Hermione

Chapter Two-High flying, adored

Hermione walked in the Entrance Hall after dinner. She wondered to herself if joining Draco's friends was such a good idea. All the way through dinner Ron and Harry were giving her dirty and frightened looks.

Thinking on this, she began to doubt her wanting to hex Ron was just a phase that they both go through when they get sick and tired of each other. She didn't really want to curse him at all. She liked him. It was one of those love/hate relationships she guessed.

Draco and Blaise, however, interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey, Granger," Blaise said, smiling at her.

Hermione nodded to him and Draco. "What?" she asked.

Draco looked at Blaise, and then back at her. "You want to come to our Common Room for a while? We can talk about Dark Arts and hexing Ron and-"

"I'm sorry," Hermione said. "I can't."

Draco looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "Why not?" he demanded.

Hermione shook her head. "Ron and Harry," she said, shrugging one shoulder, unsure of how else to put it.

Draco nodded, and grabbed Blaise by the arm, and turned on his heel, and left, dragging Blaise with him.

Hermione sighed, and walked outside, and out to the lake. She looked out upon the water, and up at the moon. "And now I'm all alone again, nowhere to turn no one to go to." She walked along the water's edge. "Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to," she sang, sitting down on the grass. "And the night near, now I can make believe he's here." She sighed, and got up, wondering why she sat down in the first place. She walked along the lake's edge more. "Sometimes I walk alone at night, when everybody else is sleeping. I think of him and then I'm happy with the company I'm keeping. The whole school goes to bed, and I can live inside my head."

She stopped walking and smiled up at the moon, hugging her arms. "On my own, pretending he's beside me. All alone, I walk with him till morning. Without him, I feel his arms around me, and when I lose my way I close my eyes, and he has found me."

She looked up as she felt a raindrop fall on her nose, and was disappointed to see rain clouds. She sighed, and looked back out at the lake as it began to shower.

"In the rain, the big squid shines like silver. All the lights, are misty, in the water." She looked out towards the forest, and saw some stars peeking behind the trees. Why was it only showering on the lake?

"In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight, and all I see is him and me, forever and forever." She turned around as the showering stopped, and faced the castle. "And I know, it's only in my mind! When I'm talking to myself, and not to him. And although, I think that he is blind! Still I say, there's a way for us."

She did a small twirl. "I love him! But when the night is over, he is gone, the lake is just the lake. Without him, the world around me changes." She looked at the forest and saw the stars gone, and the lights out of the lake. "The trees are bare, and everywhere the grounds are full of strangers. I love him! But everyday I'm learning: all my life I've only been pretending! Without me, his world will go on turning, a world that's full of happiness that I will now never know!" She stood, facing the lake, oblivious to the dark shadowy figure behind her. "I love him," she sang. "I love him, I love him. But only, on my own." She sighed, and continued to hug her arms.

"Well then," said a voice from the dark shadowy figure behind her. She squealed and turned around to see the smirking face of Draco. "Well then," he repeated, "guess you won't be left alone then, will you?"

Hermione blushed and turned away.

Draco held his hand, and looked at her expectantly. "I can help you with your decision," he said.

Hermione looked at him, and then, sighing first, she grabbed his hand. He grasped it firmly, and led her with slow walk around the lake. He let go of her hand and stopped walking and looked into her eyes.

"High flying, adored, so young, the instant queen, a rich beautiful thing of all the talents, a cross between a fantasy of the library and the Head Girl. And you were just a mudblood girl, huffing and puffing, studying and insulting. High flying, adored, did you believe in your wildest moments all this would yours, that you'd become the lady of them all? Were there stars in your eyes when you crawled in at night? From the bars, from the sidewalks, from the gutter theatrical? Don't look down, it's a long long way to fall."

Draco placed a hand on Hermione's cheek, but she shook it away.

"High flying, adored, what happens now? Where do you go from here? For someone on top of our year the view's not exactly clear. A shame you did it all a seventeen. There are no mysteries now, nothing can thrill you, no one fulfill you. High flying, adored, I hope you come to terms with freedom. So famous, so easily, so soon, is not the wisest thing to be! You won't care if we love you; it's been done before. You'll despair if we hate you; you'll be drained of all energy. All the young who've made it would agree." Draco put his hand on her cheek again, and she looked up at him. She looked away, and walked to the water's edge.

"High flying, adored, I've been called names, but they're the strangest. My story's quite usual, local girl makes magic, gets top in my year! I was slap in the right place at the perfect time. Filled a gap, I was lucky. But one thing I'll say for me, no one else can fill it like I can." She smiled and took Draco's hand as he held it out for her. He pulled her closer to him.

"We will make you feel at home," he whispered. His plan for getting Potter and Weasel was working perfectly.