Disclaimer: I don't own it-- I wish I did though.

A/N: Sorry for the late update, I've been really busy moving into my snazzy new apartment on the opposite side of town. Although I am much closer to work and school now...moving 1092875019785309875 boxes doesn't leave a whole lot of time for writing. Anyway, without further delay...

Daisies and Daydreams

Hermione, Harry, and Ron trudged along in the drizzle towards Hagrid's cabin. Hermione vaguely heard Ron recalling his more treacherous saves during tryouts. She resolved to tune him out for fear of laughing. She soon focused on the smoke that billowed merrily from Hagrid's chimney as they walked. Every now and again she'd give an encouraging "Mmhmm," or "That was great," to Ron to keep him occupied.

She was only distracted when she overhead Ron mention the word, "Confunded." She turned a very deep shade of pink and stifled a giggle.

Just as they were beginning to approach Buckbeak, Hagrid came out of the cabin looking livid.

"Git away from him! He'll have yer fingers — oh. It's yeh lot."

Fang, who had kept to Hagrid's heels as he approached them began jumping up at Hermione and Ron, attempting to lick their ears. Hagrid stood and looked at them all for a split second, then turned and strode into his cabin, slamming the door behind him.

"Oh dear!" said Hermione, looking stricken.

I guess Hagrid was angrier than I thought he'd be.

After a bit of coaxing, Hagrid finally agreed to see them. He allowed them to explain how sorry they were that they hadn't seen him and that they weren't continuing with Care of Magical Creatures. Soon enough, he forgave them and sent them back on their way towards the castle.

Hermione was relieved to finally have that out of the way. She felt particularly guilty when Hagrid had informed them about the illness of Aragog. She had no understanding of Hagrid's relationships with such creatures, but she could imagine what he felt. As much as she resented Hagrid for making her Grawp's personal babysitter and forcing her to care for a blast ended skrewt the year before, she had developed a soft spot for the half-giant. Although, she knew in her heart that she hadn't been entirely truthful when she said that she really had wanted to continue with Care of Magical Creatures—she shivered at the thought of taking N.E.W.T. level classes with Hagrid as her professor.

The snap of a twig behind her brought her back to her senses. She realized that she, Ron, and Harry and already covered most of the distance from Hagrid's cabin back to the castle. A soft rumble in her stomach was a gentle reminder to her that she hadn't eaten anything for hours. Her mouth began to water as she started to think of the potatoes, roast pudding, and luscious desserts that would soon be set before her.

As they came into the castle they spotted Cormac McLaggen entering the Great Hall. It took him two attempts to get through the doors; he ricocheted off the frame on the first attempt. Ron didn't notice as Hermione turned a brilliant shade of violet. She tried to follow him innocently into the Great Hall, but was pulled back by a suspicious looking Harry.

"What?" said Hermione, defensively.

"If you ask me," said Harry quietly, "McLaggen looks like he was Confunded this morning. And he was standing right in front of where you and Lavender were sitting."

Hermione blushed thinking about her day with Lavender and her plot to make Ron their new Keeper. She thought for a moment if she ought to lie, but looking at the suspicion on Harry's face, she realized that she had better come clean. She made a note however, not to mention the real reason she did it. She'd make it look like she was simply being a good friend.

"Oh, all right then, I did it," she whispered. "But you should have heard the way he was talking about Ron and Ginny! Anyway, he's got a nasty temper; you saw how he reacted when he didn't get in — you wouldn't have wanted someone like that on the team."

"No," said Harry, his suspicion waning. "No, I suppose that's true. But wasn't that dishonest, Hermione? I mean, you're a Prefect, aren't you?"

"Oh, be quiet," she snapped, as he smirked.

It's just like Harry to pick the most inopportune moments to actually want to follow the rules. Any other time he'd be implying I was some sort of prude for not jumping up and down with joy whenever he and Ron want to embark on some quest. Merlin's beard, if I decided to follow the rules when it came to writing essays for them…

"What are you two doing?" demanded Ron, reappearing in the doorway to the Great Hall and looking wary.

