Harry Potter and the Alucinor Dicio

Disclaimer: I don't Own Harry Potter, I am in no way associated with J.K. Rowling or Scholastic books.

Chapter 11 - Sort of ...Date?

Harry continued to practice his lucid dreaming over the next week or so, but was careful to always use Ron for his practice. He tried to make this seem like it was not a slight to Hermione, but Harry didn't know how to prevent the hurt he saw in her eyes every time he chose Ron. The initial awkwardness had eased as September silently slipped into October, but Harry could not shake the image of Hermione's deep grief over his failure. I cannot fail, he thought, if only so she never suffers like that. Hermione had not been as open with him since, and neither of them would talk to Ron about it no matter how much he pestered them.

However, as a Hogsmeade weekend was coming up this weekend, Ron had apparently decided to abandon Harry to finally facing Hermione, as Ron was escorting Luna to Hogsmeade and absolutely refused to meet up with them to ease Harry's discomfort.

“ You're nutters, Harry. This is my first date with Luna. And you want me to drag you along? I don't think so mate! I don't know what's going on with you and Hermione,” Ron said in a tone that indicated he knew exactly what was going on , but was trying hard to keep quiet about it, “but you have to talk about it one time or another. Harry you can't avoid her forever.. think of how your homework would pile up!” Harry rolled his eyes at this, he really couldn't see how Ron could only think of homework when he thought of Hermione. It could be worse though, he could think of... no better that Ron thinks homework equals Hermione.

As Friday fast approached, Harry decided to try to speak to Hermione after their training on Wednesday. At least that way he could speak to her with some semblance of privacy, which he couldn't get in the common room or in class. So he nervously hung back on Wednesday, his chest constricting as he asked her to stay a moment.

“ Yes, Harry?” Hermione questioned him somewhat coldly. Harry hung his head, knowing he deserved it for avoiding her.

“ I , uh, I” Harry took a deep breath. He felt as though he would pass out at any moment. His palms were sweaty, and it felt like a Hippogriff was sitting on his chest.

“ Well?” Hermione asked, impatiently waiting for him to begin.

Come on Harry, are you a bloody Gryffindor or not? “ I just wanted to talk to you about last week. What happened I mean, you know, in your dream. Oh, and I wanted to apologize about avoiding you this week.” Harry rushed this out somewhat, afraid that his courage would fail him halfway through. I can think about facing Voldemort , but not this one girl. The fact that it was Hermione made him doubly nervous , he thought.

“ Oh, about.. that. Well, I mean.. what did you.. did you want to discuss anything in particular?” It was one of the few times Harry had ever seen Hermione stumble for words. He stared at her shocked that she hadn't thought they would talk about it, and plan what to say when they did.

“ Okay, here's the thing Mione. I saw your dream, and I want you to know I am really sorry. I never wanted you to hurt or worry like that, and it just tears me up that you are going through this, even in your dreams.” Harry looked at Hermione, barely containing the guilt he felt over it. “ I want you to know that I am going to be okay... well, I can't really promise that can I? I believe I will, I hope I will..”

“ Harry!” Hermione interrupted. “ Oh it just figures that this is the reason you've been avoiding me, your massive guilt complex. Harry, I care about you and what happens to you, so yeah, I occasionally worry about the worst happening. I wouldn't be human if I didn't. But it's nothing you can prevent from happening. I will always worry about you, even after you defeat V – Voldemort I will still worry about you flying around a Quidditch pitch, or being an Auror. I worry, Harry, it's what I do.” Hermione held both Harry's hands in hers, as if to physically reassure him. She had an air of slight relief around her, which puzzled Harry.

“ Okay, Hermione! I just wish you didn't have to worry so much..” Harry stated softly.

“ Well I don't! If I didn't worry so much, I wouldn't know you now would I?” Hermione laughed slightly. “ But I wouldn't not have you in my life for the world, Harry.” She said this so seriously, Harry felt a need to lighten the mood a bit.

“ Not even for the highest marks in school, and say, being Head Girl?” he teased her gently.

“ Not even that Harry.” Hermione replied solemnly.

“ Well good thing then, seeing as you'll probably have all that and me too!” Finally Hermione laughed at him, shaking off the serious mood in the air.

“ Harry Potter! I would never presume that I am going to be Head Girl!” she scolded.

