Fly With Me

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.

Ch. 13 What does that mean?

"Yes, Severus?" Hermione watched as Snape clutched at the box in his arms, his knuckles turning past white into a pale blue shade from the box his hands applied on the box.

Severus' mouth opened and closed, trying to word delicately the thoughts in his head to his rebelliously strong minded daughter. However, the longer Hermione stood there waiting for words to escape his lips, no came. She was pretty sure that no matter how important whatever Snape needed to talk to her about, the sickly green shade that covered his face and the beads of sweat were her give away that he would most likely to give up and chicken out. A sigh of defeat and the slump of his shoulders was all she needed to know that his words would go unsaid this day. Without a word, she stepped forward to allow Severus to wrap a shaky arm around her and apparate back to Hogsmeade. Severus put a concealing charm over Hermione's tattoo, and quickly removed it when they reached the Head Dorm's portrait. With a nod of his head, Severus left Hermione standing there before she could even get out a thank you. The box that he had picked up right before they left Diagon Alley, lay on the corridor floor. Hermione felt a strange urge to open the box that lay before her. She picked up the box, promising herself that she would return it later to Snape personally.

She opened the portrait expecting Draco to be waiting for her in the Common Room, but found the that room was empty. Hermione couldn't help but give herself a big smile. Why she had kissed Draco Malfoy, Slytherin's pureblooded princely ferret, was far beyond her. Maybe she was really hurt by Ron and Harry? They had taken sides before and it had hurt her so much, but after the summer she never thought that they would ever hurt her again. With a heavy heart, she stomped up to her room. A small shadow lay outside her balcony door. Much to her surprise, it was Hedwig carrying a note and a picture. A small smile graced her face as she read the note but laughter filled the room as she watched the moving picture. I guess the boys are making a point, she thought as the picture showed an angry Ginny Weasley pointing her graceful fingers into Harry's chest and a sharp pointed finger into Ron's face. By the looks on the boys faces told Hermione that Ginny had really let loose on them for acting like jerks...again.

Hermione decided that she could forgive the boys for acting like any other boy. She had just barely caught a glance at her reflection as she went towards her door, which had been a good thing. Had she went to see Harry or Ron looking like she did at that very second, she would be in so much trouble. She quickly slid out of the dark color threads and exchanged them for Harry's favorite shirt, a pair of baggy jeans, and her skater shoes. With two simple flicks of her wand, Hermione looked like her normal no makeup wearing, messy haired ponytail, baggy clothes wearing self. The only thing that she was missing was her heavy book bag. She let out a sigh before she bolted out of the door, jogging down the stairs to the castle's closest exit to the quidditch pitch.

Once she was finally outside, she pushed her body to move faster. It wasn't an easy task for Hermione, had the baggy jeans she grabbed not needed to be held up to keep from falling down, since she couldn't get the blasted belt to tighten. She always needed Harry or Ron to help her. When she thought that she was close enough to the pitch to slow down alittle, Blaise Zambini came into her sights. "Crap!" she whispered to herself.

Blaise Zambini was the son of a dead Death Eater, a horrible man who took almost as much pleasure from causing pain as Lucius Malfoy. Blaise was the only boy in Slytherin that could ever rival Draco Malfoy for power, however Draco was the better looking one of the two. Ever since the war, Blaise was more obsessed with having power. The loss of his father meant that he was now the leader of the household, which to Blaise meant that he held power of his mother and sisters. But Blaise was not interested in having power of his family, he wanted power over other people. People that he would have to challenge his best friend for. However, when Malfoy had suggested this little plan of his to break the golden trio once and for all (a bet that the red haired Weasel had set without even thinking of what he said), Blaise saw an opening to take control of Slytherin House's power. All he had to do was to have Malfoy agree to his terms and hand over his dignity if he lost. The plan was simple and perfect, that way if Malfoy actually won against Potter, Blaise wasn't in any danger from Draco Malfoy. But that was until Draco had sprung into the Common Room that morning, proclaiming that his plan had become even better. Now he was on his way back to his dorm after a meeting with the few people in the entire world that he just wanted to kill. His day looked abit better when 'the brain' (he found Hermione's nickname to be very suiting) came down the hill at a nicely paced jog.
His smirk grew into an evil smile as she came closer. " Hey brain? Looking forward to the qudditch game yet?"

Hermione's pace had sped up when she saw Blaise, never slowing down as he spoke to her about a quidditch game. Why every student liked to call her brain was really unnecessary, especially coming from a Slytherin. The most she could do to appease Blaise was look back at his retreating form, nearly tripping over her own foot. But the pitch was right in front of her, so she didn't stop until she hit the stands, using them for support to catch her breath. Six figures were soaring through the sky, Hermione mistaking the figures for the Gryffindor quidditch team and not noticing that five of the figures all had flaming red hair.After a few minutes all the flyers began to land on the ground, and made their way back to the castle only to pass by Hermione (who was currently hiding in the shadows of the stands to surprise her passing friends.) When she saw her chance, she quietly and quickly ran up behind the unsuspecting group and without warning...

"Harry, I've been thinking and I really believe that you've gotten yourself into a sticky situation. How are you...HMPH... Who...?"

"Hello boys! Hi Gin." She laughed, as she slid off Bill's back. All of the Weasley children were present (with the exception of Charlie, who was crushed by a tree that had fallen due to a Death Eater's curse during the final battle.) "Whatcha talking about?"