Nothing," said Harry and Hermione together, and they hurried after Ron.

Hermione did a quick scan of the table for Lavender before seating herself between Ron and Neville. She noticed Lavender chattering away with Parvati and a fourth year girl that Hermione did not know. Lavender looked over as Hermione sat and waved shyly. Hermione returned the gesture and locked eyes with her for a moment before becoming distracted by the smell of pot roast and potatoes. She began to recall her hunger. This time, she felt ravenous.

She began loading her plate with everything in sight, not paying much attention to anyone else. At one point she battled a grumpy looking first year for the gravy bowl, she won with flying colors. The first year spent the rest of dinner trying to fish unwanted gravy out of the darker crevices of his robes.

"— and, of course, I hope very much that Miss Granger will favor me by coming too." Hermione looked around to see Slughorn giving her a bow. He had obviously been distracting Harry for the past few minutes. Hermione was too preoccupied with hunger and Lavender to care. She helped herself to a heaping portion of baked potatoes with butter.

"I can't come, Professor," Hermione heard Harry say as she moved on to a lovely piece of roasted chicken.

Good, now I'll have an excuse not to go to whatever I'm invited to either. Cormac McLaggen has been breathing down my neck since the start of term. Why can't that bloody wizard take a hint? I have studying to do anyway, and I was supposed to meet Lavender tonight…What is it with me and her anyway… I feel like she's all I've been thinking about all day. What is wrong with me…?

"Oh dear!" said Slughorn, his face falling comically. "Dear, dear, I was counting on you, Harry! Well, now, I'll just have to have a word with Severus and explain the situation. I'm sure I'll be able to persuade him to postpone your detention. Yes, I'll see you both later!" He bustled away out of the Hall.

He won't be seeing me later…that's for certain.

"He's got no chance of persuading Snape," said Harry, the moment Slughorn was out of earshot. "This detention's already been postponed once; Snape did it for Dumbledore, but he won't do it for anyone else."

Hermione simply shrugged. "If you aren't going, I don't want to go. I really don't want to go to this Slug Party by myself." Hermione returned to her potatoes with relish.

"I doubt you'll be alone, Ginny'll probably be invited," snapped Ron, who did not seem to have taken kindly to not having been invited.

Honestly, Ron, you can be such a selfish git. Why is it that everyone else is dying to not to have to be in Slughorn's Collection of Promising Wizards and yet you get to complain because you're not in it? Some days, I really wish I could stick your tongue to the roof of your mouth with a permanent sticking charm…

After dinner they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Ron had been silent since Slughorn had left. He didn't eat much either, not that this offended Hermione. It was unusual that she could enjoy the amount of food as she did tonight due to Ron scarfing down everything in sight like it was The Last Supper.

The common room was very crowded when they arrived, as most people had finished dinner by now, but they managed to find a free table and sat down; Ron folded his arms and scowled to anyone who looked in his direction.

Hermione had resolved to ignore him so that she wouldn't tell him what she really thought of his behavior. She reached out for a copy of the Evening Prophet, which somebody had left abandoned on a chair. She began skimming through the pages lazily.

"Anything new?" said Harry.

"Not really. . ."

Hermione continued flipping through each section until a photo of Mr. Weasley caught her eye.

"Oh, look, your dad's in here, Ron." She held up the paper so that he could see. When he looked around in alarm she added that nothing was wrong.

"It just says he's been to visit the Malfoys' house."

"This second search of the Death Eater's residence does not seem to have yielded any results," Hermione read, "Arthur Weasley of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects said that his team had been acting upon a confidential tip- off".

"Yeah, mine!" said Harry. "I told him at Kings Cross about Malfoy and that thing he was trying to get Borgin to fix! Well, if it's not at their house, he must have brought whatever it is to Hogwarts with him —"

Hermione gave Harry a skeptical look as she remembered the way that Filch had all but violated her with a Secrecy Sensor before she was allowed to step foot on the grounds.

