Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything that is from Harry potter.
A/N: I don't know if any one actually waited for this, but here it is... I don't think I actually meant to write another one, but yea, here's chapter 7. I would be lying if I said this took me 7 and a half months to write this! I didn't actually think I would be continuing this but my friend what me to finish it so I'm trying to! Only two people have actually read this, so I'm hoping to know what your opinions are! I did change the title from "Saving Each Other" to "Saving You", cuz it's my story and I want to! Okay no but, I thought this one would be better! Read then Review...
A/N 2: I made a few changes in the last chapter. I'm putting them on here so you don't have to go and check. Then again I did make changes in various other chapters too, so yea...
Chapter 6 (Changes)
She actually liked Draco, the boy who hated everyone but himself. Well, maybe not her, he thought. Goyle walked to the door, about to leave but instead he turned around and faced Jessica. "It was all supposed to be a bet, you know. It was nothing in the beginning, but I guess he fell for you."
Tears started to fall down Jessie's face. She didn't understand what was happening. Was it all really just a lie? Did all the Slytherins have something to do with all of this? Did Goyle just sound not stupid for the first time in his life?
"You…" Goyle started. He hesitated, forgetting for a second that Slytherins don't care how others feel. "You're half and half… you're not a pure witch." Goyle walked through the doors leaving Jessie outside in the cold alone.
Jessica slowly dropped herself to the cold concrete floor. She placed a small, neatly wrapped box in front of her. She pulled her legs up to her chest and placed her head on her knees. Tears swam down her face as she stared at the green box.
A/N: okay, now to the very, very (make that a lot more very's) long awaited chapter, I hope! (crosses fingers)
Chapter 7 – Never a Happy Ending
Harry had never felt so happy before in his life. Hermione had created the most incredible night he would absolutely never forget. He couldn't help but feel as if he let Hermione down; after all it was Valentine's Day. It was his fault he had been in the Hospital Wing and gotten himself hurt. Harry had not left the infirmary in days. Sun up, to sun down, he was there and getting very bored of the Hospital Wing. Although he couldn't do much, what with his leg and all, but he had to somehow give Hermione a night she would remember as well.
His thoughts turned to Hermione, who was resting in his arms. They were both sitting on a large squishy bean bag chair Dobby had brought in, after he and the other house elves had quickly cleared the table and lit a few candles before them. She looked so peaceful to him, like she shouldn't be disturbed. Hermione had spent many sleepless nights, lying by Harry's side, hoping he would regain his strength back soon. She laid on top of him rising to the rhythm of his breathing. The candles around them were slowly dying out so he figured it was getting pretty late.
Many thoughts were racing through his mind, especially the fact that Hermione was now his girlfriend. Harry loved her so much, that as they laid there on the bean bag, he didn't want to let go of her. By letting go, he couldn't hold Hermione in his arms and guarantee nothing would ever happen to her. He was afraid, that eventually Voldemort would soon find out about their relationship. Then soon enough take Hermione away the same way he took Harry's parents and his godfather away from him. On that note Harry let a few tears slide down his face. He didn't know what he would do, if something were ever to happen to Hermione.
Harry softly kissed Hermione on the forehead. She slowly woke up and smiled at Harry.
"I'll walk you back to the common room." Harry said slowly getting up.
Hermione stood up quickly and handed Harry his crutches, and helped him to his feet. "No I'll take you back to the infirmary. I want you to get your rest."
"I don't want to go back to the infirmary though... at least not right now." Harry shook his head. "I'll walk with you back to the common room and if you want we could sit in front of the fire. Then when you fall asleep I'll get some rest. Okay? I want to watch you sleep tonight."
Hermione smiled. "Okay," she whispered.
It took a while to return to the Gryffindor Common Room, seeing as how Harry couldn't get around the castle as fast as he used to. Unfortunately for him, Madame Pomfrey wasn't going to let him try walking on his own without the support of the crutches for some time. Therefore it took twice as long to arrive at their destination, with the help of Hermione. After climbing the many staircases of Hogwarts they arrived to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"What happen to you?" asked the Fat Lady curiously.
