Not my Lunar Harmony like I've been doing, but I had an idea and decided to give normal Harmony a try. So, apologies to my Lunar Harmony readers, but no poly relationship this time. I would also like to warn you, this one got away on me and wound up being far longer than I expected or planned.
This work, as well as my next (at this moment half-written) Lunar Harmony work are part of something of an experiment I'm doing, so we'll have to see how it goes.
I'd also like to mention I haven't seen nor read Half Blood Prince (the only one I haven't). However, I do know all plot points, and have seen many clips/scenes. One of which inspired this work.
Enjoy.
Boys are mean to you when they like you.
Hermione really wished she knew whoever it was that said that. If she ever got her hands on the answer to that fact, and some kind of proper time travel spell or artifact, she fully intended to take the opportunity to throttle the person to death.
Seriously, that had to be some of the most awful pieces of advices to ever give young girls. It was like encouraging accepting bad behavior as 'normal'.
For years now, that piece of shoddy advice was what Hermione told herself. It was the only way to justify Ron's terrible behavior toward her. It wasn't until this year, that Hermione decided she might try and see if there was any truth to that old saying.
Only at the last second, the metaphorical door slammed shut in her face.
Now, Ron was with Lavender, and Hermione was barely an afterthought. Hermione liked to think she was better than this, and not so shallow as to be heartbroken over a boy, and yet, here she was bawling her eyes out into Harry's shoulder.
At least she wasn't alone, Harry was in a similar boat. Feelings for someone who didn't return them that you thought would. On one hand, misery did indeed love company, but on the other, it made Hermione feel awful that her best friend had to go through this like she was. He deserved better.
Unlike her, Harry took his pain and did exactly that, he took it. There were no tears, no shaking or sobs. Just a few words of bitter and grim acceptance of his own pain while he held the sobbing witch. Even as he suffered, Harry's first and only thought was comforting her. He didn't even hardly react when she stupidly mentioned Ginny and Dean.
She meant it, when she said he was her best friend. No one had ever done as much for her, and continued to do so, in her entire life. She'd give anything if she could alleviate some of his own sorrow, anything.
It was that final thought that planted the seed of an idea that would soon sprout.
After far too long of Hermione crying, Harry finally managed to coax her to stand and go back to the common room. Although, he did promise if Ron and Lavender were there, he'd take her somewhere else, anywhere else, if that was what she needed. They'd barely made it two steps before Harry stopped them both.
"Hold on."
Hermione was about to ask what was wrong when Harry, surprisingly gently, cupped her cheek. The brunette witch said nothing while Harry's sleeve wiped away at the tears that were staining her, now much hotter, cheeks.
No boy had ever touched her like that before, so tenderly and looked at her with such concern at the same time. It was then, that the idea came to mind.
"Uh, Hermione?"
"What?"
"You're getting that look again."
"What look?"
"The one you get when you have an idea you're not sure about."
"I don't have a…" Hermione paused. Harry was her best friend, and knew her better than anyone save her parents. If he said she had a specific look, he was probably right. "Do I?"
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"So?"
"So what?"
"Your idea?"
"It's nothing." Hermione tried to brush it off and resume their trek, but Harry stopped her with a loose hold on her wrist. While she could have instantly broken free, she didn't really want to.
"Hermione." Harry said just her name, eight simple letters, but it was the way that he did so that snapped up her attention. With a hand on her shoulder, he waited.
"It's… not important."
"Do you really think that?" Harry asked. "In all the years I've known you, I don't think you've had a single idea that was not important in some way or another. Don't you trust me?"
"With my life." The reply from Hermione was instantaneous, without the tiniest fraction of hesitation, because it was the truth.
"Then trust me now." Harry's lips raised in a fond and reassuring smile. "Maybe this might distract you? Make you feel better?"
Oh, Harry had no idea what was running through her mind, right now. But there was something in his eyes, his smile, the reassuring hand lightly squeezing her shoulder that made her mind all but demand she tell him.
"I think we should date." Hermione blurted out without any form of subtlety or nuance.
"What?" Harry was, understandably, thrown for a loop.
"I…" Hermione wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, and reminded herself she was in that house for a reason. "I think we should date."
