Chapter II: The Essences of Magic

Hermione stroked Crookshanks' cinnamon head thoughtfully. All around, friends were chatting or looking out the windows of the carriage as the Hogwarts castle became increasingly close. Any other year, Hermione had waited anxiously for this but then she was too confused and had a strange feeling that she had not known how to define. She leaned back and closed her eyes, relaxing. She thought that in a couple of hours she would be comfortably sleeping on the scarlet canopy bed in her room, but that would be after the selection. She wondered if any of the first-year students who she had found that day in the compartments would go to Gryffindor and suddenly, infiltrating her thoughts in a flash, she saw Draco Malfoy's image in her mind. She closed her eyes even more tightly, trying to dilute his image, but it was there again and again without any reason. Hermione rubbed her forehead and decided to pay attention to the conversation of his friends for distraction.

"Come on Harry, you know how Malfoy is … you shouldn't let that affect you as well."Said Ginny's calm voice.

"For you it's easy to say." he growled.

"This time he has gone too far." interjected Ron laying his hand on Harry's shoulder to instill courage.

"I hate him." Harry spat.

For some reason, Hermione felt a strange weight in her stomach. But the words of her friend were around her mind a long time. She did not open her mouth until they arrived at Hogwarts, immersed in thought, but once she sat at the Gryffindor table and as the sorting hat ceremony started, she forgot everything. This would be the last year that she could enjoy the beginning of the year banquet and ceremony, for it was the year they ended their studies at Hogwarts. Hermione felt a little anxiety in the base of her stomach, thinking about the people she would miss to see. She knew she would not lose contact with Harry and Ron, but ... unconsciously her eyes roamed the Slytherin table until he found Malfoy watching the ceremony. Pansy was at his side, watching him with rapt attention, ignoring the Sorting Hat and students that were sorted into her house. Hermione would miss Malfoy? Of course not...

The classes had started the day after the ceremony, as always. That was Hermione's last year at school, & at the end of the course they would have to take their N.E.. The results would surely affect their future, once they completed their studies. Hermione still wasn't sure about what she was going to do when she finished her studies at Hogwarts. So she had the intentions of passing all her N.E. so she wouldn't have to rule out an option. She began developing schedules for Harry, Ron, Neville and anyone who would accept. Since the first week of school, she spent several hours in the library practicing spells & reviewing everything they had learned in previous years, because the tests included everything, not just what they'll learn in seventh year.

One afternoon while studying in the library, Hermione saw Malfoy entering, looking bored. She watched as the boy walked among the tables remembering the sparks she had felt when they collided in the platform. Hermione had thought several times about finding information on what it could mean, but she was not sure it came in a book from the library. As if sensing that Hermione was thinking about him, Malfoy turned his gray eyes toward her & held a mischievous grin. As he approached her, she noticed that he had grown slightly from the previous year & his body was more athletic & less childish. His face was still pale & somewhat large, but judging by the success he had, the girls found him attractive. Hermione shrugged mentally, thinking that the only thing she found interesting about him was his eyes, but they were so cold that they lost their charm.

"Studying for your N.E.W.T.s already, Granger?" He asked, slurring his words as usual. "It's normal for you to start at this point; you need to study hard, considering you have no magical talent."

Hermione merely ignored him. No matter how handsome the girls might find him, it was no doubt he was a fool.

"Or you are preparing to be Pince's successor?"He continued. "You spend more time in here than she does, but personally, I think you would look better occupying Filch's post. If a squib can do that, a mudblood can too."

Hermione looked at him with narrowed eyes. She knew the best she could do was ignore him & his comments. Everytime that Ron & Harry tried to attack Malfoy for her, she told them not to give him importance, inside it hurt more than she was willing to recognize. After enduring six years of being treated as inferior & unworthy by Malfoy, she had not cured for it yet. Given that she had lost all concentration and desire to study, she closed her book & stood up. Hermione passed Malfoy without a look at him, but the moment their shoulders touched, she felt the same feeling of electricity at platform 9 & ¾ but much milder. Also, she didn't know if Draco felt it too. But she departed quickly from the library as to be farther from him.

Hermione opened the Prophet & began to read it, trying not to see Ron & Lavender locked in a silent struggle with a single muscle of their bodies, their lips. They had apparently taken up the relationship they had last year (if that was what it was) & returned to becoming Siamese twins joined at the mouth. Not that Hermione cared, but it was irritating to watch them being locked in their nonverbal dialogues. Mostly because everytime Ron, Harry & Hermione tried to hold a conversation, Lavender appeared claiming "Won Won" & Ron forgot about the others. Harry meanwhile, kept going out with Ginny. They had begun dating the previous year & as Harry spent most of the summer at the Burrow, now that they had returned to Hogwarts they looked like a marriage. They spent the whole day together, & Hermione could talk with them without feeling uncomfortable because they didn't spend their whole time together kissing like Ron & Lavender did. At least she could talk to someone.

