Girl Interrupted

Dear SPEW4THRMNY,

I absolutely adore your story! Especially the romance between the muggle and the Animagus! I can't believe you aren't posting for another couple of months! Your break is understandable though, school needs full concentration. Please just promise to continue, because it's brilliant.

~PixVix08

SPEW4THRMNY,

I love the story. It's so refreshing compared to the unoriginal rubbish that others are putting out there now. I hope to find out what happens to Dorian soon.

Good Luck at school,

WhichwitchMS

Hermione smiled with glee and hid the fan letter under a pair of blouses. She then slid the trunk back under her bed, sat on the scarlet quilt, and turned toward a blank scroll. "How should I begin?" she questioned, her voice bouncing off the dormitory walls. She continued to stare, comatose, at the parchment when suddenly, a mass of words came to her and she began to write. Joelle searched until she could no longer withstand the- the sound of footsteps startled Hermione and she quickly hid the writing utensils under her quilt.

The door opened and she saw that Ron, face bright red and nose running, now stood in the doorway.

"How'd you get up here?"

"Seamus told me how to get past the slide."

"Interesting," she thought, making a mental note of this.

"Hermione, why don't you come outside? It's Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff out there and we're losing pretty badly."

Hermione looked out of the frosted window and witnessed a snowball ruthlessly take out Dean Thomas. "You guys expect me to be some sort of asset?" she scoffed.

"Well, no," he shuffled his feet, "but you haven't been out of this room in ages. What've you been doing up here anyway?"

"Nothing. Is a little alone time too much to ask for?"

Ron completely disregarded her response. "Ginny said that Harry and I shouldn't bother you because you're probably PBSing or something, whatever that is."

Mental note #2: thank Ginny. She laughed, "No, Ron, it's not PMS." She glanced outside again, "I might be out there later, but by the looks of things, Harry and Fred need your help right now."

He rushed over to window to see, then out the door, leaving a quick goodbye. His footfalls died away for a brief while until more started up again. Hermione rolled her eyes and looked toward the door. Instead of Ron, Parvati and Natalie entered, immediately throwing her suspicious looks.

"How did Ron get up here?"

"I don't know."

Parvati began to laugh sarcastically, annoying Hermione.

"What are you two doing up here? Weren't you just playing in the snow?"

"Yes," responded Natalie, "but it's boring now. Besides, Parvarti's going to let me listen to her new Floo Flyers album."

"Oh, great." jeered Hermione. I'm never going to be able to concentrate with all that noise.

She grabbed her schoolbag, threw a few scrolls and quills in it, and stalked out the door. The library was the perfect place to go. "Why did I settle for the dormitory in the first place?" she wondered, enjoying the seclusion of a small, study room hidden behind a bookcase. Now, where was I? Ahh yes, Joelle searched until she could no longer withstand the nagging feeling that Dorian wasn't there. She-ummm, she-, wait, no that's not right. She- oh, I can't believe I've forgotten! Completely flustered, Hermione stood and began to pace around the table, mind full of ideas not yet ready to come out.

She continued to pace for a while, trying to figure out how to form her sentences, when a loud laugh from outside caught her attention. Curious, she peeked out of the frosted window and beheld that a few Ravenclaws and first year Gryffindors were now using the frozen lake as an ice skating rink. She continued to gaze out the window, astonished. "No," she strolled back toward the library table, "I can't go out there right now; I have to finish this." Mind made up, Hermione reread what she'd already written and went back to thinking. After a while, this became tiring and she'd somehow wandered over to the window again. I suppose taking a break wouldn't be so bad. It'll definitely help me clear my head. On that note, Hermione snatched her schoolbag and equipment and ran to throw on warm clothes.

The lake was more crowded than when she'd remembered. Crowds of students went flying past, some happily falling flat on their faces, others shamelessly showing off their skills. She took a moment to soak all this in before taking deep a breath and stepping onto the ice. At first, the thought of falling intimidated her, but soon her speed and confidence level began to build. Mum and dad haven't let me skate in ages!

The excitement of watching others blur past was quickly overpowered by the nagging feeling that she was neglecting her story. Regardless, she continued to skate until the guilt consumed her. "I better not procrastinate anymore," she thought, heading back toward the shore. Suddenly, a small tremor went through the frozen water and Hermione jumped back in horror as a rather large shadow began to emerge beneath the ice. Luckily, a boy, whom she'd never seen before and whom had on Hufflepuff robes, was there to help her regain balance.

