A/N OMG I FINALLY get to post this chapter (I've written over half the story in advance so that I'm not late with updates). This has got to be THE chapter that really kicks the story off. Lots of teenage drama, action and a bitch fight. Here we go...
Chapter 6 - Trouble in Paradise
"Tell me exactly what she added Mr Potter!" Madam Pomfrey cried shrilly.
"Erm," Harry stuttered, "an extra spoonful of flobberworm mucus, a couple of extra boom berries and an extra slosh of horklump juice -"
"Extra horklump juice?!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey, "Really Severus you ought to keep an eye on your students!"
Professor Snape, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Blaize and Theo were all standing around a haphazard looking Madam Pomfrey and a dead looking, unconscious Pansy Parkinson (who was lying on the white linnen bed), in the hospital wing. The fire was out but the girl's face was ashen, literally, and the hair was smoking slightly. There was no major damage, as it had been a magical fire. The only damage seemed to be a handful of burns and the fact that there was an unconscious girl in the hospital wing. Harry and Ron were feeling rather awkward about Pansy's situation, as she was in their group.
Madam Pomfrey had hurried off in the direction of the cupboards, and was now returning with a selection of numerous bottles all of different shapes and sizes, each with a different coloured content. "Don't think this means you're avoiding detention, Weasley and Zabini," Snape drawled, "I will be setting it for a later date." Ron, who had forgotten all about his detention glared at the floor.
"I swear I will murder you Potter if she's one bit hurt after this," Draco growled through bared teeth. Harry didn't reply although Hermione snapped, "You will do no such thing, Malfoy." All three Slytherins and the pair of Gryffindors' eyes all snapped onto her, but she stood her ground firmly. Even Snape looked a little startled at her outburst. However, Draco's look of curiosity and bewilderment instantly flashed to loathing and repulsiveness. "How dare you speak to me, you -" Draco started coughing to hide his hopefully-not-too-obvious backtrack on saying the word mudblood. Ron's eyes flared warningly just as Theo rolled his eyes and focused his attention back on Pansy, who now had her chin titled back and was being force fed the purple potion. There was a tension in the room as everyone held bated breath.
Ten seconds later, Pansy started spluttering and coughing looking shocked and displeased. Everyone in the room focused their attention on Pansy then, looking rather relieved. "Breathe now dear," Madam Pomfrey instructed, "Rest for another week and you will be absolutely fine."
Draco looked positively mortified and asked enraged, "What, she'll be here for a week?! A whole week?" Madam Pomfrey nodded. He turned and looked murderously at Harry and Ron.
"Drakey! Hey Drakey can you come here a moment?" Pansy cooed. Hermione snorted and Draco hissed through gritted teeth, "Don't call me that, Pans."
"But Drakey it's your name!" Pansy cried, pouting. Hermione held her hand in front of her mouth to stifle a second outburst but Draco looked in her direction and glared at her. "Drakey please come here," Pansy whined. Draco rolled his eyes and sat on the edge of Pansy's bed and asked, "What?" in a very unemotional voice. "She has him wrapped up around her finger," thought Hermione. Pansy pushed herself up and kissed his cheek and giggled. All three Gryffindors looked positively disgusted and turned away from the scene. "Come on," Ron whispered, leading the way out of the tower.
"Hey Ron," Hermione smiled as they heard the hospital wing door close behind them. Ron looked around and Hermione went on tip toes to kiss his cheek. Ron looked down at her as if she were being silly and took a hold of her hand, walking them down the corridor just in front of Harry. Hermione looked a little disgruntled by her boyfriend's rejection, but put it down to his apparent hurry to get away from the Slytherins. "So," Harry looked slyly up a Hermione, "How was kissing Malfoy?" Hermione looked positively outraged and fumed shrilly, "I was unconscious! And Harry, how come you aren't asking Ron how kissing Pansy was?" Harry looked extremely taken aback by her outburst and stuttered, "Her-Hermione geez it was just a joke! Chill out a little!" Hermione blushed scarlet and mumbled something. "What?" Harry asked.
