Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter Seven

The three couples were giggling happily as they made their way back to the school after the battle was over. They never really announced a winner, but Harry and Hermione both knew that they overtook the fight. They definitely worked good as a team.

Once they were inside the protection of the warm castle, they shook off all the snow from their cloaks and jumpers. "I need to de-thaw," Ron shivered as he ran his fingers through his hair to shake out some snow.

"Me too," Harry sniffed. "Let's go to the kitchen and see if Dobby can whip us up some hot chocolate."

"Sounds good," Draco said as he helped get some snow off Ginny's back. "From what I remember, Dobby always made good hot chocolate."

"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna run to the bathroom," Hermione said as she took off her scarf. "Have Dobby make me a cup, I'll join you in a minute."

"Okay, hurry back," Harry said as he leaned down to kiss her cold cheeks, still flushed from the cold.

Hermione gave him a quick smile before she turned and headed down the corridor, towards the closest bathroom. Once inside she disappeared inside one of the cubicles and was in the middle of pulling off her cloak when she heard voices coming into the bathroom.

"Are you sure it's not just your jealousy?" a feminine voice she recognized as Gretta Hillborn who was a sixth year Hufflepuff.

"Don't be silly Gretta?" another familiar voice said. Kirsten Robinson was also a Hufflepuff and good friends with Gretta, and also had a mad crush on Harry. Everyone knew that. "Parker is right, it's obvious they are pretending. Quite sad really, that Hermione has to use poor Harry like that."

"I don't know Kirsten, they look happy to me," she said uneasily.

"They're friends, Gretta. Course they are happy, but Harry would never see Hermione that way...I mean come on...who would?"

Hermione felt her heart drop as she felt tears start to swarm in her eyes. She bit her lip and kept listening.

"Parker likes her."

"Parker thinks of her as a challenge, that's all. Harry is too good for Hermione...she's so...boring."

"That's not very nice, Kirsten, I've talked to her before and she's pretty nice."

"Nice is boring," she stated. "Come on, let's go see if we can find Harry. I saw him a second ago and he was alone."

"You're hopeless, don't you ever give up?" Gretta asked.

"Never...I always get what I want," she said with a laugh.

Hermione closed her eyes as their voices faded, replaying the hurtful words in her mind over again as she exited the cubicle. She had never heard anyone say such hurtful things to her since that time in first year when Ron badmouthed her without knowing, causing her to cry in the bathroom for hours. The tears threatened to come up and she tried to keep them down, but knew that she had no chance. Suddenly, she didn't' feel like much company and instead of turning right towards the kitchen, she turned left towards her common room.

"Here's another cup...s-sir," Dobby said nervously as he held out a cup to Draco.

He smiled, as he quickly reached out to grab it. "Thanks Do..." He stopped and frowned when Dobby flinch and his suddenly movement. "Dobby, how many times do I have to tell you. I'm not like that anymore. I won't hurt you."

"I...I know sir," he said. "I apologize sir."

"Don't apologize, Dobby...I'm the one that should apologize for how I treated you while I was growing up." While he talked, he felt Ginny place a comforting hand over his, knowing how much he hated himself for his unforgivable behavior.

"No, s-sir...there's no need sir! You are friends with Harry Potter now sir! You are good! It's your father who..." He trailed off and shuddered.

"Well, you never have to worry about him again, thanks to Harry," he assured him. "And neither do I."

As soon as Lucious found out that Draco betrayed him and Voldemort he banned him from their home. "You are no longer a member of this family," he had told him. "You are no longer my son! Get out of my house!"

He had no where to turn to...or so he thought. The Weasleys had taken him under their roof, a gesture that completely shocked him considering how he treated them in the past. Mrs. Weasly had sensed his nervousness being under their roof the first night, so she simply said, "You saved our son, Draco. You love our daughter. The past is behind us and your future his bright. You are now always welcome at the Burrow."

For the first time in his life, he actually felt like he was a part of a family.

"How bout another round for my girlfriend, Dobby?" he asked as he grabbed her empty cup and handed it to Dobby.

"Right away sir!" he said and then trotted off to the kitchen.

Harry looked at the clock that was hung up above the kitchen sink. 'What could be keeping Hermione?" he asked worriedly. "She should have been here by now."

"I'm sure she's fine," Julia told her. "Maybe she got sidetracked or something."

He shook his head. "No...somethings wrong, I can feel it." He then stood up and grabbed his cloak. "I'm going to go look for her. I'll see you guys later."

Julia sighed as soon as he was good. "Soul mates...how romantic."

