`Maybe Harry wouldn't mind taking you up on that moonlit broomstick ride, hmm?'
~ Hermione's Test ~
While the boys were at breakfast, Hermione had been cornered - against her will - in her dormitory room.
`I told you, Lavender! I don't want anything to do with it!'
`Pleeease, Hermione? Everyone else has done it!'
`It's really fun!'
Lavender and Parvati were doing their best to force Hermione into taking a love quiz from Esoteric Girl - a local beauty and fashion magazine geared at teenage witches. Hermione had been trying to dodge them ever since she woke up.
`How many times do I have to say it? I am not into this sort of thing! And if you say one word about love potion Lavender, I'll slam a book in your face I swear to - '
`Question one!' said Lavender with authority. `Would your perfect date with your perfect wizard be:
(a) A trip to Hogsmead and a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks
(b) A Quidditch match
(c) A broomstick ride in the moonlight.'
`I don't - '
Lavender and Parvati gave Hermione a stern glare. It was clear they had no intention of letting her leave without answering the question. Reluctantly, Hermione surrendered.
`Oh, all right! This is utter nonsense though,' she said indignantly, thinking for a moment, and then answered, `C. I'm not fond of flying, but it's the most original answer there.'
Lavender, now wearing a satisfied grin Hermione found very irritating, marked this response down in her magazine with a quill.
`Question two: which is the best way out of the following that a wizard can show he cares about you:
(a) Send you a Valentine's dwarf who will recite poetry and love sonnets to you
(b) Perform the 'Floribunda' spell, by which conjuring up an array of flowers within a given space
or
(c) Get a tattoo featuring your name.'
Hermione stared at Lavender, gaping. Surely this was some kind of trick? Only last week did those three exact things happen to her! Krum sent her a dwarf, Harry grew flowers in her room, and Malfoy - most unfortunately - had her name tattooed on his back.
`Er…Lavender, did you make that last question up?'
`Nuh uh. It's written right here...see?'
Lavender showed Hermione the article. She was, indeed, telling the truth. This was the strangest coincidence ever! Hermione began re-thinking question, which consequently forced her to remember the past few weeks, and all the trouble the love potion had caused. Harry's spell was really quite nice...
'Hermione?'
'B! Sorry, B,' rushed Hermione, coming back to earth.
Lavender marked this response down, and was about to ask question three, when someone knocked on the door.
'I'll get it!' Parvati announced. It was Neville Longbottom.
'What are you doing here?' she asked rudely from the doorway. 'This is the girls dormitories!'
'Er,' was Neville's initial response. 'I just came to give Hermione her Potions book. I found it in my room. I think someone was borrowing it...I know she likes to study, she's really very smart and - '
'That's great Neville,' said Parvati before he could finish, and grabbed the book off him. 'We'll see you in class, okay?'
Without another word, Parvati shut the door on him.
'Who was that?' Lavender wanted to know. Parvati smirked.
'Oh, nobody! Just another one of Hermione's boyfriends.'
'What?' said Hermione, glaring at Parvati.
'It was Neville Longbottom. He was going on about how smart and brilliant you were! Are you sure you didn't feed him love potion as well?'
Hermione scoffed.
'Very hilarious, Parvati, really!'
Parvati snickered and flipped through Hermione's Potions book; she wanted to check if it really was Hermione's, and not some stunt of Neville's to get Hermione's attention. Evidently, it was Hermione's book - and something very interesting was written repetitively on a certain page. Parvati's eyes opened wide.
'Oh - my - GOD!'
'What's wrong with you? What book are you reading?' asked Hermione, furrowing her brow. Lavender was curious as well.
'Yeah, what are you reading, let me see!'
She seized the book from Parviti's hands and read it over. Seconds later, she'd burst into uncontrollable, girlish giggles. 'Oh - my - GOD!'
'Oh my GOD!' squealed Parvati, again. Hermione then recognised whose book they were referring to.
'Hey, that's mine! That's my Potion's book!'
But Lavender and Parvati ignored Hermione completely, conducting their own private conversation.
'Did Neville write it?'
'No, it's Harry's handwriting!'
'How do you know?'
'Because! I made everyone take that 'What Your Handwriting Says About You' test last month, remember? It's definitely Harry. And anyway, Hermione said last night he was borrowing this book!'
'You're joking!'
As if it were possible, the two girls giggled even harder. To make matter worse, they started jumping up and down. The whole display made Hermione's stomach turnover.
'OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!' they repeated stupidly, over and over.
'Give me that!' Hermione ordered, snatching her book from Lavender. 'You two, for heaven's sake! The way you go on. I can't imagine what's so bloody fascinating about my Potions book, I mean - '
But Hermione couldn't say another word. She'd caught sight of Harry's 'accidental' message and her voice disappeared. Lavender couldn't help herself.
'Maybe Harry wouldn't mind taking you up on that moonlit broomstick ride, hmm?'
~ Harry Still Loves Hermione? ~
Hermione's first class that day was Arithmacy. She avoided breakfast in the Great Hall and headed straight there because, firstly, she needed to get as far away as possible from Parvati and Lavender (their giggling was becoming beyond ridiculous), and secondly...well, she was still recovering from the new addition to her Potions book.
You are incredibly beautiful
You are incredibly beautiful
You are incredibly beautiful
Hermione analysed these words while sitting alone in the back of Arithmacy.
'Harry could only have written this after he'd been cured of the potion,' she evaluated. 'Maybe he's playing some kind of trick? No, Harry's not like that...so then, he's serious?' Feeling very overcrowded in the head, Hermione buried her face in her hands and thought, with mounting desperation, what is going on!
It was then she remembered what Professor Dumbledore had said to her earlier in the week. After her faint...
'The Aphora Bewitching Potion doesn't always force a recipient to love against their will. Rather, in
special cases, it makes the recipient realise they've been in love with the bounder
already.'
This memory in turn sparked another - what Harry had said in her dormitory room, when he was infected by the Aphora
Bewitching Potion...
'Hermione! This is no potion. I've loved you since last year, since the whole Rita Skeeter thing and the Yule ball!'
Could it be possible? Hermione, although somewhat doubtful, dared to think it could. Her stomach lightened considerably, reminding her of when she first set eyes on the Aphora Bewitching Potion in Ginny's room; except this time, there was no potion to be accounted for.
'Then,' she said aloud, with little concern for who might be listening, 'he really is serious!'
'Sshh!' hissed a student up in front, throwing her a steely glare.
'Oh go sshh yourself!' Hermione hissed back, determined not to let anything ruin her moment.
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