"Never mind!" snapped Hermione, stalking off ahead. Ron shook his head and jogged after her, putting his hand on her shoulder and trying to wheel her around. "'Mione," he moaned, "He just asked a question, credited it was a jerk move but none of us really - I mean it's not like you could've prevented it!" Hermione stopped and turned to face Ron with puffy eyes. Ron gulped. Harry caught up with them and shrugged, "Sorry 'Mione. Honestly it was just a joke. Swear I didn't mean anything." Hermione nodded and apologised for her outbursts. For the second time in the space of twenty four hours, she cursed herself for her breakdown, even if this one was minor. Ron offered her his hand and she took it, half wishing he'd offered her more than a hand.
-.-
"Ron," the Gryffindor girl began.
"Yes love," Ron replied.
"Why do you still date the mudblood?"
"Hey don't call her that."
"But that's what she is," insisted the girl.
"I don't know. I suppose it's because she's still my friend, and they'd both kill me, Harry and Hermione I mean, if they found out about us."
"But I love you!"
"I know. You should have seen her today, all puffy eyed over a joke."
"Pathetic."
Ron silently agreed. The pair came out from behind the statue concealing the entrance to the passageway to Honeydukes, and Ron quickly pecked the girl on the cheek. The girl slyly grasped his face and pulled it in for a passionate kiss, which he responded to well. Hermione's bag dropped.
#Flashback#
"Hey, look 'Mione I'll catch you later alright. I got to go meet er... Yeah I got to go," Ron finished rather awkwardly. The boys had just finished Divination and Hermione had hurried to meet them from Arithmancy and had reached the bottom of the step ladder just as the boys had finished descending. "Where you going?" Harry asked Ron, looking suspiciously up at him. They both looked rather unhappy. Clearly, Trelawny had been her usual airy fairy self. During lunch the boys had said how she was going over crystal gazing and that they were doing star signs in fourth period, which they had just had. At last, it was the end of the day. "Nowhere really," Ron tried.
"Who you meeting?" Hermione smiled.
"Er, Fred and George. Something about something or other," Ron grinned. Harry seemed convinced, and started off towards the Gryffindor tower. "You coming 'Mione?" he called back to her, as Ron over took him down the stairs.
"Er, I need to go to my dorm to dump my stuff," she smiled back. Again convinced, Harry shrugged and hurried off to the tower. Hermione in fact had no intention in going to her dorm. She was going to meet Ginny in the library and talk over her plans for that evening. She though, didn't believe Ron what so ever about him seeing his brothers, but an explanation would have to wait. She couldn't wait for tonight!
"Soooooo," Ginny grinned from ear to ear, "What are you doing tonight?" They were sitting on a window ledge on the third floor corridor. Hermione was ecstatic for that evening.
Hermione smiled mischievously and said slyly, "Nothing too extravagant, I made a picnic and I'm planning on having it down by the lake at sunset!"
Ginny 'awwed' and replied with, "Cute!" Then added, "I'm sure he'll love it!"
Hermione nodded and smiled, "It'll be the perfect date! Especially to clear his mind. He's been acting - strangely around me lately."
"How so?" Ginny questioned, resting her chin on her hands.
"Well, he just seems very distant lately," she replied. Ginny wiped it away like a cloud of steam airily and brushed a strand of Weasley red hair out of her face, giggling, "I'm sure it's nothing, Hermione. Just chill. Go back to your dorm, give it a couple of hours, find him at seven and go! Have fun too. Oh, and on a more serious note," Ginny lowered her voice to an under tone and said, "I heard about what you did in potions." Hermione's smile dropped like the heavy weight in her stomach, which settled a little deeper. "He hasn't said anything wrong to you has he?" Ginny asked, awkwardly.
"Who Ron? Gin, he's been my boyfriend since the end of last year. You saw us in the summer. We're like, match in heaven," but she stopped once she saw Ginny shaking her head dismissively. "No. I mean Malfoy!" she whispered, edgily.
