:S Ok, if I'm honest I'm putting this up because I feel guilty...I haven't written chapter eleven of Heartfelt Dream yet so I'm hoping this will keep people happy until I update it. It's definitley 'in-progress' just doesn't seem to be coming along very fast!
Dunno why but I enjoy writing Hermione and Ron fighting, well fun!
Let me know what you think :D It'll make me very happy ;)
Step ;)
Chapter 7
Throughout the day Ron hadn't managed to apologise to Hermione, he had tried to on a couple of occasions but no sound had come out of his mouth. After his failed attempts he decided he would try later on when they were in their room, at least that way they would be on their own and no one would disturb them, or overhear him.
Harry had looked enquiringly at Ron at various times throughout the day wanting an explanation as to why him and Hermione weren't on speaking terms, especially as they had started the day being civil to each other, but all he had got in return were severe shakes of the head and various fierce scowls.
He had had even less luck with Hermione who seemed to have withdrawn into herself more than he had ever known her to. He had even passed her a note in Transfiguration, something that was risky in itself as McGonagal was pacing between them commenting on their work, but all he had got in return to his questions ('What's going on?' and 'Are you alright?') were two words: 'nothing' and 'fine'.
Hermione wasn't sure why she wasn't talking to Harry, not that she wasn't talking to him specifically, she wasn't talking to anyone. She didn't trust herself to not take her anger and upset out on whoever spoke to her, so decided to only answer her teacher's questions when she was asked and gave one-word answers when anyone else spoke to her.
Tired of his best friend's moods Harry went up to bed early, hoping things would be better in the morning.
When he said his good nights to Ron he ignored the pleading look the red-haired wizard gave him. He interpreted it as a plea for him to stay down in the common room so he had someone to talk to, but this just strengthened Harry's resolve to leave the two of them to it. He just couldn't be bothered tonight.
Hermione barely acknowledged Harry when he left the common room. She had sat herself in the window seat and was staring out onto the grounds. She had given up all attempt to do any homework, something that seemed to slow both Ron's and Harry's progress on theirs.
Twenty minutes after Harry had left the common room Ron walked awkwardly up to Hermione.
'Er…do you want to stay here much longer, only, if you don't mind, I wouldn't mind going to bed.'
'Fine,' she said quietly, Ron only just hearing her reply.
She stood up and took her bag from the floor. She walked over to the portrait hole and waited for Ron to join her, when he got near to her she pushed the portrait open and climbed through it. As they walked down the corridors to Edward's portrait Hermione maintained a few meters space between her and Ron. When she reached the large painting of the old wizard she muttered the password and walked through the door and up the stairs. Although she was out of breath and tired as she walked up them, she refused to slow down until she was at the top.
When she finally reached their room she spoke the password, her hand placed on the raised stone, and then opened the door with a tap of her wand. Only when she was in the room did she show any sign of what she was feeling inside.
She threw her bag towards where her desk was placed and her outer robes joined it on the floor. She kicked her shoes off, sat on her bed and drew the curtains around her bed so she was as on her own as she could be.
Ron sighed loudly having watched Hermione's acts of frustration from just inside the door. He placed his bag on his desk and sat himself on his bed on the side nearest to Hermione's. He gathered all the courage he had and took a deep breath.
'Hermione…I…I need to talk to you.'
He got no response from Hermione, not that he was expecting any.
Well, he thought, this might make things a bit easier.
'Hermione, I know you can hear me so I'm going to talk regardless of whether you want to talk to me. I'm guessing you're annoyed with me for what I said to Lavender earlier, well, I didn't mean it, I…I really don't mind being in your company at all, you should know that. We're best friends for Merlin's sake, or at least…we were. I'm not so sure now. I thought things were going okay yesterday, but even before that we weren't exactly friends.'
He looked at the curtains wishing he could see through them and see what Hermione was doing. He thought he heard her moving and was startled when he heard her sniff.
'Hermione?'
Still Hermione said nothing in reply.
'Look Hermione, you can't hide behind that curtain forever, you're going to have to talk to me at some point. These two weeks are going to be hard enough without us ignoring each other. The best we can do is at least try and get along.'
