Hermione was surprised to feel a tear fall from her eye and down her cheek as she gazed at her left hand. Professor Umbridge had forced them all to write "I must follow rules." with her "special" quill and there upon her left hand were the words she had just written, only they were actually carved into her skin.
She'd known for a while now that Umbridge had been using the blood quill as punishment and was expecting to face it at some point, but she was sure she'd be able to handle it and take the pain.
It was only until Hermione had entered the great hall with the rest of her friends that she found her heart thumping and the moment the quill hit the page she felt one of the worst pains she'd ever felt in her life.
For the first few minutes the great hall was filled with piercing screams and pain filled moans but the noise soon died down until Hermione could only hear a few deep breaths and some shuffling about in chairs. She was shocked at how silent it had become and assumed everyone had just got used to it after that point.
They were subjected to half an hour of writing the same line over and over again
"Enough time for it to sink in." Were the words Umbridge announced sitting in Dumbledore's chair.
"How dare she sit there?" Hermione thought as she wrote trying to ignore the sharp cutting pain coming from her left hand. Harry was sat in front of her and Ron behind.
Hermione could hear Ron's heavy breathing behind her, She found herself stop writing and just listening to him breathe, She wondered if it was hurting him as much as it was her. He had looked confident, down the stairs through the corridor in front of his friends but Hermione knew Ron was just as worried as everyone else, maybe even more because he didn't seem to deal very well with pain.
"Miss Granger." A high-pitched voice came from the front of the hall "Is there some reason you have ceased?" The voice asked. Hermione picked up the quill and continued with her lines, her face going red as she did so. She could feel dozens of pairs of eyes looking straight at her, She bent her head lower and began the torture once more.
After the half an hour was up students were told
"You may leave now" Fred and George both let out a sarcastic
"Yay". The students shot up and began to get out as fast as they could practically falling over each other as they did so.
Hermione on the other hand got up slowly trying to walk out with some sort of dignity, to try and make it look like it hadn't bothered her. She looked for her two friends, Ron was nowhere to be seen, Harry also rushed out Hermione tried to catch him on but then she saw him walk away from Cho.
It was Cho would had exposed them in the room of requirement and everyone hated her for it, there were many harsh words thrown at her as she walked by, She tried to speak to her old friends but none of them would listen to her.
Hermione knew that Cho wasn't the type to just "snitch" and there had to be a reason, Something had to have been done to her in order to make her confess Hermione thought, after all it was common news that Umbridge had threated to get Cho's mother sacked from her job at the ministry and she had mentioned this to Cho a few times before.
"You should really try harder Miss Chang after all your mother might not have a job soon the least she deserves is a daughter who does well at school." Umbridge would say in front of the whole class.
Hermione decided to make her way back to her dorm and wait for Harry and Ron there, she was making her way down the corridor when the strap on her bag broke sending it crashing to the ground. Pens, pencils and all sorts of other objects flew out of it and scattered along the floor
"Great" Hermione said to herself she felt her eyes start to water and this agitated her even more. "Fix up Granger." she said to herself and then sighed as she bent pulled out three books from her broken bag set them on the floor and then began picking up her stuff.
"Hey…" A voice said Hermione looked up it was Ron, he bent down and began helping her collect her things.
"Hey." she replied softly not wanting him to see her tear stung eyes, she shoved everything back in her bag and sat down on the bench opposite taking the hardback books with her. Ron picked up her bag from the ground.
"No wonder it's broken, the amount of stuff you carry, It's crazy, all these books?" Hermione rolled her eyes as he sat down next to her on the bench.
"Well I actually plan on passing my O.W.L.S this year Ronald" she said, Ron sat back on the bench. his legs stretched as if was making himself comfortable. "We're barley learning anything these days so I've taken to teaching myself." She said and put the books down between her and Ron unintentionally closing the space in between them. Ron looked down at where she placed them thinking Hermione was trying to keep him away at arm's length. He didn't know why but this irritated him a little, bit he sat up straight and looked at Hermione.
"Hermione are you crying?" He said with a surprised look on his face Hermione tutted with disgust
"No!" She said a little too convincingly "I'm just tired that's all with all this extra studying." She watched as Neville and Luna walked past looking down at their own hands and exchanging their feelings she couldn't help feel responsible as they carried on walking down the corridor, Cho was now at the end of the corridor by the stairs still trying to explain to anyone who walked past and as Neville and Luna walked straight passed she gave up with a sigh and walked away.
"We could study together?" Ron said with a pause "You know if you want." Hermione didn't answer him she didn't even turn her head. He looked at her concerned as she sighed staring straight ahead, he'd known her for almost 5 years and instantly could tell when something was on her mind
"Sorry Ron, What was that?" She turned to look at him.
