Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summery: Will Lavender have any friends left when it's all over? Now Ron's cooking up a plan. What is it?
Please read and review!
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Chapter Four
A Right Old Bludger
By
Stacey L Kendall
~*~
"Captains, please shake hands," ordered Madam Hooch.
Mann and Harry make their way towards each other, scowling as they shook hands stiffly. "Let's have a clean game. Mount your brooms! And on my whistle…."
"And it's Slytherin in possession, " Lee Jordan's voice boomed around the stadium as Madam Hooches whistle rang out, signalling the start of the match between old rivals, Slytherin and Gryffindor.
"Alice Samual has the Quaffle and she's heading for the Slytherin goalposts." Lee shouted through his megaphone. "Damn, just missed the Bludger - and a great save by Ron Weasley,"
"Slytherin's have the Quaffle again - come on, Gryffindor! Knock em off their brooms if you have to!"
"Jordan!" McGonagall's angry voice came from somewhere in the background.
"Sorry professor," Jordan said, still watching the game. "Magdalen Mattsdotter of Slytherin has the Quaffle. Looks like she's been hit one too many times in the face with a Bludger … Anyway … WHAM!! Fred Weasley hits the Bludger right at Mattsdotter and she looses the Quaf.. WATCH OUT FRED!!."
Having heard Lee's warning, Fred turns around in mid-air just in time to see Andrew Mann advancing on him, Beater raised high in the air. Luckily, Fred summersaults out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding Mann's Beater seconds before it's about to collide with the side of his head.
"Penalty to Gryffindor." Madam Hooch orders angrily.
"Quite right too!" Lee said, avoiding McGonagall's angry glare, which for a change wasn't aimed at him, but at Mann. "YES! JOHNSON SCORES. TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR,"
"Gryffindor in possession - watch out for the Bludger, Bell,"
A Bludger whistles passed Katie Bells head. Slightly shocked by the near miss, she drops the Quaffle and it plummets towards the ground at top speed -
"And it's caught by Mattsdotter. Someone get her -"
Just as Mattsdotter is about to score, George Hahn of Slytherin hits a Bludger right at the goalposts and it hits Ron in the head causing him to fall off his broom and to the ground unconscious. With no one in the way to stop it, the Quaffle goes straight through the Slytherin's goalpost making the score ten a peace.
"Outrageous!" Madam Hooch shouts, flying up to Hahn. George Weasley throws his Beater at Hahn in anger, but it misses by an inch.
"You stinking cheat." Fred said, getting ready to hit Hahn himself, but Harry stops him with a bit of difficulty by grabbing the back of his Quidditch robes.
"We call for time out!" said Harry, looking at Hahn with pure hatred.
"Very well," said Madam Hooch. "Penalty to Gryffindor when you've sorted yourselves out."
Madam Hooch blows on her whistle to signal time out as the Gryffindor team all make their way towards Ron, who's sitting on the bench looking a little worse for wear. Hermione and Ginny are already with him.
"Oh Ron! Are you alright?" Hermione was saying.
"What do you think Hermione, eh?!" Ron snapped. "A Budgers just hit me in the head. I'm just peachy thanks!"
"That was awful!" Katie Bell said, landing smoothly next to Ron. "Are you going to be ok?"
"Well, apart from the big lump on his head, I think he'll be fine." Ginny answered for Ron, smiling as he scowled at her in return.
"Do you think you can play Ron?" Harry asked as the rest of the Gryffindor team landed around him.
Ron made a half hearted attempt to stand up, reaching for his broom as he nodded, but a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him. Feeling slightly sick, Ron sat back down, holding his head in his large hands and secretly wishing that everything around him would stop spinning.
"As long as I don't move my head Harry," Ron breathed. "I'm fine."
"We're just going to have to play without you." Harry said.
Madam Hooch had joined them now eager to get the game underway again.
"Are you ready to play?" she asked.
~*~
"Bloody hell," Ron moaned as the match continued. "My head feels as though it's been blown into the next century! It would have been better if you'd've just left me there unconscious Hermione. What did you have to go and wake me up for?"
"I'm beginning to wish that I had left you there," Hermione whispered under her breath.
