I OWN NOTHING!!! THIS WHOLE UNIVERSE AND ALL ITS CHARACTERS (except the ones I made up) BELONG TO J. K. ROWLING
Time for another chapter :)
I really enjoyed writing this one. During the Harry Potter books, I really loved how the Dumbledore-Harry relationship evolved. I'm trying to do the same with McGonagall and Hermione now. I hope you like it.
Dedicated to the amazing BibiFatti for creating my new awesome cover! :) Thank you so much!
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Chapter 11 - Nothing To Fear
The reflection had changed. I was still standing with a man by my side, but it wasn’t Ron. I actually couldn’t make out his face; it was fuzzy and indistinct. The two kids standing in front of us were still a boy and a girl. Their hair colour had changed though. It was now the same brown colour as mine. They smiled sadly at me, as if to ask ‘Who is our father?’ I couldn’t stand looking at them anymore. I turned around and ran from the room. Fine. I didn’t love Ron anymore. He had broken my heart. I would never talk to him again.
It was better for both of us this way anyways. We weren’t supposed to be together, we had always had problems. We had fought, a lot, during the last 7 years, I felt kind of bad for Harry. He had always been in the middle of us, trying to make us talk or make up again. I slowed down as I reached some of the more crowded hallways. I smiled slightly at the younger students, but tried to avoid most of them.
“Miss Granger!” I sighed and turned around to face the Headmistress. McGonagall was look at me with a stern look, “Why weren’t you in class today?” she asked.
“I’m sorry professor. I wasn’t feeling very well this morning. So I decided to stay in bed.” I replied, she raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
“You should have gone to Madam Pomfrey.”
“I know. I should have. Don’t worry though, I'll be back in class tomorrow.” I reassured her.
“Miss Granger. Please join me in my office. We need to talk.” The professor said. I blinked in surprise before nodding, she turned around at began walking away. At first I just stood staring at her, confused, but then I began jogging to catch up to her. We walked in silence to the gargoyle, which guarded the entrance to her office.
“Ice mice.” She said and the gargoyle moved aside.
We entered the headmistress’ office; McGonagall sat down at her desk, and waved her wand to pull another chair over. I sat down across from her, she kept doing spells and a teapot appeared with a couple of teacups as well.
“Hermione, how are things going with you and Mr Malfoy?” she asked while pouring some tea into my cup.
“Decent. He’s been really nice to me lately.” I said, thinking it would be best not to mention the kissing thing, I gratefully took my teacup from her and sipped a little. The tea went down my throat and warmed up my whole body, I sighed.
“Good. It took a bit of convincing from him, before I agreed to let him come back this year. I was afraid I had made a mistake making you two Head Prefects. But it seems like you are getting along.” She continued. I nodded in agreement.
“I wasn’t to thrilled at first as you may recall, but now I actually enjoy having him around.” I said, “well… most of the time anyways.” I then added. McGonagall seemed to ignore the last part, which I was kind of thankful for. I really didn't want her to question me about Draco.
“How about your other friends? How are things going with Mr Potter and Weasley?” she continued.
I hesitated, “Well… everything’s fine with Harry. He’s with Ginny most of the time though, so I don’t see him much anymore. I’m not really on speaking terms with Ron right now though.” I explained. McGonagall looked up at me from her tea.
“What happened?” she asked, “I’m sorry if I’m too curious. I just want to make sure you’re okay. The three of you had a rough year; well, we all did. I hope it’s okay to talk a little.” Continued the professor. I smiled, it was a little uncomfortable to sit and talk to my headmistress about these things. But I had no one else to talk to, and I needed to talk with someone.
“We broke up.” I quietly said. McGonagall’s eyebrows shot up.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She genuinely said while putting her teacup down.
“It’s okay. I still like him a lot, but my love for him vanished when I caught him cheating.” I mumbled, “I just don’t really want to see him any more.”
...
It had been nice sitting with McGonagall, she listened to me when I complained about Ron and she tried making me feel better. Around suppertime she sent me down to the Great Hall, so I could eat. On my way down I heard my stomach growl. It was then I remembered I hadn’t eaten anything all day. When I got to the Great Hall, I stopped at the end of the Gryffindor table. I saw Harry, Ron and Ginny sitting a little further down. I looked up at the teachers’ table and caught McGonagall’s eyes. She smiled slightly and nodded at me. Earlier she had told me to just act like Ronalds’ friend. Ignoring the fact that we had just broken up. I wondered if he had told Harry yet. I took a deep breath and walked across the floor to join them. Ginny was the first to notice me; her sad expression told me she knew. I sat down next to her, avoiding Ron’s eyes.
