Chapter 5: Hermione's Perspective
Author's Note: After reading the Half-Blood Prince and having written my plan of this story and four chapters of it, Dumbledore is still going to be alive. And the rest of this story is going to be written as if I never read HBP, okay? …Okay! Oh and Lauren there is minor kissing in this first bit but just read it anyway…its funny ;). I swear there are no major kissing parts in this chapter and you can hit me if I'm wrong.
It was a Saturday morning and Hermione had just woken up to a banging noise down in her and Draco's common room. She changed out of her pyjamas and went down to see what all the noise was about.
She walked into the common room only to find Harry lying on the top of Draco, kissing him with loving force. It looked as though Harry had pushed Draco onto the couch with so much power that the couch had nearly tipped over, having its two front legs in the air and then crash back onto the ground making the noise that had awoken Hermione.
She cleared her throat as loud as she could to announce her presents in the room but Harry and Draco seemed to be so lost in each other that they didn't notice her. She tried again, "uhumm…" but they still didn't respond. "Excuse me Harry," Hermione said in a loud voice and the two-love bird finally broke apart to look at her (Harry going red in the cheeks) "I know you are glad to have some quality time with Draco but do you really have to wake me up in the process and do you really have to do that down in Draco's AND MY common room?" Hermione asked with emphasise.
"Well…I was just…" Harry tried to think of a good way to tell Hermione that he just had a sudden impulse to propel himself onto an unexpecting, and in Harry's view, stunningly attractive Draco. But before he had to Draco butted in.
"Oh, don't worry about trying to explain yourself to Granger." He grabbed Harry's hand from behind and then added sarcastically, "I'm sure she has better things to do than listen to you go on about what made you jump on me." He gave Hermione a weak smirk and then pulled Harry's hand so that he turned to face him. "Besides, I would like to continue what we were doing upstairs." So he led Harry up to his room and Hermione was left alone in the common room…but not for long.
A couple of seconds after Harry and Draco had disappeared there was a knock at the door. Hermione walked over to open it and found Professor Dumbledore standing in bright kingfisher blue robes and wearing a large grin on his face. "Ah, Miss. Granger, just the person I wanted to see. May I come in?"
"Oh…sure professor" and she stood back to let him in. Dumbledore took a seat on the couch and gestured for Hermione to do the same.
"Now, you might be wondering why I have come to see you down here in your common room when I could have asked for you to meet me in my office," said Dumbledore after Hermione had made herself comfortable.
"Aaah…yeah, that thought had crossed my mind" replied Hermione.
"Well, after dinner last night I was in my office going over a few things here and there and I heard a knock at my door. When it opened a handsome young man was standing there" Dumbledore paused.
"But professor, what does this have to do with me?" asked Hermione with a very puzzled look on her face.
"Ah, I was just getting to that," answered Dumbledore and continued with his story of the night before. "The young man's name was Luke and I had not seen him since he had left here a couple of years ago. I heard he is working for Mr. Weasley…"
Hermione had just put two and two together. "You don't mean Luke Quartz by any chance, do you Professor?"
"Yes, the very same."
"But what was he doing here?" Hermione asked in a very surprised voice.
"Well, if you would kindly let me finish the story I'm sure all your questions will be answered," said Dumbledore as a polite way of saying shut up and I'll tell you!
"Now, where was I…that's right, I told him to come in and sit down, so naturally that is what he did. He seemed very nervous for some reason so I conjured up a butterbeer for him to drink. It seemed to calm him a little.
After I believed he had calmed down enough to talk I asked what he had come to see me about. He told me that you, Hermione, were his girlfriend and that he would like to take you out of the castle one night if that was all right with me. I had no objections and didn't see why you should not be aloud to spend some time with him. So he asked if I could pass a message on to you. That is why I am here now. I thought it would be more appropriate for me to come and see you instead of the other way around."
"That's very kind of you Professor. Thank-you." said Hermione genuinely thankful for Dumbledore to have gone out of his way for her. She felt very privileged.
"There's no need to thank me Hermione. You have done a lot for this school and this is nothing, really. But you are more than welcome. Now that message. Luke would like you to meet him outside the gates of the school at 7 o'clock next Saturday."