“ Yeah you wouldn't, but I would. And I know you will be, who else would deserve it more than you Mione?” Hermione blushed at this statement. Harry found himself arrested by how pretty she looked in the soft candle light of the room. If he just got a little closer he could almost... Harry straightened up, looking around as if the room would provide him with a change of subject. “ So, Hogsmeade this weekend! I suppose you've heard that Ron is leaving us to our own devices.” Harry huffed as if annoyed. He couldn't imagine a better way to spend the weekend then alone with Hermione, however, and he mentally reminded himself to buy Ron a big box of chocolate frogs to thank him for going on a date with Luna, and convincing Harry to talk to Hermione about this.

“ Yeah, it'll be just you and me then I guess Harry.” Hermione said this hesitantly, as if afraid Harry would deny it.

“ Of course, but that's alright! Cause you know I'll let you drag me into every book store around and not complain too much! Course, I'll need at least one stop at the Quidditch store, just to make it up to me.” Harry spoke in a happy tone.

“ All the bookstores I want? Well, maybe Ron should leave us on our own more often, as I feel I will infinitely prefer your company to his.” Hermione answered back. Harry blushed slightly at this. “ but we should get back to the common room before curfew is up.” Hermione got up to leave, and Harry did as well. All seemed at ease between them as they walked the corridors towards Gryffindor, laughing and teasing the whole way.

Saturday morning dawned clear and bright, if a bit chilly, and Harry lay in bed thinking of the whole day ahead of him with a smile on his face. He got up and dressed carefully in a pair of well worn jeans, and a green jumper that Hermione had mentioned she liked last time he wore it. Harry shoved some money in his pockets and ran down to the common room in search of Hermione. He found her curled up in front of the fireplace, reading Hogwart's : A History . She was also dressed in jeans and a warm gold sweater, she looked up when Harry came in.

“ There you are! Ron already went down, he mumbled something about meeting Luna early for breakfast.” Hermione grinned as she said this. “ I swear I never thought I'd see the day Ron got up early voluntarily for a girl! I'm glad he's so happy, though.”

Harry grinned in response. “ Yeah, me too. Shall we go down for breakfast?” he asked, teasingly offering his arm. Hermione nodded, and to his surprise , took it, and they made their way down. After a hurried breakfast, they headed towards the carriages that took them to Hogsmeade. Neither of them had seen Ron anywhere in the Great Hall, and they could only assume he had eaten and left already.

Upon arriving in Hogsmeade, they wandered up and down the street looking in all the shops before entering any. As they strolled, they would comfortably bump into one another every so often, but neither of them commented on it. Eventually Hermione did drag Harry into a book store, just to see what they had. While Hermione was looking at the shelves enraptured, Harry decided to look up some current books on Seer's. Amazingly, he found one that interested him, it delved into how Seer's powers sometimes branched out into other forms of magic. Harry decided to purchase the book to look over, and he saw Hermione looking longingly through an ancient rune text. Harry walked over, grabbing the book from her as he made his way to the till.

“ Harry! What do you think you are doing? You are not buying that for me! It's not right Harry!” Hermione ran after Harry scolding him. She almost fell down when Harry rounded on her.

“ Mione, I know you want this book. I have all this money from my parents and Sirius,” Hermione's eyes widened at this, as she hadn't known about money from Sirius,” I can't spend any on Ron, he'd lose it, I can't use it to bring any of them back, so you explain to me why it's wrong of me to spend some on my best friend! I have no one else... let me do this, please.”

“ Okay Harry.” Hermione said softly. “ Thank you” she smiled and reached up to give Harry a kiss on the cheek. Harry grinned, looking slightly stunned, and turned to pay for the two books. After that, they made a short stop in Honeyduke's for Ron's chocolate frogs, then they made they're way towards the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer. It was crowded, but they managed to find a small table tucked in the corner. As they drank they talked about school, potions, and Harry's training just to name a few. They laughed at each others jokes, and decided to check in with Hagrid on Sunday to see how Grawp was doing lately.

As they conversed, Harry looked across the table at Hermione, thinking about how easy it was to be with her. There was no pressure to be perfect or knowledgeable, or suave, he just needed to be Harry. This is how it could be for us if we were together. Harry allowed himself a few moments of what-if before shaking these thoughts off with effort. He knew if Hermione was with him, she could be in more danger than she already was, not to mention what would happen to her if he failed. Harry released a great sigh at this thought.