“Hey guys.” I mumbled while taking some food. Ron didn’t answer but both Harry and Ginny answered me with overly excited greetings, trying to make the situation less awkward. It didn’t really work though.
“Where have you been all day?” Ginny asked. I looked at Ron first, but when I saw he was looking at me as well, I quickly glanced at her instead.
“Uhm, in my room. Around the castle and stuff like that. I just got out of McGonagalls’ office, she invited me for a cup of tea.” I shrugged and began eating.
I finished quickly and excused myself from the table, so I could get back to my common room. I just wanted this day to be done. I basically growled the password at the cat before I walked in.
“Whoa… What happened to you?” I sighed, annoyed, and turned to face Draco who lay on the couch. He had jut put down a book.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I growled. Draco looked sceptically at me and began to rise from the couch.
“Hey. Talk to me sweetheart. I can tell something’s wrong.” He said as he made his way towards me. I turned away from him.
“Ron broke up with me.” I whispered. I felt Draco’s hand on my shoulder; he turned me around again. I looked down at the ground.
“He’s a jerk. You should be relieved to be rid of him.” He said.
I looked at him, “I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but it’s not really working.” He lifted his hand and caressed my cheek; I leaned into his hand and closed my eyes.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered.
“I'll be fine.” I muttered and opened my eyes. I only saw his grey ones looking into mine. He ran his thumb across my lower lip, which made me shiver. Draco looked amused for a second, like he just realized something that made him happy.
HARRY’S POV
Once again I was stuck in the middle. I was so tired of their bickering. Hermione and Ron had gotten into fights before, and, as always, I was the one in the middle. They wouldn’t even look at each other. This time it was worse than ever. They had broken up. Ron hadn’t told me why, and I really couldn’t figure it out. I was sitting in my bed, looking in the Marauder’s Map. Some people read before going to bed, I liked studying the map to see what people were doing and where they were. This map would’ve been perfect for a Head Prefect.
For the first time I found the Head Prefects’ room. I smiled for myself; I had searched for it for a while now. I wanted to make sure Hermione was okay, but I thought she was standing awfully close to Malfoy. What the bloody hell were they up to? At that moment my attention was ripped away from the map by a tapping on the window closest to me. I got out of bed and opened the window. An owl flew in and dropped a letter on my bed before it flew out again. I closed the window, and went to open the letter.
Dear Harry Potter
I hope everything is well at Hogwarts. I’m sorry to say, we have run into some minor problems in our auror department. During the War we lost a lot of people, some were great aurors, and some were spies from Voldemort.
It has come to my attention you want to be an auror? Mr Ronald Weasley as well? I have talked to Gawain Robards, the head of our auror office, and he is willing to let you and Mr Weasley begin your auror training as soon as possible. That is if you’re still interested?
Send an owl to me with your answer right away. Remember, this is an incredible opportunity. Tell Miss Granger, Mr Weasley and Miss Weasley ‘Hello’ from me.
Yours sincerely,
Kingsley Shacklebolt
Minister for Magic
I dropped the letter and ran out to the common room to find Ron. Kingsley was right. This was an amazing opportunity.
“Ron! Ron! I need to talk to you!” I yelled, which earned me a lot of looks from the other Gryffindor students. Ron was sitting in the couch in front of the fireplace, talking to Ginny. They both looked at me
“What’s going on Harry?” Ron asked. I sat down in one of the comfy armchairs.
“Kingsley sent me a letter.” I began, “He told me they’re in need of aurors, and he said you and I could begin our auror training as soon as possible if we’re still interested.” I continued. Ron’s jaw dropped.
“Are you serious?” He exclaimed.
I grinned at him, “Totally. Do you still want to do this?” I asked. Ron didn’t hesitate.
“Yes! Of course!” he said excitedly. I smiled at him and looked at Ginny, she was smiling too, but I could tell it was fake.
“Gin, is everything all right?” I carefully asked, she swallowed and nodded.
“Yeah. Sure. It’s great. You should do it.” She said, trying to keep the smile on her face. I stood up from the couch and kneeled down in front of her.
