I had a terrible night and didn't sleep enough.
I got up at eight in the morning when I realized that I wouldn't find rest this day.
I felt like somebody had drugged me, my body tingling uncontrollably.
I was waiting for my best friend.
"It's been only a week and yet it feels like I haven't seen her in a lifetime.." I thought, a small sigh escaping my lips.
I surveyed the living room from the armchair I was currently sitting in and when my eyes fixed on the stereo system, I knew that I had found an escape from the sheer endless time that had to pass until it was twelve o'clock. Which was about three minutes from now.
I quickly hurried upstairs, grabbed my cassette from the desk, ran back down the stairs, inserted the cassette and fast-forwarded to "She's Lost Control", one of my absolute favourite songs.
Soon enough I lost myself in the track, my thoughts drifting off to whether I had lost control recently.
My thoughts about Hermione had become more and more.. daring during my week back in Surrey and it made me feel sick when I saw again and again how easy it was for me to just close my eyes and imagine her in my arms, her scent of vanilla an intoxicating sweetness, and how much I craved to hold her like that until the end of time. I blamed my loneliness for my need for physical contact.
"She's lost control again..", The lead singer's voice talked to me through the boxes, "She's lost control."
"I've lost control perhaps." I said to myself with a weak chuckle, admitting that at least a part of me didn't care about the fact that Hermione was my best friend.
"I want to live. I want to feel. I don't want to care." That voice whispered into my ear and it was so very tempting, the thought of just stormily following my cravings without a single moment of hesitancy or feeling of guilt certainly the easiest way out of my problem.
"But sometimes we must choose between the things that are easy and the things that are right." I told myself and took a calming breath.
"Just don't do anything impulsive and you're gonna survive this, okay?" I tried to convince myself that everything would be fine. Which was quite hard, since I knew the best how impulsive I could react at times.
And then the doorbell rang.
I got up and stopped the music, my heart suddenly pounding in my ribcage like I had run a marathon, the walk from the living room to the main door passing by in slow-motion like somebody wanted to torture me.
I opened the door in a haste, the light of another bright summer day illuminating the hallway and there she stood.
This broad smile of hers, those hazelnut brown eyes of hers, those soft lips of hers and this beautiful, beautiful gold-brown hair of hers. I felt like I was touched by the hand of god, graced with the privilege to behold such an angelic sight.
In a moment that felt like an eternity and yet was only a fraction of a second I marvelled at her before she practically pounced me for a bone-breaking hug.
"Oh Hermione", I sighed when her scent invaded my nostrils again and I felt like an addict that had to live without his drug for a week, "I've missed you so much."
"I've missed you more." She whispered back and slightly nuzzled my neck, a motion that drove out all the air of my lungs for a second and I feared passing out from the intense thrumming inside my body.
"I'm so happy to see you again." I told her with every ounce of honesty in my body and I felt her smiling against the skin of my neck, a sensation that already drove me insane.
"I can tell." Hermione cheekily responded before she slowly retreated from me, her torturing-slow pace only making me feel even more dislike for her action.
She then just stood there in front of me, the door still wide agape and we were grinning at each other like idiots, from ear to ear, the silence not a bit uncomfortable. I realized that I could stare at that smiling face of hers for the rest of the day and wouldn't mind.
"Now, do we want to go inside?" Hermione asked me after god knows how many minutes and I nodded without even diverting my gaze from her eyes and gestured her to enter.
"What a gentleman you are, Mr Potter." My best friend remarked before she walked past me and I quickly closed the door when I remembered how easily the house heated up during the day.
"Is that what I think it is?" The brunette asked apprehensively when she stopped dead in her tracks and I nearly bumped into her at the sudden halt.
"Yes, Hermione. That was my room until I got my Hogwarts letter." I told her, my body suddenly so very tense, my voice more a growl than anything else.
"May I.."
"No, we can do that later if you want to. Right now I just wanna be happy to have you back." I admitted and she turned around to look me in the eye. Troubled eyes looked up at me.
