Felix had better work his magic, Hermione thought solemnly as she watched Harry throw his invisibility cloak on. She looked at Ron tentatively, who was almost grimacing. The plan they had so thoroughly ran through so many times was now being discarded for Felix Felicis. Hermione was kicking herself for letting Harry stray from their original idea, but at the same time she trusted him on this one. She saw the door to the dormitory open, and she supposed Harry must have bustled out of it, eager to go to Hagrid's. They stood in the boys' dorm, both as nervous as each other. Ron looked at her and she stared back at him. He blinked and said "come on then..." and gestured that she go before him, probably out of politeness. Though unsure where Harry actually was, they knew he was in a rush and swiftly headed down towards the common room. Hermione hoped there wouldn't be too many people down there; the last thing they needed was a swarm of Gryffindors being their usual rowdy selves. Recently, Ron had been peering round corners a lot, in hopes of avoiding accidentally bumping into his not-so-happy girlfriend, and so Hermione was surprised when he didn't give a second thought to turning onto the staircase heading down into the common room. He seemed to have made a grave mistake, as whilst Dean and Ginny were walking in, Hermione had headed over to tell Ginny what was happening, but Ron had paused behind her.
Hermione froze as a fuming Lavender appeared in front of them, pretty nostrils flared, and demanded "What were you doing up there with her?"
Hermione winced and looked from Ginny across the room (watching gleefully) to Ron, who was stood, mid-stride, clutching the banister with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. Hermione straightened her shirt out underneath her jumper self-consciously. Everyone else in the common room seemed to have stopped what they were doing to stare and point, whispering and chuckling under their breaths. If Fred and George had been here, Hermione thought, they would have happily sat back and watched, probably trying to make the situation worse somehow. Oh, for an innocent diversion. A painful silence rang in Hermione's ears as the portrait hole door clunked shut.
"Err," Ron started, "we were just-"
"Just what, exactly?" Lavender stormed up the stairs, barely acknowledging Hermione, and stood on the step in front of Ron, facing him. Hermione turned round hesitantly.
"Did you two think I hadn't noticed?!"
"Noticed what?" Said Ron as Lavender cast wild looks at the both of them. She looked so furious that Hermione couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for her. She was, after all, one of Hermione's roommates. A silly, highly irritating one, but until recently she had always been decent.
"You two, lurking around the place, talking secretively and all that! Ever since you almost died-"
"Oh don't start this again, Lavender, Hermione's one of my closest friends!" Ron gesticulated with his hands exasperatedly, "It'd be weird if she wasn't worried about me after that!" People in the common room had already started to lose interest, Hermione noticed as she cast her eyes briefly around the room. Ginny, however, had headed closer, watching her brother attempt to dump his girlfriend. Hermione felt both very happy and very sad. Ron had defended her, but by doing so had reminded her what she was to him. A friend.
"Oh yes, close alright! Why does she get to go up to your room? I never get to go up there-"
"Lavender!" Ron flushed, his ears reddening, "I haven't cheated on you with Hermione! She was up in my room helping me and Harry!"
Ginny was squirming with delight.
"Harry?! Where, Ron, is Harry? He's not around here! I haven't seen him!"
"He's-"
"You're lying, you never wanted me up in your room because I wasn't good enough, was I? I wasn't the amazing Hermione Granger, the muggleborn miracle child-"
"Enough, Lavender." Ron growled. "Stop banging on about my room..." he muttered, "and stop accusing Hermione of all this rubbish! She's done nothing!" He had put his foot down. Finally.
Hermione felt unsafe to move from the stairs, but she kept shooting nervous glances at an all-too-happy Ginny Weasley. Dean had stood next to her, and when he had tried to pull her way she slapped his hand from her arm without even giving him a glance.
Lavender rounded on Hermione. "Just because you're so clever," she hissed, "It doesn't make you better than everyone else. You can't just go around stealing people's boyfriends," she looked back to Ron, who was now descending to stand next to Hermione down the stairs, Lavender on the step above them, arms folded and silky blonde hair on end.
"Lavender, I assure you I wasn't trying to steal Ron or anything, I just went up there to-"
"To what?"
"To plan for...something." Ron finished the sentence. Hermione shot him a warning glance.
"Plan for Ha-" Hermione had started, about to make up some ridiculous story of Harry making an excuse for homework, but Ron cut her off, tugging at her elbow. He had stepped down and now stood proudly next to her. He reached for Lavender's arm cautiously and spoke carefully to her.
"How I was going to break up with you, Lavender. Harry wasn't around and I needed some advice on how to do it kindly," He said fluidly. Hermione couldn't believe her ears. "But now I'm not sure I can be bothered to be nice. The way you're treating Hermione now has just shown me it's not worth the effort."
Lavender gawped. Hermione also gawped, though quickly changed her expression so that Ron's massive lie was more believable.
"If you want, we can go and talk about it-" Ron started in the most mature tone Hermione had ever heard come out of his mouth. Lavender, however, cut him off, seemingly unappreciative of this. "I do NOT want to go and talk about it, thank you Ron! It's become perfectly clear now, actually," she spat, her eyes once warm and inviting we're now cold and suffocating to look at. Hermione knew Lavender was not a massive fan of talking when it came to Ron, anyway. Their mouths were always too busy attached to each other to simply talk. "It was always her, wasn't it? You just used me to practice on!" Her voice was now loud enough to reach the ears of professor McGonnagall who had just strode into the room, looking questioningly at the three of them. Ron turned back to lavender quickly and hissed "It was never like that, but you're one to talk! The only reason you had me was to show off to your friends! To be the first one-"
"Mr Weasley? Miss Granger, what is going on here please?" McGonnagall demanded, wading her way through the crowds of alarmed students that were lurking around the bottom of the staircase, apparently interested again. "Ms Brown, are you quite well?" She asked, concerned, but Ms Brown was not well at all. She was practically fuming, so much so that Hermione thought that maybe Lavender's hair was growing to be the size of her own. Lavender never had to use as much Sleekeasy's as she did, thought Hermione bitterly, though now she may need to.
