Title: Another Way to Die
Summary: One day, Hermione starts acting very strange. Suddenly she begins to fancy Malfoy, enjoys skipping around the Great Hall, is being abnormally polite to Ron, is skipping classes, and absolutely hates Harry Potter. What the bloody hell is going on here?
Rating: PG (for later romance, rating may rise *hint hint*)
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I wasn't expected any reviews at all because I've never written anything here before - but I got a few very nice and positive reviews. Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate it.
Now for Chapter Two (and this is where the summary came from, if you were wondering).
Chapter Two --
Ron watched as Harry frantically paced the common room.
"Harry, calm down!" said Ron who was beginning to get dizzy.
Harry stopped and turned towards Ron, "I can't! Hermione's been gone for two and a half hours since that little - uh - thing in the corridor!"
"Harry, I'm sure it was noth-"
"It wasn't nothing!" yelled Harry for what felt the millionth time. Ron was honestly trying his best to comfort Harry but Harry wasn't going to give in. He was just a little too paranoid at the moment.
"Well…" said Ron, the sound of defeat in his voice, "I'm tried. I'm going to bed. Do me a favor and please don't stay up all night brooding about this."
Harry didn't answer and resumed pacing. Ron shook his head disbelievingly and left up to the boys' dormitories.
Ten minutes passed… twenty… thirty. No Hermione. Harry's legs had tired out and he was sitting in an armchair by the fire drumming his fingers impatiently on a table. Where was she and what was up with her? Why had she been acting so strangely? Harry couldn't answer either of these questions at the moment so he just sat. And sat… and sat.
Finally, Harry heard the sound of the portrait hole creaking open. The dim firelight cast a shadow across the face of the figure that had crept into the room. The figure, Harry couldn't tell who it was, crept slowly over towards the staircase leading up to the dormitories. The figure hadn't yet seen Harry.
The figure took another step and his - or rather her - face shone out of the shadows. It was Hermione.
"Hermione!" exclaimed Harry pouncing out of his chair and dashing over to her.
Hermione jumped about a foot into the air, and, breathing quickly, rolled her eyes, "Oh, it's just you again. Go away."
Harry was ready for this reaction.
"No, not until you tell me what's going on."
"None of your business," said Hermione and she began to walk towards the staircase again.
"As I've already told you, it is my business."
"Why do you even care? It's not like you've ever cared about me before," said Hermione glaring at Harry.
Harry was greatly surprised by this, "What do you mean? Of course I care about you. You're my best friend! I would never let anything happen to you."
Something flickered in Hermione's eyes but then they suddenly reverted back to their original fiery state.
"Really… is that so?"
"Yes," said Harry truthfully.
"Well, then you must be lying."
Hermione crossed her arms against her chest and stared at Harry who stared defiantly back.
"You know I would never lie to you. What are you on about?"
"Ugh, you're so clueless Harry. Isn't it obvious?" asked Hermione.
"No," said Harry, it certainly was not obvious to him at all.
"If you can't figure it out then there's no reason why I should tell you," said Hermione and looked away from him.
"Are you hiding something from me?" asked Harry.
"No."
"Liar."
"Excuse me?"
"You're lying. I know how you sound when you lie," said Harry and this was true. Hermione never made eye contact when she was lying, she always played with her hair and shuffled her feet, and her voice was always lower than usual.
"Well you don't have to be so rude about it!"
And with that, and a "humph", she left and darted up the spiral staircase before Harry could stop her.
Harry stood, again alone, in the middle of the common room and looked up at the ceiling. He gave an exasperated sigh.
"Why are you doing this to me, Hermione?"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
All that week Hermione continued to be very bossy and rude to everyone around her, especially Harry. She was overly polite with Ron - but only to anger Harry when he was around - and never had rows with him. This surprised Ron and he finally admitted that there was definitely something wrong with Hermione.
At breakfast one morning, when Hermione was being particularly grumpy, Harry wanted to test out some things. Over the last week he had been thinking over all the reasons as to why Hermione would be acting so differently. One of the explanations he had come up with was that the Hermione who was following him around now was not the Hermione who he had met on the train first year.
Harry knew this sounded stupid but there really wasn't any other reason. Harry had narrowed it down to two reasons: either someone was making Hermione act like this by force (Harry seriously doubted this because Hermione was so stubborn), or it wasn't the real Hermione.
"Hermione?" asked Harry.
"What," she said, as if it was more of a command to be quiet than a question.
"You remember how me and you went down into the Chamber of Secrets second year?"
Ron looked at Harry and was about to correct him, but Harry shook his head.
Hermione looked up at Harry and narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything yet.
"Don't you remember?" asked Harry.
"No… I was petrified you git," she snarled.
"What about how I had to save you during the second task fourth year?" he tried again.
"It was that Krum person who had to save me but you, being the idiot hero you are, tried to save me too. But, thankfully, Krum came to my rescue. You would've gotten me killed."
Harry was beginning to get discouraged; maybe this really was Hermione… but just a terrible new version of her. He wasn't going to give up yet, though. What did only Hermione know?
"Remember how you had a massive course schedule during third year?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, me and Ron are still curious as to how you got to all your classes."
Ron finally seemed to catch on.
"Yeah, how did you manage to be in two places at once?" Ron asked.
