Disclaimer…: None of these characters are mine…they are J.K.
Rowling's…lucky (…I wish I were talented…but, alas, that will never be!
1.1 Hermione and ?
2
Hermione walked down the stairs of the girls dormitory and stepped into the Gryffindor common room. It was morning and she had her first class in almost a half hour. Everyone must have gone down to breakfast, she thought, since there were only a few upper classmen who obviously had an off period right in the morning. She had slept in and she was surprised that Ginny didn't wake her. Hermione walked through the portrait hole and started for the great hall. Walking down a dark, stone corridor, Hermione noticed something behind her move from the corner of her eye. She whisked around and put her hand in her robe pocket, grasping her wand.
"Who's there?" She said loudly into the darkness.
Nothing. What the heck? She had seen something, or, at least, she thought she had. After staring into the darkness for a few more seconds, Hermione finally turned and started for the great hall again. A few more turns and hidden passages later, Hermione whipped around again. This time she had heard something rather than seen it.
"Who are you?" She said, grabbing her wand from her pocket again.
"Quite jumpy, aren't we Granger?"
Draco Malfoy was leaning against the wall of the hallway, looking quite smug.
"Shut up, Malfoy." She said, letting go of her wand and turning around to go. She wasn't going to give him the privilege of toying with her. But when she started walking, so did he. He was going to follow her until the great hall and it was still a good five minutes away. Why did Malfoy have to be such a moron? He thought he was so smart; only because all the other Slytherins were so thick they made anyone look like a genius.
"You know," Draco said, running to catch up, "breakfast started quite a while ago."
"Good job." She remarked flatly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Go away."
"I think someone's a little cranky." He said stupidly.
Hermione didn't respond. Draco was the most annoying little git on the planet. Why didn't he act the same way to her that he did with Harry and Ron. She could deal with him, then. For everyone else, he would just come up with a lame comment or name and laugh and walk away. But for some reason he wouldn't leave her alone! She wished she could just punch him in his big, stupid face, but that would give him more reason to be a jerk to her. Finally, the doors to the great hall came into view from behind a tapestry. She stepped through and headed for her usual spot between Seamus Finnigan and Ron. Draco was still behind her and as Hermione tried to sit, Draco walked into her foot and made her trip.
"Bastard" Hermione said, but Draco didn't hear. Hermione sat down and looked around. Her spirits went up by just being around her friends. Seamus was going on to Dean Thomas about how boring soccer was, which Dean argued about Quidditch being just as dull. Hermione laughed. They were always fighting over the same things.
"What happened to you?" Ron asked through the toast he was still chewing.
"I was up late last night." She said. "I had a lot of homework I needed to finish."
"What?" Harry said, "Hermione Granger not starting her homework right away? I'm surprised!"
Harry and Hermione laughed, but Ron was paying attention to the Ravenclaw table. Ginny had told Hermione a while back that Ron had taken quite the liking to Padma Patil since the Yule Ball of their fourth year. Padma liked him, too, and Hermione often saw them giggle at each other constantly in Herbology.
From the depths of the grand school, a bell rang, signaling breakfast was over and they should start heading for their first class. Unfortunately for the Gryffindors, that was double potions. Two hours in the dark, damp dungeons with, as always, the Slytherins. Hermione was known for seeing the best in most people and always being quite cheerful, but there were just two hopeless cases in Hogwarts. They were Professor Snape and, of course, Draco. She could stand the other Slytherins because without the mighty Draco to back them up, their comments towards the Gryffindors were usually "stupid head" or "crazy face" or even something lamer than that. There were a few good Slytherins in the house, too. But they were usually depressed because they didn't want to end up in Slytherin in the first place.
Hermione, Harry, and Ron walked together down to the dungeons. They were as cheerless as ever with only half the torches lit and a couple more pickled animals in jars along the walls. To Hermione's, and most everyone's dismay, the cauldrons were out, which meant they were making a potion and they'd have to partner up. Snape was the only professor in the school that chose the two people that partnered up; all the other teachers were either nice enough to let you choose or they were just too lazy. And unfortunately for Hermione, she was usually stuck with, yep, you guessed it, Draco Malfoy.
"Sit!" Snape yelled at the class, mostly towards the Gryffindors.
The class sat in their spots and waited for Snape to start. In large, messy letters on the board was the name: Drut's Potion. Hermione had never heard of it. That was a first.
"Today you will be making a very strong potion." Snape murmured to the class. "It's extremely hard to make so you'd better listen if you like having all your limbs."
