Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Chapter 10: Bleeding Dreams

DISCLAIMER: Draco Malfoy is mine, all mine! ok. so no, he's not :( But Ronald Weasley is mine...all mine! fine fine fine have it your way. i dont own them. there! satisfied now?

A/N - sorry it's kinda short but i couldnt think of anything else to put in the chapter which wouldn't have to be continued in one go and make it like a million words long. right, im not making any sense so i'll just let you read the story :)

Hermione had only just gotten to the end of the corridor from the portrait hole when she heard footsteps approaching. She panicked. The only person who would have any reason to come this way was Harry. And what would he say to her if he found her standing there with one of his potions in her hands?

Hurriedly she shoved the bottle into a nearby suit of armour, it clanked ominously but she just ignored it and turned to face the corner the footsteps were just about to turn, trying to think of an excuse for why she was there.

"Hey, Hermione."

She looked up in surprise at the voice, as Ron and Ginny rounded the corner.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" She grinned as she walked towards them.

"Ginny hexed Great Aunt Bella," Ron explained.

"Was it my fault she walked right in front of you?" Ginny asked indignantly.

"So mum sent us back to school before Great Aunt Bella cursed us in our sleep or something. She never liked us." Ron smiled happily. "So, why didn't you or Harry write to me? Other than the Christmas presents I haven't heard anything from you guys."

"Harry hasn't owled you?" Hermione tried to keep the suspicion she'd been feeling for her boyfriend out of her voice.

"Nope. So, what have I missed?"

"A lot." Hermione replied. She gave a last furtive glance at the suit of armour before leading Ron and Ginny back to the common room to fill them in.

"What?" Ron's voice was squeakier than usual, Hermione noticed with a grin. "I go away for less than two weeks and you and Harry are going out?"

"Honestly, Ron, didn't you hear anything I just said about my dreams? Or about Malfoy showing up on the Map? Or his lying to me about being in the Room of Requirement? Or about the note and the potions in his trunk?"

"I kinda got distracted by the disgusting mental images I got when you just had to tell us that you two had sex! I mean, I always thought he liked Ginny!"

"Not that you would be any happier about Harry going out with me." Ginny cut in sullenly.

Hermione looked a question at her friend.

"The whole reason I hexed Ron was because he said that if I ever went out with Harry he would have to practice some of the things we learned in the DA on him."

"I see…" Hermione replied slowly. "But, my point is, I think there's something wrong with Harry. The fact that he hasn't written to Ron just emphasises my point."

"Where is Harry?" Ron looked up from his random mumblings to rejoin the conversation, having just noticed that the subject of it wasn't there.

"I don't know," Hermione looked at her watch, "he went down to get some lunch 3 hours ago. See? He just disappears every now and then. He left the common room at quarter to 1 last night, under the invisibility cloak, and didn't come back till about three."

"That's it!" Ron suddenly stated loudly, startling Hermione as he dropped onto the sofa beside her, grabbing her hands and looking into her eyes, "Hermione, I'm going to have to tell you this, I know it hurts, but Harry is evil! He's possessed! There's nothing we can do for him now, we're going to have to kill him."

"Ron?" Hermione was getting worried about him now.

"Or possibly just beat it out of him, we'll decide later."

"Shut up, Ronald," Ginny rolled her eyes and looked past him to see Hermione, "ignore him, he's just jealous cause he totally fancies…"

"Harry." Ron interrupted her.

"Actually, I was gonna say Hermione, but you've kept that one quiet, Ron," she drawled.

"No, Harry's here."

"Hi, Ron, Ginny." Draco nodded to them as he came through the portrait hole. "When did you two get back?" Crap, now I have to convince two more people that I'm Perfect Potter. Why the hell are they here anyway?

"We only got back about an hour and a half ago," said Ron who had apparently decided that he didn't want to 'beat it out of Harry' anymore. "Had to come back cause Gin hexed Great Aunt Bella. Thanks for the Christmas present, by the way mate."

"No problem…mate," Draco replied.

"Hi, Harry," Ginny had a smile on her face as she looked up into his face. "Hermione was just telling us what we've been missing while we've been away. You two have been busy haven't you?" She grinned, although Hermione noticed a flicker of sadness in her eyes. Ginny had almost been convinced, along with the rest of the Gryffindor pupils, that Harry had been interested in her.

"Er, yeah, sorry about that, it just kinda happened." After a load of planning and a few complex potions, yeah, it was a real spur of the moment thing, honest.

Hermione sat back and chatted to Ginny as they watched Harry and Ron play a game of exploding snap. She was just being stupid. Having Ron and Ginny there made her see that Harry had been right when he'd said she was over-thinking things. It was some sort of weird cabin fever, it had just been her and Harry for a while, he was the only person she saw. And it was true that she got nervous when there was nothing to fight, because it made her feel like something bad was about to happen, as it invariably did, so she started imagining things were wrong.

"Hermione?" She got the impression that Ginny had been trying to get her attention for a while.

"Sorry Gin, I was in my own little world."

"I noticed," Ginny followed Hermione's gaze to where Ron and Harry were now playing wizard chess, "I was just wondering what that potion in the corner is for?"

"Oh, Harry and I are brewing it for Seamus. He wants to turn every frog and toad in the school pink."

"Erm…why?"

"Thinks it'll brighten the place up a bit."

"Yeah, it probably will, but you've got to worry about a guy who wants to turn frogs pink."

"Ron tried to turn Scabbers yellow," Hermione pointed out.

"Well, yeah…but he's Ron though, isn't he? Not exactly the brightest crayon in the box." She looked over at her brother who was sitting back with a look of total shock on his face.

"What's wrong?" Ginny made a half-hearted attempt to sound concerned about him.

"Harry just beat me. Harry never beats me." His voice had gone squeaky again, much to Hermione's amusement. It was her new hobby to see how squeaky she could get his voice.

Crap. Thought Draco, why didn't anyone ever tell me Potter was hopeless at chess? "Sorry, Ron," he said aloud, "but don't worry, it was probably just a fluke."

He sighed. It was going to be a long day.

By the time Hermione got to bed that night, she'd forgotten all her worries about Harry. She was just being paranoid, she'd just needed someone to talk to, and now that she'd spent the past nine hours gossiping and giggling with Ginny all her suspicions had disappeared.

The lingering kiss Harry had given her before she went to bed hadn't hurt either.

The dream was different tonight.

She stood in a dark forest, waiting, her body tense.

She was searching for something, but she didn't know what.

There! A voice called her name.

She stumbled through the trees, following the familiar voice.

Hermione ran on and on until finally she stepped out into a clearing and found the person who had been calling to her.

"Harry? What's happening? What's wrong?" Her voice was as panicked as the look on his face.

"Hermione, he's coming." Harry's voice was frantic as a crashing sound came from the trees behind him, "you have to help me! Don't let him…" his voice was cut off as a knife was drawn across his throat, the blood running thickly down his chest, a brighter red than any blood Hermione had ever seen.

He collapsed to his knees among the leaves littering the ground, revealing Draco Malfoy standing behind him, a bloody knife clutched in his hands and an evil grin splitting his face.

Hermione screamed and whirled round, running back through the trees, cold mocking laughter chasing her.

In the Room of Requirement the figure on the bed thrashed and called out for help as he lay bleeding in his dreams on the floor of a forest clearing.

"Hermione!"

A/N - Hermy's new hobby is one of my favourite games, cos my brother can get pretty squeaky! it's so much fun! i totally recommend trying it out on your male friends/family members :) not that i'm mean or petty or anything, innocent, angelic smile anyway, hope u liked my short little chapter. if u did LET ME KNOW! (please) :)