"Don't ask." replied Harry. Does everyone have to know? Thought Harry to himself.
"Fine. Password." asked the Fat Lady
"Treacle Tart." replied Hermione, seeing as how Harry hadn't been to the Gryffindor Common Room for some time.
The portrait door then opened for the both of them. Harry missed the fact of not being able to go to the common room every night. Unsurprisingly the common room was deserted, although the flames were still dancing in the fire.
Harry eyed his favourite couch by the fire.
"After you." said Harry motioning Hermione to sit down. She smiled sweetly and Harry loved her for that. By seeing her smile, it made him fill with joy and forget his worries. Harry had always felt as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, but when he saw Hermione it made all the difference. She was his sun, his moon, his everything and no one could take the way he felt for her away for him.
Hermione was about to sit down, when she sat up again to come to Harry's aid after noticing he was having a bit of trouble.
"Let me help you please." she asked him.
Hermione took Harry's crutches from him and placed them against the nearest chair. She then took one of his arms and wrapped it around her neck. As she did so, Harry could feel her soft neck, as his arm brushed against it. When they started to walk (or in his case, limp) to the sofa, Harry wanted to say something to Hermione, that he'd been eager to say since they were dancing in the Room of Requirement.
"Herm". Said Harry
"What's wrong?" asked Hermione questionably, as Harry stopped moving.
"Thank you... for everything." Replied Harry. And with that, Harry kissed Hermione on the lips, as he was supported by her.
"You're welcome." responded Hermione smiling, after pulling away from the kiss to answer him.
The young couple then lay on the sofa together, each holding on to the other tightly not wanting to let go. What felt like hours, Harry was sleeping soundlessly while Hermione lay awake by his side. Hermione then turned to look at her watch. Seeing as how tired she was, her eyes were squinting to read the time. The watch read two-thirty a.m. She laughed at herself, partly because of the time and of course the splendid time she had with Harry, her boyfriend. She loved repeating those words to herself, over and over again in her head. As she thought about it, she turned to look back at Harry. She didn't want to wake him, but on the other hand, Madame Pomfrey would kill her if Harry wasn't back in the infirmary, sleeping in the hospital wing bed.
Hermione started to move his hair out of his eyes, as he slept and came across his scar. Poor Harry was all Hermione could think of. How could one person suffer so much and still have the strength and courage to continue with life. How could Harry have so much despair and still have room for love and emotions to flow through. Harry had undergone MANY series of unfortunate events, what now felt continuous and never ending in his life, what with Voldemort back and the havoc he was creating for both the wizarding and muggle world. Hermione had felt so much sympathy towards Harry and credit for living such a life. She wanted to know, as he laid there sound a sleep what was going through his mind. On that note, she got up from the end of the couch to where Harry was laying, with his injured leg on a separate pillow.
"Harry, wake up. It's almost three am," said Hermione softly and quietly as she shook him gently to wake him up.
"Hey, did you sleep well?'' asked Harry quietly.
"I did, for the most part. You know, you're very handsome when you sleep." said Hermione half-laughing.
Harry managed to let out a chuckle. "Thanks. And did you know how beautiful you look ... all the time, may I add. And did you know? Harry paused, and sat up straight. He then took a deep breath and said;
"That you are my angel watching over me, and that a minute without you is like a desert without rain. And no matter what, through the good times and the bad, you've always been there for me. Because of you, it's a joy to know that there's something in my life to look forward to everyday!"
Hermione let one single tear fall down her check. "I love you, Harry Potter!"
Jessie wandered into the Gryffindor common room alone with a large mug of coffee in one hand and a small bag of sweets in the other. Ron hadn't returned yet so she decided to leave the kitchen. It was getting late any ways, and she was bored wallowing alone, besides the little house elves were starting to give Jessie the creeps.
Jessica had figured the common room would have been empty, but wasn't shocked to see Harry and Hermione lying comfortably on the large sofa. Hermione looked happy and peaceful, lying silently on top of Harry. Harry, however, was wide awake, staring straight into the dying fire.