"I almost forgot what this house means to you when I arrived at your doorstep." She whispered and I could see it in her shimmering orbs of brown how ashamed she was of herself for letting her excitement getting the better of her.
"No harm done, Hermione." I said with a weak smile and gently took hold of her hand before I led her into the living room.
"Now I see you've got a bag with you. Let me guess: We're having reading sessions today?" I changed the topic to a lighter one when I noticed the big black bag hanging down her right side.
"Ha ha Harry. How funny." She responded and rolled her eyes which made me smirk widely.
"Ah, so we're gonna work on my homework then." I countered cheekily and Hermione dropped the bag on one of the armchairs.
"Sometimes you really are a.." She narrowed her eyes on me before stopping mid-sentence.
"Say it." I challenged her.
"Sometimes you really are a prat, Harry Potter." She stated and I snickered before she did something I never expected from her: She threw a pillow at me.
Not even hesitating a second, I grabbed a cushion of my own and tossed it at her, the brunette giggling as she hid behind an armchair.
"I thought you'd have better aim, Potter." Hermione teased with a provoking voice and that was reason enough for me to start a pillow fight…
The battle lasted long, the clean-up campaign even longer. The losses however were unrepairable.
"Ups, I think your aunt is gonna kill me.." Hermione hesitantly said after our truce and pointed to a vase that was torn into pieces after colliding with the ground during our clash.
"Oh man, how much it would help if we could use magic right now." I sighed in response, knowing exactly what a face Aunt Petunia would make when she noticed that her favourite vase got demolished by a couple of teenagers that couldn't see the consequences of their actions.
"And they call me the brightest witch of our generation." Hermione mumbled to herself before she looked across the room in search for something.
"Where do your people have their dustpan?" She asked and instead of telling her, I quickly went into the kitchen to get the dustpan myself.
"You don't have to clean it up, it's my fault the vase broke in the first place." I tried to convince her but Hermione adamantly shook her head.
"It was my bad aim that made the vase break. Though you provoked me to take such drastic measurements." She replied with a cheeky grin that looked absolutely adorable on her face. Especially the way her eyes gleamed with playfulness..
"Alright brain, that was an info I didn't necessarily need, thank you." I thought to myself as I grinned back at her for her remark and while my best friend cleaned up the rests of the vase I made it my task to gather all the cushion that had been tossed around and I brought them back to the place where they belonged.
When the room was back to it's original state we both settled onto the couch and I remembered that I still had to thank her for the cassette.
"By the way..", I turned towards her and my stomach tingled lightly when she looked back at me within the next second, "Thank you so much for the cassette that you've given me in the Hogwarts Express. It made a lot of things so much more pleasant."
The corners of her mouth turned upwards and her eyes glimmered lightly, making me feel even better when I saw the impact my words had on her.
"That's so great to hear.", Hermione said with apparent happiness in her voice, "And, what music do you like the most so far?"
"Well, I followed your advice and listened to "Sound of Manchester" quite a bit. And they really play a lot of quality songs there, if you ask me." I told her and her smile only grew, this time in excitement. A sight I knew from all the times when somebody handed her a new book.
"Then you must know a few Joy Division and New Order songs!" She exclaimed and I nodded with a smile of my own. I never would have thought that speaking about music would feel this.. fun.
"Oh yeah, I love "Warsaw" and "She's Lost Control" by Joy Division and "Blue Monday" or "The Perfect Kiss" by New Order. They just have an amazing sound, both bands. And especially the bass is so unique, I never thought that a bass could sound like a guitar!" I exclaimed and Hermione giggled.
"You know that Hooky is the bassist of both Joy Division and New Order, right?" She asked me with a smirk and I knitted my brows.
"Hooky? What's that?"
"It's a nickname. His real name is Peter Hook"
"Oh, I didn't know that. Though they don't even mention the band members on the radio, so.." I explained and Hermione immediately went into teacher mode.
"Alright Harry: Joy Division and New Order have almost the same band members. Only the lead vocalist changed when..", She gulped and suddenly she looked all sad, "Ian Curtis, the singer of Joy Division, committed suicide in 1980."
