Title: In Your
Dreams
Author: Distracted mind
Rating: T
Time frame:
Post-HBP
Summary: Hermione has trouble staying in reality after
she has some of the greatest dreams. She seems to notice one trend
though; they are haunted by one elusive person and one even more
elusive gesture. Post HBP
A/N: I wrote this pre-DH, so it contains no spoilers. Any similarities between this story and DH are purely coincidental.
Disclaimer: It's not mine
Quick A/N:
To my reviewers: yall are staying strong and showing me and my story lots of love, so I'm gonna throw some right back at you! HPLives- Well I couldn't end it that quickly, not without making yall wait another couple chapters. Mrs.Hermione J. Weasley- He is pretty sweet isn't he? I guess food does that to a man. hollywoodgal- Thanks for the review. Glad to see you're still enjoying the story. It's the home stretch. marie fay- I'm just as sad as you are that it's almost over. BlueEyesLikeMe00Ron- Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like it. Lost House Elf- Thanks for the review. I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
And now, on to the penultimate chapter of the story…
Chapter 8
A Little Room Therapy
Hermione woke before Ginny. She couldn't really get a good night sleep after her nightmare, and, more importantly, after her little midnight discussion with Ron. She got a few hours on and off, but figured she might as well get up. She walked down the stairs to the kitchen where she was greeted by Mrs. Weasley and the tantalizing scent of breakfast. "Good morning, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione greeted.
"Oh, good morning, Hermione," Mrs. Weasley greeted. "You're up early."
"You know what they say about early birds," Hermione jested.
"Of course, dear. Now, sit down, have some breakfast," Mrs. Weasley insisted. Hermione moved around the table and sat in the seat she had been in only hours before while Mrs. Weasley brought her a plate loaded with more food than she could possibly eat.
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione forced out. "It looks… delicious." Mrs. Weasley smiled at her and turned back to preparing breakfast. Hermione picked at her plate. Slowly, more people groggily came down to join her at the table. Eventually, Ron and Harry joined the rest of the family at the breakfast table.
"You two are up early," Ginny jested.
"It's 10 o'clock," Ron said.
"Yes, but we aren't accustomed to seeing you before noon," Hermione interjected, chuckling.
"Well, you remember? Big apparition test today," Harry reminded.
"We figured we'd go to the Ministry right after breakfast," Ron whispered across the table so Mrs. Weasley wouldn't hear. He turned to Hermione. "You coming?"
"Actually," Hermione began, nervously searching for a believable excuse, "I promised Ginny I'd help her…clean her…room," she finished. Ginny almost choked as she shot Hermione a confused look. Hermione gave her a small smile. Ron was taken aback.
"Oh…okay," he stammered, "I suppose we'll just go, then." Ron was clearly disappointed. Ginny opened her mouth to retort, but before she could get a word out, Mrs. Weasley spoke up.
"Hermione, how kind of you to offer to help Ginny," Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "I've been after her for days to clean her room."
"Yeah, thanks, Hermione," Ginny said through gritted teeth. Hermione shrugged her shoulders.
"Ron, we should probably go now. Your mum's in the garden," Harry suggested. Ron nodded. He stood up from his chair, taking one more bite of his breakfast.
"I'll get the brooms," Ron said gloomily, glancing at Hermione once more. Hermione quickly looked down at her breakfast and Ron continued on his course to the broom cupboard.
"Are you sure you don't want to come along, Hermione?" Harry asked, taking his Firebolt from Ron. Ginny head shot up.
"Oh no, you're not leaving me here to do it alone," Ginny began angrily, " you got me into this ruddy mess, and you're helping me out of it."
"Sorry," Hermione apologized. Ron nodded and sulked out the door behind Harry.
"Ginny, it's been four hours. Are you going to talk to me?" Hermione pleaded.
"I was doing so well, flying under mum's bloody radar. She was so curious about what Harry and Ron were planning…" Ginny muttered under her breath. She moved quickly around the room, levitating things and throwing them somewhere else. Hermione followed her, collecting her hastily discarded possessions.
"Look, Gin, I'm sorry. Honestly, I am," Hermione began. Ginny shot her a look. Hermione seemed not to have noticed because she continued without missing a beat, "I just needed to talk to you about the dream I had last night."
Ginny muttered something quickly, still running about the room.
