did not allow her to call him that. Harry just left the room, letting them fight in peace.

Three was drawing closer, Harry was thinking in his room about how he should do the task. Harry, like always, was told to do it. Hermione wanted him out there on the field even though he didn't want to be. He stayed in his room, practicing his appearance.

When he wrote down what his appearance was to be, he walked out of his room. Walking out the common room and not even saying anything to anyone. He just stared at the piece parchment that he randomly scribbled things on, and look at it in satisfaction.

When Harry had reached the Great Hall, many were packing in through the doors to take their seats with their houses. Harry just walked in, not even watching where he was going, and sat down at the table. He still stared at the parchment, making minor notes on the side of it.

Neville, Seamus, and Ginny had entered not too long after wards. Taking a seat around Harry and pondering to them selves. They wanted to know what he was writing, but Harry securely wrapped his arm around the parchment so only he could see. Ginny sighed and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What are you doing?" She asked, trying to look over the blocked paper.

"Nothing... you'll find out at three." Harry said, folding the paper and shoving it hastily into his pocket.

"Right..." Ginny rolled her eyes, crossed her legs and folded her arms.

"What? I don't want to ruin the surprise!" Harry sighed and Ginny only rolled her eyes again.

"Anyways... enough of this stupid surprise thing," She rolled her eyes with a dramatic impulse on the word surprise. "How are you and Cho doing?" she asked rather disappointed.

"Not good... we broke up again. Only this time I broke up with her. I am so sick of her crying all the time. I mean it's alright to cry once in a while but all she does is cry!" Harry growled and Ginny smiled lightly.

"Told you." She taunted and Harry sighed.

"I know you told me she would do that." Harry said, rolling his eyes as for usual.

"You'll listen for now on... won't you?" she teased and Harry nodded. She messed his hair up more and return to her conversation with Neville and Seamus who were eagerly waiting for three to come.

Hermione and Draco had entered the minute before dinner was to be served. When everyone "tucked in," ate and were satisfied, Dumbledore stood to make his announcement. Everyone turned their heads to the Head Table.

"Attention all..." Dumbledore started. "Would one person from each house please join me at the front?" Dumbledore asked politely.

"Harry is it finished?" Hermione whispered. Harry handed her the slip and she walked up with Draco as well.

"Thank you." Dumbledore said as they lined up. "Your selects: Draco Malfoy, Slytherin. Susan Bones, Hufflepuff. Terry Boot, Ravenclaw. Hermione Granger, Gryffindor." Dumbledore spoke as they all made a small applause.

There were a couple boo's for Hermione. When Draco shot the Slytherin table a nasty glare, the booing seemed to stop. Hermione just ignored it, like her usual self but shot Draco a soothing smile and he nodded back to her, this showed he was saying "You're welcome."

"Yes yes, thank you all." Dumbledore started, "I'm sure you all have chosen one person for each house, and I believe you had decided on the best Animagus." Dumbledore spoke gently and after a nod he put a glorious smile on. "Let's have those names then." He smiled again.

"Blaise Zambini, Slytherin." Draco started the round.

"Cho Chang, Ravenclaw" Terry said and Harry snorted silently.

"Hannah Abbot, Hufflepuff." Susan spoke briskly; everyone could tell she didn't want her to be the one.

"And last Harry Potter, Gryffindor." Harry closed his eyes, afraid of the response that everyone would give. When he opened them, everyone was cheering loudly. Even the Slytherins were clapping!

The people that were called stood at the side of their tables. The walked elegantly down the four rows, which seemed quite odd. The walked up, stood next to the people who called their names and Dumbledore smiled very jumpy like.

"Good choices!" He smiled more. "Now, if you'd all join me to the Quidditch pitch we shall start the judging." He said as everyone instantly cleared from the halls.

The eight stayed behind until everyone successfully left the Great Hall and situated themselves into the stands on the Quidditch stadium. The eight of them left, in pairs but Blaise exited alone. He, Draco's best friend, was shut in the dark so Draco could be at Hermione's side.