“Ginny darling. Tell me what’s bothering you.” I begged. She looked me in the eyes; I could tell she was sad.
“I'll miss you when you’re gone.” She muttered, I smiled and leaned in to kiss her on her forehead.
“I'll miss you too babe. But let’s just enjoy the time we have together before Ron and I leave. I haven’t even written back to Kingsley yet.” I explained. Ginny smiled and kissed me lightly on the lips, much to Ron’s dismay. I chuckled. I guess he’d never get used to seeing me kiss his younger sister.
A few minutes later I was under my invisibility cloak on my way to the owlery. I had written a letter to Kingsley telling him Ron and I were both very excited to begin our training. We would leave as soon as we were told. I gave the letter to one of the school owls and watched it fly away in the night. I sighed as I watched the owls. I missed Hedwig. I hadn’t gotten another owl yet; I would have to buy a new one when I travelled back to London. I put on my cloak again, and went back to the Gryffindor tower.
DRACO’S POV
I had been so close to kissing Hermione again last night. She had even initiated it. I was seriously proud of my self-control. She had been standing so close to me. I had cupped her face with my one hand and looked her straight in her beautiful eyes. Ron had broken up with her yesterday. She didn’t seem particularly sad about it though, she wasn’t very happy about it either. She had growled a lot at me last night when I tried getting her to talk. But in the end she had given in. After talking for a bit, she had begun to lean in to kiss me. But I had just kissed her on her forehead.
For the second time, I slept in Hermiones bed. She basically begged me last night. Telling me she needed a friend. Not that it mattered why she wanted me there. It just made me happy that I could lay with her all night. She had gotten out of bed without me realizing it that morning. So when I woke up, I was alone in her room. I slowly got out of bed and got ready for breakfast.
I made my way to the Great Hall, and sat down next to Co and Jasmine. Ugh, well I guess they were officially a couple now. They were so busy snogging when I got there they didn’t even notice me. I cleared my throat to announce my arrival, bot there were no reaction. I then decided to hit Co hard on his head. He finally pulled away from Jasmine and looked at me.
“Jerk,” mumbled Co and slapped me on my arm. Jasmine smiled at him and ran her fingers through his hair.
“Morning Draco.” She smiled.
“Good morning Jas.” I said while grabbing some toast. Co looked suspiciously at me.
“What’s so good about it? Where’s the hot mudblood?” he asked.
“You are such an arse Co.” Jasmine teased and jokingly slapped him; while I sneered at him, “Don’t call her that.” I had a tendency to snap at people if I heard them use that word. Co snorted.
“Wow. Relax Draco. I was just joking.” He said putting his hands up in front of him, as if he were trying to protect himself.
“Sorry. I’ve been a little on edge the last couple of days. Didn’t mean at snap at you.” I mumbled at continued to eat.
“What the fuck is wrong with you Draco?” Co suddenly snapped, I looked surprised up at him, “You have been acting really weird the last couple of weeks, ever since we got back to school actually. And now you, YOU of all people, the infamous Draco Malfoy, are apologizing?” he sputtered. My jaw dropped at this sudden outburst, Co had never yelled at me this way before. He had always been kind of in the background. He never had the guts to stand up to me if I did something he didn’t like. This was really weird.
“What the hell happened to you?” he finally said, finishing his crazy rant. I was speechless. I seriously had no clue what to tell him.
“Nothing is wrong you jerk. I just changed my view of life. Now, with the Dark Lord gone, I have nothing to fear. I can be myself again. I’ve never been able to do that before. That’s the change you see in me.” I growled. Why was that so hard to understand? Just because my friends were all still the same people as they were before, and during, the War, it didn't mean I was. Co said something to me, but I didn't hear it. I had shut him out.
I looked over at the Gryffindor table, just in time to see Hermione hug first Potter and then, after hesitating, Weasel as well. She looked very happy, her and Girl Weasley sat next to each other and talked. It almost looked like Redhead was crying; Hermione had her arm around the Weasley girl, comforting her.
What the hell was going on?
As usual, please fan, comment and vote! It would really make me happy! It makes me smile so much to see this story is getting reads and votes! :) I would like to hear your thoughts on this story, so please (as I have said before^^) comment, comment, comment! :) A new chapter will be up in a few days. Not sure when, but if you vote it'll be faster! :)