Hidden In the Pensieve (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 11:

Chapter 11:

Ginny lifts her head from the pensieve. Taking the to comprehend all that has happened in these memories, Ginny allows herself to sit in the attic for a few minutes, before climbing back down.

Meanwhile, Hermione quietly leaves her bedroom and wanders out into the hallway, startled by a dark figure leaning up against the wall. Draco.

"Goodness, Draco, you startled me!" Hermione says, in an out of breath tone.

"Sorry," he murmurs, staring off at the wall.

Awkwardly, Hermione takes position against the opposite wall.

"Can't sleep?" Draco finally asks.

"Not really. You?" Hermione answers quickly, suddenly seeming nervous.

Draco shakes his head.

A few silent moments pass before anything more is said.

Draco steps right in front of Hermione, with a rather odd expression, like there's something that he really wants to say, but isn't saying.

"Are you okay, Draco?"

"I love you! I'm still in love with you..." Draco blurts out, as though he's been holding it in all night, or perhaps a few years.

Cupping a hand to her mouth, Hermione looks as if Draco has just told her something terrible, instead of what he actually said.

"Why would you say that?!" Hermione demands, while still keeping her voice to a minimum.

"I know you still love me too." Draco grabs her hand.

Hermione pulls her hand away and turns her head away from him, in order to hide the tears that are spilling down her cheek.

"I'm getting married to Ron," Hermione states, but without disagreeing with Draco.

"I know....and I can't bear it. I can't sit here and pretend like I don't still love you, that I don't wish I had fought harder for you. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't love me, that you're not still in love with me, then I'll leave it alone. I won't bother you."

Draco rests his hand on Hermione's cheek, turning her face towards his.

"I can't," Hermione cries, shutting her eyes to avoid looking at Draco. "Please stop. You've never more cruel."

He presses a hand upon Hermione's cheek, his other hand against her lower back, and brushes his lips against hers. She tenses up for a few seconds, but surrenders all too soon. Hermione's hands grip Draco's waist, then weave their way up his chest and his neck, while Draco's hands wander ravenously along her hips, her waist, up her spine underneath her night shirt. Their kisses are fervent, amorous, with a deep aching that is bleeding out within the exchange.

Ginny knows she should be furious at Hermione for kissing another man while betrothed to her brother. She knows she should put a stop to the whole scene and call the two out for their behavior, but her feet won't budge...and somehow, however irrational it may be, it wouldn't feel right.

While Draco kisses gently down Hermione's neck, her left hand clutches his shoulder, her engagement ring peeking into her view. Gazing at it, before her eyes gleams not the ring that actually sits on her finger, but the heart shaped ring from a tragic love story, that sounds too incredible to be believed. Of course...it's not actually there, but maybe...just maybe she could see it because deep down, stabbing at her soul, brimming beneath the surface, it's the ring she wishes it would be. And even though, she loves Ron, it hides in secret place within her jewelry box, and there are other items that have their own hiding place too.

But the ring on her finger is the one that Ron gave her. Ron. She remembers this fact and how she could never live with herself if she hurt him.

"Draco...I-I can't," Hermione chokes out, her lip trembling.

Draco brings his head up, but not enough to make eye connect, heaving a painful sigh.

Ginny attempts to retreat back up to the attic, as Hermione turns her body in the direction of the attic stairs, but her foot misses a step, causing her knee to bang against the stairs as of means to catch her.

"Ginny," Hermione gasps, turning scarlet colored and now sporting a guilty expression.

Ginny groans to herself for being clumsy, then walks back down the stairs and pushes it back into place.

Before Hermione begins an "I can explain", Ginny rushes over to her and squeezes her tightly in a hug.

Bewildered expressions fill Hermione's face, and Draco's too.

"I know everything," Ginny whispers to Hermione, then repeats again out loud, looking Draco in the eye, not bitterly, but with sympathy.

"How do you know?" Draco quizzes Ginny.

It only takes Hermione a second to figure out how.

"I have...a pensieve...like Dumbledore's. She's watched my memories...of us," Hermione answers, in a whisper-like tone.

The corners of Draco's mouth turn up ever so slightly, but then he furrows his brows. "So then you know about-..."

"Yes. I'm so...terribly sorry. No one deserves that," Ginny replies, tearing up as she says it.

Pausing, Ginny stares at Hermione as if she were an injured child, then hugs her again. "You could have confided in me...I would have understood and....and I would have helped you, 'cause you're my best friend."

Suddenly, realizing where they are, Ginny urges them to follow her into the lounge to finish their discussion. Despite the fact that Hermione hid her relationship with Draco from everyone and Ginny found her kissing him only a few minutes ago, she can't tell Ron or let him find out. It's not her secret to tell.

The short hand of the clock sitting on the wall lies at the number six, the long hand sitting along with it, while the darkness of the sky is fading slowly. They should have a few hours before Ron, Harry, and George wake up.

A seemingly easy task, such as taking a seat in the lounge, becomes slightly difficult. Hermione obviously can't sit next to Draco, or it will appear as though they'd been having an affair. Draco cannot sit next to Ginny, considering the fact that he was kissing Ron's fiancée in Ron's own house. And even though Ginny is Hermione's best friend, taking a seat next to her would feel uncomfortable, because she's knows that by kissing Draco, she's betrayed both Ron and Ginny. Eventually, Draco sits down in an arm chair, near the love seat, Ginny plops herself down on one end of the loveseat, and Hermione takes a spot on the other end of the loveseat.

"I'm not mad....even though, I should be," Ginny starts. "What I saw...I never thought-I've never seen two people so in love. I never would have guessed it, Draco. I mean, I know you've changed, but the way you were in the memories that I saw....I dunno...it just goes to show that everyone was wrong about you, including me. I apologize."

Draco smiles gratefully, thanking her. Hermione smiles too, feeling some comfort that maybe Ginny understands why she fell for Draco.

Ginny releases a sigh and turns her body to look at both, Draco and Hermione. She opens her mouth, with a puzzling look upon her face, as if to say something, but quickly stops herself.

An awkward silence swarms the room, as Ginny thinks to herself, but Ginny finally proceeds with what she was about to say...or ask.

"Are you two still in love with each other?"