Still Hermione's resolve stood strong and she didn't open her curtains or say anything.
Ron sighed, 'Fine, be like that.'
He swung his legs up onto his bed and threw his head onto his pillow, he kicked his shoes off and they landed with two thuds on the floor. As he lay on his bed in thought he grew more and more frustrated at Hermione's lack of communication with him throughout the day and especially now, when he was at least trying to put things right.
'You know, you could at least have the decency to reply to my apology, you should have realised I was only saying that stuff to keep Lavender happy. You would have done the same thing.'
When he again got no response from the bed next to him he sighed and rolled onto his front, his arm dangling over the edge of the bed and swinging to and fro.
Hermione had been lying stationary on her bed since she had thrown herself on it and had only moved to wipe her face of the few tears she had shed whilst Ron was attempting to apologise, well that's what he'd called it, although he hadn't actually said the word 'sorry' during the entire speech.
However, as much as she didn't want to move, she desperately needed to go to the toilet. Typical, she thought, of all the times to need to go and you need to go now, she thought to herself.
She got up off her bed as quietly as she could and slipped out from behind her curtains. She hoped Ron was looking the other way. He wasn't.
'Hermione! Please listen to me.' He jumped off the bed and ran over to her. Before she managed to hide herself in the bathroom he grabbed her arm.
'Please talk to me.'
'Ron, get off me.'
'Hermione why are you being like this?'
'Ron, get off me now.'
'No! Not until you talk to me properly.'
He tried to spin her round so she was facing him, but she struggled against his grip.
'Get off me!' she shouted.
Suddenly Ron let go; he felt a sharp pain surge through his hand and arm.
'Ahh! What was that?'
He backed off from her and looked at his hand. There wasn't a mark on him.
'What was what?' Hermione asked, shocked at Ron's sudden movement.
'The burning pain that went through my arm!'
'Well, you're the one that wouldn't let go, you can't exactly blame me for it!'
He glared at her. 'No, I suppose I can't, just like you can't blame me for what I had to say to Lavender. At least I apologised!'
'No you didn't,' Hermione replied calmly.
'Yes I did, I explained what I had to do, and I said sorry.'
Hermione turned so she was facing him fully. 'Actually you didn't. You waffled on for a good few minutes, I'll give you that, but you didn't actually say you were sorry!'
Ron stared at her, mouth agape. He thought back to when they had come into the room and tried to remember every word he had said. As much as he tried to remember saying the word sorry in any sentence he had said, he couldn't. Hermione was right.
Hermione read Ron's expression and she knew he had just realised he was wrong.
'Told you,' she said with a smirk worthy of Malfoy.
She turned to walk into the bathroom.
'All right, all right, I didn't actually say the word but you should have known I meant to say it.'
'Like I should have known you didn't mean what you said earlier, you mean?'
'YES! Exactly!' Ron exclaimed.
'Oh, right, so this is all my fault then,' she said, no emotion showing in her face.
'Yes!…No!…I mean, kind of!'
'Oh, well I'm so sorry for causing you all this trouble!'
Ron roared in frustration. 'Hermione, just shut up for a minute. I admit, I shouldn't have said those things to Lavender, I should have come up with another way of telling her what was going on without lying to her, but I never thought you'd think I actually meant them. How could you not know I like your company? I love your company! We've been friends for years for Merlin's sake! You're the only person I know who can make me feel guilty about not doing my homework! To be honest this whole thing doesn't really bother me that much, I know it's gonna be a bit annoying at times, but I don't mind because it's you I'm stuck with! I just thank my lucky stars it's not Laven-…'
For the first time in minutes Hermione actually looked at Ron's face. There seemed to be a war raging in his mind.
'I…I shouldn't have said that. Look, I'm sorry, really I am, I didn't mean to get you all…you know.'
He turned and looked at her, he tried to read her face but failed. Hermione turned and walked into the bathroom. When she was out of sight Ron sighed and walked back to his bed and pulled the curtains around him.