The six that stood before Hermione all reacted differently to her simple question. Fred and George choked, Ron looked very guilty, Ginny looked up at the sky, Bill gave her a sad smile, and Harry became very nervous. It was too hard for any of them to tell the girl that they had all witnessed break apart over the summer that she had been offered as a prize to the winner of a bet. With Harry, Ginny, and Ron all reporting to Mrs. Weasley on a regular basis about Hermione's well being, everyone knew that poor, scared, broken Hermione was slowly repiecing her life back together. This news would surely destroy all that Hermione had worked so hard for, and normalcy would be forever stripped from her life. They had received bad news from Zambini that he had to play with Harry against Draco and Hermione, but Hermione being staked as the prize was much worse. Fortunately, Fred saved the day.

"Hullo Brain!" His twin smacked his arm, and cut him off. "Correction, Miss Head Girl." Hermione also thought it was freaky when they spoke together, so it was nothing new when they asked together, "Mind we cause some trouble in the Tower?"

"NO!" she answered sternly, but an evil smile appeared on her face. "But I believe that Peeves is being depressed down in the dungeons. Why don't you two go say hi to him." Hermione hinted off her permission from the two trouble makers to do their damage anywhere other than in Gryffindor territory, before sending them a wink that sent both boys running for the closest entrance to the castle.

With the two lime light stealers gone, Bill wrapped an arm around Hermione's shoulders. "So how you been holding up?" When he was answered with a shrug, he smiled. "My little brother given you any problems?" he asked with a playful look, jerking his head towards Ron.

"Hey!" Ron cried indignantly.

"Not one, Bill. I swear." She smiled at his inclination that he would bully Ron, then returned the eldest Weasley's hug. However, her curiosity kicked in again after Fred and George steered her attention away from her original question. "So what brings the rest of the Weasley clan to Hogwart's?"

"Oh, you know, just checking up and Ron and Ginny." Bill replied coolly, catching the look of panic on Harry's face. "So...Ginny, Ron. Why don't we run off for awhile." He rounded on Harry, giving him a jokingly stern fatherly look. "Now see here, Potter. I expect you to have a young lady back to her dorm at a respectable time."

Harry clicked his heels together and saluted to Bill. "Sir, yes sir." then he let out a laugh. "Come on Herms. I want you all to myself for awhile."

As Hermione smiled at the Weasleys, she turned to walk away with Harry. On their walk, Harry snuck a peek at the girl who had been at his side since first year. Hermione's eyes were glued to the top of the stands,as if willing herself to make it that far off the ground. Harry was surprised when he found out that Hermione actually loved being at the top of the stands, since she was afraid to fly. When they made it to the very top seats, Harry seated himself on the row below Hermione and rested his back against her knees. Hermione relaxed alittle since she was unsure of how Harry would react to her storming out of the Hall and disappearing for most of the day. "Okay, you have me alone. Care to tell me what's going on?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. I just wanted to make sure that you are okay after this morning and all. Besides Ron and Ginny have the family thing, " he felt Hermione's legs stiffen. "But hey! You and I are family, so we can do anything you want." He nudged her knee with his head. "So what do you want to do?"

"...Herms?..." Harry panted, clutching his side. "This isn't what I had in mind when I asked what you wanted to do. Let's stop. I think I'm about to bust a lung or something." Hermione had decided that she wanted to play catch and Harry had ended up chasing her for the entire time, of course after he tightened her belt. "Let's go watch the sun set then I'll take you back to your dorm."

Together, they climbed back to the peak of the stands and sat in a comfortable silence while Hermione traced with her fingertips the skin where she knew Harry's tattoo to be. After the fifth time of running her fingers over the shared marking, Harry spoke with a distant voice that was filled with sorrow. "Tell me again, Herms."

Hermione needn't be told what he was asking her for. She placed her fingers at the start of the scroll that she and Harry had written together as a reminder of their pain, and began to trace it as she spoke. "Within the battle of light and dark, hope reigns. Two warriors saved each other, yet both became children of loss. Two souls prayed for death, but saved by a friend in pain. Let the fallen watch over us, for we may fall. My friend, here is the remains of my broken heart. Please cause no more damage to it." A tear rolled down her check, even as she willed herself not to cry.

Harry couldn't help but shiver under her touch. So many thoughts ran through his head that he spoke many out loud, many Hermione could not answer. But it was as if Harry was demanding an answer from her when he had asked why. His voice tightened. "Why did it have to be us? We are too young to have been through all of this. I mean, why did he have to pick my parents...?"

"I don't know, Harry. It's been hard for us all. I wish I could give you the answers that you need." The two sat in silence, watching as the sun disappeared leaving them in the darkness that followed.

A/N: Please don't hate me! This is really only half of the chapter that I wanted to post, however, this is pretty long for me and my fingers are killing me. Now I am going to sleep. I have worked really hard on this, so I hope that you like it. Please give me your review! Thanks to everyone who has given me a review, and those of you who are reading and not reviewing, I DO taken anonymous reviews. Now hit that little blue button in the left corner!

Hippie 1212: Thank you! Sorry that I haven't updated sooner, normally I would have. Hope you enjoy the goodies to come!

The Queen of Nosferatu: Crikey! Wow! Ok, you have won my heart with your awesome review. Thank you so much. I see that you noticed what I am doing, and I'm trying to blend it all together hoping that it works. You flatter me too much, but it's very nice to be praised in such a manner as you put to me. I love you.

OrgnlAmagic: Heyheyhey! You know what, that's a good idea, but he doesn't want in her good graces. He will be an evil character (I think he will be recognized by Rowling soon enough and will be awesome. But I like to flip him between good and evil and this fic was the evil one.) I don't have anything big physically planned yet (just the ending.) I came up with a bet, Hermione on a broom, and the surprise ending and this is it thrown together. Hope you continue to love it.

Lady-Of-the-Moon: Sorry to keep you waiting. Here is your update that you begged for. Enjoy.

Stella Blu: Welcome back, sweets! Haven't received a review from you in a while. I was beginning to think that you hated the fics. But I guess that you still love me! Hooray!

Hugs from a fruit,

Cherry.