Hermione looked from Ron to Harry and back again and narrowed her eyes even more.
"Why would I even tell you? It's obviously a private secret of mine so just shut it."
Harry's eyes widened and Ron dropped his spoon. Even though Ron hadn't actually helped Harry and Hermione rescue Sirius, they had told him about it when they had returned. Harry looked at Ron and they knew something funny was going on.
"Hermione?" asked Ron.
"WHAT!" she yelled, putting her fork down with a bang.
Ron and Harry both jumped but quickly recovered themselves.
"You reckon we could have a little - er - chat with you for a bit?" asked Ron.
Hermione glared at him suspiciously. "I have much better things to do than `chat' with you two," she said picking up her bag, "See you at lunch."
"What about classes?" asked Harry.
Hermione didn't answer but instead left the Great Hall in a huff.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hermione didn't show up at their morning classes and this worried Harry so much that he couldn't concentrate on anything else but Hermione. Hermione would never miss a class - even if it was a life or death situation. Someone had done something to Hermione and he didn't know what it was.
On the way back to the Great Hall, Harry and Ron were trying to figure out what was going on.
"Well, it's obvious that someone has put some kind of curse on her…" muttered Ron.
"Or maybe it's a polyjuice potion? You know, what Professor Moody - I mean, Crouch - did?"
"Possibly… possibly…"
"Whoever it is, they know a lot about Hermione," said Harry.
"Yeah."
"But not everything… they didn't know about the Time Turner. I don't think most people know about that anyway. It's probably only you, me, Hermione, Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore. Right?"
"Right," said Ron who was in deep thought.
They both stayed quiet for a while, thinking. Finally, Harry spoke again.
"You think… you think Hermione's under the Imperius Curse?"
"Do you think that's possible?"
"Anything's possible."
"True."
They continued walking; they had almost arrived at the Great Hall.
"Well, if anyone would be using the Imperius Curse, it would be Voldemort."
Ron winced slightly.
"Oh, come on Ron. Can't you say his name yet?"
Ron shook his head. "I've tried, Harry, but I just can't. I don't know how Hermione does it… or anyone else for that matter!"
"It's not that hard, it's just a name," said Harry, and this was true. Voldemort was just a name, just any ordinary word.
They walked into the Great Hall and Harry automatically looked around for Hermione. She wasn't at their usual spot. Instead, she was talking animatedly with Ginny.
"Hey, why's she being so nice to Ginny?" asked Ron, spotting her too.
"No idea. Let's go find out."
Ron and Harry approached Ginny and Hermione and sat across from them. Hermione seemingly didn't notice them.
"Hi, Gin," said Ron, reaching for his fork. Ginny smiled and waved. Hermione didn't stop talking.
"And then, like, he totally dropped his quill and I, like, picked it up for him!" Hermione was saying.
Harry stared, What the hell?
He looked at Ginny and Ginny shrugged and rolled her eyes. Hermione kept talking.
"I mean, seriously, he has the most adorable eyes! You've totally got to see him!"
Ron was staring, his hand dangling idly above his fork and his mouth hanging open. The same thought was going through his mind: What the hell?
"Hi, Hermione," tried Harry. Hermione continued to talk.
"His hair is such a great color, too. It's blond, but almost silver, and his eyes are a dreamy grey…" said Hermione and she trailed off into a dreamy state.
This description reminded Harry of someone… someone evil. Someone who Hermione would never describe as "dreamy".
"So who is this `special' boy you fancy?" asked Ginny sarcastically.
Hermione signed, her head tilted to the side, "Draco Malfoy."
"WHAT!" yelled Ron. Hermione seemed to snap back to reality.
"I hadn't meant for you two prats to listen in on my private conversations! These are personal girl matters," said Hermione.
"But-" began Ron.
"I don't want your opinion."
"Malfoy? But he's - he's - he's Malfoy!" stuttered Ron as if this were a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Harry was speechless. Completely speechless. He hadn't touched his food and he was staring directly at Hermione. Fancying Malfoy was about as far out of character Hermione could get. Unless, of course, she decided that she didn't want to do her homework for once.
"But what about Krum?" asked Harry after he found his voice.
"Who?" asked Hermione.
"Viktor Krum," reminded Harry.
"You know, your boyfriend, Vicky," said Ron, sniggering.
"Oh, that famous git," said Hermione, rolling her eyes, "He's so ugly. But Draco on the other hand…"
"I don't want to hear it! I really don't want to hear it!" said Ron, covering his ears with his hands.
Ginny hadn't said anything since she asked for a name.
"D - Draco?" she asked.
"Yes, isn't he just the best?"
"Um… sure… but-"
"Oh, you mean that talk we had last night? Well, Draco is totally mine," said Hermione.
"But you promised-"
"I lied," said Hermione snidely, "I must be going. I'm going to drop by the dormitory to put on some make up so I can flirt properly with Draco later."
Harry, Ron, and Ginny watched in horror as Hermione took a detour to stride past the Slytherin table. Just as she was passing Draco and his friends, she lifted her nose up high, batted her eyelashes in his direction, flipped her hair, and skipped away out of the room. Draco looked disgusted and highly disturbed.
"Is Hermione… skipping?" asked Ginny.
"I think she is," said Harry.
"There is definitely something weird going on here," said Ron.
"Agreed," said Ginny and Harry at the same time.
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