Soul Searching

Chapter Two:

Waking, with a dream of first love forming real words,
as close to my lips as lipstick, I speak your name,
after a silence of years, into the pillow, and the power
of your name brings me here to the window, naked,
to say it again to a garden shaking with light. -

Carol Ann Duffy, First Love

The lesson was taken in the same room as Transfiguration Class, although clearly Miss Springer, the tutor for Astral Projection, had taken it upon herself to accommodate the room to her own style and liking, in such themes and motifs that reflected the subject she taught. Had Miss Springer been born a Muggle, she would probably have taught Art and Drama, and would have been a fairly impressive teacher at that. Her artistic flare was clearly a trait that she loved to exhibit in any way possible: the walls were covered in impasto murals depicting surreal sequences of dream-boats surrounded by huge bright constellations and red and green planets; the curtains on the walls were decorated with intricate cotton-padded yellow half moons and wizards' hats, flanked by plants that had gold and silver sprinkles on their foliage; the floor was covered in a huge circular blue rug, with gold trim and tassels around the edge, with cushions equally spaced and following the circumference of the circular rug. In cages there were strange creatures that looked like chipmunks but with wings, which seemed to be humming a chorus of a soothing and relaxing tune. Miss Springer, herself, was equally as interesting to observe as the surroundings. She was a gaunt lady, but she was certainly unrestrictive in every other sense. Indeed, she seemed to be fairly liberal with her clothing, as she donned a flowing black undergarment, with a blue and yellow petticoat on top. She had a furry black scarf wrapped around her neck, and on her head was a green beret that was slightly inclined to her right side. Her hair hung all the way down to her back, and was layered with green and orange hair clips, bows and beads. On both arms she had about 20 gold bangles each. Her pose was something to be considered too: one hand covered her forehead, the other was against her hip and her facial expression looked like she was overly straining to appear solemn. She was clearly melodramatic, with an emotional range so diverse that one-minute she would be happy, the next she'd be depressed. Unfortunately, Miss Springer had been born a witch, and apart from the initial admiration for her skill in artistry (and the fact that she could clap her hands and the whole room would change back to the Transfiguration Class theme), Hermione thought she would be another third-rate teacher. She groaned at the seemingly obvious prospect of another lesson being taught by a teacher who was all front and no substance. Her appearances suggested that she had all the common factors shared by Professor Trelawney. But Hermione was not one to judge a book by its cover, and thus suppressed any pre-judgements she had made about Miss Springer. Time would tell how she would feel about her new teacher.

In the corner of the room stood a man, or what appeared to be a man (although a young man). He was much taller than an ordinary human, albeit smaller than Hagrid. He was clothed in a brown leather tunic, and huge boots. A helmet covered his head, and strapped to his belt was a gold and blue sheaf within which was a long sharp sword. Pouches hung from the belt, which seemed to contain coins, leaves and small phials of healing potion. He had thick brown hair which hung in a long ponytail with two short plaits on each side of his head. His eyes were the most striking of his features, and were the best clues that divided him from being human to a creature that resembled a human. They were deep-set into a furrowed brow, with the iris and the pupil the same black colouring, making it hard to know exactly what he was focusing on. He was clearly not so trained in the forces of magic, as he was in combat.

"Welcome to your first lesson in Astral Projection, the art of transcending space and alternate universes! Throughout the year you will learn the theory of Time and Space, and the practicality of using Astral Projection to your own gain. You will all be able to open your eyes to the bounteous and wondrous lands that are barely touched by human civilisation! I forewarn you though; you are not permitted to try anything you learn outside of my supervision. Astral Projection can be very risky....but wondrous, students, wondrous!!!" Miss Springer spoke exactly how Hermione expected, despite her promise to suppress her pre-judgements. Her lint was high and then low, soft and then stressed. In the corner, the figure coughed, and Miss Springer suddenly spoke again. "I would like you to welcome Sir Jareth. You will probably be seeing him in some of your other lessons, as he is here at Hogwarts to review and observe how lessons are taken. He is only here so he can report back to the Ministry of Defence, ensuring that lessons are meeting the standard. You needn't speak to him, as he has to be able to keep a close eye on how the lessons are being taken. Carry on as normal, and don't distract him." Harry, Ron and Hermione noticed the stark contrast between her former speech and her latter; each exchanged looks of suspicion and questioning. Her first seemed natural, with both high and low lint in her voice; the words flowed from her mouth. The latter speech was forced and unnatural, almost mechanical like a radio announcement. It had clearly been rehearsed, and would probably be recycled for the next class she taught with him in the room.

