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Monday, November 12, 2007

Flickering Hope

I thought he would redeem me.

I thought wrong.

It was I who snuffed out the only candle left in my darkness.

I have failed.

---

Severus Snape looked at Albus Dumbledore's grave, expressionless. He could barely see the golden letters engraved on the cold, white marble as the dark enveloped him. He couldn't help but reminisce about his mentor, the only one who had actually trusted him when he had joined the Order.

"The greatest journey of all, begins after death."

He could still remember his words, hoarse with age. His continuous twinkling blue eyes and his long beard that he had once hoarded fascination with when he was eleven.

The power of the Unbreakable Oath was weighed on his shoulders. As was the guilt of the one who truly cared.

He called himself the Half-Blood Prince, prided himself on being a Prince. He had never thought the once proud, arrogant sixteen year old would be reduced to the person he was now.

Even though Severus didn't believe in doing it, even though he thought that doing it was just a waste of time and effort; he formed the words of the incantation in his mind and waved his wand.

A beautiful bouquet of lavenders, entwined with deep purple ribbons (his favourite colour) appeared on his grave.

With a dramatic sweep of his robes, he left -his shadow trailing behind him.


-ALBUS PERCIVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE-
-May your journey never end...

Entirely His Fault

Entirely His Fault

It was all Ron Weasley's fault.

Hermione scrubbed the floor with the toothbrush angrily, imagining it was Ron’s face. She was sentenced to a week's worth of detention with Professor Snape. She forced herself not to think of the amount of time she would miss spending in the library. The many hours she would miss hearing the normal rustling of paper, smelling the scent of books and absorbing the information that she would get.

On the other hand, she would waste her time on her knees, scrubbing every inch of the Potion Master's storeroom with a toothbrush for company. Throw in a few rats, some moldy cauldrons and a thick layer of black grime that she didn't want to identify. Her wand was taken and locked away, only to be given back to her when every single task assigned was finished.

It was one of the most embarrassing moments in her life when she was given detention in front of the entire school. Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating a little. Just a little. After all, in her six years of schooling in Hogwarts, she, Hermione Granger had never made a mistake on an individual potion before. If she did, Professor Snape would proably make a scathing remark about her achievement and probably even sink as low as to make a comment about her muggle parentage.

Not that she would trade her parents for a pureblood couple. She loved her parents far too much. She was sure Malfoy's parents had never taken to a fun fair in his life. Never told him bedtime stories when he was younger. Never comforted him when he cried. Never told him a joke. She had rather keep those childhood experiences than to have pureblood parents, just to change other’s opinion of her.

Anyway, back to how Hermione Granger had first failed to make a potion in her life.

It had all started when Ron Weasley asked her out to a date for the Hogsmeade date. Hermione, shocked, had accepted. After she managed to decipher Ron's stuttering of course. And help from Harry. ("Just say it you bloody git! Hermione, Ron wants to ask you out! Seriously...") He had brought her to a restaurant in Hogsmeade, for which she knew he must have saved. It was quite pricey, after all.

Before they had entered, the restaurant closed due to 'unfortunate circumstances'. They had then headed to 'The Three Broomsticks' when Rosmerta closed it because Neville had somehow flooded the place with butterbeer. A reporter then followed them around, trying to find out Harry's dirty little secrets like his true sexuality and what not.

At the end, they had went to the Shrieking Shack, stomachs rumbling, and talked. Hermione had talked to Ron many times before. But they had never truly talked. She learnt that Ron's parents had divorced once but found each other again. He learnt that Hermione had a twin sister who died a few days after she was born. Before they went back to Hogwarts, Ron kissed her. She had felt extremely comfortable when she kissed him, as if it was meant to be. Tingles ran up and down her spine.

Ginny was slightly surprised when she heard that Hermione had kissed Ron. She had begged Hermione for every single detail, which had surprised Hermione since Ginny had dated more times than the trio put together. ("I've never been kissed, virgin and proud of it." "You'd better still be a virgin, or Ron will kill you.") Ginny then asked Hermione why she had agreed to go on a date with Ron. Hermione had answered truthfully. It was then that she realized it.

It was after that when the staring began. Hermione had never really thought Ron to be very handsome before. She had gotten jealous when another girl paid attention to Ron or vice versa but Hermione never acknowledged the fact that she liked him 'more than friends'. Now, Hermione could barely take her eyes off him. Ron would always raise an eyebrow at her and ask if there was something on his face. He did not know what really was going on. She could barely pay attention to anything else except for staring at him with quiet fascination.

Everything became glaringly obvious after that one kiss. The cute freckles on his face. The smile that seemed to light up his eyes. His eyes that was the most beautiful shade of blue she'd ever seen. His passion for the things he loved. The comfort and security she felt whenever she was with him. The way it seemed that everything would be perfectly alright as long as she was with him.