Jessie thought she should leave, giving Harry and Hermione some more "alone time", but when she started to make her way out the door, she stubbed her toe on one of the legs of the many tables surrounding the room. "Oww... why would they put a table right here?" Jessie quietly scowled, as she rubbed her toe.
Harry turned towards the sound of the noise, looking to see who was creating it. Hermione had remained silent, oblivious to the noise her friend was making.
Jessie made a face, and then apologized to Harry. "I should probably just go up stairs now... Sorry!"
She was about to turn and leave but she noticed Harry wasn't even paying anymore attention toward her. He just had a sullen, confused look on his face; he looked like he was looking off in the distance, away from Jessie, looking at nothing in particular. "You feeling alright, Harry?"
At the sound of his name, Harry turned around to see who was talking. "Oh, hey Jess! Yeah, I'm feeling fine. Why do you ask?"
"I dunno... You just look a little preoccupied." Jessie noticed Harry had looked off again. She didn't want to press the matter, but she didn't feel like leaving when something could have been terribly wrong. "Harry, really... what's wrong?"
Harry tried to get up, but he was afraid of walking Hermione up. He just sunk back into the sofa. "I don't know... Hermione just gave me a night I would never forget... yet I'm here sulking about things I can or can't do... I didn't even get her anything..." Harry sighed. He felt terrible, but he didn't know what to do.
Jessie smiled. "I think I can help." She left and ran up the girl's staircase, leaving Harry alone once more with Hermione. She quietly returned a few minutes later, this time with out the coffee and snacks, but with a muggle catalogue magazine. She flipped the pages until she had reached one with a large fold in the corner. Jessie handed the magazine over to Harry. Harry looked at the page and noticed a dark black circle the outlined a picture of a simple, beautiful white gold necklace with a diamond fitted in the center of a white gold heart, hanging off the chain.
"I saw Hermione looking at it a few days ago. She told me that she was starting to get tired of receiving books, and planners or anything else educational. She's never really received anything that wasn't really related to school. Even her parents give her books, or, like, the best school supplies they could find her." Jessie smiled. "I hope that might help a little with the present thing."
She was about to leave when Harry asked, "Where can I get this?"
"There's a small shop at the end of the street that sells a lot of jewellery... some look muggle but they just have little charms on them. There's a locket that you wear and when you wear it the locket will open and show a picture of the person you love and can't live without. Seamus bought one for Lavender, but when she opened it there was a picture of Gilderoy Lockhart. Anyways, you could go ask Dumbledore and see if he'd let you go over the village just for a bit to see if you could find something, since you missed today's trip. I'm sure he'll understand."
"Okay..." Harry thought. "Good night..." Harry said as Jessie left the room.
Harry looked down at Hermione who was still sound asleep on top of him. He smiled knowing that he had something especially planed for Hermione on Sunday. He quickly reminded himself to find Ron and Jessie in the morning when he woke up. He lightly rested his head on top of Hermione's head and had quickly fallen asleep.
Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great hall, eating her breakfast and reading her copy of the Daily Prophet. She had just come back from taking Harry over to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey was happy she had brought Harry back to the Infirmary so that she could give him a check up. Harry had told Hermione to come down to the great hall to have breakfast since he thought his check-up would take long.
Hermione smiled as she remembered her night before with Harry. She knew she had surprised him, and that he had a great time as did she. She was happy to have been able to spend those wonderful hours with him, since she hadn't been able to be with him without being under the watchful eye of the medi-witch.
She had passed Jessie and Ron in the second floor hallway, as she was leaving the Hospital wing. They explained to her that they were going to go and just visit Harry for a little bit, wanting to talk a bit about Gryffindor's next game with Slytherin. Hermione didn't mind not going with them. She had just left Harry, and she didn't think that another quidditch match would be an ideal subject for her in the morning.
Half an hour, and 2 apple tarts later, Hermione spotted Jessie and Ron entering the hall.
"Hey, 'Mione!" Ron smiled. He dropped his hat and gloves onto the table and swung his leg over the bench to sit down.
Hermione noticed that her two friends were both dressed for the cold day outside the Hogwarts walls. "Are you two going outside?"
