The Approaching Storm

Chapter 5: What could a simple bet lead to?

The autumn season at Hogwarts had turned to winter. Now that the temperature had become rather chilly, outdoor activities where limited. Wintertime did allow for snowball fights, a Weasley tradition. Alas, there was one extraordinary activity most could not do. An activity greater than the invention of Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans combined. That activity of course is Quidditch. Which is where we are today. Two particular boys are moping around the Gryffindor Common Room. They wore sad, bored, hopeless expressions. What a terrible life they live.

Hermione sat on her cushy seat, on the big, red, velvet couch, with Crookshanks in her lap. She watched Ron walk by her, and sigh miserably. She eyed Harry sitting across from her, starring into nothingness, twiddling his thumbs. You would think the two of them had received terrible news. Hermione didn't think she would act this miserable even if she found out Snape was going to adopt her. Well, maybe if that occurred, she would react similar, but for Gods sake! This was only Quidditch! They would get to play again in a few months, and if Ron made that infernal sighing noise again, walking by her, she was really going to make his life miserable.

A month had past since the incident with the locket.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron had gone back to try and find the secret room again but with no luck. Hermione really wanted them to see the room. She told them every detail about it and the story Malfoy had told her about the Order of Phoenix. No matter where they pushed on the wall, they couldn't get in. Maybe the room had moved locations. Some Hogwarts rooms were known to do this. Even Dumbledore said he couldn't find all the rooms in Hogwarts. After a couple of weeks of unsuccessful searching for the room, they decided to give up for the time being.

Ginny had approached Hermione about the ghostly apparition she had seen. Hermione explained the situation to Ginny, leaving out the part about Harry having a sister. She told her what happened in the memory. Ginny felt awful for Harry having to endure his parent's death again.

As for the ghost of Lily Potter, she was not seen since the locket incident. Harry had looked for her, but a ghost cannot be found unless it wants to be revealed. Lily Potter, as of the moment, did not want her presence to be revealed. Harry had many questions about ghosts in general. If his mother was a ghost, did that mean his father was one too? Hermione didn't even know the answers to these questions. Hagrid wasn't around to ask him. He was still with the giants somewhere. Dumbledore might know, but Harry did not want Dumbledore to probe deeper into the situation. Harry just wanted to know about ghosts. Then Ron had a remarkable idea. Ask a ghost. So Harry, Hermione, and Ron went in search of Headless Nick.

Sir Nicholas explained the best he could about why a ghost stays in the living world.

"A ghost is a soul that still feels it has a purpose to provide in the living world. Sometimes they take guardian roles, not ready to leave their loved one's on their own. Sometimes they are vengeful for their death and seek revenge. Sometimes they are just lost souls who cannot go to the next world until their souls are released. The later is the most tragic story. Those souls stay in purgatory until the soul is released," Sir Nicholas explained.

"How can a trapped soul be released? Do they still have ghostly forms?" Hermione inquired.

"A trapped soul is only released when the holder of the soul is destroyed," Sir Nicholas said with a serious expression. "They do not take ghostly forms unless they can chant a soul spell before their time of death. Also, the person has to be killed because they are protecting someone. The soul chant can bind their soul to the living world," Sir Nicholas said, as he floated between Ron and Hermione.

The trio looked to one another. Harry's expression was grave.

"I think my mother said a soul chant. I saw her recently, she showed me a memory," Harry said sadly.

Harry remembered something.

"Would the killing curse trap a soul in purgatory?" Harry asked, with a hard expression.

"Yes, and the souls would not be released until the one who used the curse was destroyed," Sir Nicholas said softly.

Harry sank to his knees. His family was trapped in purgatory. It was bad enough that Voldemort had killed them, but now their souls cannot even find peace.

"I hate him," Harry growled. He stood up and stormed back to the Gryffindor Tower.

Sir Nicholas looked at Harry's retreating form.

"Poor boy," he said, as he floated through a wall, disappearing.

