Hello, everyone!
This chapter begins the flashback. Initially it was supposed to be one chapter, but I never planned it to be as long as it turned out to be (20+ pages). So I divided it up into three parts. This is part one.
Don't you just LOVE Lemony Snicket quotes? I DO!
Enjoy!
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“Everyone, at some point in their lives, wakes up in the middle of the night with the feeling that they are all alone in the world, and that nobody loves them now and that nobody will ever love them, and that they will never have a decent night's sleep again and will spend their lives wandering blearily around a loveless landscape, hoping desperately that their circumstances will improve, but suspecting, in their heart of hearts, that they will remain unloved forever. The best thing to do in these circumstances is to wake somebody else up, so that they can feel this way, too.”
― Lemony Snicket
“They are coming, aren’t they?” Hermione asked, trying to hide her nervousness as she fixed Ginny’s hair. They were the only two left in the dormitory; Parvati and Lavender having left already.
“If it makes you feel any better, I can read Harry’s letter to you,” Ginny replied, accioing Harry’s letter from her bedside table. “Hm…We can just skip over this,” Ginny mumbled as she skimmed through the letter trying to find the right place, while the tips of her ears turned pick. “Ah! Found it! ‘As for the New Year’s Ball…You didn’t think Ron and I would let you and Hermione go dateless, now did you? And there is a surprise for Her--’ wait I wasn’t supposed to read that part out loud,” Ginny added with a mischievous glance at Hermione.
“Oh, ok. That’s a relief,” Hermione replied as she finished Ginny’s hair. “Now Draco can go with whomever he asked.”
“Oh. Were you two going together?” Ginny asked with an amused look on her face.
“Oh Merlin! It is nothing like that! If Parvati or Lavender heard that, it would be the end of my sanity. They would never let me live in peace. You should hear some of the rumors those two spread about me and Draco. If they weren’t in Gryffindor, I’d take a gazillion points from them! Speaking of which, how did they end up in Gryffindor? They are Hufflepuffs, through and through!” Hermione exclaimed. After seeing Ginny’s expression, she dryly added, “I bet you already heard them all, right?”
“Yep. I’m usually one of the firsts to know,” Ginny replied with a smirk. “So, did you hear the one about you and Draco in the prefect’s bathroom?”
“No!! Why doesn’t anyone tell me these things?” Hermione whined. “Just imagine if Professor McGonagall heard about it!”
“I’d imagine that she did, considering Parvati and Lavender told everyone,” seeing Hermione’s expression, she hastily added, “Not that anyone would believe that you’d so something like that. Don’t worry. So, what were you saying about going with Draco?”
“Oh, yeah,” Hermione replied looking relieved. “We decided that if either one of us couldn’t get dates, we’d go with each other. Ginny! Don’t give me that look!” Hermione exclaimed as she caught Ginny try to hide a sly smile. “There is nothing, I repeat nothing, going on between us! We are just friends. I know he is basically doing it for my benefit. He doesn’t seem to have trouble getting dates. He is just being nice!”
“Yeah!” Ginny snorted. “When was the last time a Malfoy was overly nice like that?”
“Draco has changed! He is much nicer now!” Hermione exclaimed, defending Draco. “He doesn’t even openly laugh at Luna anymore!”
“We have both established that fact,” Ginny replied before smugly adding, “We are merely arguing on what or, rather who, catalyzed this change.”
“Let’s just drop this subject,” Hermione declared as she blushed at Ginny’s comment. “We’ll never come to a consensus on this.”
“Ok,” replied Ginny cheerfully, before adding, “Do you remember the last and only time we fought before?”
“Hm?” Hermione asked as she added a coat of mascara to her lashes.
“Two years ago. In the Gryffindor common room. You were arguing with Harry, and I defended him,” Ginny replied with a smug smile. “And here we are today. I’m arguing about Draco and you are defending him. Seems like a pattern, huh?”
“Ginny, we should really drop this discussion,” Hermione replied seriously before jokingly adding, “So why are you so intent on me breaking up with your brother?”
“Because from an outsider’s point of view, I can see much more than you can,” Ginny replied quietly before suddenly asking, “So, do you know why no one asks you out to dances anymore?”
“Either no one wants to or they got tired of me rejecting them every time,” Hermione replied as she fixed Ginny’s makeup. “Most likely the former.”
“Draco scares them off.”
“E-excuse me?” Hermione stuttered, completely startled, almost poking Ginny’s eye out with the mascara wand.
“Guys don’t ask you out anymore because Draco scares them off,” Ginny stated matter-of-factly. “And please don’t poke my eye out. I heard it’s painful to fix them.”
“Is that another rumor Parvati and Lavender started?” Hermione asked with a laugh.
“No. I’m dead serious ” Ginny replied. “You can ask Seamus if you want.”
“You know what? I’ll ask Draco and then you will see how wrong you are,” Hermione replied defiantly.
“Suit yourself. It’s going to be pretty awkward when you find out it’s true,” Ginny replied. “Let’s go downstairs, the guys must be here already. Harry said they will be waiting by the Great Hall entrance.”
“Eeep! Let’s go!” Hermione exclaimed. And the two girls hurried down the stairs of the Gryffindor girl’s dormitory to the Great Hall, excitedly chatting about how excited they were to be able to see their boyfriends after so many months.
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The moment they reached the Great Hall entrance, and spotted Harry, Ginny ran and flung her hands around him. Hermione followed closely, looking for her red headed boyfriend. It was only much later that Hermione realized that she should’ve sensed that something was wrong when she saw Harry glance worryingly at her and whispering something about cold feet and second thoughts to Ginny, who was looking murderous and whispering something about a blithering idiot and a need to decide; but alas, she didn’t see it.
After greeting Harry, Hermione asked, “Where is Ron?”
“Yeah, about that…” Harry began.
“He didn’t come, did he?” Hermione asked quietly.
“He wanted to. He really did,” said Harry. “We were both looking forward to it. He had this whole elaborate thing planned out--.”
“Except he didn’t come,” Ginny replied bluntly.
Harry gave Ginny a stern look, and Ginny glared right back.
“A last minute problem came up and he had to stay back,” Harry told Hermione apologetically.
“It’s fine,” Hermione replied faintly. “Oh, and Harry, I can always tell when you lie.”
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I just want to clear up that last chapter was NOT THE END OF WONDERSTRUCK. Erm, I suppose that is quite obvious by now. So far, I believe there will be 30 Chapters followed by an Epilogue. But that is not set in stone and is subject to change.
But do expect at least 5 more chapters after this =)
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