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Soul Scepter by Ryoko Blue
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Soul Scepter

Ryoko Blue

Disclaimer: Alright all the Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowlings, except for the plot, Zara, Jewel, Enrique, Jasmine, Ulrich, Torrin, Alina,, Leelee, Kai, Finley and Orvin. Those are mine. So please don't sue me because I don't have anything ;)

Chapter 26-One Day At A Time

While carrying a tray of cures and medicines for the exhausted and hurt students, Madame Pomfrey entered the hospital from her office. She moved quickly towards where the students were laid up in, she almost dropped her tray seeing that two beds had been pushed together. She shook her head in disappointment. She saw Harry lift his head looking at her; he was awake.

Madame Pomfrey stepped closer to Harry with a stern look on her face. "Mr. Potter this," she was pointing to the arrangement of the beds, "is not allowed."

"I just wanted to make sure that she is safe." Harry whispered.

"Miss Granger is just fine." Madame Pomfrey said.

"That's why she woke up with a screaming fit last night; she's just fine is she?"

Madame Pomfrey did have to give Hermione a dreamless sleep potion last night; she then thought that maybe after she had left them to sleep that Harry had pushed his bed close to Hermione's. It was a sweet gesture; Madame Pomfrey almost smiled, but she kept it away. This was still against the rules. "I am sorry, but I just can not allow this."

The door to the hospital opened and Dumbledore along with Professors Snape, and McGonagall stepped inside. They approached a furious looking Madame Pomfrey.

"What seems to be the trouble Poppy?" Dumbledore asked with a polite smile.

Madame Pomfrey pointed to Harry and Hermione's beds having been pushed together, well more likely Harry had pushed his next to Hermione's. "That sir, it is against the rules."

"It's alright for now Poppy, they have been through quite and ordeal and I'm sure once we get back on track here, they won't be doing that anymore at all." Dumbledore then looked at Harry, "and I doubt that Mr. Potter here is going to take advantage of Miss Granger." He gave Harry a tiny wink and Harry felt himself smile on the inside.

Dumbledore was about to say something else, when Lavender along with Susan Bones from Hufflepuff rushed in through the door.

Lavender stood in shock at the site of Hermione, "Oh what happened to her?" She looked up at Harry, and then at everyone else who was sleeping in the hospital wing. "What happened to all of you? I had to hear from Cho Chang that you all were in the hospital."

The sleeping students were waking from Lavender's worried tone and high-pitched voice. When she got over excited about something her voice would raise to high pitches. She really couldn't control it.

"It sounds like someone's strangling a cat." Draco said as he opened his eyes.

"Shut up Malfoy." Ron said, as he too was now awake.

"Yeah shut up you have no reason to be talking." Zara said backing up Ron.

"Oh put a sock in it Zara, I'm still pretty miffed at you for what went down back there." Ginny said as she lifted herself to a sitting position.

"Be quiet all of you." Harry said while turning his head to face them. "Don't wake Hermione she's had a bad enough night as it is. It would be rude to keep on arguing and waking her." He said as quietly as he could.

He felt fingers against his cheek and he turned his head seeing Hermione looking up at him.

"Harry it's fine, I'm already awake." She cleared her throat. "Sorry, my throat is a little sore."

Harry with a smile took her hand in his and kissed her fingers. He forgot that there were professors in the room until he heard Dumbledore clear his throat. Hermione began to rise to a sitting position.

"So." Dumbledore said with a smile. "Now that you are all awake, there are a few questions we need to ask you."

"What is it that you need Headmaster?" Hermione's voice was low.

"Well first of all I need to ask you Miss Granger about what happened, I know it's going to be hard to talk about but I need you to tell me exactly what you went through and who tortured you so that I can report it to Minister Fudge. This time I will see to it that he acts accordingly." He heard Harry scoff.

Hermione nodded she looked over at Lavender who sat down on the end of the bed; she took a deep breath and began her tale.

A few days went by everyone was permitted to leave the Hospital Wing except Hermione, Madame Pomfrey still needed to monitor all the healing processes, Ginny even worked in there some of the time at helping to heal Hermione.

After Ginny gave Hermione some of the Dreamless Sleep potion she placed the half empty cup on the small table. Hermione finally fell asleep -- the fourth dreamless sleep in a row.

