Pretty to pretend

hey guys, this chapter was taking me forever to finish, not because i didn't know what to do, but because it couldn't stop writing it, lol, so here it is, the next one, nothing too too too exciting, but good, i hope, let me know if there is anything wrong with it!? yay.
Chapter 4

The positions of the two Head students were to be decided at dinner, very different from how it had been in years prior. Hermione thought about this as she exited the train, trailing behind her friends dejectedly. The walk to the carries was a quick one but the rain was very hard and fast and she was soaked within seconds, clothes sticking to her like a second skin. She contemplated going to a separate carriage, having one for just her and her thoughts, but decided against it as her friends were now waiting for her.

She pulled her self up in the carriage, refusing to use Ron's extended hand, only shyly looking away as she sat her self next to Harry, the only open spot on either side. She settled her self in for a long ride up the mountain, from Hogsmeade station to the castle, face tilted away from the other occupants of the carriage.

“Hermione, you must be freezing,” Harry said, concern dripping from his voice. “Let me help you, we wouldn’t want our head girl to catch cold now.” He pulled out his wand and conjured a blanket out of thin air, laying it over himself and her, conjuring another for Ron and Luna Lovegood across the way. He than spelled her dry as well, smiling at her quickly as Ron watched jealously from across the way. He quickly did the incantation to dry the rest of those seated in the carriage as it began to move. Hermione looked past Ron and Luna through the glass window to look at the thestrals, yes she could see them. As could every one in this cabin, she thought, they had all seen Sirius’ death. She shook her head, trying not to think of death and all that it entailed, for it affected her life greatly and she only wished to not think of it for a moment, ‘please, just a moments peace,’ she begged her mind. She pushed the thoughts away to look at Harry, who was staring strangely at her.

“Thank you Harry, but we don’t really know if I will be, there is no way to honestly tell.” she said, not quite smiling at him. She would not be quick to forget the Harry that she had encountered on the train. Where had that mistrusting and hateful boy gone?

“Are you nervous 'Mione? I hope not, I’m quite sure that you’ll get it.” Luna said smiling at her with that dreamy look upon her face. “I don’t think any one else could possibly do the job, not like you could.” She said matter-of-factually in that classic loony Lovegood style.

Hermione let an almost smile grace her features if only for a second. It pained Harry to be honest, he cringed slightly at her half smile, not because of anything wrong with it, but because he had just realized this was the first smile he had seen from her since last year. He had been a terrible friend to her, he realized with a jolt the things he had said to her, thinking back to the way he had acted on the train. He had had his reasons, but she had not deserved to be treated that way, he made a resolution to him self right than, he would make it up to her.

Grinning he leaned foreword and placed his hand over hers, which was laying limply on her thigh, and squeezed saying: “Of course ‘Mione is going to be head girl,” he laughed. “there is no other option, who else could even be close to our Hermione’s brain power and prowess in potions and charms, let alone her bewitching personality! No our ‘Mione has been fated for this position since she stepped on to the Hogwarts express in first year,” She blushed and looked down as he intertwined his fingers with hers, squeezing. Looking up to see Luna and Ron's expressions, she saw Ron's look of pure loathing as he stared in horror at their hands. ‘but why?’ Hermione thought to her self. ‘He is only being a good friend, a great friend, he had done the same on the train...’ She looked up in to Harry’s face, he was looking back at her, looking deeply in to her eyes. She did not recognize nor understand the look that was there, swimming in the deep sea green of his eyes.

“I’ve never noticed how green your eyes were before Hermione, have they always been that way?” Harry cocked his head to the side, contemplating why he had never before noticed how beautiful his friend was, how breath taking she really was becoming.

“Yes, Harry they have been.” Ron's voice broke them out of what ever staring contest they had been having. “It's not as if eyes are changing over night these day,” though they are only truly bright and almost pure green when she is upset, or excited. “They’re beautiful.” Ron whispered to him self, though Hermione heard him loud and clear.