"Okay." Harry said slowly like he was still processing what he was hearing. "Why?"
Hermione sighed while remembering the current school year thus far, and ignored the painful stabs in her heart this year had caused. "Everyone is pairing up and I feel like we both got…"
"Left behind?"
"Not sure I'd say that." Hermione shrugged. "But I guess we can go with that. And you know I don't have much dating experience, and neither do you."
"You can say that again." Harry huffed, his lips pressed into a thin line.
"Anyway…" Hermione would have been angry about being interrupted so many times by anyone, but Harry never did it to be rude. "Why don't you and I give it a try? We're best friends, and know each other inside and out. At worst, we're both mature enough to not let this affect our friendship."
"Great." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "I was hoping this wasn't some kind of plot to make Ron jealous."
"Merlin, no." Hermione wrinkled her nose in revulsion at the very idea. "Wait, did you think I…"
"Not in the slightest." Harry was quick to nip that in the bud. "I just wanted to hear you say it."
"So…" Hermione bit her lip. "What do you think?"
Harry stopped to gather his thoughts and mull over what the witch was offering.
"Okay."
"Okay?" Hermione stared at her dearest friend dumbfounded. "Just okay?"
"Umm… What else are you supposed to say?" Harry rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I don't know, want to shake on it?"
"That would be fi…" Hermione's response died in her throat as it occurred to her what she was about to say. "Oh, for the love of… we're clueless, here, aren't we?"
Hermione found herself at a total loss. She'd been so focused on the beginning, the build-up, she'd completely, utterly, neglected to put a single braincell into a very important question and part of… this.
Now what?
Okay, Harry and her were now a couple, an actual, dating, couple, but what in the hell were they supposed to do now? Hermione had never had a boyfriend before, and she hadn't put much thoughts into boys or romance until this year.
Hermione's first thought had to been to go to the first place she always did when new or missing information was required. The same place any sane or even crazy person should go to for knowledge.
The library.
This hope was dashed quickly when Hermione discovered her beloved books would grant her no special insight or help in this new endeavor. Yes, she sought information, but apparently the Hogwarts library and its wealth of tomes, both ancient and slightly more modern, lacked exactly this type.
The idea of a library missing information, any information, almost made Hermione's brain short-circuit. But she needed to find what she was searching for, and that was enough to put it off.
Evaluating her options, Hermione found herself coming up short.
Talk to the professors? While she was sure they preferred the students to come to them with problems, somehow, she doubted this was the kind of issue they wanted to deal with. It was a pity Hogwarts didn't have a school councilor like her muggle school did.
Talk to her friends? Hermione was seriously lacking in those seeing as how Harry was part of the problem, and Luna would probably give an unhelpful 'Luna answer', and Ron was… probably busy having Lavender sucking his face off.
Bleh… Hermione had to once again stifle her vomit at that mental image. At least she wasn't crying at the slightest provocation anymore, so that was a plus. It helped that Hermione reminded herself she didn't need Ron, never did, and she had Harry now who actually did care about her wellbeing and needs.
Hermione could go to her roommates, seeing as how those witches had been talking about boys since practically their first year. Then again, Hermione was adamant her body would be unable to handle the embarrassment that would bring and she'd be forced to run, or faint, part way through. Neither course of action would be healthy for the bushy-haired witch's dignity.
One last avenue of help remained open, though Hermione would have to break once of her own personal rules to do so. This was an emergency, though, at least Hermione told herself that it was.
Once Hermione was alone in her dorm, and said roommates were away, and far from the common room to boot, did the witch make her move.
A simple alohomora later, and Parvati's trunk was opened. Hermione would have targeted Lavender's, but Hermione was wise enough to know she couldn't trust herself not to dump half a dozen, or more, curses onto anything she could find in there. To be fair, it was already pushing it by going after her other roommates' trunk.
Spotting her quarry, Hermione snatched up the prize and placed them upon the closest bed. Only after double-checking the locking spell she'd placed on the door, did she dare to crack open one of the pilfered magazines.
