Unofficial Portkey Archive

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for being patient. I'd been trying my best to get these chapters out and study for my exams, which ended June 13th, (I'm now officially out of school!).

November 18,

Too bad I couldn't wait to act like myself until after the ball.

&&&&&

"Hermione," Harry said softly, walking towards me, "there's something I've been meaning to tell you for as long as I can remember."

"Yes?" I asked apprehensively, begging whatever force controlled humanity, if any, that this would be it, that Harry James Potter would profess his undying love for me.

"We've been friends for seven years now," Harry told me, taking my hand in his. I felt my heart jump. "I was wondering if you…if you'd like to be my Miss Granger."

"Your what?" I exclaimed. What on earth was he talking about? His Miss Granger? Okay, maybe if he had said his "Mrs. Potter," that might have made more sense (though I do admit that would be rushing things quite a bit), but to ask me to be his Miss Granger? I already was Miss Granger!

Maybe he did mean Mrs. Potter. But then again, where was his ring? I was about to ask him this when Harry repeated, "Miss Granger." I found myself listen in surprise as his voice slowly turned into that of a very peeved woman. "Miss Granger. Miss Granger…"

"Miss Granger? Miss Granger!"

"Har-wah?" I exclaimed, jumping out of my daydream. I looked up to find McGonagall staring down at me through her glasses. I gulped.

"Were you daydreaming, Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked, clearly surprised and, if I was not mistaken, somewhat hurt.

I bit my lip, feeling horrible. Never had my mind wandered in a class (well, not including that time when Harry was going to break into Umbridge's office, but that was a special case), especially during Transfiguration. What's worse, Transfiguration was my favourite subject.

"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed frantically, jumping up to properly apologize to my head of house. Ron and Harry gave me strange and startled looks, and I heard Ron whisper to Harry, "What the bloody Hell is wrong with her?" "Really I am," I continued anxiously. "I don't know what came over me."

"We'll blame this on a lack of sleep," McGonagall said. "You may sit down, Miss Granger."

I did so, completely mortified, but at the same time very grateful that McGonagall hadn't extracted any house points.

"Now, back to the lesson," McGonagall instructed. "Well, your essays already addressed this subject, or rather some of your essays did, but we're going to more deeply examine exactly why humans can't transfigure into other humans, as many of you, with the usual exception of Miss Granger, do not seem to have a proper understanding of this topic despite the fact that we've discussed it a numerous amount of times. This will be on the NEWTs, and this will be the last time I explain it, so take careful notes."

Sighing the class took out parchment and quills. Even though I understood everything perfectly well, I took notes, more out of habit than anything else. It was also a great way to distract me from what I know called, "The Harry Problem" or the "My Life Sucks and By the End of this Year One of the Weasleys Will be Dead Problem."

Half an hour later the bell rang, signifying lunch. Uncharacteristically stuffing my quills, books, and parchment into my bag, I grabbed all of my stuff and raced out of the classroom, desperate not to have McGonagall force me to talk to her about what was wrong with me.

I waited patiently for Harry and Ron outside of the door. When they walked into the corridor and spotted me, they immediately bombarded me with questions.

"Are you okay?"

"You're not having a breakdown or anything, are you?"

"Do you think McGonagall's still pissed?"

"Were you mortified?"

"What were you doing?"

"What was it about?"

"Did you actually daydream?"

"How fast do you think the news will spread?"

"Who was in it?"

"Was there any sex?"

"Ronald!" I cried out, disgusted. "Of course there wasn't any sex. Honestly. Use your head. Unlike males, sex isn't the only thing on a female's mind."

"Sex isn't the only thing on my mind!" Ron protested as the three of us made our way to the Great Hall. "There's also- "

"Food?" Harry and I guessed at the same time. We exchanged grins.

"Actually, yes," Ron replied happily as Harry and I laughed. We entered the Great Hall and sat down at our usual seats at Gryffindor Table (Ron, Harry, then me). Harry and I were surprised, however, when Luna sat next to Ron a few moments later, carrying the latest edition of The Quibbler underneath her arm. One of the headlines read, "The Ministry of Magic is protecting our interests. Or is it? New evidence proves that the Ministry is actually a secret organization out to steel all of our money."

"Hello, Ronald," Luna smiled dreamily at Ron.

"Hi Luna!" Ron beamed, giving her a light peck on the cheek.

Harry and I exchanged a look that clearly said, "When did this happen?"

"You two…" Harry began.

"…are going out?" I finished.

"We are," Luna replied, as Ron blushed. "I assume you two are as well." She looked expectantly at us, her huge eyes bearing into our own.

"No!" Harry and I exclaimed at the same time as Ron smirked.

"That's odd," Luna replied, poking her wand behind her ear and laying out The Quibbler in front of her. "Because usually couples finish one another's sentences. Maybe you should become one. That would be rather nice. If you got married you'd have the same initials. That'd make place settings easy." Luna grabbed a roll from a basket in front of her and munched on it while Harry and I stared at her in horror.