"But how can he have done, Harry?" said Hermione, putting down the newspaper. "We were all searched when we arrived, weren't we?"

"Were you?" said Harry, taken aback. "I wasn't!"

"Oh no, of course you weren't; I forgot you were late. Well, Filch ran over all of us with Secrecy Sensors when we got here. Any Dark object would have been found, I know for a fact Crabbe had a shrunken head confiscated. So, Malfoy can't have brought in anything dangerous."

Seeing that Harry was satisfied with this response, she returned to her perusal of the paper. Ron was still in a silent huff. She continued to ignore him.

"Someone's sent it to him by owl, then," he said. "His mother or someone."

Hermione sighed realizing that Harry wouldn't easily give up searching for a reason to accuse Draco.

Boys.

"All the owls are being checked too," said Hermione. "Filch told us so when he was jabbing those Secrecy Sensors everywhere he could reach."

"Well, as I'm not invited to any parties," said Ron, getting to his feet again, "I think I'll go to bed." He stomped off toward the door to the boys' dormitories, leaving Harry and Hermione staring after him. She was stunned for a moment and then promptly went back to not caring.

"Harry?" came a girl's voice that Hermione didn't recognize. She looked up from her paper with interest.

"I've got a message for you."

The girl was tall and lanky with short brown hair and sharp, striking features. Hermione vaguely remembered her from Quidditch tryouts. She sat for a moment trying to remember her name.

Dana…? No that can't be right. Delma? No, that's not it. Oh wait, Demelza. That must be right. Anyway, I'm sure it started with a "D."

Hermione began inspecting a piece of lint on the chintz chair she was sitting on.

"From Professor Slughorn?" she heard Harry ask.

"No ... from Professor Snape," the girl said. "He says you're to come to his office at half past eight tonight to do your detention — er — no matter how many party invitations you've received. And he wanted you to know you'll be sorting out rotten flobberworms from good ones, to use in Potions and — and he says there's no need to bring protective gloves."

"Right," said Harry grimly. "Thanks a lot, Demelza."

Ha! I knew it! And that's why I'm the best witch in our year. Well that settles it for sure. I am not going to any Slug Club parties tonight. Even if Ginny is there, I won't have any fun. She'll either be snogging her boyfriend or complaining about how Harry doesn't love her. Ugh.

Hermione sank lower into her chintz seat in front of the fire deciding that it was best not to think about it.

I wonder if Lavender is a member of the Slug Club. I don't think it would be so bad if she were there.

Hermione began imagining herself running into Lavender at the party. Lavender would be wearing blue silk dress robes that nipped in at her slender waist before flowing to her knees. The color of the robes would be the perfect complement to Lavender's eyes and would make them sparkle in the light of the many chandeliers that Hermione imagined the party having. She imagined herself standing in a corner in awe of Lavender's divine beauty. Lavender would have the attention of the entire room but would glide towards Hermione, whom her eyes would never leave. Hermione imagined an outstretched hand in front of her which she would take as Lavender commented on how stunning she looked.

"I nearly lost my breath when I saw you just now," She'd say.

Hermione would blush and look down to see a burgundy gown. Similar to Lavender's in shape, but much more subdued. She imagined her chestnut hair to fall in waves around her blushing face as she glided onto the dance floor. Just her and Lavender… alone now, twirling in time with the music…they'd come closer to each other, bridging the space between them…they'd both lean in… and…

WHAT AM I THINKING ABOUT?!

Hermione physically shook her head. Droplets of sweat had begun to bead on her forehead and neck. She realized that her heartbeat had quickened and Harry was looking at her with concern.

Hermione got up out of the chair too quickly in alarm. She had to steady herself against a nearby wall. She held her chest trying to steady her breathing before looking up at Harry. She decided that she needed to get out of here.

"I'll…er… see you later Harry."

And with that, she took off in the direction of the girl's dormitories looking straight ahead of her as she went.

She took her steps three at a time up the tower and made a bee-line for her four poster bed. It was still too early to go to sleep so she shut the curtains around herself and began reading her Transfiguration book by wandlight.