"Oh." Was the only response that I could muster when I realized that Curtis texts were probably so dark because of his depression.
"Hermione.. you told me that you wanted to visit me so that I won't suffer from depression. Did you think that I, well, would do the same as Curtis did in 1980?" I asked her hesitantly, afraid of sending the wrong message.
"No Harry. I was scared that you might bottle up all your anger, your insecurities and your angst and that it would lead you to stop being this wonderful, wonderful person. I was afraid of losing my best friend.", Hermione explained and took my hand to stress how important this topic was for her, "But that's only one of the many reasons I wanted to spend my time with you."
We both looked at our linked hands and my heart beat with an alarming rate when I noticed our intertwined fingers.
I averted my eyes from our hands and looked at her, needing to know if I was the only one that felt uncomfortable with this gesture. But uncomfortable was the wrong word, it felt good, it felt right, it just.. was the wrong way for best friends to interact.
"Sorry..", Hermione mumbled with cheeks as red as a tomato and I mentally thanked god that she felt the same way as I did, "I reacted on instincts."
Instead of defusing the situation, her choice of words only made things worse. It made me realize that we both had lost control.
"She's lost control again" I blabbered without thinking what I actually said and in my head I could already hear the consequences for my tactless statement.
"Harry!",Hermione exclaimed in a mixture of a gasp and a giggle, her reaction everything but expected for me, "That's kind of true.."
A few seconds I didn't dare to speak another word, afraid that I might manage to utter another bad joke.
"Um, who are the band members of Joy Division and New Order anyway?" I asked when I remembered the origin of our.. extraordinary situation and Hermione instantly went back into lecture mode, probably just as glad to have an exit from all this awkwardness as well.
"Guitarist: Bernhard Sumner, Bassist: Hooky, we already covered him, Drummer: Stephen Morris. The only thing that's different in New Order is that Sumner also sings and that they have a keyboardist called Gillian Gilbert, who happens to be Morris girlfriend." She explained and I nodded.
"I'll probably forget half of the names in five minutes, but for now Ian Curtis and Peter Hook seem to be the most important ones." I told her before a thought plopped into my mind.
"How did you come in touch with these bands anyway?"
"Oh, my mum is from Manchester. She was born in 1956 just like Sumner and Hook so she was their age when they started getting popular. And I've grown up with that music ever since I can remember. Well, beside my dad's music of course. He is more the Depeche Mode fan, which still sometimes leads to proud fan arguments." She said and giggled at the last part, obviously amused because of a certain memory that is connected to this piece of information.
"You're parents seem to be really nice people." I stated and was happy for my best friend to have what seemed to be an intact family.
"I think so too.. I feel so privileged to have them as my mum and dad." She said with a grateful tone and I gave her a compassionate look.
"At least one of us has a place he can truly call his home." I said and her eyes darkened with sadness again.
"Oh Harry, I didn't want to rub it under your nose.. I hope you know that, right?" She asked me and it made my heart ache to see the self-disappointment in her eyes.
"It's alright, Hermione.. Some scars never heal, no matter what. It's just so hard to deal with all the things that I've already lost in my life without even being responsible for these losses. It hurts, not all the time, but when I remind myself of the truth than it does. But that's not your fault, 'Mione." I admitted and the next second I felt her arms firmly wrapped around my shoulders as she rested her head on my shoulder, tawny tresses of silky hair gently brushing my skin all around my torso. I relaxed instantly at her touch.
"Your life is filled with so much tension. Relax, please. Forget the world for a moment with me.." She whispered into my ear with a gentle voice, and even if I wanted to stop her, then my resolve would be gone by now.
This was no awkward position for best friends to be. She was comforting me, we more or less hugged, nothing more.
"You know, I'm very proud of you.." Hermione calmly said and I closed my eyes when her nose accidentally made contact with the skin of my collarbone. It send a pulse of warmth straight to my heart.
"And why is that?" I asked in return and felt her smile against my body.
