Hermione's All That

Hermione felt her insides begin to churn with complete confusion. Her mouth was hanging open in complete astonishment. Ginny? It was Ginny this whole time?

Harry didn't move, but squeezed Hermione's hand not only in frustration, but for some way of knowing he was in actually reality. Here was a girl, who was his best friend's sister, whom he had known since she was eleven, standing in front of them after she had been impersonating someone else to hurt him and Hermione. He just didn't understand it, any of it.

Ginny smirked at their expressions. "Bet you didn't think it was me, huh? Sweet, little, Ginny, right? I bet you're thinking, I've known her for so long, she's Ron sister, comes from a loving family like the Weasley's, how? Well, let me tell you both, love makes you do strange things.

Harry wanted to ask why, how, when, so many different questions, but all that came out was, "Ginny?"

Ginny laughed, rather menacingly, as she began tapping the wand in her hand. "I've finally made the great Harry Potter speechless! Someone should go get a damn camera, because this is one for the books!" Ginny exclaimed, smiling triumphantly, in such a way that made Harry cringe.

She's so evil; I can feel it in the room. He didn't know what had caused her to do such things.

Both Harry and Hermione were so stunned with the situation, that neither thought to act until it was too late. Screaming, "Expelliarmus", their wands flew from their hands.

They were both startled, but they didn't even have a chance to act before Harry felt something hit him on the head. Draco had hit him with the same piece of wood Harry had hit Ginny with.

Harry closed his eyes and clenched in pain, but willed himself to stay conscious.

Ginny grabbed Hermione around the neck and held her, her wand pointed right at her throat.

Harry tried to stand up, but Draco knocked him on the back once again, before he summoned ropes to tie up Harry's legs and arms.

Hermione tried to move and kick Ginny with her legs, but Ginny just pushed the wand into her throat even harder. "I wouldn't do that, or I'll kill Harry first, then you!" Ginny whispered into her ear, and Hermione stopped all struggling. She didn't want Harry to be hurt, and she wouldn't risk it.

Hermione looked at Harry and tried to catch his eye, to see if he was ok. Finally he looked up at her and she could see that he was hurt fairly bad. She felt the tears well up in her eyes, but she gave Harry a smile, to try and tell him she was ok.

"Why Ginny?" she heard herself say, and she felt Ginny tense up.

"Why?" Ginny exclaimed. Her hands started shaking. "Why? You mean Hermione Granger, miss know-it-all mudblood, doesn't already know?" Ginny shouted. She grabbed a chunk of Hermione's hair and pulled, causing Hermione's head to snap back.

Harry tried to move toward Hermione when Ginny grabbed her, but it was no use. The bonds were too strong.

Ginny stared into Hermione's eyes; glaring down at her with so much hatred Hermione was surprised to see that she was even still alive. "Well, since I love the satisfaction of knowing something you don't, I'm going to tell you everything!"

The whole while, Draco just stood in the corner. He didn't say anything, just watched the scene unfold. Harry thought this was rather odd, as he knew that Draco was not one to stand back, he would want the spotlight, to revel in the fact that he had won. Why is he just standing there?

Ginny shoved Hermione's head forward, before turning to Harry. "I've loved you for so long, but you didn't know that, did you?" Ginny asked, and Harry felt shocked. He didn't really think Ginny loved him, sure he knew she had a slight crush on him, but love?

"Of course you didn't! I was just Ron's little sister, so you saw me as a little sister too. I tried so hard to get your attention, but you never saw me! NEVER SAW ME!" Ginny screamed. Her teeth clenched in anger.

"And then you get together with that bitch Cho. I didn't think it would last as long as it did, but finally, she broke up with you. Which we all knew would happen. Oh, and by the way, she was cheating on you the whole time you were dating!" Ginny said and Harry felt shock cover his features. Ginny smirked at this.

"So, that was something you didn't know either. I couldn't tell you how many people, but I can tell you it was a lot! And Harry Potter was completely oblivious!" Ginny laughed again, before turning serious.

"After that, I knew I could finally try and make my move, and then Draco makes up that bet. I thought it was such a laugh, a way to mess with the mudblood here. It's not like anyone cares about her anyway," Ginny said and Harry interrupted.

