Here it is! It's basically chapter 11, part 2, but it has some different situations in it, also. Enjoy!
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Hermione flopped onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling with her limbs splayed out at her side. Her eyes were still damp, but they were slowly drying themselves. The day had just been so…ugh! It wasn't even noon yet, but it had taken a turn for the worst.
The past few weeks had been going downhill for her relationship with Ron; it seemed that all they ever did anymore was fight. She tried not to be engaged in such stupid squabbles, but Ron was making that a very hard task to partake in. It was like he wanted to constantly fight with her!
Of course, she wasn't so stupid and egotistical to think that it was entirely his fault. She knew that every fight that had ever existed, whether or not it involved her or not, had two sides to it, and therefore the blame should be shared. Furthermore, however, that didn't necessarily mean that the share was equal.
And in this situation, Hermione was almost entirely convinced that the fault was less on her shoulders than it was on Ron's.
For just that morning, they'd gotten into another of their famous quarrels….
Hermione walked into the busy Great Hall, readjusting the piles and piles of books and paperwork in her arms. She'd taken the liberty to grab her friends' schoolwork along with hers, sure that they'd appreciate her initiative.
Reaching where Harry, Ron, and Ginny were sitting, she dropped the books on the table, giving her aching muscles a rest. Unfortunately for Ron, his cereal bowl shook violently as the heavy objects hit the table, splashing half a spoonful of milk onto his robes.
"Oi!" he exclaimed, looking put off at his barely damp clothing.
Hermione rolled her eyes, smiling nonetheless as she sat down. "Sorry, Ronald. Anyways," she said, turning to address Harry along with the redhead. "I've brought down your guys' schoolwork along with mine. I thought it best for us to get a good start on it today so that we'll have less tomorrow. Besides, there's way too much for us to complete it to the best of our abilities the night before it's due."
Harry nodded as he slowly buttered a piece of toast. "Yeah, okay. Makes sense."
Ron, on the other hand, seemed quite opposed to this proposition. "But Hermione," he argued. "It's Saturday. You know, the day to relax and do nothing? Ring a bell?"
Hermione sighed. "Yes, Ron, it 'rings a bell.' I just thought that if we work for an hour or two, we'd save ourselves some hassle and stress tomorrow night."
"Well," the redhead objected. "I'd prefer to spend my Saturday in the way I want to."
Ginny exchanged a glance with Hermione, who was slowly beginning to become irritated. "Ron, are you okay? Is something the matter?"
He let out a pff of annoyance. "No, Hermione, nothing's the matter. I'm just getting tired of you pushing your studying schedule on us all the time. I mean, I would like to have some of my time be managed by myself every once in a while."
"Well okay," she contradicted. "But I'm doing this for your best interest. I like relaxing as much as the next girl, but this has to get done, so why not finish it early?"
Ron laughed as he slopped his spoon back into his bowl. "You like relaxing? I'd never know it from all the time you spend reading!"
Hermione blinked in surprise at his response. Funny…it sounded almost exactly like something a certain blond had told her just in the past couple weeks.
"I'm sorry, Ron," she said, frustration leaking into her voice. "But where would the three of us be if I hadn't spent as much time in the library and around books as I do? We wouldn't have survived first year!"
"Yeah, well, that's your thing, Hermione." Ron rolled his eyes. "I, on the other hand, have some actual hobbies."
Hermione let out a single harsh laugh. "Oh, like what? Pathetically practicing for Quidditch? You know that if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be on the team, right?"
Hermione felt a jolt of pleasure at the furious look that crossed his face. It was surprising to her that she felt so smug about it, even more so that she felt no guilt about what she'd said.
"I didn't need you to help me!" he spluttered. "I could have made it without you hexing Cormac!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Sure, Ron, keep telling yourself that."
Harry, sensing an oncoming explosion from Ron, tried to intervene. "Guys, why don't we just—"
"I will keep telling myself that because it's the truth!" Ron snapped, voice slowly rising in volume. "I don't need you to constantly help me with every little thing, Hermione! I'm fully capable of handling my own issues!"
"Oh, okay then! I'll remember that the next time you ask me to help you with your homework, the homework that you are too lazy to do on your own! Either that or you're just too stupid to know how to figure it out by yourself!"
Ron slammed his hand into the table. "No, I don't need you to do it for me! You ever wondered why I always ask you to do it? Because I know you'll do it, all of it, just because you have nothing better to do! You spend all your time cooped up in the library or with your nose shoved into some damn book! And you're so eager and willing to do the work for me that I'd be an idiot not to take advantage of it!"
Hermione stood, eyes welling up in angry tears, though she refused to let them fall. "You think I want to do everything for you? That I'm just waiting for you to ask for my help so that I can jump up and help you?"
Ron stood, too, eyes narrowing in anger. "Um, yeah! Anyone can tell that that's all you do because it's your favorite pastime!"
"Well maybe I've been helping you because I'm your friend!" Hermione yelled, running a hand through her already messy hair in frustration. "I thought you appreciated it, but apparently I'm only here to do your work for you! I thought you actually were glad that I was so willing! But I guess I was wrong, wasn't I?"
