Disbelieving in Trees
Potter47

Chapter Six
The Night Before

Hermione and Luna emerged into the lobby of the Hotel Corridor just as a very pregnant redhead emerged from the front entrance, with a suitcase-laden Harry Potter struggling to manage the revolving door in her wake.

"Ginny!" exclaimed Hermione, dashing off towards her. Luna followed, more slowly.

"How are you feeling?" continued Hermione, looking rather unsubtly at Ginny's tummy. "Have you been--"

"I'm fine, Hermione," said Ginny, laughing slightly. Harry had finally caught up with her, out of breath, and placed the suitcases on the floor. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ginny spoke first:

"Could you get our room keys from the front desk, dear? We really should get unpacked..."

Harry blinked, took a deep breath, nodded, and picked up the suitcases once again, setting off towards the front desk. Ginny smiled.

She whispered to Hermione, grinning, and still watching Harry as he departed: "I finally understand why Mum had so many of us--he's like a little pet nowadays. Does whatever I ask. Sure, I'll probably change my mind in a couple weeks"--she patted her tummy--"but until then, it's just excellent."

She shook her head slightly, and turned back to Hermione. "But what am I doing talking about me? How are you, my soon-to-be-sister-in-law...?"

Hermione took a breath. "Well, Ron and I just had another row--"

"--of course," interjected Ginny.

"--but Luna and I were just about to plan tonight's hen party," added Hermione, grinning almost fiendishly.

Ginny blinked, glancing at Luna.

"You and Luna?" she asked, surprised. Luna nodded significantly behind Hermione's back, and something seemed to click in Ginny's mind.

"Oh no you're not," she continued. "You, Hermione Granger, are going to keep yourself busy for the next couple hours, while Luna and I plan your hen party. What sense is there if you already know what's happening?"

Hermione hesitated, and then said: "Well, I suppose you're right..."

"Of course I am," said Ginny. "Mother's intuition and all that rubbish."

Harry returned with the suitcases, two hotel room keys held firmly in his mouth, as though he were sticking a thin, card-shaped tongue out at them.

"Thank you, Harry," said Ginny, taking one of the keys from his mouth, like a card from a bank machine. Harry nodded a "You're welcome."

"Now, Hermione, you go up in your room and take a nap or something--keep yourself occupied. Where's Ron, by the way?"

"In the Restaurant and Lounge," said Hermione.

"The Restaurant portion, actually," added Luna.

"All right then," said Ginny. "Harry, you go find Ron in the Restaurant and help him plan his Stag party." Harry blinked, and tilted his head to the side. He gestured with the suitcases. "Oh, yes, you can drop those off in the room if you like, first. But then go find Ron, all right?"

Harry nodded, heading off for the lifts, with the remaining key still dangling from his lips. A few people glanced at him perplexedly.

"Now... Hermione, you go on now, and Luna? Come with me. We've got work to do."

——

"Now... what on earth is going on with you and Hermione?" questioned Ginny, sitting upon Luna's bed and bouncing slightly on the mattress. "You're not going to tell me you suddenly had a change of heart about her and Ron?"

"Of course not," said Luna frankly. "You know exactly what I'm doing, don't you?"

"I believe so," said Ginny. She screwed up her mouth shrewdly. "I'm not sure that I like it, though."

Luna's eyes widened. "But Ginny, we always agreed that Ronald and I were meant for each other, didn't we?"

"Yes, we did, but that was when we were twelve--"

"So? That sort of thing doesn't exactly change--"

"Luna..." Ginny shook her head, putting her hand on her forehead exasperatedly. "You can't just break up Ron and Hermione. They're getting married tomorrow. This isn't a fairy tale, this is their lives."

"Exactly," said Luna. "Which is why I'm trying to stop them making the biggest mistake of their lives."

"What do you mean?"

"They're not right for each other, Ginny, not at all. Have you seen them? Fighting with each other every thirty seconds... they hardly seem to like each other, let alone love each other..."

Ginny hesitated, but then:

"And you think Ron loves you more? And Hermione loves Snape?"

"Well, the latter is obvious. The former is going to take a bit of development, but yes, I do believe it is an eventual possibility."

Ginny laughed, shaking her head. "You're absolutely out of your tree, Luna."

