I just wanted to thank all my reviewers! Honestly, each one made me smile and helped me become determined to update as soon as possible. I hope you like this chapter, it might be the best yet, you can tell if that is so after reading. Enjoy, I write this for you!
I followed Hermione out of the library and stayed a couple feet back, but even if she did turn around she would think nothing of me walking behind her. To her, I was just the biggest git to ever live, and she had reason to think that. I treated her like dirt, she was muggleborn and Potter's friend. It was only natural that I dispise her. But then one day it all changed. Sure, we were a little more civil towards eachother since the war but we definitly weren't buddy-buddy. I'm still confused as to why the way I saw her changed. I just fell in love when I saw her on the platform at King's Cross, laughing with Potter and Weasel.
Speak of the devil, up ahead Hermione had just collided with Weasley. I was so worried that she had hurt herself, that my heart skipped a beat. She seemed fine. Ron tried to talk to her but she shrugged him off. Good, I didn't want him talking to her. From the way the pair of them had acted towards eachother, I could tell Weasel had done something to upset her. I wanted to hurt him for hurting her but then again, if he hadn't they would still be together and I wouldn't have been able to handle that for a whole year.
Hermione was slumped against the wall, her head buried in her crossed arms. I saw that she was crying, her shoulders were shaking. What had Wealsey said to her? My heart ached, all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and tell her that he wasn't worth her tears. However I couldn't do that so I turned around and headed after Weasel face.
His head was hung low and I saw something drop on the floor. Oh Merlin, was he crying too? What a baby.
"Weasley!" I called after him. He lifted his head and spun around. Whack. My fist connected with his nose with a sickening crack. I had punched him, not unlike the way Hermione had hit me in third year.
"What the bloody hell was that for!" Ron said, wiping blood from his face. I was about to respond then I realized that I couldn't tell him the real reason. So I just walked away, hearing Weasley mumble "nutter" to himself.
Satisfied that I had caused Weaselbee at least some pain, I went off the find Hermione again. She had gone from her spot on the floor, so I figured that she had decided to continue on to the owlery. I ran up the steps to catch up, recognizing too late that she could probably hear me thumping up the stairs. When I got to the top, I saw that she had closed the door, damn. After a quick spell, the door looked as if had turned into water, so I could now see and hear Hermione, though she couldn't see or hear me. The school owl I had borrowed fluttered down to give Hermione the letter, I couldn't use my own owl, Onyx, if I wanted my identity to stay a secret. Hermione looked surprised to see the little charm but I could tell that she loved it. Another smile spread across my face just when tears sprung up in Hermione's eyes. She stayed in the owlery for bit just looking at the night sky. I decided that now was a good time to make my escape. While walking to my dormitory, I was lost in thought. Tomorrow was Monday, so we would have classes. Hermione wouldn't be able to search for the next clue until lunch, if she had figured it out by then. It was a hard one. I smiled, each clue was bringing her closer to me.
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I slept wonderfully last night, dreaming about my secret admirer. Even as I ate breakfast, all I could think about was him. I searched every face, hoping to see a hint. I didn't find one. Just as I gave up, Harry and Ron sat down across from me. Ron's nose was awfully bruised I noted with a tiny hint of satisfaction.
"Good morning," I greeted the pair. They both nodded to acknowledge my words. "What happened to your face Ronald?" I inquired.
"Malfoy," Harry said simply. I gave him a confused look.
"He just came up to me and hit me, then left" Ron explained, "it was really weird."
"When did it happen?" I asked, still confused.
"After I came to...ahhh...talk to you."
"He probably hit you out of spite," I said, returning to my breakfast. Ron just shook his head, giving up on trying to understand Draco Malfoy.
After breakfast, I had Ancient Ruins. Though it was my favourite subject, I couldn't concentrate on the lesson. All I could think about was the last note. The clue was not apparent to me, I honestly had no idea what it was. I would have to spend lunch in the library, though that hardly bothered me. Sitting with Ron was not high on my list of things I wanted to do.
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This clue as the hardest yet: give sir a smile for me. I had smiled at all the male professors and nothing. I decided that the library would have the answer I was looking for. It would probably take me hours but I had to try.
A week had passed and still nothing came to me. I sat at my usual table, doodling on a piece of parchment. I wrote out S-I-R. And then I had it! S I R! The letters were initials! Of course! Breathing slowly to calm myself down, I walked quickly back to the shelves that had previously disappointed me. There on the last shelf was a book bearing the title: Silius Ighorn Rathdon. It was a small leatherbound volume with yellowed pages. I made quick work of scanning through it. All I learned was that he was the first squib to receive an Order or Merlin: First Class for saving his village. He volunteered to be a human sacrifice to get rid of the giant terrorizing the small town. Valiant, I thought, but utterly useless to me. I slammed the book shut, the force made a small piece of paper float to the floor. I picked it up and glanced at the familiar writing on it, it read: Fourth Floor, West Wing. My eyes opened wide. Silius must have a portrait on the fourth floor! Immediatly I raced off to find the painting. I was halfway there when a strict voice stopped my hurried steps.
"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall called after me. I turned my heel and faced her.
with eyebrows raised.
"Professor."
"What are you doing speeding through the halls at eleven in the evening? To your dormitory at once!"
