Chapter Seven

They just stared at her. That was it. No yelling or screaming, no jaw-drops, no 'What were you thinking Hermione's?' They just stared. And Hermione couldn't take it anymore.

"Can you guys please say something?" she whispered. "Anything?"

Ginny's mouth parted slightly. She took a deep breath. "About time!" she shrieked, stood up, and threw her arms around Hermione's neck. This was not what Hermione had been expecting. "I was wondering when you two were going to get together!"

"About time? Have you completely lost your mind Ginny? We are not together, we will never be together! I don't plan on that ever happening again, so please! It was a mistake, a very big one mind you, but it's not going to happen again. I just had to tell you guys!" Hermione said, pulling Ginny off her neck. Ginny looked slightly put out and sank down next to Harry, pouting. Ron was no shaking his head as if he thought he was dreaming. On the other hand, Harry's mouth was moving wordlessly and he looked remarkably like a fish.

"Have you lost you're mind Hermione?" Harry finally managed.

"Yes I think I have…" Hermione said uneasily.

"Malfoy? Of all people, Malfoy?" Harry choked.

"How could you?" Ron said weakly.

"I don't know! Hermione said frustrated. She stood up and threw her arms into the air. "I was drunk last night…and I bumped into him in the hallway and I spilled butterbeer on him accidentally and he got pissed. He grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go, and the only thing I could think of to get him to let go was to kiss him, and I did, then I kicked him where it hurts…" At the point Harry and Ron looked as if they were almost about to laugh, but didn't. Ginny snorted. "…Then this morning after I made some tea for me and Blaise, because I was slightly hung-over, I left to come here, but the hallway was all dark and I couldn't see where I was going. Then he cornered me and kissed me. And then he told me that when I had kissed him last night, I don't exactly remember, I was so confused, but it was something about all his worst fears being confirmed, and he sounded like he was in love with me, which made everything more awkward than it already was, and then I told him we couldn't be together, and he thought it was because I liked Blaise---"

"DO YOU?" Ron and Harry yelled.

"No! That's the point. I told him I didn't but he didn't believe me, and he kissed me again and I left him there. For all I know he could still be sitting down there…I don't bloody know what to bloody do!" Hermione finished, throwing herself back into the armchair, her head in her hands. Harry and Ron were silent for a moment and then looked at each other.

"Hermione…just…said…bloody…" Ron said slowly. Hermione looked up at him wearing a confused and amused expression.

"Out of all of that, the only thing that got to you was the fact that I said bloody? Well!" she muttered.

"You were drunk, and he was hurting you, you weren't thinking clearly, so we cant blame you for that," Harry said simply.

"However I never thought I'd see that day you got drunk…" Ron smirked. "I think we are having a bad affect on her," he grinned to Harry.

"But…what about this morning?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Everyone makes mistakes Hermione. Just, don't do it again," Ron said.

They were being surprisingly cool about the situation. It was at that moment Hermione truly realized the worth of her friends.

"I'm starving!" she announced, standing up. "Isn't it lunch time?"

"Yeah…Me too," Harry smiled.

"Dido…" Ginny said.

"I'm not," Ron yawned.

Hermione, Ginny and Harry gaped at him. Ron wasn't hungry?

"I'm just kidding. Come on!"

And he was the first out of the portrait hole.

Hermione walked arm-in-arm down the stairs with Harry and Ron, Ginny trailing in front of them. They looked particularly strange at the moment. They entered the Great Hall and let go of each other as they sat down, talking and laughing. Hermione immediately reached for a bread roll and as she did, her eyes locked with a pair of icy blue orbs that were watching her from the other side of the room. The smile faded somewhat from her face and she became curiously deaf to everything around her. It was as if it was just she and Draco. But almost instantly, she realized what she was doing and broke the gaze. Considering all of this happened within five seconds, none of her friends noticed. However, another pair of sparkling eyes watched the entire encounter from a distance, and for the first time felt something quite like jealousy.

"…And then she yelled at me and told me not to bother pursuing the art of Divination any more and I called her an old crazy loon and I left…" Ginny was saying proudly.

"You walked out on Trelawny?" Hermione asked as Harry and Ron began laughing hysterically.

"Yep…I learned from the best!" Ginny said smiling, referring to Hermione's third year. This time she cracked up, and began to giggle. From across the room, the same pair of eyes watched her, subconsciously wishing that he were the one making her laugh.

"Wow Harry. I honestly feel that now we should have walked out of Divination. I mean, then we wouldn't have to face that crazy old bat of a --- oh hello, Professor Trelawny!" Ron yelped suddenly. Harry whipped around, and to his amazement the teacher was really standing there, glaring at Ginny nonetheless.

"It was foretold we would meet outside of the classroom Ronald!" she squawked in a dreamy voice, placing her hand on Ron's head. He shuddered, but she didn't seem to notice. "Be careful Ronald! I see heartbreak in your future!" she said, floating away. As soon as she was out of hearing distance, Ginny, Harry and Hermione all burst out laughing.

"Ooh, heartbreak in his future…what's going to happen…Lavender is going to marry Seamus instead of you?" Ginny giggled. Harry and Hermione both starred at Ron with unreadable expressions on their faces. Ron turned red and glared at Ginny.

"How did you----" he hissed.

"Oh, please. I see the way you look at her."

"Why didn't you tell us, mate?" Harry said.

"Because."

"Because…what?" Hermione said, trying very hard not to laugh at Ron's expression of complete embarrassment and rage. He looked constipated.

"I just…I didn't want anyone to know. It's not a big deal; I mean it's not like I'm in love with her."

"In love with who?" Lavender and Parvati appeared behind Ron. He whipped around and turned an even darker shade of red. Harry smiled sheepishly and nudged Ron so he would speak and stop starring at Lavender.

