DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. does, and she has every right to do whatever she thinks is best for Harry Potter. I just love writing. So sue me. Wait, seriously… don't.
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The next day was what everyone thought was a regular Monday, but it seemed like it was the most atypical turbulent 2nd day of the week they've had so far.
However, Hermione knew that there was no other day that could be just right in which to find the last and most important ingredient for their potion, the Aerotone; a magical element that lets you…soar…over the thresholds of time.
Furthermore, providing that luck was on their side, she and Ron may just be able to get the ingredient in time to prepare the potion and get Hermione to travel the same day.
So after taking a short and exhausted-like bath, Hermione exited the almost empty Girls' Dormitories and headed down the staircases where she unexpectedly met up with Ron who was also on his way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Hey…" she said as she fell onto step beside him. At first, she thought he didn't hear her because he didn't look like he did and was about to say a greeting again when she found that there was no need for another one as Ron turned his head slightly in her direction and muttered a quiet good morning before looking once more to the fore as if nothing happened at all.
This, of course, disappointed her, since she was meaning to ask him about what she found out the previous night; it was something that even a surprisingly good night's rest hadn't managed to erase. She wearing Harry's robes was too apprehensive and baffling to ignore.
Hermione was about to ask him all about it when she refrained herself from saying anything at all when they met, who else, but Harry seemingly headed opposite their way, nearly towards them.
Hermione thought she and Ron would just pass by Harry and ignore him just like what they did the day before, but to her surprise, Ron nodded at him and said very formally "Harry."
"Ron." The boy replied casually.
Though both of them talked with rigid tones, formal and curt, Hermione swore she saw Harry smile at Ron subtly and him to Harry.
As they rounded the corner, Hermione bit her lip as she caught sight of Harry smiling and felt a sudden shudder go through her.
`What's going on?'
"Ron…" Hermione muttered inquiringly, her voice carrying a tone of study and reproach that Ron knew too well to be alarmed at the sound of.
"What's next?" He cut her before she had the chance to ask what he was certain she would want to talk about.
"Excuse me?" she asked, too preoccupied with Ron's unconnected reaction to notice the sudden difference between the coloration of his ears a minute ago and as of the moment.
"What's next in the ingredients?" Ron repeated slowly, fidgeting with his tartlet, trying his best not to avert from his intention of diverting the topic from what she wanted to ask and what he wasn't keen on discussing.
"The Aerotone." Hermione looked at him more directly; he was definitely not behaving like his typical unusual self today.
"Where can we find it?" Ron asked once more, not noticing that he was making obvious something he was trying to hide.
"Why are you so interested in finding it?" Hermione countered.
"I just wanted to ask. Is that bad?" Ron asked in what he hoped was a hurtful tone.
It had worked, he found out, as Hermione looked at him apologetically. "No. No, it's not. Sorry, I just--never mind. I thought you were just evading my question."
"Were you trying to ask me something?" Ron asked innocently as if he didn't really know that she wanted to ask a question, much more what the subject of that inquiry was.
"It was very stupid. Don't mind it at all." Hermione waved her hands in his direction and smiled at him, somewhat relieved.
"Was it stupid enough to not be asked again?" Ron tested in an expectant voice that Hermione knew, at once, was holding something beneath the seemingly innocent question.
"I suppose. Now, the Aerotone…" Hermione started to explain, but after hearing Ron's sudden outtake of recoil, she stopped and creased her brows as her eyes searched his for an answer she couldn't get from his words. "What? I thought you wanted to know more about the last ingredient?"
"Well…uh…uh…"
"Are you hiding something from me?" Hermione asked, her voice flat and incomprehensible
"No…why would I? I mean…do I look like I have something to hide?" Ron asked, swiftly gesturing his fork towards him, sending a piece of bacon on Seamus' plate.
Hermione looked like she was about to say `yes' but held back and decided not to trail things further in order not to get into a quarrel with him.
So with a last look of hesitation, she said with a sigh. "The Aerotone is an air rift. It forms in the sky where magic let's you fly. It's some sort of gel that feels something like nothing. And--" The rest of what Hermione was about to say died down as she witnessed Ron's face contort into twisted confusion. She rolled her eyes in his direction and waved him off impatiently. "I don't understand it either. So, as I was saying, the only place I can think of where I can get it is the Quidditch field."
