Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Through Her ❯ A Dream & Strategies for a Test ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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Chapter 9: A Dream & Strategies for a Test

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Ginny had been up waiting for Hermione when she got back. Hermione had told her all about the night's events. Ginny had been excited for her that things were going so well. They had stayed up well into the night talking about all kinds of things, gossiping and laughing together; Neither had a worry in the world. Unfortunately, things couldn't always be that easy, at least not for them. When Hermione had come back to Gryffindor Tower, she hadn't noticed that the common room wasn't empty.

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Dark Shadowed figures stood in the corner of an unrecognizable room. Ron and Hermione lay unconscious on the cold stone floor. He looked around the room and saw that he, himself, lay near another corner of the room. His attention locked on whoever, or whatever, was standing in the shadows, his eyes filled with fire, though he didn't know why. Murmurs were heard from the shadows. Everything went quiet. An eerie silence filled the room, followed by a hollow sinister laugh. Hermione and Ron's eyes shot open, fear evident in them. Everything went black. Then all at once flashes of pictures came to his mind. Red eyes. A glimpse of long platinum blond. Hermione sitting on her knees, pain and disbelief shown on her face, a single tear streaking down her cheek. His own face, distorted in pain. There was still no sound. Everything went black again. The last words he heard were no louder than a whisper, filled with awe and despair. 'How could you...'

Harry sat up with a gasp. He was drenched in sweat, his heart beating furiously. He shakily grabbed his glasses off his night stand and put them on. It was only one o'clock. He let out a deep breath, Getting up and leaving the bedroom. His thoughts were racing through his head, hardly giving him time to process them. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the empty hallways as he made his way down to the Gryffindor common room. He sat down on the couch, staring into the fire. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep anymore that night. He stayed there for hours, unable to find the strength to move. Around two, he heard the portrait door swing open, revealing a very dazed and happy looking Hermione. He didn't really want to explain what he was doing up because he still needed time to process everything, so he sat there silently, watching her as she walked past, unnoticing of him, and up the her dorm.

It wasn't until 6:30 that he decided he should go get showered and dressed for class. He had been up the whole time, and found, when he got to the bathroom and took a look at himself, that he had dark circles under his eyes and he looked completely drained. He sighed, shaking his head and stepping in the shower, hoping the hot water would help him relax a bit.

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"Oy! Hermione!" Ron called when he saw her walk into the Great Hall. She looked tired, but seemed to be in a good mood. She walked over to the middle of the Gryffindor table where Ron, Harry and Ginny were sitting.

"Good morning," she yawned, reaching for a muffin.

"Morning Hermione," Ginny said, grinning at her.

Hermione blushed and looked back at her muffin, hoping someone would start a conversation.

Harry didn't want to ask where she had been so late the night before yet because he wanted to wait until they were alone, or it was just the four of them.

"So, Hermione, are you going to the library again tonight?" Harry asked non-chalantly.

"Oh!" she said, remembering she had to owl Draco, "Um, no I'm not, I was hoping we could hang out tonight, all of us," she said hopefully.

"Well you three can, but I'm going to a study group for Potions with some other fifth years," Ginny said.

"Study group?" Ron asked, confused, "I don't understand, you have Hermione, who could possibly help more than she could?"

Hermione smiled, she was sure he was trying to be nice and cute again. She felt a bit guilty, after liking him for so long, that she didn't find it as attractive as she used to. She saw him as the big brother he'd always been. Hopefully, he'd realize it too.

"Oh, Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, "I could ask Hermione, but I don't hang out with my friends from my year very often anymore because I'm always with you guys, so I'd like to catch up with them. And I'm sure you three would like to hang out alone since it's been so long since you've been able to."

"You're sure, Gin?" Harry asked lovingly.

"Positive," she smiled, giving him a reassuring kiss. They probably should spend a little time apart once in a while. Though she did have to admit, she loved being with him.

Ron rolled his eyes, "Must you do that in front of me?"

"Oh, Ron," Hermione laughed, "You can't really believe they've been dating for this long and never kissed!"

