Disclaimer: Yes suckers, I do own HP! And in the seventh book, I'll kill off Harry and do Draco/Ron and Grawp/Hermione! MWAHAHAHA!
A/N: Here's some replies to my lovely reviewers:
ronniekinsmioneever: Thanks! Here is the update you want! I'm glad you liked the kids, I like them too!
hrhtogether4ever: Wow! I have a cute beginning! I never really thought I could do cute, so thanks!
griffin14: I love flashbacks too…. Buckbeak and Crookshanks Jr are indeed pets, Harry and Ginny would be slightly weird if they named their kids that!
TRISH: Thanks! Don't worry I will continue!
Shelley: I'm glad I have!
RonMione4eva: You're too nice, all you reviewers! Aw shucks….blushes
Emma-Lynn: Brilliant eh? Thanks for leaving a lovely long review!
swim210: Yay! Awesome! Thank you!
legolascrazy17: I will rock on… thanks for the advice!
Evenstarchild: You will read more, my friend…just wait and see…
Amaherst: The update is here! Thanks for the coowel review!
disaster-strikes-again: Glad you like it, I'm really pleased with how it's going myself.
Queenlover: My first reviewer! Also my soon-to-be-beta!
This chapter is from Hermione's POV, just imagine she's telling the story!
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I sat cross-legged on a fluffy white cloud, dressed all in white making a daisy chain. The daisies were big and beautiful, but try as I may, I could not find the right size ones for my chain. Getting frustrated, I threw the chain aside and tried to find a book to read.
"Here, take this," said a voice I vaguely recognized. I looked up and squinted against the fierce light. I could make out the figure of a young man, but I couldn't see his face. He was holding a big leather-bound book which he presented to me. I gasped, it was beautiful and full of ancient spells and potions, some had never seen the light of day for centuries.
"Oh thank you so much!" I breathed, looking up at him again. "Who are you?"
The figure suddenly took my hand and pulled me to my feet in one swift motion.
"I'm the one you love." he said simply and kissed me gently on the lips. It was the most beautiful feeling ever; like all my dreams had come true in that very moment.
I felt the warm touch of his lips against mine, I felt like I was flying, that I could do anything and I felt like I belonged here with this person. Together. Forever.
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"Hermione wake up!"
I groaned. I had just been torn from the best dream I'd had in absolutely ages because someone was shaking me. Hard. I opened my eyes and saw Parvati and Lavender standing over my bed looking VERY excited.
"What's the matter?" I said groggily. "Why are you waking me up? It's Saturday!"
"Yeah…" said Parvati carefully as if talking to a very slow person. "And it's Valentine's Day! We have to get down to the Great Hall to find out whether we've got any secret admirers!"
I instantly opened my eyes and sat upright in bed. Valentine's Day; how could I have forgotten? Parvati was wearing her favourite sparkly red top with a denim miniskirt and sparkly black flip-flops. Lavender, however, was a little more respectively dressed, with a fluffy pink cardigan, tight jeans and VERY high pink stilettos.
"Lavender!" I said, trying hard to keep the laughter out of my voice, "You can't wear those shoes! You'll fall over, you muppet!"
"I've been doing lots of practice." said Lavender sniffily, before stalking out of the dormitory; her bum was sticking out a great deal. It was quite a sight.
There was a short silence, broken by a girlish shriek, the sound of someone falling down the stairs and Neville's worried voice saying,
"Are you alright Lavender? Shall I take you to the hospital wing?"
Parvati and I looked at each other, then looked away just as quickly, struggling not to laugh.
Just then, Ginny popped her head round the door, her long red hair falling over her face.
"Hi Hermione, Parvati," she said, coming into the room and almost tripping over Crookshanks, who had made a beeline for her as soon as she had stepped through the door. Parvati bobbed impatiently and then said, "I'm going down guys, see you there!" And with a last excited squeal, she ran out the dormitory.
Ginny watched her go, shaking her head and smiling. "Who knew Valentine's day could excite some people so much!"
She sat on the end of my bed and kicked off her trainers.
"So, Hermione Jane Granger, is there anyone special you're hoping to get a Valentine's from?" she said teasingly.
I shook my head with a smile. Every year I got a spectacular Valentine from Viktor Krum. He never signed it, but always sent me an owl afterwards to check if I got it! What an idiot! It was sweet of him, but I only liked him as a friend.
"Are you sure?" asked Ginny, an odd look on her face. It was a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "Anyway, I'd better go down, I'm starving!" she said, standing up and putting her trainers back on.
"You'll get loads of cards Ginny, you're so popular!" I said, grinning at her, as she swept out the door, her red hair swinging and an excited smile forming on her lips.
I sighed and got out of bed. What to wear, what to wear? On Valentine's Day, there seemed to be an unspoken rule that everyone dressed up in their best Muggle clothes to attract their admirers. If Valentine's Day was a weekday, Professor Dumbledore would allow us to wear Muggle clothes instead of uniform, which was nice of him.
As I was getting dressed, (I had finally chosen my best jeans and a pale blue top I had always loved) I thought about Valentine's Day. 'What a stupid ritual! There's not like there's anyone I want to send a card to anyway….' I thought.
