Train Rides

Chapter 2

She was walking in a meadow, her feet landing softly on the emerald green grass that was dotted with dandelions and daisies. The twigs and daisies scraping against her foot reminded her that she was barefoot. She took slow, lazy steps and she was not aware where she was heading. Perhaps it was towards the setting sun or the edge of the meadow . She could feel the wind against her face, sweeping away her hair as the dandelions slowly took off in the wind.

Her vision was blurry but, she could see the silhouette of two figures near the edge of the cliff. Her pace quickened until she was running. The stems and barks of trees were scratching her skin. But she did not care. She had to find out who those two figures were.

As the distance between them closed, her vision cleared. One of them had fiery red hair and the other had jet black hair. The male, she assumed from his rather short hair, had a lightening shaped scar. "Harry," she breathed out, as she approached her raven haired friend.

He offered her a kind smile and she felt compelled to smile back. If she weren't distraught, she would have noticed the scenery. There were looming dark clouds that were surrounding them. But she was too tired, drained of energy to notice the background. Instead, she focused her attention on the figures. As she walked closer, she realized it was Harry who was standing there.

"Harry," she said again. "Harry."

His eyes twinkled and he placed a hand over the other figure's swollen stomach. She diverted her eyes until they rested on the other person. She recognized her immediately. Ginny was staring at her with her warm blue eyes that shone with happiness. There was a light that shone from them, a light that she wanted. It surrounded them like a halo and they looked like they were straight of a renaissance painting.

"Well hello there Hermione," Ginny's voice was breathy and high.

The red head sighed contently and placed another hand on top of the swollen stomach and suddenly she understood. She felt glee wash over her and she reached over to touch them. But in a mere second, the couple dissolved into a mass of dust in front of her. She rubbed her eyes and when she opened them, there stood Ron. He seemed so far away even as she ran towards him. When she finally stopped, the distance between them had still remained the same.

"Ron," she yelled against the wind. "Ron, have you heard?"

"That Ginny is pregnant," the red head muttered back annoyedly.

But she didn't mind. He was always like that. "I think that's a wonderf-"

"A terrible idea is what it is," he remarked. "I don't want to have any kids."

"Why? Ron I think we should talk about this."

"I don't want to."

"Ron, I want-"

He looked at her, his eyes flashing dangerously and he raised his hand and she quickly flinched away. And then the dark clouds that had been gathering in the distance surrounded her as it rained ominously, blanketing her. The joy that had built up in her heart washed out. She felt water leaking out of her eyes.

"Granger!"

What?

"Granger?!"

Why was she shaking?

"GRANGER!"

"Merlin," Draco Malfoy said to her when she woke up. "You sleep funny."

Her eyes cleared and she saw the blonde staring at her quizzically. She stretched her arms and cringed at the "pop" that resulted when she did so. It was dusk but the raining had not stopped. A heavy drizzle hummed in the background. Her book lay flat on the floor and her blanket was bunched up near the edge of the seat.

"You sleep funny," he said again as she picked up Hogwarts: A History.

"How so?"

"Your mouth opens slightly," he answered back. "And you don't breathe through your nose and -"

"Whoah there Malfoy," Hermione replied, her eyebrows raised as she opened the book. "You stared at me when I was asleep? I always knew you were odd but you're reaching a new level of creepiness Malfoy."

He shot her an annoyed glare. "I wasn't staring. I merely glanced."

"Sure whatever you say," she replied, her voice laced with amusement.

"I wasn't staring," he huffed back. "Why were you saying Weasley's name when you're asleep. Merlin, I hope you weren't having a wet dream about him."

The mention of Ron's name caused her to look up. When she and Ron had first broken up, she had had that same dream for the first couple of days. She had deduced it was an aftermath of the breakup. Yet why had she had that same dream again? It had been three months since they had broken up.

"Granger!"

She glanced at his face and he had an expression of aggravation plastered on his pale face. His eyes were questioning.

"Don't worry, I wasn't, " she replied quietly.

