A/N: Okay, should I feel guilty? I have no idea, haha. Well, this is the last chapter I have written right now. I've had all 8 chapters of this posted at FanFiction.Net for…who knows how long now, lol. Yes, I've been holding out on you, but it's because I wanted to post this like a normal fic, not all at once. But I promise, no more of that!
On a side note before I respond to reviews, I've been doing a lot of good reading lately. If you want to go check it out (no, I'm not being asked to advertise, I just think they're REALLY good stories), there's "Soul Scepter" by Ryoko Blue (plus the sequel, WIP), "Fire and Ice" by Just Silver (plus the sequels-the threequel is a WIP), and "These Thorns that Bind Us" by BloodVelvet (WIP). The last two are slash, so…be warned, lol. The slash ones are on FanFiction.Net since Portkey doesn't take those ships, but Ryoko's story is right here.
I've learned that I have to be a bit more random in my writing. That always seems to make it amusing. Really, don't you think having a sexual attraction to broccoli just rocks? (Okay, Kelly, I'll go take a cold shower, LOL).
So…that took forever. Thanks to all of you who reviewed chapter 7! Both of you, lol.
TimGold: Haha, you actually reviewed each chapter. Thanks! Ah, more fluff, always more fluff. Can't get enough myself, but… I'll try. Wait till the next chapter-there's gonna be a whooooooooole lot!
Clyde: Thanks a lot! Haha, you've actually R/Red the whole thing, too. Enjoy this chapter!
Oh, and Foofie: You're horrible. Happy birthday, though, LOL. How's your shirt? ;)
~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8 ~ The Secret World of Our Dreams
"I have an announcement to make," Dumbledore called out over the din of the Great Hall at dinner, "concerning recent events which, until this time, have not been able to be disclosed to the public."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up in anticipation; they knew, without even having spoken to Dumbledore about it yet, that this was about Malfoy. He'd been absent for a week, and despite their persistent badgering, the teachers refused to disclose any information.
"I wonder what he's going to say?" Ron mused.
"First of all," Dumbledore announced over the quickly quieting students, "some of you have been worried over the sudden disappearance of one of our Slytherin students. I would like to allay all fears that something has happened. A relative has fallen horribly ill, and his father came to take him out of school."
"That's nice to know," Hermione said. "At least he wasn't kidnapped or anything."
"Too bad he wasn't killed," Ron joked. Hermione glared at him, and he argued that he was only joking.
"Second," came Dumbledore's booming voice again, "the pre-holiday trip to Hogsmeade will not be cancelled." Apparently, he hadn't conferred with the teachers on this matter. Hagrid seemed a bit happy, actually, but Professors Snape and McGonagall, among others, stared in disbelief at the headmaster. "I am of the opinion that the professors' leave of absence was not your fault and that your usual holiday should not be taken away because you've already had one. There is no such thing as too much vacation," he added with a slight smile. "That said, let's eat!"
As the usual feast appeared throughout the Great Hall, the students' voices rose once more into uncontrollable chatter discussing both of the matters Dumbledore had addressed.
"I can't wait to go to Hogsmeade again!" Ron said. "Good thing Ginny can come this year, eh?"
"Yeah," Harry groaned. He had no particular problem with Ginny, but her ever-apparent crush on him seemed to haunt him in his sleep, especially now that he had Hermione.
"But we're still not going until the week before Christmas, if I'm not mistaken," Hermione said matter-of-factly.
"And you never are," Ron mumbled.
"Oh, do shut up," Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. Harry shook his head and chuckled. The next few weeks would be interesting…
"RONALD WEASLEY, GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"
Running down the stairs in alarm, Ron saw Hermione standing with her hands on her hips in the common room, steam almost literally coming out of her ears. The only thing more obvious about her appearance was that she no longer retained her pale pinkish skin tone. In fact, it seemed to be flashing every color except her natural skin tone.
"That looks good on you," Ron said, trying desperately to stifle his giggles.
"Boys don't giggle," Hermione scolded him once more as a wave of blue washed over her skin. "I want you to reverse this charm immediately before you become a slug."
"I can't," Ron laughed as Hermione turned a shade of bright orange. "Fred and George made those things, and they're…indisposed at the moment."
Glaring at him, Hermione was almost whispering in her rage. Of course, she wasn't that mad at Ron, being as they were best friends and she knew how his mind worked, but she was still considerably unhappy. She looked down at her hands, which were leaking green hues up her arms. The never-ending wonders of Fred and George's imaginations…
"Well, make them un-indisposed," she hissed, "before I make them disposed."
At that moment, Harry came down the stairs to see what the commotion was all about. Ron brushed briskly past him as he ran to find Fred and George somewhere in the dorms, still concocting more gags for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Upon seeing Hermione, Harry's face first showed great alarm, but realizing that Ron had only given her one of the twins' "treats", he started laughing.
"Don't you dare start laughing," she said to him, "or you will be out of here like that." She snapped her fingers to emphasize her point.
"Yes, Miss Delacour," Harry mocked, remembering how Fleur had used the same phrase during the Yule Ball last year. "I don't have anything to fear."
"Oh, and what makes you think that? You'll be out of my life in a heartbeat if you make one more comment about this," she snapped. Harry shrugged.
"Empty threat," he said nonchalantly. Hermione was fuming, but she was finding it difficult to stay angry at Harry for very long.
"You know me too well," she sighed after a moment's pause. "But I don't want any more people to see me like this."
Thinking hard, Harry said, "Have you tried using Finite Incantatem?"
"Of course," Hermione said in her I'm-not-that-stupid tone of voice.
