"Hello Ladies!" a girl squealed as she ran into the common room. Hermione turned to see Lavender running in excitedly. Ron followed her closely looking somewhat dejected. Lavender smiled prettily as Parvati and a few other Gryffindor girls off all years huddled around her. "Ron is taking me to the Yule Ball!"
Hermione coughed in surprise, looking around the common room for Ron. Apparently Ron had disappeared up the stairs to hide from his date.
Parvati asked Lavender the question that was on everyone's minds. "What about Seamus? I thought you two were together," she stated.
"Seamus?" Lavender burst into hysterical laughter. "He's just one of my many admirers," she smiled coquettishly. The girls groaned and began to separate from Lavender.
"Lavender, you're not still holding a torch for your dear "Won-Won." Are you?" Parvati inquired. Hermione pretended to immerse herself into her Advanced Potions book while eavesdropping on the two gossips.
"Of my options, he was the best one. I'd much rather go with the much-improved quidditch keeper who's also a hero, than someone who was just pulled onto the team because Ginny Weasley was desperate for replacements," Lavender replied. "Besides, what if I still am attracted to him?"
Hermione coughed loudly and the two girls looked up. Lavender's face fell as she noticed Hermione sitting quietly in the corner. Parvati offered a tight lipped smile before the two girls gathered their things and fled the common room. Hermione sighed deeply and closed her eyes trying to refocus her concentration to her studies. Things were getting too strange lately, and Hermione didn't know if she could stand it anymore. Frustrated with Potions, she tossed the book aside and tried to work on her other classes before she was disturbed by the sound of a creaking stair. Hermione quickly regretted not going to the library like she had planned earlier. She looked up to see Ron trying to sneak downstairs to the common room.
"Is she here?" he stage whispered with a semi-terrified look in his eye.
"Who?" Hermione asked calmly.
"Lavender," Ron stated with a hint of reluctance.
"If you're trying to hide from her, why are you taking her to the Yule Ball?" Hermione turned to look Ron in the eyes for his response. She studied his face for a moment, noting the exact second his ears tinged with pink.
"Because she asked me and you can't say no to Lavender," Ron informed his toes. Hermione swore if he looked any harder at his feet, he would burn holes in his shoes. For a second, Hermione debated whether he deserved that or not. She realized that she was being silly and jealous and tried to deal with the topic of Lavender in a more delicate fashion.
"Ron, you two took ages to break it off last year. You spent the good part of the year regretting every moment of it," she chided gently. Ron bit his lip nervously. He hated that Hermione always seemed to know everything.
"Well you spent a good part of that same year hiding from me," he blurted out in defense. One look at Hermione's crestfallen face and he kicked himself mentally for reacting the way he did.
"Because Ron, you and Lavender carried on like two dogs in heat," she spat, gritting her teeth. Suddenly she had the urge to throw her books at his head. She wanted to scream at him for not thinking how all those times she found the two kissing in the common room made her feel. No wonder the two of them never seemed to state how they really felt, they were too prideful to confess to anything. No wonder people were still waiting for them to make it official. At the rate Hermione and Ron were going, the next generation of Hogwarts students would be married before they ever told each other how they really felt.
"Were you jealous?" He grinned wickedly as he waited for her retort. Hermione's mouth hung open at the implications of Ron's statement.
"Why you arrogant little-" she began, stopping herself from saying something she would later regret. "Why would I be jealous of Lavender? Tell me 'won won.' Why would I be jealous of someone who can't seem to make any sense of her own personality unless she's attached to someone? You were her toy for several months 'won won.' Why else would someone stay in a relationship they didn't want any part of?" Hermione bellowed. A few passing third years watched with widened eyes as their Head Girl seemed on the verge of strangling her best friend. They all giggled every time Hermione referred to Ron as 'won won,' remember the dramatic scenes Lavender carried on last year. Ron however did not enjoy hearing that horrible pet name being used.
Ron couldn't think of any smart comments (especially against Hermione), and knew bringing up Viktor Krum would just get her even angrier. So instead he stormed out of the common room, dragging Hermione away from the small crowd of nosy Gryffindors.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time. Dating Lavender, I mean. Turned out it wasn't," he stated firmly.
Hermione sighed and tried not to let her own insecurities regarding Ron reveal themselves through this conversation. "Are you still attracted to her?" she asked so quietly, she was almost sure that he didn't hear her. Ron of course did hear her, and was upset that she would ask it.
He looked at her sadly before whispering her name. He turned away and began to walk down the hall. Hermione suddenly felt crushed that she had upset him. She hated fighting with Ron. She knew the best course of action would be to sit for a while and let him cool down before things escalated any further, but it was hard trying to pretend things would be fine, when she couldn't see how they would be.
Hermione slumped into an armchair by the fireplace, closed her eyes, and tried to remember when her life wasn't so stressful. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, a loud giggling disrupted her meditation. She opened one eye to see Ginny and Daniel standing in the doorway, Ginny giggling as Daniel held her. Ginny pawed at him and rested her head against his shoulder, while Daniel patted her shoulder gently with a strange smile on his face. Ginny smiled brightly as she stood in Daniel's awkward embrace. Even Hermione had to smile as she watched her friend embrace love. Hermione had to admit that she was having a tough time handling it herself.
"Oh Hermione!" Ginny screamed happily as she ran to hug her best friend. "I have the most wonderful news!" Ginny squealed and cooed so gaily that Hermione was afraid that someone had slipped her some sort of illegal substance. This was Ginny Weasley who was gushing over some boyfriend, but no matter how alarming it would normally be, Hermione reminded herself that nothing was making sense. She tried not to let the shock show on her face.