"I bet you were," he persisted. "The look-"

She shut the book loudly and breathed out loudly before giving him a cold stare. "Look, I don't understand why you're talking to me Malfoy. We haven't seen each other in years, you bullied me in school and here you are, attempting to talk to me."

"You give yourself too much credit Granger," he replied. "I wasn't-"

"Yes you were," she yelled. "Don't deny it. Now, leave me alone. If we're going to survive the next 20 hours or so, don't talk to me, don't look at me, don't think about me."

"Again Granger, you think too highly of yourself and it's not 20 hours. The conductor made an announcement when you were asleep. There's been a delay due to the rain so, expect an addition of 4 to 5 hours."

The gods truly hated her.

Draco Malfoy was not sure why he had taken a train. After the recent events with Astoria and his mother, he had decided that he needed a nice, long vacation away from his family. Why he had chosen Venice, he did not know. Perhaps it was because his best friend, Blaise, lived in Venice or maybe because wizarding community of Venice had the most elegant Italian cuisine and fine export. The reason was yet to be discovered but as he glanced the limp form of the girl sleeping in front of him, Venice seemed like heaven.

The last time he had seen Granger at the end of the war, when his mother had dragged him along with her to wish her well. When they had finally seen her, he had lost his voice. She was alive and standing in front of him and he had never felt more guilty. A black cloud had surrounded him, plunging him into a pool of regret as he watched red scratched spell out the word "mudblood" on her pale skin. Unable to respond, he had given her a stiff nod and hoped that she would forgive him.

He didn't like Granger though. Yes, he felt guilty about what his family had done to her and the fact that he stood by it all but he did not like her. The girl was annoying and had the sex appeal of a brick. As he looked at her, this older version of Granger was a mirror version of her younger self.

Her hair was still brown (a color that reminded him of poop) and so were her eyes. Although, her hair had tamed down quite a bit. She had gotten a couple of inches taller but he could easily tell that she was no more than 5'4''. She was skinny and frail and reminded him of the fifteen-year-old Hermione Granger from fourth year. She slept oddly too. Her mouth was parted and he could see her chest rising up and down. It was a pattern, really. Every two second her chest would go up and every two seconds it would go down.

"Ron," she muttered and stirred on her seat. "Wonderf.."

"Ron," she had said a bit louder this time.

Great, he thought. The bookworm is having a wet dream about Weasley. Just my fucking luck.

"Ron, no," she yelled loudly.

He sighed and placed his arms around her before giving her a gentle push. "Granger."

She slapped her hand against his chest and he gave a hard push. "Granger?!"

Still no response. Merlin, the girl slept like a brick. He brought his lips close to her ear. "GRANGER!"

Her wide eyes blinked and he couldn't help but stare down at them. They weren't brown. It was more of an amber color with hints of yellow here and there. It reminded him of a clear pond in a forest.

"Merlin Granger," he breathed out as he inhaled her scent. "You sleep funny."

Ron Weasley sat on the cold stone slab that surrounded the cherry blossom tree. He watched as his very pregnant sister scurried about, yelling orders at petrified guests and complaining to their mum.

"We've got a week until the wedding," Ginny yelled throwing her arms up. "And not a single thing has been done."

He looked at the groom, who had been sitting next to him. The dark haired man was pulling the petals off a flower gently but he looked up as he realized that the redhead had been staring at him.

"What?" Harry's voice was annoyed.

"I," Ron responded. "How's it going,mate?"

He gave him a pointed look before dropping the petals on the ground. "I dunno Ron. I'm getting married in a week, my wife is pregnant and I'm sitting here instead of helping her because of pregnancy hormones. My best friend isn't here, tell me, how do you think I'm doing."

"Harry, man," Ron replied, not looking at his eyes. "Are you still angry at me?"

Harry's face softened slightly before he put up a blank mask on his face. "No, no I'm not."

"Yes, you are," the redhead replied, jumping up on his feet. "Look, whatever happened between Hermione and me-"

"Is between you and Hermione," Harry finished for him. "Merlin, don't get me involved in this. You can't make me choose between my two best friends."

