Author's Note: Firstly, my apologies for the long, long time it took to write this. I am a full time, double majoring college student though, and I believe that's plenty good of an excuse.
akjennymay9 - I'm sure Hermione's mum taught her that at some point, but she doesn't remember anything. She doesn't even completely realize that there are evils in the world. She just knows what is immediately around her.
Chapter Eight
A few hours later, Professor Dumbledore came to the office to bring us to the Great Hall, where the ritual was set to take place. Hermione and I followed him silently through the castle as numerous students paused and stared at us along the way. Evidently, news of what had happened had traveled through the school quickly after the dust had cleared from Voldemort's defeat.
When we reached the entrance of the hall, Dumbledore paused and turned around to face us.
"Now, Hermione, you remember what I told you about this ceremony, correct?"
"Yes sir," she replied quietly, keeping her eyes on the floor as a visible blush crept onto her cheeks. While watching her, I suddenly realized my own face felt as if it was on fire as well. In a few minutes, I'd have to kiss my best friend…my best friend who I'd been in love with for the past three years. My best friend who belonged to my other best friend...
I'll just make sure he goes before me, I thought. If he goes, then I won't have to kiss her. I won't have to know what I'm missing in my life.
I looked up to see Dumbledore studying my face, a slight smile partially hidden beneath his beard. "Here we go," he said quietly, then opened the doors to the hall.
Three of the four rows of house tables had been cleared away, and five people were sitting at the remaining table. I glanced at the group quickly, recognizing most of their faces. Hermione's parents were at the head of the table, followed by Seamus, Ron, and a boy that I had never seen before. I paused when my eyes met Ron's, and a dark look passed between us. Embarrassed, I turned away from him and stared at the floor.
"Hermione, dear," Dumbledore spoke, breaking into my thoughts. I turned towards him and saw him pointing towards Snape, who had removed a vial of potion from his cloak. Hermione left my side and walked towards Snape. I heard a small gasp and looked at her mother, who was holding a handkerchief to her face. I glanced up at the rest of the hall and saw teachers posted at all entrances to the hall.
"Why the security?" I whispered to Dumbledore.
"We have reason to believe that a certain student was responsible for the Death Eaters knowing when we would be performing the ceremony that day. And that certain student has been missing ever since. We can't take any chances that he would try to retaliate," Dumbledore explained to me. I nodded, and then we parted ways as he headed over to Snape and Hermione, and I took a seat at the end of the table, away from the rest of the group.
Dumbledore raised his wand and pointed it directly above Hermione, and a bright red '400' appeared in the air.
"Ready when you are my dear," Dumbledore said quietly to Hermione, who was holding the potion tightly between her shaking hands. I had done the math in my head a million times since hearing the number, and now the numbers ran in my ears louder than ever. Four hundred seconds...Six minutes and 40 seconds…
My eyes fell back down to Hermione, who was staring thoughtfully at the potion. Without hesitation she raised the glass to her lips, then suddenly paused, and looked straight at me. Our eyes locked and I could see fear wash over her beautiful brown eyes. After a second I nodded slightly, urging her to drink it. She nodded back at me slightly, and then tilted the thick, purple liquid into her mouth. My heart swelled a little at the thought that maybe she still trusted me a little, enough to seek out my encouragement in a time of uncertainty.
Dumbledore flicked his wand toward the number in the air and the countdown began. Hermione's parents were on their feet and at her side within seconds, and her father reached down and gave his daughter a kiss, followed by her mother. Both stared hopefully at Hermione afterwards, but she just slowly shook her head from side to side. They both slowly returned to their seats, disappointed yet knowing looks on their faces.
"Seamus," Dumbledore spoke up when no one had moved after Hermione's parents had returned to their seats. I looked at Seamus and could see that he was about as embarrassed to kiss Hermione as I was. He slowly stood up and walked towards Hermione, who was blushing furiously in the center of the room. He stopped a few feet from her and let out a sigh.
"Would you please just hurry up?" sneered Snape impatiently. Seamus turned back at him sheepishly, and then turned back to Hermione. He quickly leaned in towards her and gave her the quickest of kisses, to which Hermione quickly shook her head as a 'no'.
"See, I knew it," Seamus muttered quickly and then turned towards the doors, quickly exiting the hall. I glanced up at the time. 273 seconds.
The bench next to me made a creaking sound as the boy I didn't know stood up and began to move towards Hermione. I took the opportunity to try to talk to Ron.
"Who's he?" I whispered towards him. Ron only watched him walk towards Hermione as though I hadn't said anything.
"That's Chris, Harry," Hermione's mother replied. "He lives next door to us. He and Hermione spend a lot of their time together when she's home."
"Oh," I said quietly, and turned back toward Hermione. From watching Chris' actions, I could tell that he was extremely uncomfortable about kissing her, and I could only assume that they had in fact never kissed before at all.
He approached her slowly, wiping his palms on his pants the entire walk. He stopped right in front of her and placed his hands behind his back, then leaned toward Hermione quickly and gave her a nervous and cautious first kiss. It was the most tender kiss I had ever seen, and watching I suddenly felt my blood rushing through my veins.
After a long few seconds Hermione pulled away quickly and shook her head harshly. Chris looked down at her, a slightly hurt look on his face, then turned and made his way to the far side of the table. I checked the clock again. 202 seconds.
Suddenly the room plunged into silence, as even the teachers securing the doors stopped communicating to watch as Ron stood up. His jaw was tight and I could see how tense his shoulders were as he moved towards the center of the room. As I watched him, my shoulders slumped with defeat, and although I wanted to do nothing more than look away, I found my eyes glued to Ron as he approached her.
The tension in the air heightened as he stopped very close to her and gazed at her for a few seconds.
"Time is against us, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore spoke up quietly as he moved towards the table, and my eyes along with many others darted up to the time. 178 seconds.
"Right," he muttered quietly, and then reached out to Hermione. I watched as he placed a hand on her shoulder and took another step closer to her, once again entering her space. I felt my skin grow hot as he leaned in to kiss her, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Turn away! My mind screamed at me. Don't watch! You'll never forget it!
But my will wasn't strong enough. I watched transfixed as Ron's grip on her shoulder tightened and pulled her closer to him. Unlike all previous kisses, Hermione's eyes slipped closed, and I felt as though my heart was going to stop.
In the long few seconds that Ron stood there kissing her, images of the past began fluttering over my eyes. Memories of Hermione from the past few years, when we'd been closest to each other ran across my vision fleetingly, as if they were being dangled in front of me to tease me.
"Hermione?"
Mrs. Granger's voice brought me out of my reverie and my attention flew back to the center of the room. Although they had pulled apart, Ron was still griping Hermione's shoulder. Hermione's eyes had fluttered opened and she was staring at Ron. Mrs. Granger had gotten to her feet, and now stared hopefully at the couple. The room was completely motionless with the exception of the glaring red numbers in the air. 152 seconds. 151 seconds. 150 seconds.
Then suddenly, things began to happen very quickly.