Hermione wondered what Harry or anyone else would say to Hermione Granger, one of the best and brightest witches in Hogwarts recent history, the same witch who regularly expressed her disgust at other girls near her age obsessing with romance and boys, desperately looking for answers in an issue of Witch Weekly.
While not actually books, Hermione knew these pseudo-books contained knowledge she needed, so she would treat them with the proper respect and due reverence her more regular books deserved and received. It was only fair.
At least until Hermione was a couple articles in, at which point she had to slam the magazine shut, an action that lacked its usual gravitas due to the item in question not being a heavy tome. Discarding the first magazine, a now blushing Hermione decided to risk opening and examining the second one.
The blush deepened before Hermione abandoned all pretenses of respect and reverence. The magazines finding themselves unceremoniously dumped back into the home trunk as brutally as Crabbe or Goyle with their textbooks.
With her face burning hotter than a furnace, Hermione promptly sat back on her own bed, snatched up one of her own pillows and pressed it to her face.
It was fortunate the material on the pillow was quite thick and fantastic for muffling purposes. Otherwise, the witch's unaltered scream would have alerted half the school.
Only once she was out of air did Hermione dare let the pillow down. Only for her to bring it back up a second later for an additional round of muffled screaming.
This was maddening! And the filth they dared to put into those abominations! Do people seriously consider such rubbish literature? Their very existence was an insult to genuine literature everywhere! Who reads such drivel?
"Witches who don't know how to act with their new boyfriend…" Hermione sulked, pressing her slightly cooler hands into her still blazing cheeks. It didn't help much, but it did soothe her hot flesh a little.
When she approached him about it, because not even Hermione was so ignorant as to miss that couples should be open and communicative, Harry advised they should just take things slow and easy. Don't overthink anything, which was difficult for her to do, and just let things happen as they happen. 'Be ourselves' was the boy's exact words. When asked about where he learned that, Harry admitted he'd overheard a few relationship tips from other student's conversations.
While Hermione was skeptical to trust such expressions anymore, even more so since she couldn't vet their sources, she had no choice but to give it a try. Worst case scenario, she and Harry would adapt and figure their way out like they always have.
After a handful of days as a new couple, with this equally new mindset adopted, Hermione made an astonishing discovery.
Nothing had really changed from their time before the relationship.
Hermione and Harry still sat together for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Both knew the others class schedule by heart and knew exactly where their daily paths intersected so they could chat briefly about their day, and partnered in the classes they did have. Hugs and small displays of affection like pats on the back or hands on the shoulder were still commonplace. They'd occasionally walked arm in arm in the last couple years, too. No one batted an eye over that now, either. Not even them using the other as a pillow during study sessions, whether it was a leg, a shoulder, or an arm, warranted a mention. This was simply their normal.
Sweet Merlin, had she and Harry been acting like a couple for years now without either realizing it? To think, she'd often called Harry dense in the emotional department…
At least their fellow students hadn't started in on them with the teasing and annoying comments.
Alright, so Hermione and Harry hadn't really sung of their new relationship to the world from the battlements. While other couples might like doing that, this couple had no intentions of making some official announcement. It was their business and both witch and wizard felt it should stay as such. Besides, the only people in the entire school whose opinions mattered was their own.
Granted, the couple hadn't exactly reached the 'kissing' stage of romance yet, but neither were exactly in a rush for that. Not to mention, Harry despised attention, and public displays of affections definitely brought a lot of that down on one's head. It was for the same reason the duo were not too big on holding hands at the moment, at least not where people could see them. Now, under tables? That was a different story.
People would find out when they found out. Beyond that, Hermione didn't really care all that much. A sentiment she could tell Harry shared without even asking him.
Eventually, people would catch on, but for now, it was irrelevant.
Too bad for them, most of the school was going to be in the know a lot sooner than either expected.
It stared out simple enough. Hermione and Harry sat together in the common room working on their latest homework. Well, Harry was. Hermione had finished hers an hour ago but was happily helping her boyfriend with his.
No offense to Harry, but he wasn't exactly the smarted wizard in the school. Then again, comparing his intellect to hers was blatantly unfair. What Harry did have, however, was a quality that most lacked.
