Author Note – Hi guys :D sorry it's taken so long but I am ill :( Hope you enjoy this chapter :) should be interesting
Lavender Brown grinned and waved shyly at Ron.
He frowned in confusion and slowly waved back.
Lavender giggled before launching herself out of her chair and running up the stairs to her dorm.
She'd never had a boyfriend before...
And she liked Ron.
Ron Weasley...
She sighed the name in her head and headed up to her dorm that she shared with Hermione and a few other girls.
Ron was... nice.
He was kind and would always reply to her if she ever talked to him.
He was ... Perfect.
Here was the guy everyone was talking about.
The one that Lavender's mother said she would fine one day.
Mr. Perfect.
No!
Mr. Right...
With another childish grin, she continued up the spiralled staircase until she saw something red on stone stairs.
It looked a bit like...
With a worried scowl, she ran up the remaining steps.
Yes, it looked very like...
Blood.
A scream escaped Lavender's lips as she reached her dormitory door and took in the scene.
Ginny was sprawled on the stone floor, her ginger hair caked with the blood that was seeping out of the back of her head and slowly dripping down the stairs.
Her eyes were closed and she was a sickly white colour.
Too pale to be healthy.
Lavender would have thought she was dead if not for the small uneven gasps for air that came every so often.
With another scream, Lavender turned and ran.
The Gyrffindor common room froze as a scream went up.
Shortly followed by another one.
Lavender soon sprinted back down the stairs, still shrieking her head off.
"You all right, Lavender?" Harry asked hesitantly from the fire beside Ron.
Lavender stopped screaming and dragged in a deep lungful of oxygen as her eyes wildly tried to focus on Harry.
They settled on Ron (the more pleasing in Lavender's opinion) as Lavender tried to form words.
"Ginny..." Lavender said slowly, "Oh... Hi, Ron."
Without another word, Lavender collapsed to the floor in an untidy heap as Harry cautiously got up from the seat.
Something had happened to Ginny.
He could feel it.
His eyes roamed the common room until he found Angelina Johnston and Katie Bell who played on the Gyrffindor Quidditch team with him.
"Katie? Will you go see if Ginny's upstairs?" Harry asked.
She nodded solemnly and headed for the stairs, closely followed by Angelina.
A few minutes later, Angelina was back, as pale as a sheet and with wide, round eyes.
"Quickly! Get Professor McGonagal!"
Neville was sitting in his dormitory, looking out the frosted glass window at the rain that seemed determined to get inside and soak him to the bones.
Dean and Seamus were sitting behind him, playing wizard chest beside Ron's bed but they couldn't see the tears running down Neville's face.
No one could.
Because Neville knew how to hold them in.
Nothing ever went his way, and after his outburst in the library in front of Ginny, Neville had taught himself to cry inwardly, in his mind.
His mind was his own space to cry, to rage, to be happy, to smash things into oblivion until his fists bled.
He could do anything there.
But now Hermione Granger was invading his thoughts.
She was such a teaser...
Helping him with DADA, kissing him after he saved her and then bolting if he even set his hand on hers.
She was like a wild deer, she'd slowly come up to you and then one bad move and BAM!
No more deer for you.
With a sigh, Neville got up from his seat beside the window and made his way downstairs and out of the common room.
If Hermione was going to invade his thoughts that often, then he should go walk in the rain.
Rain cleansed things...
Maybe it could keep her out of his mind for a while...
Maybe.
Hermione stormed out onto the Hogwarts grounds as the rain swirled around her, trying to drown her and failing miserably.
Instead, it settled for making her hair stick to her face like a brown seaweed and making the day look grey and soggy.
Hermione made her way to the tree by the lake where she usually read in the summer when a wild notion took hold of her.
She should go swimming...
And why not?
Everyone knew the giant squid was a vegetarian.
With a wry smile, Hermione stripped off down to her underwear and the necklace Draco gave her, which she couldn't bring to take off, and waded into the lake.
It was freezing but Hermione kept going until she could no longer stand and was having to work to make herself stay afloat.
The rain was having a bad effect on the lake surface and making large waves but Hermione started swimming anyway.