"Is that all? Did he say what he was planning?" asked Hermione very curious to know what Luke wanted to do so badly that it could wait a few more weeks until the first Hogmeades visit.
"I believe he mentioned a surprise," said Dumbledore looking back on the long chat he and Luke had had the night before.
"Oww…he knows I don't like surprises. I hate waiting to know what is going to happen. I like to know what is happening ASAP. Humph." Hermione slumped down in the couch.
"Cheer up Hermione. I'm sure you will have many other things to keep you busy until Saturday arrives"
"Hmmmm…I guess. Thank you Professor. I think I will go and find Ginny now."
"Of course, I better be getting back to my desk. Goodbye." Dumbledore stood up, nodded his head at Hermione and walked out of the door.
After he had left Hermione decided she better go see Ginny for some company or she would go insane thinking about what Dumbledore had just told her by herself. Just as she went to open the door to leave she heard a faint bang come from the direction of Draco's bedroom. She shook her head thinking it could only be the boys being playful and walked out the door.
It was 7 o'clock and in the Gryffindor common room the Creevey brothers were in the corner talking about Quidditch, specifically Gryffindor's next game against Hufflepuff. The only other people there (apart from Hermione and Ginny sitting on the comfy seats in front of the fire) were Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown who were so emersed in each they didn't seem to notice anyone else.
Zoom in on Hermione and Ginny talking
"But Ginny I don't like surprises. I like to know what I'm going to do" complained Hermione.
"I'm sure it is not too bad and at least you know that you are going to be with Luke," said Ginny trying to get Hermione's mind off the fact that Luke had not told her what they would be doing at this time next week.
They had spent the day doing homework down by the lake and had come up to the common room when it had started to get dark. On the way up Hermione had told Ginny about Luke wanting her to meet him and that Dumbledore had said Luke wanted whatever they were doing to be a surprise.
"I'm sure it is just a nice candle lit dinner or something," said Ginny knowing that Luke would probably do something like that with maybe a night of romancing afterwards. Although Hermione had never discussed with her the finer points of their relationship Ginny knew that they had never been fully intimate with each other. "Just don't worry about it. It is still a week away."
"Yeah, I know…but still…" said Hermione, not wanting to be too much of an annoyance to Ginny.
"Hermione, if you want to know that badly maybe you should send Luke an owl asking him about it" suggested Ginny jokingly.
"Hmmm…" Hermione run the thought through her mind again "you know, that's not a bad idea Ginny. I might just do that." And she got up off the seat and headed for her room to get some parchment and a quill. Ginny was so stunned that Hermione had actually taken her seriously that her mouth was still open when Hermione returned three minutes later.
"Ginny, why do you have your mouth open?"
"Ah…" Ginny forced her jaw to close.
"Never mind now, can you help me write an owl to Luke? I don't want it to sound like I don't want him to come down, just that I would rather know what we are going to be doing"
After Ginny had gotten over the fact that Hermione was actually going to send Luke an owl she said "Sure, how about you start with what you just said. I'm sure he will understand"
"I hope so" said Hermione in a worried tone. She started to write, with Ginny giving her suggestions as she went. She finished it in no time and they were on their way to the Owlery when their eyes caught sight of Ron and Blaise in the 7th floor corridor. They were snogging up against the wall next to the Room of Requirements. If Ginny wasn't trying to remove the images of her brother from her head she would of have thought they wanted to go into the room to find a heap of pink and a bed.
Hermione couldn't believe her eyes and as Head Girl pulled Ron off Blaise saying, "What do you think you are doing?"
"Snogging my boyfriend!" replied Ron in a furious tone and turning red with bother angry and embarrassment with the fact that Hermione had pulled him off Blaise.
"Well, do you mind doing it somewhere private? I'm sure a few students in the lower years wouldn't really like to see you two making out in the corridor."
"For your information Hermione, we were just about to go into the Room of Requirements when you turned up." replied Ron trying to get one up on Hermione but it didn't work because she came right back at him.