Harry cared. While people like Ron, also not the sharpest tool in the shed, would blunder through their work as fast as possible to get it over with, and learn little to nothing. Harry would actually try his best to understand, even if it was purely for his girlfriend's benefit.
Hermione didn't miss how Harry had noticeably improved his study habits since they started dating. This could have just been because Ron was no longer dragging his heels and sidetracking them constantly, he was far too busy with Lavender to pay them any mind lately, anyway. However, this new, more academically minded Harry, started shortly after they became an official couple.
Hermione, always the one to need answers to a problem she discovered, had to ask harry about it.
"You've always been trying to hard to help us, and we made it so difficult." Harry had told her. "You deserve better, so I'm going to try harder, for you."
While it wasn't some declaration of love or some other hogwash, Hermione would never out loud admit to the internal squeal of joy and the way she nearly melted upon hearing that. Maybe she would tell him about it later.
While Harry did put more work in than ever, he was still human and so was she. When the yawns started, it was usually marked as a fine time to call it quits for the day. After all, no one, herself included, was immune to burn out.
Abandoning the surprisingly comfy pillow that was Harry's shoulder, Hermione didn't bat an eye when Harry rose and offered his hand. Pulling Hermione to her feet, Harry linked his arm with hers and walked her over to the stairs leading to her dorm.
Yes, it was a total ten or so steps from where they were working, but Harry insisted on doing this every night since they first got together. It was probably going to be one of the biggest red flags that finally snagged people's notice.
Harry had the same lack of dating experience she did, but one of the things he'd overheard through the years was how it was only right, and gentlemanly, for the boy to walk the girl home after a date. In Harry's eyes, anything they did was considered a date, and tonight had been no exception. Even if her home was a small dorm, and the walk had been a handful of steps, it still counted.
How on earth Harry had no clue how things like this affected Hermione's insides was anyone's guess. One of these days, she was going to get accustomed to the crazy butterflies, but it wasn't going to be tonight.
At the foot of the stairs, the couple shared their now customary good night hug but just when they were about to part like normal, something changed.
Both had paused at the exact moment, Harry's arms loosely around her waist, Hermione's own in the same type of hold around his neck. But what had realty enraptured Hermione was her boyfriend's eyes.
Were Harry's eyes always such a gorgeous shade of green?
The pair moved like a matched set of magnets, neither was really sure who moved first, but it didn't matter. The end result was the same.
It wasn't until recently that Hermione had put much thoughts into kissing. Yes, she knew what it was, but never understood why everyone made such a big deal out of it. It was just two pairs of lips touching, after all. Nothing really noteworthy or spectacular.
Only now, did Hermione understand.
For the first time in… forever, Hermione's brilliant mind shut down almost completely, but what little parts of her mind that could still function became hyperaware of certain details. Such as Harrys rough and chapped lips, the way her softer body formed perfectly to Harry's slightly firmer one, and how one of her legs seemed to develop a mind of its own and wrapped around one of Harry's.
At some point, Hermione's mind remembered that, yes, even witches do still require air to breathe, forcing her to pull away. Not that it did a single thing to alleviate the blazing inferno that her face and neck had become, nor the strange, yet pleasant, tingling sensation on her lips.
"Goodnight." Hermione squeaked out before dashing up the stairs to the relative safety of her dorm.
Once behind the safety of the solid wood, Hermione paused to regain her bearings and in doing so, what just happened caught up with her.
She'd just had her first kiss, with her first boyfriend.
Hermione's fingertips absentmindedly drifted up to her lips where she could still feel that pleasant tingling. Without thinking her tongue flicked out to moisten them whereas she discovered two foreign tastes. The first as obvious, the chocolate frogs Harry had been eating while they worked were unmistakable, but the second… Hermione couldn't figure out what that was at first. It took a moment for it to dawn on her that it was Harry, his own unique taste that was all him.
While they hadn't used any tongue, the thought of which sent a delightful shudder down Hermione's spine, she could still taste her boyfriend on her lips. Right then, she decided that she had a new favorite taste.
It never even entered Hermione's brain that Harry was a bad kisser or a good one. She had no metric to base anything off of, and didn't care. The kiss was bloody fantastic, and had the witch floating on cloud nine, and would probably continue to do so for the rest of the night.