She hadn't been swimming in ages and all the Hogwarts students and teachers were inside, afraid to get wet for one stupid reason or another.
Maybe they thought they'd melt...
Anyway, there was no one to see her.
With a grin, Hermione dived under the water, eyes open, and swam. And swam. And swam, only coming up for air when she desperately needed to.
Hermione stopped near the tree where her clothes were when she realized that her arms were turning blue... And all the rest of her skin.
And she was freezing.
Her teeth were chattering and she was visibly shaking.
Was it just her imagination or was there a layer of ice forming on the lake?
Maybe she should go and check.
Before she could think of what she was doing, she was swimming back out again into the middle of the lake while the water slowly grew colder and colder.
The rain was freezing and slowly turning to snow, which was lying despite the wetness of the muddy ground.
The lake was definitely freezing, Hermione decided.
A thin layer of ice was there and if it got any colder, the squid would be stuck at the bottom of the lake until a thaw came.
Hermione couldn't imagine what it must be like being stuck under water for days on end...
Maybe she should try it for herself.
She started to dunk under the water when a voice froze her in her tracks.
"HERMIONE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
She circled in the water to find Draco Malfoy standing on the lake bank, staring at her like she'd spouted another three heads.
"WELL?"
"... Swimming?" Hermione whispered.
"Get out of the water," Draco ordered, "Now. Before you freeze."
Hermione slowly moved her way over to Draco, despite the fact her entire body was starting to go numb.
"What's wrong with you?" Draco hissed, pulling her out of the lake by her arms, "Why where you swimming in the first place? I thought you were supposed to be smart! It's like you've got hypothermia..."
"... Hypotherwhat?" Hermione frowned in confusion. The cold was making her slow on the uptake.
"Oh, Merlin..." Draco sighed, "You do have hypothermia. Damn it!"
He snarled to himself and kicked at the snow which went flying in all directions.
"W-why is it s-so c-c-cold?" Hermione gasped, her teeth still chattering madly as shivers racked her body which was turning towards a purple colour, "W-where are m-my c-cloth-clothes?"
Without another word Draco pulled off his robes and pulled them over Hermione's trembling form, leaving him in just a shirt, tie and black wizard-styled trousers.
He needed to get Hermione inside... But if she was found without any clothes on... Well, they'd both be ridiculed for months on end.
"Come on," Draco ordered gruffly, putting his hands on Hermione's shoulders and steering her towards the castle.
"B-but m-my c-clothes!" Hermione protested lamely.
"I'll come back for the bloody clothes," Draco growled, reaching the main doors to the school and wand lessly opening them with a spell.
No one was in the entrance hall but noise and talk could be heard coming from the Great Hall, along with the delicious smell of roast chicken.
Perfect. Everyone was at lunch and Draco would be able to get to the Slytherin Common room with Hermione without anyone spotting them.
It was a Sunday and although Hermione was supposed to meet Crabbe at the library to help with his homework, Crabbe was ill and couldn't go so Hermione had been left to her own devices... Which were swimming in the snow... Apparently.
Hermione sniffed at the Great Hall on the way by but Draco dragged her on.
Hypothermia made people have crazy ideas. So the sooner, he got her out of public eye, the better.
Draco pulled Hermione to a halt in the dungeons before the Slytherin common room.
"Password?" The small, slightly round man in the door-painting drawled in typical Slytherin style.
"Sanctimonia Vincet Semper," Draco muttered quickly, knowing every latin word of it was true.
Purity always conquers.
Voldemort was proof enough of that.
"You may enter," The man in the painting drawled, "But leave the Mudblood Gyrffindor where it stands."
"The Mudblood is with me," Draco insisted, "I won't leave without her."
"Very well," The man in the painting sneered, "It will be your funeral."
The painting swung open very slowly and Draco charged inside, Hermione practically running after him so he didn't tear her wrist off.
After stunning a first year who was studying in the common room, Draco went straight to his dorm bathroom with Hermione before locking the door and running a very bubbly bath.
He may hate Hermione's guts, but Draco was a Pureblood and had standards.
He wasn't going to gawk over a girl in the bath.