Blaise was bursting with jealousy because of the three of them. Draco, Hermione, and Harry who seemed to be best friends and it looked as if Draco was now part of the "Golden Trio." Draco didn't even care. He walked with Hermione and tried his hardest to completely ignore Blaise.

They had entered the field, ten minutes to two. Harry's heart was pounding. He wasn't scared but excited. He was ambitious to just walk on that field and shows his true form. He couldn't wait. Hermione and Draco said their good lucks to Harry and walked off the field and onto the Selected People's bench.

Harry was standing there alone for a minute or two before entering the tent that was beside the stadium. He was last to go, but he didn't care. He actually wanted to go first but he was excited none-the-less.

"Welcome all." A booming voice from the stand started. "We invited you to Task number two. We will be seeing one person from each house show their true form. Their... ANIMAGUS FORM!" The voice boomed louder on the last two words.

"Thank you Mr. Jordan for that nice introduction." Dumbledore said politely. Lee Jordan had nodded from the stands as the crowd howled with excitement. "Now, first will be Slytherin, Blaise Zambini, please enter the field." Dumbledore called.

Harry could tell that Blaise was a little nervous. He watched him closely as Blaise walked out of the tent and onto the bright green grass of the Quidditch stadium. Harry heard the Slytherins chanting loudly for him: "Let's go Blaise, Let's go Blaise, rock the Slytherin way!"

Harry thought their chanting was pretty pathetic but said nothing. He knelt by the opening to the tent and peaked outside. He watched everyone "ooo" and "awe" as Blaise turned into a massive seal. Harry laughed, he was in Slytherin and his big "appearance" was a seal? It just didn't make sense.

Harry backed away as Cho was called onto the field. He gave her a great look of most hatred and she looked, unsurprisingly, tearful. Harry rolled his eyes. Why did she always have to cry? He asked himself.

He watched carefully as everyone was amazed by a beautiful swan the lay perched on the grass. The swan, who was Cho, honked very powerfully and elegantly before turning back into her regular body. Everyone clapped loudly while Harry was laughing under his breath. That was it... a swan?

He then moved again, watching Hannah Abbot leave and then continued peaking out onto the field. Hannah seemed very confident and left the tent with her head held high and her back at a very straight angle. Harry watched her closely, was she really going to have an amazing creature?

Harry looked, in utter disbelief; she turned into a small tiger cub. She let out a growl as everyone, except Slytherin, made a noise of adorability. Harry rolled his eyes, it wasn't that cute to him, but it was to everyone else. Harry stood up, he was ready to enter.

"Good Job to every one who has already participated! Now last, but not least, we have Gryffindor!" Dumbledore said in an excited tone.

Harry's heart jumped, he was ready for this. This animal that he could form into was the biggest animal out of all of them. He was ready to show them. He waited for his entry and grabbed the flap so he could move it open as soon as he was called. Dumbledore started talking again.

"Mr. Harry Potter, please enter the field." He said. Harry immediately opened to flap of the tent as everyone screamed.

The Gryffindors were well, wild. They were stomping their feet in the stands, clapping their hands hardly, and screaming "Let's go Harry." Harry immediately noticed Hermione wasn't in her seat on the Selected People's bench. Harry felt rather hurt that she hadn't been there. Where could she be?

As all the people settled down, Harry had closed his eyes and thought hardly. A bright silvery and white light burst from his skin. He was now on the ground, he slowly rose to his feet and stood up perfectly straight. He shook his head as a show off way to make everyone noticed the long, ivory bars that were attached to his head, he had antlers. Harry was now a deer, a full grown deer.

His tail was pure white, and his back had small tan colored spots on it. Black lines were all over his back and his stance was elegant. His head was level, and his neck was perfectly straight. Everyone was clapping; Harry bowed in his deer form, very elegant and steady. He picked up a pace and ran into the tent, his hooves clattered as they hit the ground.

