Sorry for the delay, I'm just going to get into it really. But I would like to clear up something very important that I seemed to leave unclear when I was writing. Ginny and Dean, while they were "hanging out" or whatever you want to call it, they were not dating or boyfriend or girlfriend yet. The party was their only date and I don't consider that officially dating or him "laying a claim" to her. This will be further addressed but I didn't want that to be shrouded in mystery for the story.
Chapter Nine
Ron sighed as he heard Hermione tossing in her sleep. Or he assumed she was asleep because of her even breathing. She hadn't spoken to him in hours and he thought he was going to freeze from the coldness radiating off of her.
She hadn't turned back to him at all during his stay in the infirmary. Lavender however had attempted repeatedly to get back into the room and—most likely—stop any possible conversation with Hermione. Not that that was a problem. However, Madam Pomfrey had refused to let her in without illness or injury in case they were contagious.
He knew though that they were both to be released in the morning. He had heard her tell Professor McGonagall who had come in worriedly after hearing that two of her prefects had become infected with some mystery illness. Which had kept one out of commission for a rather long time.
"They will both be at the feast tomorrow evening." Madam Pomfrey had said with absolute voice. "I just need to make sure they are not contagious and they can leave for most of their afternoon classes. I'm sure it's most likely exhaustion."
"Exhaustion?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed though Hermione had not stirred and Ron did not intend to make his consciousness known. "They cannot afford exhaustion during NEWT years and it's preposterous to think that Granger would ever suffer from such."
"Yes well she was sick but it was nothing wrong with her physically, it had to be mentally."
Ron shuddered. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Hermione mentally or physically or otherwise.
"Oh, Poppy don't be ridiculous." But with that she had stomped out of the room.
Ron had a suspicion that Hermione had been awake for the better part of the conversation, as he believed she was now.
"Hermione!" He whispered. "Hermione!"
He saw her let out a deep breath. "What Ronald?"
"Are you awake?"
She flipped violently in her bed to face him and he saw that she had a scarily angry look on his face but at least she was looking at him. "Yes, Ronald."
"Are you all right? I know you heard what they were saying before." He said ignoring her angry stance. He had gotten used to it by this point.
"Yes." She said. "I believe I had food poisoning and stand by it. I don't know about you but I don't take kindly to staying up late so I would like to go to bed."
"I'm sorry." He said hastily as she turned around again.
"For what?" She snapped not facing him.
"About the whole thing with Lavender." He said but had his head pressed into his pillow so it came out muffled.
"Does it matter? You are at perfect liberty to go out with whoever you like."
"Are you going to go out with Cormac again?" He blurted, unable to stop himself.
"Are you going to go out with Lavender anymore?" She whispered in a strained voice.
They laid in quiet for the rest of the night. While she hadn't said no, she hadn't said yes either. That was the important part. As well, if he had answered hers honestly it would've been no.
That was comforting enough to him. They hadn't exactly made up but he knew they had mended a bridge. He had an idea of what he had to do to get her back.
With that thought, he went to sleep.
Harry had to admit, he was quickly coming to regret his decision to wait until telling Ron to tell everyone about his relationship with Ginny. While admittedly, it was the right thing to do he could help feeling deprived.
It was only a few days after they had agreed and Harry had had to wait until after all the other students had left to kiss her.
She had been sitting on a sofa near but not directly next to him. Dean had politely chatted with her for most of the evening but Harry could see plainly on his face that he knew something had changed in the past week. Not that that was hindering him apparently.
Harry had thought he would want to hex him to the point of no recognition but he was actually feeling quite sorry for him because while Dean was staring at Ginny and talking amicably with her she was glancing over at Harry and winking at him.
Luckily for him, Dean had seemed to take that hint that Ginny was not in a very loquacious mood for the day and retreated to their dorm. He had been the last one, besides Ginny and himself, in the common room. Therefore the moment he had disappeared Harry had practically sprinted across the room and pulled her into his lap.
"So, your athletic expertise does not only pertain to Quidditch, does it Mr. Potter?" She smirked.
He shook his head and tightened his grip on her and pressed his lips to hers. He sighed happily against her lips. It was the only time he was actually happy lately. He had noticed that most teachers had given him looks of sympathy whenever he walked into the room.
Slughorn had even been less enthusiastic than normal even to the point of ignoring him.
However, Ginny had been wonderful. She had acted as if everything was going to be okay but was realistic with him in his moments of weakness.
He flipped them over so he was leaning over her completely with her hands running along his body.
"Harry." She moaned as his lips moved to her neck.