"Yeah, want to come?" Jessie asked tying her blue scarf around her properly. "Some of the Gryffindors are going outside to have a snowball fight, without magic. Of course... they're probably out there already charming their snowballs and stuff." She muttered the last part to herself looking towards the Entrance doors. "Come on, Ron lets go! I want to see what the others are doing!" Jessie got up and quickly walked over to the Entrance Hall.
Hermione noticed Jessie quickly give a glace over to the Slytherin table, where there was a number of students talking and laughing at various things. Hermione sighed. As she turned back to look at Ron she noticed that Draco had seemed like he had caught Jessie's eye and was now watching her leave the hallway. Hermione had found out from Lavender and Parvati that Draco had broken up with Jessie. Apparently, Pansy had been running around the whole school practically rejoicing the fact that Draco and Jessie weren't together any more.
Hermione had also realized Draco had a long thin cut above his left eye. "I wonder what happened to Malfoy."
Ron didn't look up, "I dunno, maybe he got cut above his eye?" He asked as he started to pick off imaginary lint off from his hat.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Excellent observations, Sherlock!" Hermione then frown. "How do you know he was cut above his eye? You didn't even look at him. Ohh..." Hermione realizing after it had dawned on her. "Ron! What did you do?" Hermione whispered. She studied her best friend closely.
Ron looked up from his hat. "Who's Sherlock?"
Hermione smiled as she thought kudos to Ron for sticking up to Draco Malfoy, most likely single-handedly. But then another thought had entered her mind. "Ron, you do know that she may not return your feelings. She really did like Malfoy and might continue caring for him for a while."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Hermione." Ron said as he got up and collected his belongings off the table and hastily put them on. "If you'd like to come find us later, we'll be outside on the school grounds with Dean, Ginny, and Seamus… Neville… Jessie…" Ron trailed off as he started to walk away. "Lavender and Parvati…"
Hermione had spent the whole day looking for Harry.
Hermione had gone up to the infirmary but Madame Pomfrey had said that Harry had been released from the hospital ward. He had left the Hospital wing with Ron and had apparently left for Hagrid's.
However, once Hermione arrived at Hagrid's hut, he, Hagrid said that Harry had just left to find her.
Hermione felt like she was on a wild goose hunt searching for Harry.
She'd gone to the Gryffindor common room, the Quidditch pitch, the owlery, and the astronomy tower (one of the many places Harry loves going to when he wants to get away). Hermione had gone to all of Harry's favourite places in and around school. But every time she'd arrive at a new place, something would always hold her up. It was as if some one (or thing) didn't want her to find Harry, Merlin knows why.
She had first run into Lavender and Parvati in their common room. They had pulled Hermione into one of their long gossipy chats about the guys in their school and had asked Hermione how Victor Krum was like, hoping to get a bit of perspective on the boys outside Hogwarts walls. When she went out to the Quidditch Pitch, it seemed like the snow just wanted to keep falling from the sky, making it harder for Hermione to get to the pitch and back. The owls were having a fit in the owlery so they were making it hard to even look in to see if Harry was there. She had also found Peeves on the astronomy tower, instead, throwing cold water balloons down at the students who were outside playing in the snow. Luckily peeves didn't see her, so Hermione was able to leave quietly without getting hit with a balloon.
Hermione felt like giving up. He'll turn up somewhere, right? She thought. She decided to head back to the Great Hall hoping to get a bit of dinner, before the tables were cleared.
Sadly, when Hermione arrived, the plates had just finished disappearing.
She saw Jessie sitting with Ron in the middle of the long Gryffindor table talking secretively with each other. Harry was sitting on Ron's other side reading a long piece of parchment, Hermione had noticed as her Transfiguration notes. Had they been here this whole time?
"Hey, Hermione!" Jessie greeted as Hermione sat down besides her. "Where were you? You missed dinner!"
"I noticed." Hermione looked over to where Harry was reading. "Where have you been all day? I've been looking for you everywhere!"
