Author's Note: I'd like to thank AshGal for your kind compliment on my writings!
Also to Lady Norbert, here is your long awaited chapter!
Let's pretend that the students have been at Hogwarts for about 2 months now. It is sometime in October, okay? Awesome.
Secrets Kept
Chapter 5
(Hermione's POV)
by happythoughts
Hermione sat in the corner of the common room on a comfortable armchair, reading a book. She was trying to read, but all she could think of was the past day.
Things were much better between her and Ron. It was almost as if they had forgotten about the whole little event. And that's how Hermione wanted it. At least that's what she was forcing her mind to believe. Her mind traveled back to her day at Hogsmeade with Ron and how it had begun. She was sitting at the Gryffindor table with Harry eating breakfast. Ron was upstairs only just getting out of bed.
"So, Harry, what time should we leave for Hogsmeade? We'll have to get Ron up pretty soon, or he'll miss the visit!" she said exasperatedly.
She noticed Harry shift uncomfortably in his seat. "What's wrong?" she asked him with concern.
"Er … you see, I was planning on spending the day with Ginny. If that's okay with you …" said Harry.
Hermione gasped in surprise. "Harry! Of course that's okay. I'll just go around alone, I just have to buy a few books, that's all."
"Well, what about Ron?" asked Harry hopefully.
Hermione's insides lurched. "RON?" she asked, not believing her ears.
"Yup, that's me!" someone said, sitting next to Hermione. She looked to her side. She groaned inwardly when she found out who it was. Ron was piling piles and piles of eggs and sausage onto his plate.
"Sorry I'm late. Overslept," he said in between bites.
"We were just talking about Hogsmeade today," said Harry. He looked at Hermione. She knew what he was trying to do.
"Oh is it? Great, I just ran out of dungbombs," said Ron excitedly. "Then we can go to the Three Broomsticks for lunch."
This time, both Harry and Hermione shifted uncomfortably in their seats. "What? What's wrong?" he asked them.
"See …" began Harry.
"Harry is going with Ginny to Hogsmeade for the day. So it'll just be you and me," said Hermione confidently. Harry looked at her with surprise. She even surprised herself.
"Oh. Okay …" said Ron. He began chewing his food slowly. "That should be … fun …"
Hermione smiled. And Ron was right. Their day together had been surprisingly fun, more fun than they had had in a long time. Ron had stocked up on dungbombs and Filbuster's Fireworks from Zonko's and Hermione had bought the two books that she had wanted. Then, they had spent the cold night eating dinner at the Three Broomsticks.
"Wow, I've never had dinner here. This is great food!" said Ron, biting into a piece of chicken.
Hermione giggled. Hermione Granger! WHAT are you doing, giggling? Hermione does NOT giggle. That's for immature little girls … Hermione is a mature person … Great, now I'm talking in third person. This can't be happening …
She reached for a roll. Unfortunately, Ron reached for the same role at the same time. And to her comfort, he left his hand there for some time. Finally realizing what they were doing (staring into each other's eyes and holding hands), Ron pulled away and said quickly, "You can have that. I already had two."
Hermione merely nodded her head and nibbled into the roll. The rest of their conversation was quick and short. They left the pub in a hurry.
Later on, they found themselves standing in front of the portrait leading into the common room. They stood in front of it staring at it, both knowing that they didn't want their day to end. Hermione broke the silence first. "I had a lot of fun today, Ron."
Ron nodded vigorously. "I did too."
"Okay … well, I guess we should go back in now," said Hermione thoughtfully.
"Yeah. Inside. Good idea." He said the password (Gnome Teeth) and they stepped inside. They went their separate ways after that.
And that was where Hermione was now. She was alone in the corner reading a book. She sighed and looked over where Ron was. He was with all of the boys; Harry, Neville, Dean, and Seamus. They seemed to have been talking and hanging out a lot together, talking about things that Hermione didn't want to know about. And to her sadness, Harry and Ron seemed to have been leaving her out of a lot of things for the past two months.
When would she finally be able to admit her feelings to Ron? An angry voice in her head answered quickly for her. "Never."