"Well, I'd like to imagine that's how it is," Ron smiled.

Hermione sighed, "Well I've got to make a stop before class, so I'll meet you guys there." She got up and waved goodbye, bringing the rest of her muffin along with her.

She made her way up to the owlery and grabbed a piece of parchment to write a note to Malfoy. She sent it along with one of the school owls and headed for her first class.

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Draco was still sleeping when he heard a tap at his window. He opened his eyes slightly, adjusting to the sunlight that was streaming in. Sitting on the window ledge was one of the school owls. He threw off the covers and opened the window to let the owl in. He sat down on his bed opening the note, it read:

I had an amazing time last night. I hope you don't mind if I spend tonight with Harry and Ron since I haven't seen them in a while. Owl me back and let me know if you want to meet me tomorrow night.

-H

Draco sighed, she obviously couldn't spend every night with him. Besides, it would give him time to strategize his next move. He knew that his first part of the task was to get Granger to trust him, but he also had to think about the long term, he still had Potter to work on. That was going to be Hell. He grabbed a scrap piece of parchment from his desk and scribbled a note back, trying to make it sound sweet and genuine. He gave it to the owl to take back to Hermione.

Draco looked at the time, Shit! He thought. It was a good thing that owl had came, or else he probably would have slept through his first class. He only had fifteen minutes until his class started. He ran to the bathroom and hopped in the shower. By the time he had washed, dressed, and made it to the Transfiguration room, he was only about five minutes late.

As soon as he sat down he could feel everyone's eyes on him.

"Five points from Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy. Please try to be on time to my class next time," Professor McGonagall told him, without even looking up from the papers she had in front of her.

"Please open to page three hundred and thirty-seven and begin reading on Complex-Celled Transfiguration."

Malfoy let out a deep breath, taking out his book and starting to read.

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After a long day of classes, the trio made their way back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"I'll be right back, I'm just going to put my books away," Hermione told them, heading up towards the girls dormitories.

As she set down her books on her desk, she found that she had an owl waiting for her outside her window. She opened the window, taking the note it was holding out for her and giving it a snack. She walked over and sat down on her bed, opening up the note, hoping Malfoy hadn't been upset.

G-

Don't worry about it. Enjoy yourself, I know I've been stealing you away from them lately, so I insist that you stay there tonight. If you're free tomorrow night, I was thinking 8:00 ROR. Let me know.

-M

Hermione folded up the note and put it in her desk drawer. She pulled out another piece of parchment and quickly wrote him a reply saying she'd see him tomorrow night at eight. She gave it to the owl who took off towards the Slytherin dormitories. With that, she headed back down to the common room.

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Hermione walked into the common room to find Harry and Ron sitting in their usual corner, Ron sitting in a chair, Harry on one half of the couch, saving the other half for her. They were right in front of the fireplace, which made her happy, since she'd been cold all day for some reason. She walked over, sitting down and relaxing. It was nice to just hang out with them again.

After some small talk about classes and how Quidditch practice was going, Harry, turned to Hermione with a serious face. He looked like he had something to say, or ask, but didn't know how.

"Something wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Er, well, we'll start with the small stuff then I have something important to talk to you both about." Harry said uncertainly, looking down at the floor.

"Go on," Hermione prompted, while Ron looked on in interest.

"Well, Hermione, what time did you get in last night?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Uh... well, I-I guess it was a bit later than usual," Hermione stuttered, not expecting that question.

"I was down here, in the common room, when you got back," Harry looked at her, "What were you doing out so late?"

Hermione's heart started beating a little faster, Ron and Harry were both looking at her curiously, "Well, I just got really involved in this book, I must have lost track of time," she swallowed hard, hoping she sounded convincing. She hated lying to them.

"We asked Neville earlier when he got back from the library about eleven if he knew if you were heading back anytime soon, and he said he hadn't seen you down there," Ron stated.

"I was in the back corner, no one usually comes back there," Hermione lied.

"Alright, Hermione, but you know you can talk to us about anything, right? You don't have to hide anything from us," Harry said in a concerned voice.