"What?" Ron said, slanting his head slightly towards the right and tapping his left ear with the palm of his hand. "I think it's affected my hearing as well -"
"Ron, really!" Hermione said, her voice higher than usual. "It can't be that bad."
"Oh yeah! Let me throw a Bludger at your head and you'll soon find out, won't you?!"
"You didn't complain this much when you broke your leg in half," Hermione said, suddenly standing up and reaching for a damp cloth.
"Or when Norbort bit your hand, making it blow up to nearly twice it's normal size." She added, draining the excess water from the cloth and walking over to Ron.
"Yeah well, I had other things on my mind." He answered as Hermione placed the cloth on the lump that had emerged from his freckled forehead. Ron didn't say anything as she moved his red hair out of the way and tucked it behind his ear.
"That's no excuse," Hermione said into the silence. She had become painfully aware that Ron was watching her far too closely. "I never moaned once when I got turned into a cat!"
Ron snorted. "It took Harry and me ages to get you out of that bathroom."
"Well, you were the one making jokes."
"Come on, Hermione," he said, shaking his head slightly, but then stopped as it made him feel dizzy again. "I've never seen anything so ugly. It was a hilarious. "
"OH!" Hermione said, backing away from him, her face turning red. "Well, thank you Ron Weasley. That's officially the worst thing you have ever said to me …"
"Mione - I didn't mean it like that," Ron pleaded as she stepped away from him. "Of course your not ugly -"
Ron stood up and grabbed onto Hermione before she could leave, but the effort made him feel even dizzier than before and so he fell back onto the bench, taking Hermione with him. He groaned slightly and then looked up, noticing that Hermione's face was only inches away from his own.
"Ron, are you okay?" He heard her say, but he wasn't really listening. He moved closer to Hermione, closing the small gap between them …
"AND GRYFFINDOR WIN! HARRY GETS THE SNITCH."
As Lee Jordan's voice rang loudly in their ears, Hermione and Ron sprang apart, suddenly realising what they were about to do. At the same moment, the other Gryffindors crowd around them, but no body seems to notices how embarrassed Ron and Hermione look.
~*~
From his spot by the Forbidden Forest, Harry watched closely as Ginny walked back to the castle with some of the boys in her year. For a moment Harry felt jealous. The forth year boys obviously thought Ginny was beautiful because none of them took their eyes off her for a second. In fact, they seemed to be fighting for her attention.
Up until now he's had a great night having won a Quidditch match against the Slytherin team. Friends and strangers alike had shaken his hand after he had caught the Snitch only ten minutes into the game. Gryffindor were now in first place for the Quidditch Cup and Harry, being the new captain of the Gryffindor team, which included Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet as Chaser's, Fred and George Weasley as Beaters and Ron Weasley has Keeper, had been very pleased to knock the Slytherin's off the top spot again.
Harry was in such a good mood, he had decided to talk with Ginny and ask her to accompany him to Hogsmeade the next time they went. But Harry doubted whether he'd be able to get anywhere near her tonight what with all her friends crowded around her and he knew he would have lost his confidence by tomorrow. After being lost in thought, he looked up again just in time to see Ginny enter the castle with a group of boys and girls from the forth year and out of sight.
Harry sighed, staring after her for a moment and then held his Firebolt tightly on his shoulder and headed towards his common room, feeling quite tired after the match. He came through the Entrance Hall and made his way to the marble staircase, which would lead him to the Gryffindor Tower. He nearly died of fright when he saw a dark figure hunched up on the bottom step, obviously deep in thought. Harry recognised who it was after a moment.
"You all right Seamus?" Harry asked, sitting down next to his friend and putting his Firebolt down.
"Oh, Harry," Seamus said, looking at Harry in surprise. "Great match."
"Yeah, yeah it was. So, how are you?"
"Not too bad," Seamus answered, now looking at his hands. "Girls eh!?!"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Harry said, thinking of Ginny.
"Listen, I'd better go," Harry said, after a moment of silence. "I'll see you in the common room."
"Yeah, okay Harry. Bye"
When Harry entered the common room minutes later, he wasn't at all surprised to see a party going on. He looked around the room for a moment, watching everybody having a good time. He could see Fred trying to pick up Angelina but she was having none of it. However, she was laughing despite herself. George seemed to be telling Ginny something, but she looked terribly confused.