Ron looked at the two of us and, luckily, decided to break the silence.

"So, excited about the ball?" Ron asked, clapping his hands together.

Did I say luckily? Scratch that. Ron had just switched to the one topic I did not want to talk about.

No one spoke up except for Luna ("I'm thinking of making a bottle-cap bracelet to match my necklace. Do you suppose my radish earrings would go with the bottle-caps, or should I make bottle-cap earrings as well? I do rather like my radishes… You don't think there'll be any nargles hanging around, do you? The Quibbler said that there's a new infestation of them at Hogwarts.") and it was then that I decided to pluck up the courage and ask Harry. After all, the worst he could say was no, right?

"So, Harry," I began casually as I dished some spaghetti dish onto my plate, careful to avoid his eyes. "I was wondering…would you…would you like to go to the ball with me?" I finally spat out, just wanting to get this part over with.

I heard Ron choke on his pumpkin juice (Dean, who was passing by, thumped him on the back) and I could have sworn I heard Ginny, who was sitting next to Neville, gasp in horror. I stared determinedly at my plate while I awaited Harry's answer.

"Oh, Hermione," I heard Harry reply. "I'm so sorry. I already agreed to go with someone else yesterday."

Oh. Right. No. The worst he could say was no.

Whoever said that the worst someone can say is no was a complete idiot, because, maybe it's just me, but "no" hurts a great deal.

"Tha-that's fine," I told him, trying to control the feeling of utter despair I was currently experiencing. If only you had asked him sooner, I thought to myself sorrowfully. Still not facing Harry, I piled on salad next to my spaghetti. "Anyway, it…it isn't as if I was asking you as a date or…or anything. I just, you know, wanted to prevent Ginny from setting me up with someone who would lead me to the lake and try to drown me or, you know, something." I mentally hit myself. Had I just used the term "you know"? Worst, had I just used it twice? In one sentence?

"I'm fairly sure that no one at Hogwarts knows how to or would want to kill you the muggle way," Harry said, trying to reassure me and failing miserably. "And I bet that whoever Ginny sets you up with will be great."

I had to stuff my mouth with salad to keep myself from snorting.

I carried on chewing intensely as I listened to Ron explain how he and Luna had finally got together (Harry had asked him how it happened).

"Well," Ron said, blushing furiously, "I was thinking about what Hermione had said that day when we talked about-"

"When we talked about you two!" I cut him off quickly, glaring at him. Thank Merlin I had finished swallowing my salad.

"Oh, right!" Ron said. "When we were…we were talking about that. Heh."

&&&&&

I wanted to shoot Ron at that moment. Really. Okay, maybe not, but how hard is it for him to keep his mouth shut? Honestly, he should just wear a shirt that says, "Insert foot in mouth."

But is it really so hard to learn how to keep quiet?

&&&&&

Harry, however, was not an idiot. "What were you two really talking about?" he demanded.

"Ron and Luna," I repeated, "that's all."

Harry raised an eyebrow at me. "Honest!" I insisted vehemently.

"Fine," he sighed. "Go on with your story then Ron."

"Well, I remembered what Hermione had said about asking Ginny to talk to Luna," Ron explained. "At first I had politely said that I didn't think it was such a good idea."

"Politely?" I laughed. "Try adamantly."

Ron glared at me slightly but continued. "Finally I gave in and talked to Ginny. She was thrilled at the very idea and went to talk to Luna. It ended up that Luna liked me too, so Ginny told me just that. The next day I spotted her in the halls and asked if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me some weekend."

"What did she say?" Harry asked.

"Obviously yes," I said with a roll of my eyes. "They're going out, aren't they?"

"I'll tell the story, thank you," Ron proclaimed. "Actually, she didn't say yes."

"Well that explains why you two are together," I replied sarcastically, viciously ripping the roll I had just taken from the centre plate in half. Luckily no one noticed, as they were too caught up in Ron's story.

"She kissed me," Ron grinned. "Actually, we ended up having a full out snog in the hallway."

"I now have horrible images of you snogging someone forever embedded into my brain," Harry commented, closing his eyes in feigned disgust. "Thanks Ron."

"No problem mate."

"I hope we never have to catch you two snogging in the hallways during our patrols," Harry sighed, cutting up some chicken.

"Don't worry," Ron promised.

"Yes, we'll be too busy shagging in the Room of Requirement to be in the hallways during your patrols," Luna said matter-of-factly. Ron blanched.

I sat there listening to Harry and Ron joke back and forth (with some weird interruptions by Luna), as I realized that even Ron had someone now. Turning to my right I spotted Ginny and Neville. Ginny was giggling as Neville, blushing, kissed her quickly on the lips before leaving her. Ginny sighed as she contently played with her food. Even Ginny and Neville were blissfully happy.

Why couldn't I have what Ginny and Neville had? What Ron and Luna had? What it seemed every single person in Hogwarts had?

Ginny will make this better, I thought to myself. I know she will.

Well she better, responded that ever annoying voice. Because you're starting to drive me mad.

Sod off.

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