A/n: Yahoo! A new chapter! This chapter is dedicated to all my reviewers, because you all rock. :D But especially JakKat 'cause she loves it so much.

Chapter 6

Friday morning the Gryffindors had Herbology with Hufflepuff just before lunch and then Care of Magical Creatures with Ravenclaw after lunch.

"Right. Now I've given every other person a piece of Gloriteldna Grass. Your assignment today is to care for the Grass. Remember all the things we've studied about it!" Professor Sprout said and gestured first to the little squares of purple grass and then to the students' books sitting off to the side. "Get with a partner, grab a grass and go!"

Hermione looked to a pair up with Ally but Pansy asked her first. Draco with Vinny, Greg with Theodore, Millicent with a Ravenclaw girl... In the span of one second, all of her friends had partners.

A tall girl with almond shaped eyes and pretty black hair tapped Hermione's shoulder. "Got a partner yet, Granger?" she asked.

Hermione shook her head. "Go with you?" she offered and was relieved to see someone who seemed to be the same.

Cho Chang smiled. "I was gonna ask you."

As Hermione and Cho set to work to properly tend to their Gloriteldna Grass, Hermione was thankful Cho knew what she was doing. The Gloriteldna Grass was much like tentacles which always moved. One had to water them, feed them, trim off the dead pieces and be careful not to provoke the Grass or make it angry in any way. If it became angry, the Grass tentacles shot out tiny shocks of poison which gave a person an overly itchy and burn-like rash where it hit.

Once Hermione and Cho had lulled their Grass to sleep, they were free to talk. Draco and Vinny were not so lucky. As Vinny was reaching for the watering can, Draco was careful trimming a dead piece off. Vinny hit Draco's arm sending the small greenhouse scissors into the middle of the Grass. It made a hissing sound, Vinny gasped and the two boys jumped back, unfortunately not in time. Draco's hand got stung and the Grass spit blips of poison which hit Vinny in the face. Immediately the area where each was stung swelled and the two yelled in pain.

Professor Sprout shook her head irritatedly. "Again! I told you boys to pay attention!" she grumbled, shouted for everyone to continue and led the boys quickly away to see Madame Pomfrey.

"Ya know," Cho said thoughtfully. "I sure miss the good times."

"Whaddya mean?" Hermione said and glanced at the Grass which was still limp and asleep.

Cho smiled. "When we were in the D.A. together, of course!"

Hermione's eyes went wide as saucers. "Did - d-did - did... y-you s-say the - the D-D.A.?"

Cho raised an eyebrow. "Uh, ya...?"

"You y-you remember the D.A.!?" Hermione could barely contain her excitement. Dumbledore had been wrong - not everyone had been changed! Cho remembered the D.A. The secret Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, performed under Harry's leadership, in the Room of Requirement, in a rebellion against the Ministry Professor Dolores Umbridge. They were building Dumbledore's Army in a revolt against Voldemort, Cho was part of it and she remembered.

Hermione wanted to rush into a conversation about her old life - oh it was going to feel so good to talk about it with someone who knew - really knew! But Cho started talking right then and Hermione didn't want to cut her off, although she was strongly fighting the urge to talk over her.

"Of course I remember the D.A.! We used to drive the Supervisors nuts!"

Hermione opened and closed her mouth. "Er, Supervisors?"

"Oh sure! With all the enchanted paper airplanes and then taking turns pulling pranks and leaving the room - "

"But, Cho, I thought - "

"Ya, the good times in the ol' D.A. - Detention Area. Such a fun place." Cho laughed aloud. "So easy to get in too! Just a strategic dung bomb - usually by McGonagall's - made her mental..." Cho laughed reminiscently again. "Oh, by the way, speaking of dung bombs. I've run out. You got any?"

"No." Hermione said quietly and turned away so Cho couldn't see the tears forming. She'd had a feeling deep down, that they were not talking about the same thing. It had been too good to be true. Her heart and hopes had skyrocketed at the possibility of someone knowing her world. But it only crashed harder when she was forced to further realize that she was truly alone.

"Ally, what's the 'Detention Area'?" Hermione asked as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs headed back up the castle for lunch.

"Oh. It's this big room full of desks where they put kids who are " - she made quotations with her fingers - "'misbehaving'. Its such a joke, though. Most of the kids who get in there are the ones who merely ticked off McGonagall on a bad day." Ally shrugged. "All anyone ever does is mess around - you know, paper airplanes, the whole bit." she explained. "You were a regular."

