When I was JK Rowling I would have used my millions of pounds to pull a mission impossible and steal the 6th movie from WB, so my loyal fans wouldn't have to wait any mnute longer...
45. (About dating and patrolling)
"They can conquer who believe they can."
Virgil
"Hi Cormac," Hermione greeted the seventh year Gryffindor.
"Oh, hi. You're Hermione, right?"
It annoyed Hermione immensely that the guy barely knew her name after all those Slug-club evenings, but she kept smiling.
"Yes. Listen, I was wondering if you already have a date for the Christmas party from Slughorn."
Hermione wished that the guy didn't look so smug when the word "date" came up. She actually wished she never had started this conversation at all.
"Well, no. I mean, Caroline Gernin already asked me, but obviously I had to say no. She's not a Gryffindor. Not even a member of the Slug Club!" Cormac nearly shouted.
Was Hermione really sinking this low? The image of Ron and Lavender sprang into her head immediately. Yes, she really was. If this could make Ron feel a little bit of the pain she felt every day, she would definitely do it.
"I heard from old Sluggy yesterday that Gwenog Jones is coming again! Last time, she told me that she would like to see me fly, when I had told her about that Wronski Feint I did during the summer. It would be great to set a date with her on the party!"
"Hmm, yeah," she murmured back. But was Ron actually going to feel that pain? He obviously didn't like her as much as she liked him. Maybe he couldn't care less about whom she accompanied to the party.
On the other hand… no matter what had or hadn't happened between them, she and Ron had been friends. As a friend, it would at least bother him that she was going with a guy he absolutely despised…. And in that case, Cormac was really the best guy she could take, if she didn't want to end up with a Slytherin. No way was she going to go with Malfoy.
"So, I was wondering," she cut Cormac off in mid-sentence, which seemed to annoy him immensely, "maybe we should go together to the party. I mean, we're both Gryffindors, and in the Slug Club..."
"Of course I would like to go with you! Meet me in front of the Fat Lady at eight?"
It stung her that he immediately took over, but she didn't let him notice. Her fake smile tightly stayed plastered to her face.
"Sure! See you then!"
"Oh, yeah, before I forget, can you wear something blue that evening?"
She looked up, surprised by that strange question.
"Well, obviously you can't clash with my robes…"
She needed to remind herself at that moment that it would look ridiculous if she showed up at the Christmas party being escorted by a dead body. She would be doing Ron a favour if she killed him, and that was something she definitely didn't want to do.
"I'll see if I can find something suitable, Cormac," she replied in a dangerously sweet tone.
Cormac smiled back and turned around. "See you then!"
Hermione also turned around and walked up to the portrait hole, to start on her usual Saturday night patrol.
It was quiet in the corridors. Since Katie had been attacked, the ghosts had been asked to patrol too, but besides them, no one was still out of their rooms. When she walked back to the common room, she met her first living person since Cormac three hours ago. Or actually, two persons.
Ron and Cameron, the Head-Girl.
"Hi Hermione," Carmeron greeted her, sounding angry. "I just spoke to Ron here. Apparently, you don't find it necessary to patrol the corridors together?"
"Um…" For a moment, Hermione was speechless. She quickly glanced at Ron, who was trying to look everywhere but at her.
"Well, I do think it's necessary. Need I remind you that there's a war going on outside there walls? And that one of our fellow Gryffindors has been attacked? And that especially now, it's important for the students to feel safe and be safe?"
"No, of course we know that!"
"Well, one of the ways to secure them is making sure the corridors aren't crowded with Death Eaters. And guess what? That's your job!'
If the Wizarding world had some kind of army, Hermione was sure Cameron would have been an excellent sergeant.
"But we have been patrolling!" Ron said indignantly. "Just…"
"Which makes it a lot safer for the students, but a lot less safer for the sole prefect that's patrolling!"
This time, Ron didn't find anything to say back. Hermione got the sudden urge to hit Ron with something, so instead, she focused on Cameron. The girl, unfortunately, also focused on Hermione.
"Hermione, this was your last patrol alone. I don't care what your reasons were for patrolling individually, but it's ending tonight. When's your next patrol?"
"Tuesday," they both replied.
"Good. I expect to see the both of you patrolling the corridors and not one of you with his girlfriend in the common room-" she glanced at Ron, "or with her books in the library." The stern glance rested on Hermione, and she nodded. "I will inform Professor McGonagall once I notice again that you're not patrolling together. Oh, and Ron, to make up for this missed evening, I want you to patrol also on the last Friday before the holidays, with Ernie MacMillan from Hufflepuff. Goodnight." With that, Cameron opened the portrait hole and walked in. When the painting closed again, the Fat Lady eyed Ron and Hermione curiously.
"Did you tell her that we weren't patrolling together anymore?" Hermione blurted.
"No, of course not! As if I would like to spend extra time with the person who attacked me with birds!" He held up his arm to show the still visible scratches. Hermione couldn't help but feel a bit triumphant. Maybe sending another flock of birds would really help her get that nasty feeling off her chest.
An awkward silence followed. Ron glanced at the portrait hole. "So what do we do?" he asked after a while.
"I'm patrolling Tuesday. I'm not planning to disobey Cameron. Unlike you, I like being a prefect."
Ron flushed. "So that just means I'm forced to come too?"
"No, that's your own choice." And then, before she could stop herself, she added: "Just like Lavender was."
Before she could say anything else she might regret, or hear his reply, she walked up to the portrait hole, climbed through it, and went to her dormitory. By then, the tears were already rolling down her face. It had felt good to be so calm against Ron, but it had needed so much control, so much coldness.
It goes without saying that the patrol that Tuesday was a disaster. It was harder then she thought to not say anything to Ron for that long. They both did their best to avoid their eyes and even when they had caught a couple of fourth-years in the broom closet near the Great Hall, they handled it in almost complete silence. Hermione had opened the door, Ron had docked off some points and sent them to their common room and Hermione had closed the door again.
When she fell onto her bed that night, she was almost absolutely certain that asking Cormac out had been the right thing. But somehow, a small part of her mind couldn't be comforted with the fact that she would pay Ron back. That part didn't want revenge. That part wanted her friend back.
Not much news going on in this chapter, but I hope you liked it nonetheless...
Thanks for the many reviews from last chapter-it almost takes me an hour to reply to all of them...
Next up: Ginny finally confronts Hermione...and we hear about a whole new problem that the bushy-brown-haired girl has to cope with...
leave a review and I'll be sure to reply!
x-mokimik-x