"Just checking," Harry said, trying to calm her down. He went to her and put his arms around her waist. "That shade of red looks great on you, though," he joked. Hermione's smile quickly faded, and she brought her knee swiftly upward. Harry jumped back and put his hands straight to where Hermione's knee went.
"Oh, my God," he gasped, falling on the floor.
"Get up, you baby," Hermione said patronizingly. "It can't hurt that much."
"You have no idea," Harry said, still trying desperately to catch his breath. Suddenly, a smile came to his face, and he pulled Hermione down into his arms. "But you can kiss it and make it all better," he hinted.
Hermione pushed herself out of his arms and glared down at him, but her face eventually faded into a smile. "As if you could ever get me into bed." She turned and walked off as Harry got to his feet, his manhood still throbbing in pain.
"Wanna bet?" he muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Hermione turned around to face Harry.
"Nothing." Hermione raised her eyebrow at him. She opened her mouth as though she was going to say something, but she thought better of it and shook her head. As she walked off, Harry bounced on his heels, trying desperately to alleviate the pain from Hermione's "joking" strike. He quickly muttered a healing charm that reduced his pain. Harry sighed in relief and flung himself over the back of the sofa into its cushiony depths.
Harry woke up the next morning to see the fireplace in front of him. Realizing that he'd fallen asleep on the sofa once more, he quickly got up and ran to the dorms to grab some clean clothes before heading off to the bathroom to shower. He was lucky; it was already quite late in the morning, but he didn't have Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws until eleven o'clock.
When Harry came out of the shower (he'd finally given up on his hair), Hermione was waiting in the common room for him when he returned. She had a book that Harry considered quite small for something that she was reading.
"What are you reading?" he asked as he came up behind her.
Without looking up, Hermione replied, "One of my favorites. It's As I Lay Dying by William Faulker. He's an American author, and his style is most intriguing." Harry bent down and leaned on the back of the sofa to see what was "most intriguing" about this novel.
"What in the bloody name of the States is this? 'My mother is a fish?' What on Earth…" Hermione laughed out loud.
"Oh, it's a horribly twisted book. Drilling holes in your mother's face, dragging a rotting corpse for three weeks in a wooden wagon, getting it from the doctor who's supposed to be giving you an abortion… It's all very interesting."
"I think I'll pass," Harry said, wondering why on Earth Hermione was reading this book.
"It's a classic of American literature. You have no idea what you're missing," she insisted.
"I think I'd rather not know what I'm missing, thank you," Harry said. Hermione was about to interject once more, but the clock above the fireplace chimed 10:30, and they decided that they should be off to McGonagall's class.
They were supposed to be transfiguring mothballs into moths, but Ron, who ran into the classroom just as McGonagall began class, was not very happy because of his mottephobia. Nonetheless, he successfully turned two mothballs into Luna Moths, which he promptly disposed of with a muttering of "Incendio" when McGonagall had her back turned. As a puff of smoke rose from Ron's desk and began wafting throughout the room with each successful transfiguration, McGonagall became slightly suspicious but refrained from saying anything.
Herbology with the Slytherins was unsettling. Crabbe and Goyle kept looking at each other as though they were lost without Malfoy. His absence made Harry, Ron, and Hermione confused; they were used to his jeering insults being thrown their way every few moments, and the tranquil atmosphere of the greenhouses was different but welcome.
"How is the Monk's Hood coming, dears?" Professor Sprout asked. Her chubby, perky face appeared behind them. They'd each managed to collect quite a few leaves for Snape's stores, as he said they were running a bit low, but the way the plants shrank back when you pulled a leaf off made Hermione queasy.
"It's fine," Ron replied. "Hermione's getting a bit tweaked, though."
Hermione blushed and stammered her arguments to Professor Sprout. "It just seems like we're hurting them, what with the way they move away."
"Don't worry about it, child," Professor Sprout said, putting her arm around Hermione. "They'd rather have a human do it than a wolf."
"Yes," Hermione said, her bookishness coming into full effect, "Wolf's Bane is the canine equivalent of catnip: they're attracted to it, but it has some rather…unpleasant effects if not used in moderation." Professor Sprout smiled at Hermione's extensive knowledge as she walked off to attend to other students.
Harry thought to himself what Draco would have said, had he been there. "Don't hurt the poor plant, Mudblood. It's probably afraid of just touching you more than losing a few leaves." Harry felt the color rising to his cheeks as he thought about Malfoy, even with the slight truce they'd made. Where on Earth had Malfoy gone? When Dumbledore had addressed the students, Harry could tell that he didn't completely believe Lucius' reason for the withdrawal of his son.
And for some reason, whenever Harry had the feeling that Lucius was lying, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He ripped a leaf off of one of the Wolf's Bane plants, causing it to jump out of the pot. What's going on? Harry thought.
~~~~~~~~~~
Haha, well that's a very nice chapter. Yeah, so Harry and Hermione kinda switched perspectives on Draco there for a while. I promise you'll all enjoy chapter 9. I'll give you a hint: Harry and Hermione go to Hogsmeade! And just for you, Clair, the chapter is pissing me off because I can't find a good place to cut/stop, so it's 5000 words and nowhere NEAR done. So if it takes a while, my apologies to you all. Go read Heaven's stories if you get bored, lol. She'll appreciate it. So PLEASE review and tell me what you think! I'll have chapter 9 up ASAP…which, knowing me, lol…
~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, and I just had the most interesting convo with one of my friends, and I just had to share it with you.
Her: So what is your favorite color?
Me: Hey, that's not a fair question.
Her: Why not?
Me: Technically, leopard-print isn't a color.
Eh, she's even hornier than I am, but my fav color really is blue, lol. I just like messin with her sometimes. If any of you want to AIM me, I'd be honored-my AIM is the same as my penname.