Ron gulped loudly. Snape lifted a large jar of dead spiders from behind his desk. Ron gulped loudly again.
"First, you'll need two of these." Snape began. "You'll need to pull of the legs like this…"
Ten minutes later, Snape told the class to get with their partner and start making the potion. Draco, being the lazy dolt that he was, sat chatting with Greg Goyle who sat in front of him. Hermione picked up her stuff and walked to the back of the room where Draco sat, mumbling curse words to herself.
"Hey sunshine!" Draco said in a fake cheerful voice. Goyle laughed stupidly at this remark. As small as it was, that comment from Draco had a huge affect on Hermione. The only think keeping her from strangling him right then and there was the visions in her head of totally awful things happening to him. Unfortunately, that gave her a dazed look that Draco spotted.
"Are you just gonna stare at me like that or are you going to sit down." He said.
"Malfoy," Hermione started, "I don't like this any more than you do, so don't make this worse than it has to be."
"Who said I wasn't enjoying this?" He asked. "I love how I can get to you by just looking your way."
Hermione sat down with clenched fists, her temper rising. Near the front of the class, she saw Harry turn to look at her with a half-sympathetic, half-I'm-not-much-better-off smile. He had been paired up with Pansy Parkinson. Probably the least-liked girl in the entire school, Pansy was also the most ditzy. Hermione had been partnered with her once and she wouldn't do anything because the ingredients were all too 'icky'. The ingredients consisted of several different herbs, and nothing else. She wouldn't touch them because she was afraid that they would hurt her somehow. During classes when they would have to partner up, she would draw pictures of a girl being chased by huge, plant-like monsters. Pansy didn't get it, but she was quite thickheaded and Hermione wasn't surprised.
Two torturous hours later, the bell rang, signaling the second period was over. Hermione quickly picked up her stuff and tried to catch up to the rest of the Gryffindors.
"Wait Granger," Snape's voice came. "Your potion isn't done."
Harry and Ron stopped before leaving the door and turned and looked at Hermione.
"Well sir," she said, "I have another class in 5 minutes. Could we possibly leave it as is?'
"Surely you could," Snape said smirking, "but you'd lose 100 points."
"100 points!" Hermione yelled, "The potion isn't even worth that many points!"
"I guess we'll be making it up then some other time then, eh Granger?" Draco said smugly. He looked quite pleased with the situation. Sure, he'd have to come down into the dungeon during his free time to finish a potion, but anything to make Hermione or any of her other dumb friends angry was worth 1000 points. Suddenly, the 1-minute bell rang.
"So I'll be seeing you after dinner then, Hermione?" Draco said.
"Whatever…" She said, running out the door. Why her? Why did Draco Malfoy have to be…ugh! She couldn't stop thinking about it.
Classes came and went by too fast for Hermione's liking that day. She didn't want dinner to end. In nearly 20 minutes time she would have to go down to the dungeons to the two hopeless cases that she practically hated.
"Don't worry." Ron said. "It won't take that long. You'll probably be down there for five minutes tops."
"Yeah," she replied, "but those are five minutes of my life that I'll never get back again. Those are five minutes wasted on Draco and Snape."
"Think of it this way…" Ginny said, "Which would you rather have, five more minutes of your life?…or 100 points?"
Hermione decided not to respond to this. Ginny was right, as always. There was no denying it, but it didn't change the fact that she hated Malfoy's guts. Hermione heard a loud clatter from the other end of the great hall and everyone fell silent except for two boys, who were also now standing.
"What did you call me?!" It was Draco.
"You heard me, you slimy git!" Another seventh year guy from Ravenclaw that Ginny and Hermione knew.
Draco took his wand and shot a quick hex at the boy and hit him in the shoulder, though it didn't look like it had much effect. By now the teachers were racing towards the dueling boys and the other students were cheering them on, yet keeping their distance. The other boy whipped his wand out, too, and shot what looked like the same hex at Malfoy. Professor McGonagall got to Draco just as professor Snape got to the other boy. Both their wands were apprehended and they were escorted to the infirmary. As McGonagall walked by, mumbling, "Never in my day…with so many students around…could've been serious" with Draco behind her, Malfoy shot Hermione a proud smirk and winked at her. She glared at him and watched as he disappeared out the door.
"Looks like you won't have to finish that potion after all." Harry said, also watching Draco.
"Thank god." She said, sitting down again. "I would've died if I had to see his face one more time today."
Harry and Ron laughed, but Ginny looked a little preoccupied.