Everyone was cheering, clapping, stomping, and yelling. A deer he was, no one even knew. Not even Hermione, or Ron, or Ginny. No one knew... he didn't want them to know about it. He walked back out a few minutes later, in his normal form. Everyone was still clapping.

"Congrats to all, very interesting choices you had for your registry." Dumbledore smiled. Harry lined up with the others across the field. They were lined up in the order of how they were called. Harry looked to the side, Hermione wasn't in her seat. He felt hurt and sort of angry.

He didn't care about that now though; he wanted to know his score. He waited patiently and calmly. He kept glaring at the empty seats of where Hermione and Draco should have sat. He turned around as the judges gave Blaise a thirty, Cho a fifty, and Susan a twenty. Harry felt incredibly pleased as the judges had given him a fifty as well as Cho.

"Well done everyone!" Dumbledore said happily. "The combined scores right now are: in 4th place with thirty points is Hufflepuff. In 3rd place with sixty points is Slytherin. With a close 2nd place, is Ravenclaw with ninety points. And in 1st place with exactly a hundred points is Gryffindor!" Dumbledore announced. People screamed from their seats.

The Hufflepuff's were now booing at everyone. Real sad losers they were. They were making fun of the other houses and calling them show – offs. Harry laughed as he watched Hannah storm off the field with anger. A group of people were running towards him, congratulating him and all he could do was act mad. He was mad, Hermione hadn't been there!

"Harry, that was bloody brilliant!" Ron said as he ran towards him with Fred and George closely tailing.

"Yeah mate, I never thought of you being a deer." Fred started

"Though, mum always said you were the sweetest little dear." George said, mimicking his mother.

Harry said nothing but glared once more at Hermione's empty seat. He walked quickly off the grounds not saying a word. Ron tried talking to him, but all Harry did was walk faster and pushing Ron away as he spoke. Harry was furious.

"WE WERE ONLY JOKING!" Fred and George called after him but Harry did nothing but walk on.

He walked up the steps of the castle, and into the hall. Walking forward, taking the stairs three at a time, and ending up on the third floor. He walked directly to the Selected People's common room and walked straight into his own room. He slammed the door behind him.

Moments later he heard something in the next room, a sort of high pitched sound. He knocked on the wall lightly three times. The pitched stopped and Hermione opened the wall door, holding a long silver object in her hand. Harry didn't care about the object; he glared with danger flashing in his eyes. He walked to his bed, not saying a word to her.

"Hello Harry, sorry if my playing was bothering you." She smiled sweetly. "How was you're task? I saw you slightly from the window. You were the tiger right?" Hermione asked, smiling.

"No!" Harry snipped and had lain down on his bed, grabbing a piece of parchment and a feather quill. He started writing and his quill scratched the parchment madly and louder than ever.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she asked, walking to him with a slight worried face. "Dear Mrs. We... who are you writing to?" She asked.

"No one." Harry snipped and gave her a hardened glare.

"Oh, this is about me not being on the field." Hermione said regretfully, "Isn't it?" She wondered.

"You think?" Harry said with sarcasm. "You knew I wanted you there... and you didn't even show up." He said as anger filled his voice more.

"I'm sorry, but I did see you." She said, protesting.

"The tiger? THAT WAS HANNAH!" He shouted. "If you were there than you would know what I was!" He growled.

"Hannah made the tiger? I thought she was the seal." She said.

"That was Blaise!" Harry said as more and more anger and disappointment filled him.

"But I thought Blaise was the... oh my." She said as she watched Harry steam with anger. His face had no become the color of a freshly picked cheery. "You were the deer." She said amazed.

Harry didn't say anything to her; he stormed out of the room, leaving Hermione in the background. Hermione watched him go. She felt horrible, she knew this must have meant a lot to him and she wasn't there.

"Oh my..." She said, closing the wall and returning to her room. She sat on her bed next to the silver metal object. "I was practicing and I wasn't there." She sighed. She was on the edge of crying when Draco walked in. "How could I be so stupid!" Hermione told herself.