"What was that?" Hermione asked.
"What was what?" Ginny asked.
"I thought I heard, like, a pop or something," Hermione said. Ginny shrugged.
"So what happened this time?" Ginny continued. "Your mystery man not like the book you were reading?" she asked patronizingly.
"I understand that you're upset Ginny, but, honestly, I just needed someone to talk to," Hermione confessed. Ginny stopped and faced Hermione. She sat down on the bed and waited for Hermione to continue. "We were flying," she began. "He was teaching me to fly really." Ginny expression remained unchanged. Everything was going really well, but things started to happen and…" she paused and looked at Ginny who stared back expectantly. Hermione wasn't satisfied, but she continued, "he dropped me." When she finished, she expected a reaction out of Ginny, but Ginny seemed to be expecting more.
"Is that all," Ginny asked, confused.
"Is that…" Hermione spurted, "What do you mean 'is that all'?"
"Hermione, it's just a dream. You weren't actually dropped from the sky. Your mystery man lives on. He didn't actually drop you," Ginny pointed out.
"You're missing the point," Hermione argued. "How can I ever trust him again, especially on a broom?"
"Hermione, did you ever stop to think that these dreams are pointing out his inadequacies, but exploring your insecurities?" Ginny asked. Hermione had nothing to say, so Ginny continued. "Maybe these dreams are your sub-conscious that you don't think he's ready. You're afraid that he's going to remain an immature, insufferable prat forever. You're afraid he's going to continue to bicker and to complain, and to remain oblivious to every possible signal you attempt to send," Ginny looked at a dumbstruck Hermione. "And continue to break your heart snogging girls like Lavender because he can't come right out and tell you that he's angry and jealous and would love nothing more that to argue with you if that was all he could do for the rest of his life," Ginny finished taking a deep breath. Hermione didn't think she'd noticed how she had been talking progressively faster or how substantially louder her voice had gotten, but Hermione got every word of it. She was speechless, utterly speechless. All she could do is stare at the wall, trying to mentally and emotionally repair the wounds left by the severe verbal lashing sustain by her ginger-haired friend. And she knows.
"Of course, I know," Ginny conceded after a long pause. "I've known all along. I mean, you left out some key things early on, so that slowed me down a bit. But, did you really think you could hide that from me? Me, Hermione?" She asked. Hermione looked at Ginny and gave her a small smile. "My dear brother may be oblivious to everything, but I certainly am not."
"I know. Well, I should've known," Hermione admitted quietly. "I just get so frustrated. What more could I possibly do?"
"Nothing, you…" Ginny looked at the door for a moment, studying it, then looked back to Hermione. "You've done all you can with him," Ginny walked over and sat on the bed next to Hermione. "He'll figure it out. I'll bet he already has. He just approaches it differently than most," Ginny consoled.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks, Gin," Hermione said sincerely. She hugged Ginny then stood up and levitating a few things back to their respective places. Hermione turned back to Ginny. "You know, I'm really starting to resent my subconscious." Ginny smiled.
"I heard a door. Maybe Harry and Ron are back from their apparition tests?" Ginny suggested. The girls exited the room without a second thought of their previously assigned task. They ran down the stairs to meet Harry at the bottom.
"I passed!" He exclaimed as he threw his arms around Ginny, beaming.
"Of course you did, you had a wonderful teacher," Ginny said, reluctantly departing from the embrace and looking at Hermione.
"Absolutely," he said turning to Hermione. He gave her a hug. "I couldn't have done it without you."
"Sure you could have. Where's Ron?" Hermione asked.
"Dunno," Harry confessed. "He was just here a moment ago. Must have gone to find you two." Suddenly, they heard a crack.
"I'm here, where's the party?" Ron asked.
"So, I take it you passed," Hermione asked with a smug grin on her face.
"Eyebrows and all," Ron said with a smirk smile of his very own.
"Well, congratulations," Hermione began staring at Ron. She looked away and glanced at Harry, "both of you."
"Yes, congratulations," Ginny praised, an impish grin spread across her face; "now, who wants to tell mum first." Both boys look at one another with worried faces. The girls chuckled as they all headed down to dinner.
There it is; chapter 8. Please R & R. Uno mas. Un plus. Ein mar. Any way you say it, there's only one more chapter left.