Hours of troubled sleep went by for her. The sounds of something scraping finally woke Hermione from her dreamless slumber, and she opened her eyes. After they focused from the hours of sleep she was able to see Harry scribbling on a piece of parchment, it looked like it was in a Muggle notebook. She hadn't seen too many of those around, in fact she hasn't seen any of them at all since she had been going to school here. Something else was different as well, instead of using a quill he was using a Muggle pencil he actually had a few of them of all different shades on the small table next to him.

She watched him for a moment. Hermione wanted to speak to let him know she was awake, but her throat hurt so much from the rough sleep she had been having. She saw his eyes shift to her and the parchment dropped a bit, he gave her a tiny smile. She couldn't help herself from smiling back at him.

"Glad to see you awake." Harry said softly.

Hermione just nodded, she pointed to his parchment. "What are you doing there?" She asked, her throat felt scratchy and her voice came out strained. She saw Harry smile and he turned the notebook over to reveal her sleeping. "That's me." She said in awe as she was handed the notebook. Hermione glanced at a pencil drawing her of herself, it was shaded nicely and the picture looked almost perfect.

"Yep, it's you." He said with a silly grin on his face.

"I didn't know you could draw." Hermione said trying to clear her throat, she pressed her hand around her neck as the tried to swallow, it felt harsh and sore.

"Yeah well I had to do something to keep me from going insane while living with the Dursleys." He said with half a grin while Hermione handed him his notebook back. He took it from her.

"It's really good." She said even quieter.

"It doesn't compare to the real thing." He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

"I'm going to go back to sleep now, is there anymore of that dreamless potion on the table there?" She pointed to the cup sitting on the table

Harry sighed, "Hermione this is for emergencies, you shouldn't have it all the time."

Hermione's eyes were swelling with tears, "I don't want to dream Harry. It's always there, they are always there. He," She took a breath, "is always there." Hermione looked him straight in the eye.

Harry hesitated a moment but gave into what she wanted; he reached over and picked up the cup. He held it to her and she accepted it, drinking down the last of the contents.

"Thank you Harry." She said quietly as she nestled over on her side, looking at him one last time before closing her eyes to sleep.

Harry took in a breath and continued with shading his picture; he barely heard the door to the hospital open. He was busy concentrating that he didn't know someone had come into the room.

A hand came down on Harry's shoulder; he looked up and found the friendly gaze of Ron. He sat down his pad and Muggle pencil in his lap so he could give Ron his attention.

"Harry, you really should come and get some dinner." Ron said softly as not to wake Hermione.

"No, I'm alright. Not really very hungry." Harry glanced about Hermione's peaceful face. "She asked me give her that dreamless sleep potion again."

Ron sighed, his friends were unhappy, he understood Harry wanting to stay in here all the time with her, even in between classes. But he was even missing meals; it started to worry Ron to no end. He had to say something to him, "Hermione wouldn't want you to worry yourself sick Harry, come down get some dinner. You'll feel better with a full stomach." Ron said with a smile.

Harry shifted in his seat looking up at Ron, his friend was right. "All right then. Just give me a minute and I'll be right down."

Ron nodded and moved towards the door, he took one last look at Harry who was leaning forward in his chair. Ron opened the door and left the hospital.

Harry stood setting his pad on the small table; he leaned over for a moment brushing Hermione's hair out of her face. He placed a tiny kiss on her forehead, and stood to his full height. He heard his stomach growl and he gave off a tiny grin, yep it was definitely time to get something to eat. He started for the door and opened it just as Madame Pomfrey walked out of her office to attend to Hermione. Harry left the hospital wing and headed down to get something to fill his angry stomach.

Hermione had recovered enough to be able to leave the hospital wing and go back to attending to her classes, she was still as focused as ever but whenever bedtime rolled around she would try her hardest not to sleep. Madame Pomfrey had forbid her from ever taking the dreamless sleep potion without her consent. Nights were rough for Hermione.

She tossed and turned shouting into the night, her screams filled the girl's dorm so loudly that it even wrung through the entire tower as well. Hermione woke to a violent shaking of her person. She opened her eyes and sat straight up. She was relieved to see Lavender had come to her side and was the one waking her. Lavender sat down and Hermione immediately threw her arms around her friend.

Lavender embraced her friend tighter, trying to soothe her violent shaking and tears. "It's alright Herm. You're here now, safe with us." She spoke quietly.

A few lamps had been lit about the room and Zara had come into view. Not even a moment later the door to the girl's dorm flew open and Harry followed by Ron, Seamus and Neville rushed inside.