"You've opened up a lot more to me since the day we rescued Sirius.", She explained, her voice dominated by pride, "You've kept your promise."
I smiled brightly when I realized something that was so obvious and yet had escaped my notice for years.
"I wouldn't dare breaking your promises. You're part of my family, Hermione." I whispered with pure joy when the true meaning of my words began to sink in: Wherever she was, was my home.
Was that it which made our relationship so much deeper than normal friendship? That I cared for her like a sister?
Never have I come to a conclusion as wrong as this before or after this summer day…
"You really want to see the cupboard?" I asked Hermione a while later when she decided it was time to head upstairs, the brunette adamant to see the most miserable place of my childhood.
"One hundred percent positive." She answered when we both stood in front of the door to literal hell and I took a deep breath before I slowly, almost hesitantly, revealed the cupboard to her that was my room for an entire decade.
"Oh Harry.." Hermione gasped in shock when her eyes flickered across the more or less one square metre box, an expression of horror etched into her face and when she faced me again, I could see how hard she was trying to hold back her tears.
"This is the worst thing I've ever, EVER seen in my life." My best friend whispered and I smiled weakly at her.
"I asked you if you really wanted to see it." I gently responded and before I could stop myself, I tugged a loose strand of her silky hair behind her ear.
"Whoa, that's the definition of satin-soft." I couldn't help but think before I quickly pulled back my hand, not wanting to bring me in another awkward situation.
"I expected it to be the worst thing I've ever seen. But I needed to see it. I had to get a glimpse of the pain that you must have felt in your childhood." She explained, the light slowly returning to her eyes.
"But why did you want to feel my pain?" I asked in response, her lips forming a cheeky smirk.
"Sometimes you really are a bit thick, aren't you?" Hermione giggled and I gave her the you-better-tell-me glare. Honestly, wasn't she the one that once called me clever?
"Harry, isn't it obvious? I want to understand you!" She exclaimed and it dawned on me what she wanted to achieve by looking at the cupboard.
"You are a person that either is incredibly happy or unbelievably sad. You have ups and downs in your life like no other and when you're having a down, then you're not just sad but also so very angry. To be frank, that sometimes scares me.", My best friend explained, "But that's exactly why I want to understand your feelings and where they come from: So I can help you in your darkest times."
She really was an angel. An angel sent to watch over my every step, an angel to protect me from harm, an angel sent to save me from myself. I never did anything to deserve such a person in my life and yet here she was, in all her glory.
"Hermione." Her name rolled from my lips tenderly as I closed the cupboard absently and gazed down into her hazelnut brown eyes, not knowing how to express my gratitude in an appropriate manner.
"Don't say it. It's something I do because I want to, not because I want recognition for it." She told me with a warm smile before her eyes flashed upwards to the first floor.
"Is it tactless to ask you if I could see your room?" My best friend asked after a second with shy eyes and I shook my head as a voice in my head couldn't stop repeating the word "cute" over and over again.
"Get a grip of yourself, Potter!" I mentally yelled at myself before I gestured Hermione to follow me upstairs.
"Well, it's small but a million times better than a cupboard for sure." She stated when she stood in the doorway, shoulder leaning against the wooden frame.
"Yeah, you've got that right. I'm sure it must be a miniature for you, right?" I responded as I sat down on my bed and Hermione hummed in agreement.
"When it comes to this I think I'm quite spoiled. I'm an only child with a big room and an especially big b.." She suddenly stopped mid-sentence and I saw her cheeks reddening for absolutely no reason, making me raise a brow in confusion.
"An especially big what, Hermione?" I asked, trying to sound like I didn't notice the red tone of her face.
"An especially big book shelve." She said and I chuckled in amusement.
"Of course, if there is one thing my room is lacking, then it's books." I thought to myself and grinned at my best friend.
"I'm sorry if it isn't up to your expectations, Miss Granger." I jested but Hermione's face only turned redder at my words and her hands shot up in surrender.
"That's not what I wanted to say, Harry!" She said in a high voice and I snickered in amusement.
