I Love You, Don't Touch Me!

I Love You, Don't Touch Me!

Chapter 4: Through the Wards

Professor McGonagall informed Hermione and Neville that their Head Girl and Boy rooms would remain in Gryffindor Tower as they were both Gryffindors. They would still get the privilege of having their own bedrooms as all Heads did, and would still get access to the Prefect Lounge, however they also would have permission to access a different, slightly smaller lounge that only the Heads were allowed to use. They might bring one or two friends into it on occasion, but any large socializing was to be done in their regular common room. She told them the password to the private lounge, then the new Gryffindor password and sent them on their way.

"Congratulations, Neville," Hermione said sincerely as they exited the nearly deserted Hall and made their way up the stairs into the corridor outside their dormitory. "I'm sure you'll do a great job."

Neville blushed slightly as he looked down at his feet.

"Thanks Hermione. I'll really try my best. I don't know why Professor Dumbledore picked me for this position though... no one will listen to me, I know. I heard the others saying so before..." He trailed off.

Hermione stopped dead and placed a hand on Neville's arm to make him halt too.

"Neville Longbottom," she admonished, "don't you dare let what others think of you make you feel that you don't deserve this position! If anything, it should just be motivation. I mean, won't it be fun to see them eat their words at the end of the year?" Hermione looked at him earnestly.

She liked Neville for several reasons, one of the most important being that he was much like her, especially when she thought back to her schooling in Muggle London and her first year at Hogwarts. He was still an outcast, like she had been, not that that had changed much after coming to Hogwarts (although Harry and Ron helped Hermione to keep her confidence up). Neville was laughed at because he was different and somewhat shy. Hermione hated to see anyone treated that way.

Neville smiled down at her. "You're right, Hermione. I'm going to make this the best year ever!"

Hermione smiled back at him. His words may have sounded somewhat cheesy, but she was proud of him.

"Good for you Neville! I know you will, and if all else fails, remember that we have the power to take points, so don't let the Slytherins push you around." She added the end bit with a slightly evil grin. Neville matched her smile, but Hermione could see in his eyes that he doubted he would have the courage to take points from the other houses.

They had reached the entrance to their common room at that point, and the Fat Lady gave them a motherly smile from her portrait.

"Have a good summer, dears?" she asked politely.

"Yes, thank-you." Hermione smiled. She was smiling a lot that evening. She was just so happy to be back at school.

"Animus et Fidelis," Neville called from behind her and the portrait swung open. They both stepped over the low piece of wall between the Fat Lady's portrait and the ground and into the common room. Harry and Ron were waiting by the fire as promised.

Hermione turned to the tall boy standing beside her.

"Good night, Neville."

"Good night, Hermione," Neville echoed back, and then he turned and walked up the steps to the Boys' Dormitories. The Head Boy's room (like the Head Girl's) was at the far end of the hall that year. Normally these rooms weren't there, but as this was magic school, it obviously wasn't hard for the Professors to place them there because of the 'special situation'.

"Harry! Ron! Sorry we took so long," Hermione called as she made her way across the common room and nestled herself into one of the overstuffed armchairs. Harry was sitting slouched over the arm of a couch near the fireplace and Ron was sitting in a similar armchair across from him. They both looked up when she sat down.

"Hey Herms. So where're the Heads' rooms this year?" Ron asked from his position draped across the two arms of his chair, staring lazily up at the ceiling.

"They're in Gryffindor Tower," Hermione answered, drawing her legs up under her body and pulling her skirt down to her cover her feet after she was settled. Although this wasn't accomplished before she unknowingly caused Harry to blush.

"Er... I thought the Head Boy's and Girl's rooms were off in some other part of the castle?" Harry asked, thankful for the dim evening lighting. Beside the cheery fire crackling in the grate the only light was coming from a few candles floating lazily around the ceiling.

"Oh, well, Professor McGonagall told Neville and me that our rooms were going to stay in the Tower this year because we were both Gryffindors. She said that this was a rather uncommon occurrence; in fact, there's never been two heads from the same house at the same time in all of Hogwarts History, well, aside from your parents Harry. And I ought to know because I--"

"--Read it in Hogwarts: A History. We know, we know," Ron piped up from the shadows where his chair was situated. Hermione glared at him and then turned back to Harry.

"All right, I did check, just to be sure, but still..." She pouted for a moment and Harry lifted his head to gaze at his red-haired best friend.

"Ron, be nice," he mumbled, earning him a snort from the jumble of robes that was his dozing friend. "Happy, Herms?"

"Gee, thanks Harry," Hermione muttered sarcastically. "Anyway," she continued after a moment's pause, "our rooms are at the very ends of the dormitories. They're still private rooms; we do retain that privilege; however we also get access to the Head Lounge. Only us," she stressed. "Maybe I'll take you and Ron there sometime, if you're nice to me," she added sweetly.

Harry sat up. "Where is it?" he asked curiously.

"Not Telling!" Hermione sang out, getting to her feet and beginning to saunter away towards the girls' staircase. Harry jumped to his feet and caught up to her in seconds. He took hold of her arm, causing Hermione to turn half way around and face him with a bit of jolt. She let out a small yelp of shock at his touch then halted completely, staring up into his bright eyes.