Harry saw Lavender holding onto Hermione, he was grateful that they had become good friends over the past few years. Harry swiftly moved towards Lavender and Hermione.

Lavender knew the routine, she would get Hermione off of her and Harry would take her place. She sighed while attempting to pry Hermione from her. Hermione's arms were tight around her neck; she did have quite a grip as if she were afraid to let go. "Hermione, let go you're choking me." Lavender said with her voice cutting off. "Harry's here, choke him."

Hermione's eyes snapped open and she saw Harry standing before her. Her arms immediately dropped from around Lavender who quickly got off of the bed. Harry sat down and once again Hermione flung her arms around him.

"He was there again." Hermione said; her voice was muffled for her face was buried into his chest.

"Who was there?" He smoothed the back of her hair with gentle fingers, "Salazar Slytherin?"

"No." She shook her head.

"Voldemort?" Harry heard gasps from around the room, but that name didn't even seem to faze her anymore. He felt her shake her head no again. There was only one person left that it could be, but he had to be sure. "Luci-" Harry was cut off by Hermione abruptly placing her fingers against his lips.

"Don't say that name." Hermione said, her eyes were wide with fear. She felt cold ice travel down her spine and it caused her to shiver.

Harry pulled her more into his embrace so that she was actually sitting in his lap. "He can't hurt you anymore Hermione, Malfoy said he," Harry leaned closer to her ear. "killed him, you have no reason to fear." Harry paused for a moment trying to come up with something to call Lucius Malfoy. "You don't need to fear Him."

"Can we cut with the chatter already, some of us have class in the morning." A very annoyed Parvati covered her face with a pillow.

"Oh be quiet Parvati, go back to sleep." Lavender was aggravated.

Parvati dropped the pillow from her face and looked pointedly at Hermione. "Well if someone didn't wake me up during the night perhaps I could actually get a decent night's sleep for a change."

"Hey, it's not her fault." Lavender glared at her once best friend, "Let see how you stand up to having gone through what Hermione did. Can't you have a little compassion?"

"Why doesn't she have any compassion for me, she's been doing this for the past two weeks, waking me up with her pitiful screams." Parvati glared at Hermione.

Boy if Harry had been a girl he would have slapped her or worse, he was so angry. But he couldn't leave Hermione's side. He needed to stay with her.

"It's enough to make me want to-" Parvati was silenced when Lavender's palm connected with her cheek, hard. Parvati was so stunned that all she could do was stare at Lavender.

"Shut up, you have no right to sit there and preach about compassion. Where's yours huh? Here have a lesson on compassion Parvati." Lavender grabbed the girl by the back of the neck and pulled her out the bed and practically threw her to the floor. The other girls and the guys gasped in horror at Lavender's strength when she was mad. She had only acted like this once before with Parvati, which ended their friendship. Lavender had been seeing a nice young man for a while and Parvati wanted him too. After classes one day Lavender had walked up to the girl's dorm and found a most horrifying site.

There was she looking at herself on the bed with her boyfriend. She disturbed couple turned to the door to find Lavender starring back at them, the poor boy was so confused that he just quietly gathered up his clothing and left the room. It was confirmed a few seconds later that Parvati had used Polyjuice potion to look just like Lavender. From that moment on, their friendship had been dissolved.

Lavender pulled Parvati by the back of the neck over to Hermione's bedside. She glanced up at Hermione. And with a sweet voice Lavender asked, "Hermione, legs straight please."

Hermione took in a breath, she was still sitting in Harry's lap but she shifted a bit so that her legs could hang straight off the bed, Harry had to shift so that his legs opened a bit to give Hermione's legs a little more room.

Lavender unbuttoned Hermione's nightgown so that it split down the side. She turned to the boys next to the door. "If you don't want to see this, shield your eyes. It's not pretty." She looked up at Hermione regretfully "Sorry."

Hermione nodded, it was all right, and she knew it wasn't a site to behold. She watched as Lavender parted the nightgown giving Parvati a horrible view, and she tried to look away.

"Oh no Parvati get a good look," Lavender grabbed the back of Parvati's neck again forcing her to face Hermione.

Parvati saw about fifty gashes on her right leg and about the same amount of her left leg. They still looked pretty deep which was probably why it was taking so long to heal.