Both Hermione and Ron knew that he "him" Harry referred to was Voldemort. They both felt terrible for their friend.

Harry still had another thing to focus on. He had a sister, but progress on finding Harry's sister was looking bleak. Nothing was known of her, no name, age, apperance, nothing. Whoever she was, she was a huge secret. No one was supposed to know about her. If Harry asked questions, people would find out he had a sister. This would be a bad idea, considering how much effort had gone into protecting her identity. For now, Harry had to be happy just with the idea of having a sister. Who he believed, with all of his heart, was alive.

Harry remembered the child in his dream, with her big brown eyes. This was the only glimpse he'd had of his sister.

He thought she might have their mothers red hair. Ron informed him she could have brown hair, like his.

He imagined her to be about two years older. Katie Bell was one of his first possibilities. Ron reminded him, that you had to be 11 to start Hogwarts. Someone born after Sept. 1 to the end of December would have been born in 1979 not 1980.

So he added Hannah Abbot and Lisa Turpin to his list.

He thought that she would have Muggle parents. Ron interjected that she could have one Muggle parent and one Wizard parent. That they just lived in the Muggle world.

So he added Susan Bones and Sally-Anne Perks to his list.

Harry thought that his sister probably would think that the parents she was living with were her real parents. That she didn't remember her true parents since she was so young. After all he didn't really remember them. Ron said she could know, and just be really good at keeping secrets.

After all was said and done, thanks to the help of Ron, Harry now had most of the school as possible sister suspects. He also had the rest of the Wizarding Schools. Not to mention all the Muggle schools. Ron had been kind enough to inform him, she may have never joined the magical world.

Basically, Ron was absolutely no help, and Harry was left where he begun. The only image was the dream.

Slowly the days passed, as so did the search. The search actually became more of a game, in which Harry and Hermione didn't like very much. Ron of course came up with the 'What If' game.

This would consist of Ron, seeing a girl. He would ask Harry, "If she were your sister would you let me date her?" Or, if she was pretty foul looking, if Harry would let her date Goyle. Ron used many names ranging, from Seamus, to Justin, to Blaise Zabini, even Draco, which always received a,

"Hell No!"

As the days passed to weeks, and the weeks into a month, things are where they are today, with cold weather, no Quidditch, and two devastated boys.

Ron paced the floor again, with another sigh, and said. "I'm so bored."

"Why don't you read a book?" Hermione said, getting aggravated at his pacing.

"A book? Are you daft woman? I have more valuable things to do with my time than read a book." Ron replied.

"Really? I didn't know pacing and moaning about your miserable life had become such a eventful activity." Hermione replied smugly.

"All right you two. Don't get into another row. Peace and quiet is greatly enjoyed around here due to your frequent battles." Ginny intervened, giving warning glances to the pair.

About that time, two extremely giggly girls entered the room.

"I can't believe he asked me! I will have to get a costume robe to match his eyes." Lavender said, with a huge grin on her face.

"We are going to have so much fun! My date is so thoughtful. He actually asked what my favorite flowers are! I'm so happy to have a good date this year." Parvati said, eyeing Harry at her last comment.

Harry gulped after her last sentence, and gave a goofy grin.

"So Ron, are you actually going to ask Hermione this year? Or are you going to glare at her through the whole event like last year." Parvati said, with a snobbish attitude to Ron.

"What are you going on about? Ask Hermione to what?" Ron said irritated.

"Why to the Mistletoe Gala. What other big dance do we have coming up?" Lavender piped in.

"Oh no, not another one. Didn't they learn their lesson last year with these blasted dances? Why do they love to torture us?" Ron pleaded desperately.

"Ron, it's not the end of the world," Hermione interrupted.

"Well I have no dress robes, so I can not attend. Too bad," Ron said flatly.

"Silly, you make your costume for the Gala. We get to go to Hogsmead for supplies. Really, why don't you know about this? Hermione is Prefect, she has informed the rest of us. Why hasn't she informed you two?" asked Parvati.