I hung my head and headed off to Gryffindor Tower, very disappointed. The common room was still very noisy when I entered. I was too excited to go to bed just yet so I settled in an armchair and pulled out some quills, ink and parchment out of my bag to do some brainstorming. I made a list of the possible guys that could be my secret admirer. Then I put them into two columns: desirable and fowl. There were many in the fowl categoery. After about twenty minutes a boy from the fowl column sat down next to me, it was Ron. I wished that he wouldn't start apologizing again but my hopes were soon dashed.
"Hermione, about yesterday...you didn't let me finish...and I had some more things to er....say." He began nervously.
"Ron, no apology will ever be good enough," I was angry.
"I know what I did was wrong and..." I didn't let him finish.
"YOU SLEPT WITH YOUR EX-GIRLFRIEND BECAUSE I HAD LUNCH WITH AN OLD FRIEND!" Everyone was looking at us now, many of them had shocked looks on their faces.
"I WAS DRUNK AND UPSET!" Ron was yelling now too.
"EVEN WORSE!" Ron knew I hated men who drank too much.
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FORGIVE ME!" Ron had angry tears in his eyes.
"BECAUSE!" His tears were contagious. "you broke my heart."
The room was completly silent except for a few sniffles here and there. I could tell Ron didn't know how to respond. Never, since our break up had I told him this, I hadn't wanted him to know how much pain he had caused me.
Everyone looked at us, waiting for something to happen. Ron just gapped and I just cried silent tears.
"Mione..." He said softly.
"You had your chance and you ruined it," I said, knowing what he was going to say.
"I love you." Ron declared desperatly.
"Well I don't love you, not anymore," I replied finallizing it, "you'll always be git who broke my heart because he couldn't swallow his pride."
With that I turned and left, surprising everyone, even myself, with my cruelty. It didn't bother me, Ron deserved it. I had been waiting months to say that to him and I was relieved to have all of it off my chest. Maybe now he and I could have some closure.
I heard footsteps follow me up the dormitory steps as I flopped down on my bed. Ginny entered the room followed by Parvati, Katie and Lavender. All four were awed by my confidence and bravery.
"I didn't know you had it in you." Ginny congradulated.
"I can not believe he did that to you." Katie sympatized.
"Ron deserved that." Parvati agreed.
"I'm sorry, I had no idea you two were together." Lavender apologized, being the girl Ron had cheated on me with.
"Its okay, Lavender, its not your fault." I comforted her.
We then had a lengthly chat about horrid break-ups until one by one, we fell asleep.
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The next morning at breakfast, some people cheered as I walked by, I tried not seem happy about it but that task proved harder than I thought. I sat next to Ginny, steering clear of Harry and Ron. And when it was time for classes I hurried past the pair of them. Unfortunatly they could not be avoided forever, I had Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts with both of them first period. Even more unfortunate, Professor Lindon had us choose partners to practise defensive spells. Of course Harry and Ron paired up and none of my female allies had achieved high enough marks to be in this class. I was in a group with Draco Malfoy, to my extreme disappointment. Oh well, he was at least better than Ron.
"Hello," Draco said lazily. I gave him my tight smile. "What's up with Weasel face?" he asked me nodding towards Ron.
I didn't want to discuss my personal life with Draco Malfoy but I could think of nothing else to say to him.
"We had a row last night," I told him plainly. I was surprised to see concern flash quickly across his face before he replaced the look with his usual arrogance.
"About?" he said lazily.
"Well, its kind of a long story," I replied slightly timid.
"I'm listening."
I glanced around to see if anyone was watching us. Everyone was busy shooting spells at to their partners, even the professor had his hands full doing the counter curses on the students who had failed to defend themselves.
"During the summer Ron and I got together, we were perfectly happy," I began while Draco nodded, "and one day I ran into Viktor Krum." His expression darkened. "We had lunch, that was it but Ron exploded with jealousy, he didn't understand how he and I could just eat a meal together without doing something distasteful. I was offended by that. He didn't trust me, I guess. Anyways, that night he was still upset and he went and got drunk. I waited up for him all night, but he didn't come home. The next morning Harry informed me that Ron had slept with Lavender Brown." Draco's eyebrows were raised by that point but he kept quiet and let me keep going. "When Ron came home I confronted him and all he could mention was my meeting with Viktor. Ron did not even apologize, so I left." I glanced at Draco, trying to judge his reaction, he seemed shocked and was about to say something but I cut him off. "I'm not done, it gets worse. A couple of days ago he tried to apologize but I just walked away because I did not want to hear it, and last night in the common room, Ron tried to continue his apology. I told him that no apology would ever be good enough, but he perservered. I started yelling, he stared yelling. He started crying, I started crying. Finally Ron asked why I couldn't forgive him and-" I paused, why was I telling Malfoy all this? He probably didn't care about how Ron broke my heart. But for some reason I wanted Draco to know that I had finished things that I had ended it, so I continued. "And that he broke my heart. After I said that the room went quiet and Ron said he loved me but I just simply told him that I could never love him after what he'd done, I told him that he would always be the git who broke my heart because he couldn't swallow his pride." I finished, kind of pleased to see that Draco looked impressed.
"Wow, Granger, you actually said that to him?" I nodded, proud of myself for saying something mean enough to earn Malfoy's approval. The bell rang and I noticed that Draco and I had not done any work at all. I hadn't even realized that most of the other students had already packed their bags. As I left the classroom, I thought about how well Draco had listened, he wasn't so bad. For the first time ever, I was smiling while thinking about the blond haired Slytherin.
So did you like it? Please, please, please review! Was it the best yet? Or were you disappointed? Hermione wasn't too un-Hermione-ish, was she? Tell me what you think! Your reviews keep me writing and make my day.