Lavender looked down at Parvati, "Oh the torturer used a knife about this big to do that." She said measuring it out with her fingers. "Do you want to know what else he did?" Lavender said with a tinge of sadness in her voice. She saw Hermione slam her palms over her ears trying to block out her voice; Lavender knew it was okay for her to continue. She looked down at Parvati, "He drank her blood, and I'm not talking just a little bit. It was quite a lot." Her voice was growing in anger. "There was so much more that they did to her."

"Lavender please, I-I've had enough." Parvati said looking down at the floor, looking up at Hermione's cuts, her gaze then returned to the floor where she caught a quick glimpse of Hermione's feet and turned away.

"Yeah well when Hermione had enough they still continued. Why should you be treated any different?"

"I'm sorry alright," Parvati said in desperation, "I-I didn't really realize what had happened and I'm sorry. I didn't think-" She was cut off.

"That's right you didn't think." Ron said from the door. He looked at Harry, "Come on Harry bring Hermione to our dorm, she can try to get some sleep in there with us. I'm afraid that if we leave her in here, Patil might suffocate her with a pillow." Ron said in anger, his tone was bitter.

"Yeah, all right." Harry said glaring at Parvati who was finally getting up off the floor to return to her bed. Hermione and Harry stood from her bed.

Harry waited for Hermione to button her nightgown back together before he ushered her from the room, the boys followed after them, Seamus winked to Lavender and she gave him a tiny smile he closed the door behind him.

Hermione crawled into Harry's bed with him, and he pulled the blankets over them and snuggled close to her. She turned over, looking at him.

"What about Professor McGonagall, Harry?" Hermione said with a slight worried tone in her voice.

"We'll worry about that if she comes to bother us, okay?" Harry sighed, "I am so sorry Hermione."

Feeling very confused, Hermione leaned in more. "What have you to be sorry for?"

"For all of this happening to you." He lowered his gaze from hers.

Hermione quickly cupped his face in her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "You listen to me Harry. You are not responsible for this, not at all." Her voice was gentle but firm. "There is no way you could have prevented this from happening anymore then I could."

"I just feel I let you down." Harry said trying to keep his emotions in check.

"You could never let me down Harry, never." Hermione lightly rubbed his cheeks with her thumbs.

Harry really wanted to kiss her right now, but he held himself back. She was struggling with so much right now that he didn't want to put any unwanted pressure on her mind. So instead, he pulled her closer so that her head was pressed in between his neck and shoulder. He tightened his arms around her. "Try to get some sleep." He whispered and he felt her nod.

After a few minutes the room was very quiet and Hermione finally found sleep, that wasn't interrupted. Since it was close to when they would wake up anyway the dreams didn't haunt her so easily. She slept a dreamless sleep without the potion.

They were right at the end of their Transfiguration class when Filch poked his head into the classroom. "Headmaster Dumbledore needs to see Harry Potter and Hermione Granger immediately." He said looking right at Professor McGonagall. She nodded and the two students left her class.

On their way to Dumbledore's, Hermione's mind was going crazy, were they going to be expelled. She tugged on Harry's arm "Do you think the Headmaster knows about me staying in your room every night?"

Harry turned and saw the feared look in her eyes, "I think he knows about everything that goes on in the school; I wouldn't be surprised."

"Do you think we're in trouble?" Hermione bit down on her bottom lip.

"I don't know." Harry said.

They reached the gargoyle and Filch spoke the password, he let them go on their own this time.

Harry and Hermione waited by Dumbledore's door, Hermione was about to knock when they heard a voice telling them to come inside. The two of them walked into the room and saw Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, with a small smile upon his lips. Sitting on the desk in front of him was the Soul Scepter.

Hermione's eyes went wide seeing it lying there, it looked just like a clear stick, who knew that I can control anything, and do anything.

"Ah, it's good to see you students, how are classes going?" Dumbledore asked with a tiny smile.

Harry and Hermione gave each other an odd look then, looked at Dumbledore with the same.

"They are-going well." Hermione answered.

"Sir, is there a reason why you called us here?" Harry still felt a bit confused.

"Oh yes, yes of course." Dumbledore stood from his chair; he lifted his hand and gave some kind of signal. "An old friend of mine came by to pay you a visit. And when I mean old friend, I certainly mean old friend." He smiled.

To their surprise Merlin came through the into the office area wearing a big smile on his face. "Come now Albus I'm certainly not that old." Merlin chuckled, "Only a century at the least."