Regathering enough of her wits to start getting ready for bed, Hermione bit her lip to stifle the out-of-control giggle that threatened to erupt from the happy witch. Last thing she needed was to wake her dormmates and deal with their twenty questions.
The end of the world couldn't have wiped the smile off the bushy-haired witch's face.
It was only the next morning that Hermione realized to her horror she'd abandoned Harry to the vultures that her fellow Gryffindors would undoubtably become after such a display.
Hermione internally panicked when she dared come down, after giving the rest of her house time to get ahead of her. Her Gryffindor courage having nearly failed her for the first time. Her worry increased double when Harry didn't greet her in the common room as he usually did.
They'd only gotten started, and had their first kiss, and she'd already blown it. It took most of Hermione's willpower to calm the twisting knots her stomach was turning into. At this rate, she was going to throw up before she made it out of the common room. Thank Merlin, and anyone else listening, no one asked her any questions or made a single peep to her about the previous night.
The common room had been nearly empty last night. Maybe the few people who were there hadn't noticed, or simply thought their tired minds were imaging the young couple sharing their first kiss? There was also the fact that, despite how it felt, the kiss hadn't lasted longer than a handful of seconds.
Hmm… if a normal kiss was like that, what would a full snogging session be like?
Hermione's thoughts ground to a halt when a pair of strong, but very familiar arms encircled her waist from behind. The witch's body instantly relaxed, at least externally, as she leaned back into the hold.
"Morning." Harry greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, and oddly enough, a smile. Not that Hermione would ever complain about either.
"Harry, I'm so…" Hermione spun around, Harry's arms still around her and tried to apologize but Harry wasn't having it.
"Don't be." Harry gently shushed her with a finger on her lips. Anyone else, the act wouldn't have even slowed her down, but Harry was special that way. "Nothing to be sorry for."
"But I ran…"
"So?" Harry grinned before giving her their normal good morning hug. "So did I. Soon as you did."
"Has anyone…" Hermione returned the embrace before pulling away, her hands resting on his shoulders. "You know…"
"Asked?"
Hermione nodded.
"Nope."
"Nope?"
"Nope. Guess no one was paying any attention." Harry shrugged before offering Hermione his arm.
"Huh." Hermione took the arm without question. Maybe they would have a while longer yet before those gossip vultures started hunting after them like fresh meat.
Oh, well. Hermione didn't feel like questing their good fortune as the couple made their way toward the great hall for breakfast. But there was something she did have to ask.
"Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"You're awfully…" Hermione struggled to find the word, and the irony of that was not lost on her. "I don't know…"
"Happy?" Harry offered. "Cheerful? On top of the world?"
Hermione gave him a deadpan look that lasted a while five seconds before the boy's contagious smile infected her and she was smiling right along with him. Not helped by the fact that she too had an extra bounce in her step this morning.
"Sure." Hermione rolled her eyes but the grin remained. "Let's go with any of those."
"Well, let's see." Harry chuckled. "I'm currently walking with my girlfriend on my arm, whom I'd like to point out is the most beautiful witch in the school, nay, the world. This same witch, I got to kiss for the first time last night. Tell me, how could I not be grinning like a crazy person, right now?"
Hermione tried to fight it, Merlin did she try, but the blush creeping up her neck would not be denied. By the time Harry finished speaking, her face was brighter than a tomato, and her insides had turned into mush.
This was just not fair!
The only thing that spared Hermione from having to come up with a response to that, especially when she had no hope of coming up with anything, was that the couple had finally reached the great hall.
Once they were seated at the Gryffindor table, and nobody still had yet to make a peep about the previous night, did Hermione start to relax.
Alarm bells began ringing in Hermione's mind when Ron took a seat beside her, minus one Lavender Brown. Now this wasn't exactly out of the ordinary until recently, so this wasn't what was setting Hermione's mind off. Rather, it was how Ginny conveniently appeared at the same time to take a seat beside Harry. The female redhead also missing her new shadow, Dean.
