THE TRUTH COMES OUT
He darted foreword, sidestepped Romilda Vane again, and pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. The corridor outside seemed to be deserted.
"Hermione?"
He found her in the first unlocked classroom he tried. She was sitting on the teachers desk, alone except for a small ring of twittering yellow birds circling her head, which she had clearly just conjured out of midair. Harry could not help admiring her spellwork at a time like this.
"Oh, hello, Harry," she said in a brittle voice. "I was just practicing."
"Yeah…they're—er—really good…" said Harry.
He had no idea what to say to her. He was just wondering that she had not noticed Ron, that she merely left the room because the party was a little too rowdy, when she said in an unnaturally high-pitched voice, "Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations."
"Er…does he?" said Harry.
"Don't pretend you didn't see him," said Hermione. "He wasn't exactly hiding it was--?"
The door behind them burst open. To Harry's horror, Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand.
"Oh," he said, drawing up short at the sight of Harry and Hermione.
"Oops!" said Lavender, and she backed out of the room, giggling. The door swung shut behind her.
There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her, but said with an odd mixture of bravado and awkwardness, "Hi, Harry! Wondered where you'd got to!"
Hermione slid off the desk. The little flock of golden birds continued to twitter in circles around her head so that she looked like a strange, feathery model of the solar system.
"You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside," she said quietly."She'll wonder where you've gone."
She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door. Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking relieved that nothing worse had happened.
"Oppugno!" came a shriek from the doorway.
Harry spun around to see Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild: The little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.
"Gerremoffme!" he yelled, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wretched open the door and disappeared through it. Harry thought he heard a sob before it slammed.
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Page 301-302)
The classroom was entirely quiet now, except for Ron's struggling with the golden birds. Harry stood there ignoring him completely. He was too shocked at how apathetic Ron acted towards Hermione. It wasn't like him to treat her so poorly. Harry shook his head in disbelief at what had happened. He now believed Ron, his best friend, was just a stupid git.
"Arg!"
Harry suddenly came to his senses. He turned his head to see Ron still struggling with the conjured birds. In the blink of an eye his wand was raised.
"Finite Incantatem!"
The birds disappeared into thin air. Ron was breathing quickly and heavily.
"Thanks" Ron said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Can you believe her!" he said looking to the door where Hermione just exited. "Why that little--!"
"Oh, shut it, Ron!" Harry interjected.
He turned to face him, slightly enraged. "Don't play stupid!" he spat out. "You know perfectly well why she did that!"
Ron looked bewildered and annoyed. "No, not really," he said indifferently.
Harry shook his head and laughed. "Oh come on, Ron! It's because of the way you're acting! Look at you," Harry said, pointing a finger at him. "You've turned into this stuck up little git!"
Ron shook his head disapprovingly.
"What are you talking about Harry? I haven't done anything like that!" he said, throwing his hands in the air.
"She's just jealous that I fancy Lavender and not her is all!" Ron laughed to himself. "And she has to go off and jinx me for it!"
Harry grimaced at his friend.
"What?" asked Ron, looking at him.
"Who are you?" asked Harry seriously. "You're obviously not the Ron Weasly I met six years ago. You sound like more like Malfoy!
Ron looked insulted by this remark. "And you sound like Hermione!" Ron yelled. "Always thinking too much over the littlest things and never coming to the right conclusions!"
Harry grew angrier at the mention of his best friends name.
"And what did she ever do to you, Ron!" said Harry, his arms resting on his hips. "Aside from what just happened! Tell me!"
"Well—er…" Ron began, but was at a loss for words.
"Exactly!" exclaimed Harry. "All I think she ever did was fancy you."
Ron looked slightly displeased with this fact. "And she thought maybe," Harry emphasized, "Just maybe you might share some feelings for her in return! But no! You just have to go off and snog Lavender Brown!"
Ron frowned. "Now why on Earth would I fancy Hermione?" Ron asked. "Why would I waste my time with a girl like her?"
"Oh my God!" Harry tuned away from him, ashamed.
Harry's head was racing now. What was Ron thinking? He always knew Ron fancied Hermione from a far. But now he seemed too stupid to even admit anything. He wouldn't be wasting his time with Hermione.
Suddenly, Harry spun around, and the words left his mouth before he realized it.
"Ron, Hermione's BEAUTIFUL!"
Ron laughed at this but Harry was far from amused. "Can't you see it! SHE'S GORGEOUS! LOOK AT HER!" Harry bellowed, tossing his hands into the air. "look how much she's changed over the years! She's nice! She's smart! She's funny! She's fun to be with! And you may have not noticed," said Harry, slapping his palm against his forehead, "She just happens to be our best friend!"
"Your best friend." Ron replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Oh, don't give me that!" Harry yelled. "She cares as much about you as she does me! You've got this great girl right in front of you, and you can't even see it!"
Ron's expression became stern. "Well—why don't you go out with her if you think she's so great!"
"Maybe I will!" retorted Harry. "Because unlike you, I care about her! And I enjoy being with her!"
Ron was becoming very angry at these words.
"You just had to choose the easy ones that don't give a damn as to what you think about them!"
At this, Ron pulled out his wand and pointed it strait at Harry.
"Alright! Enough about me and my choices!"
Harry stood there as if nothing had occurred.
"I'm sick of you, Harry! You're just like everybody else. Showing me how I could be living. Telling me what I should be," said Ron. He leered at Harry's green eyes and laughed slightly.
" 'Famous Harry Potter, what a load of rubbish!"
Harry took a few steps forward. "You gonna curse me?" Harry said his eyes directly at Ron. "If you're gonna do it then just bloody do it!"
Ron's hand began to tremble as he gripped his wand. Harry walked up so close to his wand that it was poking directly at his chest.
"Go ahead…"
"You think I'm afraid?"
Harry grinned, "Are you?"
Ron scowled and shook his head. "You stupid git…"
Harry's grin faded.
"Do it…" Harry said slowly.
Silence filled the room. Ron took a deep breath. The two stared at each other. Ron's wand was digging into Harry's chest, but he didn't move one bit.
Then suddenly-
"Stupe--!"
Ron began to speak, but Harry was quicker. In the blink of an eye, he jerked his hand up and flung Ron's wand aside, and with the other he brought into a fist and struck it across his face. He punched him fast and hard. Ron was on the floor, his hand on his jaw. Harry looked down at him, saddened. He just hit his best friend.
"All of this just because of that stupid girl," Ron said quietly but sternly.
Harry said nothing, but thought a million things. He did in fact, punch Ron because of Hermione.
Harry turned away and walked to the door. He put his hand on the door knob and before he opened the door, he turned to Ron, still on the floor.
"I'm sorry," said Harry sincerely.
With that, he opened the door slowly. But then as the door creaked open, Harry saw a familiar pair of light brown eyes.
"Hermione?"
She heard everything. The eyes then disappeared from view. Harry quickly opened the door and raced outside in search of Hermione.
He turned his head and saw a head of bushy brown hair turning a corner.
"Hermione!" Harry called. "Hermione, Come back!"
He could hear her sob as she ran down a flight of stairs. He stood there, his bushy haired friend darting away from him, as a realization came over him. He finally knew how he truly felt about Hermione. And whether he wanted her to or not, she knew too.