At last Harry finally noticed his friends sitting in the corner of the common room. Lavender and Parvati were deep in conversation, Dean was staring into space and neither Ron nor Hermione were there.
"Harry!" Dean said, sounding happy to see him. "Where have you been?"
"Uh, no where," Harry said, and then he added in an under tone; "Just been talking to Seamus. He looks really depressed. Do you think he's alright?"
"Well…" But Harry never heard what Dean had to say on the subject as Lavender had made them jump several feet into the air by shouting Seamus' name as loud as she possibly could over the din of the common room. Harry looked over towards the portrait hole and saw Seamus staring in their direction, the Fat Lady's portrait swinging shout behind him.
However, Seamus didn't hang around to see why Lavender had shouted his name at the top of her lungs. Instead he headed quickly to the boy's staircase, obviously thinking Lavender was going to have a go at him for the weeks past events.
"Go after him." Harry heard Parvati say to her friend. With that said, Lavender followed Seamus up to the boy's dormitories.
"Must be serious," Harry said. "If she's following him up to the boys dormitories."
"Poor sod," Dean said in reply, shaking his head slightly. "He can't even hide in his room anymore."
"So where's Ron and Hermione." Harry asked.
~*~
Seamus lay on his four poster bed, completely lost in thought. He had been in a trance for days now. Ever since Parvati had made it her business to call him a liar in the Great Hall in front of complete strangers and even worse, his friends.
Seamus didn't know whether it was out of guilt or something else, but for some reason he couldn't stop thinking about Lavender. His ex-girlfriend had truly succeeded in making his life a living hell that was for sure.
With all that said and done, Seamus felt nothing but regret for what he had done at the Weasley twin's 18th birthday party. He couldn't even remember why he had wanted to dump Lavender in the first place let alone cheat on her.
"Seamus …" he heard someone say as the door to his room opened. Seamus jumped to his feet when he recognised the person standing before him.
"What, uh, are you doing in here Lavender?" he asked.
"Why are you up here on your own?" Lavender said, shutting the door behind her and ignoring his question. Her tone was light as if nothing had changed between them.
"Lavender - about me and Padma -" Seamus started, suddenly feeling the need to explain himself and tell her how he was feeling all at once.
She cut him off. "Look, that's not why I'm here."
"Come on, I'm really sorry about what happened - and you got me back for it, didn't you - can't we just say that it's in the past and start again?"
"Forget it Seamus," she said. "Look, I missed you and for the sake of our friends I'll forgive you, but I'll never forget how much you hurt me."
"But I -"
"Don't worry, I'll make sure all our friends forgive you too," she added, walking towards the door. "I think you've suffered enough."
"I think I love you." he whispered.
But it was too late. She had already left and he had blown it for good.
~*~
Hermione stared at the cancerous of her four poster bed without even seeing it. She didn't even realised how uncomfortable and hot she was lying in her dorm room with her cloak still on.
"What did it mean?" she asked herself.
Hermione didn't know what to think. She had run through the events of the Quidditch game so many times her head was starting to hurt. Ron's face had been inches away from her own when the sound of Jordan's voice had bought them back to earth.
Had Ron actually leaned closer to her or had she just imagined the whole thing? Maybe he was just trying to get up …
Until today, Hermione hadn't realised just how long she'd had feelings for her best friend, but now she could pin point the moment when those feelings started.
She'd been at the Quidditch pitch with him one morning. They had both come to watch Harry practising after breakfast when the Slytherin's had come onto the pitch, claiming that it was their practise time. When Hermione had tried to back up the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Malfoy had called her a Mudblood and said that no one had asked her opinion.
Although Hermione hadn't known what it meant at the time she could tell that it was offensive because there had been an instant uproar. Flint had to dive in front of the blonde Slytherin to stop Fred and George from killing Malfoy, Alicia had been shocked, but Ron had actually tried to put a curse on Malfoy. However, at the time Ron's wand had been broken and so it had hit him in the stomach causing him to fly backwards and hit the ground moments after.
