Catching Her Heart Pt. 1

Chapter 29

"Well, there's our girl," Fred said with a smile as he turned to see her enter the Great Hall, while George peered around his twin from the other side, perched slightly on the bench.

Oliver turned from a conversation he had been having with Lee and smiled at her, waving her over to sit in her usual spot between them.

Hermione blushed at Fred's words and hurried over with a grin, taking her place among her friends.

"How are you doing?" Lee asked, looking at her in concern.

"Better, thank you," Hermione replied, relaxing in their company. "I hope I didn't make you too late for class," she continued, looking at Oliver.

"Wow," George piped up. "You must have been out of it."

At Hermione's look of confusion, Oliver spoke up. "It was a Saturday," he said.

"Yeah," Fred interjected. "The only thing he was late for was Quidditch practice."

"Oh, no!" Hermione cried, feeling awful. "I'm so sorry."

"Not to worry," Oliver said.

"Yeah," George agreed. "He made us stay late to practice; sent a note from the hospital wing on what to do till he got there, and why he was late — no details, but that's our captain."

Hermione still looked at them apologetically, knowing how important Quidditch was to Oliver.

"Relax," Oliver said, giving her shoulder a gentle shake. "It's alright. I was more concerned about you. Gryffindor will do great."

"So what did happen?" Lee asked.

"Well," Hermione said a little nervously. "Madam Pomfrey gave me some Dreamless Sleep, and I ended up sleeping for three days."

"Wow," Lee murmured.

"You aren't too upset about that, are you?" Oliver asked.

"No," Hermione said and bit her lip slightly. "Well, not after she told me that the potion worked as long as I needed so you really didn't have a say in anything."

"Well, that's a load off," Fred said with a grin. "Ol' Ollie here's been worried you'd be upset with him."

"Ollie?" Hermione asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Lee said as the twins laughed. "That's the nickname the twins gave him."

Hermione glanced from the twins to Oliver who was blushing. "I'll have to remember that."

That night, after dinner, Hermione was able to get her homework from Harry, and she stayed up late into the night, working on it as she waited for her dorm mates to fall asleep. Creeping into the dorm room after she had finished her homework to turn in the next day, she quietly opened her trunk, retrieved her cauldron and put her homework into her bag.

She pocketed the shrunken cauldron and quietly crept from the room once more. Reaching the girls shower and bathroom, Hermione checked to make sure she was alone before pulling the shrunken cauldron from her pocket, and setting it on the floor. She enlarged the cauldron and pulled out the wrapped Pensieve and potion box.

After unwrapping each, she took the vial of magical liquid from the box and poured it into the Pensieve. Taking a deep breath, she did as Madam Pomfrey had instructed and focused on the memories of Draco Malfoy saying those horrid things to her. She focused on them until they were bright and clear in her mind, and tears began to form the corners of her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

Sniffing and clearing her throat, she focused again on her task and drew her wand out, making sure that she was still focused on the memories she wanted to forget, not letting anything else crowd her thoughts. She touched the tip of her wand to her temple and slowly drew it away, thinking about letting those thoughts go. Just like Madam Pomfrey had said, when she opened her eyes, and blinked away her tears, there was a gossamer-like strand dangling from the tip of her wand. Carefully, she moved it over the Pensieve before releasing it with a thought and watched as it drifted down into the magical liquid.

Searching her thoughts, she could no longer find anything of what Draco had said to her in her mind, and smiled in relief, taking a few moments to relish the peace in her mind before she pulled out the vial. "Wingardium Leviosa," she said softly and watched as the liquid in the Pensieve followed the movement of her wand, not missing a drop, as she directed it back into the vial. With a sigh, she capped the vial and replaced it in the box. Wrapping the box and the pensive back up, she replaced them in her cauldron before shrinking the whole and stowing it back in her pocket.

Heading back to the dorm, she changed and climbed into bed, and it wasn't long before the first peaceful sleep she'd had in days without the aid of a potion, greeted her like an old friend.