"That is a good question." Harry asked, looking towards Hermione.

"Well, I was going to do it later today. You two have been sulking all day. I knew this would have made you feel even worse." Hermione replied, looking down at Crookshanks, who purred.

"Gee, thanks." Harry and Ron said, at the same time. They looked even more miserable than before, if possible.

Within the coming days and weeks, Hermione saw happy girls passing by. They chatted away about how excited they were, and who had asked who. The costumes were the biggest secret. Every girl was trying to have the best and out do everyone else. Hermione thought they were being childish, though a little voice in her head told her she more than likely would be doing the same thing. That is if someone would ask her, which they hadn't.

Susan had claimed Harry to go with her. Harry was initially a little freaked out, since she was on his 'could be sister' list. He then revised his opinion that it would be good to get to know her better. He could then qualify her to really be on his list or not.

Harry was not Hermione's problem. The certain red headed boy was. She was sure he would ask her. He hadn't asked anyone else. At least she didn't think he had. Was he going to wait until the last minute again, and insult her?

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Ron! Hermione thought.

Well it couldn't hurt to start on my costume, I have to go to the Gala, I'm a Prefect, she concluded her thought.

Boys had asked Hermione, but she turned them all down. Now that almost everyone seemed to have dates, she started to wonder about her decision. Which brings her back to her previous thought. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid Ron!!'

"Lost in thought Granger?" a voice from the darkness asked.

Oh no, not him, anyone but him. I knew my peaceful life was to good to be true, Hermione thought in desperation.

Draco had, incredibly, not bothered the trio too much after the locket incident. Harry had approached him about keeping it a secret. He of course said it would cost Harry and he would collect his debt later. Being typical Malfoy, Harry just ignored him. The trio figured he had stopped bothering them while he wore off their "goody goodness" as he had put it. That was until now.

"I knew it was to good to be true," Hermione mumbled.

"Yes Granger, I'm good and I'm true. That is beside the point. What could my wonderful Muggle-born be so wrapped up in thought with? Perhaps it's a certain event that is approaching. You wouldn't still not have a date, now would you, Granger?" Draco asked, with a highly amused look.

"Stuff it, I'm not in the mood," Hermione said, as she walked past him.

Draco walked to keep up with her.

"I know guys have asked you. Please don't tell me you're waiting for Carrot Top to ask. He's a bloody idiot. Especially if he hasn't asked you yet. Even you can do better than him. If he hasn't already asked, he's probably going with someone else." Draco said, trying to match Hermione's fast stride.

"Shut Up! You have no idea if he's going to ask me or not, or if he's going with anyone else. If you're so big and bad, who are you going with? Pansy again? Oh you must be so thrilled with that catch." Hermione said snappishly.

"Actually, I'm going alone this year. I figured I could see how many other people's dates I can snag or shag. I have no real preference. It should be pretty fun. Want to be one of my conquests, Granger?" Draco said, eyeing Hermione.

Hermione snorted, giving him a disgusted look. "Don't count on it you bloody idiot. I'll be just fine with my date," she said.

"Oh really? You are sure he is going to ask, aren't you? Lets make a wager then, shall we? The dance is two weeks away. Most reasonable men should have asked by now. Seeing as that we are dealing with Weasley, that wouldn't apply. So if Ronniekins hasn't asked you by the end of this week. Which is three days, remind you. Then you have to dance the last dance with me, in front of all your adoring Gryffindors." Draco said, as he smirked.

"Wha.. What?" Hermione stumbled with her words. "Why would you want to dance with me? Wouldn't that tarnish your anti-Muggleborn image? After all, you would actually have to touch me?" Hermione replied, still with shock written across her face.

