The party was a disaster. Within seconds of their meeting at the entrance hall to proceed to Slughorn's office, his hands were everywhere. God, why am I doing this? Hermione thought. At the party, she carried around a plate of food with her all night just hoping it would be a good enough deterrent to Cormac's tentacles. It didn't stop him from wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and burying his face in her neck whenever -any chance she had to leave this party with her dignity was already gone. Harry noticed her hiding behind the curtain at the party but before she could ask him for advice or engage him in a plan for a full escape, Cormac was on her trail again and she had to leave Harry to stall him if only for a minute, so she could slip into the bathroom.
"I will just say I'm not feeling well and wish to go back to the dormitory." she said determinedly and aloud facing the mirror. She would suggest that he stay on at the party and hoped that he would - but knew better. He would want to walk her back to Gryffindor Tower to make his final moves.
Ron was half paying attention as his game of chess with Seamus ended when he glanced up at the clock in the common room. It was 9:15pm - the party started over an hour ago and he thought they surely must be there by now. He didn't see them leave together, which would have sent him over the edge. But he did notice Hermione leave on her own and he was struck dumb with how lovely she looked for the party. Beyond lovely really-beautiful. He let himself gaze awkwardly only for a few seconds but was quickly jerked back to reality by the heart-sinking thought that came next... she wants to look good for him. He was then pounced by his girlfriend, Lavender, and she took his hand and began to squawk at him something about the lines of their palms being in sync ... god she was boring.
"I need to be gone for a bit this evening. I told Hagrid I would do something for him tonight." he said abruptly, pulling his hand away quickly as if on fire. "I probably won't be back until late so you should just not wait up for me." She looked put out and confused but didn't argue or ask questions. He quickly walked through the portrait hole into the corridor. I just need to get out of there, thought Ron, just go sit and be away from her for a bit. They had been together now over a week, but the intensity was just too much for Ron. Sure the kissing was great at first, but she was often coming up and catching him off his guard with an aggressive kiss that was just-well kind of mental. For the first couple of days, he let himself get caught up in it; this was the first girl who had ever paid him this kind of attention.
Looking back on the week's events though, he wasn't sure if it was all worth it. Hermione was not speaking to him since he started up with Lavender. Hermione not speaking to him was worse than Hermione angry with him. At least with her anger, he knew he still had a way in. This was tougher. His response was to be mean to her-which made things go from bad to worse. The day after she, and everyone else, witnessed Ron and Lavender's first kiss, she approached him to ask about his intentions to go to Slughorn's party with her, he was with Lavender and Hermione's voice was small, but business-like, "Ron, I just want to know if you still plan to attend Slughorn's party with me on Saturday. I need to just...er...make sure I am...properly prepared if your plans have changed." As she spoke she looked down at her hands and he could clearly see a look on her face that he had hardly seen on her face before-was it hurt? Before he could answer, Lavender burst into a fit of giggles, as did Pavarti, they both heard her inquiry to Ron and couldn't help but take the opportunity to poke fun. "You're not seriously going to ask my boyfriend to go out on a date with you, and right in front of me? Are you mental!?" Lavender spurted. Ron noted that a typical response from Hermione would be a witty retort, but instead her eyes met his, searchingly, and when he offered nothing as a response, she walked away. "Ron, I seriously don't know how you have been friends with her for so long-she is so stuffy!" Pavarti exclaimed. "Yes and how on earth she ever got Victor Krum to take her to the Yule Ball is a mystery that will never be solved!" remarked Lavender. At the mention of Krum's name, Ron's anger was flamed again. He was struck by how the thought of Hermione with Krum, Hermione kissing Krum, made him want to punch something. Instead, he grabbed Lavender and pulled her in for more kissing trying to distract himself from that maddening thought. It didn't really work.