"Do they really expect us to believe that? I bet the real reason why he's here is to protect Maya from this someone or something she needs protecting from. That's what the meeting this morning must have really been about - this girl's in trouble, and she needs a bodyguard with her just in case, " Ron whispered, nudging Harry and Hermione. "Look at him now; he's got his eyes fixed on her like a hawk." It was true. The dark figure in the corner had his eyes fixed on Maya with one hand gripped on his sword.

"I bet that he was that other person we saw last night, Hermione, " pondered Harry. "We're just going to have to keep our eyes and ears open and hope that we start to find out what's going on soon." It came sooner than they expected.

Miss Springer announced that the first lesson required people to partner themselves with a friend, and then sit down on a cushion. The first five minutes was spent by people weaving in and out in crowds to form one huge throng in the centre, where everyone was hurriedly pointing at another person, selecting their partner quickly in case someone else gets there first. All of the Slytherin girls were frantically asking Draco to be their partner, who seemed to find great pleasure in rejecting them all individually in a very public manner; all except Pansy Parkinson, who leered at the other Slytherin girls who were declined. The other girls, before being told that he had already promised Ron he would be his partner, gave Harry many requests. Hermione was expected to partner with Maya, which she felt was a great opportunity to find out any new information, but also to find out how well she and Maya would do in their first lesson.

"Now that we are all ready, I must demand total silence, " said Miss Springer, in a mysterious tone "because I am about to show you one of the basic uses of Astral Projection. Seen as we are only beginning the class, we shall not be leaving our physical form just yet. I am only going to open up a rift between this world and the Other Realm. Before this class, I travelled in my spiritual form to the Other Realm, taking with me the materials you will need for this lesson in their energy form (you have 'spirit form' for living things, 'energy form' for the objects - remember that class). Once there, I performed complicated spells and rituals so that my spirit form would become tangible - or physical. I did the same for the energy form for the objects, which then became solid too. After that, I travelled back as a spirit and did the same rituals when I arrived home. But oh no! Shock horror, it appears that I have left the things I need for this lesson back in that world. How clumsy of me..." she said, laughing at her own sarcasm. Hermione rolled her eyes and cast both Harry and Ron a look that said: 'How patronizing can this woman be?' Miss Springer sat down on a huge silk cushion, and then closed her eyes, with her arms vertical and her palms exposed to the ceiling. "Appareo exemplum!" she cried, as she waved her arms in various directions and then put them together so that they formed an acute angle in front of the students. In front of each cushion came sparks of light and then a few thin and short slits opened in the air just in front of each cushion, just like small cuts in skin but this was happening to the air around them; then, what appeared to be plumes of iridescent glowing smoke quickly shot out of these rifts, the rifts closed and then right before each cushion the smoke transformed into leaves, scales, bottles and notepads. Miss Springer's arms dropped, and the whole class applauded in admiration (apart from Draco, who merely sneered at her results), Hermione's hands clapping the loudest and most frantically as she shot Harry and Ron a look of awe which said:

'She's wonderful! I never doubted her skills for a moment." Miss Springer smiled graciously, and took a few curtsies. "There is one more type of objects, however, that has been left behind in the Other Realm. Using the leaves in the scales, the potions and the instructions and incantation on the notepad, draw the remaining objects from the Other Realm into this world, one object for each pair. You can do this for the remaining part of the lesson, as much as I have faith in you all, I doubt you will succeed first time." By instinct, Hermione took the last part of Miss Springer's statement as a challenge, and one which would surely impress her new teacher if she succeeded. The other students also had a motive for succeeding in this lesson, as it was later discovered after five previously futile efforts by one pair, that the remaining ingredient, mixed with the leaves, makes a strange sort of chocolate that is edible. Harry and Ron were able to make the initial sparks of light, which crackled and soon fizzled out; they were unable to sustain it. Draco was no longer trying the spell, instead he sent his two goons to steal the strange chocolate from other people when they had mastered the spell. It proved too ambitious even for Hermione to work the spell the first time, although even on her first try she was able to create the rift between the worlds and locate the object; but she could not draw the object through to this world, but she was confident that on her second try she would do it with ease. She indicated for Maya to try the spell, while she would practice her visualization techniques. The figure in the back of the room shifted in his chair, and looked even more alert as Maya swirled her wand and recited the incantation.