"The squid! The giant squid! It's going break through the ice!"

"Oh, it's been like that for a while now. Don't worry, there's an anti-breakage charm put on the ice so it can't break through."

She was now thoroughly embarrassed. "Oh, I-I didn't-"

The boy laughed. "It's alright, Hermione, even the best of us can't always think straight."

"How do you know my name?"

"It's kind of heard not to hear the sixth years talk about how clever this Gryffindor girl named Hermione is."

For once Hermione was glad that her face was so cold, so he couldn't see her blush. "Thank you, but I really must be going."

"Alright. I'll see you later than."

"Bye."

By the time she'd reached the fat lady's portrait, Hermione'd forgotten how many times she'd played out the lake meeting in her head. Her mood, however, couldn't suppress the natural suspicion she felt walking into an empty common room. "Something's not right," she sensed while climbing to the girls dormitory. Once again, her worst fears were confirmed as soon as she opened the door.

At least a foot of water came rushing out of the room, completely soaking Hermione's socks and shoes. The rest of the girls rapidly worked to clean up the mess.

"What happened?" demanded Hermione.

Lavender took a break from wringing out her suitcase contents to answer the question. "The boys thought it'd be funny if they flooded our room with Utrarilues!"

"Hilarious." Snapped Parvati.

"McGonagall wasn't laughing either. They're all in her office right now."

Hermione surveyed her drenched poster and sighed. "Well it's no use using a dry spell on everything. We might as well just wait until the creatures die."

"Easier said then done!" scoffed Parvati.

At least I put my notes and such in my drawer. She grabbed her bag and sat down to search through it. The half finished story lay between a letter from her parents and a finished Arithmancy essay. She surveyed it to make sure it wasn't wet before beginning to read. Halfway through, a tiny, aqua insect crawled off of the drawer and up her arm. She eyed the insect profusely before shrugging it off, and getting back to editing. As long as it doesn't- too late, the creature had already swollen to half its size before bursting to pieces, splattering water everywhere.

Hermione sat, staring in utter disbelief at the damp piece of parchment that once had coherent words on it. Why does this always happen to me? She seized her moist belongings and stomped out of the room, squishing more Utrarilues in the process. Hermione made her way back up to the library and discovered that it was now full of students that'd procrastinated on their winter assignments. Oh, blast! I won't get anything done in here!

She toured around Hogwarts for what seemed like hours before finding a nice, quiet spot under a tree to sit and write. After a while, she stopped and looked around. No students or insects to interrupt, just complete silence. "Amazing," she thought before starting up again. Joelle searched until she could no longer withstand the nagging feeling that Dorian wasn't there. Sorrow filled her as she sat and wondered. He was not coming back. Hermione continued to write until finally reaching the last paragraph. It was then that she heard a voice from above.

"Hermione?"

Startled by the breech of silence, she and looked up to see Harry staring enquiringly back down at her.

"Yeah?"

"What've you been up to? Ron and I've been looking all over."

"Nothing." She didn't bother to hide her quill and parchment.

"Well everyone's at dinner right now."

"It's six thirty already?" I've been out here quite a while. "Hm, I don't think I'm going to make it to dinner anyway, besides, I had a large breakfast."

He looked at her doubtfully then went on. "Sorry about the Utrarilues. We found some out in vegetable gardens and just couldn't pass up the opportunity."

"Well I don't think a week's worth of detention was worth it."

Chastened, Harry ran a hand through his unkempt hair. "Yeah, we definitely didn't think that one through. Anyway, I'm going to go find Ron so we can get back to the feast. Are you sure you're not coming?"

"I'm fine."

"Okay. I'll leave you to "The Charming Wild" then."

He began to walk away and Hermione continued to proofread, when what he said finally hit her. "Harry, wait a minute! How'd you know about my story?"

Harry stopped walking and turned around, a slight grin on his face. "Six years of copying your Potions assignments and you think I wouldn't know your writing style?"

She merely stared back at him, half amused, half bemused. "You won't tell anyone, right?"

"Tell what?" He glanced at her, mischievously, before heading back toward the library.

Hermione smiled and gazed down proudly at her finished work. Now all I have left to do is send this in and find out just why Harry reads Write Witch magazine.