Hermione had been worried, but she couldn't help but feel honoured, having Ron sticking up for her like that. She knew that Ron was a good friend who wasn't only kind and funny, but would also stick up for his friends no matter what and to any cost of his own and the cost didn't come much higher than throwing up slugs while the Slytherin's laughed themselves to death and a very annoying first year boy took pictures of you being dragged from the pitch.
Right there and then, in the grounds of Hogwarts, dragging him towards Hagrid's cabin Hermione had fallen in love with Ron Weasley. The question was did he feel the same way?
She knew it was crazy to go reading anything into what had happened between them on the pitch that afternoon. It was all madness and there was no way Ron would feel the same way. They were just friends; best friends and she didn't want to lose that so there was nothing more to it.
Hermione would never let Ron know how she really felt.
A sniffing sound brought Hermione back to her senses. Someone had come into the room.
"Are you okay?"
It was Lavender.
"Yeah."
"God! I'm not," Lavender whined, falling onto her own bed. "I've just told Seamus I wouldn't get back together with him. Love stinks, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," Hermione answered in a whisper. "Yeah, it does."
~*~
"What's that?" asked Harry, looking over Ron's shoulder at his Divination homework the next day.
"Dunno." Ron answered simply.
Ron flipped through his copy of Unfogging the Future without understanding anything on it's many pages.
"Why don't you ask Lavender," Harry teased, no more familiar with the advanced charts in front of him than Ron. "I'm sure she'd help."
"Don't start," Ron answered lazily.
"I'd make it up again," Ron said after a moment. "But we'd probably get a long, drawn out speech about the errors of our ways from Hermione… that's it …"
Ron stretched over towards his bag and stuffed all his books and parchment inside quickly.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked.
"I'm sick of it," said Ron, closing his bag. "I can't do it anymore."
As he fell back against his chair, Ron felt a rush of irritation, then realised that it wasn't his homework that was causing it for once. He hadn't seen Hermione for a while. She was probably avoiding him after yesterday.
"I'm going for a walk," he said, getting up from his chair. "I'll see you, Harry."
"Yeah sure." Harry shrugged.
As he made his way out of the common room and through the portrait hole he heard Ginny asking Harry if he wanted any help.
"Yeah, yeah that would be great." Harry answered, moving to make a space for Ginny on the settee.
~*~
Ron stepped inside the library, gazing around as he did so. He had decided to look for Hermione rather than walk around the grounds. He needed to talk to her about yesterday. The whole thing was driving him mad and he needed to know whether he hadn't just imagined the whole thing.
Had he nearly kissed Hermione Granger? He defiantly wanted to.
After a moment of looking, he spotted Hermione sitting at a table on her own. Treading carefully he crossed the stone floor of the candle lit library.
"Hey, 'Mione." He said, smiling slightly.
Hermione jumped. She was obviously not expecting to see Ron standing beside her.
"Uh, do you think there's room for me to sit down," Ron asked. "What with all these books and everything."
"Yeah, yeah, of course." She managed to bluster as she moved a stack of books off a chair so he could sit beside her.
"Thought I'd give myself a little break," he said as he sat down. "That Divination homework is driving me mad. That old bat gave us stacks to do."
"Umm," Hermione muttered. She was staring down at her homework, her bushy hair was hiding her face from view.
"Yeah, but Harry's got Ginny helping him. I think she still fancies him you know,"
Ron stared down at his hands wondering how to say what was on his mind.
"Hermione, have you been avoiding me, you know after yesterday?"
"No!" she said, after a second of silence. She glanced up at him for a few seconds and then returned her gaze back to her homework.
"Yesterday …" he began to explain. "I … well …"
As he looked at Hermione her hair fell back onto her face, hiding her expression from view. Without thinking, he lifted his hand towards her face and brushed her hair back.
"'Mione?"
She turned to look at him, her face questioning.
Ron gently pulled her towards him and felt the tremble of her mouth on his own.
To be continued ……
*SLK*
Well, I've finally finished … actually, truth be told this only took me 2 days altogether (although I did the Quidditch match about a month ago). I've been busy with College work and I still am.
I hope you like how I've got Ron and Hermione together! I do!
Anyway, the next chapter MAY be my last chapter. I'm not sure yet. I would be grateful for some reviews. I haven't got many yet :( thanks to the people who have though.
