Three Little Words

2 WEEKS LATER.............

Dear Diary,
Things with Harry are still not going well. It's odd the way things worked out. I mean, we are speaking now, but... It's hard to say whether we will stay together. It was even a silly thing that we quarreled over, but neither of us is trying to fix it, exactly. I don't know what to think. And I feel guilty. For, ever since that night in Fluffy's room, Ron and I have secretly been meeting after hours. In fact, that's where I just returned from. I can't believe that after all these years, I never looked at him the way I do now. It just never even connected in my mind to see him that way, and now that it has...? It just feels so right. So right. I feel as though I have never been happier. Well, I must get some rest now. It will be another late night tomorrow. Good night.
Hermione

Hermione's clock read 12:01. She rolled over, her fingers briefly touching the crimson charm on her necklace. And she slept.

Walking slowly through the darkened corridor, Hermione's candle flickered. She glanced over her shoulder uneasy. At the end of the hallway, a light shown. She ran toward it, faster, and faster, filled with an urgency that she did not understand. Suddenly the world spun, and she was flung into a swirling vortex, filled with shining, shimmering jewels. But something was wrong. Sounds of crying and despair filled her mind, and the jewels kept on glowing, as if mocking her. She tried to cry out, but her voice was lost in the pounding of her own heart. And all at once it stopped. She found herself sitting in a room, lit by candles with stone walls. And in the corner there was Harry, huddled into a ball. She ran towards him, but found she could not reach him. For her way was blocked off, and Harry was bound with golden chains. He did not move, and did not speak, but sat there; clutched in his hand a knife stained with blood, and shivering, slumped against the dungeon walls. A high pitched cackling filled her head, and she was flung away again. She found herself walking, yet again, across a high planked bridge. She did not look down, couldn't look down, for what she would find there would fill her with terror. Stop, she screamed, Stop! her feet would not stop walking, or was it that the bridge moving? She could not tell. She could hear someone coming behind her, screaming her name... Then the bridge disappeared, and she fell into darkness once more, bells clanging in the back of her mind. Suddenly, she was back in Fluffy's room. She looked around, and saw Ron in the back of the room. She moved towards him. He was standing with open arms, smiling, grinning. She walked faster, and faster, but it was like the ground was shifting beneath her, and she could not reach him. She looked at his face in terror, but he kept smiling. Hermione! He called, Hermione, I'm here! Aren't you coming with me? She tried to speak, tried to answer him, Ron, the one she loved, but she couldn't. The words would not come. She tried desperately to return his smile, but tears rolled down her face, falling, splashing onto the stone floor. Finally, she reached out her arm to touch his face, and felt smooth glass. She was looking into a huge mirror, studded with jewels like she had never seen before. Or, had she........? She tried to recall, tried to remember, but she could not collect her thoughts. She spun around searching for Ron, but he had gone. The mirror instead was glimmering with a soft, crimson glow, and it seemed to catch the light. It tried to suck her in, tear at her heart, pulling her in. No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she screamed, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Slamming her hand into the mirror, the glass shattered, and millions of slivers of crimson glass flung high into the air, raining down like a storm of ice and fire, and everything went ck.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" Hermione woke up, screaming. Instantly, the entire dorm was awake.

"Hermione, was that you?" asked Lavender sleepily.

"What's wrong?!" asked Parvati urgently, jumping out of bed, her dark plaited hair swinging behind her. Hermione was breathing hard, trying to collect herself. She looked around at all the concerned faces of her friends. She blinked.

"I'm all right," Hermione said slowly. She managed a weak smile.

"Just a nightmare, that's all."

Lavander started to ask what about, but Parvati shushed her. Hermione shot her a grateful look.

"Really, I'm fine," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Everyone should just go back to bed."

At this, most of the girls started snuggling back into their beds, and blowing out the lamps. Hermione gave a sort of wounded smile at the few girls who stayed still, and finally the room was dark again, the soft sounds of sleep already filling the room. But Hermione could not sleep.

She was too scared. Scared of what exactly she didn't' know, but it was there, gnawing at her. Suddenly it occurred to her that she ought to unclench her fists, which she had kept under the covers when the lights were on.

There, in the palm of her hand, was her necklace. Hermione stared at it. She must have ripped it off her neck in her dream. But, why?

"I must have simply knocked it off," she told herself firmly.

There was no reason why she would try to take it off- of course not.

"A silly idea," she thought, setting it back on her nightstand carefully. Then she leaned back and closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted. Curling up into a tight ball, Hermione fell into a restless, dreamless sleep, the image of the crimson glow burning in the back of her mind.

* * *

"Oh, come on!!! Hurry up already!!!"

Ron was sitting in Herbology, his last class of the day, watching the bird that served as Professor Sprout's alarm. It was just minutes from being over, and he was meeting Hermione afterwards, back in Fluffy's room.

It had sort of gotten to be their secret meeting place over the last two weeks, because no one, in reminiscing fear, ever went anywhere hear it. Dumbledore had decided to keep the third floor closed anyway, so they had extra security.

The two of them would sit for hours, laughing, talking, and kissing, and occasionally using the handy spell Hermione had learned to project a Muggle film onto one of the flatter stone walls, which Ron had grown rather fond of, the he would hardly admit to any of his other friends.

Suddenly, the bird in Professor Sprout's cage emitted a loud squawk, signaling the end of class. Ron jumped up, bolted out the door, and headed for his dorm to grab the satchel of Honeyduke's chocolates for that night (Fred and George had sneaked them from Honeyduke's from their last visit for him). Then he set off to the third floor.

It was in the middle of the evening, and Harry was sitting in the common room with Seamus and Dean, (Ron was no where to be found) coming up with different horrible predictions for their Divination homework.

They were having a good laugh at it too, with the fire roaring merrily, and since it seemed that most Gryffindor girls were away for the evening, all three of the boys had changed into their soft crimson night clothes. Harry, feeling warm and comfortable, was about to begin on September when suddenly Dean glanced across the room.

"Hey guys, check out Neville and Ginny!" Dean said, with an evil grin on his face.

Neville and Ginny were sitting in the seats nearest to the fireplace, and from the looks of Ginny's wrist movements, she was helping Neville with his Transfiguration homework. But that wasn't what stood out in Harry's mind. What stood out was the way that Neville was staring at Ginny, with a rapt, enthralled expression. And from the looks of things, Harry would be willing to bet that Neville didn't understand a word Ginny was saying. Dean and Seamus obviously noticed as well.

"Do you think it's possible," smirked Seamus, "that our Neville has a bit of a crush on Miss Weasley?"

"I think," said Dean, still grinning, "that it is entirely possible!" Harry laughed along with them, but it bothered him how much he felt like punching Neville's face in.
* * *