(ABANDONED FOR NOW) Late Nights on the Astronomy Tower (Draco x Hermione)

I. Morsmordre

July, 1994.

"Lumos," Hermione whispered, moving her wand in front of the book she was trying to read underneath the thick quilt Mrs. Weasley had knitted her. She was in the burrow and had been sharing a room with Ginny Weasley for the majority of the summer. Ginny was a sweet girl of thirteen, always speaking in a way which made her seem older than she was. She was elegant, yet funny, and kind. Always kind.

The girls would stay up late into the night remarking on Ginny's latest crush from Hogwarts, Dean Thomas, who she had been owling since she first returned to the burrow. She would rant about how he said they had to be friends because Ginny was too young and how that was completely absurd considering he was only in the year above her. Hermione listened intently, amused. She had never so much as attracted a fly in her time at Hogwarts, and yet Ginny, a year younger than her, was already catching the eyes of several boys. It didn't bother her much, it was just interesting to listen to.

She wasn't surprised that Ginny talked to boys during the summer. She was exceedingly gorgeous. Her hair, a fierce red, engulfed her shoulders as it ran down her slim body as if she did not care enough to tie it up. She didnt care what others thought about her which made them like her even more. Her eyes were striking and brown like her mother's and surrounded her with an air dominance. No one overlooked her when she spoke, and Hermione wondered if it was because she had had to force others to listen to her, having grown up with six older brothers. Ginny had been through a lot for her age and it showed through her maturity and good humor. Hermione began to see Ginny as a younger sister a few weeks into the summer and they had been inseparable ever since.

They walked outside in the afternoons to soak up the sun and Hermione watched Ginny fly Ron's broom around the yard, Mrs. Weasley yelling for her to come down. Mrs. Weasley was very protective of Ginny. Her youngest child, her only daughter. Hermione noticed the way Ginny's mother was harder on Ginny to be careful and safe. Of course, she loved all of her children equally and they were her pride and joy, but she took a sort of carefulness with Ginny, as if she were fragile and the slightest spell could knock her over. This was far from the truth as all of the Weasleys knew, Ginny was tough and did not like to be treated as a child, although she most certainly was.

Hermione also spent a lot of her time with Ron that summer. He had an injury at the end of the school year which left him in the hospital for a few days and Hermione found herself worrying about him as Mrs. Weasley worried about Ginny. She considered him her family after three years of running around Hogwarts saving everyones' lives with him and Harry. Ginny and Ron were her primary companions in the Burrow and for the first time in her life, her summer was not filled with boredom. She was an only child after all and didn't have any friends back in the muggle world. The Weasleys gave her the illusion of the big family she always wished she had. She loved her parents dearly but a house of three had a certain dullness which was overpowered by the Weasley's house of nine. Of course, Charlie and Bill didn't live with them because they had grown up and Percy had just graduated and was working at his new Ministry job so it was really a house of six. Seven with Hermione. Eight when Harry decided to show up.

He did at the end of July.

Ron, Ginny, Fred, and Hermione were sitting in the grass outside as George showed them an invention he was working on which would make anyone who touched it smell like earwax until they washed off in freezing cold water. Mrs. Weasley hadn't been pleased when he began his presentation in her kitchen a few minutes ago.

"...It's a rather foul smell, actually," he said.

"Out!" Mrs. Weasley screamed, fed up with Fred and George's constant "inventions" which always seemed to leave the house flooded or covered in green snot. "Out! Out! Out!" She chased them all from the table to the front food, a large broom in hand.