"I don't believe in trees," said Luna. "The Ministry replaced them all with manufactured look-alikes that spy on us and report on our activity."

"Whatever you say, Luna."

——

"And you know," said Hermione blearily, "that it really does make a very big difference... the thickness of the, the cauldron. Yup." She nodded several times, took another gulp of her Firewhisky, and winced.

"Whatever you say, Hermione," said Ginny, who of course was not drinking. They had managed to reserve a section of the Three Broomsticks for the hen party, and had gotten away from the Hotel Corridor, with the rest of the female wedding guests, before Harry knew that Ginny would be traveling again.

"Dear me," said Professor McGonagall, looking more than a bit disheveled, and placing her glass on the table. "I really should probably be heading back to the hotel..."

"Nonsense," said Luna, picking up McGonagall's glass and shoving it back into her hand. "Not when the fun's about to begin."

McGonagall quirked an eyebrow, and would have managed to appear quite shrewd, if she had not taken that very opportunity to let out a rather large burp.

"Excuse me," she said, very, very quietly.

Ginny grinned.

"What'sthefun?" slurred Hermione. She hesitated, and then spoke more clearly: "I think we should have a nice discussion about... about... potions. Potions, potions, potions! Such a lovely subject, yes? The... softly shimmering..." She trailed off into another gulp of Firewhisky, and Luna gave Ginny a pointed look, which clearly meant "See?" Ginny shrugged.

"That's a marvelous idea, Hermione," said Luna, "but I was thinking something that might be a bit more... exciting, for the rest of us."

"Oh," said Hermione. "Like what?"

"Well, a little game of Truth or Dare, of course," said Ginny, grinning mischievously.

Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown giggled into their drinks.

"Well, all right, I suppose," said Hermione, a little disappointedly.

"Splendid," said Luna. "Now, Hermione, as it's your night, you ask first. And then you'll be the last one to answer."

Hermione nodded, and surveyed the group, her head wobbling a bit as she did it. Her gaze fell on McGonagall.

"Minerva," said Hermione, "truth or dare?"

McGonagall looked more than a little dismayed to have been chosen, but thought carefully for a moment before answering quietly: "Dare."

The other girls cheered, applauding her Gryffindor bravery.

"Hmm..." began Hermione, taking another gulp of her drink and looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought. "I dare you... to turn Madam Rosmerta into a treacle tart."

McGonagall gasped, which let out another burp, and the other girls laughed. She asked: "I suppose I'm not allowed to turn down the--?"

"Nope," said Ginny, grinning. "It's a binding magical contract."

"I'm sure it is," said McGonagall dryly. She turned towards the bar, swore very quietly to herself, and then pointed her wand at Rosmerta, who promptly became a treacle tart, which then fell to the floor and out of sight, leaving several very confused patrons standing at the bar.

Then McGonagall waved her wand again, and Rosmerta was back to herself again, looking even more confuzzled than everybody else.

"Could've sworn..." she murmured, shaking her head.

McGonagall turned back to the others, blushing furiously, which was a very strange sight upon her face. She gulped down the rest of her drink, and slammed it on the table.

"Never again," she said, and then looked at the other girls. "Miss Patil? Truth or dare?"

——

Back at the Hotel Corridor, in the Lounge of the Restaurant and Lounge, Ron Weasley sat in a similarly bemused, semi-conscious state to that of Hermione. He was surrounded by a group of male wedding guests, most notably Snape, Harry, and a certain silver-haired headmaster who, alone among the otherwise bored and drunken guests, seemed to be having the time of his life.

"If only the ladies were here, I do believe we could have a lovely game of... what do the Muggles call it? 'Spin the Bottle'...?"

"Er, yeah, Professor," said Harry, rather awkwardly. "But--"

"Oh, let's play something, shall we?" continued Dumbledore. "I seem to sense that I alone am truly enjoying myself, and we can't have that, can we, Mr. Weasley?"

He nudged Ron in the arm, who jumped slightly.

"Wha...?" he murmured.

"I believe Weasley has had his fill of enjoyment," said Snape. "Or rather, his fill of alcoholic beverages..."

"Nah, nah, I'll play something..." said Ron, nodding wearily.

"Splendid!" said Dumbledore. "How about..."

But before Dumbledore could finish his suggestion, two very red-haired blurs appeared in Ron's vision. He blinked several times for his vision to clear.