Several minutes past before Hermione heard a soft tapping at her door. She decided to ignore it as she reviewed complex vanishing spells, but she only made it halfway through the next sentence before she heard the tapping again.

I suppose I'll have to retire to Moaning Myrtle's toilet if I want a little privacy in this castle.

She ripped back her curtains in haste before walking briskly to the door. She grabbed the door knob and wrenched it open looking disgruntled.

"What?!" she said exasperatedly, before looking to see who it was.

"Oh…uh, sorry," came a soft and slightly shocked voice.

Hermione looked down embarrassed to see a slightly pink cheeked Lavender backing away.

"It's just… you told me to, uh…I'll go then?" Lavender fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke, obviously nervous.

"No, Lavender, I'm sorry" Hermione managed to spew out. "I was just reading, I thought you were someone else… Please come in—er, if you still want to that is." Hermione contorted her face into what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

"All right then," Lavender said, smiling slightly. She walked slowly over the threshold and past Hermione who followed her with her eyes as she held the door open.

Hermione noticed that Lavender was dressed slightly differently than when she had seen her today. She had her hair pulled back into a barrette that was shaped like three intertwining yellow daisies. Hermione noticed that not all of it fit so there were a few tendrils that hung loosely in the front, accenting Lavender's face perfectly. Hermione also noticed that instead of the somber black robes that Lavender had been wearing earlier, she now wore an emerald green number with slight frills around the edges. It looked demure but lovely, a look that Hermione wished she could pull off as gracefully.

Lavender coughed lightly and Hermione realized that she must have been staring. She began to examine her cuticles.

"So this is your room…" Lavender offered, awkwardly.

There were few enough girls in the Gryffindor dormitory that only two girls shared each room and they got to choose who their roommates were. Hermione had shared a room with Ginny since second year.

"Yes, that's right," Hermione gestured around the room as she spoke. She cringed as she looked at Ginny's usual mess of dirty Quidditch robes that littered the floor. "This is my bed over here, I uh—was studying Transfiguration when you knocked."

Lavender laughed. "Of course you were, Hermione," she said, not unkindly.

Hermione began to giggle too. She watched for a moment as Lavender walked over towards the bed and sat down, comfortably.

"Your bed is a lot nicer than mine. I suspect the person that last had my mattress was oversized," she chuckled, "There isn't a lot of spring left in it."

"Yeah, uh, there's lots of spring there," Hermione said, bobbing up and down on her heels. She was conscious of the space that she had put between them. She resolved to go and sit down.

I suppose it will be necessary to be within ten feet of her if I'm going to carry on a pleasant conversation.

Hermione walked towards Lavender who had begun picking at a loose thread in the bedding. She stiffly sat down a foot away.

"Maybe I should close the curtains, so we can have privacy while we chat?"

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea," said Lavender, sighing with relief.

Why am I acting so awkward?

Hermione reached around for the ends of the soft, velvet curtains and slowly began to pull them shut around them. She then re-lit her wand so that they wouldn't be sitting in the dark. Lavender followed suit. They set their wands at either end of the bed so that when they were finished, they could see each other clearly. Hermione noticed, in spite of herself, the pleasant effect that the wand light had on Lavender's features—like candlelight.

"You look lovely," Hermione said, shyly.

Lavender blushed. "I figured that there is no use looking glum anymore. I realized that you were really right about what you said earlier. I didn't really love Parvati. I think I was just confused. And, it's not like there are many other people around Hogwarts that are like me. I have a shallow pool to fish in, so I guess it would be easy to fall for the first girl that takes the bait."

Hermione giggled at the choice of words, but she understood what Lavender meant.

"I know what you mean. But, I don't think you'd be much better off if you decided to…swing your door in the opposite direction?" she giggled. "I mean, have you seen the boys here at Hogwarts?"

Lavender laughed heartily at this. "Yes, yes I have. But, I always thought that you…and Ron?"

