Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's Note: - Sorry for the delay guys. Now I am back with the second chapter. Hope you like it. I apologize for the spelling and grammar mistakes in advance.

Disclaimer: - I do not own Harry Potter and anyone or anything related.

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However, she wasn't aware that throughout the match her eyes followed only one player, a player in red and gold Gryffindor uniform, a player with messy hair and round spectacles.

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"He looks so hot," Rachel said dreamily, looking at the Quidditch ground.

Hermione looked at her friend. "Who are you talking about?" She asked.

"Harry Potter, who else," Rachel replied, still looking at the ground.

Hermione frowned. She looked down at the Quidditch ground where Gryffindors were celebrating their win against the Slytherins. Hermione could see the boy with messy haired head, laughing and hugging his friends. She had this strange urge to look into his eyes. She was sure she knew the colour of his eyes; she just couldn't recall that at the moment.

She kept on looking as a blonde-haired girl walked towards Harry Potter and tapped him on the shoulder. Harry turned around and smiled widely. Even though Hermione's view was not very clear from her seat in the stands, she was sure that smile was not one of his happiest and she didn't know why she felt that way. She continued to look down at the couple as Harry pulled the girl into his arms and hugged her. Hermione immediately looked away as a wave of sadness passed through her.

"Let's go. Everyone's leaving." Hermione said abruptly, as she made to leave the stands. What she didn't realize was that a certain someone with messy hair and emerald green eyes was looking at her.

"Yeah, come on," Elena said, pulling Rachel along with her.

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Harry was content with the day. Gryffindors had won the match against Slytherins. They had a celebration party in the common room. Everyone was cheering for them. His girlfriend was there with him sharing those moments with him. With the feeling of contentedness, there was also a very subtle feeling of hollowness that would not go away, no matter how much he tried to ignore it.

On the top of it, he couldn't get that girl with brown hair out of his mind. He had first seen her during the match against Slytherins, and second time, when he had entered in the Great Hall during the dinnertime. But honest to god, it didn't feel the first or second time. Moreover, in the Great Hall she was looking back at him. It was just for a fleeting moment, and then she quickly looked away, as though if she wasn't aware of his presence at all.

Later on throughout the dinner, he couldn't stop his eyes from drifting towards that girl again and again. She felt familiar, like she belonged…..with him.

He felt guilty for thinking about another girl when his girlfriend was sitting right next to him. He tried very hard keeping up with the conversation with his girlfriend. She did most of the talking, speaking something about Christmas ball. Fortunately, she didn't notice his concentration drifting from their conversation.

Furthermore, the day appeared to be one of the strangest days of the year. First, when he entered the Gryffindor common room with Gloria after dinner, Crookshanks, Gloria's pet cat, pounced on his owner angrily and then scurried away from the common room. Secondly, Gloria didn't recognize her cat and just called him `she is a wild beast'.

At the moment, Harry and Gloria were sitting on the couch in front of the fire, relaxing as Ron prattled on about the match.

Gloria was sitting very close to a very uncomfortable Harry, resting her head on his shoulder. Harry wanted to get up and run away. But he also knew his actions would hurt Gloria and she didn't deserve it.

Harry was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't hear Gloria calling his name.

"Harry," Gloria called again, a little loudly this time.

"Yeah," Harry said, disconcerted.

"Let's go for a walk." Gloria whispered in his ear.

Harry looked into Gloria's eyes; she was looking back at him expectantly. Then he looked at Ron and Ginny who were arguing about something.

"Please Harry," Gloria said entreatingly, "We still have some time before the curfew time." She added as Harry checked his watch to see the time.

"It's almost past curfew time, Gloria." Harry said, "Oh, I just forgot. You are the head girl. We have free rein to roam around the school." He said teasingly.

Gloria looked shocked for a moment. "Yes," She said nervously, pulling back from Harry.

"Do you have patrolling duties tonight?" Harry asked, confused, also a little relieved that she was at some distance now.

"Umm…n..no, I don't." Gloria said smiling, looking anywhere but at Harry.

If Harry was doubtful, he didn't mention it.

"Come on, let's go." Gloria said enthusiastically, recovering from her momentary relapse.