"What?" she asked through her plastic smile.
"Daniel and I are getting married!" she screeched. Ginny seemed to claw at Daniel to try and get him to show some sort of emotion other than complete fear. He looked at Hermione with a sort of helplessness that almost made her feel sorry for him, if other emotions weren't preventing a rush of sympathy.
"What?" Hermione paled at the though of Ron's reaction to this. Hermione tried to look past recent events and thought of this in a normal sense. Ginny Weasley, barely sixteen years old, all of a sudden wanted to get married to a sixth year she knew for about a week. Hermione was not pleased. The brunette grabbed her smiling redhead friend and dragged her across the room, resisting all urge to slap her.
"Ginerva Molly Weasley, I hope you are joking," Hermione hissed as she eyed Daniel warily.
"Hermione!" Ginny gasped. For a split second Hermione thought this was in fact a joke, until Ginny rolled her eyes and slapped her arm playfully. "Of course not! I love Daniel!"
"Ginny, you couldn't possibly know what love is."
"Of course I do! I love Daniel as much as you love Ron."
Hermione opened her mouth and closed it quickly. She shook her head and tried to think of a witty comment, but only found that her audience had run off.
"Where in Merlin's name did that girl go?" Hermione pondered out loud while she looked around the room.
The portrait hole opened and Daniel slipped through, smiling at Hermione brightly.
"How did you get in here?" Hermione questioned him angrily. "Did Ginny give out the password? I swear, that girl is getting-"
"Before you get all crazy, I told Ginny I forgot my bag and she asked the fat lady to let me in. Ginny's right outside. I swear." He threw his hands up in defense and bowed his head slightly in deference to her.
"Well what is with you anyway? You're supposed to mad for her," Hermione spat offhandedly.
"Right. I am trying to break it off… I am." Daniel seemed apologetic for the whole situation. Hermione supposed that Ron had a chat with him earlier.
"I'm sure."
"Besides, the reason I cam back is because I have something that might be of use to you. Now, I couldn't help overhearing some of the conversation earlier, and I know you're having some issues so, here," Daniel smiled as he handed Hermione a small vial with a silvery potion inside. She turned the bottle over in her hand, trying to identify the contents. She removed the cork and waved her hand over the top, wafting the scent towards her nose.
"Seems harmless. It looks like a sleeping draught," Hermione frowned. Daniel blushed furiously and narrowed his eyes.
"Well, that's the magic of it. It seems like an ordinary sleeping draught, when it is in fact something much better," He stammered nervously, trying not to let Hermione intimidate him.
"Really?" she asked skeptically.
"Listen. Just take it before bed, and everything will seem a lot clearer," he smiled reassuringly before disappearing out the door.
Hermione groaned and placed the vial into her pocket, forgetting about it for the rest of the evening. The evening had passed by quietly, until dinner when Hermione had wandered down to the Great Hall, only to be attacked by sixth and seventh year Gryffindor girls. The girls, under Lavender's direction, had taken over one end of the Gryffindor table and continued their gossip from the day before. Hermione searched the table for Harry or Ron to save her from the gaggle of giggling girls, but couldn't find either boy in the hall. Hermione gave up and sat down beside Ginny, an empty smile plastered on her face.
"Hermione, are you all right with Lavender and Ron?" Parvati asked quietly, while the girls giggled over Lavender's new choice in nail polish."
"Why wouldn't I be?" she smiled. Parvati frowned and reached across the table to hold Hermione's hand sympathetically. Hermione's wrinkled her nose in confusion but tried to keep a straight face as Parvati "consoled" her theatrically.
"Make up your mind," Ginny advised Hermione knowingly.
"Make up your mind thoroughly, Hermione dear," Parvati agreed.
The two girls then turned back to the conversation that Lavender had started, leaving Hermione feeling only more confused. She knew what they were trying to imply, but she couldn't see the point of loving someone who was reluctant to love you back. Hermione shook the thoughts of Ron and love out of her head, and after a few bites of her dinner, excused herself from the table. She didn't notice the pair of grey eyes that followed her as she walked out of the hall.
As she got ready for an early night's sleep Hermione tried to clear her mind of all the information and gossip she attained in the day. Her mind was buzzing with these new revelations, and she still couldn't shake the feeling of being pulled into a parallel world. That would be the simple way of explaining the way people were behaving.
Hermione's hand instinctively found its way into her cloak pocket, where her fingers seemed to find the vial. She tried to let go, but something made her hold one to the vial. Soon she was lying in bed, with the empty bottle lying beside her.
Her dreams were frantic with images of Ron. She found herself running to him, searching for him, but only found cold corridors and locked doors. Suddenly, she saw a figure ahead of her, and she ran to him, calling out to Ron. When she reached the man, she spotted his blond hair and began to slow down. She tried to turn the other way, but found herself being grabbed by a dream Malfoy. She screamed and called for Ron, only to watch Malfoy and his death eater friends kill him and then drag her off to a cellar.
She awoke in a cold sweat, with the feeling of Malfoy's tight grasp on her wrists. She pulled her blankets tight around her and curled up into a fetal position, crying softly as she thought about how she would endanger Ron's life by being with him. She resolved to follow Malfoy until another option presented itself, allowing Ron to be safe.
Meanwhile, Ron sat quietly on the edge of his bed, thinking about his Malfoy situation. He looked down and read a folded piece of parchment, mumbling the words to himself. He would figure out a way to save Hermione from whatever Malfoy had planned, no matter what it took.