Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I just twist the characters as I please.

Master Plan

Many things would describe the great Harry Potter, but love was not one of them.

Most of the time the emerald-eyed boy found himself helplessly numb in the area of dating. How the hell did all that work? He didn't know, but he was sick of being the only geek who was dumb enough to not be able to get a girlfriend. He was the boy who lived for Merlin's sake! Even Ron had his own girl!

"Harry! Wake up! You're going to make that blow!" a quick hand flew towards the back of the boy's head, harshly smacking him. He reacted and got himself off his lame attempts at gaining courage to ask a girl out, and instead turned his attention towards his already boiling potion.

"Bloody hell, Harry. That even hurt me," said the boy sitting next to him, slowly rubbing his own head as if the smack was actually given to him and not Harry.

"It didn't hurt, Ron. She's right anyway"

"Whatever you say, mate. Just let me tell you something" he said as he approached Harry's ear "I've been mistreated too" whispered Ron, deeply wishing for Hermione to not have heard.

Hermione turned her head towards the pair slightly, eyeing Ron with a disdainful look on her face. Ron turned his back on her, deciding to ignore the fact that he had in fact seen Hermione cursed and threaten him with her dangerous eyesight. Harry rolled his eyes, then proceed to keep his focus on his potion-or what was left of it-heaven knew he did not want to spend his free-period in company of Snape.

Several minutes went by in the cold potions classroom, where students struggled to keep their potions from evaporating into the air and having Snape punishing them into spending their free-periods with him re-doing the potion until it turned out right. Of course everyone worried, except one certain witch with frizzy brown hair. The air of confidence she irradiated was enough to let anyone within a mile of distance know she made no mistakes. She knew the potion's ingredients by heart and knew just as well how to make it. She was not called the brightest witch her age for nothing.

"Granger, your potion's as pathetic as your face!" a blond Slytherin shoot at her, laughing at his own apparently good joke. "I do believe you know it's supposed to be pink, am I right?" another roar of laughter filled the room.

Hermione didn't bother to turn around; instead, she tried her hardest to keep her potion from boiling. The boy kept shooting mocks at the clever witch, who really kept ignoring them.

"That is enough, Mr. Malfoy" said Snape rather uninterested. It was obvious he held some sort of favouritism towards Draco Malfoy. "Class dismissed," he said softly but firmly.

The quiet room was soon filled with chair noises and closing books, a few laughs and maybe even coughs from potions eventually wrong-made.

Harry sighed heavily while he carefully packed his belongings.

"I'll catch up with you later, Luna's waiting for me" Ron said patting Harry's back and rushing out of the room. Luna and Ron had just recently started dating. Maybe they were not precisely voted as "most likely to end up together" but they fitted together in some twisted, odd way. Hermione did not seem the least pleased, but Harry hoped she would someday come to terms with it.

"So, wanna go to the lake, Herms?" he said as he hung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Can't. I have work to do," she said as she packed her belongings. "Sorry, Harry. Maybe next time" she said now looking at him. She kissed his cheek before dashing out of the Potion's classroom.

And so Harry stood alone, one hand coming to rest on his burning cheek. He had always been in love with Hermione, but he had already accepted the fact that she saw him as nothing more than just a brother. His face dropped as his heart died a little bit more.
Sighing once more, he left the Potion's room at a rather slow pace, his mind wondering just why love was so complicated; he loved Hermione, who loved Ron, who loved Luna. Neither him nor Hermione were happy. She was heartbroken, and he was just torn apart.

"We should just date and be done with it!" he thought, allowing himself to hope for just a little while. "What does Ron have that I don't'? I am pretty sure I am more of a talk among girls. Bah! This is useless. She loves him, I'm just a friend." And once again, something inside him died a bit more.