Her Fallen Petals - A Dramione Story

3. Gifts from ghosts

Hermione stared at the piece of parchment, the words now long gone.  She wasn't the type of girl that was easily fooled by jokes, but for some reason, this made her heart race. It was mysterious and there was no straight answer.

One more question, why did you give me an enchanted rose? She wrote with shaking hands.

There are perfectly good reasons why I did that, you will find out soon enough. Goodnight Hermione.......

That was it. No more questions, no more answers. She stared at the quill in her hands and closed her eyes, trying to clear out her head. However nothing was working, her mind was jammed with the thought of the anonymous boy writing back to her. Was he in Ravenclaw? Was he just messing with her? Why her?

She stood up and gently rolled up the parchment. She walked over to her four poster bed and set the paper down next to her rose.

Goodnight ... whoever you are. She closed her eyes.

. . .

"I love Saturdays," Ron said unusually cheerfully as they walked down to Hagrid's.

"You can get wasted and mess with some girls and the next day you can wake up as late as you want," He said with a wink.

"Ron! What is wrong with you. Your utterly gross" Hermione replied looking very disturbed, while Harry snickered and elbowed Ron.

"Ugh boys" she rolled her eyes.

Harry knocked 3 times but no answer came. The trio looked at each other, confusion pasted on their faces.

"He's probably out looking for unicorns or something," Ron said.

"Yes but we haven't seen him for 2 weeks, 2 weeks guys" Hermione ran her hands through her hair.

"Whattaya all doin out ere? Hagrid stood behind them, holding 2 backpacks which looked incredibly small with him over his shoulder.

"Hagrid!" Hermione ran to the big man and gave him a warm hug, however, her hands small couldn't wrap around his whole neck.

"Where were you? We've been looking every day for you" Harry asked

"Uh.... official business.." Hagrid cleared his throat.

"This is not about the dragons is it?" Ron raised an eyebrow.

"No no no no no, look why dunt y'all come and have tea eh. Inside." He ushered them in.

Inside, cold air blanketed the space and white sheets of spider webs covered the room.

"You haven't been here for a while. Have you?" Hermione asked looking around the place.

"No, it took some time to calm him down," Hagrid said gruffly as he put the kettle on the stove.

"Who's he?" All three of them looked at him.

"Eh? I forgot what I said" He nervously answered. He got three cups ready and placed them down on the table and started pouring the boiled water.

"Hagrid you can trust us. We won't tell anyone, and you know that."

His eyes were distant and glassy as he was remember something. When his hands failed to stop pouring, Hermione rushed to help. Suddenly he burst out crying, which made them all jump.

"I-it's Grawp. Th-they took im and and they bloody tortured im. When I got the letter I thought he was gone" he sniffled.

"Oh Hagrid, we're so sorry. Was it the death-eaters that took him?" Hermione said as she patted him on the back. Hagrid nodded.

"Yer know what? I need some time.. to calm myself down. Couldya guys maybe come down again tomorrow?" Hagrid asked without looking at them.

"Sure thing Hagrid" Ron ensured him.

"Well, I hope he is okay....." Harry muttered as they walked back to the castle.

"Mhmm now let's go and eat, I'm bloody starving."

That jerk. Hermione thought to herself. As they walked to the Great hall, her bag suddenly felt heavy. Books. She thought and continued on.

Hermione couldn't stop searching constantly for any signs of anyone that might have fancy her. She had no luck, but now she was convinced that it wasn't someone from Ravenclaw. All they did was glue their eyes in books and have some weird talent of eating without looking. Except for Luna, obviously.

For no reason, her eyes lingered to the Slytherin table. The bleach-blonde boy was sitting at his usual spot, but not looking as proud of himself today. Now he looked more tired.

His facial expression said it all. His mouth was dropped to a frown and his eyes were filled with thoughts. He wasn't even eating. He was just holding the spoon and constantly mixing his soup without realising.

Hermione snapped back to reality. Was she just inspecting Draco Malfoy?

"Doesn't Malfoy look more depressed nowadays?" Hermione asked failing to stop herself.

Ron turned around to get a better look at him.

"Personally I think this look suits him." He joked

"I definitely think something is up... but we can't start accusing Malfoy without more evidence. Keep your eyes open around him" Ron and Hermione nodded.

Just then Lavender came up behind Ron and put her hands over his eyes.

"Guess who Won-won" she squealed with her typical annoying voice.

"Lav-Lav is that you??" Ron smirked.

Hermione felt like she was going to vomit. She looked at Harry's eyes and saw the same expression.

"It's my cue to leave" Hermione left her food and rushed out of the hall.

Her bag was incredibly heavy now. She dropped her bag and remembered that she didn't even bring books. She hastily opened it to see a small box. On it was a tag.

Enjoy! (Don't worry I didn't poison them)

Again? She thought. When will this person ever stop? But she would be lying if she said her heart didn't skip a beat when she got this.

Inside the box were assorted chocolates. The smell was so elegant that it seemed fake, yet alluring. She reached for one. On her mind, the consequences kept on replaying, but she just overlooked them.

She took a bite and all her worries were gone. It wasn't poisonous at all. It was just perfect. She smiled to herself. She didn't have muggle chocolate for years. How did the sender know she liked dark chocolate?

                                                                     Thanks for the chocolates.

How did you get them in my bag?
I will find out who you are you know... very soon.

Soon enough she got a reply.

I told you, I use magic and sure, I dare you to find out who I am, Hermione.

She knew it was wrong. She knew she was going against her professors and of course Dumbledore, but she was curious. Curious enough to reach into her hidden box under the bed and use what was inside it.

The time-turner.