"Nothing…" He said quickly "Deep in thought as always." He said putting his bag on the floor Hermione nodded. She thought she heard him say the words "together" and "If you want" she was dying to know what he was actually talking about but she knew she'd ignored him now and there was no way he was about to tell her what he said. "Well what were you thinking about then" Ron asked
"I was thinking about Cho…" Hermione said
"Oh right Her" Ron said with a look of disgust on his face wondering why Hermione was wasting her time thinking about that snitch, Hermione caught his expression.
"No Ron I've been thinking, I don't think she meant to do it…" She began "We all know Umbridge has been threatening her mother's job for ages now and maybe this was her way to get Cho to talk, After all she wouldn't want to be the reason her mother lost her job would she?" Ron nodded, what Hermione was saying made sense of course. "Or maybe Umbridge cursed her or used some sort of spell on her" She continued
"Wouldn't put it past her" Ron said "It's not like she's averse to using unconventional punishments and teaching methods is she?" He said raising his hand and looking at it.
"How could she do this? How could she feel nothing? She just sat there smiling the whole time! " Hermione exclaimed, Ron shrugged
"She's evil." he replied looking at her pain stained face
"It's not even like we can do anything?" She said feeling helpless and breathing heavily. Hermione hated this feeling it made her feel like she was out of control. She wasn't one to cry just for any reason like some of the girls in their year but for the first time in a long while she just wanted to burst into tears, Not from the pain which had been rather excruciating but because Dumbledore's army had been found out and disbanded and She knew it was her idea mainly, She felt like she had got everyone in trouble and caused them pain.
"Fred and George said not to worry they have a plan, That's where I went" Ron began "I was waiting for you outside but they came out dragged me round the other side of the corridor to involve me in their master plan." Ron said raising his eyebrows Hermione looked back at him.
"They are going to end up expelled." She breathed, they had been playing prank after prank on Umbridge for weeks now and they only reason they hadn't been expelled was because none of the other teachers seemed to be co-operating with her.
"I don't think they are too bothered about that Hermione…" Ron started "They're talking about running their own business. I told them it wasn't the best idea anyway, I mean Mum is livid with them at the moment." He said and then laughed to himself thinking of someone the jokes his brothers had pulled on in their times he was smiling until a few first year students emerged crying or wincing at their damaged hands.
Ron looked at Hermione who's face became even more miserable he picked up the books she had placed in between her and put them the other side to him he moved up a little closer to her and looked at her face he suddenly felt an aching feeling inside, one that scared him. Ron had noticed that lately he was beginning to care for this girl a lot more then he thought friends were supposed to care for each other. Was he starting to have feelings for this girl? He took a deep breath still watching her. Hermione stopped looking ahead and turned to Ron
"It doesn't hurt that much." She said looking back at him seeing the expression on his face thinking he thought she was being a wimp, he rapidly looked away from her going a shade of red.
"Did she catch me staring?" he thought.
"I just feel so bad Ron" Hermione began "If I hadn't thought we could take on Umbridge and made Harry form the army then maybe it would have spared all this hurt." Hermione carried on "I just-"
"Mione Don't blame yourself, I mean look at all those spells we all learnt in there?" Hermione looked at Ron her eyes still teary "We wouldn't have known any of that if it wasn't for you and Harry, Those spells will come in handy you'll see." She looked away from him unconvinced "Hermione" Ron said sternly "If a war is coming We'll be able to defend ourselves now and that's because of you." Ron moved even closer to Hermione and met her eyes, he then looked down to avoid keeping eye contact for too long as it usually made him nervous also he didn't' want her to think he was staring again. He caught sight of her left hand again it looked so much redder and painful than his, Hermione followed his gaze
"What?" She asked not understanding why he was paying so much attention to her hand when his was practically identical.
"Yours is much more sore…" Ron said picking up her bag from the floor "I suppose it's because your skin is softer." Ron said softly, Hermione blushed and tried to stop herself from smiling she then realised what he was doing.
"Ronald you don't just pick up peoples bags and-" she stopped as he delved into it "Ron!" She shouted, They hadn't argued in ages but she had a feeling they were about to, The way he wasn't listening to her drove her insane there he was just rifling away through her bag with no shame. She rolled her eyes and was just about to snatch her bag from him as he pulled out Murtlap Essence which Hermione had brewed herself just Harry had experienced the Blood Quill for the first time. It was to heal the pain.
"Thought I saw this earlier." He said putting her bag down and taking the lid off the top, Hermione's face softened.