"Do you guys think Jason's okay?"
"Who?" Harry and Ron both said.
"The boy that fought Malfoy." Hermione said, surprised. "Seriously, you've gone to school with him for seven years and you don't even know his name?"
Harry and Ron just shrugged. They knew other people, just mostly the girls. What good would it do for them to know other guys?
The last few minutes of dinner were mostly filled with heated discussion about the fight that had went on. Most people were on Jason's side, but there were still the Slytherins. When asked, they would most likely say that Jason started the whole thing by insulting Draco's family or something lame like that. They were known to say that about most arguments they were involved in.
After Dinner, Hermione didn't have any more periods. She was relieved that she didn't have her Astronomy classes anymore. Midnight just wasn't her kind of time. Besides, she had loads of homework to finish for the next day. She, Harry, Ginny, and Ron all went up to the common room to settle for the night. They all had their homework laid out on the table closest to the fireplace. The Gryffindor part of the school was the chilliest part during the winter, and there was usually a mad rush for any spot close to the fireplace.
They all worked on their homework for quite some time. It must've been late because only a few other students were still in the room. Hermione had just finished with her Charms paper when a clock stuck 11 o'clock.
"Oh no." She said.
"What's wrong?" Harry said looking up.
"The infirmary closed." She replied.
"So," Ron said, "What's your point?"
"Jason, you dolt!" Hermione said jokingly, "I wanted to see how he was doing."
Ron just shook his head in disgust, Harry laughed, and Ginny, oddly, smiled at Hermione.
"That's a good idea." She said, closing her book. "This stuff isn't due for a week, I can put it off. I'll go with you."
"…Really?" Hermione said, "Well, I wasn't going to since it's past curfew, but…if you'll go with me…"
"Well then it's settled." She said, packing the rest of her books and standing up.
The look on Hermione's face was nothing compared to those of Ron and Harry's. They looked both bewildered and quite scared.
"What's gotten into you?" Ron asked. "It almost seems like you…"
Comprehension dawned on Ron's face.
"Ohhh!" He said, with a wide grin, "Someone's got a boyfrie…oomph!"
Ron had been smacked with a book in mid-teasing.
"He's not my boyfriend." Ginny said defiantly.
"Sure he isn't…" Ron said, going back to his homework, "Hmm.."
Ginny glared at Ron.
"Hmm, what?" she asked.
"I never thought you were into the captain-of-the-Quidditch-team type."
At this, Harry started cracking up and Ginny smacked Ron hard in the face. Harry stopped laughing abruptly and slouched down in his chair a bit and started doing his homework again. Ginny and Harry were good friends, but he knew better than to get her cross. Ron, however, didn't seem to learn that yet.
Ginny and Hermione walked out the portrait hole and down the steps. Hogwarts usually cheerful corridors were now dark and menacing and gave her and Ginny the creeps. It took longer to get to the infirmary than usual, considering they were walking slower, trying to limit the amount of noise they made. If Filch or Mrs. Norris were to catch them, Hermione didn't want to think about the punishment they'd get. When they got to the door, Hermione pushed it open just an inch to see if Madam Pomphrey was at her desk, but she wasn't. They walked in and saw two bed surrounded by curtains at either end of the room. Hermione went to the bed closest to the door and quietly peeked behind the curtain. Sure enough, there was Jason, with a bandage on his shoulder. Hermione saw the curtains on the other side of the bed move and Ginny's face peeked through as well.
"So," Hermione whispered ever so silently, "Is Ron right?"
"…Not entirely." Ginny replied.
"How right is he?" Hermione asked.
"I just like him a lot," she said, "but he doesn't know."
"Oh…" Hermione said, as she saw Ginny move her hand towards his face, just barely touching him. Jason turned in his sleep and made Ginny jump. She hit a tray of utensils behind her and they went clattering loudly to the floor. Jason and, by the sound of it, Draco, had both woken up.
"Hermione?" Jason said. "What..? Ginny?"
"Dammit!"
"Weasley? Granger? What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Everyone shut up!"
They could hear rushing footsteps from the hall.
"It's Pomphrey!"
"Hurry, get behind the bed!"
Suddenly the lights flipped on and a messy-haired, tired looking Madam Pomphrey appeared.
"What in the name of great wizards is going on in here?!" she demanded.
"Uh…" Jason said, "I…um…often move in my sleep and I must have hit your tray."
"Oh thank goodness…" she said, walking towards the tray. "I thought it was something serious. I'll just clean this up quick for you."
