Charming
Chapter Nine – Just A Little Bit Preoccupied
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Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff. I'll get back to you if that changes, but don't expect to hear from me. :P
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Hermione found and cornered Ginny the next day, between two bookshelves in the Library.
"Ginevra Weasley," spoke Hermione, a steely expression on her face, "I have to talk to you."
Ginny looked up from the book she was perusing, and said brightly, "Oh, hello Hermione. What is it? I know it's got to be serious if you're using my name like that." She slid the book back onto the shelf and asked eagerly, "It's not boy trouble is it? Spill!"
"Not exactly," said Hermione. "More... daydream trouble."
"Oh?" Ginny raised both her eyebrows. "Go on."
Briefly, Hermione explained what had happened in her daydreams. "...but wanting to kiss him is taking it a bit far! I mean, I know it's probably part of the stock-standard daydream formula, but this is Draco Malfoy we're talking about. He's barely a friend! I don't understand why he's the one in my daydreams in the first place – and since I don't know how the charm works I can't really guess, either. It's got to be down to the Daydream Charm itself because I know I didn't choose to be having fantasies about Draco!"
She paused for breath and Ginny took the opportunity to reply, noting at the same time Hermione's use of Malfoy's first name. So we're on first-name terms, are we? Now is that down to these daydreams, or reality? I wonder...
"Look, Hermione," she began, "to be honest, I'm not too clear on how the Charms work either. Fred and George don't exactly let me in on their manufacturing secrets; they keep it all between themselves. What I do know is that the guy you see in the daydream – the male lead, if you want – is pulled more or less from the mind of the user. From something George said to me once, I'm fairly sure that the charm sort of singles out the person you lust after the most, and inserts them in your daydream. I –"
"I am not lusting after Draco!"
Ginny held up her hands. "I never said that. Listen, I don't really know anything besides that the Daydream Charm works, and it works pretty well. I can't tell you why it's Malfoy in your dreams because I can't see inside your head, but I do know from what you've told me of the daydreams that the charm is working exactly the way it normally does. I would know; I was one of the first to road-test it."
"So basically you can't do or say anything that'll help."
"Basically."
"Great. Just great," the elder girl said sarcastically.
"The best advice I could give you would be to sit it out and see if it changes. It might do, who knows?" Ginny shrugged.
"But that doesn't solve anything!" cried Hermione.
"Look," said Ginny, "would you rather sit through plain old History of Magic and have Binns talk your brain out of your eyes in liquid form?"
Hermione sighed and rubbed her face. "I... well, no, I suppose not. You know, it's not like I don't enjoy it, but that's got to be part of the charm, right? I mean, I didn't ask for–"
"Yes...?" prompted the redhead.
Hermione looked helplessly at her. "If I could have chosen someone to daydream about, chosen with my eyes open, it wouldn't have been Draco."
Ginny considered her carefully for a moment before asking, "So if you could have chosen someone in particular, who would it have been?"
Hermione was still for a long moment. The bell rang, signalling the next class; Ginny grinned and left, giving Hermione a small wave as she went. The brunette was left standing between the shelves, a lost, almost concerned expression on her face as she thought, I don't know. If not Draco... then who?
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Ginny's advice didn't help in the slightest. Hermione continued to daydream of Draco, to the point where he started cropping up in her regular dreams as well. However, while her daydreams were of the highly-coloured romantic variety (Draco on the beach, Draco in the snow, Draco on a cliff-top, Draco swimming in a river, Draco everywhere and anywhere, and always spending time with her) her actual dreams were usually a little more sedate. She would find herself sitting in a class or walking down a corridor and he would be there, standing in the background with an unreadable expression on his face, almost but not quite close enough to touch.
It was a tad disconcerting, but what was she supposed to do about it? Ginny had no solution and there was no hope of changing the way the Daydream Charm worked. The most obvious thing for Hermione to do would be to stop using the Daydream Charm in History of Magic... but there were a couple of little problems with that as well.
Firstly, she'd have to actually sit through History of Magic. Not an appealing prospect.
And secondly, she'd have to give up something she enjoyed. Because Hermione couldn't deny – at least to herself, if not anyone else – that she did enjoy the daydreams, regardless of their subject.
What's so bad about thinking of Draco anyway? she asked herself. We're not enemies anymore, right? He's just another human being, isn't he? The only thing that makes him different to the rest of us is his history... and can't people move on from the past?
Every time her train of thought led her to that point, Hermione ended up sighing and shaking her head in defeat. The more she asked herself those questions, the more she wanted the answers, and the only person who could provide them didn't exactly seem open to conversation. In fact the only times that Hermione did see Draco in the flesh was in class or at meals, and always only from a distance – he always sat by himself and as far away from his peers as possible, remote and unreachable.
Meanwhile, while Hermione was struggling with her internal preoccupation with Draco – it couldn't be denied she was just a little fixated on the mystery of Draco Malfoy and the problems he presented – there were other wars being fought. Harry had taken to staying in the Gryffindor common room as much as he could, only emerging for classes, meals, and occasionally Quidditch – and all because of a different charm. It seemed that at least two-thirds of the school had learned how to cast the Mistletoe Charm, and this was causing problems for Harry, perhaps understandably.
"Oh, Harry, try to be a bit more cheerful," said Hermione as they walked away from the most recent episode. "Try to feel flattered that there are so many people wanting to kiss you!"
Harry's expression was like thunder. "But I don't feel flattered! I feel violated!" he cried. "If I wanted to snog these people you'd think I'd have let them know! I mean, they know I'm with Ginny, so how can they think it's okay to try and shove themselves down my throat at any opportunity?"
"I dunno, mate," said Ron, "but if it were me–"
"What if it were you, Ronald? What would you do?" Hermione laughed. "Show them who's boss? I think you're just jealous!"
Ron spluttered and she laughed even harder; even Harry managed a smile. Standing on her tip-toes, Hermione slung an arm over each boy's shoulder and they stumbled onwards to the Great Hall companionably, still chortling as they went.
From the shadows behind a doorway, sad, resentful grey eyes watched them go.
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November passed slowly and turned into December, bringing with it even colder weather than usual. Snow drifts piled up around the castle and grounds, the Lake began to freeze over and the corridors became downright icy apart from where they were partially heated by small fires crackling in open braziers. Nobody lingered in the hallways anymore, which was a welcome relief for Harry as the Mistletoe Charm attacks became less frequent. Instead the students scurried quickly to their classes or their common rooms, which were heated and therefore significantly warmer.
It was lunchtime on a Friday and, unlike the rest of the school sitting warm in the Great Hall, Hermione was walking briskly back from the Library, heavy schoolbag full of books over her shoulder. The cold was no excuse to let important studying go undone, after all!
She turned the corner into yet another deserted corridor and stopped. The door to a classroom stood open a few metres away, and on the stone floor in front of the doorway lay a wand. Looking around, Hermione picked it up and looked inside the room, moving quickly inside when she spotted a pair of shoes poking out from behind a desk.
Lying prostrate on the floor was the unmoving form of one Draco Malfoy.
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Author's Note: A slightly shorter and less interesting chapter this time than the last couple, but I promise Chapter 10 will make up for it. ;D This next chapter is kind of what the whole fic's been leading up to, after all... :P
And as always, PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS. They're what keep me motivated to continue writing, and every bit of feedback is appreciated. :)