Chapter 1

Dislclaimer: I still don't own them…unfortunately. They belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros, apparently. I didn't know that. Interesting….

Moving on…PLEASE REVIEW! PLEASE!

Two Days Later

Hermione Granger made her way down the stairs in the direction of the Great Hall, meeting Ron and Harry for breakfast. A few people were still milling around, most outside since it was their day off. The teachers had not even wanted to stay inside this day and since it was a Friday, they had allowed the students to miss class the entire day. As she walked down the hall towards the room, she saw Professor Dumbledore gliding merrily wearing light blue robes that blew around him. He winked as she passed, and she couldn't help smiling at him. The smile stayed on her face and when she entered the Great Hall, it grew when she saw that Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville, and Malfoy were all sitting together. The people she cared most about…and Malfoy. She could hardly believe that they had less than two weeks left of the term.

"Morning," she said as she slid into a seat beside Ron. He smiled shyly up at her and she grabbed a piece of toast, spreading strawberry jam on it. Neville was talking about how his grandmother was planning to go to Asia with him once the term was over and how excited he was because there were exotic plants in the Pacific Ocean that just could not be found in the Atlantic. She smiled and nodded, pretending to listen. But in all honesty, she was too wrapped up in other thoughts. She continuously thought about the dreams.. Before these few months, what she felt in the dreams stayed in the dreams. But that was back when the face of the man she loved so dearly was in shadows and blurry; she had recognized him less than two months ago and then the awkwardness had started. In class, she was quiet.

They had all noticed something was up when she was quiet in class. Hermione Granger, all-knowing-entity, not raising her hand? That was a sure sign that the apocalypse was soon approaching. Harry had asked her what was wrong once, when he had finally noticed that the people around him had feelings and emotions as well. She chewed her toast thoughtfully and realized that the voices around her had stopped speaking. Looking up, she saw that they were all turned towards her.

"Sorry, was someone saying something to me?" she asked, a light blush coloring her cheeks.

"We were wondering where you were going at the end of the term," Ron told her, attempting not to laugh at her.

"My parents are talking me to the South of France, Spain, and Italy again. It's not really a magic related trip, simply Muggle sight-seeing." She loved traveling, getting lost in a place where she was able to learn about culture, languages, customs, and people. When she traveled, the world was her teacher and she was ever the dutiful student.

"Well, make sure that you stop by the Burrow because Mum will throw a fit if you don't," Ron told her as he moved to refill his glass of juice. His arm brushed her own and she felt a little saddened by her reaction. She should feel something more for the boy she had liked for almost six years, but she felt nothing for him now, nothing romantic at least. She had always been jealous before when another girl had noticed him, had been livid when he had been dating Lavender Brown, hurt when he had asked her to the Yule Ball as a last resort. But now…now, he was nothing more than a friend to her and for some reason, he seemed to follow her around more often. If only she had known this tactic would've worked earlier, before the dreams. But they filled a hole in her that she hadn't known had existed. She had always thought that she was happy with her life: she had parents that both loved her, friends who cared about her, the Weasleys who were like her family, perfect grades (which were very important to her), and a great school that she enjoyed attending. What more did she need? But even as she asked the question, the answer's face swam into her mind and she shook her head lightly as though attempting to spew him out of her mind. Stupid, she thought to herself. Childish, foolish, infuated, impetuous, Hermione. You are above this, you are better than this.

The conversation was ending again and she saw Neville and Luna get up at the same time, smiling sweetly at one another. When had that happened, Hermione wondered. Luna began to tell him about how there were purple striped unicorns that everyone discriminated against, and she saw that he was genuinely listening to her, attempting to understand whatever she was talking about. Good for Luna, she thought.

Slowly, swallowing the last bite of her toast, she rose too. "I'm going to do the rest of my homework down by the Lake. It's beautiful outside."

"Hey, I'll go with you. Maybe you can help me understand what Snape was telling us about stewing potions during the full moon versus the new moon." He grabbed his bag and followed her suit by getting up in one swift motion. Ron, of course, did the same, although much more awkwardly than Harry. Ginny waved at them as they left, and when Hermione turned around for a second, she saw that Ginny was slowly moving to sit beside Malfoy and he was slyly taking her hand. Why was everyone around her in love!

"That wasn't a complicated lesson. You should've understood all of it."

"I understood none of it, except that I was hoping that it was the full moon and Professor Lupin would turn into a werewolf and just tear Snape to shreds."

"Harry!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean that. Well, I did mean that. But I didn't mean for it to come out that way?"

"What other way could your wish for a teacher to be clawed by a werewolf have come out?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip as she angled her head questioningly.

"Nicely?" Harry said with a smile on his face. They had recently learned the beautiful art of bantering, something Hermione enjoyed and was glad of. As they went down the stairs, towards the doors, someone called Hermione's name and she turned around as she was walking. It was Cho Chang and Hermione stopped to wait for her.

"Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Cho asked Hermione, looking a little nervous.

"Sure. You guys go ahead. Save me a seat under the Great Oak please." Harry nodded and Ron followed, turning over his shoulder at the last moment to glance at her.

"What's the matter Cho?"

"Hermione, is something going on between you and Harry?"

"What?" Hermione nearly shouted, looking completely surprised by this. "Of course not. We all very well know that I am not the girl he has been pining after for the last four months, Cho."

"Oh. It's just that…well…the last time he and I talked, he was worried about you. I don't remember why, but he couldn't stop talking about you. He…was almost obsessed."

"Cho," Hermione said, placing her hand reassuringly on the girl's arm. "He was nervous. He likes you. You know that as well as I do. He just tends to talk about what he's comfortable with when he's that nervous."

"Oh," the other girl replied, a slow smile coming onto her face. "All right then…I guess I should go."

Hermione nodded, a small smile coming onto her face. She turned around to walk down the sloping lawn, when Cho called her back.

"Thank you," the girl said with a real smile. Hermione broke out into a grin and without turning and looking, began walking down the lawn. But before her feet even touched the soft grass, she bumped into a figure and she would have fallen backwards if strong hands hadn't caught her forearms.

"Are you all right, Ms. Granger?" a voice asked. Hermione looked up and into the face of the man she had been dreaming about for the last few months and said nothing, not trusting her voice to speak without betraying some emotion.