"NO!" he yelled
Madam Pomphrey looked up at him, bewildered.
"No, uh, please.." he said, "I've been a bother already. I'm sure I'll be well enough to clean it up tomorrow morning."
Madam Pomphrey gave him a piercing stare.
"It's okay Jason." Draco blurted from the opposite end of the room. "It's her job, I'm sure she won't mind."
Hermione barred her teeth and crouched down lower behind the bed. Draco was so stupid. Didn't he know that if they were caught, he would be in trouble, too?
"It's quite alright Draco," Jason started warningly, "I'll get it tomorrow."
"But as long as she's here, why shouldn't she?"
"Because I'm tired now and want to sleep. I can get it tomorrow."
"Oh, come on Jason! It'll only take a minute."
"Shut up, Draco."
"You two! Stop it this instant!" Madam Pomphrey yelled. "I think you both need some sleep!" She walked to the door and turned off the light.
"If I have to come back here one more time and I catch you fighting again, I'm going to Dumbledore and he can set you right!" And with that, she closed the door. Hermione waited until she couldn't hear her footsteps to say anything.
"What's your bloody problem!" She said to Draco.
"I don't think I'm the one with the problem." He replied. "I'm not the one walking around in the middle of the night."
"You would've gotten us all in trouble if she caught us." Ginny said. "You would've gotten in trouble, too."
"That's a small price to pay." He leered, "Irritating Hermione is one of my sole pleasures in life."
Hermione was breathing deeply, trying to keep herself from killing him right then and there. Day after day after day she got the same thing from Draco. You'd think that she'd get over it, but he always bothered her no matter what he did. She decided she'd try to ignore the little ferret.
"Does it hurt?" She asked Jason.
"Nah…" he said, "just a small burn. Nothing from him could leave anything."
Ginny giggled at his remark and continued to do so for the next 15 minutes they were in the infirmary. Strangely enough, Draco hadn't said anything the whole time. She assumed that he had fallen asleep. Somewhere, a bell chimed once, signaling that it was 11:30. Hermione decided that they should probably get going and got up. Ginny, though quite reluctantly, did so, too. Before she walked out the door, Hermione turned to wave bye to Jason and caught the sleeping Draco out of the corner of her eyes. She found herself staring at Draco in the distance. She had to admit, he was kinda cute, when he wasn't being a complete idiot…..
Ahh!!!! She almost slapped herself with the thought! How could she?! She hoped that it was just a side affect of being over tired. She was being delusional. Draco Malfoy and cute didn't mix. Ugh!
It took Hermione and Ginny another 20 minutes to make their way back up to Gryffindor tower. Once they thought they saw Mrs. Norris run across the hall in front of him, but it ended up being someone else's pet cat on the loose. As soon as they stepped into their common room, Hermione went up to the dorms and fell onto the bed. She was quite tired and felt like she would never get up. Plus, she had to get that thought she made earlier about Draco out of her mind forever.
Hermione was walking through a forest. It looked like the Forbidden Forest to her, but it could be any one. For some reason she was running; running as fast as she could. She didn't know to what or from what she was running, but she knew that if she stopped, something terrible would happen if it didn't already. She was horrified, but she didn't know what about. She felt like screaming…felt tears running down her face…felt the cold wind hit her as she ran. She was barefoot and her feet were in so much pain, but she didn't care. She closed her eyes as she ran; they were burning from the cold, piercing wind.
**flash**
Hermione wasn't running anymore. Neither was she in a forest…or barefoot…or terrified. But she was still crying. Not out of anger or worry or fear…just out of sadness. She looked completely different for that matter. She was wearing a dark dress. She couldn't tell what color it was, it was too dark…and thundering out…slightly raining. It looked as if she were in a graveyard…a small church in the background…other tombstones were scattered about. She was crying silently into her hands. She felt confused and traumatized. She looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were swirling and lightning flashed across the sky. She looked down at the tombstone. It was small and simple with one inscription on it…
"Alte mar sun ante dominae…a lost soul, but never forgotten…"
Right below was the name, but she couldn't stand to look at it. The name made her weep and want to die. She couldn't live…she looked at the name…
"Rise and shine sleepy head!" came Ginny's voice, "Hey… what's wrong?"
Hermione had shot up from bed, her eyes were red and wet…as if she had be crying. But she couldn't remember why.
"Nothing…" she said. "I must've been having some nightmare, huh?"
"I'd say…" Ginny only half replied as she was looking in the mirror putting makeup on.