"Alright, that was a mean joke." I admitted when I felt guilty for teasing my best friend like that and Hermione sighed in relief.
"I didn't know you were capable of mean jokes." She admitted and I shrugged my shoulders.
"And neither did I."
Her eyes then darted towards my desk multiple times, orbs of brown shimmering with curiosity, and she bit her lower lip lightly, which told me everything I needed to know about her next question.
"Yes, you might have a look at my essays if you want to.", I grinned at her, "But why does my homework interest you so much?"
"Because I want to test a theory of mine." She mysteriously responded before she sat down on MY desk chair and grabbed the first roll of parchment in reach for her.
"Alright, is something wrong with my eyes or is that a potions essay?" Hermione asked and I nodded with a grin on my face.
"It's not quite finished, though." I remarked.
"And yet you've begun a potions essay in your first week of the summer holidays. That's.. remarkable, considering how much you despise the subject." Hermione praised and I snorted lightly.
"Well, I somehow had to distract myself during my time in isolation, didn't I?" I dryly responded and my best friend gave me an apologetic look.
"Sorry. I didn't want to.."
"I know, 'Mione." I cut her of with a sad smile and it took her a second before she could focus on my parchment again.
"Now, what theory do you want to test, if I might ask?" I asked after one or two minutes, Hermione's eyes scrolling through my text and she didn't even avert her gaze when she spoke next.
"How your educational ambitions improve when you have a clear goal in mind." She briefly explained and then giggled "So far, I've been right about you."
"Well, I'd be insulted if you didn't know my entire persona by heart by now." I joked and Hermione laughed heartily at my joke, the way her face lit up whenever she laughed a sight to behold and I couldn't suppress a light and dreamy sigh escaping my lips.
"Harry! I need to concentrate." She told me and tried to sound serious but her attempt was feeble.
"Go on, then. Nobody forced you to laugh at my joke." I teased with a wide smirk that only widened when Hermione Granger groaned and gently massaged her temples with her free hand.
"Sometimes I wonder why I'm your best friend." She stated and I silently chuckled, knowing exactly that her words were a lie. But I didn't have to tell her that, we both knew the true nature of her response…
"Keep up the good work, Harry. I think if you continue like this then you could realistically aim for an E in your OWLs this year, maybe even an O in some subjects." Hermione concluded when she had read all the three finished essays and the partially completed homework for potions.
My best friend smiled at me proudly before her eyes lit up even more and I guessed that a realization must have hit her.
"Oh my god! I totally forgot that they'll choose the prefects this year! You're so gonna be the male Gryffindor prefect." She exclaimed happily and clapped her hands in excitement but if I was honest to myself, the last thing I cared about right now was becoming a prefect.
"I don't wanna be rude, but that's not my concern right now. I just want to have a normal year at Hogwarts for once, or a normal summer as a start." I truthfully admitted and my best friend's smile fell.
"Oh.", She sadly mumbled, "I really should think about how my words might make you feel. You probably think that I'm just this over-the-top ambitious bookworm when I'm this tactless."
I shook my head with a small smile and looked at her, her gaze fixed upon the floor.
"Hermione..", I softly said, "Don't say such bad things about yourself. You are ambitious, yes, but despite all your love for books and learning things you never neglect your friends. You never neglect me."
"It's not your fault that I have such a hard time controlling my emotions, especially because so many things just.. remind me of something bad. And it actually was very rude from me to dampen your mood." I continued before I got up from my bed and I extended my hand for her to take.
"C'mon, you wanted to teach me this mind protection thing today, mh?" I smiled invitingly at her and with a small smile she took my hand.
"You're wonderful, Harry. You really are." She sighed as we headed downstairs and settled into the living room again, my best friend reaching for one of the three books in one of the armchairs.
"Now, I must warn you: Occlumency is something that probably will turn your world upside-down in the beginning. It's difficult to master, needs a ton of practice and requires even more tenacity. Beginners are advised to practice no more than ten to fifteen minutes a day, as it is extremely challenging for the mind." Hermione explained in her typical lecture-mode and I nodded.
