Hogwarts Express came to halt at dusk,when the sun almost hid itself below the horizon.Hermione and Luna didn't bother changing to their school uniform.Term had yet to start and they didn't want to let go of their freedom yet.
Draco hadn't come back during the few hours of their journey.Hermione tried to find him but he was nowhere.Professor McGonagall didn't help,she just said “Later” everytime Hermione asked about him.The only other thing she had told her was the whereabout of her new dorm and the password.
Once she returned to her compartment,she switched into the 'deep thinker' mode for the rest of the journey.She didn't say a word,neither did Luna.
They both rose to get out of the train.Since Hermione had nothing to carry,she helped Luna with hers.They got out of Hogsmeade Station and walked a few metres before reaching the carriages.Hermione looked at the thestral for few seconds.Yes,she can see them now,with the war that ended so many lives right in front of her.
It stared at her eerily,something she wasn't used to yet,so she quickly got into the carriage..Another quite moment passed by until Luna break them.
“Oh,youth...”she said dreamily.Hermione blinked stupidly.
“Sorry?”
“I understand...He is good looking and breathtaking...”
“What are you talking about...”
“And he's sexy...”
“So I'm asking-”
“Naughty girl...”
“Luna!”Hermione snapped.”What are talking about!?”
Luna looked at her with her dazed eyes,”You're blushing madly...”
Hermione instantly looked into her reflection in her pocket mirror.She was right,she was totally red.Though she tried to remain calm,it still came out as a stutter when she said,”A-and what is it th-that you understand about it?”
“You're replaying the moment when Malfoy hugged you,”Luna answered her flat.Hermione gasped too abruptly that Luna stopped from continuing.
“You saw!?”
“Hard to ignore when people call you so loudly...”she simply shrugged.”Possibility no.1,he fell in love with you in the heat of the moment and settled to embrace you-”
“Or possibilty no.2,he was whimpering and in the brink of bursting with tears as one of his top secrets were almost revealed'”Hermione added curtly.
“Must be possibility no.1 then,”Luna answered simply.
“Well,I suppose that leaves the only possibility,no.1”
“Luna!”Hermione urged.Luna raised her copy of The Quibbler to block her face from Hermione's blazing eyes.Not bothering,Hermione pushed on,”He was screaming something like-“what else did you tell her!?”-and that's gotta mean something.”
Hermione had made a point that unless she was in a dire need for it,she will not to use the Veritas spell on anyone,especially on her friends and family.But there was a little moment there that she was judging if she should just use it anyway.
“I don't know what you're talking about..”When Hermione didn't reply,she lowered her magazine slightly and were caught by Hermione's pleading eyes,breaking through her will.She sighed.”It's better if you hear it from Dumbledore himself...My version might be confusing”
Satisfied to at least she know that she was right about the whole weirdness,Herminone smiled and let it slide.Suddenly she heard a scratching sound to her right.Crookshanks was scraping the window,Hermione went to get him when she saw a figure outside in the forest,running at unbelievable speed that its figure were a blur,towards Hogwarts.For a brief moment there she thought it was Draco.
Once they stepped into the majestic castle,Crookshanks ran into the castle he was so familiar with.It was like his playground,and almost all of the students knew him.
They headed straight to the Head's dormitory.Luna had agreed to stay at her dorm for the summer.Hermione was more than happy to get rid if the idea of being alone with Draco in the same dorm out of her head(Yes,they had to share their dorm).
They reached the designated place,where the dorm lied behind a portrait of a gorgeous woman walking by a lake.
“Hello there sweetie,”she greeted,“I'm Morganna.”
Hermione and Luna introduced themselves and Hermione set the password before they entered.
The Heads' dorm was magnificent.There was a big fireplace surrounded by welcoming leather sofas arranged in a circle with a big mahogany table at the center.Going further in was a set of staircases seperated into two branches halfway through.The one to the right lead to a door with Gryffindor's crest crafted on it and to the left was another with Slytherin's.She immediately set of to the Gryffindor room-obviously hers.
Not to mention the fact that her name and the title as Head Girl was carved right beneath the crest.She felt a sense of pride for the title of the Heads were to be given to none but the best of students.Did it mean that Draco was the best amongst all the male students?She shuddered at how many rooms there were for debates.
As instructed by Professor McGonagall,she set her password and gently opened the door to reveal a huge bedroom,completed with a king sized bed with ruby coloured cover,a dark brown study table,racks filled with books,and a grand closet room.