Hermione ignored the last comment. "I see. And I bet Mr. Filch got it started, eh?" she smiled, thinking of the greasy caretaker and his greasy cat, Mrs. Norris, both always too eager to hand-out punishments.

"Mr. Filch? Of course not!" Ally laughed. "It was McGonagall who got it in!"

"But - "

"Ah, speak of the devil..." Ally pointed off down the grounds and saw Hermione could see Professor McGonagall yelling furiously at Professor Sprout.

"Wonder what that's all about." Hermione said, and didn't hear the voice behind her say, "Good morning, good morning..."

"Oh, and Filch." Ally stopped walking and turned around.

Hermione did the same and she couldn't help it, but her jaw dropped completely open. There was Argus Filch. Well, at least she assumed it had to be Filch, because the rest of the people behind her were all students. But that didn't make it any less hard to believe.

His hair was short and clean, he was well-dressed, clean-shaven, young, and actually rather good-looking. In his arms he held a little white puff-ball, which was actually his kitten, named Miss Norris.

"Good morning everyone!" Filch greeted the students cheerfully as he moved through them. Several returned the greeting, including Ally. Hermione felt extremely stupid with her mouth hanging open and slowly, mechanically managed to close it.

"It's a lovely, sunny day!" he beamed up at the blue sky, then back at the students. "Hope you're all able to enjoy the weather today!" he grinned and Hermione saw nearly perfect teeth. She also noticed that Filch's eyes were the same color and shape, but these eyes were full of happiness, warmth and kindness, instead of loathing, disgust and coldness.

"See you later, sir!" Ally said and waved. He waved back, then fairly trotted down the grassy grounds to the edge of the Lake. There he set Miss Norris down, who immediately pounced playfully after a colorful butterfly flittering past.

"That has got to be the most optimistic, cheerful man on earth." Ally said and they began walking again.

"That was Filch." Hermione said, more to herself than Ally.

Ally nodded. "Yes. Probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet."

Hermione shook her head, a little dumbfounded and the then the same old thoughts returned, She wanted her Harry and Ron, but she wanted Filch to stay the same. She sighed, and for the millionth time, wondered silently,

'Can't I have the best of both worlds?'

When Hermione returned to the Common Room briefly to grab her books for Care of Magical Creatures, she found a large group gathered around the notice board.

"What is it?" she asked Pansy, who was closest.

"First Hogsmeade weekend!" she said excitedly. "Oh, I can't wait! There's one nearly every other weekend!"

Hermione smiled. "Glad to see that hasn't changed."

She headed out the portrait hole and then stopped. Weren't the Hogsmeade trips not until later in the year? She started walking again. Not that she minded, of course. She stopped again. And weren't there only a few trips? She started walking again. Again, she really didn't mind.

She smiled. More Butterbeer for her.

"So what's Hagrid been teaching in this class?" Hermione asked. This was her first Care of Magical Creatures class since her wish, and it would be the first time she'd be able to talk to Hagrid too. She only worried that he was very different: perhaps, meaner, smaller, maybe. She hadn't seen him at the Staff Table at all, and there never appeared to be any empty seats, either. She brushed it off quickly. She'd take this things into consideration later.

"Hagrid? Who's he?" Ally said confusedly.

Hermione's heart sunk like a rock into her stomach. 'Oh no.' No Hagrid? "Rubeus Hagrid? The games keeper? Huge fellow? You know, half-giant?" she knew she was describing her Hagrid, but maybe he still looked the same. Maybe he went by his first name, so that's why Ally didn't recognize it at first - she hoped.

Ally shook her head. "No, there's no 'Hagrid' around here. Professor Grubbly-Planks is the teacher of Care of Magical Creatures, and she's also the games keeper."

Hermione sighed and refused to let herself cry. Maybe later, when she was alone...

"Who was he?" Ally asked.

"Never mind." Hermione said sadly. "Just another part of my life that I can't get back."

She didn't mean to be so depressed all the time, she just didn't know how to deal with anything. She didn't want to be happy here, or she might never want to go back. She hadn't exactly accepted this as her new reality, either. And then at the same time, she just couldn't go on being so miserable. It was even more depressing to be miserable.