The white sparks began to form as the rift slowly materialized and opened; the chink in the air was enough for her to see through to the objects, and locate them. She could feel her hands getting warmer, and her rings on each finger were beginning to tighten and vibrate, the white skin of her knuckles throbbing from pressure; the images in the rift were rapidly changing, as she was being forced to visualize a place of despair instead of the Other Realm, and the connection with this world and the other was changing until it found the despairing place that Maya was imagining. It was like a sequence of a film put into fast forward. The images whirled past as blurred streaks of colour, and finally stopped on one scene. This was a barren place, full of rough craters, fissures and magma. The place was full of dun tones and shades and there was very little light. Despite the coolness of the room, the heat that escaped from the rift absorbed into Maya's skin, causing beads of sweat to produce on her forehead, and her eyes to water. She tried to close the rift using the security spell, but her efforts were in vain. The dimensions of the rift were accumulating, widening and lengthening, like scissors being skimmed across and down tissue paper; drops of smouldering lava flowed out onto the rug and sucked a chasm into it. She backed away, her kitten-heel falling into one of the cracks in the floor, which was gradually widening. A dark shadow now filtered out of the rift, casing the floor. All the students had run in fear to the other side of the room; the exit was blocked by a huge chasm in the floor, which nobody attempted to jump. A huge creature appeared from the rift. Its face had no eyes or mouth, but in place of them were tar-black hollows, set into a decaying texture of blue skin. The black eyes were more like sockets, as blue flames flickered inside them, and the demon opened its mouth as it turned to Maya and began to recite curses and evil spells. From these words sprang an incubus and succubus, demons that would plague her mind during sleep. A strange whispering noise emanated from these demons, as they slithered across the floor to where Maya was arched against the wall. The Incubus slithered up to her, raising its scaled head and opening its mouth to expose a red tongue framed by a set of two-hundred teeth like metal splinters. Maya closed her eyes in fear, and awaited the demon to pierce her skin and usurp her mind. The demon tilted its head a few times, studying its prey, and then wrenched its head back for power just before thrusting its open jaws at her throat. An arrow was shot through its skull causing the powerful thrust to weaken in motion as it was driven to the side of Maya's throat and over her shoulder by the force of the arrow. Maya opened her eyes, awaiting the burning sensation on her neck. She looked down to see the tail traversed over her thighs, and her eyes followed the tail to the head of the demon, lying on the floor. It was instantly dead, as the poison on the tip of the arrow was made from a blend of both lethal and narcotic herbs. She noticed that the blood of the demon had trickled down her silver dress, although she did not have much time to think about it as the succubus had made its way to her. She looked to Jareth for help, who was occupied by a group of other demons. This time she was on her own. The demon inched forward and forward, closer and closer. She grabbed her wand and lodged it between the roof and lower jaw of the demon's open mouth, the flesh on her index finger getting sliced between its teeth. As it squirmed and tried to remove the wand, she removed her shoe and injected the long heel into the demon's eyes, temporarily blinding it whereupon she pushed it down into the chasm. Had Harry, Ron and Hermione not been holding onto the bars across the walls, they would have been able to reach their own wands and give her some aid. The floor in the room was crumbling more and more, and the students on the other side of the room found their feet dangerously near to the gradually decomposing edge of the concrete floor. They were all helpless. Although Ron was still holding on to the horizontal bars on the walls, he was desperately trying to find a way to help Maya. He looked up and saw that there were star-coated tapestries hanging from lots of other horizontal bars just below the ceiling, like monkey bars. There was more than enough room between the ceiling and the top of those bars for him to swing himself over them and sit on top. Then he could have access to his wand. Harry and Hermione watched in surprise, as Ron started to climb the set of bars across the wall, his hands getting tired with each relentless grope and clasp to the next higher bar. He reached the top, and swung his leg over the top of the flat bars and forced his body over them. His hand slipped over a tapestry, which he watched fall through the rectangular space in the bars. It plummeted down to the floor and straight into a chasm below. Ron gulped. He looked at his friends struggling against the edge of the floor and the bars. Harry looked back at him.

"Destroy the Heart of the dark power, and the other demons will be destroyed too," shouted Harry. Ron nodded and pointed his wand at the Jinn demon in the centre of the room.