"Well I thought we might need it the way things were going." She said gulping, His leg was touching hers now and they were both very aware of it.
"You were right, as always." Ron smiled he took Hermione's hand with one of his and poured a tiny bit of the essence onto her hand she bit her lip gently not because of any pain but because of his touch. They had been friends for years now even their bickering seemed to had stopped, they rarely ever touched like this yet Hermione wasn't taken aback by what she was feeling, she rather adored the fact that Ron was practically holding her hand. "I love the way you're always prepared Hermione I mean what would we do without you?" Ron asked and he poured more of the mixture onto her hand the pain had practically gone now. Hermione smiled to herself, Ron had been talking this way a lot recently, always saying she was so helpful and one of the nicest girls he's ever met, at first she thought it was just because he wanted her to help him with his homework but she was starting to think he might actually mean it.
"Save some for yourself." she said trying to keep calm as she could now feel Ron's breath on her cheek as he spoke. Ron continued and rubbed it over her wound she could see he was trying to be so gentle he was careful not to make it worse.
"Nah Don't worry." He shrugged "My hands are rough as it is, what's a little scaring gonna do to them?"
"They're not rough." Hermione argued one of his hands was around her left wrist, the other was gently stroking in mixture she had brewed months before and they felt anything but rough.
"There…" Ron said putting the empty vial next to him on top of the books he placed there earlier he still kept hold of her hand, he made out like he was keeping an eye on it but in truth he just didn't want to let go of it. The corridor was empty now, and silent as they sat with each other practically hand in hand. Ron looked down at her hand the words slowly began to change from a dark red colour to a light pink he then looked up at Hermione who's head was now just from his centimetres from his her shoulder was practically resting on his chest her eyes were fixated on his and she could swear she could almost feel his heart beating through his school jumper.
"Thanks Ron." she said thinking he'd move away from her but he didn't move away from her or let go of her hand he just carried on gazing straight into her eyes.
Ron thought for a moment this was the closet he had ever really been to Hermione and he had to admit to himself he liked it he liked it a lot. He thought about what his brothers would have told him to do in this situation and how they would react when he told them he did nothing. He summoned up some of their courage and turned his body so he was facing Hermione better.
"Ron…" she whispered nervously but he moved even closer "Girls and Boys can't be within 8 inches of each other." Hermione reminded him, her heart was now racing faster than ever.
He ignored her not wanting to spoil it with some stupid remark. Ron then bent his head slightly towards hers, Hermione wasn't sure what she was thinking but she moved that little bit closer too and then found her eyes closing. Ron knew this was his chance and if he was going to get rejected then at least he didn't have to look at her when it happened. He gently pushed his lips against hers, his eyes shot closed sure she would pull away and he then he felt it… She was kissing him back!
Hermione Granger was kissing him back and a magnificent feeling rushed through him, it was a feeling that lasted for just one second
Suddenly Hermione and Ron felt an incredible force drag them apart it was Professor Umbridge who was standing in front of them her wand in her hand.
"Well well well" She said Ron and Hermione shot up from their seat red faced "I trust you two don't want yet another detention" She asked looking smugly at the two of them.
"No" Ron said darkly as Hermione picked up her school bag her heart thumping as she picked up the books she had left on the bench as well.
"Miss Granger?" Umbridge asked looking directing at her.
"No Professor" She replied not daring to look at Ron who's heart was beating equally as fast as hers
"Right well off you go to your dormitories then…" She said walking off "And remember." she said turning back at them "8 Inches" She reminded with a flick of her wand.
After walking back in complete silence and without them barley glancing at each other Ron and Hermione were more than pleased to have reached Gryffindor Tower, Hermione gave the password to the fat lady and they entered the common room which was filled with angry Gryffindor's who were all telling their friends their own versions of what detention with Umbridge entailed.
Ron and Hermione stood awkwardly in the door way for a moment not sure what to do or say Hermione gulped and turned to Ron he was looking straight ahead at his brothers who were telling first years not to worry they were planning the ultimate revenge as they spoke.
"I'm going to go and fix my bag." Hermione said to which Ron just nodded and smiled slightly at her as she walked away.
"Ron!" Fred and George shouted "Wait till you hear our next plan for Umbridge, now we know you said it wasn't a good idea earlier and we don't care but we need your help."
"Actually" Ron said cutting them off "I think it's a bloody brilliant idea."
"Excellent!" Fred cried
"Well you've changed your tune." George said
"Let's just say Umbridge just did something to piss me right off." Ron said as he watched the girl he just had his first kiss with disappear into her dormitory.