"That's not true! You shut the hell up Ginny!" Harry demanded, even though he knew his words were futile, he couldn't do anything to her regardless.

Ginny just smiled, and continued. "You know it's true, no one liked her. We always made fun of her, called her names behind her back." Ginny leaned down closer to Hermione's ear, so only she could hear. "Even Harry, he laughed and called you names just like the rest of us!"

Hermione closed her eyes. Even though she knew all this, and she knew that Harry had changed and he loved her, it still hurt. It would always hurt just a little bit inside, she thought. She tried not to let Ginny's words effect her, but she couldn't help the tears that collected in her eyes.

Harry cringed when he saw Hermione start to tear up. He knew the words hurt her, and all he wanted to do was to hold her, and comfort her, but he couldn't. He could only try and talk to her. "Hermione, don't listen to her! That's in the past! You know that I love you now!" Harry shouted and Hermione opened her eyes.

She stared at Harry and smiled, nodding her head in understanding. Ginny looked between the two, and pretended to gag. "If this continues, I think I'm going to loose my lunch!" Ginny said. "So when the bet was made, I thought this was the perfect time to impress you. You had mentioned you wanted to take Granger to the Golden Snitch, and what do you know! They only have male workers, so I had to pretend to be a male waiter, not a pleasant thing if you should know!

"How did you change into Xander then?" Hermione asked.

"Easy! The polyjuice potion!" Ginny said and Hermione shook her head.

"But, how? Your voice…," Hermione started to say and Ginny interrupted.

"Oh, you mean how was I able to sound like Xander since the polyjuice potion doesn't change the voice? Simple: my wonderful twin brothers. They have this product that will change your voice to whomever you want to sound like. And they were so willing to help their baby sister, since I told them it was to play a joke on people at school." Ginny explained. "Dimwits," she muttered to herself, but loud enough for them all to hear.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, the magical date! I was going to play around with you, hit on Granger for a laugh. I just wanted to mess with you, never thinking that you would actually get jealous, but then I saw your face, and it made me even madder. And Granger never even showed the slightest interest in "Xander". So, I tried to scare her off after the date, but you were so quick to react."

Ginny turned her attention to Harry, staring him right in the eyes. "You didn't even hesitate, and then I knew that I was going to have to work harder, since somehow she," Ginny said, pulling Hermione's hair again in emphasis. "got your attention. So at the party, I tried to hang all over you, everyday after that I tried to make my presence known, but your mind was elsewhere." Ginny said the last word with clenched teeth.

"Scaring you off wasn't going to work, if anything, it brought you two closer together. So, I decided to bring in someone to really help and who better than Draco?"

Harry turned back toward Draco, who was still standing silent in the corner, but was now smirking at the attention. And was that? Harry thought to himself, a blush? Draco never blushed. Something is going on here.

Deciding he had to try and get something out of Draco, he said, "You've been awful quiet Malfoy, that's not at all like you."

Malfoy opened his mouth to speak, but a bang came from the door, which swung open, catching everyone's attention.

They all stood, waiting to see who would pass through the dust that had covered the room from the explosion. In walked, Malfoy?

Harry looked at the Malfoy that had walked in the door, and the Malfoy beside him. "That's because he isn't Draco Malfoy!" the Malfoy from the door exclaimed.

He was covered in dirt and grim, his clothes ripped and torn. His hair was completely disheveled on his head and he was panting so hard, if Harry wouldn't have known better he would have thought Draco had just ran a decathlon.

Draco pointed his wand, shouting Expelliarmus and forcing "Draco's" wand out of his hand.

"What the hell?" Harry exclaimed, completely confused.

"Hello to you too, Potter," Draco said, before turning his attention to "Draco". "That is not the real Draco, I am. That's an impostor. I was on my way to the dance, earlier tonight when someone hit me on the back of the head. I woke up in some broom closet. I sat there, trying to yell for someone, using my wand, but I couldn't get the stupid door open. Then, finally the door opened, and guess who it was?" Draco stopped for a moment, eyeing everyone in the room.

"Good old buddy, Neville!" Draco said, and Harry and Hermione sucked in breath.