One missing their other half while sitting here was a coincidence, but two? No, something was going on here, and judging by the look on Ron's face, and the small package he sat down on the table beside him, Hermione was about to find out.
"Hey." Ron wore what Hermione assumed to be his best charming smile. Maybe once upon a time it would have had an effect on her, but not anymore. "Umm… got a minute to talk?
"Of course." Hermione flashed a smile of her own while giving Harry's hand a small squeeze beneath the table to tell him she was simply humoring their redheaded friend. Not that she felt it was needed, but communication was important, even if it wasn't verbal "What about?"
"Well…" Ron cleared his throat, an embarrassed flush tinting his cheeks pink. "I guess I should first apologize for being such a prat. I was mean, dismissive, rude… you name it and I was probably it."
Hermione arched an eyebrow but said nothing. While she was listening to the boy in front of her, she was also keeping a close ear on the discussion Harry was having behind her.
"I need to apologize, too, Harry." Ginny began. "You've known me for years and… sometimes I think before I act. I've never been good with emotions, not as good as I would've liked."
"I need to tell you I… umm… well…" Ron stammered, having clear difficulty voicing his next words before finally managing to blurt them out. "Oh, sod it all. I dumped Lavender."
"Really?" Hermione said with a tiniest amount of surprise. In truth, until Harry, the words would have lifted her spirits and made her heart soar, but right now? Hermione was having difficulty trying to figure out why she should be caring.
"And I broke up with Dean." Ginny said with more confidence than her brother.
"Oh?" Harry sounded even less concerned than Hermione, something that had Hermione being forced to bite her tongue, lest a giggle escape.
"I know, shocking." Ron completely missed Hermione's lack of interest. "I guess I just realized I didn't like her the way I thought I did. In fact… there's someone else. Someone I should have been paying better attention to."
Oh, dear. Hermione had a feeling she knew where this was going, and it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"Same here, Harry." Ginny cleared her throat. "So I was thinking… would you maybe want to join me for a broom ride tomorrow? I know this great spot I'd love to show you."
Hermione felt Harry's hand grip hers so tightly she for a moment felt like her bones might crack. The witch was seconds from whirling around and giving the redhead a piece of her mind when Ron's next sentence floored her.
"What would you say to coming with me for lunch to this weekend's visit to Hogsmeade?"
Now it was Harry's bones who got to feel the strain.
Of all the audacity…
"I don't expect you to answer right now." Ron looked away, missing Hermione's grimace. Instead, he focused his attention on the box he'd brought. "But I felt I should get you something, anyway. Peace offering, I guess, as a start."
Ron pushed the box toward Hermione, who gingerly opened it with her one free hand. She did have to admit, the strawberry cupcakes within did look delicious, and were one of her favorite flavors, well, were one of her favorite flavors.
"You have no idea how hard it was not to eat one." Ron laughed, an almost disarming sound that, any other time, would have alleviated Hermione's worries. "But for the first time in ever, I used some restraint. This was too important."
Hermione didn't survive so many life-threatening situations without developing a rudimentary sense of impending danger, and right now, said sense was screaming something was off.
"We sent an owl to our mum for help and… well, you know we can't cook to save our lives so we had her make something you guys would like." Ginny explained while giving Harry a gift of her own. "I wish I could have made something myself but… no, I knew when to admit I was out of my depth."
"Treacle tart." Harry made a sound of approval, a sound that was at odds with the way Harry gave Hermione's hands a couple of squeezes. "I haven't had any in forever."
It wasn't morse code, nothing of the sort, but Hermione got the message all the same.
Harry suspected something was up, too.
"Oh, thank Merlin." Ginny let out a sigh of relief. "You like it?"
"Hmm… I'm liking the look of it, already." Harry laughed, one Hermione knew was forced.
Hermione took out one of the cupcakes and gave it a close look. Unlike his twin brothers, Ron was no master of pranks. While he could have gone to them for help, neither twin was stupid enough to attempt a prank on her, and they liked and respected Harry too much to do one on him. Ron could have lied to them about is intentions, but not even Ron was stupid enough to pull something like that with the Weasley twins. As soon as they got word, their retribution would be swift, and without mercy. Pranking or lying to master pranksters? Bloody suicidal.