Once everyone had arrived, Professor Grubbly-Planks quickly explained that she needed to deal with an unruly animal near the Greenhouses, so everyone was to divide into pairs and find a Horklump in the Forest. Professor Sprout would supervise, and they most definitely should be able to find one, if they did their text reading.

"The Forest?!" Hermione exclaimed quietly, horrified. "B-but how can she - we're not allowed! Doesn't she know what's in the Forest?! Why do you think it's forbidden!"

Ally stared at Hermione. "Uh... okay? Apparently in your other life!"

Hermione clenched her teeth. "Try to understand."

"Sorry." Ally cleared her throat slightly. "So what was your Forest like, then?"

"Well, first of all, it was Forbidden. That's why they named it the Forbidden Forest and - " She would've said more except that right then, Cedric Diggory came up to Ally and Hermione. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Uh, Hermione? Hi. I... uh, do you... well, if you're not already with A-ally, I mean..." he paused ever so briefly. "Ahem. Partners. You and me." he finally spat out, and looked partially relieved that he had done that much.

Hermione's cheeks went pink and for some reason butterflies suddenly sputtered around in her stomach. "Um, okay. Yes."

Ally raised an eyebrow and glanced from Hermione to Cedric, and back to Hermione. She took a step back towards Pansy and Draco, Vinny and Greg and Theodore, and tried not to smirk.

Hermione ignored the stares from her fellow Gryffindors and headed into the Forbid - er, the Forest, with Cedric.

"Do you know what a Horklump looks like?" Cedric smiled, trying to make small talk.

Hermione was quite sure could quite easily find a Horklump blindfolded, but she wanted to keep the small talk going. "Nope." she said, and smiled.

"Ne neither!" Cedric sounded relieved, but Hermione noticed that he seemed like he still wanted to ask her something. He was quiet and glancing off into the trees before he took a deep breath and said, "You, uh, you, uh...going t-to Hogsmeade t-tomorrow?"

"Yes..." Hermione thought right away she knew where this was going, and she wanted to help him out. "I, er... do you..." but she also found it was just as hard for herself to get it out as it was for him. "Do you... um, wanna hang out?"

Cedric looked happy, but like he was holding back. "Er... what about Ally and Draco and all them?" he asked, clearly thinking Hermione would say something like, 'Oh right, sorry then. Never mind.'

Hermione shrugged. "Well, I-I'm sure they'll have lots of other things to do...I-I don't have to be with them the whole t-time..."

Cedric didn't seem to entirely accept her answer as full truth, but he seemed very happy to hear it nonetheless. "Okay. I'll 'hang out' with you. If its ok, I mean, w-with your friends, I mean." he said, and sucked in his breath. 'Idiot!' he thought. 'She'll never go out with someone as thick as me!'

Hermione looked straight into his gray-blue eyes. "I'd like that, Cedric." she smiled reassuringly. He grinned back, revealing pleasingly straight white teeth. For some reason, Hermione found her breath catch in her throat and her heart speed up. She ignored it immediately.

They were quiet for a moment, but it felt like a comfortable silence. Finally, Cedric commented, "I've seen you playing Quidditch."

"Really?" Hermione said, surprised, embarrassed and quite pleased all at the same time.

"Yes, and y-your really brilliant." Cedric half-smiled at her.

"T-thank you." Hermione felt her cheeks flush at the compliment and her stomach flipped. "Are you on a Quidditch team?" she asked, pulling the conversation away from herself.

"Ya. I'm Seeker and captain of the Ravenclaw team." he answered.

"You mean Hufflepuff." Hermione blurted.

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no, because I'm not in Hufflepuff... Why would I play for them?"

"No reason. Never mind. I was confused." Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment now. 'Moron! Why would I say that?!' she thought. 'Remember where you are, Granger, and who you are talking to!'

This time, the short silence was uncomfortable. Again, it was Cedric who broke it. "Anywhere in particular you wanted to meet tomorrow? In Hogsmeade?"

She could feel her cheeks still hot from her previous comment, but she ignored it. "I dunno... you pick."

He shrugged. "... how about... Three Broomsticks?"

"Ok. Three Broomsticks it is." She glanced around and could only on other pair of students out in the Forest still looking for a Horklump. "So how about we at least pretend like we're looking for a Horklump?" she half-smiled.

Cedric laughed. "I'm on it."

"Professor Snape, sir?" Hermione said tentatively.

