(1 Hour : 30 Minutes : Seventeen Seconds)
(Hermione Granger)
The Patronus takes awhile before it can find its audience. Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, and Harry Potter are sitting in front of the Gryffindor Common Room fire. The room is beginng to empty in a slow trickle. Hermione looks at the clock on the wall and jumps up, gasping, " Merlin's beard! You could have told me the time!" Ron and Harry share an alarmed glance. Hermione is in a flurry, gathering her books and slinging her satchel hurriedly over her shoulder. In her haste, a bottle of ink flies out of her satchel and lands on the Potions essay that Ron was attempting to compose, spilling its wet black contents and completely obscuring the writing. Hermione, looking aghast, cries, " Oh no!" and proceeds to fix the parchment with a simple cleaning spell. She blushes and looks down, mumbling, " I have to get ready for the Yule Ball. Sorry, Ron." Hermione checks her bag a final time and is about to ascend the girl's staircase when a silver tiger materializes in front of her.
Hermione leaps back against the wall, her heart pounding. She fumbles for her wand, appropriate cuses and hexes running through her mind. Where had that come from? But soon she calms down enough to realize that it is only a Patronus. Hermione lowers her wand, her frightened expression melting into one of suspicion. She doesn't even know whose Patronus that is. To her astonishment, the Patronus begins to speak. Hermione frantically gestures for Ron and Harry with a finger to her lips. The voice belongs to the last person she would ever imagine: Draco Malfoy. His voice sounds hurried, frightened, not at all like she is used to. And it scares her, this new side of him that has never been revealed to her. But what scares her even more is the message it has to give her.
" Hermione," Draco's voice whispers, " I know how I've treated you all this time." The trio shares an incredulous glance, Hermione the most baffled. Her mind was running in circles. Was he about to apologize? " But I...but I've always liked you from the start. And I wanted to know...if maybe you would come to the Yule Ball with me. Send me your answer by Patronus. Sincerely, Draco Malfoy." The Patronus dematerializes into thin air. A dead silence rings in its wake. And Hermione is too shocked to speak, too confused to find words that could explain her emotions. She can't even understand them herself.