There Are None So Blind As Those Who Do Not See
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following story will be various points of view from friends, faculty and peers of the dynamic relationship between the Trio, especially the ever growing closeness between Harry and Hermione. I will be sticking to canon mainly but may include a few scenes from the movies.
Chapter One: What Ginny Suspects
Takes place summer after fourth year
Ever wonder why Ginny finally gave on Harry? Here's my take on this intriguing missing scene from canon. This is all from Ginny's point of view.
I wonder if she knows yet. Surely she must, she's the most brilliant witch to come along in ages as everyone is always saying. Yet, somehow I am still doubtful, despite Malfoy's taunts, Rita Skeeter's articles, and Victor Krum's little chat with her before we left Hogwarts, (I had to drag that out of her. Evidently Victor thought she and Harry had something between them that was more than friendship, which she vehemently denied.) I don't think she has realized yet that she's fallen in love with him; The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter, her best friend.
I began to suspect that there was something more than friendship between them; at least on her side, after the Third Task. I was standing next to her and Ron we all heard the screams and yells and then there was a great flash as Harry and Cedric vanished. We were all horrified and worried... Mum and I were crying; Bill was fighting his way over to Dumbledore trying to find out what happened... Ron was so pale his freckles stood out more than usual, his fist clenching and unclenching. But after that first shocked moment it was Hermione's reaction that caught my eye. She was standing utterly still, her eyes fixed on the maze, and the look on her face . . . I shiver now just remembering it. I have never seen such a mingled look of anguish and desperate hope. It was then I heard her murmuring under her breath as well and her words stunned me. "'Come back Harry, please come back to me."
When Harry finally returned clutching Cedric's dead body, looking bruised with blood stains all over him, I felt her sway. Ron tried to grab hold of her but she seemed to recover and pushed him aside, fighting her way over the crowd, desperation in her eyes as she tried to get Harry. I think I was the only one who noticed Ron's hurt look as Hermione ran away. I suspect he has a crush on her, but being a clueless prat he hasn't realized it yet. When he does . . . I must do my best to stand by my brother and comfort him because that night I glimpsed the future.
Hermione has always been the only one Harry really listens to. She's the only one who's always stood by his side, proving her loyalty to him time and again. I thought back to their 3rd year when we all thought Sirius was after Harry and how even when Hermione reported his Firebolt to Professor McGonagall Harry after that initial spurt of anger tried to make up with her but Ron as usual was being a prat and Harry told him off. Then Harry and Hermione saved Sirius together.
This year she was the only one who truly believed him and stood by him when his name came out from the Goblet of Fire and he denied putting himself forward as a contender. I saw her argue with Ron the next morning about how Harry would not have, could not have put in his name. Over the next few months Hermione spent the majority of her time with Harry, always walking along the lake together, their heads bent over musty books in the library, sitting and speaking only to each other except for those weekly pleadings from Hermione to Ron to get him to talk to Harry.
I remember the night of the Yule Ball and the look on his face when he first saw her come in with Victor and realized that it was her. I saw the smiles and glances they exchanged at the Champions table during dinner. It reminded me somehow of the end of term banquet my horrid first year and seeing Harry glumly picking at his food until Neville pointed out that Hermione was coming in. Harry jumped up, grinning broadly as Hermione flew down the long aisle and them nearly smothering each other as they hugged.
Looking back over the years I've known them together I have seen how close they are; at times seeming to communicate with a look alone. There's a certain special bond between them, a golden link that must have formed during their first year and as time has passed that link has only been forged stronger by all the trials they have experienced together.
Tom Riddle had tried to link me to him and nearly succeeded; however that was a dark putrid link of evil filled with Tom's hate of the boy who defeated him. And if Tom's link of hate nearly killed me . . . I can't help but wonder what that golden link between Harry and Hermione that is fused of mutual caring, friendship, loyalty, respect, and perhaps even love, what I wonder will that do to Tom?
Part Two
"Ginny what is it?" Hermione asked with concern
"What?" I asked
"You've been staring off into space for the last half hour. Is something wrong? You're not thinking of . . . um Tom again are you? It really wasn't your fault, any of it! Don't let the memory of him hurt you Ginny." She had paused from cleaning out one of the closets in the multiple bedrooms Sirius' house held and was looking at me as if in two minds on whether to get my Mum.
"NO!" I was surprised. I can't deny that memories of my first year encounters with Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort do not sometimes cause me nightmares, but it's been a long while since I've had one. What can I say, what can I tell her to distract her? Brilliance strikes;
"No, actually I was just remembering that silly crush I had on Harry."
"Oh" her voice is suddenly quiet.
Wait a moment! Does she think that I still have a crush on Harry? Is that why she hasn't said anything about that kiss on the cheek we all saw her give him on platform 9 ¾?
Without realizing it the next words that tumble from my mouth are as much a surprise to me as they are to her.
"Honestly Hermione! I gave up on Harry ages ago! As a matter of fact if you swear not to tell Ron I actually met this Ravenclaw Michael Corner at the Yule Ball and we've been hanging out together since. I really like him."
I'm stunned to realize that this is true. I've suspected it for awhile but I know that I have finally given up on Harry. This past year with the Tri-Wizard fiasco opened up my eyes to the fact that mine like so many girls was a hopeless crush. He was the Boy Who Lived, and I was just a silly little schoolgirl with a crush on a genuinely kind and good-looking young man who had been my personal hero; saving me from Tom Riddle. I had never really talked to him, never really known him. At least not as Hermione did. She saw Harry as himself not the Boy Who Lived. And that was what he needed-someone who cared for him just because he was Harry.
"Really? I think that's great Ginny!" Is that relief I hear in her voice? Hermione's been talking excessively about him and how she just knows he's ticked off at them for not writing him about what's going on, how she just knows he'll be furious at being left out, I even heard her argue with Dumbledore. Hermione, Miss Teachers' Pet arguing with the Headmaster? I smile inwardly to myself; this is going to be an interesting summer.