At one corner of her room was another door,she opened it to find a relatively big bathroom,and seeing that Draco's room was on the opposite site,it was safe to assume that she didn't have to share a 'private' space with him.She let out a sigh of relieve.
Luna was admiring the portraits in the common room when Hermione took a peek on her,so she decided to quickly handle her stuffs.She muttered the Niger Sarcina spell,put her thoughts on her trunks and they were thrown out instantly.With a flick of her wand,the trunks yanked open and her clothes hanged itself in the wardrobes.She then went to get Luna and told her to put her clothes in there too for the time being.
Once they were done,it was almost dinner and so they headed for the Great Hall.They passed by Peeves the Poltergeist vandalizing the windows with some sort of goo.By the time they reached the Great Hall,Luna asked,“May I eat with you at the Gryffindor table?”
“Of course!I was about to ask you myself,I am not eating alone.”
Once they entered though,Hermione glanced sideways at the Slytherin's table.She grabbed Luna by the arm and dragged her there,where Draco was eating dinner with...Crookshanks?Hermione took a sit across him,Luna beside her.Draco stared at her,a hint of surprise in his expression.
“What do you want,Granger?”Draco asked dubiously.She ignored him,looking at Crookshanks instead,who was taking a nap on the table,beside Draco's plate.
“Why does he like you all of the sudden?”she wondered aloud.Draco merely smirked.
“Can't blame him for being able to appreciate how attractive I am.”
“Didn't say you weren't,no need to be so sensitive...”
Draco snorted.”I might as well get this smacked onto your thick skull,Granger.What I did on the train was NOT like what you think it was.”
“Yeah?Well I was thinking that you almost got your secret broke out and you were depressing over it,if that wasn't true,then...”Hermione gasped in mock horror,”You're in love with me!?”
Draco stared at her blankly,he sighed,”Neither of them is.Look, I didn't do it on purpose okay?So get the hell of it out of your mind.”
Hermione didn't reply,she took her dinner while taking in her surrounding,the Professors weren't here.Probably eating somewhere else.She was dragged away from her train of thought when she heard a heavy panting.She looked up to see Draco clutching his chest.He was paler than usual,and beads of cold sweat rolled down his cheeks.
“Malfoy,are you alright?”Hermione asked worriedly.Draco swiftly rose and strode out of the room.Hermione,with her gentle and caring traits,couldn't help but to follow him out of the Great Hall.Noticing this,Draco fastened his pace,Hermione followed suit.
“Malfoy,wait!There's something not right about you.
“As if I don't know better about myself than you do!Now sod off Ganger!”He yelled.
“You need to-”
“I SAID SOD OFF!!!”
At this,Hermione froze.Not that she never had someone yelled so loudly at her before,with Ron and everything,but never had someone yelled at her with such menace,and pure hatred.Draco left her rooted at her spot,struggling to walk,one hand clutching his chest,another holding onto the wall.
After a few seconds,she shook her head and decided to look for Professor Dumbledore,she informed Luna and asked her to go back to the dorm first.She then headed for Dumbledore's office.On her way though,she was stopped by a plump woman.Hermione assessed her,all too familiar was her face.Though she had never seen her panting and sweating all over before.She looked like she had run across the Forbidden Forest and came back.
“Miss Granger,can I have a moment with you?”Madam Pomfrey called her,still breathing heavily.
After giving her a reluctant nod,she was dragged towards the Hospital Wing.Madam Pomfrey gestured her to sit.She left for her storage room,leaving Hermione waiting there silently,when she noticed some sort of movement.
Her eyes lingered around the room,and there she saw it,the door at the end of the room was shaking violently,as if someone was hitting it hardly from the other side,but there was no sound.She walked cautiously to the door,weighing if she should take a peek.Her hand was already on the doorknob when she heard Madam Pomfrey coming back,so she quickly walked to the middle of the room,not wanting to arouse any suspicion.Instead,she was the one that got one.
Madam Pomfrey came back with a small flask.She took a deep breath and asked,in somewhat rushed pace.
“Miss Granger,would you mind giving me some of your blood?”she blurted.Hermione's eyes narrowed.
“Whatever for?”
“Well,you know you're going to be trained real hardly right?In order to clarify how much you have improved,we will analyze the magic content in your blood-mediwizards' stuff,she chuckled forcedfully.