With that, Hermione bit on a toast and looked at Ron nonchalantly even as he dropped his fork which gave a loud clunk as it hit the wooden table. "I? What do you mean, I? You're not planning to get that alone again, are you?"
"It's the rule in the book." She said causally even as he gaped at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. "It was strictly stated there that the only one who can get it is the person who will use it and who has the intention to travel through time. As far as I know, I'm the only one who has the intention to go back and I am the only person who will."
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Harry stood in front of the mirror, letting the morning light strike his bare arms. As he changed into his robes, he couldn't help but lose himself inside his thoughts. Thoughts concerning all the things Ron had said the night before. And even though he didn't want to be bothered by it, it did.
The truth was, since after Ron had told him about Hermione's feelings for him, Harry began to ponder on his own and he cannot say that he couldn't find even the tiniest bit of feeling for her.
But he was her best friend. And whatever she had been doing to him, or the way she has been treating him throughout the years they'd been together were, what he assumed, only acts of friendship, not of love.
He assumed that the reasons why she was always there to help him out with his problems were because she wanted to sympathize with him, because no one else would do it, maybe it was what a real friend would do or probably because of their friendship ties.
Actually, it was really for friendship ties…once, but not anymore; because from the moment Hermione fell in love with him, her reasons for being with Harry all the time were more than just because they were friends.
Moreover, it was also hard for all these to sink in since he had always assumed that the reason he and Hermione were being so easy around each other was because of the close bind between best friends and nothing more. How was he supposed to know that there was something different in the way she felt for him?
Maybe it was because he was too naïve to have noticed, thinking that it would never be possible for Hermione to fall in love with him. But he should have seen it coming. There wasn't any rulebook in the world that stated guys couldn't fall in love with their best friends. How could he have been so stupid?
But Harry knows, probably so does Ron, the only sensible question left for him to answer now was "Does he love her back or not?"
He couldn't say if he was in love with Hermione or he just loves her so much as a friend that it was just apprehended as true love because of its intensity. But then, though his mind was as confused as his heart, he was certain about one thing, he does feel something about her.
But telling Ron his profound thoughts wouldn't be his move, yet. He doesn't want to do something without thinking about what would happen. And he wanted nothing more than to benefit everybody, not just himself, with his decision to avoid any harsh results. And from what he can feel, all he needed now was time to think about it and there was no better place to do that than in his hideaway.
So without further fussing, Harry grabbed his broom and went to where he knew, on a day like this, no one would even think of going to.
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"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ron asked, looking up at the cloudy sky, worrying greatly for Hermione's sake as he noticed the way the clouds were moving and the way the wind was blowing his hair nearly off his head. "You've never flown before."
Hermione looked at him as if he was the most unbelievable guy she has ever met.
"Excuse me?" She sputtered, placing both her hands on her waist. "I have flown before."
Ron looked at her with a skeptical look.
"Just not that high." Hermione admitted fearfully, biting her lip and looking up for the first time. She had to admit that it was really overcast and all that she could see where the blue horizon had been was pure vastness of ethereality. What she now only saw was the clouds that were covering the whole atmosphere. And the mere thought that she would be flying into that gloomy vastness filled with no color was making her uneasy by the minute.
"Why am I doing this again?" She asked, starting to get hysterical as she gripped the broom harder. "Remind me why I'm doing this again."
"You want to go back in time and tell Harry you love him." Ron said monotonously.
"Oh, yeah…" Hermione shook her head as her franticness mellowed a little.
"I'm not sure why I'm letting you do this. After what happened to you in the lake, I don't think I should." Ron said, but after realizing what he had brought up, he nearly smacked himself as he saw Hermione cast him a grave look.
"Harry took me up last night." She said matter-of-factly barely noticing Ron gulp. "And surprisingly, I had on his robes. Do you know why that happened?"
"I…uh…he did?" Ron asked nervously.
"What? As if you didn't know." Hermione said as she crossed her arms.
"I took you up after I got you from the lake and I left you on the couch in the common room."
"With me wearing his robes?" Hermione asked.
"I d-dressed you with my robes but they were also soaked because I had no time to remove them when I got you from the lake and Harry's robes were on the couch. So I replaced mine with his." Ron lied hurriedly, thanking the weather for the wind had picked up and Hermione wasn't able to see Ron's ear shade change as red as a tomato.
"Why on earth would Harry have his robes lying around? And why did he carry me to the Girls' Dormitory?" Hermione asked, still disbelieving.
"I have no idea." Ron shrugged.
