Out of the Comfort Zone

As much as I love the characters, I cannot call them my own, EVER, because they all belong to the wonderful woman who created them, JK Rowling. This world was created by her and belongs to her in every way. The plot and story line was created by moi, though.

Chapter one: Pudding

She was sitting on a big fluffy couch in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. It was late, very late, and no one was up. Except her of course. On her lap was a large portion of pudding, which she was slowly eating. How could he do such a thing? I thought we were in love… And then he tells me he's not in love with me anymore? What did I do wrong? It must be me, I was too…too…too nothing! I was too involved in studying and he must have got bored. One thing's for sure though—I will not, most certainly, go beg. I'll be miserable by myself, but tomorrow, he'll see. I'm just as well without him.

I hope…Oh, Merlin.

Just then she heard the creak of someone coming down the steps from the girls' dormitories. Whoever it was, she didn't want them to see her like this! She was in her old pajamas and had, somehow, stained her shirt with pudding. Her hair was like a bird's nest, utterly tangled that would take at least half an hour to brush out. She decided to hide, but it was too late, as a girl with flaming red hair emerged from the stairway, giving her a mingled look of worry and confusion.

"Hermione, what are you doing up so late? No wonder…I knew I'd heard someone walk by!" Ginny Weasley said to a very startled Hermione.

"You'd be a good prefect," she noted, hoping Ginny didn't notice her puffy, red eyes.

Ginny pursed her lips at Hermione's comment, and crossed her arms, "No, I'm just a good trouble maker. What are you doing down here?" she demanded.

"I…I…I just wanted to think about some things and I was cold in my room so I came down to sit by the fire."

"Oh, yes, pudding always makes me feel warm," Ginny replied dryly.

"Yes!" Hermione exclaimed. She didn't want to talk to Ginny right now, after what Ron, her brother, just did to her.

"I don't believe you. You know you can trust me, so what's happened? Why are you sulking down here? I thought you were staying out with Ron tonight, in the Room of Requirement, to talk?"

"We were…we did. He wanted to talk so…we did."

Ginny nodded patiently, "And did something happen?"

"He…he…" Hermione stuttered and then finally burst out crying. "He wanted to break up!"

"What? But…did he say why?"

Hermione didn't reply straight away, her throat clenched tightly as she heaved quiet sobs. Tears ran down her cheeks, cold and unforgiving, the pain welling up inside her. Finally when she calmed down enough to speak coherently, she mumbled, "He said he didn't love me any more…"

"But he told me just the other day that he was so happy with the woman he was with…I just presumed he meant you, but oh my! Maybe he meant something else! Oh 'Mione, you cry as much as you want! Ron's a prat for leaving you! I'll get Fred and George onto him for you if you want?" Hermione just kept crying, wondering if, perhaps, this was all a bad dream and Ron really hadn't broken up with her.

She doubted it.

Ginny noted that the pudding—aside from looking quite edible—was in danger of falling from Hermione's lap, so she took the plate into her hands and placed it on a table nearby, "And enough junk food. You're not the kind that would break down like this, 'Mione. You're strong, and you know better."

After a while of stony silence, Hermione reached over to the table and began eating the pudding again, slowly chewing it, trying to lose herself in its flavor. She stared blankly into the flames, not really seeing anything, her mind lost in other things. When Hermione finished eating, Ginny was still there, wide awake by now, and ready to hear anything that her friend might want to say. For a while they just sat there, not quite knowing how to break the silence. Ginny, deciding that Hermione was upset and needed her to help her talk things through, finally sighed and decided to improvise.

"You didn't leave me any pudding," she said with a joking voice, but all sincerity in her eyes. Hermione laughed weakly, which, judging by the circumstances, was a vast improvement. Ginny, however, wouldn't give up, and fixed Hermione with a firm stare.

"Ron is a stupid git, Hermione, and obviously doesn't know how much he is going to miss you. But he'll put two and two together eventually and figure it out, and when he does, you are not going to take him back because he doesn't deserve it. He's my brother and I love him, but what he did is inexcusable. You, of all people, Hermione, are dignified, strong, and poised, and you won't ever let anyone push you around like that. There is nothing wrong with you, and Ron is a prat if he thinks otherwise. Don't let a stupid breakup get the better of you, because you…you are just as well without him."

Hermione shrugged quietly, smiling now, "Thanks, Gin. I still want to be friends with him, though…eventually. I won't beg, but I won't throw away our friendship because of this.

"That's good! That shows you are mature enough to deal with this. You show him, 'Mione."

"I will. He'll regret breaking up with me. I'll be cool, composed, and perfectly civil. He won't know what hit him."

"Yeah, that's the spirit! Now…it's three in the morning. Class tomorrow, you know."

This seemed to bring Hermione back, "Oh, Merlin, you're right! I have Potions first thing…bollocks, I can't go to class half asleep!"

Ginny smiled, "Let's go to bed, then."

As Hermione and Ginny ascended the steps to the girls' dormitories, Hermione realized that Ginny was more boy-wise than she was. It must be because she started dating before I did. I mean she was interested in guys since she was in second year, and started going out with them in fifth year! I must have been a slow developer, since I only realized that I liked Ron at the end of sixth year, and started going out with him during the holidays before seventh year.

No thinking about Ron, Hermione. You are perfectly cool and composed. You can do this. Screw Ron. If he thinks I'll go bawling to him in the morning…oh, the nerve, honestly! As if I'm the kind of person to do that. He'll see…

Just then Ginny interrupted her thoughts to say that this was her dorm, and good night. Hermione kept going up the stairs to the next level, where her room was that she shared with four other seventh year girls. As she entered the circular room and went over to her four-poster bed, Lavender, who was a very light sleeper, awoke.

"Hermione, where have you been?" she asked groggily. When Hermione turned to face her, she suddenly realized that it was still obvious that she'd been crying. Lavender furrowed her brow for a moment, before crawling out of her four-poster bed to come and hug Hermione, even though they weren't very good friends. The thing of it was, she looked thoroughly depressed about something, and odds were, it was about Ron. What else would Hermione Granger cry about in the middle of the night?

Hermione pulled the golden drapes of her bed back, and got under the golden covers of her bed. Before she slept, she mused at whether the other houses had their colors as bed spreads. All of a sudden, she could just imagine Draco Malfoy, Harry's nemesis, asleep under jade green sheets with the same color hangings coming down from his bedposts. As she drifted off, she frowned at herself, wondering why he would come to mind, of all people.

But she knew no more as she submerged herself in her dreams.