Hermione felt even more confused now, "Headmaster how can you possibly know Merlin, I mean he's been living in that village."

Dumbledore chuckled a bit, "We're old owl pals, ever since I got the Order of Merlin, we've been communicating back and forth for quite some time now."

Merlin turned to face Dumbledore, "Would you mind if I had a few words with your students in private?"

"Not at all, I'll be wandering about if you need anything." And with that Dumbledore left the office.

Harry and Hermione sat down in front of the desk.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked.

"I go where I am needed, and besides Albus informed me that the Soul Scepter and all of your belongings had been returned to Hogwarts anonymously. I've come to take the scepter back."

"Sir if this scepter is such a threat then why is it still around, why did you create it in the first place?" Hermione leaned forward in her chair.

Merlin nodded, "I had created it for King Arthur to use in battle, it was actually created for Muggle use. His illegitimate son got a hold of it and if I hadn't stepped in quickly he would have had the world at his feet. So I then changed it for only one person, or as I have witnessed two people at once to use it."

"Why didn't you just destroy it to begin with, that would have saved us a lot of trouble you know." Harry said, feeling slightly irritated.

"King Arthur wanted to keep it around in case the need for it ever arose. But now I think it should just be destroyed, so I'm going to take it back to my cave and eliminate it."

Hermione caught what Merlin said, "How could you witness us using it like that, you would have had to be there."

"No I witnessed from afar."

Hermione's eyes started to swell with tears, "Then why didn't you help us?" She felt a hand come down tenderly upon hers.

"I'm not permitted to interfere; it was one of the rules placed upon me for ever lasting life. I can only observe and offer advice." He saw the tear glide down her cheek. "I have seen the future Miss Granger, if I was to interfere directly it can have a great impact on what the outcome is going to be. I can not take that chance."

Hermione nodded in understanding, "I've survived something so unimaginable that I can't even sleep at night, is there a spell or something I can use to get rid of these memories, these nightmares?"

Merlin shook his head in sympathy for her pain. "I'm afraid not my dear, this is something magic can not fix. Sure we could mask it for a while, but then it would still be there and it would find its way back to you. It's better if you face it and work your way past it."

"How can I do that?" Hermione glanced down at Harry's hand still on hers.

"Just, take it one day at a time. That's all you can really do. You have such good friends, they will help you get through this trying time." Merlin said, hoping that she understood.

Hermione sniffled a bit and looked at Harry, "Harry what time is it?"

Harry lifted his wrist, "About eleven forty."

"I need to go in and see Madame Pomfrey so she can continue healing my wounds." Hermione stood.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Harry offered.

"No, no I can go alone." Hermione said.

"You shouldn't have to go alone Hermione."

"Really Harry you don't have to go with me, Madame Pomfrey will just shoo you out anyway." She said with half a smile.

"You're right, okay then I'll see you at lunch." Harry returned the smile. And Hermione left the office.

She headed towards the hospital wing and Madame Pomfrey took care of her, she told her the wounds were looking well and only another week or so until she was completely healed. Hermione thanked the nurse and headed down to lunch, she was stopped on the landing by none other then Cho Chang.

"There you are, I've been looking for you." Cho said.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "And why would you be looking for me?" She was very annoyed right now.

"I just wanted to talk to you a moment, do you think we could take a walk?" Cho offered with an actual smile.

After taking a deep breath, Hermione regarded Cho oddly wondering what she could possibly want. "I suppose." Hermione replied and followed Cho out onto the grounds. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Cho hesitated a moment before answering, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"For what?" Hermione felt this was odd, Cho never apologized for anything.

"Well for basically treating you like crap, I'm so sorry about that."

Hermione lifted her fingers to her sinuses, "Why are you apologizing to me, is this some kind of joke?" Her voice rising to an angry pitch "You have always hated me, so this must be some weird plot to torment me some more, I've already been through enough I don't need any more tormenting and teasing." She turned to go.

"I-I never hated you, Hermione." Cho said quietly.

"What?" Hermione spun around, "What did you say?"

"I said I never hated you," Cho took a breath. "Alright that's not entirely true, I hated you for other reasons, not ones you might know about."

"I'm confused, first you say you don't hate me, but now you say you do?" Hermione scoffed, "now I'm not even making any sense to myself."

Cho closed her eyes a moment, she had to get her thoughts in order, she opened them looking up into Hermione's face. "I hated the fact that after we all knew you were the smartest witch in Hogwarts that you were sorted into Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw."