"Oh," Hermione gulped, looking even more unhappy. "No, I've been avoiding him."
"More than usual?"
"More than usual," Hermione clarified gravely, recounting to Ginny how she'd ducked in her chair at lunch when Draco had walked into the hall. Ginny shook her head sympathetically. "You share a dorm with him, you're going to just have to suck it up and face him," Ginny sighed. A slight look of panic flashed in Hermione's chocolate brown eyes, but it diminished not too soon after it came. Ginny smiled and winked encouragingly at her best friend and motioned for her to go. Hermione smiled back and walked away from Ginny with a slight skip in her step. Ginny grinned to herself and turned in the opposite direction, heading for the grand staircase.
It had been an hour and a half since lessons had finished for the day, and Hermione was making her way back to her dormitory. She was over the moon about her upcoming date with Ron for that evening, and was desperate to find a nice outfit before six forty five which, she noticed with a stab of terror, was in fifteen minutes! Hermione bolted down the corridors (luckily she was already on the third floor), as fast as she could to get to her dorm. Passing the one eyed witch statue guarding the passage to Honeydukes, Hermione skidded to a halt when she heard Ron's voice. "Yes love," Ron replied. Hermione stopped dead in her tracks.
"Why do you still date the mudblood?" a girl asked. Hermione's jaw dropped. She knew that voice. It couldn't be -
"Hey don't call her that." Ron snapped. Hermione stood there, confused and hidden from their view.
"But that's what she is," insisted the girl.
"I don't know. I suppose it's because she's still my friend, and they'd both kill me, Harry and Hermione I mean, if they found out about us." Hermione's whole body started to tremble. 'Us'? What was 'us'? What about them! What was Ron playing at?
"But I love you!" Shaking her head, Hermione bit her lip to keep in tears.
"I know. You should have seen her today, all puffy eyed over a joke."
"Pathetic."
The pair came out from behind the statue concealing the entrance to the passageway to Honeydukes, and Ron quickly pecked the girl on the cheek. The girl slyly grasped his face and pulled it in for a passionate kiss, which he responded to well.
#End of Flashback#
Hermione's bag dropped. She literally felt her heart break. All the emotion inside of her melted away and was replaced with a sadness and depression too strong for words to describe. A part of her had died. And that wasn't all. The girl was her friend - her exfriend - Lavender Brown. Lavender's eyes widened when they settled on Hermione and she snaked her hand up Ron's back, Hermione's boyfriend's back, and tapped his shoulder. Ron looked at her with a concerned expression and then turned to where Lavender was now pointing, but there was nothing there.
Hermione had literally snapped inside. The sight in front of her made her want to rip Lavender's hair out and curse Ron into oblivion. But that wasn't an option. She was sprinting as fast as she could as far away from that Weasley Bastard as possible. Haring down a side passage, she made it to the spiral staircase that would take her down to the grounds. Tears streaked down her face and soaked her robes. it was for this reason perhaps that she didn't see the figure in front of her which she crashed straight into at full pelt, nearly knocking him off his feet. He put his hands out to steady the pair of them angrily. "GRANGER!" The boy yelled and Hermione looked up into Draco's stormy eyes. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she yelled back.
"Awe is little mudblood all upset?" Draco mocked.
"I TOLD YOU NEVER TO CALL ME THAT!" Hermione screamed, flinging herself at him. Taken aback, Draco stepped back and cried out in shock and fury, "Keep it down bitch!" Hermione gave in and turned on her heel, running through the corridor towards the door. Draco was stunned. She looked broken. "Crazy bitch," he muttered, feeling a surge of guilt for calling her a mudblood.