"Well, 'just about' isn't good enough. You shouldn't have started doing anything until you got into the room. I'm sorry Ron, but I'm going to have to take ten points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor for your lack of maturity and use of brains" Not that you have any to use anyway, she added under her breathe.
"But Hermione" Ron whined.
"Don't 'but Hermione' me. Maybe you should think before you act next time, huh?"
"Oh, come on Ron" said Blaise speaking up for the first time. "She does kinda have a point. It was wrong of us not to think of the people that might see us. Let's just go into the Room of Requirement and start over, shall we?" Blaise tried to brighten Ron's bad mood.
"Okay…" Ron replied in a still grumpy voice while giving Hermione an evil glare. Ginny knew her brother too well to stick around for anymore and she grabbed Hermione's arm and started to walk again in the direction of the Owlery.
When they finally reached the Owlery, Hermione found a tawny brown school owl and tied the letter onto its leg. After the owl had flown out the window she turned to Ginny and said, "Guess all I have to do now is wait and hope he replies."
"Yeah...that's about all you can do. What do you want to do now?" asked Ginny seeing as they had not talked about it.
"Ummm…good question. Would you like to come back to my common room and have a look around?" asked Hermione. Ginny had not been up to her room yet and they could maybe make something up in the kitchen and talk about what was happening in life some more.
"Yeah, sounds good. Lead the way!" said Ginny and they began in the direction of the Head Boy and Girl's room.
When they reached the common room they found a very unusual sight. It was a mess, to put it nicely. There were clothes thrown everywhere and all the furniture had been moved out of place. There was tea and biscuits on the coffee table and Hermione couldn't bear to think what the kitchen or Draco's bedroom looked like. She just prayed that her bedroom was as she had left it that morning.
The only people, that she knew, who had been in here were Draco and Harry and it was Draco and Harry's clothes that were scattered all around the place. Hermione was speechless. Ginny however could have said a fair bit, yet chose to keep her mouth shut and close the door behind her so that no one passing by would be able to see the ghastly mess.
These boys are going to cop it when I get a hold of them thought Hermione. How could they make this much mess, what on earth had they been doing? On second thought I don't really want to know. It was nearly hard to believe that only two people had made such a mess.
"So, this is the common room you share with Draco Malfoy, huh?" Ginny couldn't have stood the silence any longer.
"Yeah, this is it! Usually a hell of a lot tidier, but this is it." replied Hermione and not knowing what else to say started to make her way through the mess and into the kitchen beckoning for Ginny to follow her.
Once they had made it through the mess they found the kitchen surprisingly spotless. As it had been when Hermione had left it the night previous. "Would you like a cuppa and a muffin Ginny?"
"Yeah sure, don't mind if I do."
"After we have made our tea we can go up to my room and talk," said Hermione. "I was actually hoping to talk in the common room but it looks like that is out of the question" and she looked back through the doorway into the common room.
"You can say that again" Ginny laughed, "I don't mind where we go. I wouldn't mind seeing your room anyway. After all, it might be mine next year."
"Yeah, that would be pretty sweet. But just you wait until I get my hands on those boys" Hermione pointed her wand at the kettle and it instantly started to boil with steam coming out of its spout, like steam coming out of an angry mans ears, which was how Hermione felt towards the boys at the moment. Hermione poured the tea while Ginny retrieved a couple of muffins from the pantry and they carried the food and drink up to Hermione's bedroom.
Meanwhile, in Draco's room…
"Harry, I think you need to workout a bit more," said Draco while squeezing Harry's upper arm "just a tad…what do you think?"
"I think you should stop worrying about superficial things like that and start paying more attention to the other important things," said Harry trying to take Draco's focus off his body for the sixteenth time that hour.
"I wasn't being superficial; I just thought it might help when it comes to fighting the Dark Lord."
"Well, it is nice of you to be worried about me Draco, but really, what is a little bit more muscle when I will be fighting with magic."
