little miss perfect ; hermoine granger

chapter 23

It had been about a week since Hermoine and I's first kiss, and things seemed to be going better than ever. Our friend group was back together again, I was spending a lot more time with Hermoine, my head wound had finally healed, and I was allowed to play Quidditch again. Things were the way that they should be. It seemed like everything was perfect, and I knew it was because of her. 

We hadn't kissed again since then, though, or really talked about what we were going to be at all. And honestly, I was okay with that. I mean, I totally get it. She needs time to figure out things about herself, and really, so do I. I mean, I've just kind of gone with the flow of things up until this point, but at the beginning of the year, I thought I liked boys too. I still do, well, I think. I've dated a couple of boys before, but nothing lasted very long, because most of the guys in my city where I live are boring. I guess it doesn't really matter though. All I know is that I really like Hermoine.

I heard a knock on the door of my dorm room, where I was sitting, and said that the person who was knocking could come in. I was studying for potions class, because we had a big test coming up. I've never been the best at potions, but I wasn't the worst either. Hermoine tried to help me study, along with Neville Longbottom. We weren't the closest of friends, but we've gotten to know each other a lot better over the course of this year. 

The door opened, and in walked...ugh. Pansy Parkinson. "Why are you in here, Pansy? Don't you have anything better to do than bother me?" I told her, not looking up at her, as I rolled my eyes. "No, look, can we not fight right now? I need to talk to you. It's...kind of important." She said, and I finally looked up at her. I had a puzzled look on my face, and hers looked deadly serious. "Is someone hurt?" I said concernedly, as I immediately got up from my bed. "No, no everyone's okay. It's just...I saw you. With Hermoine, on the field last week."

Oh no. Shit. She's gonna tell everyone. This can't happen. "Pansy, please don't tell anyone, we can'-" I started to say, but then was cut off. "Relax. I'm not going to tell anyone. That would be shitty. I just-I guess I need to ask you something." She said, and looked at me, like she's never looked at me before. Usually, she'd glare at me in disgust, or start laughing at just the sight of me. But not now. Now she looked, vulnerable, almost? "What is it?" I asked her. I was so grateful that she wasn't going to tell anyone. That would've been terrible for me and Hermoine.

"How did you know? That...you liked girls?" Oh. Of course. I should've guessed that. Why else would she be so nice to me right now? She just needed advice. "Honestly, I didn't even know until this year. Everything just...changed, I guess, when I saw Hermoine again." I told her, hoping it would do something. I know that it probably wouldn't help, and usually, I would be okay with that. Most of the time, Pansy is a stuck up brat who can't keep her mouth shut. But right now, she wasn't so bad.

"Okay. Thanks. Sorry I asked, I was just kind of confused, and I thought if I asked someone who does, then maybe it would hel-" She started to say, but I interrupted. "Don't apologize. If I was in your shoes, I'd probably do the same thing. You know, it's kind of...nice to see you this way. Not screaming at everyone who passes you up." I said, and laughed. She started to laugh along too. "Yeah, you're actually pretty okay too, when you're not yelling at me for yelling at you all the time." And with her response, we laughed again. 

"Thank you. For talking to me about this. Seriously, it did kind of help." She told me, and gave me a small smile. "Yeah, of course. And you know, if you ever need to talk, you can come to me." I told her, and I actually meant it. After seeing her like that, laughing, and kind of happy, I realized that I may not mind being friends with Pansy Parkinson.

She left my room, as I put my books away, and got changed into my night clothes. I laid in my bed, very tired from the day I just had, and closed my eyes.

I woke up in a house that I've never seen before. Actually, I'm not sure you could even call it a house, because it looked more like a castle. But it wasn't regal, and bright. It was very dark inside, and it felt like all of the life had been drained out of the place. I looked around, and realized that I heard some voices coming from another room. I started to walk towards them, hoping I could find out where I was, when they abruptly stopped, as I stood outside of a black door. I put my hand on the handle, but hesitated. What was going to be in there? I mean, where even was I?

I'd never seen a place like this before. I took a deep breath, as I gathered up all of my courage, and slowly opened the door.