~*~*~
(Ron's POV)
Ron was sitting in front of the fire with all of the boys. They seemed to have been doing that a lot this year. Talking. Talking about girls. Who was the prettiest, ugliest, preppiest … and so on. Ron was only half listening to their conversation, for he was also thinking about his day with Hermione. He had to admit; it was really fun without Harry there. Not that Harry made their days boring, but it was different when it was just he and Hermione. He was jerked back to reality when he heard the boys mention Hermione's name.
"She's quite good looking this year, don't you think?" asked Seamus thoughtfully.
Dean nodded his head in agreement. "Ever since the Yule Ball last year, she's always been a bit appealing to me," he admitted.
Neville nodded also, not wanting to be left out. Harry of course, couldn't say anything about Hermione, for he had a girlfriend who was only sitting about five feet away. Ron felt all of their heads turn to him.
"What about you, Ron? What do you think of her?" asked Dean.
"Me? Oh, I don't know," Ron answered meekly.
"Oh c'mon. You have to think something of her," said Dean.
"She's my best friend. That's all I think of her," said Ron, beginning to get angry. He hated Dean by the second.
"He just doesn't want to admit that he likes her," said Seamus, grinning.
"I do not!" argued Ron.
"Guys, c'mon. Ron doesn't like Hermione. They're just friends," defended Harry.
Ron gave a reassuring look at Harry, and mouthed, "Thanks," gratefully. The boys returned to talking about other girls after that.
Ron fell into his usual daze and his eyes scanned the room. They fell on … whom other than Hermione? She was immersed in a book that she had bought at the bookstore in Hogsmeade. How he wanted to go over to her and just talk to her, like he could have done in all his first three years at Hogwarts. He cursed himself angrily for liking her.
~*~*~
(Hermione's POV)
"Hey, Hermione."
Hermione looked up from her book. She smiled. It was Harry. "Hey, what's up?"
"Eh, not much. Just wondering how you were doing. We haven't talked in awhile," he said, pulling up a chair behind him.
Hermione shut her book and placed it on the table next to her. "I know. You and Ron have been hanging out with the boys a lot this year."
She saw Harry shift guiltily. "I know, I've noticed that too. I'm sorry."
"Oh it's nothing to be sorry about! I'm not angry or anything," said Hermione, waving it off.
"Okay good," Harry said. They fell into a silence for a while until Hermione broke the ice. "Any reason why you wanted to talk to me?"
"Well, as I said, we haven't talked in awhile …" Harry said, trailing off.
"But you're wondering about Ron and me, like the rest of the Gryffindor House, right?" asked Hermione.
Harry grinned. "Yeah, that's it."
"Harry, there are no feeling between Ron and I. We're just friends. Today was fun being alone with him, but in a friendly way. I just wish everyone would come to realize that and forget about everything," she said.
"Are you sure?" asked Harry.
"Yes, Harry. I'm sure," said Hermione.
"Okay … just wanted to make sure," said Harry with a grin. "Will you be coming to the match tomorrow?"
Hermione knew that there was a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw tomorrow morning. It was the first match of the season, meaning that it was one of the most important games that Gryffindor would have to win in order to move on to the playoffs. "Of course I am. Do I ever miss a match?" she finally answered.
"No," said Harry hurriedly, "I just wasn't sure if you were going to be doing homework or something."
"Of course not. I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Hermione. "By the way, how are things with Ginny and you?" she asked. Secretly, she knew already how things were. Since she hadn't been talking with Harry and Ron for a while, she had turned to Ginny, who had been telling her every single detail of her and Harry's relationship, only to make Hermione feel worse.
The mention of Ginny seemed to make a spark in Harry's green eyes. "It's great. I've already had an idea of what to get her for Christmas. I'm thinking--,"
"Don't tell me!" said Hermione, holding up a hand. "I may not be able to hold it in."
"Oh okay," said Harry sheepishly. "But anyway, she's really great. We're taking things slow, but it's still been great with her."
"I know that you're telling the truth when you keep saying the word 'great' over and over again. I'm happy for you two," said Hermione.
"Thanks. Okay well, I have to get ready to go to bed now. You know, with waking up early and everything for the game," said Harry, standing up. But before he left, Hermione noticed that he was standing there, not quite knowing what to do.
"What is it Harry?" she asked him.