Next chapter will be up soon!! (17th August)
Summery: Will Lavender have any friends left when it's all over? Now Ron's cooking up a plan. What is it?
Please read and review!
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Chapter Four
A Right Old Bludger
By
Stacey L Kendall
~*~
"Captains, please shake hands," ordered Madam Hooch.
Mann and Harry make their way towards each other, scowling as they shook hands stiffly. "Let's have a clean game. Mount your brooms! And on my whistle…."
"And it's Slytherin in possession, " Lee Jordan's voice boomed around the stadium as Madam Hooches whistle rang out, signalling the start of the match between old rivals, Slytherin and Gryffindor.
"Alice Samual has the Quaffle and she's heading for the Slytherin goalposts." Lee shouted through his megaphone. "Damn, just missed the Bludger - and a great save by Ron Weasley,"
"Slytherin's have the Quaffle again - come on, Gryffindor! Knock em off their brooms if you have to!"
"Jordan!" McGonagall's angry voice came from somewhere in the background.
"Sorry professor," Jordan said, still watching the game. "Magdalen Mattsdotter of Slytherin has the Quaffle. Looks like she's been hit one too many times in the face with a Bludger … Anyway … WHAM!! Fred Weasley hits the Bludger right at Mattsdotter and she looses the Quaf.. WATCH OUT FRED!!."
Having heard Lee's warning, Fred turns around in mid-air just in time to see Andrew Mann advancing on him, Beater raised high in the air. Luckily, Fred summersaults out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding Mann's Beater seconds before it's about to collide with the side of his head.
"Penalty to Gryffindor." Madam Hooch orders angrily.
"Quite right too!" Lee said, avoiding McGonagall's angry glare, which for a change wasn't aimed at him, but at Mann. "YES! JOHNSON SCORES. TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR,"
"Gryffindor in possession - watch out for the Bludger, Bell,"
A Bludger whistles passed Katie Bells head. Slightly shocked by the near miss, she drops the Quaffle and it plummets towards the ground at top speed -
"And it's caught by Mattsdotter. Someone get her -"
Just as Mattsdotter is about to score, George Hahn of Slytherin hits a Bludger right at the goalposts and it hits Ron in the head causing him to fall off his broom and to the ground unconscious. With no one in the way to stop it, the Quaffle goes straight through the Slytherin's goalpost making the score ten a peace.
"Outrageous!" Madam Hooch shouts, flying up to Hahn. George Weasley throws his Beater at Hahn in anger, but it misses by an inch.
"You stinking cheat." Fred said, getting ready to hit Hahn himself, but Harry stops him with a bit of difficulty by grabbing the back of his Quidditch robes.
"We call for time out!" said Harry, looking at Hahn with pure hatred.
"Very well," said Madam Hooch. "Penalty to Gryffindor when you've sorted yourselves out."
Madam Hooch blows on her whistle to signal time out as the Gryffindor team all make their way towards Ron, who's sitting on the bench looking a little worse for wear. Hermione and Ginny are already with him.
"Oh Ron! Are you alright?" Hermione was saying.
"What do you think Hermione, eh?!" Ron snapped. "A Budgers just hit me in the head. I'm just peachy thanks!"
"That was awful!" Katie Bell said, landing smoothly next to Ron. "Are you going to be ok?"
"Well, apart from the big lump on his head, I think he'll be fine." Ginny answered for Ron, smiling as he scowled at her in return.
"Do you think you can play Ron?" Harry asked as the rest of the Gryffindor team landed around him.
Ron made a half hearted attempt to stand up, reaching for his broom as he nodded, but a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him. Feeling slightly sick, Ron sat back down, holding his head in his large hands and secretly wishing that everything around him would stop spinning.
"As long as I don't move my head Harry," Ron breathed. "I'm fine."
"We're just going to have to play without you." Harry said.
Madam Hooch had joined them now eager to get the game underway again.
"Are you ready to play?" she asked.
~*~
"Bloody hell," Ron moaned as the match continued. "My head feels as though it's been blown into the next century! It would have been better if you'd've just left me there unconscious Hermione. What did you have to go and wake me up for?"
"I'm beginning to wish that I had left you there," Hermione whispered under her breath.