"I'm not hiding anything from you, if ever there's anything I need to talk about, I know I can trust you both. So please, trust me," Hermione said, hating that she had to do this.

"Okay," Harry said, still not completely convinced, but taking her word for it. Ron, however looked like he bought the entire story, which hurt Hermione even more.

"So what is it you wanted to talk to us about, Mate?" Ron asked Harry, changing the subject.

"Well, I..." he started. "I just wanted to..." he tried again. But he couldn't bring himself to tell them about his dream. He still had to think everything over for himself, and for some reason, he didn't feel that it was the right time to tell them. "I just wanted to say that I really missed hanging out like this, just the three of us." Harry said lamely.

"Oh, well I've missed it too, is that what the important talk was?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Mostly, yes," Harry said, but knowing how unconvincing he sounded added, "I just thought that with everyone being so busy, Ron and I with Quidditch and you and your studies, and me with Ginny, we just don't get a chance to hang out like this very often anymore."

"I guess you're right," Ron said, thinking about it for the first time. They had all gotten pretty busy. Even he had been busy lately, trying to keep up with his classes and Quidditch took up a lot of time. He really did miss Hermione though. Over the summer he had thought that their 'relationship' had gotten stronger, and he had even thought that he may have a chance to be with her. He still liked her a lot, but he could feel the distance growing between them. "We should do this more often, just a night that we can all just hang out together."

Harry could tell that Ron was thinking about spending more time with Hermione. It was plain to see that he still liked her, but he'd noticed lately that she didn't seem to be returning the feeling anymore. He wondered what had happened.

They sat around talking about smaller things and laughing together like old times, like they had that summer when they'd all been together for a little while at the Burrow. When it started getting late, they decided they should head upstairs. They said goodnight and went their separate ways.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Blaise, I think I've done as much as I can with her. I really think she trusts me," Draco told him smugly.

"Alright then, I say you test her," Blaise smirked.

"Hmm... probably a good idea, what have you got in mind. At least this will get my father-" he said the name with malice, "-off my back for a little while," Draco said.

"Well, it's a two step process that I think would be the perfect test," Blaise said, trying to make Draco get it out of him.

Draco sighed, "Get on with it, Blaise, tell me this brilliant idea."

"Step one: find out her big fears," Blaise looked over at Draco and grinned.

"Okay..." Draco asked, "And step two?"

"Simple, help her get over it," Blaise said.

"I don't get it, how will that test anything?" Draco asked, confused.

Blaise shook his head, "Oh, Draco, ye of little faith," he joked.

"Explain please," Draco prompted, starting to get annoyed.

Blaise sighed, "Alright, alright. Let's say for example, she's deathly afraid of... dogs."

"Okay..."

"Well, you find a dog and see if she runs away screaming or if she trusts you enough to suck up her fears and go along with it," Blaise finished.

"You know, Blaise, you're crazy. And I hope you understand that would only work for specific fears," Draco said.

"I'm quite aware I'm crazy, as well as quite aware that it will only work for specific things, yada yada yada, don't worry about it. If that doesn't fly, I have a back-up plan, but I'll save that until we figure out how this will work," Blaise smiled.

Draco closed his eyes and lay back on his bed, "We'll see I guess, I'll try you're plan, but I'm not very reassured, I'm just doing this to humor you," he told him.

"Just give it a try, it could work quite well. Well, at least, it would be a good test, if all goes as planned," Blaise said. He too lay back on his bed and closed his eyes.

"Whatever, I'm goin' to bed," Draco said in a tired voice, turning over and pulling up his covers.

"'Night," Blaise said, dimming the lamp beside his bed until it went out.

As Draco drifted off to sleep, Hermione's face kept entering his dreams, making him smile absent-mindedly. She trusted him, he knew she did. Now he just had to prove it. That would get the first part of his task out of the way. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how hard the second part would be, that he hadn't thought about yet.

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A/N: Hey everyone! hope you all enjoyed that chapter!

Review pleassssse!

Jenny