"I don't know…" shrugged Draco trying to think of something quick to hide the real reason he had mentioned the subject (which Harry had picked up on straight away) I've been with him about a week and he already knows how I think, it took Pansy fours years of being with her everyday for her to figure out that I was gay. But Pansy is a dunce…so… Harry interrupted Draco's thinking
"I thought you of all people would see that Draco"
"Yeah, well being with you distorts my memory" Draco came back at him with the first thing…but not necessarily the smartest thing to pop into his head. It was partly true, whenever Draco was around Harry he totally forgot about what he was taught growing up in a pureblood family and half the time that he was a Malfoy at all.
"You know, working out might actually help you," said Draco as a explanation popped into his head.
"Really? How?" asked Harry, curious to see what Draco would come out with next to encourage him to get bigger muscles for him to touch.
"Well, using magic can drain you of energy right? Especially very powerful spells and that which you will be using against the Dark Lord…"
"Draco, just call him Voldemort for goodness sake," Harry pleaded with no success.
"Well, fighting the Dark Lord will be a long and tough battle and it will be one of endurance…" ignoring Harry's last comment.
"Is there a point to this?" asked Harry because he really didn't like it when people ramble on about something and then have no point. (AN: which I am, the author, doing right now, but I promise I do have a point and so does Draco)
"Yes, if you will let me finish" Draco smirked one of those half cheek half I-was-just-getting-there smirks.
"Well by all means, please continue, sorry for interrupting" said Harry and shut his mouth with no intension of interrupting again.
"Now…where was I…oh yes, draining of energy. So, if you work out, you will be able to endure more physically and you would also have to train with magic too but yeah…physically working out will help you" finished Draco, glad he finally got to his point (AN: in the scene, so now she can go to bed and finish at a later date…which just happened to be the next day…well…nearly, but please, read on! )
During the rest of that week, Hermione and Ginny spent most of their free time discussing the many possibilities of where Luke would take her and what they would do on Saturday night. They didn't see the boys at all, apart from classes and breakfast. Harry spent most of his time with Draco and some with Ron when he wasn't all over Blaise (AN: Ron all over Blaise, that is, not Harry. Harry is not cheating on Draco…well…I'll just hut up now).
By Saturday lunchtime Hermione had convinced herself that Luke was going to take her to The Three Broomsticks for a romantic dinner and then they were going to go back to his place for the night. And she wasn't far off…just a few minor thought errors.
He had replied to her owl but had not told her anything. He had said that a surprise once in a while would do her good. Hermione hadn't been too okay with this but couldn't get upset over something so small. If Luke wanted it to be a surprise then she would have to live with that.
Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, Blaise and Ginny all had lunch together that day in the Head's common room, which Hermione had made Draco and Harry clean up after they had trashed it…the muggle way.
"It's so hard to find a straight guy these days" said Hermione watching as the boys became very playful with each other.
"Yeah, tell me about," said Ginny. "I haven't had a boyfriend in ages because most of the guys I have had an interest in have turned out to be gay."
"Aww…poor Ginny" said Ron in a mock tone stopping in the middle of tickling Blaise off his chair.
"You can't talk Ron, you hooked up with half of them" Ginny came back and that shut Ron right up. He turned back to tickling Blaise.
"You'll find a guy sooner or later Ginny. You just got to give it time," said Harry. "But for now I suggest you concentrate on your school work and passing your N.E.W.T.s next year."
"Yeah," Draco pitched in "if you stop worrying about finding someone, someone is bound to come and find you. Man, if I were straight I would definitely go for you."
"Thanks Draco" smiled Ginny. That mad her feel better…sort of.
They finished eating lunch, only talking if it was necessary to have someone pass the salad bowl or other things on the table.
When it came time for Hermione to meet Luke at the Hogwarts front gates Ginny was there with her. "You know you didn't have to come down with me"
"Yeah, but I wanted to," said Ginny. She had never met Luke before and she wanted to at least know what he looked like.
Like reading her mind Hermione stated, "You just want to see Luke, don't you?"
"Well, why wouldn't I?" asked Ginny. "What's wrong with wanting to know why you like him so much?"
"Okay Ginny." Hermione sighed and then conceded "How about I let you meet him during the Christmas holidays?"
"Alright" said Ginny brightly
"But then you have to go now" added Hermione
"Do I have to?" whined Ginny
"Yes Ginny!" Hermione said in a firm tone.