"Got it.", I confirmed, "So does that mean that if I learn occlu.."
"Occlumency."
"Occlumency then Voldemort won't be able to read my mind?"
"That's correct Harry. Dumbledore also told me that you probably.. well, see the world from his perspective in your dreams. Occlumency would shield you against these dreams as well." My best friend told me and I hummed, deep in thought.
"But couldn't these dreams be extremely useful? I mean, I can see what he wants, so why should I close my eyes to his plans?" I asked her but the brunette shook her head adamantly.
"No, that would be unwise. When you see glimpses of his mind then you never know if it is his intent to let you see what you see. He could easily manipulate you if you don't learn to protect your mind." Hermione countered and I felt a bit stupid for not coming to this conclusion myself.
"Well, that's why she's top of our year and you're not." I told myself with a dry undertone.
"Alright, I'd rather see nothing than hope to get a glimpse of the truth. It's too risky." I admitted and Hermione nodded.
"Now, are you up to the task, Potter?" She teased with a challenging smirk that I returned straight away.
"I think so."
"I know so." My best friend encouraged me and I gave her a grateful smile before my newest teacher introduced me to the art of mind protection…
"This were only ten minutes? I feel like I've been tortured for an hour or so!" I groaned when Hermione had terminated our lesson and she smiled with compassion at me.
"I told you it wouldn't be easy..", She stated, "Though I think it would be more beneficial for you if I told you that you did really well. This is a guide for adults after all, and you managed to keep up to these standards with fourteen years only."
Despite my state of exhaustion I couldn't help but smile because of her encouraging words.
"Thanks, Hermione. With your help I'll have my mental brick wall in no time." I told her and watched as her cheeks took on a rosy hue.
"If you want to then we can practice your mental exercises tomorrow again." She responded and I nodded eagerly.
"The pain will be worth it. I can't stand the thought of Voldemort seeing through my eyes. That's drive enough for me to learn Occlumency." I said and Hermione looked at me with an admiring sparkle in her eyes.
"And please remember: Don't practice on your own or you might achieve the opposite of your actual goal." She reminded me and I nodded.
"Believe me: I might want to learn how to protect my mind, but the pain wouldn't allow it. Speaking of pain, my head is thrumming like somebody smashed my head against a wall." I groaned and got up and was about to get myself a glass of ice-cold coke when Hermione stopped me.
"Ah, ah, ah. I'll get you something from the fridge." She pointed a finger at me, knowing exactly what I wanted to do, before disappearing into the kitchen. I had no chance to even retort.
"Here you go." She said moments later when she returned with a bottle of coke and an ice pack, which I thankfully accepted.
"You're a saviour y'know that?" I asked with a sigh when I sat down on the armchair and pressed the ice pack against my aching forehead.
I opened my coke and took a hearty sip before I closed my eyes to relish in the feeling of the cold liquid soothing the nasty thrumming in my head. Building a mental brick wall was very hard work indeed.
"Since when does the daughter of two dentists encourage my consumption of sugary drinks?" I asked with a smirk when I realized that Hermione had just given me a soft drink when she could have given me a glass of cold water.
"Why should I deny you what I myself can't resist?" She mysteriously countered and I chuckled.
"If your parents heard this then they'd be very upset with you."
"No. Just because they're dentists doesn't mean that they hate everything that contains sugar. They of course don't encourage me to eat sweets en masse, but they don't have a problem with me eating them in the first place." She explained and I hummed in agreement.
"The dose defines the poison.", I stated, "Occlumency being the best of examples."
Hermione giggled at my statement and I myself smiled as I took another swig of my drink.
"Sometimes you're a real drama queen." My best friend remarked and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Hey, I'm moody when I'm exhausted. It's not my fault." I defended myself and when I saw the yes-it's-your-fault glare of her directed at me I reconsidered.
"Ugh, could we please just do something relaxing right now? Talking only leads to my brain melting down at some point." I groaned because of her intense stare and within a second, she snatched the remote control for the TV and turned it on.