Of course, that had made her lose her concentration and mess up her potion. It had earned her detention, the loss of ten points from Gryffindor, a berating from Snape and a smug look from Malfoy. Now that she thought about it, the concerned look Ron gave her was certainly worth it.

A knock on the door abruptly interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to see Ron peeking in through the small window that was on the door. He waved and opened the door with a sheepish smile.

“I thought you might need some help.” He said, blushing slightly. “Harry is with Ginny somewhere, most probably the Astronomy Tower. Then again, I don’t actually want to think about it.”

Hermione smiled and kissed his cheek, watching his blush travel all to the tip of his ears.

She was right, it was certainly Ron's fault.

It was entirely his fault for making her love him.

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle -
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdain'd its brother:

And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea -
What are all these kissing's worth,
If thou kiss not me?

Percy Bysshe Shelly

:End:


A/N:My gratitude goes to Adelaide E for reading through this fic for me although it is completely horrible. I'm aware I used the same poem twice(in my other fan fiction), but I can't help it- I'm in love with that poem! By the way, Professor Snape gave Hermione a detention because he finally found a way to punish her for a mistake in her work. (Hermione usuallysimply does not mess up)

Dear Editor, Go To Hell

Before I start writing this letter, let me conclude that I breathe, eat, drink like other people. I bleed if I'm injured. I cry when I'm hurt. I know it must be really difficult for someone with such a small amount of brain cells to digest this information, but I really hope you put enough effort to read this letter before you faint halfway because of the overuse of your brain. This is why I will write this letter as simple as I can, as not to endanger you from dying from stress from trying to decipher my letter. By the way, decipher means to succeed in finding the meaning of something that is difficult to understand.

Since you already know who you are (at least I assume that you do) I am not going into formalities (is that a too big word?) as you do not deserve such luxuries. In fact, you deserve more people telling you that you should eat dragon dung and that you look so much like a pig that you insult pigs in general. Please understand that I meant every single insult that I have handed out so far, and I am intending to give more.

I am a human being.

I guess you must be shocked beyond comprehension right now. (I'm sorry; I shouldn't use words with more than three syllables. I must have already damaged your fragile mind. Comprehension means: the ability to understand. Which you probably don't have) It is pitiful sometimes the way you write about me, as if I am someone to be worshipped, to be adored. Go get a religion, find a girlfriend or a boyfriend in that matter.

When I said I am a human being, I also meant that I have feelings. I do not play with guys’ hearts, despite your completely fictional newspaper. In fact, I highly recommend that you change the name of your newspaper as I find “The Truth” as the name of your newspaper extremely ironic.

Do you know that you almost ruined everything in my life when you published that article about me having relationships with at least five men other than my one constant; Draco Malfoy? He was the one that I had truly loved. After six years of hating each other, we had finally been civil to each other. Did you ever have the taste of forbidden love? I had. It was completely intoxicating, and seductive. I have never been so drawn to anyone in my life before.

It was mutual to him. It was completely lust at first. Can you imagine? It was the both of us, referring each other to our last names, yet still having a physical relationship. I thought it was just a mistake, something I had vowed never to happen again as long as I lived. But did you know that we fell in love? We realized that we had needed each other in every single way possible.

We were never the prefect couple. If you wanted to see one, we would just point to the direction of Harry and Ginny snogging in some romantic environment. Maybe even Ron and Luna Lovegood would have sufficed. Then again, dear editor, you would never choose a couple that you knew would always turn out to be the best, would you? You would obviously choose Draco and me, the couple with rocky paths ahead, instead of a smooth straight road, with the sun shining brightly ahead and badly clichéd birds chirping loudly.

It was not easy for us to be in love. We were not accepted by our peers. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, we did not have the luxury to die. Instead, Fate had let us live, so he could laugh at put misery. Whomever that had said Fate was cruel was completely right. We didn’t meet in private, like most forbidden lovers would. Dumbledore never approved of us, despite his interhouse plans he had made throughout the years. We were banned from seeing each other, Harry and Ron being my watch dogs, a few Slytherins who hated Draco being his. The only contact we had was a single faithful owl, loyal to me alone, flying cautiously to deliver out letters.

I cannot seriously remember the time when Harry and the others finally accepted the fact that I was in love with Draco. They certainly didn’t accept it. They just talked to him only at utmost necessity and were colder to me. Draco wasn’t shunned from the Slytherins. Some were angry at him. Most had admired him for having a relationship with someone else from a different house. You see, Slytherins are not entirely evil as all of you prejudiced prats think they are. There is a difference between evil and cunning. Cunning could be used for good too.

I admit that the Sorting Hat would have chucked me into Slytherin without a second thought, had I been pureblood. If that were to happen, I would believe that Draco and I would have gotten together in a smaller amount of time.