"Fine!" and she stomped off heading back up towards the castle steps.
"Well, now that we're alone…" said a deep voice from behind Hermione.
Luke had apparated behind the gates and been standing there since Hermione had said she would let Ginny meet him at Christmas. Hermione turned around and exclaimed, "How long have you been standing there?"
"Oh, long enough" replied Luke. "Are you going to come through the gates and greet me or stand there for the rest of the night?"
Hermione laughed and opened the gate with an unspoken spell Dumbledore had taught her. She half ran to Luke, who was only a few steps away, and threw her arms around him. Luke responded by squeezing her tight and then kissing her on the neck and mouth.
"I guess you are happy to see me," uttered Hermione.
"Of course I am. I'm always happy to see you." Luke reassured her. He moved to stand beside and put his arm around her waist. Hermione put her arm around Luke and they started to walk towards Hogsmeade with Luke lightly guiding Hermione to his carefully planned destination.
They arrived at the front of the fenced off Shrieking Shack. Hermione saw that Luke had set up a picnic rug with a shelter around it to protect them from the cold wind and other unbearable, while wanting to have a good time, weather. There was a picnic basket just visible from the opening of the shelter.
"Did you do all this for me?" asked Hermione appreciatively.
"Of course 'Mione!" stated Luke "You know I would do anything for you, my gorgeous girl. I love you."
Hermione blushed. She knew Luke was the type of bloke to go out of his way to do something different and romantic. He really did love her. "I love you too honey," said Hermione looking into his bright dazzling eyes.
"Shall we?" asked Luke gesturing for Hermione to lead the way on to rug and under the shelter.
"Of course," sung Hermione and walked through the door with Luke behind her. Once he was inside, Luke turned to seal the door with a few spells so that they were sure not to be disturbed during their picnic dinner and whatever else Luke had planned.
Hermione sat on the rug while Luke took out candles, and vase of flowers, plates and cutlery from the picnic basket. He laid them out so that the flowers sat in between him and Hermione, the candles floated above there heads creating a soft glow throughout the shelter and so that they both had plates and stuff in front of them readying to have food on them.
Luke had decided to cook the meal himself. He had spent half the day worrying about what Hermione liked and whether he had chosen the right things and the other half trying to actually cook it. It had taken him 5 hours because he over cooked the soup, had forgotten to add a few ingredients, mainly the meat, in the main course and burnt the cake twice.
He had finally ended up with pea and ham soup, chicken chasseur and a carrot and walnut cake for dessert. Hermione ate the food with out any questions. She thought it was beautiful and sweet that Luke had gone to all that trouble. Very romantic. During the dinner they talked about how Luke was going at work with Ron's dad as his boss, the different jobs Hermione had to do at school, what she wanted to do at the end of the year (they talked about this for most of the time they were eating) and how good it was to be in each others company once again.
After having seconds of the carrot and walnut cake Hermione could not eat another bite and nor could Luke. Luke cleared the rug, putting all the things back into the picnic basket (leaving the candles though) and closed the lid. They both lay down on their side facing each other, propping themselves up with one hand holding their face and the elbow on the ground. Their faces were only centimetres away from each other.
"So…" Hermione breathed on her boyfriend. "What do you want to do now?"
"Hmmm…" thought Luke and then leaned forward to kiss her sugar-covered lips. "Did you know that your lips taste so sweet?"
"No" Hermione replied giving him a few pecks on the mouth "I didn't know that." With a few more pecks she then added, "did you know your lips taste like the icing on that carrot and walnut cake of yours?"
"Oh, is that what it is" he replied in a mock tone. "I had no idea, but thank you for informing me."
All Hermione could do was laugh. "What am I ever going to do with you, hey?"
"I don't know. I don't even know what I'm going to do with you" Luke replied. But that was a lie. He knew exactly what he was going to do with her, but it was going to have to wait until she graduated from Hogwarts.
For now, he would take her back to his place to spend the night and take her back to the castle first thing tomorrow, as Dumbledore had ordered. It had been a great night and he hope that his time with Hermione would last forever.
Author's Note: Well that's it for another chapter. Please review! I will be sure to reply to all reviews asap.