"Oh…uh…the new owl my brothers bought. It's cute-looking, but annoying and I was just asking them if they wanted to get rid of it, because I don't really like it…" Ron said quickly, not looking at the two girls. Hermione, Harry and Ginny starred, wondering how anyone could actually believe the story. Lavender and Parvati, however, shrugged and walked off. Ron sighed in relief. None of them could hold it in any longer and they all burst out laughing, laughing even harder at Ron's huffed expression at their initial laughter.

"Shut up!" he mumbled, sticking his fork into his mouth and not speaking again.

Hermione looked at her watch and nearly choked on her mashed potatoes. "Oh!"

Harry swallowed at looked at her. "What?"

"I have to get back to the common room. I have a session with Blaise tonight."

"You're still doing those?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, well. We haven't really had any for three weeks."

"Why?" Ginny piped in. Hermione noticed Harry was holding her hand.

"Well…we…" she stopped. Harry, Ron and Ginny didn't know about the potion and she wasn't supposed to tell. "He's been busy."

"With…" Harry said.

"Like he'd tell me? I don't really care. Less time I have to spend with him, more time I can spend peacefully in the common room doing my work. See you!" she said, slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking out of the hall. As the doors to Great Hall swung shut behind her, Hermione realized that a certain blonde head was missing from the Slytherin table. She closed her eyes, and decided to take the short way to the common room. She did not want to meet Draco in the corridors again when everyone else was at lunch.

Hermione walked up the stairs and down a corridor, making sure to keep her wand out and her eyes open for anything suspicious. She peered around a corner before turning and nearly sprinting to the portrait hole, saying the password and breathlessly tumbling into the common room. Once safely inside, she threw herself on a couch and stared at the ceiling. The golden light of the sunlight swirled over the stony roof, giving it a glowing look. Hermione began to think. Draco Malfoy had practically said that he was in love with her, became jealous when he thought she didn't return his feelings, and kissed her in a dark hallway. It was what every girl in the school dreamed of, and Hermione was the one that the "gift" was bestowed upon. She, however, was probably the one girl who didn't want anything more to do with Draco. She wondered to herself if Draco was really that desperate to fall for a girl who kissed him while she was drunk and half-unconscious. Hermione rolled onto her side and admitted to herself that kissing him wasn't that bad, but then, being her second kiss, she didn't have much to compare to. She had to try and set things straight, meaning telling Draco Malfoy she didn't want to date him, and get on with her life. Closing her eyes with thought of clearing things up, Hermione fell asleep.

Everything was dark. Only the pale moonlight shown through the small window in the corner of the room. Hermione rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. Blinking, she sat up in the darkness, unsure of where she was. She looked around. Nothing was familiar to her; the room was small, the walls were covered in tapestries, an ash-filled fireplace sat underneath a mantelpiece that had only one photograph on it. Hermione stood up, and for the first time noticed that she had been sitting on a chaise. In the dim light, she noticed almost everything in the room was a forest green; everything except for the photograph, which was a dull gray. Moving forward, Hermione realized a faint red glow was coming from the picture. She picked it up, leaving a small thin line on the dust-covered bookshelf. There were three people in the photo, but she couldn't make out whom they were. She reached for her pocket and pulled out her wand, hoping to start a fire. The room was growing cold.

"Incendio!" she murmured. A fire sprang to life in the grate. Hermione felt the warmth of the blaze was over her. She looked back down at the photograph still in her hand. Harry, Ron, and herself. Suddenly, an unexplainable feeling of loss and tragedy struck Hermione in the stomach as if she had been punched. She sank to the floor, her trembling hand still clutching the picture. Something inside her told her she hadn't seen her two best friends in a very long time, and that she never would again. All of a sudden, the door she hadn't noticed swung upon and Hermione turned around. All she could see was a shadow of man, and two fierce blue eyes gazing down at her. The glare was painful. She looked away, her eyes falling back on the photo of her friends.

"They're dead," the figure said. Hermione turned back to him, her eyes filling with tears.

"No…no, no, no…" she whispered. The door closed again, and the room blurred.

"Hermione…Hermione…" a faint voice was saying somewhere above her head. "Hermione…."

Her eyes opened. Her hand automatically went up to her tearstained face, and she wiped away a falling tear. Her whole body was shaking. She turned her head and saw a face she recognized. Blaise was kneeling beside her.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

Hermione sat up, and looked around. She was in the common room. Her eyes wandered to the fireplace, in which the fire cackled happily, and to the mantle, where only a set of books sat, waiting to be opened for the hundredth time again. There was no photograph, no dark, green room, no small window, and no figure in the doorway…

"Hermione?"

She jumped. Looking back at Blaise, she suddenly felt oddly calm, and knew everything was okay. Another tear found its way down her face, and he reached up and wiped it away.

"What happened?"

"I don't know…" she said finally, her voice quiet and hoarse. "I don't know Blaise. I keep having these dreams about…"

"About what?"

"I…" Hermione stopped; she didn't think she could bring herself to say it.

"Hermione?"

"I keep dreaming that Harry and Ron are going to die. And there is this guy…I don't know who he is, I just see these blue eyes, and he always shows up right after I find out Ron and Harry are dead. I don't want them to die Blaise…" Hermione began to shake, tears now falling steadily down her face. "I don't know what these dreams mean…"

Blaise looked at her for a very long time. "It was just a dream, Hermione," he said finally. "Only a dream…"

Sorry I haven't updated in a while guys. I have been really busy. Hope you like this chapter

LadySnake and Doodleflip: All I'm saying is, don't get too attached to Blaise at this moment…there is more to him.