"Mhmm…" He mumbled as he moved his lips down her arm while intertwining their fingers. Her leg rose over his waist and he gripped her thigh from underneath her skirt. "You wore this today to torture me." He sang.
She giggled and shook her head but he cut off her shake with a kiss.
"I love kissing you." He moaned, her hands tangling in her hair.
She giggled again.
"When is Ron getting out of the hospital again?" He groaned, desperate to not have to wait until she was alone to touch her at all.
"This is when you want to ask about my brother?" She asked pulling his head back with her hands.
"Right." He mumbled and immediately placed his lips on her exposed chest. He reached back and untucked her shirt running his hands on her smooth back. "You're so perfect." He whispered.
"Harry." She gripped his hands in his hair. He had assumed that it was a moan of pleasure but she was suddenly tugging his hair for attention. "Harry."
"Hmm?" He said completely dazed, his head lulling on her soft body. She looked flushed and her perfect lips were swollen giving him a swell of pride.
She stayed quiet for a moment but was staring at him heavily while stroking his hair.
"What's wrong?" He asked giving a slight kiss on her exposed skin. Much more had become exposed as he had tugged at her collar earlier.
"Don't get angry but I'm worried." She said quietly.
"About what?" He asked unconcerned while turning to kiss the palm of her hand.
"I think that you are…using…physical activity to cover up your feelings about your father and Sirius." She said carefully.
"I'm fine Ginny. I'm fine because of you. You are wonderful." He said emphatically.
"Harry." She sighed. "You are not dealing with it and I am scared that it is my fault because I am distracting you."
"Ginny." He whispered placing his forehead against hers. "I am dealing with it." He kissed her lightly on the lips.
She sighed and crossed her arms with a huff.
"I'm going to bed." He muttered and kissed her quickly before running off to his room.
The next morning, Hermione made sure to go quickly out of the infirmary, as soon as Madam Pomfrey appeared.
Ron had not yet woken up and she made sure not to dawdle and rush to her room. Lavender was sleeping when she appeared but Hermione pulled back the curtains on her bed until the girls in the dorm left.
She laid quietly on her bed for a few moments. Wondering about what Ron had said to her last night. She didn't want to be with Cormac, is that what he had meant about Lavender?
Why did he have to be so moronic? Why couldn't he just talk to her? She sighed and finally drew back her curtain, throwing her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Hello Hermione."
Hermione jumped at Lavender's appearance next to her.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked shocked.
"Just waiting for you. I saw that your bed curtains were drawn and figured you had come back from the infirmary." Lavender said with a cold smile.
"Well, I'm here and well. If you don't mind, I'm rather hungry and would like to have breakfast." Hermione said hurriedly and stood up but Lavender stood up in front of her.
"I wanted to talk to you…privately. That's why I waited for you." She gave her a forced smile this time. "About Ron."
Hermione made a squeaking noise in the back of her throat.
"I know that he thinks he has feelings for you but he doesn't." Lavender snapped angrily.
Hermione began stumbling towards the door with Lavender following her. Instinctively, she reached for her wand but Lavender slapped it out of her hand across the room.
"No need for that." Hermione rammed into the door and Lavender placed her hands on her waist. "You are not to talk to Ron, at all. Don't look at him, talk to him or even say his name. Understand?"
Hermione suddenly felt angry. She stood up as tall as she could and came face to face with Lavender. "Who are you to tell me anything? If I want to talk to him, I will. In fact, I can talk to him all I want. If you have a problem with it, take it up with Ron. I don't care about your domestic squabbles. Now you listen to me, if he wants to talk to me, I will as much as I want. To tell you the truth, I wasn't even going to but now that I see how much it bothers you, I may just do it all that much more. Do you understand?"
Before Lavender could respond, Hermione stomped off into the common room.
She ended up having to miss breakfast just to get her wand back after Lavender left but it was worth it. She was proud of herself for finally standing up to someone, especially to Lavender.
There as a clamor as the students filed into the Great Hall for dinner that night. It had been quite an unusual day for most of the students as it turned out. All potions and astronomy classes had been cancelled for the whole day.
"Do you know what's going on?" Harry asked Ginny as he sat beside her.
She shook her head and smiled happily at him. "How was your day?"
"Not bad, had double potions today so I had the whole morning off. You?" He asked.
"Better, I had double astronomy and potions in the afternoon, so I had my whole afternoon free. Too bad you were in class." She winked.
"Well, if only you had told me earlier, we could've arranged something." He said with an arrogant smile.
"It was alright, I spent the afternoon with Dean." She said nonchalantly.
His hand froze over the chicken he had reached for. "What?" He asked struggling to keep his voice clear.