"By the time Hermione had gone down to breakfast, the details of the dream she had had drifted away.
1.1 Hermione and ?
2
Hermione walked down the stairs of the girls dormitory and stepped into the Gryffindor common room. It was morning and she had her first class in almost a half hour. Everyone must have gone down to breakfast, she thought, since there were only a few upper classmen who obviously had an off period right in the morning. She had slept in and she was surprised that Ginny didn't wake her. Hermione walked through the portrait hole and started for the great hall. Walking down a dark, stone corridor, Hermione noticed something behind her move from the corner of her eye. She whisked around and put her hand in her robe pocket, grasping her wand.
"Who's there?" She said loudly into the darkness.
Nothing. What the heck? She had seen something, or, at least, she thought she had. After staring into the darkness for a few more seconds, Hermione finally turned and started for the great hall again. A few more turns and hidden passages later, Hermione whipped around again. This time she had heard something rather than seen it.
"Who are you?" She said, grabbing her wand from her pocket again.
"Quite jumpy, aren't we Granger?"
Draco Malfoy was leaning against the wall of the hallway, looking quite smug.
"Shut up, Malfoy." She said, letting go of her wand and turning around to go. She wasn't going to give him the privilege of toying with her. But when she started walking, so did he. He was going to follow her until the great hall and it was still a good five minutes away. Why did Malfoy have to be such a moron? He thought he was so smart; only because all the other Slytherins were so thick they made anyone look like a genius.
"You know," Draco said, running to catch up, "breakfast started quite a while ago."
"Good job." She remarked flatly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Go away."
"I think someone's a little cranky." He said stupidly.
Hermione didn't respond. Draco was the most annoying little git on the planet. Why didn't he act the same way to her that he did with Harry and Ron. She could deal with him, then. For everyone else, he would just come up with a lame comment or name and laugh and walk away. But for some reason he wouldn't leave her alone! She wished she could just punch him in his big, stupid face, but that would give him more reason to be a jerk to her. Finally, the doors to the great hall came into view from behind a tapestry. She stepped through and headed for her usual spot between Seamus Finnigan and Ron. Draco was still behind her and as Hermione tried to sit, Draco walked into her foot and made her trip.
"Bastard" Hermione said, but Draco didn't hear. Hermione sat down and looked around. Her spirits went up by just being around her friends. Seamus was going on to Dean Thomas about how boring soccer was, which Dean argued about Quidditch being just as dull. Hermione laughed. They were always fighting over the same things.
"What happened to you?" Ron asked through the toast he was still chewing.
"I was up late last night." She said. "I had a lot of homework I needed to finish."
"What?" Harry said, "Hermione Granger not starting her homework right away? I'm surprised!"
Harry and Hermione laughed, but Ron was paying attention to the Ravenclaw table. Ginny had told Hermione a while back that Ron had taken quite the liking to Padma Patil since the Yule Ball of their fourth year. Padma liked him, too, and Hermione often saw them giggle at each other constantly in Herbology.
From the depths of the grand school, a bell rang, signaling breakfast was over and they should start heading for their first class. Unfortunately for the Gryffindors, that was double potions. Two hours in the dark, damp dungeons with, as always, the Slytherins. Hermione was known for seeing the best in most people and always being quite cheerful, but there were just two hopeless cases in Hogwarts. They were Professor Snape and, of course, Draco. She could stand the other Slytherins because without the mighty Draco to back them up, their comments towards the Gryffindors were usually "stupid head" or "crazy face" or even something lamer than that. There were a few good Slytherins in the house, too. But they were usually depressed because they didn't want to end up in Slytherin in the first place.
Hermione, Harry, and Ron walked together down to the dungeons. They were as cheerless as ever with only half the torches lit and a couple more pickled animals in jars along the walls. To Hermione's, and most everyone's dismay, the cauldrons were out, which meant they were making a potion and they'd have to partner up. Snape was the only professor in the school that chose the two people that partnered up; all the other teachers were either nice enough to let you choose or they were just too lazy. And unfortunately for Hermione, she was usually stuck with, yep, you guessed it, Draco Malfoy.
"Sit!" Snape yelled at the class, mostly towards the Gryffindors.
The class sat in their spots and waited for Snape to start. In large, messy letters on the board was the name: Drut's Potion. Hermione had never heard of it. That was a first.
"Today you will be making a very strong potion." Snape murmured to the class. "It's extremely hard to make so you'd better listen if you like having all your limbs."