"Okay, let's go." Harry said standing up and pulling Gloria along with him. He led her towards the exit and soon they were on the grounds enjoying the quiet of the night.

However, to Gloria's discontentment, Ron soon joined them with his girlfriend, Lavender Brown.

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Hermione was feeling sick. That was the only thing she could surmise about how she was feeling, since she had seen Harry Potter sitting on the Gryffindor table with his over attentive girlfriend. There was only that one brief moment when he had looked at her, after which she had looked away, unable to meet his intense gaze. She had wanted to look at him again, but she had been afraid her friends would have noticed and questioned her.

Anyways somehow, dinner passed, but with an agonizingly slow speed, at least that's how Hermione felt. She just wanted to get out of the Great Hall and go back to her dormitory.

After dinner was finished, Hermione along with her friends made her way towards the Ravenclaw common room and sat there for some time with others. After some chitchat, she left for the bed, making an excuse of drowsiness. She didn't bother to change, just pulled off her shoes and fell in her bed, and closed the drapes. She also cast a silencing charm so that others won't disturb her.

Soon she fell into a fitful sleep, bizarre dreams disturbing her where she was kissing Harry Potter. It felt real, taste of his lips, touch of his fingers on her skin, her body pressed against his hard length, words he was breathing in her ear, reaction of her body to his touches. Everything felt so real that Hermione almost cried in pleasure, as her body's intense reaction woke her up abruptly.

"Oh god!" Hermione whispered loudly. She was sweating. She rubbed her face and brought herself into sitting position. She took a deep breath trying to control her rapidly beating heart.

Slowly she opened the curtains and found dormitory obscured in darkness. Everyone was sleeping. It was a strange feeling that the dormitory that she had shared with her friends for so many years didn't feel like her own dormitory. Even her bed didn't feel like she had slept in it for last six years.

She checked the time on the bedside clock. It was half past 11. She got out of her bed slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Picking up her shoes, she crept out of the dormitory cautiously. Common room was deserted and fire was dim in the hearth. She wanted to get out of the tower. She felt as though if she was invading other's territory.

She walked towards the entrance hole and then got out of there. It was the first time she was out of the Ravenclaw tower after the curfew time. However, she felt as if she had done it many times before.

She meandered around, keeping in mind to avoid anyone on patrolling duties. She didn't realize when she reached to the owlery. She didn't own an owl, so she didn't need to come to the owlery very often. However, her feet automatically brought her there. She was surprised, but at ease with her surroundings. There were few owls coming and going and some were dozing around.

Hermione closed the door behind her and walked over to the window. With a glowing Hogwarts under the moonlight, view was magnificent. She kept on looking for some time and was startled when an owl landed on her shoulder.

Hermione turned her head to see a snowy white owl perched on her right shoulder, looking back at her with sharp amber eyes. Hermione smiled and raised her hand to touch the owl. Owl nibbled at her fingers affectionately.

Hermione laughed as owl started nibbling at her ear. She turned to look at window as owl flew and sat on the windowsill.

"You're such a beautiful owl." Hermione said smiling as she ran her fingers over owl's body. Owl closed his eyes in contentment.

Hermione was once again surprized when she heard a meow sound from the corner of the room. She turned and looked towards the corner where light from the window didn't reach.

A very big, ginger coloured cat appeared out of the darkness, staring at Hermione curiously, at least that's what Hermione thought was the expression of cat's face. Even though the cat was peculiar with bow-legged figure and squashed head, it was a very endearing creature. Furthermore, it felt familiar, actually both owl and cat, felt familiar.

Cat prowled towards Hermione and rubbed her body against her leg.

Hermione bent down and picked up the cat in her arms. Cat snuggled into her and purred cheerfully. Hermione rubbed her cheek against cat's fur.

"Looks like I have made friends with an owl and a cat tonight." Hermione said, speaking to herself. Cat in Hermione's arms turned its head to look at the owl.

For a moment, Hermione felt as though if the cat and the owl were having a silent conversation, for they continued to look at each other.

"Do you two know each other?" She mused out loud and then she felt stupid for voicing her thoughts, as though if owl and cat were going to answer her.

"They know each other." A deep voice spoke form behind Hermione.