Something else occurred to Hermione just then. Ginny mentioned they got these from their mother, but could the Weasley matriarch have… no, surely she wouldn't have. Then again she did have a history Hermione knew about…
Hermione pretended she was about to take a bite, not missing Ron's excited look, but stopped just before it reached her lips.
"Maybe I should wait a bit." Hermione mused out loud, watching Ron's face like a hawk. "I'd hate to spoil my breakfast."
"Yeah, me too." Harry picked up where Hermione left off. "Haven't gotten to eat, yet."
"But I think these would make a fantastic desert once I finish here in just a little bit." Just as Hermione predicted, Ron's countenance went from worried back to excited. It was Hermione's next words that twisted that into near panic. "But it would be a shame not to share. Hey, Neville, would you like one? I know you love strawberry, too."
Hermione wasn't about to let Neville even touch these things, let alone eat one, but Ron didn't need to know that.
"Well… I did already finish eating, and they do look good." Neville eyed the cupcakes being offered.
"No!" Ron almost screamed before regaining his composure. "Sorry, Neville, but this is kinda a umm… romantic present, if you catch my drift?"
"You're right, Ron." Hermione smiled sweetly, a smile dripping with sweet poison. Pity Ron wasn't smart enough with people to comprehend this.
"Good morning, everyone." As if sent by the gods themselves, Luna chose that moment to appear at their table, and instantly took notice of the treats brought by the Weasleys. "Ooh, those look yummy."
"I know, right?" Hermione's smile went wider, and predatory, when Luna took a seat beside Neville. "Mrs. Weasley always makes some of the best food, don't you think? I think I might just eat these all up here after breakfast."
Hermione pushed the box closer to the blonde Ravenclaw so she could take a closer look. Luna, to her credit, didn't miss the wink her friend gave her.
Luna looked over the box, inhaling the scent from the cupcakes. "She really does, mmm, strawberry flavor, too. Mrs. Weasley really does know her desserts, doesn't she?"
"Yes, well…" Ron beamed with pride at the praise directed at his beloved mother. "Nobody can beat my mum in the kitchen. Nobody."
"I mean, she's so good…" Luna's lips raised in her normal dreamy smile, her voice calm and cool as usual while her next words delivered the devastating blow. "I almost can't smell the love potion."
"Uh… what?" All the color drained from Ron's face.
"It's made so well, and smells so sweet, I almost couldn't catch the love potion baked into these." Luna pushed the cupcakes back toward Hermione, noticeably with a nearby fork instead of her bare hands.
Hermione had no clue how Luna did it, but when asked, the blonde would always say something about one of her fantastical, and maybe or maybe not imaginary creatures, helping her smell food and drink that had been tampered with. Hermione made it a point after today to never doubt Luna about anything ever again, if she could help it.
Hermione took the offered box back with a genuine smile of thanks to her friend before turning back to a horrified Ron.
Harry said nothing, but did slide his own dessert toward a now very interested Luna.
"This one's even better. I'd love to take a bite but…" Luna frowned. "I'd rather not get dosed by love potion."
"Now… Hermione, let's not be…" Ron floundered like a fish out of water as he desperately attempted to verbally defend himself.
"I... cannot… believe… you… unbelievable… bastard!" Hermione's smile morphed into a bitter scowl, her voice gaining volume, with each word that passed her lips. The final one being nearly yelled and punctuated by a echoing smack that reverberated throughout the great hall now that the room had gone eerily quiet.
"I…"
"SHUT UP!" Hermione leapt to her feet, not even caring that the entire school could hear her now. She would have preferred to do this quieter and away from an audience, but there was no stopping the rage and anger from boiling over.
Maybe if Harry still held her hand, she'd have been able to get it under control. His touch had always had a calming effect on her nerves, but she'd broken their contact when she stood up. Now that the ball was rolling, Hermione didn't know if even he could get her to stop.
"How many years have we been friends? I trusted you and now you try to drug me?" Hermione screamed at the top of her lungs.
By now, McGonagall had descended from the staff table to get a handle on the situation. It was a testament to the sheer depth of Hermione's fury that the head of their house and a deeply trusted authority figure wasn't even acknowledged by the furious witch.