Hermione's heart almost stopped. Her face turned red as she tried to hold it back, but she couldn't any longer. She burst out laughing, tears welling up in her eyes. She kept laughing for a few moments and Lavender joined in awkwardly, not getting the joke. Hermione tried to stop, but couldn't. She was laughing hysterically.

"M-me? And…R- Ron?" she got out between gasps of air. She finally calmed down and took a few deep breaths. "That's the funniest thing I've h-heard all day." She continued to giggle for a moment. "No, I don't think I could ever be with Ron. He is a dimwit. He is my friend, don't get me wrong. But he… is a dimwit."

She looked at Lavender, trying to hold back another burst of laughter, but she couldn't. They both erupted, laughing, crying and giggling together.

A few minutes later they quieted down.

"I haven't laughed that hard in ages." Hermione said, smiling.

"Me neither," Lavender replied. "I guess that does make sense. I dunno though, I guess I've just always seen you three together."

"Yeah…we're very close friends. Ron and I see eye to eye about protecting Harry, and being there for him. That's what really brings us together, I guess. We don't really have much else in common, to be honest. But, he's a good person and a good friend when he wants to be."

"Yeah, I guess I can see that. Anyway, why would you want anything to do with Ron Weasley when you have Viktor Krum?"

"Oh, no. Actually, we're just friends too. Honestly, I could never really get past the language barrier. After all this time, he still mispronounces my name."

Lavender chuckled at this. She looked down as her face began turning red and became very interested in the velvety fabric of the curtains that surrounded them. Hermione swallowed, becoming alarmingly aware of how close they were.

"Wow, so there really is nobody that you have a crush on?" Lavender asked, looking up with interest. "That's so foreign to me. Having Parvati as your best friend is like a rollercoaster of crushes. She's so wishy-washy."

They both giggled, awkwardly. Hermione took a deep breath through her mouth, but coughed as she choked on Lavender's perfume. Her scent was intoxicating.

"I c-can see that," she managed.

Lavender shifted her weight slightly, shifting her legs underneath her so that she was sitting on her knees. She brushed Hermione's hand lightly as she repositioned her robes. The contact sent a tingling shiver up Hermione's spine.

"It's a bit chilly in here," Hermione said, rubbing her hands together.

"Should we get under the blankets?"

"S-sure."

They both crawled towards the front of Hermione's bed and shifted themselves under the covers. Hermione let herself melt into the soft furnishings and shifted her body so that she faced Lavender. At this proximity, she could see the rosiness of Lavender's skin and she began to wonder if Lavender was as nervous about this closeness as she was.

Hermione reached a hand out to help pull the covers over Lavender's exposed arms as Lavender positioned her long curls over the sides of one of Hermione's fluffier pillows.

"This is much better," Lavender purred, her eyes twinkling in the wandlight.

"Yes," Hermione whispered.

Hermione felt her hand move as if of its own accord and found Lavender's open and inviting hand lying next to her pillow. Their fingers entwined softly and Hermione became aware that her heart was pounding in her chest. The silence was becoming unbearable, but she couldn't think of what to say. She searched her brain fruitlessly for something to say, anything to say.

Lavender yawned and closed her eyes as she sank deeper into the folds of Hermione's blankets.

"I'm s-so s-sleepy," she breathed.

"Mmm. Me too."

"Can I sleep here? I'm too tired to go back to my room."

Hermione stiffened slightly, but mumbled an affirmation. She knew that at this point that there was no use arguing even if she had wanted to.

The minutes passed on and slowly but surely, Lavender's breaths began to even as she slipped into a deep slumber. Hermione watched in silence as she slept noting the pleasant blush of Lavender's cheeks and slight curl of her lips.

"Lavender?" she whispered.

No response.

"Lav?"

"Hmm?" Lavender breathed, not opening her eyes.

Hermione hesitated, wondering if Lavender was awake.

"I think I might like you," she whispered, softly. And then, without waiting for a response, she leaned in and gave Lavender a soft peck on the cheek before putting the lights out and falling into a peaceful sleep herself.

A/N: Aww wasn't that cute? Or cheesy? You be the judge! Tell me what you think :))