Harry seemed to have gone into a similar daze as he looked down at her, but covered it quickly.

"Please?" he said with a pout, looking completely adorable.

Hermione stared at him for a second then leaned in towards to him. Closer... closer... close enough that Harry began to be uncomfortably aware of just how close their two faces were, then she mustered up an arrogant grin.

"Not even under torture!" she whispered sweetly, pulling herself out of his grasp easily, as Harry was too dumbfounded to move. He watched her disappear up the stairs. Did she have *any* idea what she had just done to him?

Ron, thankfully, was snoring lightly in his chair, and hadn't observed a thing. Harry made his way back to his couch with slightly shaking legs, and sat heavily. He didn't know how long he sat without moving, but when the clock in the corner of the room struck half past eleven he jumped with surprise. Harry sighed, then got to his feet and walked over to Ron to shake his shoulder.

"No... please! ...Help me... I hate--" Ron mumbled in his sleep. Harry looked down at Ron's face. He seemed to be having a nightmare of some kind.

"Ron! ...RON!" Harry hissed, as loudly as he dared. Somehow the quietness of the common room made him feel guilty if he made any noise.

Ron jerked awake, his eyes wide and a little wild. "No!" he yelped and Harry jumped back from the chair with a start. It took Ron a moment to notice Harry, and he blinked at him sleepily.

"Harry?"

"Er...Ron? Are you alright?" Harry asked cautiously. "What were you dreaming about?"

Ron shuddered and stood up. "Urg... I was walking along the grounds, going to visit Hagrid, and then, all of a sudden, these huge radishes came bouncing out of the Forbidden Forest! Loony Lovegood was running behind them, herding them with her wand and telling them to trap me!"

Harry gave his best mate a look that said, 'You're mad,' and Ron glared at him.

"Well, imagine if it had been you! Loony Lovegood is crazy! What if she had been chasing you?"

Harry laughed. "Sorry Ron, it's just that... you sounded like you were having some terrific nightmare and..." He trailed off.

"And?" Ron prompted, still glaring a little.

"Well... er... radishes don't seem all that frightening to me!"

"Trust me, they are!" Ron huffed. "What time is it anyway?"

"About twenty minutes to midnight. I figured that we'd both better get some real sleep in our dorms before classes tomorrow," Harry said, gesturing toward the clock.

"Right..." Ron yawned, and the two made their way back up the stone steps to the familiar dormitory room that they shared with Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan. They changed into their pajamas and drew their velvet bed hangings, but before they fell into an exhausted sleep, both boys lay awake for at least another half hour; Ron because he was still trying to get the images of Luna and her radishes out of his head, and Harry because he couldn't get over the weird feelings he was having about Hermione. Why the littlest things that she had done the past two days had set his brain in a whirl was beyond him.

*******

The next morning Harry and Ron made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were both so tired from the night before that Ron nearly fell asleep in his scrambled eggs ("Ron! Wake up!" Hermione cried, just saving him from a yolk facial), and Harry tried to deposit the Knut for his Daily Prophet into Dean's orange juice ("Hey Harry! What'cha doing, mate?"), instead of the little leather purse tied to the left leg of the messenger owl.

"What's with you two this morning? We have Potions in fifteen minutes and if you're not awake, you're liable to burn down the dungeon!" Hermione chided them as she finished her piece of toast and jelly and wiped her hands on a cloth napkin.

"At least then he'd have a *fair* reason to take points from Gryffindor," Ron grumbled, yawning again.

"Didn't you sleep at all last night? Honestly you two! We have classes today, the holidays are over." As Hermione admonished Harry, Ron was busy aiming for his shoulder with his fork of eggs. Apparently he didn't have enough energy, or at least wasn't coherent enough, to actually get his breakfast into his mouth.

"Ron, your mouth is about six inches up," she sighed, and the second youngest Weasley finally managed get some food down.

"Honestly -" she turned to Harry and repeated her earlier question "- you two did sleep, right? I mean, you didn't go and start using that stupid ink last night already, did you?"

Harry grinned. "Nope, not yet, although Ron here appears to have a problem with certain small, red, turnip-like vegetables," he added evilly. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him then glanced at Ron, who was getting more awake by the minute.

"Don't ask," was all he said to her, and Harry laughed. "So, what do we have after Potions?"

"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, double period, lunch, then CoMC with Ravenclaw," came her prompt reply.

"Knew you'd have the timetable memorized already, Herms," Harry cut in, and Hermione flushed faintly.

"Who do we have Potions with?" Ron asked, then added, "If you say 'with the Slytherins' I'll never speak to you again."

Hermione gave him a sympathetic look. "It's been nice knowing you...."

Ron groaned. "Why? Every bloody year we get stuck with them!"

"I thought you weren't speaking to me," Hermione commented sweetly, causing Harry to snort into his milk and Ron to glare at both of them.

"Oh, grow up."