Harry cocked his head to his left and looked at Hermione. "Really? Pomfrey had released me from the Hospital wing this morning after my check up, so Ron and I have been looking for you! Right, Ron?" Harry nudged his friend.
Ron, who had stopped talking with Jessie as soon as Hermione had sat down besides them, nodded his head energetically. "Yeah, we have. Blimley, Hermione, we looked everywhere!"
Hermione frowned. "Too bad we didn't just run into each other."
Jessie smiled apologetically. "Here I saved you some food. I thought you'd might be hungry."
Hermione took the food appreciatively. She ate quietly as Jessie asked for more tips about quidditch from Harry and Ron.
The halls were empty. Students had emptied out earlier and had headed over to the Quidditch Pitch hopping to get good seats for the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match. It was a beautiful winter day, and the students were happy to be ending their week with a Quidditch game.
Jessie was jumping up and down in her seat, inside the Gryffindor change room. Her heart was beating so fast, she felt like it was going to exploded.
Harry's Firebolt was leaning against the bench beside her. Her father had written to her telling her that he had no luck with her mother.
As soon as I mentioned Bludgers and what they did, she screamed and fainted. Sorry, pumpkin. You're better off using a school broom. If your mother did let me buy you a broom it would be one of those family-safe brooms like Bluebottle, which isn't even used for Quidditch. You never know, I might convince her sooner or later, but for now hang in there. I'm sure you could borrow a broom from one of your friends. How about that boyfriend of yours? Draco was it?
Jessie never really got the chance to explain to her father that she and Draco weren't together anymore. But really she didn't care if he knew or not. Frankly, she just found it easier on herself with out her parents talking to her about a break-up especially before a Quidditch game.
Ron and Ginny sat down on either side of Jessie.
Ron moved Harry's broom over before sitting down. "How're you doing?"
Jessie shook her head. She lowered her head and placed it between her legs. "I feel like I'm going to die!" She said, her voice muffled by her quidditch robe that fell up to her mouth.
Ginny sighed. "Jessie, you'll do fine. I'm sure of it."
Jessie continued to take deep breaths, hoping to get rid of the loud beating of her heart in her chest.
"The lady at the store said that it'll take a week or two before they could deliver it." Ron said quickly, hoping to divert the subject as far away from Quidditch. "Harry thought it would be best to send to over to Hermione's house first that way they could send it straight over to Harry. It's also easier this way because I bet those muggle people who deliver the post won't be able to find Hogwarts."
Ginny, catching on to Ron's idea, continued, "Awww… I find that so cute! Did Harry really go to get the ring personally designed?"
Ron smiled. "I'm not sure, but that's why you were helping Jessie on Saturday, remember? You were distracting Hermione while Harry and I went into muggle London to get the ring."
Ginny sighed, daydreaming about Dean doing something special for her.
"You're lucky you didn't get caught…" Jessie said clearly, finally lifting her head back up. "Harry said you didn't even help. You were two busy looking at all the muggle things they had in the store next door. What, was it he bought you? A rubber duck?"
"It could swim around in the water with out magic. Besides I wanted it for my dad." Ron muttered as Ginny snickered. He looked up at the clock on the wall, and then faced the rest of the team. "Right then, this is it guys! Just do your best and let's make Harry proud!"
The team nodded, and then followed Ron out the change room and onto the pitch, with Jessie trailing at the end.
Hermione pointed excitedly down at the pitch as the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams assembled themselves in the middle of the pitch. "Look there's Jessie!"
Three fourths of the crowd were wearing Gryffindor colours supporting the team. There were banners everywhere cheering the team on. Some said Go Gryffindor Go! Others merely just showed charmed moving pictures of the Gryffindor team catching the snitch and winning or of the Slytherin team constantly flying into each other. There was one that had Draco Malfoy falling off his broom and landing in the snow in a heap.
Jessie felt like she was going to start hyperventilating. The cheers from the crowd were loud enough to block out the beating in her chest. She looked around the pitch and at all the faces high up in the stands. She found Hermione waving furiously down at her. Jessie smiled and waved back. So this is how it is?
