A/N: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR ABILITIES AND SUCH ALIKE. THEY BELONG TO J.K.ROWLING. I only OWN THE plot.
Please read and review. Enjoy.
HATE-LOVE REBOUND
Chapter One: Mud, and Split Splat Here and There
Date: 07.08.06
Not being able to do magic outside of school irked a lot. It especially irked a lot now seeing as there were another weeks to go before her birthday approached. But she was the brightest witch of the century hence she supposedly had the coolest cool to go along with it. At that particular moment, she wanted to pull at her hair and scream very loudly. Instead she pinched the bridge of her nose and delved back into the book that she was reading. She had, oh so, wanted to practice these charms but sadly she would have to wait for another two weeks.
A hand settled on her shoulder and she jerked back suddenly. "Ronald Weasley, I am not in a good mood right now so you had better have a very good reason for disturbing me," she snapped.
"Hermione Granger," mimicked Ron, "I should have known that you would be reading after you would say hello to your best friends. Tsk tsk. Bad manners. Come and play Quidditch with us. We need a fourth member so we can have two teams."
Hermione was feeling way beyond grouchy and her bushy hair fairly bristled with her feelings of antipathy. Ron backed away slightly because he thought he saw tiny sparks fly off her. Maybe now was not a good time to ask her but then again when would they ask her, after the sun went down?
"Ron, I don't feel the urge to go out and play Quidditch now. So do me a favour and leave me alone for the time being," she fairly growled out.
"O…k then. I guess I'll see you later then," with that, Ron left hurriedly the way he had come. He headed back outside where the others were waiting for him. When they didn't see Hermione follow him out, Harry Potter asked, "I don't see Hermione. What happened?"
"Well, she basically spit fire at me and told me to get the hell out."
"Huh, I wonder why."
"I think it must be one of those days," he said, then blushed a bit when Harry didn't show comprehension immediately, "you know … one of those days."
At the stress he put on 'those' Harry got it and blushed as well. For the same suggestion, Ron got a thwack on the back of his head from his sister, Ginny Weasley.
"Ow … what was that for?"
"You insensitive twit. You didn't make that comment in front of her too, now did you?" asked Ginny pityingly.
"No," said Ron.
"Good, or otherwise she would have thrown you out of the window instead of just telling you to get out of the room. Hmm. I guess I should go and see what's bothering her," Ginny trailed.
"Best of luck to you then. Judging by how she was, I'd say you would be back out her in the next ten minutes," said Ron.
True enough, a disgruntled Ginny came back outside after 10 minutes, feeling like she had just been slapped silly.
"Don't ask," she said, seeing as the boys were about to say something, "and don't gloat either, Ron. Let's go play Quidditch by ourselves."
Harry and Ron looked at each other and then shrugged. They followed Ginny to the homemade Quidditch pitch in the backyard.
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Normally she refrained from swearing but today seemed like a special occasion for it. She didn't know the exact reason why. OK, so she did know the reasons, she just didn't want to dwell on them too much and it was the fact that she did dwell on them that irked her. To make herself feel better, she tugged at her hair and then somehow the dwelling started again.
She was at the window looking out moodily and not noticing the fact that there was a magnificent sunset occurring right before her eyes. Then her eyes caught the movements of three figures flying towards the house. They landed a few yards before the house and got off the broomsticks. It seemed as if all three would head in but then one left the group after wagging his finger at the other two.
The two that remained looked good together, and in the sunset light, the jet-black melded beautifully with the fiery red. They stood next to each other and apparently said nothing for awhile. Then somehow slowly their hands became connected and in the next few moments, they headed behind a tree to make out, it seemed.
At that point, she turned away and went to sit on the bed with a pillow in her hands and sighed long and heavily. She remained there like that until the sun had long gone down.
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"DINNER TIME!!" yelled Ron, after his mother, Molly Weasley, had prodded him. Afraid that no one had heard him, Molly picked up a small gong and banged it a couple of times. Then she waited patiently for her gang of family members to start arriving.