"Yes, Yes, I know. I will of course be in need of many baths afterwards. I will probably need my mother's strongest disinfectant. Hmm, I will owl her for that today," he said lost in thought. "Anyway, it will all be worth it to see the look on Potty's and Weasel's faces. Not to mention all the other happy land Gryffindor's. Oh, I can picture it now, their precious Granger in the arms of the Slytherin snake," Draco said, with an evil grin and far off look in his eyes.

"You're pathetic, you know that right? If I agree, I get to make a wager also. You, Draco Malfoy, have to defend all of my work I do with you in Potions to Snape. This is for a whole week." Hermione said, with a grin.

"Ah come on! Mine wasn't that bad. If that's the terms, then you also have to do most of our Ancient Runes project." Draco declared.

"Fine," Hermione said.

"Fine," Draco said.

"What are the conditions?" Hermione asked.

"Midnight, Friday, no later." Draco said.

Hermione nodded. They shook hands on it. Draco said the binding spell that kept track of their bet. There was no way either one could cheat. With that said and done they started to go their separate ways. Hermione was half way down the hall when Draco said her name.

"Hey Granger, remember three days," he said, as he vanished around a corner.

Hermione rolled her eyes and kept walking. She thought of the catastrophic events that would happen if she danced with Malfoy. It would be pretty amusing to see everyone's mouth drop to the floor. She let out a little giggle as she thought about it. She then remembered why she was in this situation to begin with. She went back to her earlier thought.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Ron!!!!!!!!!! Hermione thought with finality.

Hermione sat in her seat at the Gryffindor table, eating her food. She looked up at Ron for the tenth time during dinner, giving him another withering glare. She mumbled something under her breath. For someone with a trained ear, you could make out "Bloody Idiot", "Brain the size of a pea", and something that sounded like "Ferret, for a dancing partner".

The reason for her actions started three days ago, with a certain bet.

On Wednesday, she decided to be extra nice to Ron. Maybe that would get him to ask her to the Gala. Ron, being Ron, completely ignored her. Instead he talked to Harry about, what else, Quidditch.

She tried to sit beside him, giving him her best smile. He only looked at her, asking if she needed something.

She volunteered to play him in Wizard Chess. She was a gracious loser. Even after the pompous victory dance he did after winning.

Still, he did not ask her to the Gala.

On Thursday, Hermione did something rare, very rare. She joined in on the Quidditch conversations. She let Ron explain every rule in Quidditch to her. He went on, and on, and on, and on, about his interest, addiction she thought, with the sport. She had to try her best not to roll her eyes every two seconds. She endured much misery that day.

Still, he did not ask her to the Gala.

On Friday, Hermione was getting nervous. Malfoy was not helping any. He knew Ron hadn't asked her yet. Otherwise the bet would be done. Malfoy had much enjoyment in teasing her about her predicament. He kept dancing around with his imaginary partner, sometimes putting his hands in inappropriate areas. She at one point thought he had placed a tracking charm on her. Wherever she went, he was there, dancing around like a fool.

She couldn't lose to Malfoy. The dance wouldn't be the worse part. Malfoy would never leave her alone about Ron not asking her, if she lost. She had to get that dense prat to ask, but how? She decided to do the unthinkable. She went to Lavender and Parvati as a last resort.

She told them she wanted a make over. They of course got extremely giggly and happy.

"A makeover!" Lavender exclaimed with excitement.

"Now sit right here, Hermione. I have always hoped you would come to us for a makeover," Parvati said, as she closed the bedroom door.

Hermione felt as if she was trapped and Lavender and Parvati were about to devour her for dinner. She made a sheepish expression as she sat down in the chair. She gave a weary glance to the duo.

"Don't threat Hermione, you will look simply marvelous when we are through," Lavender said, as she began applying some type of cream to Hermione's face.

"What colors should we go with, Parvati? Hermione has very natural tones, we can emphasis them, or we can make her look bold with bright colors," Lavender said, analyzing Hermione's face.

"Let's experiment with them all," Parvati concluded, with a bright smile, grabbing a tube of Cover Girl Witch hot pink gloss.