"But you made up last night, didn't you?"
"What makes you think we did?"
"Well, you were both friendly to each other."
"What? You mean a while ago? Just because we aren't speaking to each other, doesn't mean we can't be polite, Hermione."
"Are you sure? Cause you were totally different today and I just wanted to know why."
"It's nothing. You're just imagining it." Ron said quickly to divert her attention to something else. "I know you're feeling really nervous right now and you're just being paranoid. Who wouldn't? You're about to do something you've never …seldom done before." He said instead when Hermione gave him a look.
"But you know what? I fear flying more than still not having figured out how to get the Aerotone." Hermione put in, the previous conversation forgotten.
"You mean you're going up there without knowing how or where you can get what you're looking for?" Ron asked.
"In case you're wondering, it's hard for me to find it since it's not written in the book." Hermione said sarcastically. "Help me up, will you?" She muttered while grabbing his arms for support as she climbed onto the broom, which they had gotten from the broomstick cupboard, that was already hovering a feet above the ground.
"So if you need my help, just send down sparks with your wand and I'll come and get you." Ron became serious as he handed her a small jar.
"Ok." She looked up again and said. "Wish me luck."
With that, Hermione kicked off from the ground. Though her eyes were closed, she could feel the wind lightly slapping her face as she ascended and she dared not open them even a little bit. Her knuckles were turning white from the tight hold she was giving the broomstick handle as she clutched it as if it was her life.
She stopped in midair as she felt she was high enough. And even though she didn't want to, she had no choice but to open her eyes. So slowly, she did. For a moment, the striking morning light blinded her, but as her eyes grew accustomed to the brilliance, she had to admit, the view from the sky was relaxing and soothing. The blue vastness and the white shine in front of her took her breath away, making flying really sensible enough for her.
She clutched the small jar securely on her side and began moving forward slowly. It was just after a few minutes that she grasped the fact that she didn't have the courage to turn. Afraid of what might happen if she maneuvered the broom to either left or right, Hermione continued to move forward.
She had been steady for a few minutes but when a couple of strong wind hit her, Hermione felt like throwing up. But it was nothing compared to the feeling she suffered when she accidentally looked down. It was as if her head had suddenly turned a thousand times and her whole world was swirling. Her body went numb from the coldness that suddenly hit her and she prayed she wouldn't lose her hold on the broom or she would fall. She breathed heavily, licking her lips to moisten them, she thought:
`This was all a big mistake! Why didn't I let Ron come with me? I should have never gone up here…'
And then, she realized what she was saying and mentally slapped herself. She continued to move forward steadily, scouting for the Aerotone.
`I have to find it. I have to because it's the only easiest way.' Hermione thought, suddenly feeling energetic and hopeful, but only to shriek in surprise as a blue light suddenly came out of thin air. Hermione's broom stopped involuntarily in front of the light as if it was meant to do it every time something like this happens.
Her eyes narrowed as she saw something in the middle of the beam. It was something sticky-looking and bluish. Hermione reached out to touch it and nearly gasped when it felt remotely close to…air.
"This is it! The Aerotone!" she said excitedly.
She opened the lid of her jar and place inside a large amount of Aerotone that she could scoop up with her free hand. She shut the lid as she got enough. But before she could securely tighten it, a strong breeze hit her without warning and she had no time to get hold of the jar firmly.
The jar slipped out of her arms and she so desperately craved to get it before the content falls out that she leaned down without thinking and tried to grab it. But no sooner than she could reach the container when the hand clutching the broomstick handle suddenly let go and the next thing she knew was she had yelled out loud and was falling down towards the green and grassy field waiting below.
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Ron had left his position, which was standing on the stands, for 5 minutes to get his Cleansweep Seven from the Gryffindor Team Cupboard just in case Hermione needed him. He had gone to the Gryffindor Locker Room hastily and when he had gotten his broomstick, he walked back casually and relaxed towards the Quidditch Field.
But before he could go up to the stands, a loud, piercing scream rang in his ears and instead of going where he originally intended to go, he had darted towards the Quidditch Field and saw in an expanse Hermione's falling body and froze.
Ron knew there was no time to get on his broom and fly to Hermione's rescue because in just a few more seconds, Hermione would hit the field below.
All he could do was watch, feeling vulnerable and helpless, as Hermione's body draw near contact to the ground and with a desperate cry, he shouted with all his might.
"Hermione!!"
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