"What's this, Ronniekins?" said Fred, the first of the blurs.

"A stag party, and you didn't even invite us?"

"Your favourite-est brothers in the whole wide world...?"

"Ha," said Ron, but the next moment, the twins were addressing the party at large.

"Tonight," announced George in a booming voice, "is our brother Ron's very last night of freedom!"

"From now on, he's going to have to be responsible, isn't he, George?"

"Why, yes he is, Fred. And I don't believe the Ron I know is very responsible at all."

"You know, I think we should put our dear brother here through a few... tests, don't you? To make sure he's ready for such a large amount of responsibility?"

"What a great idea, Fred."

"Thank you, George."

They grinned.

——

Ginny blushed, returned to her seat, and turned determinedly to Luna.

"Luna..." she said, "truth or dare?"

Luna blinked. It was her turn already?

Now, this was a very important decision. Truth...? Or dare? It would require a great deal of deliberation. "Truth," for instance, contained the word "hurt" within its letters, which was never a very good sign, while "dare" could be rearranged to spell "read," which reminded her very much of Hermione. Neither option seemed particularly appealing... but then Luna noticed that "Truth" also happened to have both an "r" and an "h," and those did not go together very well at all.

"Dare," said Luna, finally.

"OK," said Ginny. She thought for a very long minute, and then said: "I dare you to jump on the table and sing whatever song comes to mind at the top of your lungs."

Luna laughed--she had been worried Ginny would dare her to do something embarrassing.

She stood upon the table, composed herself, and burst into a rousing chorus of "Weasley is Our King"--the rest of the bar turned around to look, but she didn't mind all that much, and when she had finished, she sat back down calmly. The other girls were laughing; even Hermione, although she was eying Luna rather oddly.

Then, when the laughing died down, Luna asked:

"Hermione... truth or dare?"

"Truth," said Hermione at once, smiling slightly.

Luna thought for a minute, as Ginny had done, and then shook her head, as though throwing caution to the wind, which caught it deftly in its breeze.

"Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?"

Hermione's smile was gone in a flash. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out at first. She closed it, and put a hand on her throat, which was burning again, although this time it didn't seem to have to do with the Firewhisky.

Finally, she mustered enough of a voice to say, very quietly:

"Maybe."

The other girls burst into an uproar at this non-answer, especially Lavender and Parvati.

"Come on, Hermione," said Parvati. "It's not like it's really a secret or anything..."

Hermione blinked furiously. "What are you talking about?" she said.

"Well, honestly," said Lavender, "it was kind of obvious..."

Hermione looked severely confuzzled. "How could it have been obvious to you when I..." she trailed off, shaking her head to clear it, and tried again: "I mean, I didn't even know... I still--don't... know..."

Now it was Lavender and Parvati's turn to be confuzzled.

"You didn't know about your crush on Lockhart?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "...oh."

"Why, what were you talking about?"

"Nothing," said Hermione, looking at Luna fiercely, and looking rather betrayed. "Anyway, yes, I have had a crush on a teacher, I was madly in love with Gilderoy Lockhart, second year."

"Oh dear, how could you?" said McGonagall, sounding like she had a bad taste in her mouth.

Hermione ignored her, for the first time in her life. She had not looked away from Luna.

"Truth or dare, Luna?" she said, an odd tone in her voice.

Luna blinked. "I thought we were only going around once...?"

"Truth or dare, Luna," said Hermione again, and it was hardly even a question, her voice was so intense.

Luna swallowed, unsure. "Erm... dare," said Luna again.

"I dare you to leave me... and Ron... alone," said Hermione, drawing her wand. She stood, and wobbled slightly on her feet.

Luna stood as well, and backed away slightly, drawing her own wand. Ginny was trying to calm Hermione down, but Hermione was pushing her away.

"Oh dear," said McGonagall, taking a sip of her second drink and looking between the two girls.

"I'm sorry," said Luna, shaking her head. "I can't do that."

Hermione took a deep breath. Luna had never seen her like this--she seemed to be holding her wand for dear life, gripping it tighter and tighter until silver sparks were spouting from the end of it. Luna was starting to get a bit scared.

"Hermione, stop it..." cautioned Ginny. "You're drunk..."