Instead of answering Professor McGonnagall, Lavender nodded slowly, seething. "Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, if you could come over here, please," the professor pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows. Hermione was happy to get away from Lavender and headed down the stairs, Ron following quickly in her wake.
"I was looking for Mr Potter. Would either of you two kindly point me to where he is?"
"We haven't seen him this evening, professor. He said he had some work to be getting on with in the library." Ron lied. McGonnagall looked suspiciously at the two of them, eyeing Hermione's face. Hermione found it very hard to conceal when she was lying. She decided she would go along with this lie and glanced up at Ron who was firmly holding the professor's gaze.
"Yes, he mentioned something about potions, I think."
"I see... well then," their head of house dithered slightly as she searched for something in her memory, "well, thank you both, have a-oh, aren't you two supposed to be doing your prefect duties tonight?"
"Oh, yes we were about to head off, but we got little-er-caught up on the stairs," said Hermione, glancing up at Ron who had gone a faint shade of pink. "We'll head off now."
"I should think so, Miss Granger. And Weasley," McGonnagall added as they scurried off, "Well done on finally sorting that mess out. You couldn't keep hiding behind Miss Granger forever...not very Gryffindor-like." She raised an eyebrow again, a small trace of a smile tickling the corner of her mouth. Both of them flushed and Ron nodded politely, tugging Hermione away. Hermione laughed at him and he smiled a little.
"Even she thinks Lavender and I were a mistake...Merlin..."
"Do you?" Hermione let the words fall out of her mouth.
"What?"
"Do you think it was a mistake to, you know, date Lavender?" She cringed. He held the portrait hole door open for her and shrugged. "Well, I mean I got some practise, like she said..."
"Ronald!"
"I'm joking!" He laughed hastily, "but yeah, we had very little in common. I'm not even upset right now... oh crikey, I'm an awful human being."
"No you're not, you're just ever so slightly emotionally challenged." Hermione smiled to herself as they headed down the corridor to check on the classrooms, though she was still preoccupied with whatever awful thing Harry had planned tonight.
"Oh, thanks, Hermione. Really glad I have you for support." He chuckled. The rest of their evening doing the rounds was spent with both of them in high spirits.
"Ron... I just wanted to say how sorry I am for being so horrible... I ignored you and treated you-"
"Hermione, please. We were both horrible to each other, what's new?" He replied with a laugh. Ron looked at her oddly for a second. She thought he might do something he had never done before in that moment, but Hermione felt unsure about it. She did very much like Ron, but he had just broken up with his girlfriend. It would be so wrong to do exactly what Lavender had suspected they were doing, even though they could...wouldn't it? The idea scared her. Ron seemed to notice she was put out and paused. As if he read her mind, he changed tactic. "We have a plan to stick to tonight. We can't...distract ourselves now. Harry needs us." She was grateful for this.
Hermione was so very cheery that she was sure Ron noticed, and as they came back into the common room 40 minutes later, they both sighed in relief to see it far less busy than before. Ginny was doing some homework on her own by the fire, and Hermione headed over to her straight away. She looked up to see the both of them seeming very relaxed and happy. "Lavender came over to me just after you left to interrogate me," she said as they sat down. Hermione felt guilty again, and she could see it on Ron's face too. "Nah, nothing to worry about, she just wanted to know if you two were secretly doing it behind her back."
"Ginny!" They both exclaimed. She laughed and dotted an 'i' on her paper lightly. "Of course I told her that I had no idea but she had no chance of getting back with Ron now."
"Well, you're right. I'm rid of her."
"I'm not," said Hermione dully, looking up towards the staircase, "she's in my dorm."
"Oh, crap, sorry Hermione." Ron said, wincing. She knew that as soon as she got up there, the dynamics would be even frostier than before.
"You had no idea of the hell I went through, Ronald... she turned vicious and treated me like how the Malfoys treated Dobby."
"I had no idea... I am such a prat..."
"You are. She seemed to think I-" Hermione caught herself before she spilled her secret. Ginny interjected quickly as she smiled and picked up her things, "Don't worry, Hermione, she'll get over it. Dean says Seamus still has his eye on her. That'll sooth her poor little heart soon, I expect." And she headed off up to bed.
They were silent. Hermione suddenly didn't know how to talk to her best friend. "Eventful night, overall... I hope Harry gets that sodding memory." Ron spoke, looking at her for a hint of reassurance. He was obviously more worried than he had let on previously. Hermione hadn't even thought of Harry since he'd left. "Oh, yes! Well, he's very good at this sort of thing. He has good instincts. He'll be fine," she reassured herself, but her face still said she was worrying. Ron nodded and stretched out.
"Hey look, I can do this now without Lavender freaking out!" He said and put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. She smiled and lay her head on his shoulder as they watched the fire dance. "Thanks, Ron."
He kissed the top of her head, which alarmed Hermione. She looked up at him curiously. He had also frozen, completely astounded by his new found confidence. He grinned at her. "Sorry, couldn't help it. I think you and me both need to do a bit of catching up." She smiled back at him. "Let's just take it slowly, shall we?"
"Yes," she said, liking the ambiguity of the conversation, "let's." And she planted a quick peck on his cheek and put her head back on his shoulder.