“ Harry, have you been listening to a word I said?” Hermione questioned, laughing as Harry blushed. “ Well at least you'll admit you weren't! Is anything wrong? Am I boring you?” she asked worriedly.

“ No, of course not Mione, I just had a .. lot to think about lately. Sorry.” Harry smiled at her.

“ Of course! I'm sorry Harry, you don't need this, what you need is distracting. Not to think for a while. We'll go for a walk, how about that?” Not waiting for his agreement, Hermione got up and dragged him along behind her, out the door into the cold sunshine. They walked towards the outskirts of town, heading up to the Shrieking Shack. When they arrived there, they leaned against the fence looking up at the clear blue sky overhead.

“ Harry? Do you.. do you ever think about what's going to happen? I mean of course you think about it, that's a stupid question, but do you think about what it's doing to you?” Hermione bit her lip as she asked this, looking at Harry.

“ Well not really, Mione. I think about what it does to you, and Ron, and everyone else around me.. I ... I only know that I don't want to regret anything if I do die. I want to know that I took every chance and lived, you know?” Harry acknowledged , to himself at least, the hypocrisy of these words. He hadn't been taking every chance, not with her.

“ Don't talk like that Harry.. I don't know what I'd do. I, uh, I don't even want to acknowledge the possibility, it can't happen.” Hermione's voice thickened as she said this. Harry turned around and hugged her.

“ Don't cry Hermione. I want you to know that no matter what happens to me, I'll always be with you.” Harry looked down into her eyes, as he felt her hands on his back, stroking soothingly even though he was trying to comfort her. This is it, Harry, the perfect moment.. “ Hermione, I wanted to tell you, that I, uh.. I - “

“ Well if it isn't Potter and his little mudblood girlfriend.” drawled an annoyingly familiar voice. Harry looked over to see Draco Malfoy standing there, surprisingly alone. His hold instinctively tightened on Hermione.

“ What do you want Malfoy? All alone I see. Brave of you after what happened on the train.” Harry glared at Malfoy as he flushed with anger at being reminded of the Hogwart's train. His faced soon changed to a sneer however.

“ Feels good, does it Potter, dirtying yourself up with this filth? At least even Weaselby has the sense to associate with a pureblood. Even if she is a lunatic. But not you! You have to feel the need to rut with the-” Draco was cut off as Harry landed a punch squarely in his face. Draco dropped to the ground holding his hands over his nose, which was spouting blood profusely.

“ You, Malfoy, aren't even fit to speak to her! I am sick of your superior attitude, and I swear if you so much as look at her, I will make sure you have a nice long stay in the hospital wing, and I won't need my wand to ensure it!” Harry was yelling at him, as Hermione tried to physically drag Harry away. Harry finally relented and allowed her to drag him towards town.

“ Harry, I can't believe you did that! I mean, I know he was saying foul things, and I thank you for defending me, but you could get into a lot of trouble!” Hermione looked as though she were torn between hugging Harry and scolding him.

“ I'm sorry Hermione, but I couldn't take him talking about you that way, I just wanted to hurt him. I got angry and my tem-” Harry was cut off as he felt a cold sensation crawl along his back, and the last thing he saw before his world went black was Hermione's terrified face.

A/N: Okay, this is the first A/N I've put in, mostly because I've already written this story up to a certain point, and I'm just converting the chapters into html to post them on Portkey. I haven't read the sixth book yet, (it's coming tomorrow from amazon) but I have read what everyone is saying, and I'm kinda glad I prepared myself... I am going to continue this fic despite the fact that it is now A/U ( which IMO sounds like a good thing now, lol) Just wanted to let every one know that! I LOVE reviews and thank everyone who has reviewed so far.... So please review! I'll post a chapter a day from now on. I just want to ask people to stick with this story, I feel I have gotten better with each chapter... I'm up to 23 now! I purposely didn't edit or change anything when re posting it here at Portkey, because I fell like everyone should see it the way I wrote it. So please please review, let me know how I'm doing and what you like or don't like as the case may be:) I'll stop now, getting too close to begging for my tastes! ;)