"I'm not asking you to. But here me out man. Hermione, she was never there for me. Sometimes..sometimes she would give me these looks as if she was pitying me or mocking me for not being intelligent enough. She listened to me, yes, but she never talked to me. I would go on for hours and hours at a time and she would respond with that's nice or very good."

"Because all you talked about was quidditch Ron," his best friend muttered. "Or you talked about things you did. Did you ever ask her about what she did? What she liked?."

"But that doesn't matter, Harry," he replied cooly. "She's been my friend since first year. She ought to understand or even like quidditch by now. Yet she would buy me expensive gifts like the autographed Chudley Cannons shirt and rub the fact that she earns more money than me."

"Ron, I don't think it was her intention," Harry said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "She did it because she loved you. She may have hated quidditch and flying but she listened to you talk about it because she loved you."

"She would dress worse than mum," he continued, ignoring Harry's hand on his shoulder. "When I told her to dress up every once in a while, she would respond by saying that those fancy clothes were uncomfortable. Imagine doing it with someone who dressed worse than your mum."

"Enough is enough," Harry said loudly, dropping the hand on his shoulder and quickly stood up. "I've listened to you say disgusting things about someone who is the closest person I had to a sister. Merlin Ron, she's my family. I don't care what she dressed like or what she said but you had no right to hit her especially after she caught you cheating on her with her coworker."

"But I-"

"No, let me finish. Ron listen to me, I don't want my best friends fighting. But I don't think she can forgive you for assaulting her. You've been nothing but a dick towards her. Did you even apologize to her?"

"No, but she-"

Harry gave him a sad stare, the kind Hermione used to give him and he felt his blood boil.

"You know Ron, you talk about all these things she didn't do or things she said. Did you ever ask yourself things you may have done wrong? Did you ever ask what she wanted?"

The red head did not respond.

"Exactly."

Malfoy had been gone for a while. He had not said a single word after her little speech. An hour or so later, he had simply gotten up and left. Not that she was worried or anything but he had been gone for almost two hours. In those two hours, the train had not moved a single inch. The conductor had announced that due to the recent weather, there were major delays.

She checked her watch again. Yup, exactly two hours had passed since he left.

Suddenly, the air in the compartment seemed too heavy, too suffocating. She stood up and opened the door of the compartment, inhaling the scent of muggle air freshener that hit her instantly. She let her feet carry her away from the compartment.

"I'm just going to go and tell him to come back," she said to herself as she took slow, calculated steps.

Why do you care anyway? Aren't you glad that he's gone?

"Yes, but I'm a decent human. What if he's in danger?"

Why? He's been rude to you all these years and now you want to help him?

"Shut up!"

She realized she had said that quite loudly. There was a man of old age standing near one of the compartments near the exit who cocked an eyebrow at her and looked at her weirdly. She offered him a weak smile, not attempting to explain why she was suddenly talking to herself.

Sighing, she finally came to a stop and stood in front of the exit door. There was a small square window that admitted light into the hallway. She glanced outside and noticed a pale blond figure walking in the distance.

She opened the door.

"Malfoy," she yelled.

The figure walked away from her slowly becoming a dark spot on the horizon. She squinted.

"Malfoy."

He did not hear her. She glanced at him and then her compartment at the other end of the hallway before jumping off the train and running towards Malfoy.

AN: Hey guys! How is it going? I'm posting this chapter so late because I've been having quite some trouble with this website . It won't let me upload pics, change the cover, and the doc manager was not saving any of the writing. Those issues have since been resolved. I decided to take this fanfic in a different way than I had initially planned. 24 hours suddenly seems too little time to make them fall in love so I've done something to expand that time. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review! Those who review will get a cookie ^.^

Aiko: I'm go glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I hope this one pleases you as well. Thanks so much for reviewing and don't forget to tell me what you thought about this one as well.

Shardoozle: I'm so glad you enjoy Ron bashing. Ron bashing is secretly my way to blow off steam and express my anger towards the Ron/Hermione pairing in the books. I hope you like this chapter. Although there will be little train scenes in the future, Draco and Hermione will be spending a lot of time with each other. Please review and tell me if you enjoyed this chapter or not.

Please r&r. Until next time,

~Elena