Hermione stared at Ron as he stared at her, confused. Had he not just called her beautiful? Had she heard him right, had that been what he had meant. He was always telling her he loved her, how wonderful she was, was this happening before her eyes and her not even noticing. “Thank you Ron.” she said softly as she turned away from both boys in contemplation, slipping her hand out of Harry’s with the excuse of readjusting her hair, folding her hands together off to the side away from him. She was confused, this look in Harry’s eyes, this look of sudden realization at… at what, she didn’t know, but this look of anger on Ron's face as he stared at their intertwined hands, what was that? What was happening with her friends, was there something wrong with their situation, what did these looks mean?

Hermione shook her head, she had more important things to think on, like her up and coming discussion with Tonks, for she was Bellatrix’ niece right? She would know the story of what happened… or would she, she was estranged from the family was she not, because her father was a muggle? None the less she would know something… She hoped.

Getting out of the carriage was much easier than getting in, there was an eve over the entrance for the arriving students to be protected from the rain. Hermione readjusted her self, slinging her sweater over her arm as she stepped in to the warmth of Hogwarts castle. She shivered remembering when last she was here. The night of the funeral. She stood quiet for a moment as the other students went rushing past her, standing on the stone steps leading down to the path that would take her to his tomb if she so choose. Tonight , she told her self, tonight she would go and she would visit it, the white tomb. She noticed and Ron and Harry were standing as well, thinking the same as her no doubt. She stepped forward and walked with the throngs of students, looking strangely for one Draco Malfoy, searching for his trademark platinum hair she spotted him up at the front of the crowd walking with his slytherin cronies, she smirked to her self. Would she have been one of them had the circumstances been different. Making her way toward dinner she lost her self in thoughts of what could have been.

!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!


Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table, sheathed between Ron and Harry, Ginny, finally making an appearance, sat just across, next to Seamus trying hard not to look at Harry. The pain of their tragic and short love affair from last year was still fresh in her mind, no doubt. Hermione sat with her chin in her hand, bored already with the sorting ceremony and stared at the beautiful young girl, soft pale skin, light brown freckles and deep red hair. She was very pretty.

Ginny slowly looked up, demurely through dark brown lashes and locked eyes with Hermione, and smiled shyly. Hermione continued to stare and smiled lazily.

“How was your summer, Hermione?” Ginny asked, she had her hands on the table now, playing with her fingers absentmindedly, glancing between her hands and her friends face.

“It was OK Gin’, I missed you on the train, it would have been nice to have some one to talk to you know?” Ginny just smiled and nodded her head.

“You don’t need me to talk to when you have such great conversationalists with you all the time.” She smiled sarcastically as she glanced between Harry and Ron, “I would have just gotten in the way. I heard about your exciting trip this year.”

“Yes, well, might as well go out with a bang I suppose. Where were you?”

“Only in another cabin with the other 6th years, you know.”

“Yes, I suppose I do know. And how was your summer?”

“Great, I spent it riding my broom and practicing for quidditch this year, if we have a quidditch team this year, that is,” She looked grim at the thought.

“Of course there is going to be quidditch this year ‘Gin, why wouldn’t there be?” Ron said from beside Hermione. Suddenly becoming interested in the conversation, he butted in, in classic Ron style.

“Well I thought with everything goin’ on here there wouldn’t be. You know what I mean.” Ginny was looking upset over being put in the spotlight, because now harry was looking at her too, something she definitely didn’t want to have happen.

“Well, there will be quidditch this year there has to be, I don’t know how I would survive with out it. Oh Merlin I can only imagine… studying.” Ron shuddered, grinning at Hermione.

Hermione rolled her eyes, bored with this quidditch obsessed group already, it had only been, she looked at her watch, four minutes!! And they were already talking about it. ‘Something’s never change,’ she supposed.