Later in the week he made a very terrible decision to poke fun of Hermione in front of the entire Potions class - much to the delight of Lavender and her friends. She again showed that unfamiliar look of hurt but it was more than that-she looked devastated. She fled from class so quickly that she even left her bag and books behind. Harry gave Ron a scathing look and then grabbed her things to follow her out. Later at dinner, she didn't come down, Harry's reproach was harsh, "That was cruel you know, it is one thing to poke fun at her when it is just the three of us, but you really needn't work so hard to destroy her like that." Ron's guilt and shame was like a hot boulder in his stomach, he responded with his own harsh tone, "Destroy her? What the bloody hell are you talking about?! She is the one who hasn't treated me decent all week! And did you forget about her bird attack! Yesterday I tried to ask her about her history essay and she flat out ignored me!" Harry's was quick with the response, "Come off it! You are punishing her for something that may, or may not, have happened two years ago!" Ron was speechless. Just then, Lavender grabbed Ron around the neck and began giggling in his ear. "Oh hi Harry!" she said looking up as if to notice he was just there. "Where's your little friend Hermione this evening-library?" Harry glared at Ron - who looked embarrassed of himself - and took his plate down to sit with Seamus, Dean and Ginny.
As she left the party with Cormac, Hermione gave Harry one last wave and look of desperation. He was not obliged to help her because he felt she was wrong to bring Cormac. She knew Cormac would annoy Ron the most and Harry called her out on that. "Serves you right!" he said to her when she explained her frustration with Cormac's behaviors. The corridor from Slughorn's office to main hall was quite long. "You know, these little nooks along the corridor look very cozy." said Cormac as he grabbed her hand, "Maybe we could just spend some alone time here and get to know each other a little better here before we go back to the common room?" But she was desperate to get to the common room, where she knew he would be unlikely to continue his pursuits with others around, it was early enough that most of the Gryffindors were probably still awake.
"Oh, I am quite tired Cormac. I think we should just call it a night." she responded, pulling her hand away.
He persisted, walked a couple of steps ahead of her and turned to face her, walking backward, "Come on Granger, you can't tell me you haven't been wondering what it would be like to kiss me." he said with a smug and wide smile on his face.
What did he just say!? She stopped walking to keep herself from laughing out loud. "I mean, you asked me to this party so we could get to know each other better, right?" He then stepped closer to her and pulled her in by putting his hands around her waist. She was too stunned by his arrogance to respond verbally, she pulled away, but pulled herself right into one of the cozy little nooks. He then positioned himself in such a way within the nook to block her from escaping.
"Seriously Granger, you're going to put me on like this?" he smugly asked.
"No one is putting you on Cormac, please let me by."
Her face was stern as was her voice, she was trying not to get too angry with him because she felt deep in her heart that by asking him to come with her tonight, and knowing how he felt about her, she was in some way-putting him on. He put his arms down by his side then, giving her space to slide by on either side of him, but when she moved left, he moved that way, when she moved right, he did the same-smiling that smug smile the whole time.
"Really Cormac?" she asked in frustration.
His next move was to grab her again by the waist with both hands and pull her into him, "You look really pretty tonight." he said softly, "I don't think it would be fair to call it a night until I get a goodnight kiss." She tried to pull back from him but he held on tight. "Let go of me." she said calmly as he bent forward leaning in to kiss her neck. "I said let go of me Cormac..." she struggled with him, but he was clearly strong enough to maintain her there. "Not so tough without your wand are you?" he said to her. Within a second, his hands were groping her up and down the front and she even felt his hand moving up her skirt on her thigh. "No Cormac, please let me go..." she uttered.
Just as she gained enough sense to do the sensible thing-scream, a force pulled Cormac off of her and across the floor of the corridor. Cormac lay face down on the marble floor for a second before turning to see Ron standing squarely between Hermione and himself. Ron's face was as flaming red as his hair and he looked as if he might explode. "Don't you ever touch her again or I'll kill you!" he cried out to Cormac, in a fierce but somewhat cracked tone. He then turned and took Hermione's hand and pulled her down the corridor toward the entrance hall.