This relationship was all I had lived for. My parents disowned me, once they found out that I had not been to Hogwarts instead the school I had lied to them about. I didn’t really care. They abused me daily at home, after all. Being to France and all the other places that I was supposed to have been were all because I was sent to my godparents’ house. My godparents were the only ones who really cared about me. The people that all my friends had met were my godparents, pretending to be my real parents. It wasn’t difficult; after all, I have spent almost my entire life with them. I doubt my parents can remember how old I am at the moment.

It was the sixth year when my make-believe parents died. It was the same year my real parents found out the truth and disowned me.

I lost hope. I thought Hogwarts would throw me out because I had no way of paying for books and other necessities. Instead, Professor McGonagall took me in and cared for me. It just wasn’t the same as my godparents anymore. I had guilt weighing me down. After all, they were killed because of my connection to Harry Potter by Death Eaters. My real parents had been terrified that they would be harmed and cut their ties with me as soon as possible. They handed me a small amount of money. At the age of 16, I left home.

I met Draco before I took a knight bus. Of course, I had loathed him then. I can still remember what he had said clearly.

“Granger, where are you going?” he had asked snappishly. It was as if he was angry at me for leaving my house.

“I’m going to Hogwarts.” I replied back at him, as if I had not a care in the world. “Not that it’s any of your business. Why are you at a muggle place anyway? Aren’t you too pureblood to lower yourself to such filthy areas?”

He growled. It was a sound which I had heard on many occasions during the previous years.

“It’s not safe out here.” he had stated firmly, ignoring my question. “For a mudblood like you.” He added quickly with a smirk. That had raised my suspicions. You see, I had once been disillusioned about Slytherins as you were, though not as badly. After all, I have a brain; unlike you. I peered into his eyes. He had usually kept emotions hidden under a mask but on that particular day, he was unveiled. I could see concern and anger in his eyes when I thought I would see smug satisfaction. It was one of the rare times where I had been wrong.

I knew then he was in the Light. Just like Professor Severus Snape. I didn’t take the knight bus. I ran back into my house and performed a spell, a random spell right in front of my real parents of whom had never seen magic before. They were stunned and furious with me. I spend a few minutes dodging household appliances before an owl entered my house to deliver an official warning. I quickly grabbed it and scribbled a note to Professor Dumbledore, after giving the owl a Sickle and hastily given instructions. It was surprisingly competent, compared to some of the ministry owls I have braved.

I had received a stern word of warning from the Ministry. I had performed a spell illegally in front of my muggle parents, in which would have broken at least half a dozen laws. I would probably get long and dreary lectures from professors. But I did not think I could feel happier that I would be in Hogwarts, safe. Or as safe as anywhere could be.

So dear the-man-who-has-mashed-potatoes-for-brains, I have been through a lot before I started my seventh year. Even worse, on the seventh year; I had to face Voldemort. I can safely bet that if you even heard his voice, you would probably wet your pants. Harry, Ron and I had researched for different spells just to defend ourselves against Death Eaters. The DA broke up after Umbridge left and gained a permanent membership to what Ron would have said, “The Looney Bin.”

The invisibility cloak was used almost daily. We went out late at night and met in the common room. We would then go to the Room of Requirement, no matter how clichéd that had been. Models of people would be made so we can cast our spells on them and watch the effect. Otherwise, we would try the hexes on ourselves. The books with the cures would always appear a few seconds later. It was the Room of Requirement after all.

Finally, we found a spell that completely destroys the soul. I wouldn’t go into the details, after all, I can barely expect you to understand what I would have said since your mental capability is unnaturally low for a human being. On second thought, that would actually depend on the fact if you have a brain at all.

We defeated Voldemort, with many losses. It was extremely excruciating (is that a too difficult word for you?) to cope with all the missing people in our lives. As you can already see, it is extremely obvious why I do not appreciate your publicity. After all, it was difficult to take credit for a death that had caused so much pain in return. The peace of the Wizarding World had cost such a price. With most of the Weasleys dead; along with a large portion of other pureblood families that supported with Voldemort, it seemed that the Wizarding World would never return to its former glory.

The articles you had printed had affected me greatly. From the destruction of my career to my love life, I have to say that you would be in full effect of my anger in a few days in which I will meet up with you with some of the more interesting spells I discovered before the fall of Voldemort.

Remember, I did help the legendary Harry Potter defeat the legendary Voldemort with legendary results… I can also produce legendary effects from spells that I will perform on you.

So, if you had understood what I said to you in this entire letter, I have one last thing to say to you. Dear editor, go to hell.

PS: If you say anything about this letter, your balls will covered with pink fuzz and you will grow permanent on every single part of your body that is covered with skin. Let’s not forget that your eyes will bulge and roll so badly that people would mistake you for a miniature troll - with the unforgettable body odor as a special bonus. This letter will self-destruct after you finish it.

Sincerely,

Hermione Granger