As Time Ticks Away

Chapter Two

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Hermione was running away when she heard Lucius Malfoy utter something under his breath. Seconds upon hearing Malfoy speak a sharp pain pierced her back, causing her to fly into the air and plummet to the ground, her arm breaking her fall.

Hermione sat up quickly. She was panting heavily and was covered in sweat. It was only a dream or more so a look back at what happened a week ago; but it felt so real. She wasn't sure why she was reliving this memory every night for the past 3 weeks. It wasn't anything significant, just a curse that had hit her; it certainly wasn't the first or last.

She looked over at Ginny who was still asleep, undisturbed by her sudden movements. Hermione got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom as quietly as she could. She closed the bathroom door and turned on the light. When she looked in the mirror she was surprised at what she saw: her arm was covered in blood. It was the arm that she landed on in her dream. It had hurt when she woke up but she just assumed she was laying on it wrong.

Hermione turned on the faucet and put her arm under the running water. When her arm was clean she bandaged it up. She tried to rationalize why this happened. It couldn't be the dream that caused this, could it? "Don't be silly, it's only a dream" she thought to herself. But still, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it.

On the way back to her room something struck her. She fell to the ground as pain rushed through the course of her body. Tears poured out the sides of her brown eyes. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the pain stopped. Hermione took a minute to regain her composure. Although no one else was around, she still wanted to present herself normally. But nothing had been normal since the attack.

The random bursts of pain had been coming and going since Lucius' curse. At first they lasted a split second and came about once every other day. This she ignored assuming it was nothing, but as time went on these aches lasted longer and began to become more painful as well as closer together. She was beginning to realize that Malfoy may have put a curse on her.

Hermione hadn't told Ron, Harry, or anyone else about what had been going on. She assumed that it was all in her head and insignificant. She didn't want them to worry over nothing. They were all having such a great summer for the first time in 5 years, why ruin it now?

Instead of heading back to bed Hermione went downstairs. She knew she wasn't going to sleep so why bother? She reached for a book full of spells, wanting to get to the bottom of what Malfoy had done. But as she was reading she realized that she had read this book multiple times. None of it seemed to have the same effects that this spell had on her.

She looked around at the other books that the Weasley's had. It seemed as if Hermione had read them all. When she pulled a book out that she thought might help her something behind it fell. As she reached to grab what fell a voice came from behind her.

"Hermione, is that you?" Ron asked.

"What are you doing up Ron?" Hermione responded.

Ron tilted his head in confusion. "I could say the same thing to you." He walked over to his girlfriend and kissed her on the cheek. "Are you alright? You seem a bit off."

Hermione nodded not knowing what to say. She didn't want to lie but she didn't want to worry him either. When he didn't respond to her nod she realized that it was still dark. "Yes I am Ron, don't worry."

Ron flipped his wand and a candle lit up nearby. "I can't help but worry about you. You mean a lot to me." Ron let a smile escape his face.

"You mean a lot to me too," Hermione returned the smile. She kissed him tenderly for several moments.

After separating and gaining some breath back Ron asked, "So why are you up?"

Hermione wasn't sure how to respond so she spoke vaguely, "I couldn't sleep, bad dreams."

"I'm sorry. I wish I was there to take them away and hold you all night." Once again Ron smiled shyly, he began to blush. He had never been this sweet with a girl before and Hermione took notice. She couldn't get over how cute he was being. She never felt so lucky to have such a great guy.

"You're sweet," she said. "After seeing you I know I'll sleep better." She kissed his cheek and continued. "But you need some sleep. I'm sorry if I woke you up."

"You didn't," Ron replied. "I thought I smelled food." Hermione laughed on the inside; same old Ron. "But if you need me please wake me up."

"I promise I will." Once more they kissed goodnight before Ron headed upstairs.

After watching him walk away, Hermione turned back towards the books. She reached back and pulled out the book that fell. The title was unfamiliar to her; for once it was a book she hadn't read.

The title read The Forgotten Spells.

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