Ron gulped loudly. Snape lifted a large jar of dead spiders from behind his desk. Ron gulped loudly again.
"First, you'll need two of these." Snape began. "You'll need to pull of the legs like this…"
Ten minutes later, Snape told the class to get with their partner and start making the potion. Draco, being the lazy dolt that he was, sat chatting with Greg Goyle who sat in front of him. Hermione picked up her stuff and walked to the back of the room where Draco sat, mumbling curse words to herself.
"Hey sunshine!" Draco said in a fake cheerful voice. Goyle laughed stupidly at this remark. As small as it was, that comment from Draco had a huge affect on Hermione. The only think keeping her from strangling him right then and there was the visions in her head of totally awful things happening to him. Unfortunately, that gave her a dazed look that Draco spotted.
"Are you just gonna stare at me like that or are you going to sit down." He said.
"Malfoy," Hermione started, "I don't like this any more than you do, so don't make this worse than it has to be."
"Who said I wasn't enjoying this?" He asked. "I love how I can get to you by just looking your way."
Hermione sat down with clenched fists, her temper rising. Near the front of the class, she saw Harry turn to look at her with a half-sympathetic, half-I'm-not-much-better-off smile. He had been paired up with Pansy Parkinson. Probably the least-liked girl in the entire school, Pansy was also the most ditzy. Hermione had been partnered with her once and she wouldn't do anything because the ingredients were all too 'icky'. The ingredients consisted of several different herbs, and nothing else. She wouldn't touch them because she was afraid that they would hurt her somehow. During classes when they would have to partner up, she would draw pictures of a girl being chased by huge, plant-like monsters. Pansy didn't get it, but she was quite thickheaded and Hermione wasn't surprised.
Two torturous hours later, the bell rang, signaling the second period was over. Hermione quickly picked up her stuff and tried to catch up to the rest of the Gryffindors.
"Wait Granger," Snape's voice came. "Your potion isn't done."
Harry and Ron stopped before leaving the door and turned and looked at Hermione.
"Well sir," she said, "I have another class in 5 minutes. Could we possibly leave it as is?'
"Surely you could," Snape said smirking, "but you'd lose 100 points."
"100 points!" Hermione yelled, "The potion isn't even worth that many points!"
"I guess we'll be making it up then some other time then, eh Granger?" Draco said smugly. He looked quite pleased with the situation. Sure, he'd have to come down into the dungeon during his free time to finish a potion, but anything to make Hermione or any of her other dumb friends angry was worth 1000 points. Suddenly, the 1-minute bell rang.
"So I'll be seeing you after dinner then, Hermione?" Draco said.
"Whatever…" She said, running out the door. Why her? Why did Draco Malfoy have to be…ugh! She couldn't stop thinking about it.
Classes came and went by too fast for Hermione's liking that day. She didn't want dinner to end. In nearly 20 minutes time she would have to go down to the dungeons to the two hopeless cases that she practically hated.
"Don't worry." Ron said. "It won't take that long. You'll probably be down there for five minutes tops."
"Yeah," she replied, "but those are five minutes of my life that I'll never get back again. Those are five minutes wasted on Draco and Snape."
"Think of it this way…" Ginny said, "Which would you rather have, five more minutes of your life?…or 100 points?"
Hermione decided not to respond to this. Ginny was right, as always. There was no denying it, but it didn't change the fact that she hated Malfoy's guts. Hermione heard a loud clatter from the other end of the great hall and everyone fell silent except for two boys, who were also now standing.
"What did you call me?!" It was Draco.
"You heard me, you slimy git!" Another seventh year guy from Ravenclaw that Ginny and Hermione knew.
Draco took his wand and shot a quick hex at the boy and hit him in the shoulder, though it didn't look like it had much effect. By now the teachers were racing towards the dueling boys and the other students were cheering them on, yet keeping their distance. The other boy whipped his wand out, too, and shot what looked like the same hex at Malfoy. Professor McGonagall got to Draco just as professor Snape got to the other boy. Both their wands were apprehended and they were escorted to the infirmary. As McGonagall walked by, mumbling, "Never in my day…with so many students around…could've been serious" with Draco behind her, Malfoy shot Hermione a proud smirk and winked at her. She glared at him and watched as he disappeared out the door.
"Looks like you won't have to finish that potion after all." Harry said, also watching Draco.
"Thank god." She said, sitting down again. "I would've died if I had to see his face one more time today."
Harry and Ron laughed, but Ginny looked a little preoccupied.
"Do you guys think Jason's okay?"
"Who?" Harry and Ron both said.