Ron had already been there first, being unable to contain his hunger. He had started putting his hands into the meals she had just cooked so she batted his hands away and realized it was probably time for dinner. Fred and George came down at the same time; they were staying at the Burrow for the weekend, having missed the mother's meals. Then came Harry and Ginny, running in from outside and looking a bit disheveled and faking innocent looks on their faces. Molly secretly smiled. Although she felt a bit concerned for her daughter, she couldn't say she wasn't happy that she was dating Harry, her surrogate son. She then glanced at the Clock and saw that the hand for her husband was moving from work to home. Sure enough, he arrived by the Floo Network and she greeted him with a kiss and told him to go and wash his hands and face.
They all sat down to eat her meals and she hadn't even noticed what it was that was missing until her husband, Arthur, asked, "I suppose Hermione's coming tomorrow instead of today then? I see no sign of her."
Ron, Harry and Ginny looked at each other open-mouthed. Harry said, "Merlin, we completely forgot about Hermione. She's here, Mr. Weasley. I wonder why she didn't hear the gong… I'll go and check on her."
Harry got up from the table and headed towards the stairs. Although Voldemort had been defeated a few months earlier and most of the Death Eaters dead, that didn't mean that there weren't some young wannabes wanting to exact revenge. He fairly flew up the stairs and got ready to break down the door, only to notice it ajar. He pushed the door open and saw it was pitch black. He lit the lantern and let out his breath in a whoosh when he saw her sleeping on the bed.
He approached the bed and shook her gently. "Hermione, get up. It's dinner time. We're all waiting for you downstairs."
Hermione opened her eyes, not liking the fact that she was being disturbed from her slumber where she could at least escape from her 'dwellings'. "What is it now, Harry?"
He repeated, "Hermione, everyone's waiting for you downstairs. It's DINNER time. Come."
"Oh. OK then, I'm coming."
She got up and they both headed downstairs. On reaching the dining room, wanting to show that she still retained some of her courteousness, she said, "Hello, everyone. I'm very sorry for holding you up. I just fell asleep and didn't hear the gong. Please forgive me."
Arthur said, "That's OK, Hermione. Come and eat dinner with us now."
Hermione quickly took a seat that was far from her friends. She really didn't feel like interacting at the moment. But taking a seat far from her friends meant she had sat close to the twins, who if anything were curious about the non-verbal cue.
"Hello, Hermione. Why aren't you sitting with ickle Ronniekins and Harry? Had a tiff?" nosed George.
"No." she said flatly.
But of course, they couldn't leave well alone. "No what?" he asked.
"No, we did not have a tiff. Is that enough elaboration?"
"Nope, not enough for me …," Fred said at the same time George did. Ron had been listening in and now before he wanted to see their backsides get hexed off, he signaled to them. Fred poked George in the side and whispered, "Look, Ron's trying to tell us something."
"Oi, Ron! What is it?" said George loudly.
Ron groaned and hoped his backside wouldn't be hexed off too. Hermione looked at Ron and decided it wasn't worth sitting at the table any longer; better to just go to her room and sleep and brood and dwell and there was that word again.
She abruptly stood up. "Mrs. Weasley, if you will, can you please excuse me from the table? The meal was delicious but I don't have much of an appetite tonight."
"OK dear. You are excused from the table," replied Molly.
Hermione left the room quickly and reached the safe haven of her room. She sat on the bed and stared into space.
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After dinner was over, Harry and Ron settled down to a game of Wizard Chess. Fred and George had gone to a quiet corner in one side of the room, where they were muttering, probably thinking of another product. Ginny was curled up in one of the armchairs reading one of the Muggle romance novels Hermione had brought over. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were still in the living room, talking between themselves over hot cups of tea.
An hour went by, and Harry stood up to stretch his legs. After checking the time and seeing that he wasn't going to be able to beat Ron anytime soon, he said, "Ron, you're going to win this one just like you've won the other two. I think I'm going to talk to Hermione and try and find out what's bothering her. See you guys later."
Ron nodded, wondering how far Harry would reach with Hermione. Harry went into the room and found Hermione sitting on the bed with a pillow clutched in her hands.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Go away, Harry. I'm in no mood to talk," she said.
"Well, I don't feel like going away. I'll just sit here until you feel like talking to me. I remember the times you came to me and got me to open up about my feelings. It's my turn now," he said, as he settled himself on the floor, leaning his back against the bedside.