That was surely a bluff,Hermione was quite interested in magical medication,and of all the books she had read-which,mind you,a lot-there's not a single mention of blood analysis.But Hermione didn't argue,Madam Pomfrey seemed to be in dire need of them,and she was most definitely sure,her teachers would never be up to no good,which exclude Snape of course.
“Sure,go ahead and take it,”Hermione feigned indifference.Madam Pomfrey dug her wand softly on Hermione's wrist and muttered a spell.Suddenly,her skin around that area reddened and blood oozed out slowly.She flicked her wand and the blood neatly settled into the flask she was holding.There was no pain,so Hermione just sat there patiently.
Once she was finished,Madam Pomfrey dismissed her somewhat panicked,Hermione swore that the plump nurse would take occasional glance at the shaking door,the door to the room that she was sure containing some people,and whatever they're doing in there,the sound was muted with the silencing charm.
Not wanting to be a prat,however,Hermione obediently nodded and went out of there.Just before she closed the door completely,however,she heard Madam Pomfrey running quickly to the shaking door.Hermione dragged her feet to the Heads' dormitory.
When she reached here,Luna was reading a superstitious magazine on the couch in the common room.She chatted with her for a while and decided that she was already so tired and excused herself for bed.Lina stayed up,saying that someone should wait for Draco,since he didn't know the password.Apparently,Draco hadn't set foot in the dorm,since the door to his room had not been set a password.His trunks weren't there too.
It was an hour since Hermione went for bed.Luna was still reading her magazine when she heard knocks on the portrait door.Luna snapped her magazine shut and ran for the door,opening it to reveal a wizened wizard and an ancient looking woman.
“Is she asleep?”Dumbledore asked her,she nodded.
“Then we better get this done,as soon as possible Albus.” the woman told him.Luna didn't recognize this woman,but the Headmaster had informed of her visit,so she wasn't so surprised.
They headed for Hermione's room.Entering cautiously so as to not waking her up.The ancient woman brushed pass Dumbledore with a slight gasp.“Look at how beautiful she had grown to be...”she admired Hermione as though she had known her for a long time.
Dumbledore cleared his throat not too loudly,”I hate to interrupt your beautiful reunion,but we really must hurry Esmerelda.”
“Oh yes,yes,sorry.”she said apologetically and produced her wand out of the inner pocket of her robe.She muttered an odd incantation.To Luna's utter astonishment,a bright purple light emanating glyph took form a few inches above Hermione,just big enough to encircle her figure.More to Luna's surprise was that Hermione was not awakened under that bright light.
Without delay,Esmerelda continued muttering long incantations that was clearly not in the same language as the spells taught at Hogwarts were.When she was finished,she abruptly ceased her wand away and a strong aura suddenly burst out of the glyph,throwing all of them except Hermione-who was obviously not affected by the commotion-a few steps back.
Judging from her action afterwards,Esmerelda had apparently finished with anything she came here for.She tucked back her wand into her inner pocket.
Dumbledore was the one to break the silence.”Esme,remind me of the after effects of this 'unsealing'”?
“Her physical and magical strength will multiply gradually,and she will have access to the ancient magic.Take care of her well,Albus.She is the salvation of this school of yours,the magical community,the muggle community and the entire population of the elves.
“More than ever now,I would actually like to think that she is the salvation of Draco Malfoy...”Dumbledore muttered absently.
“Of course,but beware must you be,Albus.That boy couldn't be saved unless he vow to give his life to her,for she has awakened,”Esmerelda warned.
“For she is the daughter of magic itself.”Dumbledore agreed.With that,Esmerelda strode out of the dormitory,aged as she was,she walked quickly without any problem.
A few moment of silence,broken only when Dumbledore excused himself.He walked towards the portrait door before Luna stopped him.
“Professor,how long are we going to keep this concealed from her?She seems to already have suspicions in her...”Luna queried.
“Soon,Miss Lovegood,soon,as she will find out about this by herself even if we didn't tell her.”
“There's not much we can do to hide it from her is there?”
“No,there is not.Not with Draco being in his 'condition'.Not with all the effects the awakening will have on her..”Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
They bade goodnight and retired themselves to the night.
Phew,that took quite some struggling to decide what should really happen in this chapter and their order.But all in all I think it turned out okay^^,Read and Review my lovely readers!!!
Write a Review Hermione Granger Chronicle:The Elves and The Vampires: Visit from the Wise
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