"The boy that fought Malfoy." Hermione said, surprised. "Seriously, you've gone to school with him for seven years and you don't even know his name?"
Harry and Ron just shrugged. They knew other people, just mostly the girls. What good would it do for them to know other guys?
The last few minutes of dinner were mostly filled with heated discussion about the fight that had went on. Most people were on Jason's side, but there were still the Slytherins. When asked, they would most likely say that Jason started the whole thing by insulting Draco's family or something lame like that. They were known to say that about most arguments they were involved in.
After Dinner, Hermione didn't have any more periods. She was relieved that she didn't have her Astronomy classes anymore. Midnight just wasn't her kind of time. Besides, she had loads of homework to finish for the next day. She, Harry, Ginny, and Ron all went up to the common room to settle for the night. They all had their homework laid out on the table closest to the fireplace. The Gryffindor part of the school was the chilliest part during the winter, and there was usually a mad rush for any spot close to the fireplace.
They all worked on their homework for quite some time. It must've been late because only a few other students were still in the room. Hermione had just finished with her Charms paper when a clock stuck 11 o'clock.
"Oh no." She said.
"What's wrong?" Harry said looking up.
"The infirmary closed." She replied.
"So," Ron said, "What's your point?"
"Jason, you dolt!" Hermione said jokingly, "I wanted to see how he was doing."
Ron just shook his head in disgust, Harry laughed, and Ginny, oddly, smiled at Hermione.
"That's a good idea." She said, closing her book. "This stuff isn't due for a week, I can put it off. I'll go with you."
"…Really?" Hermione said, "Well, I wasn't going to since it's past curfew, but…if you'll go with me…"
"Well then it's settled." She said, packing the rest of her books and standing up.
The look on Hermione's face was nothing compared to those of Ron and Harry's. They looked both bewildered and quite scared.
"What's gotten into you?" Ron asked. "It almost seems like you…"
Comprehension dawned on Ron's face.
"Ohhh!" He said, with a wide grin, "Someone's got a boyfrie…oomph!"
Ron had been smacked with a book in mid-teasing.
"He's not my boyfriend." Ginny said defiantly.
"Sure he isn't…" Ron said, going back to his homework, "Hmm.."
Ginny glared at Ron.
"Hmm, what?" she asked.
"I never thought you were into the captain-of-the-Quidditch-team type."
At this, Harry started cracking up and Ginny smacked Ron hard in the face. Harry stopped laughing abruptly and slouched down in his chair a bit and started doing his homework again. Ginny and Harry were good friends, but he knew better than to get her cross. Ron, however, didn't seem to learn that yet.
Ginny and Hermione walked out the portrait hole and down the steps. Hogwarts usually cheerful corridors were now dark and menacing and gave her and Ginny the creeps. It took longer to get to the infirmary than usual, considering they were walking slower, trying to limit the amount of noise they made. If Filch or Mrs. Norris were to catch them, Hermione didn't want to think about the punishment they'd get. When they got to the door, Hermione pushed it open just an inch to see if Madam Pomphrey was at her desk, but she wasn't. They walked in and saw two bed surrounded by curtains at either end of the room. Hermione went to the bed closest to the door and quietly peeked behind the curtain. Sure enough, there was Jason, with a bandage on his shoulder. Hermione saw the curtains on the other side of the bed move and Ginny's face peeked through as well.
"So," Hermione whispered ever so silently, "Is Ron right?"
"…Not entirely." Ginny replied.
"How right is he?" Hermione asked.
"I just like him a lot," she said, "but he doesn't know."
"Oh…" Hermione said, as she saw Ginny move her hand towards his face, just barely touching him. Jason turned in his sleep and made Ginny jump. She hit a tray of utensils behind her and they went clattering loudly to the floor. Jason and, by the sound of it, Draco, had both woken up.
"Hermione?" Jason said. "What..? Ginny?"
"Dammit!"
"Weasley? Granger? What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Everyone shut up!"
They could hear rushing footsteps from the hall.
"It's Pomphrey!"
"Hurry, get behind the bed!"
Suddenly the lights flipped on and a messy-haired, tired looking Madam Pomphrey appeared.
"What in the name of great wizards is going on in here?!" she demanded.
"Uh…" Jason said, "I…um…often move in my sleep and I must have hit your tray."
"Oh thank goodness…" she said, walking towards the tray. "I thought it was something serious. I'll just clean this up quick for you."
"NO!" he yelled
Madam Pomphrey looked up at him, bewildered.