"Miss Granger!" a voice called out, but she physically couldn't hear anything. "Miss Granger!" the voice shouted a little louder, as she reached the door at the end of the passage that led to the courtyard. Still, Hermione tore on furiously until she was distracted by the ageing witch yelling her name in front of her. How professor McGonagall had gone from behind her to in front of her was a mystery but the severe woman was indeed, yelling her name to get her attention. "HERMIONE GRANGER!" The headmistress yelled. Hermione raised her swollen eyes to her teacher. Her professor gasped at the face looking back into hers. Tear streaked and red, Hermione's blotchy, mascara run face was contorted into one of whom had encountered loss and heartbreak at its fullest. "Hermione dear what ever is the matter?" Professor McGonagall inquired in a soft tone. Hermione physically couldn't talk. She opened her mouth but no words tumbled out. She bowed her head and let the silent tears fall to the floor, drip by drip. McGonagall rather awkwardly gave her a pat on the back, pulling the distressed girl into her, giving her a warm smile, saying, "If you don't want to talk to me about it, then at least tell your friends. I'm sure Harry and Ron will understand." Hermione smiled bitterly and stepped back, only half listening. Her head of house gave her another concerned smile and strode off across the courtyard. Hermione stumbled over to the large weeping willow ahead of her and slumped down next to it.
An hour and a half later, eight thirty, Hermione hadn't moved from her spot under the tree. The low hung branches swayed protectively in front of her, guarding the unfortunate teenager from reality. A dark weight had began to descend upon Hogwarts and Hermione knew that she ought to be getting back to her dorm. She heaved herself up and made her way clumsily up to the castle.
However, at the bottom of the grand staircase she turned to see the very two people she hated the most in the world - with the exception of Voldemort. Hated even more than Malfoy. Lavender beamed and positively exploded when she howled, "I told you Won Won! I told you your mudblood was there when we were kissing! I -" but Hermione never heard the rest. She was already sprinting up to Gryffindor tower, desperate for a friendly face. "Hermione!" Ron yelled after her, but it was too late. Barely a minute later, Hermione shouted the Gryffindor password and was through the portrait within moments. Ginny was there to catch her once she had fallen through. "What happened? Harry get over here now!" It took a while for Hermione to be in control of her speech once Ginny had led her over to the comfy sofa in front of the fire.
"Hermione," Ginny soothed, once Hermione's breathing rate had returned to normal, "What happened? How come you're not both eating at the lake?"
Hermione forced herself to explain. "When I left you," she inhaled, "I walked in on them."
Ginny's expression hardened as she spoke, "Who?" There was a pause. Harry and Ginny looked at her intently.
"Lavender and your bastard brother, Ron," Hermione choked on the last word, eyes welling with a new wave of tears, "kissing." Ginny and Harry both look appalled. After a few seconds, Ginny lent in towards Hermione and pulled her in for a tight hug. "I swear I will kill him," she said firmly, after their embrace.
And as if on cue, the portrait door banged open, whacking against the wall and a gush of wind surged through the open window, blowing all the candles out momentarily. Lavender walked in, closely followed by Ron. Everyone froze. "Hermione I -" Ron began.
"I trusted you," Hermione breathed venomously. Ron shuffled his feet, not meeting her eyes. "I TRUSTED YOU!" She screamed at him, "I loved you! DOES THAT WORD MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!" Ron turned as red as his hair, and looked around furiously, anywhere but at his girlfriend. Lavender snaked her arm around Ron. That's what set it off. "You BITCH!" Hermione screamed, surging towards her former friend and punching her square in the eye. "Hermione NO!" shrieked Ginny. Lavender staggered backwards and Ron bent slightly to catch her. "Ron!" Harry yelled, standing up and turning to face him. Ginny tried to keep Hermione under control but in vain. "You stupid little MUDBLOOD!" Lavender screeched, wrenching herself from Ron and throwing herself at Hermione. Everyone else in the room gasped. "THAT'S MY BOY -" Hermione yelled whilst launching herself from Ginny, towards the brunette. "EX ACTUALLY BITCH!" She retorted.
"Ron how could you!" yelled Ginny to her brother, storming forward and slapping him.
"She's boring," Ron choked, as if repulsed by his best friend and former girlfriend. He clutched his face in pain.
"Actually," Hermione yelled at him, straightening herself up, "I believe you called me Pathetic!"