And to her surprise, he leaned down and gave her a brotherly hug, which she gratefully returned. "I thought you may need one of these," he said quietly into her ear.
Hermione sighed gratefully as he left, but a sickening feeling entered her stomach. It seemed to say to her, would you ever be able to hug Ron the same way?
~*~*~
(Ron's POV)
The next day Ron woke up feeling a little sick. It was his first Quidditch game ever as a keeper, and he wasn't quite sure that he was up to it. Even Harry noticed it.
"Aw, c'mon. It's your first game. If you let a few goals in, who cares? Don't worry about it, I was as nervous as you my first game, and I was still in first year!" said Harry, hoping to cheer Ron up.
"Yeah … I guess you're right, …" said Ron uncertainly. They were walking down towards the Great Hall earlier than usual. Angelina had ordered them to be there at exactly 10:15 sharp, so they could check out the conditions on the field and have a pep talk before the game at 11. They found the rest of the team talking animatedly, like nothing in the world was going to let them lose the game. If only Ron felt the same way …
"Oh good, you're both here. Now we can start reviewing our tactics against Ravenclaw," said Angelina excitedly, rubbing her hands together.
"Angelina, we've already went over this a million times," said Fred with a hint of annoyance.
"And that's still not enough. Now c'mon now, listen up," she said sternly, and began to launch into the conversation the whole team had had for the past week.
Ron sat playing at his food. George leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Our little Ronniekins must be really nervous if he's not even eating!"
"Uh-huh," muttered Ron.
"Okay, does everyone got that? Us chasers have to stay as close as we can together, and keep passing it back and forth, right? George and Fred just do what you always do, and Harry, catch the snitch quickly. Let us score a few goals at least though, okay? Oh! And Ron, I almost forgot. You'll do fine, don't worry. I know you will. Do exactly what you have done for the past practices and we'll definitely have no trouble winning this match. Okay, it's 10:45 right now, we'd better go," said Angelina hurriedly. They all followed her out of the Great Hall, with people patting their backs and wishing them good luck on their way out.
All too soon, Ron could already hear Lee Jordan announcing the teams in. "AND NOW! FOR THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM! WINNER OF THE QUIDDITCH HOUSE CUP TWO YEARS AGO!"
"That's us!" squealed Alicia Spinnet excitedly.
Team members flew out into the stadium as Lee called their names. Ron could barely hear him comment on how all three Weasley brothers were on the same team. "You're up next," said Harry, assuring Ron and patting his back.
"And introducing our NEWEST member of the Gryffindor team, younger brother of Fred and George Weasley …. RON WEASLEY!"
Ron nodded his head and kicked off furiously. He could hear the yells and cheers of the stadium.
This was great. It felt great. He flew over to watch over his precious goal posts and waited for Madame Hooch to blow the whistle. Suddenly, the teams flew up into the ear and Ron clenched his jaw tight. He tried to listen to Lee's commentating.
"Alicia's got it, passes it neatly to Johnson, then to Bell, my, they've been working on passing and it sure is showing, she's heading for the goalllll ……. AND SHE SCORES! 10 to 0 Gryffindor!" Ron fought the urge to take a few loops around the post but he knew that he had to watch them carefully.
His heart stopped as he saw one of the chasers racing toward him. Woah, he better slow down. He's coming just a little too fast there … In slow motion he saw him throw the Quaffle forcefully into the right loop …
"AND THE RON SAVES IT! THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE! IT LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT ANOTHER WOOD ON THE WAY!"
Ron grinned broadly. He saw Harry take a few loops in the air and he heard the crowds erupting wildly. But his victory seemed to end as soon as it started. Harry had gone into a spectacular dive; obviously he had seen the snitch. But to Ron's dismay, he saw the something already clasped in Harry's left hand. What the hell is he doing? Has he gone mad? He's already caught the snitch! Thought Ron angrily in his mind.
But in seconds, Harry's spectacular dive turned into a nightmare. To his horror, Ron saw Harry crash head first into the ground of the stadium.
~*~*~
Author's Note: Hey guys, what did you think of this chapter? It's going to get more interesting in the next chapter. You will find out how Harry crashed, and Ron and Hermione will have a private talk alone together. HeHe. Happy Valentine's Day!