"He's lying!" the "Draco" said. "I'm the real Draco, he's the imposter!"

"He pulled me out, grabbed a piece of my hair, and then drank some polyjuice potion. Then he took his hair, and made me drink the potion too. He pulled me around the corner, and that's when I saw Granger standing by the window. Neville threw me into another broom closet and locked the door!"

Hermione stood wide-eyed at Draco. "That's, that's true!" Hermione said, not knowing what else to say. "Neville said he wanted to speak to me, and then he told me he had a gift for me, and he would be right back. When he came back Draco was pulling him around the corner and threw him into a broom closet. So if you're the real Draco, then…,"Hermione said before stopping her words. She turned to face the other "Draco" before saying, "Neville?"

"Draco" just smirked. "Took you long enough, Hermione," Neville said. "I guess I won't need this anymore." Neville reached into his pocket and threw the flask over the side of the tower. They all stood and watched as "Draco" transformed into Neville.

"I don't understand," Hermione said, shaking her head. She couldn't believe that Neville would do this. Why would he do such a thing?

"Hermione, sweet Hermione," Neville began, before walking closer to them. "You're so fucking naïve sometimes! I liked you, sure, but I wasn't as pathetic as Weasley here. I didn't fall in love; I'm not capable of love. No, I just love hurting people. It's fun to be cruel!"

As Neville was talking, Draco reached down and started to help Harry untie the ropes around his arms.

Neville moved closer to Hermione, stroking her chin in a sadistic way. "I had to play that bumbling fool of a student so no one would suspect me to do such cruel things. Do you actually think I was that stupid? Who do you think made the polyjuice potions, who do you think cleared up the mark on Ginny's face when Harry punched her that night?"

Hermione turned her face from Neville, she couldn't face him. She had been his friend, been by his side since first year, and this was who he truly was underneath. She had no idea. She was not only ashamed of Neville, but also of herself for not seeing any sign that would show Neville's true nature.

"I didn't want you to see me, but it doesn't matter now. I'll kill all of you, and then I can say that Draco killed them all, I tried to help, but I just couldn't save them!" Neville exclaimed.

"All of us?" Ginny asked, turning toward Neville.

"Ginny, did you really think you had control over me? No, I actually got you to do everything I needed you to. And now, I have no use for you," Neville explained.

Before Ginny could reply, Neville grabbed both Ginny and Hermione and pushed them over the side of the tower.

"HERMIONE!" Harry screamed, finally pulling off the last of his ropes, he ran to the side of the tower. Fear claimed his mind, his heart, every part of him as he reached the tower, too scared to look over and see Hermione's body sprawled out on the ground a hundred feet below.

Harry reached the side and looked over, his heart stopping at the site. Hermione was clinging to the side of the tower and Ginny was holding on to Hermione's legs, pulling her down.

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed up to him. "Help me! I'm slipping!"

"Don't worry Hermione. I'm going to reach down and pull you up," Harry said, leaning over the side of the tower as far as he could.

Hermione tried to reach up, but she couldn't let her hand go, because if she did, she would surely slip.

Just as Harry's hand was about to cover Hermione's, he felt a large weight pull him back in.

Neville jumped on top of Harry, punching him hard in the face. Draco charged Neville, pulling him to the ground, and off of Harry.

Harry tried to shake off the punch. Still seeing bright spots in his vision, he got up on two feet.

Hermione hung on to the tower with all her might, but the weight of Ginny was too much and she started to slip.

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, feeling her one hand let go. She desperately tried to hang on with the other hand.

Harry reached up and realized that he had to do something. He felt for his wand and his hand came in contact with something in his pocket. He pulled it out and realized it was a broom. He forgot he had put it in there before the dance.

He couldn't find a wand anywhere, and he saw that Draco was still dueling with Neville. Running out of options, Harry yelled, "Draco! Make this bigger!"

Harry threw Draco the broom, and attacked Neville from behind. Draco restored the broom to its original size, and threw a stunner at Neville, giving Harry enough time to get away.

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed as her last finger slipped off the tower, sending her and Ginny tumbling toward the ground and to their awaiting deaths.

"Goodbye Harry," Hermione whispered into the air as the wind rushed by. "I love you."