Jessie saw Madame Hooch wave her arms around. She was speaking, but Jessie couldn't understand a word she was saying. She followed suit as the two teams mounted their brooms. The stands grew quiet enough for everyone to hear the whistle blow from Madame Hooch soon after she released the bludger, snitch and quaffle into the air.
The two teams flew quickly into the air. Jessie rose higher than everyone else hoping to find the snitch before Draco does. He was flying on the other side of the pitch away from Jessie and the Gryffindor supporters.
Jessie sighed as Gryffindor scored for the second time already.
Gryffindor 20, Slytherin 0.
Jessie circled the pitch slowly keeping her eyes open, however, every time so moved anywhere near the Slytherin stands, a few bystanders would flash a mirror her way causing Jessie to have a bright blue spot in her vision for a few moments.
Harry watched as Jessie flew partially blindly away from. "Slytherin's trying to blind Jessie!" Harry yelled.
"Well, what did you expect?" Hermione frowned. "At least they're not jinxing her broom or something."
Hermione started to yell as Jessie nearly missed a bludger that had clearly come from Crabbe, since he almost fell of his broom laughing.
Hermione's yelling soon after turned into a loud coughing fit. Many other students around Harry and Hermione turned to look to see what was wrong. Harry quickly conjured a goblet of water and handed it over to Hermione. She shook so much that Harry took the cup back and held it for her to drink. He rubbed her back with his other hand as she drank.
Once Hermione's cough had steadied enough to hold the goblet herself, Harry picked up Hermione's empty hand and noticed that she wasn't wearing any gloves. He pulled off his and put them on for her. "Hermione, your hands are freezing! Why didn't you bring your gloves?"
Hermione just shrugged since she was still coughing.
Parvati, who was sitting besides Hermione, handed her a hot cup of tea. "Here, this may help."
Hermione gratefully took it and slowly drank the tea. "Thank you!" She whispered.
"Are you alright, Hermione?" Seamus asked on Harry's other side, completely shocked at the coughing fit Hermione just had.
"Yes, I'm fine, Seamus." Said Hermione. "I'm sure I'm just getting a cold."
Parvati let out a 'ha, yeah right'. "You were perfectly fine a while ago. You were practically jumping up and down in your seat, yelling at the top of your lungs!"
Hermione was about to interject when Harry said, "Come on, 'Mione. I'll take you to Pomfrey. We'll just get her to check you, just in case it's something major. And if it really is just a cold, then it wouldn't hurt to go and see."
Hermione didn't refuse going but she said, "You'll miss the game!"
Harry shrugged. "Hermione, your health means so much more to me than a Quidditch Game! Any ways, Seamus could just tell me the score later, right?" Seamus nodded his head yes. "Okay. Ready to go?" Harry asked turning back to Hermione.
"Okay."
Harry and Hermione left the Quidditch pitch just after Jessie had turned to make a dive after finding what she hoped wasn't another mirror shining in her eye.
Harry had left Hermione after she had convinced him that she would be fine on her own. Hermione had been confirmed that she was having a cold, so she was sleeping in the hospital wing after having been given a sleeping drought to help her feel better by the morning after.
Madame Pomfrey walked away from her office to check on Hermione. She had been helping Dumbledore find one of her dreamless potions he had requested, in her office.
She let out a loud cry. "Oh, no! Oh, no!"
Dumbledore come out of the office and into the ward. "What's wrong, Poppy?"
"Oh, Headmaster!" She cried. "Miss Granger's... she's... oh, no!"
Dumbledore quickly strode over to Hermione's bed and looked her over. He removed his glasses and wiped a cold sweat away from his forehead. "Poppy, go and find Minerva and tell her to contact Miss Granger's parents and see to it that they arrive as soon as they can." Albus said slow enough for Pomfrey to understand. He quickly wiped his glasses then placed them back over his eyes. "I will be gone for a few minutes, but I must find Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley… Perhaps even Ms. Smith."
With that, the two wizards left the infirmary, leaving Hermione alone, to cough loudly under the warmth of the Hospital Wing's bedclothes.
A/N: ha, DONE! My longest chapter! Boo-yeah! So yeah… read and review!