It was after Potions, and Hermione had a list of ingredients in her pocket from the Wish Book for her wish reversal potion. So Snape wouldn't be suspicious when she handed him the list and asked for the ingredients, Dumbledore had specially talked to Snape. He'd told Snape that Hermione was doing a special project for Dumbledore himself, and so she had permission to have what ever she asked for.

"Here's the list, sir." she produced it from her pocket and handed it to Snape. He scanned it and then went about gathering the ingredients.

"I have to say, Miss Granger," Snape began as he set down the required number of Fillabean scales in a jar down on his desk. "I - as do the rest of the staff - greatly appreciate this sudden - er, practically overnight - change in attitude. It is as though you have become a new person. Might I ask why? What happened to cause this?"

Hermione's jaw opened and closed slowly like a fish out of water. What was she supposed to say? Should she tell him?

"Well?" Snape politely prodded.

"I - with all due respect, Professor, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." she said, hoping he would just leave it at that, but quite sure he wouldn't.

"Try me." his words weren't growly or challenging, just offering.

Hermione bit her lip then half-sighed. "Well sir, if my story sounds false, you may want to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it. He knows what happened." she thought for a moment. "Actually, sir, maybe its best if you go speak directly to Professor Dumbledore, sir." she finished and folded her hands in her lap.

"I see." Snape nodded the slowly went back to gathering the ingredients once again. "I shall then. Thank you." He put all the ingredients in their separate containers and then the containers into a cloth bag so Hermione could carry them easier.

"Thank you, sir." she nodded and turned to leave.

"We'll talk again, alright then, Hermione?" Snape smiled, and Hermione still felt shocked to see the kindness and warmth on his face and in his eyes.

"Yes sir."

"What was that all about?" Draco asked as soon as Hermione had entered the Common Room. They had said they'd wait, but Hermione waved at them to go. After her meeting with Snape, she'd stashed the Book, the bag of ingredients and an old cauldron in an old deserted classroom designated by Dumbledore. He put special charms on the room so no one but Hermione or himself would go in there.

"Oh, I just had a question about today's assignment, that's all." Hermione answered smoothly.

Draco eyed Hermione suspiciously.

"What?" she said, expecting him to not believe her and think that she was trying to ditch him, or ran to the library and wrote a letter to Krum or - well, thats' what Ron would do...

"Why'd you pair with Diggory today?" Draco suddenly asked, almost demandingly.

Hermione put her hands on her hips and said defensively, "Why NOT? Am I not allowed to mingle with other people from other houses? Or are YOU the only people I can hang out with?!" she was speaking directly to Draco, who looked slightly taken aback by her response.

"You jealous or something, Draco?" Vinny teased and jabbed at Draco.

"I'm not! I just wanted to know why she didn't pair with us!" he Draco snapped, and waved Vinny's arm away.

"Of course. With you. You're just like Ron!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew that's exactly what she did not want to say. She clapped her hands over mouth and the others froze, not knowing what to do. Pansy gasped quietly.

Draco's face softened and he stood up. "No, I'm so sorry Hermione. I don't want you to compare me with that scum."

"Please, don't call him that." she whispered pleadingly. "I - I don't why I said that. I..." she never finished that sentence. Truth was, she had nothing to finish it with. She and her friends said nothing as she turned and headed to the Girls' Dormitory.

Hermione plopped down on her bed, dug out the coin and held it in her hand. Her fingers absentmindedly rubbed at the engravings. 'Why? Why do I keep thinking about him and bringing him up? Knowing that I can't be with him anymore just makes it all worse.' she sighed and stared at the coin. 'Why do I have those funny feelings when I'm around Cedric? How can I fall for him when I'm in love with Ron?' it was the first time she'd actually let herself finish the sentence, even in her mind.

"Love Ron..." she said aloud, but so quiet she barely heard herself. It sounded right. But how she could be getting the same strange feelings with Cedric? Still clutching the coin, she turned it over in her fingers.

"I love Ron. I want to do crazy things with him, and laugh with him, and do his homework for him..."

She sighed again and lay down. How was she supposed to be happy now? Whenever she felt odd around Cedric, she was going to feel guilty because she was in love with Ron. How could she just accept this new world, and leave her Ron and Harry and Ginny and Neville and Lavender and Parvati and Seamus and Dean behind?

It was so complicated, and the more she thought about it, the worse she felt. 'If only there was someway... to have both.'

Her only true wish now, was that it were possible.

A/n: Oh Hermione...What do you think? Let me know and gimme a review! ;)