"Now come on Ron, " he whispered to himself, "you can do this. You did it before, you can do it again." The Jinn was still cursing and chanting his spells so that more demons can enter this world from the other. Maya stared back at the Jinn; with no more energy or weapons to fight it, she was defeated and watched as balls of fire were forming in its mouth. Ron mustered all his strength and power, and directed his wand at the demon. "Amara Engulfes!" The Jinn screeched as it became ignited with flames that licked higher and higher and began to smoulder and burn its skin into ash. It shrieked one last cry of pain, before a huge scorching wind filled the room and the demons crumbled to dust. Jareth stumbled forward as he lunged his sword into dust particles, the only remains of the demons. Miss Springer woke up from her shock, and whirled her wand a few times, making the chasms close and the floor solidify. She clapped her hands and the room was now set for Transfiguration Class, with barely a trace of a battle.

She took one look around at the students, and then collapsed into a wing chair, requesting for one of the students to go fetch her: "Smelling Salts! I need my smelling salts!! How could this have happened, there was no way any of you could have accessed another dimension, especially when some have been classified and Track-Locked. Smelling Salts, immediately!" One of the students gave her a pouch, which she sniffed and seemed to calm her down. She took a few deep breaths, and then began to cry, throwing the pouch into the corner of the room in disdain. She then opened a draw, which contained a bottle labelled "Whisky" which she unscrewed with her teeth and poured the contents into a glass with ice cubes. The students watched the ice cubes swirl around the glass and slide to the top it as she imbibed the drink. Then she gave a disfigured smile and said that everyone could leave early on account of nearly dying. Jareth was tending to Maya, who was badly shaken from the incident. Her finger and mouth were bleeding badly, and some of the other students were hurt - but there were no fatalities. All the students had left the room; Hermione, Harry and Ron were all hid on the stairs, where they couldn't be seen but were still in earshot. Jareth placed a few compresses on Maya's skin and rubbed the wounds with some sort of ointment. He then walked over to Miss Springer.

"My Lady. I am bound by prescription, position and trust to ensure that the Princess is to come to no harm during her residence at Hogwarts. Hogwarts has given full support and promised that all efforts will be made so that the same dreadful events that have befallen Gallonweed are not echoed here. Therefore I take recent tribulations most seriously. I made a solemn promise to my Lord that if any such happenings should occur, the Princess is to refrain the practicing of magic. I ask that you inform the relevant persons about the new situation." Jareth spoke with authority, eloquence and seriousness. "And may I add, that you may find better reception if you were to perform a Quick-Sober Spell. You seem to be under the influence of alcohol, M'lady." Miss Springer simply waved her hand at him in disregard, and giggled stupidly, covering her mouth like a silly schoolgirl. Hermione, Harry and Ron ran down the stairs as fast as they could as Jareth and Maya headed off to the nurse.

"Hermione what on Earth happened!" Ron asked. "Did you and Maya make the wrong spell?"

"Certainly not!" cried Hermione, indignantly. "Well not me anyway. It was Maya - one moment she was OK and the next I look-up from my notebook and then there's lava coming out of the rift! She must be a powerful witch if she can break through the Track-Lock spell and draw such a huge creature through the rift. Although it seemed to me like she was more surprised and shocked than anybody about what she'd caused." Ron was scratching his head and looked dumfounded.

"Hermione - what is a Track-Lock spell?"

"Oh, Ron you really should read more: The Ministry of Magic made an official legislation in 1979, which states that Astral Projection lessons for under sixth graders must be protected by a Track-Lock spell. The teacher has to cast the spell in the room that he or she is teaching before class starts. The spell works by locking all the uncivilised and chaotic worlds that the Ministry of Magic has located and classified so that students won't be able to access them. They are there to protect you in case of problems. It's a very powerful spell, although there are breaches in this legislation. Each of the worlds has to be found, classified and enchanted with the spell. There's a huge book that logs each of the known worlds and where they exist in the cosmos. The problem is that there will always be an unlimited numbers of worlds that can be travelled to, and the one that Maya discovered could have easily been unclassified, and therefore the Track-Lock spell did not cover that world. This could be why those demons could get through. The other problem is that while the Track-Lock spell is difficult to break, it's not impossible. The Ministry of Magic apparently keep the spell to deactivate all the locks in a secret and secure place. I'm not sure what happened today, but whatever it was I want to make sure it doesn't happen again if I can."