As they raced down the hall, Hermione taking two steps to Ron's one, he pulled her along by holding onto her hand, tightly. "Ron, please, you're squeezing my hand too tight." she said. He slowed down, "Oh, sorry." he said and gently released her hand. They continued a quick pace with Ron in the lead as they headed up the stairs to the tower, but Ron slowed his pace a little and then came to a full stop around the midway point of the stairs. He turned around to face her "Are you okay?" he asked. She couldn't look him in eye, "Umm, fine. I'm fine now." But she didn't look fine, she looked as if she might start to cry any second and he knew she hated to have him see her so helpless and vulnerable. He noticed that the strap of her dress was undone and falling off her shoulder, which made her look even more vulnerable. God she is beautiful, he thought. Then tears were falling down her face and he knew she couldn't control it. "Oh Ron I am so sorry for that!" she cried and dropped herself to sit on the stairs, her fluffy pink skirt surrounded her like a cloud. Head buried in her knees, she cried and muffled something that sounded like "sorry" again. He was confused, "Why are you apologizing?" he asked, "Cormac is the git who should be apologizing!" he said through gritted teeth. His face was still flaming and he felt as if he would indeed kill Cormac if he saw him again tonight. But then Hermione spoke, "I know he is absolutely vile, but I should have never asked him to come with me. I knew it was a bad idea from the start. But I didn't think he would go that far." she sniffed but kept her head in her knees as she spoke. "It's not your fault Hermione." he said with sincerity but also with a little guilt as he sat down next to her. If he had kept his word to attend the party with her, none of this would have happened. She continued to speak with her head buried, through muffled voice, "But I am sorry for the way things have been between us for the past week. I have been just awful to you Ron and inviting Cormac to the party just because I knew it would annoy you..." she let her words turn into small sobs. Ron felt a bit confused about the last thing she said. Why would she want to annoy Ron by bringing Cormac? He sat down next to her and said softly, "I haven't exactly been a saint to you either you know." At this she raised her head and stared straight ahead, "I just want things to go back to how they were before, I want to be friends again. You, me and Harry." She sniffed quietly and went on, "I accept that you have a girlfriend and I know I need to learn to live with that." She turned to look at him, "I will learn to live with it because I can't lose you as a friend. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He was not exactly sure he did fully understand what she was saying as he found himself lost in her eyes, which were tearful and bright-they were beautiful.
"Ron, I promise I will be a better friend to you, and I can make an effort to get along with Lavender as well if that means we can be friends again." He found his way back to her words but was unable to comprehend the meaning behind them. He was so unsure of what he should say, he said nothing at all. "Does that sound like a deal?" she asked, to which he nodded yes. "Good." she said with a small smile. She gathered her skirt around her and stood on the marble steps. He looked up at her as she held out her hand with a smile, her eyes were watery but bright, "Truce?" she asked waiting for him to shake. Ron took her hand and held it as he stood; their eyes were locked in something very intense, very different for both. He knew he had never looked at her in this way before and he could see the effect it had on her. He had so many questions about what happened and what she had said, where to start? But instead of asking them he just pulled her hand to him and kissed it gently, like a gentleman, all the while maintaining her eyes with his. To this act, she felt as if her heart would beat right out through her chest, and Ron could see the red heat rising from her chest to her neck. He imagined he himself was bloody purple by now. "You should go on up to bed now, before Cormac shows his face." he said to her. She nodded, speechless from the hand kiss. "Goodnight Hermione." he said, "Good night Ron, and thank you." and then she climbed through the portrait hole into the common room.
Ron stood on the marble steps for a full minute trying to digest it all. His anger at Cormac was still overwhelming him. He knew when he left Lavender in the common room earlier that evening that his intention was to spy on the party goers-spy on Hermione and Cormac. He found a quiet spot along the corridor and was damn glad he had decided to be jealous prat tonight. What in blazes would have happened if he didn't show up tonight? Cormac was sadly mistaken if he thought this was over.
Then there was Hermione. God she was beautiful tonight. She always was in his eyes but tonight, she was really something. What did she say about taking Cormac to annoy him? Why would she do that? What was that business about "learning to live" with Ron having a girlfriend? He had no idea how to interpret any of that part of the conversation. What he did understand fully, was that she wanted to be friends again. To this, he was elated. He enjoyed rowing with her now and then but this past week had been miserable. He missed his friend, and he missed the three of them together too. He wished he would have told her that he was sorry for all the mean things he did to her this past week. He wished he would have told her that he was so sorry for not going to Slughorn's party with her and driving her to take that git, Cormac. He had a lot of regrets over the past week. But he felt good about one thing he did - kissing her hand had been brilliant. Watching her reaction had been bloody brilliant. He couldn't help but smile when he thought about it. He felt tired and his head was swimming. He wanted to head up to the dormitory and go to bed and think about Hermione, but he didn't want to run into Lavender again tonight.
Lavender! Bloody hell, he had a girlfriend.
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