A Broken Romance
[With a little Hogwarts mixed in]
Chapter Three
Hermione slept peacefully well into the night. Her dreams were of the normal: happy and idle. Nothing perplexed her in the least. When she did wake up pink and golden rays of sunlight were squinting through the window directly opposite her bed. To her great surprise, she heard movement and the shuffling of feet. Dazedly, she pulled apart the curtains on her bed to see Lavender Brown scurrying around the dormitory. She appeared to have been awake only a few moments, not unlike Hermione, whom was still wearing her robes and witch's hat from the night before. "Lavender?" Hermione said groggily, "What are you doing up?" "Oh nothing…nice Sunday for a walk isn't it?" She said with jitters in her voice. "You can just go back to sleep I'll only be gone a little while.." "No, Lavender, what is it? You sleep until noon on Sundays!" Hermione would have dearly liked to have also said "And every other day", but resisted the temptation. "Well it's time I break that habit, don't you think?" said Lavender, tugging on her own hat. "Whatever you say, Lavender…" replied Hermione. When Lavender left, Hermione got up as well, and, having nothing to change into as she was already dressed from the day before, slipped quietly out of their dormitory as well. Wondering what she could be doing, or where she could be going this early in the morning, Hermione performed her muteness spell yet again, because she knew Lavender, if not Professor McGongall, would not be able to hear her. For a fleeting moment Hermione deeply wished for Harry's invisibility cloak, smiling as she reminisced of all the good times the three of them had spent under it, but than stopped because thinking of Harry was painful. She dared not to think what would happen if Lavender happened to glance over her shoulder. She followed the girl all the way down to the Great Hall where she saw a very strange sight indeed. Every single one of the Slytherins, at least that was how it seemed, was sitting at their table, eating breakfast in complete silence. Hermione was struck by this because, out of all the Houses in Hogwarts, Slytherin was definitly the loudest. Though George and Fred could give them a run for their money…Speaking of which, none of the other Gryffindors had seemed to arrive yet. Puzzled, Hermione quietly sat down at her seat at the Gryffindor table and took a few pieces of toast. She looked on as Lavender made her way to the Slytherin table and took the one empty seat next to--next to Draco Malfoy. Hermione choked on her small bit of toast. Surely that girl had been confused with a Confondus Charm! Draco Malfoy, in the opinion of each and every Gryffindor and dozens of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as well, was as disgusting as a slimy snail inching its way along the ground. She snorted, than realized the mutness spell was still in effect and quickly performed the anti-muteness one. She snorted again, as she saw Draco put his arm around Lavender's shoulders. She went back to her toast, and became so indulged in not looking at the two of them that she didn't even notice someone take the seat next to her. She yelped but calmed down when she realized it was only Ron. He gave her a light kiss on the cheek and than began to eat. She gazed at him for a second before yet another someone took the seat on the other side of her. Getting quite used to surprises, Hermione turned to see none other than Neville. He was looking rather shy and helpless at the moment. "Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry-it's not like it looks!" Cried out Hermione in desperate attempt to salvage her friendship with him. But all he did was shake his head, as though in a trance. Ron started to speak up, but Hermione put a hand on his arm and he got the message. "Neville, I was honored when you asked me to the ball. And I was planning on going with you when I found out-when I thought no one else would." Neville's expression lit up at her words. "Really?" He asked, sounding happier. "Really." Replied Hermione. "Why don't you ask Ginny to the ball? She went to the Yule one with you." "Maybe…" he said, sighing. "Well see you Hermione, Ron.." "See you", they said together. Hermione mulled over the last two days in her head. She didn't know what to do. It was as if her heart were ripping brutally apart. Half of it screamed at her to go back to Harry, to make him realize that she was a better choice than Cho. But the other half-the one, it seemed, that was smarter, told her repeatedly to stay with Ron, the one she had a chance with. Hermione got up, and without thinking, left the Great Hall and went to the library without saying a word to Ron. She left the castle to take a walk around the lake and think things over. However, the idea to stroll that day was obviously not hers' alone. For when she was about a quarter way around, she saw two people sitting behind a large oak. Though she wasn't close enough to tell who it was, she knew enough to think to herself "No prizes for guessing who", and she wasn't the least bit surprised. Harry and Cho were laying on a picnic blanket together, though neither was showing any signs of being the tiniest bit hungry for the food they had. They were talking softly, and sometimes, Hermione noticed, weren't talking at all, just gazing into each others' eyes. It was a horrible kind of grief that sliced through her just than. The section of her heart that had persistantly told her to tell Harry her feelings was now being broken. She felt like throwing her lonely self into the lake to be eaten by the giant squid. She crouched down low to hide behind a bush, and, feeling rather foolish, peeked at Harry and his picture-perfect girlfriend. She became so absorbed in watching them that, for the umpteenth time that weekend, she was startled by someone tapping her shoulder. She shrieked and stood up. "Lavender! Where did you come from?" Chortling, Lavender replied, "Just right behind you, though you couldn't have seen me because you were too busy eavesdropping on Harry and Cho!" Hermione flushed deeply and furiously retorted, "I was not!" Grinning, Lavender returned, "Ah, okay…but have you seen Vincent?" Hermione didn't know how to reply to this at first, because it took her a few moments to even realize that she meant Vincent Crabbe, Malfoy's idiot cronie. Recovering, Hermione said, "But why would you want to talk to that huge, stupid prat?" It was now Lavender's turn to flush. "None of your business! Now, have you seen him?" inquired Lavender yet again. "No…No I haven't." Lavender strode away, apparently discouraged. Rather abashed, Hermione trudged back to the castle. There was no point in staying now. She had seen all she wanted to see. Two days ago, this event would have brought tears to her eyes. But now it didn't. Everything was so-so destroyed. Right than, Hermione wasn't sure she even knew who she was. Just than, a welcoming figure strode up to her. Ron picked her up by the waist, and holding her above the ground, swung her around in a circle before setting her down again and kissing her lightly on the nose. She smiled, for, it seemed, the first time in weeks. It felt so good to be with Ron. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She sagged against him, listening to the sound of his heart and feeling the warmth of his body through his robes. It was bliss, Hermione thought. Ron suddenly pulled Hermione away from him, though still holding her shoulders in a loving sort of way. "Hermione?" he asked, sounding confused. Equally perplexed, she replied, "Yes?" "Why were you crying yesterday?" She sighed. "Come inside, Ron. I want to tell you somewhere less conspicuous." He followed her up to the castle and into a deserted classroom. "Ron…" Hermione started. He tilted his head and furrowed his brow. For a fleeting second, Hermione thought he was so cute, even if he was considerably, and rather rightfully, out of sorts just than. She dismissed the thought and continued. "On Friday, you know, when Harry and Cho got together, I was studying. You saw me, in the library. I was planning-I was planning on asking Harry to the ball on Saturday but than I found out about them and I got so upset!" She finished lamely. Ron shook his head in disbelief. He found his voice and said, "So that's what I am? A substitute? Just the first guy to be standing around when you found out the loon you really cared for was taken? Well thank you very much, Herm, but I refuse to be played with anymore!" "No! No, Ron, don't leave!" But it was too late. He had angrily ran out and slammed the door behind him. Hermione put her head between her knees and cried.