"No, uh, please.." he said, "I've been a bother already. I'm sure I'll be well enough to clean it up tomorrow morning."
Madam Pomphrey gave him a piercing stare.
"It's okay Jason." Draco blurted from the opposite end of the room. "It's her job, I'm sure she won't mind."
Hermione barred her teeth and crouched down lower behind the bed. Draco was so stupid. Didn't he know that if they were caught, he would be in trouble, too?
"It's quite alright Draco," Jason started warningly, "I'll get it tomorrow."
"But as long as she's here, why shouldn't she?"
"Because I'm tired now and want to sleep. I can get it tomorrow."
"Oh, come on Jason! It'll only take a minute."
"Shut up, Draco."
"You two! Stop it this instant!" Madam Pomphrey yelled. "I think you both need some sleep!" She walked to the door and turned off the light.
"If I have to come back here one more time and I catch you fighting again, I'm going to Dumbledore and he can set you right!" And with that, she closed the door. Hermione waited until she couldn't hear her footsteps to say anything.
"What's your bloody problem!" She said to Draco.
"I don't think I'm the one with the problem." He replied. "I'm not the one walking around in the middle of the night."
"You would've gotten us all in trouble if she caught us." Ginny said. "You would've gotten in trouble, too."
"That's a small price to pay." He leered, "Irritating Hermione is one of my sole pleasures in life."
Hermione was breathing deeply, trying to keep herself from killing him right then and there. Day after day after day she got the same thing from Draco. You'd think that she'd get over it, but he always bothered her no matter what he did. She decided she'd try to ignore the little ferret.
"Does it hurt?" She asked Jason.
"Nah…" he said, "just a small burn. Nothing from him could leave anything."
Ginny giggled at his remark and continued to do so for the next 15 minutes they were in the infirmary. Strangely enough, Draco hadn't said anything the whole time. She assumed that he had fallen asleep. Somewhere, a bell chimed once, signaling that it was 11:30. Hermione decided that they should probably get going and got up. Ginny, though quite reluctantly, did so, too. Before she walked out the door, Hermione turned to wave bye to Jason and caught the sleeping Draco out of the corner of her eyes. She found herself staring at Draco in the distance. She had to admit, he was kinda cute, when he wasn't being a complete idiot…..
Ahh!!!! She almost slapped herself with the thought! How could she?! She hoped that it was just a side affect of being over tired. She was being delusional. Draco Malfoy and cute didn't mix. Ugh!
It took Hermione and Ginny another 20 minutes to make their way back up to Gryffindor tower. Once they thought they saw Mrs. Norris run across the hall in front of him, but it ended up being someone else's pet cat on the loose. As soon as they stepped into their common room, Hermione went up to the dorms and fell onto the bed. She was quite tired and felt like she would never get up. Plus, she had to get that thought she made earlier about Draco out of her mind forever.
Hermione was walking through a forest. It looked like the Forbidden Forest to her, but it could be any one. For some reason she was running; running as fast as she could. She didn't know to what or from what she was running, but she knew that if she stopped, something terrible would happen if it didn't already. She was horrified, but she didn't know what about. She felt like screaming…felt tears running down her face…felt the cold wind hit her as she ran. She was barefoot and her feet were in so much pain, but she didn't care. She closed her eyes as she ran; they were burning from the cold, piercing wind.
**flash**
Hermione wasn't running anymore. Neither was she in a forest…or barefoot…or terrified. But she was still crying. Not out of anger or worry or fear…just out of sadness. She looked completely different for that matter. She was wearing a dark dress. She couldn't tell what color it was, it was too dark…and thundering out…slightly raining. It looked as if she were in a graveyard…a small church in the background…other tombstones were scattered about. She was crying silently into her hands. She felt confused and traumatized. She looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were swirling and lightning flashed across the sky. She looked down at the tombstone. It was small and simple with one inscription on it…
"Alte mar sun ante dominae…a lost soul, but never forgotten…"
Right below was the name, but she couldn't stand to look at it. The name made her weep and want to die. She couldn't live…she looked at the name…
"Rise and shine sleepy head!" came Ginny's voice, "Hey… what's wrong?"
Hermione had shot up from bed, her eyes were red and wet…as if she had be crying. But she couldn't remember why.
"Nothing…" she said. "I must've been having some nightmare, huh?"
"I'd say…" Ginny only half replied as she was looking in the mirror putting makeup on.
"By the time Hermione had gone down to breakfast, the details of the dream she had had drifted away.