Hermione almost dropped the cat and swirled around in panic. Cat made an annoyed sound, but stayed in Hermione's arms.

Hermione couldn't believe her luck. Harry Potter was standing right in front of her. He was there with his girlfriend, his best friend, and another girl.

"Hi," Hermione said tentatively, her eyes not straying from Harry.

"Hi, I am Harry Potter." Harry replied.

"And that's my owl Hedwig." Harry said pointing towards snowy white owl, (also to avoid an uncomfortable silence).

"Oh well, he's a beautiful owl and I am Hermione Granger." Hermione replied.

Harry smiled, "He's not a he, he's a she. I mean she's she, not a he." He suddenly laughed at his silliness.

"I mean," He started again, but was interrupted when Hermione started laughing. Harry seemed spellbound by how melodious she sounded.

"I get it. He is a she, and her name is Hedwig." Hermione said.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, his eyes focused on her lips. He quickly looked away before anyone could notice.

"What's the name of this cat?" Hermione asked, as she ran her fingers through cat's fur.

"He's Crookshanks." Harry replied immediately, stressing on he, still unable to take his eyes off Hermione.

Ron coughed behind him, breaking his absorption. Harry turned and gestured others to enter the room. He stepped aside to give others space to enter the owlery.

"This is Gloria, my girlfriend." Harry said gesturing towards the blonde, "my best friend, Ron and his girlfriend Lavender." He finished introducing redhead and another blonde-haired girl.

"H…Hi," Hermione said a little clumsily.

"Hi," Lavender was the only one who replied. Gloria looked restless and Ron was looking at Hermione peculiarly.

"So does Crookshanks belong to you as well?" Hermione asked Harry, trying to break uneasiness in the room.

"No, it belongs to Gloria." It was Ron who answered the question.

"You can give him to me." Gloria said, moving forward to take Crookshanks from Hermione. But she stopped when Crookshanks hissed at her. He jumped to attack Gloria but Ron caught hold of him in between. He immediately dropped Crookshanks, who turned on him and rumbled angrily.

"He's a monster," Ron said irately. He raised his leg to kick the cat who in return looked ready to attack him with his claws.

"Hey!" Hermione said angrily, "Don't you dare kick Crookshanks."

She looked angry. "That stupid cat was going to attack Gloria." Ron said.

Just then, cat once again turned to Gloria who squeaked and stepped away from others.

"Crookshanks, calm down," Hermione called in a commandeering voice as Lavender walked to Gloria and put a comforting arm around her.

Crookshanks gave a dirty look to Gloria and stalked back towards where Hermione was standing. Hedwig flew to Harry, nipped at his ear tenderly, and then flew out of the window, disappearing into the dark sky.

"Looks like even Hedwig was getting bored of this stupid creature's drama," Ron said mockingly.

"Ron," Harry said warningly.

"Ron is right. Crookshanks attacked Gloria. He is not right in his mind." Lavender added, agreeing with Ron.

"Crookshanks is not stupid. He is very intelligent." Hermione defended the bandy-legged cat.

"How did you do it?" Harry asked unexpectedly, looking amazed.

"What?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Crookshanks is always wary around strangers." Harry said, "But with you he's like he belongs to you, and not Gloria."

Hermione looked uncomfortable. "Well, I don't know what to say." Hermione replied shrugging her shoulders.

"I am telling you Harry, that cat is mental, just like his owner." Ron said frustrated.

"You mean to say that Gloria is mental." Lavender asked baffled.

"No, that's not what I am saying." Ron almost screamed with annoyance, "I mean that," He went quiet, not quite knowing what was he going to say.

However, before Ron could speak further, Gloria spoke.

"I think we should leave now. We have already made enough noise and we are lucky that nobody has come up here at owlery yet. And if Filch found us here even I won't be able to save all of us from detention." She said looking stressed.

"Hey, are you alright?" Harry asked looking tenderly at his girlfriend.

"Yeah, let's go." Gloria replied with a smile.

In that moment, Hermione wanted Harry to look at her the way he was looking at Gloria. She absolutely wanted to be at Gloria's place, in Harry's life, in his heart.

God! She was really going mental.

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Author's Note :- So what do you think? Please let me know through your reviews.

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