Wishful Thinking

Helpful Therapists

Hermione paced furiously around her room, leaving a trail in her gray carpet. She was conflicted. On one hand, she hated Draco Malfoy. He was her mortal enemy, and even if she knew nothing else in the grand scheme of things, she knew that she hated him with all of her heart and soul.
But on the other hand, these dreams sure were persistent. She'd had them every night for the past week at least. Sometimes they were of a proposal, some as newlyweds, and one really heartbreaking one starred Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy at age 70. They were starting to make her doubt whether she truly hated Malfoy as much as she thought she did.
"AARRGGHH!!" Hermione let out a scream of frustration, hoping she didn't wake up her roommate. Luna,surprisingly, liked to sleep VERY late and didn't appreciate being woken up before her body told her to.
She needed to get out of the building before there were darklepumbs hunting her down. (The man-eating variety, of course.)
Once she was outside, squinting in the morning sunlight, she sent a Patronus to Ginny, hoping she'd be ready to receive a conflicted girl in her home.
It was 50/50 with Ginny ever since she became Mrs. Potter. She'd either be a wise, supportive friend or kick you out of her house in order to spend more time with her new husband.
Luckily, today was one of her good days. Hermione soon found herself seated on couch so comfortable it should be illegal, drinking a coffee. Ginny sat across from her, leaning forward, waiting to be of service to her obviously distraught friend. Harry, wisely, had chosen to retreat upstairs after welcoming Hermione.
"So..."
"Soo..."
So...You going to tell me what's up, or will I have to torture you?"
Ginny had always been direct.
"I was hoping you could tell me, actually."
"I'm afraid I don't quite catch your drift."
"I need your advice."
Ginny waited a moment before saying "you know, giving advice would be a lot easier if I knew the general topic, but I'll give it my best shot. Don't move to Transylvania. Lots of vampires there."
"I wasn't even considering moving to Transylvania!"
Ginny shrugged. "Like I said, giving advice is easier when you know your best friend has no intention of moving to Transylvania. Brazil, then? I wouldn't do that either. Too hot." Ginny wrinkled her nose.
"Ginny..."
The red head grinned. "I'm trying my best here! Of course, it might be helpful if you were to elaborate..."
"Fine. I've been having dreams about Malfoy." Hermione blurted out, too quickly to be heard correctly.
Ginny just stared. "Come again?"
"I. Have. Been. Having. Dreams. About. Draco. Malfoy." Hermione made sure to speak clearly this time, not wanting to have to say the sentence more than she absolutely had to.
"Excuse me? Draco Malfoy? Like, blonde haired, ferret, my father will hear about this Draco Malfoy?"
Hermione sighed."the very same. Oh Merlin, Ginny! What am I going to do!?"
"Just to clarify, these dreams, are they, like, friendly, or evil, or..."
"Ginerva Potter! Get your head out of the gutter!" Hermione shrieked. "They're romantic dreams I guess, but not in the way you're thinking. They're...sweet."
"Uh huh. Sweet." Ginny mimed writing down the information Hermione was relaying, and a quill moved behind them. "How long have you had these...dreams?"
"Ginny, I told you! They're not like that! But about a week. Gin, tell me honestly. Am I going mad? I think I might be going mad."
"You're not going mad." Ginny smiled slowly. "Hermione Jean Granger, I think you're falling in love!" She squealed, clapping her hands.
Hermione scoffed. "That's impossible, Ginny. It's Draco Malfoy we're talking about, remember? Besides, I haven't spoken to him since school, and then it was just retorts to his bullying!"
"Nevertheless. Ooh I ship it!!!" Ginny squealed. "Herco...or Dramione."
"Ginny, are you ok? You're speaking gibberish."
"Definitely Dramione." Hermione realized she was being ignored, and shook the entranced woman's shoulder.
"GINNY!!"
"Wh-what?? Oh, sorry. Fangirling." Ginny's cheeks turned the same color as her hair.
"Now is not the time for fangirling, Gin! We have a serious problem on our hands! Even if I do love Malfoy, it's not like he loves me back, and I really need these dreams to stop. They're messing with my thoughts!"
"So...we get them to stop."
"And how exactly are we going to do that, Ginny!?"
"Whoa, slow down 'Mione. I'm getting to it!"
"Sorry," Hermione realized she was acting up "I'm just a little frustrated."
"Oh, frustrated?" Ginny winked at her uptight friend. "Ok, too far. I get that. Come on though, you walked right into that one!"
Hermione laughed, then moved to sit on the floor, criss cross applesauce. Ginny joined her, and the two began working on a battle plan.
At some point during this therapy session, Hermione looked up and said "Remember when we were doing something much like this to help you help Neville work up the courage to ask you to the Yule Ball?"
"Oh yes!" Ginny looked up from her paper, "we made this whole 2 foot long scroll with details like where I'd be standing, what I'd be wearing, what I would be doing with my hand...what was I supposed to be doing with my hands?"
"If I remember correctly," (here Ginny scoffed) "you were meant to be twirling your hair." Both girls laughed.
"And then in the end he just asked me while we were going up to the dorms! I was mortified - in sweatpants and a bun to boot."
Hermione laughed louder than she'd laughed since the start of her dreams. "Those were the good old days."
"What?!" Ginny gasped in mock-shock. "Do you mean to tell me that you DON'T enjoy being The Heroine of The War?!" She knew full well that Hermione despised it, and had even considered moving to Australia to get away from all of the press at one point.
"I've had some better times" Hermione admitted.
"Well," Ginny proclaimed, "you're about to have some better times again! In just a few short weeks, you'll be with the love of your life! Ta Da!" she held up her paper. "One of my finest works, if I do say so myself."
"Ginny...." Hermione said slowly
"Yes?" Ginny smiled brilliantly, proud of her work.
"This is great and all, but it MUST be at least 4 1/2 feet long!!"
Ginny frowned. "Well yes, but it'll get the job done, I promise!"
"Ginny..."
"Please!?"
"No."
"Please?!!?" This time, she added a pouty face.
"No way!"
"PLEASE!?!?!?!!!?! Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top!?!?!??!?!"
"... Fine." Hermione finally relented. It was very hard to say no to a pouty faced weasley-potter.
"Thank you!" Ginny screamed, launching herself into Hermiones arms.
"You're welcome!" Hermione laughed nervously. "Just don't make me look like an idiot, all right?"
AUTHORS NOTE:
I promise there is more writing than it looks like, more than double the previous chapter! However I do realize that there still isn't as much as some might hope, and I'll try to work on that.
Sorry!
PB17