"We are gonna watch a movie now." My best friend decided before she sat down on the couch and patted the space to her left.
"Come on Harry, be a good friend and sit with me." Hermione instructed and I obeyed, ice pack still pressed against my head and coke in hand, before she switched through the channels in search for a movie we might watch…
It was near dusk when "A New Hope" ended and it was time for Hermione to leave, so I decided to accompany her to the bus station at least.
Not bothering that somebody of Dumbledore's men was probably closely following us, I chatted with her about the movie and expressed my amazement and fascination for the fictive world, which put a smile on my best friend's face.
We bought some fish and chips on our way to the bus station and before I knew it, we were standing at our destination.
"I hope it won't take too long for you to come home." I said with a weak smile, realising that this wonderful day was coming to a close soon.
"Nah, don't worry. It won't take longer than half an hour at this time of the day.", She told me and glanced at a nearby clock, "Though we still got a few minutes 'til the bus comes, so use them wisely."
"Alright, I've got one question for you: Where did you take the cassette from that you gave me? I'm quite sure there aren't any of these at Hogwarts and I also can't imagine you carrying around spare cassettes in your trunk." I asked the question that spontaneously sprung to my mind when we had left the house mere minutes ago.
"I stole it.", Hermione giggled lightly, "They always keep a few cassettes in the classroom for muggle studies as they are part of the fifth year curriculum. So I just went there on the last day shortly before we left the castle and well.. the rest is history."
Her eyes gleamed with mischief and I found it strangely exhilarating to see Hermione Granger being proud of herself for stealing a cassette from a classroom.
"Whoa, since when are you that type of person?" I asked with surprise in my voice and my best friend gave me a warning look.
"I only did that because I had to made sure you'd survive your holidays, okay?", Hermione explained, "Don't expect me to do such a thing in the near future again, Harry Potter."
But somehow I wanted her to act ill-mannered again. The way she spoke about her own deed, the way her eyes sparkled, her smirk.. She had what it takes to be a small devil. And I wanted to see that side of her more often.
"No pressure here." I chuckled and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"If you behave like that all the time then I might reconsider visiting you." She tried to "threaten" me, which only made me snicker.
"You're a terrible liar, Hermione." I admitted and she sighed.
"Yeah, everybody says so..", She told me, "Anyway, do you want me to come over again, tomorrow?"
Oh, I didn't even have to think about my answer.
"Yeah, tomorrow same time if you want to." I said with a huge grin and Hermione nodded with a grin as large as mine.
"Then it's settled. I can bring some of my cassettes along, if you want." She told me and I agreed with a "yeah".
"Well then.. it's goodbye until tomorrow." My best friend stated when the bus came to a stop a few metres beside us.
This time I didn't wait until her arms were wrapped around my shoulders. This time I acted first.
"I'm gonna miss you, 'Mione." I whispered into her ear and stroked her back, her skin soft and warm under my touch and I felt extraordinary with the knowledge that I would soon be able to hold her in my arms again. These were the moments that made my life worthwhile.
"I'll miss you too, Harry." She breathed back before I got a gentle peck on each cheek by her, which made me only happier.
"It has been a phenomenal day." I told my best friend when I released her from my embrace and her eyes lit up in the orange sun of the evening, the colour so unique it glued my gaze on her orbs.
"Right you are, Harry," Hermione agreed before she waved at me one final time, her mane of silky, tawny hair soon disappearing from my view. I waited until the bus was out of sight…
"Well, well, who do we have here?" The dark lord asked when his blood-red eyes fixated on the man in black clothes, hands and feet cuffed with iron shackles.
The dungeon of Malfoy's Manor was covered in darkness, the only light coming from Lord Voldemort's wand. The twin wand of the person he needed to destroy at all costs.
"Edward Cunningham, Vice Grand Warlock of the unspeakables. I don't think that I have to introduce myself, do I?", He asked with a mocking grin, "You look surprised to see me. Did you really believe that nonsense the ministry publishes about me being dead? You disappoint me."