With a scowl, Draco turned away from Hermione and ordered her to strip down and get in the bath.
She was still wearing the necklace, and did everything Draco asked.
He turned slowly around as he heard the slosh of water and saw that Hermione was naked in the bath, her underwear on the floor.
Grimacing, Draco clicked his fingers and summoned an elf who stood shivering before him as he barked out orders.
Draco could be a very intimidating person when he wanted to be...
The elf left but was soon back with a crack, with chocolate, hot towels, clean clothes and a bottle of Fire Whiskey.
"W-will that b-be all, sir?" The elf squeaked.
"No... Take... Uh, take her underwear with you... Dispose of it," Draco said slowly, motioning vaguely at the pants and bra that lay limply on the floor.
"Yes, s-sir," The elf squeaked, lifting up Hermione's underwear and getting ready to apparate.
"Wait!"
"Yes, s-sir?"
"What's your name, elf?"
"K-kaldy, sir," Kaldy squeaked in fear. She'd only ever been asked her name once before in her life.
It wasn't a very happy experience... It involved a group of Slytherins, a bottle of Fire Whiskey and a match.
Her long fingered hands snaked to the burns on her arms as she peered up in fear at Draco.
She didn't want it to happen again... Not again...
"Kaldy, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone..."
"Yes, sir!"
"That's all... You can leave," Draco drawled.
The elf disappeared before the words had finished leaving his mouth but Draco went over to Hermione anyway and made her eat some chocolate before handing her the bottle of Fire Whiskey.
"Drink," Draco urged, "It will warm you up."
After a few sips, Hermione's brain seemed to start to defrost and she looked up at Draco as if she'd never seen him before.
"Where... Where am I?" She asked hesitantly.
"A bathroom..?"
"I was swimming," Hermione said.
"Yes. I saved you," Draco stated, "You would have froze."
Hermione looked down at the bubbles surrounding her body before letting her gaze rest on Draco again.
"You didn't... Undress me, did you?"
"Oh, no! No! I didn't!"
Draco could tell he was blushing and he didn't even know why...
Hermione... She just made him uneasy.
How could a Mudblood be so intelligent and logical?
It was as if she were a Pureblood, lost through the decades and forgotten about until no one knew she existed.
It unnerved him.
"You... You could have," Hermione said quietly, not meeting his eyes and blushing scarlet, "...If you wanted to."
Wait... Draco thought to himself, Is she flirting? Hmm... Maybe the hypothermia hasn't worn off...
"I..."
"Well?" Hermione prompted.
"I wouldn't have wanted to be rude..."
"Draco," Hermione laughed, "You're a Pureblood. It's practically your job to be rude to Muggle borns. I mean-"
Before she could continue speaking, the bath water and bubbles surrounding her exploded.
Draco had never seen anything happen so quickly in his entire life and before he knew what was happening, a snake was at Hermione's throat, its powerful jaws locked around her throat and its long, elegant fangs sinking into her creamy skin.
A cold voice rang out behind Draco, sending uncontrollable shivers down his spine, "Well done, Nagini. You have done well."
Neville waded his way through the thick snow that was becoming a cold, white blanket over all of Hogwarts.
He'd thought going out in the rain had been a good idea but then it had turned to snow and he was chilled to the bones.
Without realising where he was, he sank down beside a tree only to realise which tree it was.
Hermione's tree by the lake.
Neville looked around him in surprise.
Why was he always thinking about Hermione?
And even when he wasn't thinking about her, he was drawn to her, to where she usually was.
With a start, he realised something black was buried in the snow beside him.
Intrigued, he started picking it out until he realised it was someone's robes, frozen solid by the snow.
Ice and snow crackling as he lifted the robes, he looked on the neck for a name.
Sure enough, a small name tag was neatly sown onto the neck in a Muggle fashion.
Neville quickly read it before dropping the robes in surprise.
The name seemed to be staring at him from on the snowy ground and the name echoed over and over in his head.
Hermione Granger...
Author Note – Hehehehe... I feel so evil. And I bet no one knows what's coming next! Well, technically you can't 'cause I don't even know myself! *Insert evil laugh here*