******

Draco Malfoy sat in a back corner of Dungeon Four, waiting for his Potions class to start. A few other Gryffindors were scattered around the left half of the dimly lit room, most of them sitting near the back, as far away from the teacher's desk as possible. He smirked at them from his position in the shadows. If they figured that it was less likely that Snape would pick on them if they sat in the back, they were dead wrong and more stupid than he thought.

Draco knew Snape as well as the other Slytherins, and he knew that Snape went to great pains to draw attention to those students whom he could tell most hoped he would leave them alone. That was one of the reasons he knew why the pathetic Gryffindor Trio (of Potty wee Potter --he still had to thank Peeves for that lovely nickname-- Weasel, and the Mudblood), were so often the subject of his wrath. They did just that. This was also why he wasn't surprised to see Granger hurry into the classroom with an armload of books, her book bag hanging off one shoulder, and settle herself down at a table with two other chairs in the second row from the back. She hadn't noticed him, sitting only two tables down and one row behind her; the darkness helped to hide him from her view.

Draco smiled to himself; no bodyguards today...time to have a little fun. He rose silently from his chair and made his way to the spot directly behind Hermione. Then, leaning down so his voice would be right in her ear, he hissed,

"Hello Granger, misplaced your bodyguards this morning?"

Hermione jumped at the sudden voice, but refused to turn her head. She knew who was behind her; who else would it be? Actually, she should have been expecting this. No Harry and Ron equaled a particularly nasty Malfoy. Keeping her eyes on her school bag, Hermione continued to sort through her other books for her Potion's text.

"I won't even dignify that with a response, Malfoy. Now get lost," she retorted frostily.

Draco bristled. How dare she talk to him that way? He leaned closer, his warm breath tickling her neck.

"Isn't that technically a response, Granger?" he asked, in what many considered an annoyingly arrogant voice.

Hermione stiffened; he was entirely too close for comfort. Fortunately, at that same moment, two people came skidding around the doorway into the classroom, and ran for their seats. Malfoy pulled back and slipped into his own seat without attracting the notice of the two boys. Hermione held her position until Harry and Ron had dropped, panting, into their chairs. She turned a sunny smile on both of them, determined not to let Malfoy get to her on her first day back.

"Just made it!" Ron said in a quiet, yet triumphant, voice. Seconds later, a tall man with greasy black hair and long black robes swept into the classroom.

"Yeah, Snape was just coming out of his office; we nearly got busted for being late!" Harry added, pulling his Potions book out of his bag.

"Potter, Weasley, ten points each for running in the corridors," Snape said softly, with what had to be sadistic glee. He wore his trademark half-smile, really more of a smirk (which must be where Malfoy had learned it and which he always reserved for encounters with the three Gryffindors,) and turned his back on them as he crossed the classroom to his large oak desk.

Harry's head jerked up. "Did he just say ten points?"

"Each," Ron informed him glumly.

"But we're been back at school for a day and a half and we haven't even been in his class three minutes yet!" Harry protested hotly.

"Kindly refrain from whinging until class is over, Mr. Potter, or I could make that an even twenty... each," Snape said smoothly, leveling a cool look at the two boys.

Harry glared back, hard, but shut up. He knew that Snape was being unfair to them; he always was, but Harry refused to give him any other reason to lose them points when they hadn't even had a chance to earn any yet.

"I wonder what minus twenty points will look like?" Ron grumbled under his breath as he set his own Potions book on the table.

Severus Snape was not in the mood to be teaching the pathetic, whining Gryffindors that morning. He wasn't even particularly pleased to be teaching his own group of Slytherins. He had received a predominantly annoying message the evening before and it wasn't making him any bed of roses the following morning. The Dark Lord was on the move again. Severus wasn't entirely sure what the new plan was, but he had been informed that there would be an attack on his school, Hogwarts, sometime after Christmas, and it was now his job to see that the wards were down so that the plan could proceed smoothly.

First of all, Severus only knew how to take down some of the wards: those that he had created and part of the ones that Professor Sprout had put up because he had been with her when she had created them. Second, he knew that this was a test of his loyalty, whether to Voldemort or to Dumbledore, and if he failed it....well, Severus couldn't decide who he would most fear losing trust from.

Harry jumped at the sound of Snape slamming down his Master Potions book in the middle of his desk. Snape was glaring at him. Harry fought the urge to glare back, and quickly looked down at his desk again.

"Everyone open your books to page four hundred and ninety-five. We will be making the potion on the bottom of the page." He didn't have the energy to split up the happy trio that morning. "You will work with your table groups. Anyone who doesn't complete their potion will get an automatic zero."

A pause, while Ron and Harry exchanged looks with Hermione. They were actually going to be allowed to work together? Their moment of confusion was interrupted by Snape's growl of, "What are you idiots waiting for? Get to work!" The three, like the rest of their classmates, scattered to gather the ingredients for their telepathy potion. Harry opened his book and began to read out the list of what they would be needing, Ron set up his cauldron in record time, and Hermione hurried off to gather the different pre-made potions and bits of obscure animals from the back shelves of the dungeon room as Harry called them out; all three wondered if Snape would actually make them test the potion, and prayed that if that did come to pass, it wouldn't be with a Slytherin partner.