"What?" Ron said, slanting his head slightly towards the right and tapping his left ear with the palm of his hand. "I think it's affected my hearing as well -"
"Ron, really!" Hermione said, her voice higher than usual. "It can't be that bad."
"Oh yeah! Let me throw a Bludger at your head and you'll soon find out, won't you?!"
"You didn't complain this much when you broke your leg in half," Hermione said, suddenly standing up and reaching for a damp cloth.
"Or when Norbort bit your hand, making it blow up to nearly twice it's normal size." She added, draining the excess water from the cloth and walking over to Ron.
"Yeah well, I had other things on my mind." He answered as Hermione placed the cloth on the lump that had emerged from his freckled forehead. Ron didn't say anything as she moved his red hair out of the way and tucked it behind his ear.
"That's no excuse," Hermione said into the silence. She had become painfully aware that Ron was watching her far too closely. "I never moaned once when I got turned into a cat!"
Ron snorted. "It took Harry and me ages to get you out of that bathroom."
"Well, you were the one making jokes."
"Come on, Hermione," he said, shaking his head slightly, but then stopped as it made him feel dizzy again. "I've never seen anything so ugly. It was a hilarious. "
"OH!" Hermione said, backing away from him, her face turning red. "Well, thank you Ron Weasley. That's officially the worst thing you have ever said to me …"
"Mione - I didn't mean it like that," Ron pleaded as she stepped away from him. "Of course your not ugly -"
Ron stood up and grabbed onto Hermione before she could leave, but the effort made him feel even dizzier than before and so he fell back onto the bench, taking Hermione with him. He groaned slightly and then looked up, noticing that Hermione's face was only inches away from his own.
"Ron, are you okay?" He heard her say, but he wasn't really listening. He moved closer to Hermione, closing the small gap between them …
"AND GRYFFINDOR WIN! HARRY GETS THE SNITCH."
As Lee Jordan's voice rang loudly in their ears, Hermione and Ron sprang apart, suddenly realising what they were about to do. At the same moment, the other Gryffindors crowd around them, but no body seems to notices how embarrassed Ron and Hermione look.
~*~
From his spot by the Forbidden Forest, Harry watched closely as Ginny walked back to the castle with some of the boys in her year. For a moment Harry felt jealous. The forth year boys obviously thought Ginny was beautiful because none of them took their eyes off her for a second. In fact, they seemed to be fighting for her attention.
Up until now he's had a great night having won a Quidditch match against the Slytherin team. Friends and strangers alike had shaken his hand after he had caught the Snitch only ten minutes into the game. Gryffindor were now in first place for the Quidditch Cup and Harry, being the new captain of the Gryffindor team, which included Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet as Chaser's, Fred and George Weasley as Beaters and Ron Weasley has Keeper, had been very pleased to knock the Slytherin's off the top spot again.
Harry was in such a good mood, he had decided to talk with Ginny and ask her to accompany him to Hogsmeade the next time they went. But Harry doubted whether he'd be able to get anywhere near her tonight what with all her friends crowded around her and he knew he would have lost his confidence by tomorrow. After being lost in thought, he looked up again just in time to see Ginny enter the castle with a group of boys and girls from the forth year and out of sight.
Harry sighed, staring after her for a moment and then held his Firebolt tightly on his shoulder and headed towards his common room, feeling quite tired after the match. He came through the Entrance Hall and made his way to the marble staircase, which would lead him to the Gryffindor Tower. He nearly died of fright when he saw a dark figure hunched up on the bottom step, obviously deep in thought. Harry recognised who it was after a moment.
"You all right Seamus?" Harry asked, sitting down next to his friend and putting his Firebolt down.
"Oh, Harry," Seamus said, looking at Harry in surprise. "Great match."
"Yeah, yeah it was. So, how are you?"
"Not too bad," Seamus answered, now looking at his hands. "Girls eh!?!"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Harry said, thinking of Ginny.
"Listen, I'd better go," Harry said, after a moment of silence. "I'll see you in the common room."
"Yeah, okay Harry. Bye"
When Harry entered the common room minutes later, he wasn't at all surprised to see a party going on. He looked around the room for a moment, watching everybody having a good time. He could see Fred trying to pick up Angelina but she was having none of it. However, she was laughing despite herself. George seemed to be telling Ginny something, but she looked terribly confused.