"Oh get it right mudblood! I CALLED YOU PATHETIC! screeched Lavender.
"STOP CALLING HER A MUDBLOOD!" Harry and Ginny both yelled at her. By now, the whole Gryffindor house had gathered round.
"WHY SHOULD I BITCH?" Lavender yelled at Ginny.
"THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND YOU'RE TALKING TO!" Harry roared at her, flinging himself over the sofa to join in the fight. Ginny was profusely firing spells at her brother furiously whilst Ron defended himself. Lavender and Hermione were both flailing themselves at each other, wands abandoned on the floor and now Harry was pushing Ginny out of the way of his best friend's fires. "Harry GET OFF!" Ginny screamed. That was when Hermione grabbed a tuft of Lavender's hair and tugged, slapping the worthless bitch in her stupid face. Mudblood. Another slap. Mudblood. A third. "GET OFF HER YOU CRAZY BITCH!" Ron roared, pushing his sister and best friend aside to get to Hermione. She was shocked, he'd called her - Slap. Hermione fell to the floor. Ron picked her up and threw her screaming body against the wall. There was a definite crack. As soon as she hit the wall, the bookshelf above her broke and the contents fell roughly onto the girl's head. She let out a whimper. Both Harry, Ginny and Neville started yelling, Ginny rushing to Hermione's aid whilst Lavender shakily stood up. Ron gulped and ran forward to Hermione. "Hermione," he tried, his voice shaking. She had a cut lip, a black left eye, her hair was matted with blood and more blood covered her body. Her robes were ripped in numerous places and she had a large, red handprint across her face from her ex's hand. As he touched her shoulder she screamed through tears, "GET OFF OF ME YOU SELF ABSORBED JERK!" Ron stepped back, alarmed, staring at his blood covered hand. Hermione stood up, begging herself not to collapse, and stormed out of the dormitory as confidently as she could, shoving Lavender as she went.
As the door slammed, Ginny stared at her brother. Nothing was said. A silent minute passed until Ginny finally opened her mouth and spat, "Mother will hear about this, you jerk."
Ron stomped his foot and retorted, "I was only kissing Lavender for God sake!" Ginny turned back around with a whirl of red hair and shrieked, "SHE WAS JUST ABOUT TO ASK YOU ON A DATE RONALD WEASLEY! WHICH IS MORE THAN YOU'VE EVER DONE LATELY! SHE HAD ORGANISED A PERFECT PICNIC AND SPENT A LOT OF TIME ARRANGING THIS AND FOR WHAT? To see her boyfriend snogging another girl. Well I'm sorry to break this to you Ron but you're in deep shit at the moment and I'm sure as hell no one is going to take the time and effort to help you out this time!" Ron stood there dumbstruck as his sister stormed up to the girls' dorm. "Ginny!" Harry called, running after her, casting a spell on the stairs so they wouldn't turn into a slide. (The boys' and girls' dorms' stairs turned into a slide if the opposite gender tries to use them.) "You think I need your HELP?" Ron yelled after her, kicking the small table over. She had prepared a date? Lavender leaned against him and the crowd of gathered Gryffindors murmured. "Piss off," he hissed to them, and they all begrudgingly left. Protectively, he put an arm around Lavender and held her, saying, "You got what you wanted babe, we're now official." Lavender smiled through a cut lip. She had come off a lot better than her former friend, as she only had a red hand mark across her face, a cut lip, and the majority of blood was Hermione's. She smiled cruelly.
A/N what a BITCH! Sorry if you ship Romione - wait no I'm not. If you ship Romione then out you go. Why are you reading Dramione if you're a Romione supporter. No I like the whole Ron cheating on Hermione with Lav aspect of most Dramiones. How did you find it? Leave your reviews.
IMPORTANT - I will hopefully post on Friday, but I'm going on holiday for a week on Friday and don't know if there's wifi. So, hopefully post on Friday, if not hopefully the following week but definitely the Tuesday after that (9th August). SEE YOU!