"All these years I helped you with your school work, even when you mocked and insulted me while I did so. I even defended you when everyone did the same to you! Go. To. Hell!" Hermione finished her rant by giving Ron a second slap on his unmarred cheek before slamming the box of cupcakes into the pale redhead's face with all the strength she could muster.
This was the moment Hermione so badly wanted to storm off and find somewhere to cool off before dealing with whatever consequences came, but Harry was still here, and she'd already abandoned him the other day.
Not again.
Hermione didn't dare risk a look at Ginny, her temper was already nearly out of control and she doubted she'd be able to stop herself from tackling the redheaded girl. It had already taken a lot of willpower to slap Ron instead of punching him. Twice, no less!
Hermione took only a single step away from Ron before placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. Knowing the boy, he was about to give Ron another brutal tongue lashing for her sake, but it wasn't until he started to speak did she realize Harry had a different target in mind.
"To think…" Harry laughed as he shifted in his seat to fully face Ginny, but there was no joy or mirth in the sound. "I risked my life to save yours in the chamber."
Hermione knew Harry didn't like talking about his misadventure into the Chamber of Secrets, even if she didn't, the way his body tensed under her hand was enough of a clue. Too bad she didn't know what she could say, or even if she should say a word. Instead, she just gripped his shoulder as a reminder she was here beside him.
As much as she really wanted to tear into Ginny the way she went after RonHermione knew this was Harry's show, now. Hermione had her turn with one Weasley sibling, now it was Harry's. This didn't mean she wasn't looking for a chance to jump in, though.
"I fought a bloody basilisk to save your life, nearly dying in the process, and how do you repay that?" Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously, his voice a stark contrast to Hermione's loud and anger filled one.
"Harry, please. You know I…" Ginny tried to smile and flutter her eyelashes in some awful attempt at getting her way. Briefly, Hermione wondered how often she tried things like that to get her way here at Hogwarts or at home. Ginny even had the sheer gall to reach for Harry's hand. A hand that was all too happy to smack hers away with force.
"Don't touch me." Harry growled, the boy's intense glare causing the girl to involuntarily scooch back, rubbing her sore hand. "Don't touch me, ever again."
"But…"
"I can't help but wonder…" Harry took a deep breath, undoubtably to get his own anger under control. "You dating Dean, you practically ignoring me all year. Was this just some childish plan to make me jealous? To make me want to beg and crawl on my hands and knees to you? Well, guess what? I moved on and found someone far better than you could ever be."
Hermione didn't even try to hide her disgust when she saw the look on Ginny's face. Harry had hit the nail squarely on the head. Hermione would have been grinning like mad at her boyfriend's compliment to her, but what he said gave the brunette witch another thought. Was that what Ron was doing with Lavender this entire time? Some childish plan to make her jealous?
"Maybe I should have just left you, down there." Ginny's expression contorted into pure horror upon hearing that straight from Harry. He didn't physically hit Ginny, other than her hand, but his verbal quip cut far deeper than any strike. "What kind of monster tries to drug people to get them to go out with them? You belong down in the chamber with the basilisk."
"Hey! That's my sist…" Ron finally managed to recover from the shock of Hermione's attack to defend his sister, despite still being covered in the remains of his own scheme. Too bad for him, he now faced a frightfully pissed off Harry Potter whirling around in place to face him.
"And you!" Harry snarled. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped short. "Know what? You're not worth it. Hermione already said it perfectly. I never want to see your disgusting face ever again. Both of you."
It was only because of Hermione's faster reflexes that she caught Harry's next action without missing it completely. Ginny certainly didn't have time, not before she had a box of treacle tart flying into her face, courtesy of Harry.
Only now did Harry stand and take Hermione's hand so they could leave.
"Hmm…" Hermione couldn't help getting the last blow in to a speechless Ginny splattered with the poisoned dessert. "I think that's an improvement."
Without another word, Harry and Hermione left the great hall to shocked silence.
As I said, this one got away from me and wound up being a lot bigger than planned. Let me know what you all think. Reviews/Comments are immensely precious.