At last Harry finally noticed his friends sitting in the corner of the common room. Lavender and Parvati were deep in conversation, Dean was staring into space and neither Ron nor Hermione were there.
"Harry!" Dean said, sounding happy to see him. "Where have you been?"
"Uh, no where," Harry said, and then he added in an under tone; "Just been talking to Seamus. He looks really depressed. Do you think he's alright?"
"Well…" But Harry never heard what Dean had to say on the subject as Lavender had made them jump several feet into the air by shouting Seamus' name as loud as she possibly could over the din of the common room. Harry looked over towards the portrait hole and saw Seamus staring in their direction, the Fat Lady's portrait swinging shout behind him.
However, Seamus didn't hang around to see why Lavender had shouted his name at the top of her lungs. Instead he headed quickly to the boy's staircase, obviously thinking Lavender was going to have a go at him for the weeks past events.
"Go after him." Harry heard Parvati say to her friend. With that said, Lavender followed Seamus up to the boy's dormitories.
"Must be serious," Harry said. "If she's following him up to the boys dormitories."
"Poor sod," Dean said in reply, shaking his head slightly. "He can't even hide in his room anymore."
"So where's Ron and Hermione." Harry asked.
~*~
Seamus lay on his four poster bed, completely lost in thought. He had been in a trance for days now. Ever since Parvati had made it her business to call him a liar in the Great Hall in front of complete strangers and even worse, his friends.
Seamus didn't know whether it was out of guilt or something else, but for some reason he couldn't stop thinking about Lavender. His ex-girlfriend had truly succeeded in making his life a living hell that was for sure.
With all that said and done, Seamus felt nothing but regret for what he had done at the Weasley twin's 18th birthday party. He couldn't even remember why he had wanted to dump Lavender in the first place let alone cheat on her.
"Seamus …" he heard someone say as the door to his room opened. Seamus jumped to his feet when he recognised the person standing before him.
"What, uh, are you doing in here Lavender?" he asked.
"Why are you up here on your own?" Lavender said, shutting the door behind her and ignoring his question. Her tone was light as if nothing had changed between them.
"Lavender - about me and Padma -" Seamus started, suddenly feeling the need to explain himself and tell her how he was feeling all at once.
She cut him off. "Look, that's not why I'm here."
"Come on, I'm really sorry about what happened - and you got me back for it, didn't you - can't we just say that it's in the past and start again?"
"Forget it Seamus," she said. "Look, I missed you and for the sake of our friends I'll forgive you, but I'll never forget how much you hurt me."
"But I -"
"Don't worry, I'll make sure all our friends forgive you too," she added, walking towards the door. "I think you've suffered enough."
"I think I love you." he whispered.
But it was too late. She had already left and he had blown it for good.
~*~
Hermione stared at the cancerous of her four poster bed without even seeing it. She didn't even realised how uncomfortable and hot she was lying in her dorm room with her cloak still on.
"What did it mean?" she asked herself.
Hermione didn't know what to think. She had run through the events of the Quidditch game so many times her head was starting to hurt. Ron's face had been inches away from her own when the sound of Jordan's voice had bought them back to earth.
Had Ron actually leaned closer to her or had she just imagined the whole thing? Maybe he was just trying to get up …
Until today, Hermione hadn't realised just how long she'd had feelings for her best friend, but now she could pin point the moment when those feelings started.
She'd been at the Quidditch pitch with him one morning. They had both come to watch Harry practising after breakfast when the Slytherin's had come onto the pitch, claiming that it was their practise time. When Hermione had tried to back up the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Malfoy had called her a Mudblood and said that no one had asked her opinion.
Although Hermione hadn't known what it meant at the time she could tell that it was offensive because there had been an instant uproar. Flint had to dive in front of the blonde Slytherin to stop Fred and George from killing Malfoy, Alicia had been shocked, but Ron had actually tried to put a curse on Malfoy. However, at the time Ron's wand had been broken and so it had hit him in the stomach causing him to fly backwards and hit the ground moments after.