Edward Cunningham only stared back at the dark lord, not speaking a word to outsiders. Just as his vow had forbidden him to do.
"You know, even I have to admit that it's impossible for one single individual to know everything, no matter how powerful. But that's why I invited you here: So that you can tell me what I need to know in order to kill Harry Potter." He whispered, his voice almost gentle, but the unspeakable remained silent, much to Voldemort's amusement.
"I will even let you live if you decide to speak. I am a man of my word." He told his prisoner who only spat at his feet, which earned him the first of many Cruciatus curses.
"Don't worry. If you don't want to talk then I'll make you talk." Voldemort declared with an icy and menacing voice before he continued to torture his victim. But Edward Cunningham didn't even scream, despite the expression of pain etched into his face.
"At some point you will be so broken that all I have to do is enter your mind to obtain the information I need.",Voldemort reminded him with a deadly glare in his eyes, "All you can do now is delaying it. But is that worth the pain, hm?"
The dark lord rejoiced in his victim's agony for quite some time, more happy about Cunningham's resistance than frustrated by it. The more surprised he was when his guest of honour spoke after half an hour.
"It's true", He rasped with a tone of despair in his voice, "We've found it, almost two weeks ago."
Voldemort laughed evilly, something like joy coursing through his veins and he stepped closer to the unspeakable, feeling how close he was to acquire the exact position of Potter's prophecy. His plans would soon start to become reality.
"But how do you know about it? It's been the stuff of legends and myths for centuries! Nobody but the seven highest unspeakables know about it." Cunningham exclaimed and Voldemort's eyes narrowed.
"You're lying. Everybody knows about prophecies and especially the prophecy about the boy and me caused many speculations. Did you honestly think that you could deceive me, the almighty Lord Voldemort?" The dark lord was enraged by Cunningham's assumption that he would be so easily deceived by such rubbish. So he tortured him again.
"I'm not talking about a prophecy." The unspeakable groaned in pain and the dark lord's eyes glimmered with actual surprise this time.
"And what does the so powerful and untouchable unspeakable refer to?" Voldemort asked, his face now mere inches away from Cunningham's, the red of his eyes boring into his victim's very soul.
"The tomb of the seven. It's real." The Vice Grand Warlock whispered with trepidation...
Author's note:
Now, I've read the reviews about dialogue punctuation and thanks to OFARiolu I realized what the problem with my dialogue punctuation was. I never understood what you guys had with the ,,..." until OFARiolu made it clear in his review. And with that new clarity I want to apologize for using my punctuation for so long. That's why I've begun using the "classical" dialgoue punctuation in this one. I also will start redoing the previous chapters the second I upload this, because I don't want my story to look bad. I hope this will end the "Dialogue punctuation crisis" if you want to call it like that.
I also want to use italics for the dialogue from now on, thanks very much for the suggestion. I like it a lot - though it took quite some time to mark all the dialogue in order to do so.
Storywise this definitely is in my top 3 chapters so far for this fanfiction, so I hope you like it as well.
Of course I couldn't help including a few songs again, so here's the list: New Order's "Touched by the Hand of God" and Joy Division's "She's Lost Control". The rest is explicitly mentioned with the name, so no need to list them here.
Also this is the point where my stroy will begin to develop a certain divergance from canon, but I won't exaggerate. It's all about the balance in my humble opinion, or the harmony if you want to call it like that ;-)
If I had to guess then it will take at least a week until the next upload, as I have to redo the eight previous chapters AND write the new one, so keep that in mind. But that's a catious guess, maybe I'll be faster, who knows.
Anyway, if you have anything to say about the story then please write a review, as they help me perfect what can be perfected. 'Til the next time!
NewOrderFan05
P.S: This story has 100 followers and way over 6k views now. Wow! It doesn't seem like a lot, but for me it's a number I've never dared to dream about. Mighty thanks to everyone that clicked on the story and let's see if we can get a thousand followers one day ;-) .
