By the next morning, Hermione still couldn't figure out who her 'Secret Admirer' was. She didn't know whose handwriting it was, because apparently the person used a 'Quick Quotes Quill' or something of the sort. She hoped it was a boy, for several reasons. The first being that she wanted it to be a boy, the second being that if it was a girl, she wouldn't know what to do or say; she'd never been in this situation before. “Man!” she thought to herself. "I have to find out who is sending me this."
When she got dressed, she went down to the Great Hall. She was going to wait for Harry and Ron, but after a long wait, they never woke up. "They sleep like logs,” she thought. As she walked in the Great Hall, she stared in horror at the banner that had recently said, 'I love Hermione Granger'. Today it said, 'Who could love a mudblood like Hermione Granger?' and had her picture being swallowed up in flames over and over again. Her eyes had gone all red and they had tears in them, threatening to spill. The Slytherin table was howling with laughter when they saw her come in. Harry and Ron came in, and Hermione turned to see them enter.
They stared at the picture going up in flames with wide mouths and humongous eyes. Hermione, who turned to them, gave them one last look, and ran out of the Great Hall sobbing, while the Slytherins' laughter grew louder. Ron was about to chase after her, when Harry grabbed his arm and said, "Let her go, mate. She's really mad and I wouldn't go near her if I were you."
Ron nodded in silence and yelled, "You'll pay, Malfoy!" in his direction.
Hermione had gone by the lake and had decided to sit under a tree. She put her legs up to her chest and started crying into her legs. "I hate Malfoy! Why does he HAVE to torment me like this?" she said out loud to herself. She sat alone, crying, for quite some time. At one point, she must have fallen asleep, because she was awakened by a package that had fallen by her feet. She looked up just in time to see an owl fly towards the direction of the castle.
She picked it up off the floor and quickly read the envelope that was tied to it. 'To Hermione Granger-From Your Secret Admirer’. She smiled and opened up the box. It said, 'Chocolates For the One I Love'. The box also contained two pieces of paper in it. She read the first piece of paper that said,
'Dear Hermione,
I'm really sorry that they used my banner to say what they said. I hope that you can forgive me. These chocolates, I hope, will make you feel better. I always eat chocolates and think of you when I feel bad. Even though we are separated when we sleep, sometimes eat, and when we're not in the same classes, I still think of you.
Love,
Your Secret Admirer.'
She smiled again and started to read the second piece of parchment, which contained a poem. One of her favourites, I might add.
I hid my love when young while I
Couldn't bear the buzzing of a fly
I hid my love to my despite
Till I could not bear to look at light
I dare not gaze upon her face
But left her memory in each place
Where 'ere I saw a wild flower lie
I kissed and bade my love goodbye
I met her in the greenest dells
Where dewdrops pearl the wood bluebells
The lost breeze kissed her bright brown eye
The bee kissed and went singing by
A sunbeam found a passage there
A gold chain round her neck so fair
As secret as the wild bee's song
She lies there all the summer long
I hid my love in field and town
Till e'en the breeze would knock me down
The bees seemed singing ballads l'er
The fly's buzz turned a Lion's roar
And even silence found a tongue
To haunt me all the summer long
The riddle nature could not prove
Was nothing else but secret love
"Wow!" she thought, "This guy knows every poem that I like! And now I can call him a guy."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When she went back inside, Ron caught up to her. Harry had told him that he would see him back in the common room later. "What's that?" he asked rather suspiciously.
Hermione looked up at him and simply said, "Something."
Ron sighed and said, "Could you be a little more specific?"
She looked at him up and down and finally said, "Why do you care? I mean, if you can care at all." Ron looked at her with a hurt expression. He was just concerned!
"Is it from your 'Secret Admirer'?" She looked up again. "I told you, Hermione! That guy could be a lunatic or some bloody maniac!"
She sighed and said, "Well, I don't see why you are so scared that I might get hurt. It's my life and I don't need you to protect me. I can do that myself, thanks." He looked at her with the same hurt expression he had on the last time.
"I just don't wanna see you hurt. That's all! In case you haven't noticed, Hermione, we have been friends for five years and I still don't see how you can't see that I do care about you! I'm a friend! Friends care. I know that you said I had the 'the emotional range of a teaspoon' but apparently, you don't know me that well!" The second the words came out of his mouth, she felt terribly bad. It was true. He really did care about his friends and he did often show how much he cared. It wasn't always the best way to show how much he cared, but he did. It just took a little time to realize it.
"No", she thought. "He doesn't have the emotional range of a teaspoon."
Ron quickly ran up to the common room after what he had just said. When she got there, she looked everywhere for him. She really wanted to apologize for what she had just said. As she looked up the stairs to the boys’ dormitories, she saw Ron going up them. She was just going to call up to him but she heard a door slam before she could say anything. "I'll just have to talk to him later," she whispered to herself. She sighed and went to the common room to think a while.
During classes that day, Ron wouldn't talk to her. And every time she would come up to him, he would hurriedly walk away.
She tried to concentrate but she'd always go back to the letter and the fight she had had. She would always try to ignore the little voice in her head that kept saying that she wished the boy would be Ron, or at least that he would be somewhat like Ron. She would quickly put the thought aside and try to concentrate on the lesson.
Hermione kept studying the letter that night, right before going to bed. Before she was going to turn off the light, she took out the box of chocolates from her dresser and ate one. She then turned off the light and drifted off to sleep with the thought of a huge land covered in chocolates.
A/N: OOOH!!!! sorry, I'm a little obsessed w/chocolates so that last part might of sounded cheesy, but who hasn't had a dream where there is a land full of chocolates?!?!?!? Bye-bye and PLEASE review!! THANKS!! You are THE best!!
Poem by John Clare A/N: I had to change a little part in the poem because it said, 'it kissed her bright blue eye' and Harmione has brown eyes. So I had to do that little change. That's all.