Hermione was happy for her friends, but at times she felt a little lonely. Sometimes she didn't go to the library because she wanted to study, but because her friends were with their girlfriends. She felt a bit left out & she took refuge in her books to kill time. She sometimes helped Neville with any spells he had problems with, or walking with Luna Lovegood at Hogwarts' grounds. The two girls felt quite alone, but they had started to become very good friends. They were quite the opposite, Hermione being the voice of reason & Luna being completely crazy. But thanks to their friendship, the Ravenclaw seemed more balanced & the Gryffindor less severe.

She used to sit in the common room with Parvati, who also felt abandoned by Lavender everytime she saw Ron, but there were certain issues they could not speak of, & divination was one of them. Parvati worshipped Professor Trelawney, & Hermione felt that she was a fraud, so more than once they ended up arguing.

"Is there anything interesting in there?" Parvati asked, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. Hermione looked up from the Prophet to find her companion looking through the Witch's Heart & looking bored.

"Well, there's an article about Gringotts & they say a giant has been sighted near the Baltic Sea." she said. "Are you finding anything interesting in your journal?"

"It comes with a gift." She told Hermione, showing a rectangular pack of metallic green gum. "It's a love potion. The person you give it to will fall in love with you until the flavor lasts."

"That's stupid." Hermione said with disdain, but Parvati laughed.

"Who would you give it to?" she asked with interest. Parvati was always trying to get out of Hermione who she liked. Hermione raised an eyebrow, about to blame her for something. But then, something caught her attention in Parvati's journal. It seemed to her as if she had read the word "spark".

"Would you let me see it for a moment?" she asked Parvati & she nodded with a mischievous smile on her face, as if though Hermione was interested in the Fifteen tips to make your wizard fall in love. Under the fifteen tips, she saw with bright colored letters a section called Signs that you have him in the pot.

"You know your dreams have come true if...

-You keep staring at him & he cannot take his eyes of off you, he's yours!

-When you go near him, his friends are elbowing him, he has fallen!"

The article continued with a series of symptoms equally stupid, but the last one was covered with hearts that exploded & repaired themselves instantly after a few seconds.

"And finally and most importantly...

If everytime you touch him in any way, you feel a spark, that guy is in your pot & he has no intention of leaving! When sparks fly, it means your magic essences have recognized each other & they're telling you. This guy is definitely the right wizard. Your soul mate!"

Hermione reread the last section a few times, feeling that her heart had accelerated, but then she returned the magazine to Parvati with a dismissive snort. What that magazine said was stupid nonsense that unfortunately, most of the girls believed in. The evidence was clear: Malfoy & she were opposites, not soul mates. They had nothing in common and to top it off, Malfoy hated her and she was not particularly crazy about him.

But then, what had those sparks meant? The ones she had already felt twice? She calmed herself, & thought that it could have been unlikely if Malfoy had felt the sparks too. The sparks probably meant they repelled each other, nothing more.

To reassure this, she decided she would go to the library as soon as she had a free time & seek for a reliable book that could tell her what those sparks meant. So after Charms, she said goodbye to Harry & Ron & went to the library. She took a few books in which she believed she could find something, but after reviewing them for the past couple of hours, there was not even a mention about sparks. She rested her elbows on the table feeling stressed.

"Hermione?" She opened her eyes to find herself facing a guy with that Ravenclaw she had Charms, Transfiguration & Magic Runes with.

"Hello ... Benjamin, right?"

"Yes." he said with a beaming smile, as if he was so happy she knew his name. "Well, I hope I'm not bothering you."

"No, you do not bother me." She interrupted. She was thankful for the distraction so she pointed the chair beside her. Benjamin obeyed, still smiling and Hermione thought he had a beautiful smile.

"I wanted to ask you a favor." he said a little embarrassed "Well, I've seen you in Runes, Transformation & also Charms & I know you're the best in the class." Hermione blushed slightly but did not say anything. "And the truth is that between classes and Quidditch practice I don't have much time. This year I was assigned to be Ravenclaw's captain." He said and looked closely at her expression, as if trying to guess whether he had surprised her. "There are spells & incantations & all types of transformations that I do not master very well, & I was wondering if you... well, if you could help…"

"I'd love to help you." Hermione said, grateful for having a distraction from her foolish quest. Benjamin smiled & she didn't think of Malfoy, or sparks.

A/N

I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, I know it's not that interesting…YET. The next chapter will be better. I hope I can have Chapter 3 for tomorrow. Thanks for reading my story! I appreciate it!

-Mischief Managed