Hermione's stomach sank. What had she gotten herself into? She prayed that she didn't end up looking like a clown or, as Ron says, a scarlet woman.

After they had finished Hermione had to admit they didn't do too bad a job. Luckily they had stayed with more of the natural tones, but she was wearing the hot pink gloss. If this didn't get Ron's attention, she didn't know what would. She wasn't doing this because she was in love with Ron (at least that is what she told herself). On no, she had to do this so she wouldn't lose to Malfoy. This is what she kept repeating in her head as she walked down the stairs, into the common room, with her new look.

Must not lose to Malfoy, must not lose to Malfoy, Hermione kept repeating as she walked into the common room.

She noticed a lot of heads turning in her direction. She walked up beside Ron.

Ron turned around, laughing at a joke Seamus had just told him. His mouth about hit the floor when he saw Hermione.

"Hermione?" Ron said in shock.

All right, it's about time you noticed me! Hermione thought.

"Yes Ron?" she answered him in her sweetest voice.

"Did you let Lavender and Parvati attack you? What, did you lose a bet to them or something?" he asked her.

Hermione began to fume.

That's it! I can't take it anymore. Is he that much of an idiot? Hermione thought, giving Ron a very distasteful glare.

"What? It's just not you. I mean you're not suppose to look like that," Ron said, eyeing her apperance.

"Oh, and what exactly am I suppose to look like, Ron! I'm a girl! I'm sorry you don't see me as a pretty girl!" she yelled, as she stormed out of the Gryffindor Tower.

"That's not what I meant!" Ron yelled back, but it was to late, she had already left.

Harry just rolled his eyes at his friend, wondering if he would ever get a clue.

That, that, idiot, no, Arse!' Hermione thought.

She fought hard to keep the tears from spilling.

Why do I even try? Why do I even like him? Hermione stopped walking and continued her thought.

Do I like him? Hermione concluded.

About that time her stalker turned up.

"My, my, my, what do we have here? A lone Gryffindor, wandering around by herself?" the stalker said.

Hermione sighed. She felt her day couldn't get any worse. She dropped her shoulders in a defeated manner.

"For once, just leave me alone, please, Malfoy," Hermione said in a light voice.

"Dear God, is the sky falling?" Draco said, eyeing the ceiling and looking all around, "Granger just said please to me," he finished, giving her a smirk. He was enjoying his taunting. He then noticed Hermione hadn't said anything back. He also noticed the wetness coming from her eyes.

"Ah! You're not crying are you? I was just taunting you! Stop the waterworks!" Draco said in a very nervous tone, waving his hands about.

"I'm not crying because of you, idiot! I don't want to talk about it!" Hermione yelled, turning away from him.

"Calm down, Granger! I don't really care about your personal life. I can only imagine what this could possibly be over. I really hope you have better things to be upset over than the Weasel Fairy. Well, I guess if I was you, and my friends were the Boy Who Has No Brain To Wonder, and Pipi-Long-Weasel, I would be upset too," Draco said, tapping his finger to his chin.

Hermione had the immediate picture of Ron, with long braids that stuck straight out and buck teeth. She snickered at the thought. She looked up at Malfoy with a slight smile.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to cheer me up," she said, in a less stressed voice. She began wiping away her previous falling tears.

"Ah, what are enemies for? I need you back on your high horse to knock you back off of it. Now don't I?" he said, with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks anyhow," she said, looking up at him, with a slight grin.

"I guess I should go get ready for dinner. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around, since you're stalking me," she said, walking away.

"Hey! Don't flatter yourself! A Malfoy never stalks, but is stalked," he said to her, with a smug posture and attitude.

Hermione turned to face him, rolling her eyes at him.

"Yes I know, oh great Lord Malfoy," she said, as she bowed.

"That's right. You'd do good to remember that. Oh, and Granger, about the stuff on your face," he started.

Oh no. Here we go again. All I need to hear is I'm ugly from him. Lets see how much worse we can make Hermione feel, she thought, preparing for a mean comment.