'Oh yeah?' I thought to myself, pulling my top over my head, 'What about the figure in my dream?'
I smiled, reliving the dream in my mind. It had just felt so perfect and the tantalising thing was, he seemed so...so...familiar! I thought through all the boys I knew; Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Ernie, Krum…the list went on and on, but I was no closer to finding out.
Sighing, I gave my hair a quick brush (nearly breaking the brush as I did so, my hair was THAT bushy!) and slipped on my favourite sandals, white with tiny blue flowers on, and made my way towards the Great Hall.
As I passed through the oak double doors, a wave of sound blasted me. Students were chatting excitedly and magical Valentine's were singing, reciting poetry and tiny fairies were flittering out of their envelopes and whispering their messages into receiver's ear.
I was making my way towards the Gryffindor table, when there was a loud BANG! I looked over, and saw Ginny looking very shocked and holding a bright pink card. Suddenly the card began to sing in a very loud voice.
"AND IEEEEIIIII……..WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU…………….!"
The whole hall burst into fits of laughter, as it was unmistakably Crabbe's voice coming from the card, singing his heart out in a very out of tune and gruff voice. I glanced at the Slytherin table, where Crabbe had gone VERY red and all the Slytherins were either jeering loudly or casting disgusted looks at him apart from Millicent Bulstrode who, I noticed was looking rather jealously at Ginny and glowering at her.
Ginny, meanwhile, was laughing so hard she fell off the bench, knocking her huge pile of cards off the table. I noticed Harry bend down very quickly to help her up. I grinned to myself. It was so obvious that Harry fancied Ginny, it was just a matter of time before they started going out.
I sat down at my usual place on the Gryffindor table, next to Ginny and opposite Harry and Ron, who were still laughing loudly. Everyone greeted me and I helped myself to toast and jam.
As I was eating, letting the chatter and talk wash over me, out of the corner of my eye I noticed Ron staring at me. I looked up to see what he wanted and he immediately looked away, very pink in the face and started talking to Harry about Quidditch. This happened 4 times, until finally I snapped. "Ron." I said exasperated, "What do you want? Why are you staring at me?"
"Oh…." said Ron looking sheepish, "You um…have a Valentine."
I looked down at the table and sure enough, tucked under a plate of bacon and eggs was an envelope addressed 'Hermione Granger'.
"Oh wow!" said Ginny, nudging me, "Open it, open it!"
"It'll be from Krum," I said gloomily. "He sends me one every year."
"WHAT! Of course it's not from VICKY!" exploded Ron angrily. There was a silence and then Harry said, "Um, Ron, how do YOU know?"
Positively beetroot now, Ron stuttered, "Well, I, well you see…he couldn't have…because…."
"Because Krum's going out with Ruby Gold."said Dean who was reading a copy of the Daily Prophet. "It says in here, look…."
Sure enough, in the entertainment section, it said that Krum and Ruby were engaged and planning their wedding. Ruby Gold was a young singing/actress/modelling sensation in the wizarding world and was almost never off the covers of Cosmo!Witch, Witch Weekly and Playwizard. It was no wonder Krum had fallen for her. Of course, it did help that she was drop-dead gorgeous and stunningly rich.
I felt immensely relieved at this piece of news. Now Krum would stop mooning over me and I wouldn't have to feel guilty every time I didn't write back to him.
"So who sent it then?" said Harry looking puzzled.
"I'm going to open it, they might have signed their name." I said eagerly.
I carefully opened the envelope. At once two huge sparkling butterflies flew out, leaving a thick trail of glitter and sparkles wherever they flew. I heard Ginny gasp with delight. I watched as they flew up and down, round and round, spelling out the words, "Be mine, Hermione. Your secret admirer xxx" in glitter.
The butterflies then vanished in a puff of smoke and everyone started talking at once, with their own theories of who sent it to me.
I merely sat , a smile on my face because I knew someone, somewhere out there loved me.
"Ok kids, that's the first part of the story over, who wants hot chocolate?" Hermione said briskly, standing up and leaving the room.
Jane and Rose were smiling happily because they loved a good romantic story, but Mark was more quick on the uptake.
"That valentine was from Da-" he said, before Jane slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Shut up!" she said, "Don't spoil it for me you twat."
Mark rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Jane, it was kind of obvious!"
"Be quiet you two." said Ron smiling, "You'll find out soon enough."
Hermione returned with 6 mugs of steaming hot chocolate and handed them round. Everyone took a sip and sat quietly until Ron said, "Right, it's my turn to tell the story."
He fished under the bed and pulled out a tatty looking book with 'Roonil Wazlib'(A/N: I couldn't resist adding this in after I read HBP!) on the cover.
"Or actually, I'll just let my diary tell the story!"
"YOU kept a diary!" asked Hermione, astounded. "I never knew that!"
"Yes, well, don't tell Fred or George," said Ron looking extremely embarassed, "I'd never hear the end of it!"
And before anyone could say anything more, he rifled through the book, found the right page and began.
"Dear Diary………"
END OF CHAPTER 2A/N: Did you like this chapter? I was pretty chuffed with it myself but I'd love to know what everyone thinks, so REVIEW! Thank you!
I will always love you Whitney Houston