Pierced (Completed)

Chapter 3: Betrayal

Day by day he was growing more confident in his powers and his self-control, a routine setting into place that involved Hermione letting him feed from her two or three times a day. He had yet to feed from anybody else, knowing that Hermione trusted him and he wasn't forcing anybody to do anything against their will. His self-control had increased exponentially along with the knowledge of how strong he was, allowing him to blend in more easily (not to mention the fact that forcing himself to breathe was now becoming second nature to him).

Harry came out of his thoughts to find Hermione staring at him oddly; he had been standing in the same spot without moving for over a minute now, after all. He cleared his throat and said, "Erm…shall we go back, then?"

"Good idea," Hermione said, starting back towards the castle, her heart still pounding. This past two weeks had also been very eye-opening for her in terms of her relationship with Harry. Despite the fact that he was a vampire, she was beginning to find herself more attracted to her best friend than ever. He knew she would never hurt him, and he had the looks and a slightly-different, more serious and quiet personality than ever. For some reason she found that very attractive.

They walked in silence all the way up to the castle, Hermione thinking about the trials to come as Harry tried to smell what mood she was in, keeping quiet when he realized she was in her 'immersed in thought' mood.

Hermione stopped him as they were passing by the base of Gryffindor Tower. "Harry, wait," she said, looking up at the common room window. "Have you been working on your levitation at all?"

Harry suppressed a groan as he looked up at the window, too. Ever since he had fallen out of a high tree and ended up floating a foot off the ground as Hermione screamed in fright, she had been continuously pushing him to work on his levitation skill. It was almost as bad as when she nagged him about homework. Harry hadn't been working on it at all because it was unnerving to him to be flying with nothing supporting him. At least when he was riding a broom he knew what he was doing and knew how to control it. When he was using his vampire magic to fly he was flying on will and power alone with nothing between him and the ground. The fear wasn't really logical considering that 1. He wasn't relying on anything but himself to keep him from being a smear on the ground and 2. A broom really wasn't that much protection if he really thought about it.

Nevertheless, he didn't wish to see Hermione's disappointment when he said no. So, logically, he said, "Sure have!" enthusiastically.

"Great!" she said excitedly. "Let me see it! It would be great if we could just go straight up there, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah," said Harry weakly. Here goes nothing, he thought, clearing his mind and focusing on his magic pushing through his feet against gravity.

Nothing happened after a couple minutes and he began sweating (figuratively, of course), fearing Hermione would see through his lie. He gave one final, desperate push and wobbled as he rose into the air, his eyes shooting open in shock. It was the first time he had willingly levitated and he made sure not to act too surprised, putting a smug expression on his face as he nervously tried to gently let himself down from 10 feet up, failing as he fell to the ground in a heap.

When he stood back up with an apologetic smile on his face it was to find Hermione tapping her foot and giving him a disapproving look. "Harry, I'm going to ask you again," she said sternly, making Harry's smile falter. "Did you practice your levitation?"

Harry swallowed hard, knowing he had definitely been figured out. "No," he whispered, casting his eyes at the ground.

He heard Hermione take a deep breath and she brushed past him, making his heart clench. She seemed to be more sad than angry, which made Harry confused. Why would she be sad? "Hermione," he said, making a grab for her arm. She pulled her arm away, a look of utter disappointment on her face. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know that my levitation practice was that big of a deal to you. I-I'll practice."