"I don't care," said Hermione. "Get out, Luna, before I--"

"What?" demanded Luna. "Before you what? Before you curse me? Hex me into next week? Really, Hermione, do you think I care about that? You've already done so much worse." She tightened her grip on her own wand.

"And what have I done, Luna? I've gotten myself engaged to Ron?"

"His name," said Luna, narrowing her eyes, "is Ronald. And yes. You've 'gotten yourself engaged' to him, that's exactly my point." A beat, and then: "Why didn't you say you'd 'fallen in love' with him, Hermione?"

Hermione blinked. "What on earth does that matter? I said what I said--"

"Yes, but I find it rather interesting--"

"Fine, I've fallen in love with him--"

"No you haven't," said Luna. "And he hasn't with you. You're getting married because it makes sense, not because you've fallen in love. Because you think it's the right thing to do."

"You're saying I don't love Ron?"

"No," said Luna, "I'm saying you're not in love with him, and you never were. I'm sure you love him just fine, you care about him--but there's a difference."

"And you are? You're in love with him?"

Luna nodded. "I have been since I was three."

Hermione laughed, a terrible, terrible laugh.

"Grow up, Luna. You're not three anymore--this is real, you know, this is your life, these are our real lives. This isn't a fairy tale, and Ron isn't the handsome prince. Sometimes you just have to grow up and realize some things aren't real."

"I know that, Hermione," said Luna. "Trees, for instance."

And Hermione had apparently had enough--she fired a spell at Luna, who deflected it, and began to back away. Part of her wanted nothing more than to stay and duel with Hermione to the death, but some slightly more reasonable part of her knew that Hermione would win.

"Just go away, Luna," said Hermione, ceasing firing spells for a moment; it looked as though she were on the verge of tears. "Just go away, and leave us alone."

And then Luna was gone, out the front of the bar, leaving a fuming Hermione and the rest of the sufficiently clucked hen party in her wake.

——

Luna sat in the car park of the Hotel Corridor, leaning with her back against one of the light posts, just as she had a few days prior. She was perfectly content to merely stay by herself, in peace, thinking about things, but it seemed someone else had other plans.

"Funny to see you here..." said Snape, emerging from the shadows of the dark car park, into the light of the post. He added, somewhat uncertainly: "...Luna."

Luna looked up, and smiled slightly. "Hello, Severus," she said. "I thought you'd still be at the stag party."

Snape shrugged. "I grew tired of it rather quickly," he said. "The Weasley twins turned up, and have been busy humiliating their brother... which would have been amusing, if their style weren't so... grating." He paused, and then said: "Why are you not still at the hen party?"

Luna shrugged. "Hermione sort of started a duel with me in the middle of the Three Broomsticks, and now I'm pretty much banned from the wedding tomorrow."

Snape blinked.

"...oh," he said. "Then we're..."

"...not giving up, no," said Luna. "I told you before, I'm not going to give up on this."

Snape sighed rather heavily.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" he asked.

"Not at all."

Snape did so, sitting with his back to Luna, leaning on the opposite side of the lamp post.

"You know," said Luna thoughtfully, "if we were in a film, or a book, the logical ending to all of this would be for you and I to fall for each other, don't you think? Do you know what I mean? As though all of this were some sort of childish distraction, and eventually we'd mature and realize it was never going to happen, and in the end we'd fall into each other's arms, instead of those we thought we would fall into."

Snape was silent for a moment, and then he said, almost shamefully: "...but I can hardly stand you."

Luna smiled. "I know. That's why we're not in a movie, or a book--this isn't a romantic comedy, this is the real world, real life, and things don't work out like that, all tied up in a nice bow. No, this... this is much more difficult, this reality stuff. Real people don't like to admit when they've been wrong."

Luna thought of Hermione, in the bar, that fierce look in her eye--Hermione would rather believe anything than admit she'd been wrong, wouldn't she? Luna was glad she was not like that.

Snape jerked Luna out of her reverie:

"We're insane, Luna, you do realize that?"

"Yes."

"It's impossible, all of this. We're just two incompetent idiots pining away at something that will never be, that could never be."

"Probably," said Luna.

Snape turned around to face Luna rather suddenly, almost desperately.

"Then what keeps you going, Lovegood? How do you still have hope?"

Luna shrugged.

"I don't really know. I just... do."

TBC