"What's wrong Hermione?" Draco asked comforting.

"I am so stupid Draco." She cried "I set my experiments better then my friends. I have just made Harry upset with me, and I didn't even think about him." She said regretfully.

"Come on Hermione, he'll come around." Draco said soothingly and sat beside her, jumping back up. "What is that?" He asked as the long metal object rolled across the bed.

"Oh..." She grabbed it. "Sorry, it's an instrument Muggles use. I was experimenting with it... my mother sent it to me." She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Oh..." he said, still looking at her with confusion.

"A flute." She spoke slightly, taking it apart and putting it back in the small rectangle case. "I was enchanting it, I love the sound of a flute." She sighed.

"Hermione, please stop crying." He said as he watched her put it away. "I don't like it when you cry. I promise I'll have a word with him later." Draco said in an alarming tone.

"No!" Hermione cried "Don't make things worse, please Draco." She begged.

"Hermione, I can't let you cry and do nothing about it!" Draco assured.

"Draco please," Hermione begged. She stood up and hugged him closely "I – I'll figure something out."

"Alright I promise I'll stay out." Draco sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist firmly. "But please stop crying."

"I can't help it Draco," She wiped a tear from her eye. "I am such a horrible person." She told herself out loud.

"No, you're not." He held her closer, if it were possible. "You are the greatest person in the world. I love you Hermione, and nothing is ever going to change that."

Hermione woke minutes later; she had dozed off and not even remembered. She was wrapped in a blanket tightly, her body was pressing against Draco's lightly. She suddenly remembered what had happened, because she and Draco were wearing nothing.

She laughed; she couldn't have done what it looked like. But why couldn't she remember before? She looked at the man next to her; his angelic face was now relaxed, and sleeping.

She pulled her fingers through his hair, all these memories had returned to her. She felt like she had lost a piece of her life, but she had. She had lost her one thing that made her responsible, and that was her own virginity.

She didn't care though, she remembered what happened now. She remembered the feeling and the roughing. She remembered it all. But most of all, she remembered enjoying it. Everything was confusing.

She looked at Draco. Her eyes had dried tears upon them. She didn't feel any different, she didn't feel insecure... she just felt good. She liked what had happened. She was a little alarmed about how fast this had gone.

She looked at Draco with a wide smile on her face as he had wakened. He had smiled back and Hermione snuggled to him closely. Her memory still began to return, she knew it all now. She moved closer to him.

"Morning Angel." Draco played and put a smile across his face.

"Morning," she laughed. "Have a good night?" She flirted.

"Why yes actually," he kissed her lips deeply. "It was a very good night actually." He flirted back, wrapping an arm around her.

"Me too." She smiled as she kissed him back.

She felt her body hit his again, this feeling she remembered, the feeling of skin on skin. She could hear her flute playing, even though it wasn't near her. She felt the music, she knew everything. She was air filled, she was in heaven.

She kissed him again. His hair draped in front of his face, she gently brushed it behind his ear. She rubbed his cheek sweetly with her thumb. She felt a light kiss on her neck, and then the silver eyes of Draco looked up at her.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear and she smiled.

"I love you too Draco." She smiled, moving her head on the side of his.

She felt his hand resting on her chest, practically devouring the feeling, she set her hand on his. She looked back over to him, hitting her nose with his, and kissed him. He kissed her back lightly and she breathed heavily. She was no longer afraid; she was no longer worried about what happened with Harry. She was right where she wanted to be all along.

All along.

Author's Note:

Hello again everyone. If you wish to know: My surgery has been most successful! Lol, well I hope you all enjoy this chapter. If any of you feel offended by it, my apologies. R&R and I hope to update next weekend!

Airalynn

P.S: I know this is a little late but I wish JewelBlossom THE GREATEST BIRTHDAY GREETINGS! You are the greatest! I always look forward to your reviews... hope you like this chapter! Happy Birthday!