"You don't need it," he said, as he shrugged his shoulders. He walked away, twirling around with his imaginary dance partner, turning the corner and vanished.

Hermione stood there in shock, yet again.

I swear that boy shocks me more and more. Was that a compliment he just gave me? It seemed like a compliment. I just don't know what to think about him. He can be such an evil, arrogant, annoying, spoilt, jerk sometimes. Then there are the rare times that he's almost, well, sweet, for a Malfoy, she thought, as she headed back to the Gryffindor Tower.

Hermione gave another menacing glare at Ron as she remembered the last few days. Dinner was ending, and everyone was heading up to the tower. Hermione actually thought maybe Ron was going with someone else to the Gala. But she decided that she shouldn't ponder on it. No matter what, he is her friend. If they aren't more than that, then so be it.

So why wasn't her heart agreeing with her brain?

She sat on her favorite couch. Soon it would be midnight. She would have lost her bet, and more than likely go to the Gala alone. She thought about her costume. She had worked very hard on it. It was a light dust blue gown, swirled with opal. She had even created her own shimmer charm to place on it. This gave the gown a remarkable iridescent color and texture. She made wings for the back of the dress. They were a light, transparent pearl texture and color. She had put a command spell on the wings for movement. When she commanded to flap her wings, glitter fell from the wings. This command was a thought command, not a spoken one. She looked like a fairy princess in the costume. She was quite beautiful. To bad she wouldn't have a date to enjoy it. Three minutes left till midnight, she sighed.

"What's with all the sighing?" a voice said behind her.

It was Ron. She gave a smile at the irony.

"Just sighing about life," she said.

"Oh," he said, swaying from foot to foot nervously.

"So. Umm. About this Gala thing, we're friends, right?" Ron said to Hermione.

"Yes," she said, with a questioning look in her eyes.

The clock started striking the chimes for Midnight.

"So. Um. Will you go with me, as my friend?" Ron asked, looking pleading towards her.

The last chime struck, but it was hard to tell if it was after he finished asking or during.

Hermione wasn't happy he waited this long. She also didn't know what to think about the emphasis on the friend part. She was excited about winning her bet with Malfoy. She had Ron for a date. Well at least she thought she had, on both accounts.

"Ok, I'll go. You waited until the last minute, again. You know that right. Don't count on me always being here for your last resort," Hermione said to him, in sort of an accusing way.

"Hermione, you will never be a last resort, and thanks for saying yes. Goodnight," he said, with a sweet smile, as he turned around and went to bed.

Hermione had a smile on her face. Ron said the sweetest things sometimes too. She was getting ready to go to bed herself, when a parchment appeared on the table. It was addressed to her. This must be her official letter, stating she won the bet. She happily began to read it.

The letter read:

Dear Miss Granger,

A bet was established between one Hermione Granger, and one Draco Malfoy. The appointed end of term was Midnight, Friday Evening. Due that the event occurred at exactly Midnight, only this result can be determined.

A tie.

As so, both conditions for the bet will have to be rewarded by said participants.

Thank-you for your cooperation,

Spell-A-Bet Keeper

Hermione hung her head down.

Oh no, she thought.

This is not going to be a pretty event. At least Malfoy has to stick up for me, to Snape. That should be enjoyable. Unfortunately, I do have to do extra work on our Ancient Runes project. Oh well, maybe it won't be that bad, she concluded her thought.

She could have sworn, about that same time, she heard a boy screaming in agony somewhere in the castle.

Probably Peeves, she thought.

She was wrong.

A certain boy was having an argument with a certain parchment down in the Slytherin Dungeon. He tried to tear the parchment up. That didn't work. The parchment folded together, yelled at him that it was a contracted bet, and the result was final. Then it stuck its tongue out at him and disintegrated. Malfoy was mad. He screamed at the now vanished Spell-A-Bet Keeper, for ruining his life.