"What I want to know, " said Harry, who seemed to be fairly distant and pondering something else, "is why those demons didn't actually kill her? I mean they were all the same sort of demons weren't they? Am I right Hermione?"

"Yes, you're right. I hadn't given it much thought, but now you mention it they are all the same categorization of demons - I'm sure that they were Gryphs, creatures that will seize the mind of a living thing, and manifest their own thoughts into the living creature. My knowledge of demons isn't anything much. I suggest a short trip to the library, where we can do some research into it all."

"And what's more intriguing is this 'Gallonweed' he spoke about. Is it a person or a place?

And what exactly caused the accident?" questioned Harry.

"Perhaps a long trip to the library would be a better idea..." said Ron.

Lessons were eventually over, which meant that they were now free to go to the library and search for any information that would give them the answers they wanted. They set off, winding through corridors and chambers, until they had arrived at the roughly carved oak doors that led into the library. The wood panelling spanned across both the doors; there were intricate inlaid patterns and runes embossed that were meant as a curse on anyone who were going to steal a book. The curse was technically an archaic Hex, which was quite effective when it was first introduced, although it was generally denigrated nowadays, having lost most of its magical force over the decades. But from time to time, someone who had stolen a book would find themselves with something like a face full of boils, or their clothes would become infested with ants. At one time, there were rumours that instead of equally apportioning its curse on people who damaged the books, it would conserve its evil magic and use it all on just one person who spoiled the books. It should be mentioned that those who were sorted into Slytherin were rarely punished by the curse.

Hermione went through the door, which had been left ajar. The floor was made of honed marbled stone, covered with strange geometric shapes. Directly in front of them (as they entered the library) were grand satinwood bookcases and shelves filled with endless books; books on every subject and topic you could think of, although rather appropriately, most of the books were about wizardry. It was more like a maze than a library, as the many bookshelves created long and meandering corridors, leading to even more corridors flanked by books. Amidst the huge shroud of books, on the right hand-side, was an oaken desk, which was laden with well-organised inkbottles, quills, notebooks and files. At one end of the desk was the statue of an eagle, made entirely of heavy gold; it had a plaque at the base of it, which read: Formatia trans sicere educatorum. A padded wingback chair made of black horsehair was neatly tucked under the desk. Madam Pince was straightening a book that was a couple of inches forward of the other books, ensuring that it was in line with the other hundreds on the same row, as though she were a General, attending to a row of soldiers. She rubbed her finger across the wooden shelf, inspecting it for any signs of dust, grease or grime; she smiled at her own discipline of cleanliness as her finger revealed nothing more than clean, shrivelled skin. She looked up over her glasses and frowned as yet more children were entering the public library. She seemed to despise the students actually using the library's resources, as over the years she had built-up a twisted relationship with the room with which she was far too emotionally attached, and consequently saw each student as potential for destruction. She seemed to clutch the books to her, hoarding the best ones under her desk; and her eyes were full of hate as she would forcefully slam the return-by-date print onto the books, making the students feel guilty for taking away one of her children for thirty days. Hermione, Ron and Harry rushed over to the tables, which were on a higher platform and were concealed from Pince's scrutiny by tall and wide bookcases. They looked around the huge library, scouring the different sections.

"Well, we'd better get started then, "began Hermione. "You two can find out any books on Gallonweed, and I'll search around for information on Gryphs." They all separated into the different sections of the library, passing other students who were busy studying and flipping through pages of books. Hermione stopped at a section labelled "Mind, Body and Soul". On the reverse side of her bookshelf side and on the right side of the adjacent corridor, were the other "G" books. She slid her finger across the spines of the books, her head tilted at an angle as she scanned each title for something that covered the appropriate topic, passing huge tomes and novels on other subjects. Her finger stopped at a gap where a few books ought to be, and the corridor on the other side came into view; she saw streaks of a hand in motion through her 'bookshelf-window'. Over the different sized gaps between the shelf lintel and the books, she could see it was Harry, selecting various books and flicking through them. Every time he found one he anchored the weight of the book between his waist and stomach, his hair rolling forward over his eyes as he lowered his head to read it easier. She watched the gentle stroke of his hand fruitlessly brushing the loose strands back over his scalp, and then falling back again. She smiled when he read the words, coordinating his lip movements in accordance to each letter whilst he remained completely mute. Her eyes became unfocused as her mind began drifting into thoughts of Harry, as she stared up at him from behind the concealment of the books. His clothes were beginning to peel off, floating down to the floor, and dissolving into oblivion - first his shirt, then his jeans, then socks, shoes, until all that was left were his... Harry looked up, and gave a lusting smile at Hermione: "I'm going to screw you over so hard," he whispered, before pushing down the bookshelf, which toppled over easily. He strode over to her, lifting her up in his bare tanned arms and placed her on the grassy hill, surrounded by black lilies and red roses. He was now over her, groping over her translucent skin.