Chin still cradled in her hand she looked across the hall, at the Slytherins table. Draco was sitting there, mirroring her own sitting pose, face in hand, staring off in to space as his friends talked around him. Blaize had his arm around pansy’s shoulder and was whispering something in her ear, something apparently very funny, as Pansy broke out in uproarious laughter. She really was very pretty, Hermione noticed. Her hair had grown out, now long and black down over her shoulders, cute upturned nose, which was usually in the air when she, Hermione, was concerned.

McGonagall stopped the list of names to be sorted and frowned at the slytherin table, Pansy shushing her self, but still laughing. Draco was looking over at them again, a grin pulling at his lips. Making him a beautiful god, ‘hahah,’ Hermione thought to her self. ‘A beautiful god, as if.’ She remembered smiling at him at the train station, and what had happened because of that, him rushing off and forgetting his trunk. She smiled just as widely as she had at that moment, reliving it in all of its ridiculousness.

Draco Malfoy chose that moment to sweep his eyes over the hall, stopping when he spotted some one staring right at him, he could see her perfectly, even over the distance. She looked contemplative, looking at him, but not truly seeing him, he was about to turn away when she smiled at him, that same beaming smile, and his breath was taken away yet again.

“Why is the Mud blood smiling at you, Draco?” Pansy’s lilting voice asked him from some where far away. It broke through his thoughts as he looked over at her, “I haven't the foggiest, my dear.” He drawled, in classic Draco Malfoy style, “Maybe she has finally gone insane from all the knowledge shoved in to that backwards Mud blood brain of hers?” Draco said dismissing the topic of conversation because he had a pretty good indeed why she was smiling at him, and it made him very angry to remember. It was OK though, he planned on teaching her a lesson for thinking she had the right to smile at him, to make a fool of him like she had. He chanced a quick glance at her, to note she was no longer staring at him, in fact she looked quite angry as she was glaring at Harry Potter who was getting rather red in the face, obviously giving her quite the talking to.

Hermione Granger was beyond pissed, “How dare you Harry. How dare you try to tell me what to do!”

“All I said Hermione, is to stop looking over at the ferret and pay attention to your friends for once. You would think we were in a different world the way you’ve been acting tonight. I understand, what your going through, really, but honestly, give us a break, were still your friends what more would you like from us, we understand what your going through, I accept it, Ron accepts it, now its time for you to do so.” His angry green eyes were boring in to hers, his fists clenched upon the table. Here was the angry Harry again, the one from the train. “Now we are willing to let this go,” he leaned closer to her face to whisper. “We don’t look at you any differently because of who you are, lets just ignore it.”

Hermione stared at him in shock, hurt creeping in to her eyes as she processed what he was saying to her, disregarding her feelings, her genuine feelings about her parentage. She was just about to come back with a retort when she heard her name being shouted at her excitedly. Looking up startled away from Harry, who was still staring fixedly at her eyes, she grasped what was going on. Every one at the Gryffindor table was jumping up and down in there seats, the only other person standing in the hall was one Blaize Zambini, staring at her from across the hall. McGonagall was watching her rather patiently, waiting for her to rise from her table.

She stood up, brushing her skirt, pulling it down lower as it had crept up her thighs while she had been sitting, Ron was shouting something at her, applauding wildly and whistling. Harry was looking less sullen as he grinned at her finally, applauding. She didn’t smile back. He watched her ass sashay, something he was sure she was entire unaware of doing, as she walked away, something growling in his stomach when he noticed most of the Gryffindor table doing the same as him.

Hermione walked to the front of the great hall knowing that that was what was expected of her. Blaize Zambini mirrored her, keeping the same pace all the way to the front of the room. She kept her eyes down when she reached the front, turning as the hall burst in to applause, they were all happy that she had recived this, they knew that she deserved this great honor, that no one else could do it. So why didn’t she feel that way?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N whoa, wow, i know, right? lol, no kidding, i love this story, i just wish i had more time
to write, i work at a hotel, the largest Marriott in the whole wide world actually, so i work a lot so there goes my time for anything, let alone writing, but i hope you guys hang on please, i love you all.
f