"I'm glad I wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw." Hermione said under her breath, not even loud enough for Cho to hear her.

"I also hated the fact that at the Yule Ball during your fourth year, that you looked so pretty."

"So you thought I was better looking than you?" Hermione felt that this girl was just going to list out all the things she hated about her.

"No," She sighed looking up towards the sky. "Oh how can I tell you this? It has nothing to do with that, it has to do with the fact that I like you, I like you as you like Harry." Cho was silent waiting for whatever was coming.

It took a moment for what Cho said to register in her mind, her eyes widened. "I-I don't know what to say." Hermione shook her head, "How can you like me -that way, I always see you with wizards and Cedric a few years ago."

"Cedric was mad at me most of the night during the Yule Ball he said I didn't pay hardly any attention to him; he was just a good friend of mine."

"But what about Harry I know you and him, well-and all those things you said about me. You certainly don't know how to treat someone you like, whether you like wizards or witches, men or women."

Cho sat down on the bench, "Well I slept with Harry and announced it in the library when you were there, to hurt you. I was so mean to you because I knew I couldn't have you; think about it. Did Harry ever tell you that I didn't really kiss him, well not like you do anyway." She saw a light blush flush upon Hermione's cheeks, it looked so cute. "And well I'm not too fond of public displays of affection, especially if it was you and some guy. Or you might see me with some guy."

"Do you like guys at all, I mean what about that blonde fellow Harry and I saw you with?" Hermione's voice calmed down some and she sat down on the bench next to Cho.

"I do occasionally like wizards but just as friends. I never really want to date them. I usually end up dating them and I'm not happy." Cho glanced down at her fingers that she just rested in her lap. "You're horrified, aren't you?"

Hermione shook her head, "No I'm not horrified; a little shocked maybe. But not horrified." She looked at the older girl's head, which was bowed; Hermione had a question of her own. "Why did you now decide to tell me about your crush?"

Cho's head snapped up, "When I saw you unconscious, Harry was carrying you; you looked like you were in a lot of pain. You could have died. I felt so bad that if you had died you would not have known the real reasons for my behavior towards you. I felt guilty, you didn't deserve any of the treatment I gave you, and I was taking out my frustration out on you." Cho sighed, "I knew you liked Harry, and I knew he had a crush on me so I took him, to hurt you. I only slept with him twice if you want to know."

Hermione sucked in a breath, "Actually I really didn't want to know that." Hermione then looked right at Cho, "But what about New Years day during my fifth year, I remember that like it was yesterday. Harry was so mad at me cause you put and end to yours and his relationship, he said it was all my fault. He said you made him choose between you or me. What was the reason for that?"

"It's true. He kept giving you all the attention that should have gone to me, I sort of wanted you to stay alone, to feel the pain of loneliness knowing you can never have what you wanted." Cho said, "But I knew when he chose you his friend instead of me his girlfriend and lover, I knew I had lost. I never really had him to begin with, his mind was always on you and what you were doing." Cho smiled a bit. "Even at the Yule Ball in your fourth year, I knew even then. All it needed was a little time. You were very beautiful that night, but then I always thought you were, even when you didn't straighten your hair. I often watched you while you were studying away in the library." Cho paused. "I know I'm just wasting my breath, I know how much you love Harry, I see it."

"Yes I love him so very much." Hermione said with a smile.

"Well I know you and I will never be lovers." Cho sighed.

"No, we won't but that doesn't mean we still can't be friends." Hermione said with a smile.

Cho nodded and she smiled too, "I would like that."

"Well we should get into lunch, I mean I better get in there before Ron eats everything before I get chance." Hermione stood.

Cho also stood, "You know I've always wondered how a guy like him can eat like that and stay so thin."

Hermione nodded, "I know what you mean, I have to work out like four times a week and Ron just packs it away, does the Wizarding world even have a gym?"

While Hermione and Cho actually had a friendly conversation, they headed into the Great Hall for lunch.

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Well you didn't expect that of Cho now did you? See she really is very nice. *sigh* okay now's the time to give a little moment of silence, yes the next chapter is the last one of Soul Scepter. *sigh* But not to worry the sequel will be out very soon. Stay tuned for the last and final chapter of Soul Scepter, Chapter 27-Homeward Bound. Please Read and Review, thanks, Ryoko