"Now all you need to do is imagine you're naked too; and never will you see where you end and I begin because we will pour both our being and bodies into the joint embrace and lock into it, until the day the world falls." Her eyes suddenly focused, and she was slightly still for a few moments; afterwards she collected her bearings. She could hear the sound of her uneasy palpitations, and felt her hot flushes that seemed to ache, pinch and expand from inside her skin. She looked over the bookshelf. Harry was still reading books. She went back to attending to the task, as she gazed at the titles: "Lusting Spells and Sexes", "TransFuckoration for Beginners", "Getting Dirty on Brooms and Handling Them", Getting to Grips with your New Flaccid Penis"... Hermione shook her head and looked back: "Cursing Spells and Hexes", "Transfiguration for Beginners", "Getting Dirt off Brooms and Handles", "Getting to Grips with your New Magic Pendant" 'It' was on her mind too much, and she didn't like 'It'. Not when it was invading on her academic work, pervading her favourite source of retreat after times when she began to lose the steering of her mind, uncharted areas of emotion that drove her towards a Bermuda Triangle of sexual energy. She was scared of 'it'. She returned to the task, and Harry placed his book down and looked through the shelf at Hermione.

After a while of looking, she seemed to smile back at him. "I've been looking through these books, and I'm getting tired of it. I've decided that I'd much rather have you read me; you can just 'open-me-up', and then flick through the pages at your own pleasure Nobody's ever read me before, but I'm sure I'll be a good read - if you hold me properly on your lap, that is. Let's turn off the light, and you can get down to studying me Harry." The library became shrouded in darkness, apart from a white spotlight on Hermione and Harry; Hermione was wearing nothing but a white chiffon night dress with fur trimming, the sheer material flowing over and accentuating her streamlined naked body.

"Er...Dumbledore always told me never to read in the dark...it strains your eyes...." Harry felt slightly scared at the aspect of reading her - she would most definitely be of the romantic-adventure genre.

"There are a lot of things Dumbledore doesn't know about. Besides, what would he know - that man hasn't had a good read in at least fifty years - I suppose it's down to his pages shrivelling" spoke Hermione, as she advanced closer to Harry. "And just between you and me, " she said, whispering in his ear, "I'm going to give you a whole lot more than strained eyes - although, you have to come with an open-mind; you should never judge a book by its cover; because you don't know how alluring it might be inside - everyone in the world is much to quick to give you a title, and label you." Hermione's night dress slipped off her shoulders, and flopped to the ground. Her hair trailed over exposed soft pink flesh. She laid herself over him, taking his hand and guiding it to caress her breasts. Her eyes closed in ecstasy, and soon opened again. "While you read my tale, I think it's about time you let me in to read you too - I'm sure you're going to be a murder-mystery, and one that I just won't be able to put down... come on Harry... let me see this long tale of yours - I hope it has a nice, big, juicy ending - one that you really sink your teeth into." She ripped open his shirt, and began to nuzzle at his neck. After three minutes, she spoke again. "You know - I'm really not enjoying this book at all - you're really quite a boring read. Strange - I thought you'd be a murder-mystery, but you turned out to be just an "I can Read" children's genre. I suppose you really can't judge a book by its cover."

Harry's eyes began to water, as he looked down at her. "What did I do wrong?"

"Sorry Harry. I don't do reviews - I just critique. But in laymen's terms, you turned out to be a dull comedy - no wait, you were worse. More like a tragedy. If I were you, I wouldn't go around publishing yourself until you're almost completely edited." Harry came back to reality.

"The real Hermione would never react like that, "thought Harry. "Besides, she probably doesn't even want me - the way she reacted before, and that was just going to sleep with her." Hermione had gathered a small pile of books, and coming down to him from the other bookcase was Ron, holding some newspapers in his hand.

"Harry, Hermione!!" Ron was smiling cheerfully. "I've found out about Gallonweed - it's another Wizarding school."