"Yes, he had the afternoon off as well. Why? Was there something you wanted to tell him or everyone?" She asked with a mischievous smile.
He scoffed. She was trying to make him lose. If anything, he would bet she didn't even spend time with Dean.
"When are you going to let that poor bloke off the hook?" He asked with a laugh.
"When are you going to lose?" She asked.
He shook his head and leaned closely to her, as if to kiss her. "Never." Then moved away a respectable distance.
Suddenly, Dumbledore stood and called the room to attention as the last few students filed into the room.
"I find that I have the unfortunate pleasure of announcing that your potions teacher, Professor Slughorn and Professor Vector, have both caught a case of dragon pox."
There was a gasp among the students. "There is no danger to any students, and it has been completely contained for your safety. However due to this, we have allowed them to stay on but I have decided to hire other Professors to teach their classes for the time being." Professor Dumbledore said.
Ron, however instead of listening to the health of teachers were listening was debating to himself about whether or not he should attack Lavender, who was sitting next to him, or simply reach across the table and kiss Hermione.
However Hermione was staring intently at Professor Dumbledore as he gave his speech.
She could feel his gaze on her but was attempting not to turn. However it was mostly in vain because she couldn't help but daze off to look at him. Especially, when she saw the glare that Lavender would give her when she did.
He smiled widely when he noticed that she was staring back at him and his ears began to turn red.
She giggled to herself, not being able to help it.
Just as she looked away, Lavender turned to their gaze and her face puckered angrily. The stupid slag was trying to get her boyfriend but it wasn't going to work. She waited until she noticed that Hermione was looking and grabbed Ron's neck intending to give him a good snog with Hermione looking. She got as far as having his lips on hers before he shrugged—and lightly pushed—her off.
"We have hired Professor Snape to replace Professor Slughorn and Professor Potter to replace Professor Vector."
Harry's head shot up at his last name. He suddenly noticed that his mother was sitting at the staff's table next to Remus. How had he missed that?
Oh right, Ginny had been teasing him.
Dumbledore quickly finished his speech. "We need to talk. Now." Ron said and stood up, storming out of the Great Hall with Lavender trailing behind him.
Hermione, unable to help herself followed him and Lavender, but trailed behind so they wouldn't be able to see her.
Harry stood up as people began exiting the Great Hall. "I'll see you upstairs." He whispered to Ginny before walking up to his mother.
"Mum, what are you doing here?" Harry asked as he stood next to her and Lupin.
"Nice to see you too son." She said but without her normal luster. He noticed that her eyes had deep bags under them and her skin was paler than normal. He instantly felt guilty and knew that it was because of his father.
Lupin looked at Harry and Harry instantly knew what he was telling him. Dumbledore had hired his mother because Lupin had been worried about her. He instantly knew that his father needed to come home because he wasn't sure if she would be able to live without him.
He took his mother's hand slowly not caring if the other students saw. "Come on Mum, I'll walk you to your room."
She smiled at him but he could see that it didn't really reach her eyes.
Lupin sighed as they walked away. He was genuinely concerned for Lily. After she had left Hogwarts a few weeks ago, he had not heard from her for more than a week. He had forced himself to go and check on her, despite his fear that he would find her dead.
It had been irrational but he could not imagine Lily living beyond James. He wasn't even sure how they had existed before. How all of them existed before Lily.
It had been a long time but when they were in school, they had been reckless and dangerous and Lily had calmed them all. She had genuinely cared for the three boys, albeit James more. It had never bothered Sirius and him before.
He made a groan. Sirius was his best friend, especially more after James and Lily had gotten together, not that he loved them any less, but they had banded together. He sighed.
Then he couldn't help himself, he couldn't imagine what Sirius or James would say if they found out that Snape was working there. Well, he could but it wouldn't be nice.
He had noticed that Snape had been staring at Lily most of the night. He knew that Harry had not noticed or Snape would most likely have been injured in some way or form. He didn't have a doubt that when Snape found out that James was missing that he would try to talk to Lily.
Or worse, however, he wasn't planning to let Snape get that far. Especially, if it would be the last thing he did for James.
"What the bloody hell is your problem?" Ron shouted at Lavender. "I don't know why you hate Hermione so much!"
"I don't know why you like her so much!" Lavender shouted, the words echoing in the hall. No one besides them had bothered to leave the Great Hall yet, seeing as desert hadn't even been served yet.
"She's my best friend! She's definitely been there more often than you have that's for sure. If you want to be with me you'd better get used to the fact that she's hanging around because she's not leaving." Ron said angrily.
Lavender scoffed. "Let's get this straight, if you want to be with me, you'd better stop hanging around with her!"