Hermione had been worried, but she couldn't help but feel honoured, having Ron sticking up for her like that. She knew that Ron was a good friend who wasn't only kind and funny, but would also stick up for his friends no matter what and to any cost of his own and the cost didn't come much higher than throwing up slugs while the Slytherin's laughed themselves to death and a very annoying first year boy took pictures of you being dragged from the pitch.
Right there and then, in the grounds of Hogwarts, dragging him towards Hagrid's cabin Hermione had fallen in love with Ron Weasley. The question was did he feel the same way?
She knew it was crazy to go reading anything into what had happened between them on the pitch that afternoon. It was all madness and there was no way Ron would feel the same way. They were just friends; best friends and she didn't want to lose that so there was nothing more to it.
Hermione would never let Ron know how she really felt.
A sniffing sound brought Hermione back to her senses. Someone had come into the room.
"Are you okay?"
It was Lavender.
"Yeah."
"God! I'm not," Lavender whined, falling onto her own bed. "I've just told Seamus I wouldn't get back together with him. Love stinks, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," Hermione answered in a whisper. "Yeah, it does."
~*~
"What's that?" asked Harry, looking over Ron's shoulder at his Divination homework the next day.
"Dunno." Ron answered simply.
Ron flipped through his copy of Unfogging the Future without understanding anything on it's many pages.
"Why don't you ask Lavender," Harry teased, no more familiar with the advanced charts in front of him than Ron. "I'm sure she'd help."
"Don't start," Ron answered lazily.
"I'd make it up again," Ron said after a moment. "But we'd probably get a long, drawn out speech about the errors of our ways from Hermione… that's it …"
Ron stretched over towards his bag and stuffed all his books and parchment inside quickly.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked.
"I'm sick of it," said Ron, closing his bag. "I can't do it anymore."
As he fell back against his chair, Ron felt a rush of irritation, then realised that it wasn't his homework that was causing it for once. He hadn't seen Hermione for a while. She was probably avoiding him after yesterday.
"I'm going for a walk," he said, getting up from his chair. "I'll see you, Harry."
"Yeah sure." Harry shrugged.
As he made his way out of the common room and through the portrait hole he heard Ginny asking Harry if he wanted any help.
"Yeah, yeah that would be great." Harry answered, moving to make a space for Ginny on the settee.
~*~
Ron stepped inside the library, gazing around as he did so. He had decided to look for Hermione rather than walk around the grounds. He needed to talk to her about yesterday. The whole thing was driving him mad and he needed to know whether he hadn't just imagined the whole thing.
Had he nearly kissed Hermione Granger? He defiantly wanted to.
After a moment of looking, he spotted Hermione sitting at a table on her own. Treading carefully he crossed the stone floor of the candle lit library.
"Hey, 'Mione." He said, smiling slightly.
Hermione jumped. She was obviously not expecting to see Ron standing beside her.
"Uh, do you think there's room for me to sit down," Ron asked. "What with all these books and everything."
"Yeah, yeah, of course." She managed to bluster as she moved a stack of books off a chair so he could sit beside her.
"Thought I'd give myself a little break," he said as he sat down. "That Divination homework is driving me mad. That old bat gave us stacks to do."
"Umm," Hermione muttered. She was staring down at her homework, her bushy hair was hiding her face from view.
"Yeah, but Harry's got Ginny helping him. I think she still fancies him you know,"
Ron stared down at his hands wondering how to say what was on his mind.
"Hermione, have you been avoiding me, you know after yesterday?"
"No!" she said, after a second of silence. She glanced up at him for a few seconds and then returned her gaze back to her homework.
"Yesterday …" he began to explain. "I … well …"
As he looked at Hermione her hair fell back onto her face, hiding her expression from view. Without thinking, he lifted his hand towards her face and brushed her hair back.
"'Mione?"
She turned to look at him, her face questioning.
Ron gently pulled her towards him and felt the tremble of her mouth on his own.
To be continued ……
*SLK*
Well, I've finally finished … actually, truth be told this only took me 2 days altogether (although I did the Quidditch match about a month ago). I've been busy with College work and I still am.
I hope you like how I've got Ron and Hermione together! I do!
Anyway, the next chapter MAY be my last chapter. I'm not sure yet. I would be grateful for some reviews. I haven't got many yet :( thanks to the people who have though.
Next chapter will be up soon!! (17th August)