Another ten minutes went by and Harry was getting bored. He doubted she would notice if he got up silently and went away. Luckily for him, she chose that moment to start talking.
"Thanks, Harry. You're probably the one I should talk to. But all the same, you're also one of the problems."
"Go on. Just talk. Pretend I'm not here."
"Hard to do that when I can see you there," she said wryly.
He made a motion with his fingers, pulling them across his lips, showing that he was quiet for the time while she talked.
"Well, here goes. Everyone says that I'm the brightest witch of the century and I don't why they keep putting all this pressure on me. I know you'll say that I can handle pressure very well and probably could now seeing that Voldemort's gone. But I mean, I am a girl too, are I not? There are some things that I want and yet I know I'll never get them. Ugh. I just feel depressed. I'm not expressing myself very well, am I? Ugh," she said, and at the last part, put her head in her hands.
Harry got up and sat beside Hermione and lifted her head from her hands and looked directly at her face.
"Hermione, I'm not sure I know exactly what you're getting at, but let's start with one thing at a time. For instance, you said that I'm one of the problems. How's that?"
"Umm … you're not exactly a problem. But," she let out a whoosh, "here goes. I look at you and Ginny and I wish I could have something like that. But I can't. Why not? Because I'm a nerd, a bookworm, I'm ugly and so no boy will probably ever be interested in me…"
"Hermione, I'm surprised at you. Since when did you get this inferiority complex going on?"
"I don't know. But dismissing my inferiority problems here, I meant what I said by saying that I want something like you and Ginny. Where I live, I see my Muggle friends with their boyfriends and enjoying themselves and I want some of that. But how can I, being the person that I am?"
"Maybe I'm not suited for this. Ginny would probably be the better person to talk to. But Hermione, still, you are one of the most beautiful people I know. Not just on the outside but on the inside too. If no one knows you for whom you are, then I think you're better off. I feel lucky in knowing you… But wait, what about Ron?"
"What do you mean 'what about Ron'?"
"You know what I mean," he said a bit impatiently, "everyone including me thought you and Ron had feelings for each other. What happened?"
"Oh," she said, taken aback, was it that obvious?, "well, umm, I don't think I actually ever had real feelings for him. At least not like that. I realized in the last two months and when we were fighting Voldemort that I considered Ron to be one of my best friends and not someone I would fall in love with and live with. He's not the guy I think I want for me. It was more like puppy love, I think, to make up for the lack of crushes at school."
"OK then, that part's cleared up. However, have you actually talked to Ron about this? Because if you haven't, he might think that you still like him," he said.
"No," she said slowly, "no, I haven't talked to him. I guess I should. I will, tomorrow."
"Next thing now, is there some guy you actually like like now? Could that be the reason you're so moody?"
"No, I only wish," she said glumly, "even if there was one, what guy would even want to look at me?"
"Ok, that's enough of your whining. You're not acting like the Hermione we all know. Is there anything else?" he said sternly.
"Since I'm whining, I might as well end this conversation by whining. My birthday's two weeks away and that's too far awaaaaaaayyyyyyyy," she wailed.
"And why is that a problem?" he asked, baffled.
"Because," she said slowly as if she were talking to a toddler, "because, dear Harry, I will be turning 17 and then I will be able to do magic. Until then I am stuck here wanting to actually perform these charms and cannot seeing as I'm not 17 yet. Now, do you understand?"
Harry started laughing. "Now that's more like the Hermione we know. One of the problems had to be related to schoolwork. Dear Merlin, I hope that part of you never changes," he said playfully.
Hermione just scrunched up her face and moved away from him. "Humph," was the muffled reply after she made herself lie on the bed. Harry just laughed even more and as he went out of the room, he said, "Good night, Hermione. I hope that helped. It's not good to bottle things up, you know. You said so yourself. I hope you dream of the guy who'll like you the way you want him to. Sweet dreams."
"Huh," she said in a miffed tone. But she did feel a lot better so she owed Harry her gratitude for that. And who knew? Maybe she would have a dream of the guy that she wanted………
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A/N: … Well? What do you think of my story so far? Please read and review, guys. I want to know what you think of my story. Whether it be bad or good, or long or short, let me know, please. Just press the button that says Submit and give me that review I oh so dearly need ………
:: Nandini709 ::