Ron blinked. "Huh? Soul mates?"

"Didn't you hear him? He said he could feel it. Only her soul mate could do that."

Ron let out a laugh. "You're such a mushy romantic," he said as he sipped his drink. "Harry just has these senses about things, that's all."

"Whatever you say," she said. "But I think they're soul mates."

Harry walked over to where the girls bathroom was and lingered by the doorway, looking for Hermione. Lavender came out of the bathroom along with Pavariti, so he quickly walked up to them. 'Hey, was Hermione in there?"

"No, she wasn't," Lavender said. "I actually saw her a few moments ago, she was heading towards your common room."

"She actually kind of looked upset," Pavariti added.

"Upset?" Harry asked quickly. "I'm gonna go see what's wrong, thanks girls."

"No problem," they both said.

Harry trotted towards their common room, quickly mumbling the password (silver lilies) before stepping through the portrait. He walked into the common room to see Hermione's figure lying on the couch facing the fire. He walked slowly towards her, careful not to give away his presence. Her shoulders were shaking as she sniffled and sobbed quietly. His heart broke in two at the sight. He hated seeing her cry. It was the worse feeling ever. He'd rather face Voldemort again, then to see her cry. "Mione?" he finally said softly as he made his way to the couch.

Hermione gasped as she sat up. "Harry? What are you doing here?" she asked as she began to wipe her tears away.

"You never came to the kitchen," he said as he sat down next to her. "I was worried."

"You wasted your trip...I'm fine," she said unconvincingly.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that," he said softly. When she didn't answer he reached over and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. He could see her red puffy eyes were glistened with tears. "Oh baby...why are you crying? You know I can't stand to see you cry."

She sniffed as the tears crept up again. "I'm...sorry," she sobbed as she started to loose herself again.

"Shh...it's okay," he said as he pulled her to him, comforting her the best way he knew how. She buried her face in his chest, clutching handfuls of his sweater with her hands as she started to fall apart. Harry pressed her closer to him and ran his hands over her soft hair, pressing his lips against the top of her head. He breathed in deeply, catching her scent, which smelled oddly familiar. And wonderful. "Please tell me why you are so sad, Mione. Please."

"I'm...I'm sorry," she said again.

"For what?" he asked as she felt herself start to relax against him.

"For pulling you into this...for making you pretend," she sobbed softly.

Puzzled, he gently pulled her back so he could look at her. "What's this? Why are you all of the sudden apologizing to me? I told you I don't mine, I'm actually having a wonderful time with you."

"You don't deserve this....I'm not good enough for you, I..."

"Wait," he said suddenly angry. "Just back the hell up for a second...what's this crock about you not being good enough for me? What happened? Who told you that?!"

"No one did, I..."

"Don't lie to me, Hermione," he said and then shook her lightly by the arms. "Who told you that? What would make you think such an absurd thing?"

She looked down at her lap. "I overheard...some girls talking...in the bathroom." She sniffed as she wiped away a tear. "They were saying how I'm not good enough for you, that obviously Parker's right and how you and I are just pretending."

Harry cupped her face and made her look at him. "Who was it?"

She sighed. "Kirsten."

The anger inside him doubled. "Christ," he hissed as he stood up suddenly and paced by the fire. "Kirsten? That idiotic blonde who has been following me around like a puppy for the past two years?" When she nodded, he cursed again. "Hermione, why the hell did you take her seriously? You're smarter than that."

"I don't know," she sighed. "It just hurt. She called me boring Harry, no one has ever said something that hurtful to me before, not even when Ron said those stupid things about me during first year."

"Mione...baby, you know she's wrong," he said as he walked over and kneeled in front of her, placing his hands on her knees. "You are not boring. You are a beautiful, bright and loving witch. You're adventurous...brave and of course fun. Do you think Ron and I would let you hang with us, if you were boring?"

Hermione could hear the teasing in his voice and couldn't help but smile. "I guess not."

"Of course not!" he said as he reached up and cupped her face again, brushing away a tear with his thumb. "You are not boring. You are wonderful, and I love you. So does Ron, Julia...Ginny, and hell...even Draco!" This caused her to laugh which made him smile. "That's more like it."

She sighed. "But Harry....were not fooling anyone so far. Parker won't back off....once he starts to smell descent again, he'll be right back to where he was."

Harry leaned up and sat down next to her. "Then we start getting serious," he told her. "We need to pull off a scam of a lifetime, Hermione, and I think you know what we need to start doing."

She swallowed hard. "You mean? Kiss?"

He let out a shaky breath. The thought even terrified him. "Yes. We need to kiss."