"Yes!" Ron shouted, hands on the table. Almost the entire hall was watching them now, entranced by their fight. "I know, it must be shocking to you, isn't it? The great Hermione Granger was wrong about something. A first for you, isn't it? Big deal! You were wrong! But I suppose that's your worst nightmare. Because being around all those books has made your head so big that you know everything, so getting something wrong must be a shocker, huh? Face the music, Hermione! You don't know what you're doing! You're book smart, but aside from that, you have nothing! So stop telling me how to run my life. I can do it on my own, without you! I don't need some stuck-up know-it-all to order me around!"
Hermione stood there stiffly, watching him with brown eyes full of hurt and fury. How could he say that to her? After all of these years?
The hall was silent as they anticipated her retort. But it didn't come. She just stood there, staring at Ron with her brown eyes that were filled to the brim with emotion.
After a long and suspenseful moment, she took an unsteady breath. "Fine," she managed, her voice surprisingly strong and fierce. "I'll leave you alone. Have fun finding someone else who can put up with your bullshit."
Ignoring Harry and Ginny's pleadings, Hermione gathered the books and papers in her arms and swooped from the hall, her eyes filling with tears now that she was alone. Wanting to get away from everyone else, she went to the one place she knew would be deserted on such a beautiful Saturday morning.
And as she'd predicted, the library was uninhabited. Finding a table in the corner of the room, she sat down, sighing as she covered her head with her arms. Why did they have to get into fights so much? Why couldn't they just get along like they used to?
She didn't understand it. She thought that they were supposed to be together, but things had just gotten worse over the past few months. He'd been getting angrier at her for the dumbest things, like her offering to help them with homework, and had said some nasty things. She didn't know why she kept forgiving him, but she did.
She swallowed as a silent tear slipped from her eye. She really needed to get herself a backbone. Maybe it was her fault that he'd gotten mad at her today. If she'd been less movable over the past few years, than maybe he wouldn't have been so careless about their friendship and used her so much.
Because he had used her. If what he said was true, then he really didn't think she was anything more than a walking dictionary, someone to do the hard work for him. Was that all their friendship was based off of? Had Malfoy been right when he said they only kept her around for her brains?
No, she thought. He's just mad. He didn't mean what he said. He was just mad.
Wishing desperately that she could fully believe herself, Hermione gathered her things and left the library. It had been half an hour since she'd fled the Great Hall, so hopefully everyone was gone from the castle by now.
But not her. She had no intentions of going outside. She'd rather go to her dorm and read.
It angered her to think that Ron was right about one thing, that she preferred her books to any other hobby. But she wouldn't let his words change who she was.
While she was walking down an empty corridor on the third floor, she looked out the window and onto the Hogwarts grounds. Below her, she could make out little people as they went about their Saturdays, laughing and talking in the sun. Squinting her eyes, she even thought she could make out a black haired boy and two redheads as they walked to Hagrid's hut.
Unfortunately for Hermione, her distraction led to her obliviousness of the pile of books she was currently carrying. With a small tilt, they fell over, scattering on the stone floor.
This was enough to push her over the edge. Letting out a sob, she leaned over, hurriedly picking up the books and parchment around her as the tears poured down her face.
Today was turning out to be just peachy.
And then suddenly, she felt a shove from behind and she fell over. She let go of the books she'd retrieved, hands out in front of her to stop her descent, though they did nothing to keep her from unceremoniously crashing to the floor in a tangle of brown hair and black robes.
She didn't need to look up to see who the cruel laugh belonged to. Instead, she bowed her head, wiping her eyes to try to keep him from seeing her crying. If he saw, it'd just be another thing he could hold over her head, another example of how much of a weak mudblood she was.
But she knew that he'd seen her tear streaked face when his footsteps stopped at the end of the hallway and she could feel his piercing eyes on her. She prayed that he'd just leave her alone, but she heard his footsteps approaching and readied herself for his torment.
Yet it never came. Instead, he kneeled next to her and gathered the books and parchment, piling them together and doing his best to organize the mess. Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing; was Malfoy actually helping her?
He was surprising her quite a lot this week.
Her eyes followed his every moment, bewildered at what was happening. No, this couldn't be him. She was dreaming, surely. This was all wrong.
He frowned as he flipped through a few of the textbooks, then scowled and added them to the rest of the pile. Finished with his work, he stood up…
And offered her his hand. In awe of what was happening, she took it, brain too numb to even comprehend anything.
Soon afterwards, they'd parted ways, Hermione's mind a jumbled mess of thoughts. Why had the boy who hated her and whom she equally despised just done something nice for her?
He's just paying you back, she thought. After you helped him, and all. That's it.
But then why had he said that she shouldn't be "their bitch"? Of course saying it like that sounded like an insult, but she knew what he meant. He was saying that she shouldn't do every little thing Ron and Harry told her to do, that she should stick up for herself.
So then she was right when she'd thought she needed a backbone. Even Malfoy, who didn't pay any attention to her at all, could see it.
Confused beyond words and competent thoughts, Hermione headed to her dorm, ready for the day to be over already. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and read.
And forget about everything that had just happened. The entire morning had been too perplexing for her to even begin to comprehend.
2253 words. Longer than I expected this chapter to be XD
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