"Well, I won't…" He sighed and crossed his arms. "So I guess you'd better stop hanging around me."
Hermione couldn't help herself but smile as she eavesdropped on the conversation. Ron was choosing her, over his girlfriend. She bit her bottom lip and hugged herself happily before walking away, not wanting to get caught by Ron. She had a feeling they might begin talking to each other again that night.
Lavender let out a scream of aggravation. "You're choosing her."
"Yes." Ron said simply.
"You're going to regret this." Lavender said angrily.
"I don't think I will."
"She doesn't care for you the way you think she does." She seethed and moved closer to him with a snakelike movement. "She'll never love you." Then she stomped away.
He could feel his insecurity eating at him. Lavender was wrong. Maybe.
"So," Lily said as she lead Harry to her room. "Will I be seeing your girlfriend in my class tomorrow?"
"Ginny's a fifth…oh…" He suddenly realized that he had never told his mother that she was his girlfriend. "How did you know?"
"I know these things as a mother. I also saw the way you two were with each other during the feast." She said quietly.
"Of course you did." Harry laughed. "Just don't go spreading it around mum."
"Well, why ever not? My son is in love for the first time, I should have the right to spread it to all my friends." She said.
"We're not telling anyone yet. First of all, I'm friends with her brother and I need to talk to him before I talk to anyone else." He explained stopping in front of what seemed to be her residence in the castle.
"And…?" She asked.
"And that bloke she went to the party with is my roommate and I'd rather he didn't kill me in my sleep." He said hoping to get a laugh from her. However she just stared blankly at him.
"Don't wait too long sweetheart." She said and placed her hand on his cheek. "Time is always of essence."
Harry gulped. He knew they weren't talking about him and Ginny anymore.
"Why don't you bring her to my office tomorrow for dinner?" She asked suddenly. She seemed out of her stupor for a moment but then slipped back in.
"I don't know mum, it's—"
"I could always make them detentions instead." She smirked.
"Alright, I'll come. Might as well tell Lupin to come." He mumbled.
"I will darling, wonderful idea." She seemed renovated at this idea.
He smiled. It might be annoying but if it made his mother happy, it would be alright.
There was a shadow of a black cloaked man, running away, however neither noticed.
"You look so much like your father." Lily whispered before kissing him on the head and walking away.
Lupin sighed as he unlocked his office door. It was late and he hadn't been planning to working but he was finding it impossible to stop thinking about Sirius and James. He wouldn't be able to sleep at all.
As he walked into the office, he was suddenly aware that he wasn't alone. There was a small body sleeping on his sofa.
"Tonks?" He whispered. Her bright pink head shot out of the cushion and she looked around confused. "What are you doing here?"
He instantly regretted his words as he lit the lamp and realized she had tear streaks down her face. "What's wrong?" He jumped to sit next to her and threw his arm around her shoulder.
"Nothing, I was coming to talk to you and I saw the…the photo." She whispered pointing to the photo of Lupin and Sirius sitting on the table next to her.
"Tonks, I'm sorry." He said and placed the photo face down.
She shook her head. "It just caught me off guard. I'm just worried and being stupid."
He shook his head. "It's not stupid. Anyway, why are you here?"
She let out a little sigh. "Oh I had forgotten. It's awful Remus." She whispered.
"What?" He asked worriedly.
"I just thought you ought to hear it from me before it reached the Prophet." She said and took his hand.
His breath stilled. "What?"
"They're adding another anti-werewolf law. They're going to make it illicit for you to work at Hogwarts. Too much of a security risk, they say." She said. "I'm so sorry Remus. Well some of us down at the Ministry tried to stop it but that stupid Umbridge is over our heads. There were was nothing we could do!"
He looked at her sadly. "I knew it was only a matter of time." She looked at him skeptically. "Honestly."
She placed her hand on his cheek and rubbed slowly.
"How long?" He asked.
"Well, with the legalities of it all, maybe until break but when they get back it should be enacted." She kissed him slowly. "I'm sorry."
He nodded and wrapped his arm around her waist. Suddenly, glad she was there to distract him from his practically empty life.
Ok, well that's it for today because it is lateeee. So I hope you guys liked it and I hope you guys liked the last HP movie :( I did especially how they went off canon for Neville and Luna. Hehe, that's the only problem I ever had with the original series lol. Well like last time if you review, you'll get a special preview probably tomorrow cause I'm going out of town for a couple of days but I'll be back by Wednesday.
Anyway, if anyone wants to share their thoughts of the movie, I'm open to talking about it. I won't respond or talk about it in the author notes until next chapter for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
Don't forget review for a preview! They make the gaping hole the last movie left, smaller!
