Ch.7
Revolutionary Realizations.....
A/N: Ok, I'ma try this out. This chapter holds a bit of, um.....random- ness. LOL. You might have a bit of a time trying to figure out "ok, what the HELL does this have to do with the story?" but this is the result of when a little thing called BORED-NESS happens to you. ~_~;;;; Oh yeah, and to keep you happy, a little bit of H/Hr goodness.
"Hey Harry!"
Harry turned around to allow Ron to catch up with him. "Yeah Ron?"
Ron slowed down, panting as he reached him. "I think you'd better come see this."
"Why, what's up?" Harry asked, a curious look on his face.
"Well-it's-oh, come on!" Ron said, seizing his arm and dragging him away.
"But what about class?" Harry asked, confused.
"Oh, trust me, this is MUCH more interesting than any lecture Binns could give on Moblin Rebellions," Ron said, nodding vigorously.
Truth be told, ANYTHING was more interesting than any lecture Binns could give on Moblin Rebellions.
Harry, thoroughly confused, had no choice but to let Ron drag him along. It wasn't long before they reached the courtyard, where a large group of students had gathered. Ron pushed and shoved his way into the center with Harry in tow, and Harry felt his jaw drop.
Hermione was on the left end of the circle, holding a sword, glaring defiantly at the other end of the circle, where Kat was standing, also holding a sword, and wearing a pair of red shorts, and buttoned blue jacket with ruffles and tassels on it.
"Wh-what the hell is going on?!" Harry exclaimed, looking from girl to girl.
"Well," Kat began with a grin, "I was reading this comic book, and I thought, hey, wouldn't it be cool if I could do that in real life? So, I found 2 swords just hanging on the wall, and I found Hermione, so here we are!" she finished with a broad sweep of her arms.
Harry looked to Hermione with a shocked expression on his face. "And you agreed to this?!"
She put a hand on her hip and glared at him. "I have my reasons."
"And what would those be?"
Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "I have certain things to prove to myself by beating a certain other person that a certain other other person is smitten with."
It was either nobody caught that , or they chose to ignore it. Harry, however, got the message loud and clear, and his eyes widened.
She's dueling her over me?!
His mouth opened and closed like a goldfishes, until Ron nudged him back to his senses.
"Hermione, regardless, it isn't like you to make reckless decisions like this," he said exasperatedly.
She shot him another defiant glare, then turned back to face Kat. She lifted her sword and took a dueling stance.
"Kat-Hermione, please reconsider," Harry pleaded, torn between anxiety and embarrassment, considering this was about him, whether anyone knew it or not. "You don't even know how to duel!"
"I read a bit about it in a book, I know enough, so SHUT UP Harry!" she snapped.
Kat chuckled on the other side of the circle and also took a fighting stance. "Ready?"
"Hermione-" Harry tried again.
"Begin!" she yelled, and lunged.
Kat raised her sword into the air. "For the Revolution of the World!" she exclaimed, and dived to the center.
Clash after clash of the swords, Harry got more and more anxious. The crowd was cheering, and Ron was nervously standing next to Harry, as worried as he was.
Harry watched as Hermione thrust her sword at Kat, but Kat sprung backwards in a n amazing acrobatic feat, landed on her feet, and sprung forwards, sword out towards Hermione.
"Hermione MOVE!" Harry exclaimed. It surprised him a bit, he had thought if anything he'd be more concerned about Kat.
Hermione skid out of the way and rolled back onto her feet, sword at ready.
Harry reluctantly tore his eyes away from the match as he felt that Ron nudge him again. "What?" Ron pointed to the other side of the circle, where Harry could see Malfoy watching Kat's every move anxiously. Quite frankly, Harry didn't care right now if Malfoy was dancing around naked with a tea cozy on his head, he was more concerned about Hermione.
Kat.
He couldn't take too much more of this. "Ron, how much longer do you think this is going to take?" he said, eyes never leaving the circle.
Ron shrugged worriedly. "Dunno...I reckon it'll end when someone's rose gets knocked off," he said, indicating the roses attached to the girls' shirts, gold on Hermione, green on Kat.
This is insane, Harry thought to himself. "Those roses are too small of a target to hit accurately, someone is going to get seriously hurt," he muttered to himself. "Why didn't they just duel like normal wizards?!"
There was a gasp from the crowd as Kat's sword just narrowly missed hitting Hermione, and instead, a brown lock of hair floated softly to the ground.
It was no good. Harry set his jaw firmly and set off again to the middle of the circle, but Ron held him back.
"Harry, what do you think you're doing?!" he hissed, looking at him wide eyed.
"Stopping this before someone gets hurt," he said determinedly. He wrenched his arm out of Ron's hand, and kept going.
"Yeah, but, what if that someone is YOU?!"
Too late to turn back now, he charged to the middle and skidded to a stop, but not noticing Hermione charging blindly towards Kat.
"Girls, stop-"
It happened in a split second. A sword clattered, a rose scattered, and a searing pain shot through Harry's arm as he sunk to the ground.
"Oh my God, Harry!" Kat exclaimed, dropping immediately to his side. He was holding his upper arm tightly, and red was seeping quickly through his sleeve. He winced slightly as he looked up to see Hermione staring down at him with a mixture of shock, horror, anger, and extreme sympathy.
"Harry, I'm-I," she began, but didn't finish, because she passed out. The crowd around them were freaking out, and Ron and Malfoy came running. They looked at each other for a second when they reached the center, then turned away.
"Harry, are you all right?" Ron asked, his voice full of concern.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm all right," he answered, taking his hand away from his arm to see how badly it was cut. It was pretty deep, and was oozing blood.
"you're such an idiot," Ron said, shaking his head hopelessly, looking at the cut. "Such a bloody always concerned about everyone but yourself idiot."
"Kat, are you all right?" Malfoy asked, with what harry was surprised to hear, real concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little shaken is all," she said, with a small smile. She now looked to Hermione. "I think someone better call Madame Pomphrey, 'Mione's out of it," she said with some urgency. "And you better get your arm checked too Harry," she added.
"Yeah," Ron said, a hint of worry in his voice. "And we'd better hurry too, before-"
"What is going on here?!" a voice thundered.
All the hustle and bustle stopped dead, as a hush came over the crowd. Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Professor Dumbledore came striding into the courtyard, and a group of students parted to admit them into the circle.
"Potter, what the hell-" Snape began, but Dumbledore held up a hand.
"I'll ask the questions Severus, thank you," he said firmly. "Now, Mr. Potter, would you care to explain what is going on here?" There was no twinkle in his eyes now.
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted immediately by Kat.
"It was my fault, sir," she said decidedly.
"What?" Snape asked, head snapping back to look at Katherine.
"I beg your pardon Miss Love?" Dumbledore asked turning to face her.
"It wasn't Harry's fault, sir," she said a bit more bravely as she got to her feet. "It was mine. I started the duel, it was all my idea, Harry was just trying to stop it."
"Kat, what are you doing, let me-" Harry hissed at her.
"Hush you," she whispered back, kicking his foot slightly.
She was going to get herself expelled, Harry thought. She's going to take all the blame and get herself expelled. He opened his mouth to protest, but he felt a hand on his shoulder shutting him up. It was Malfoy. He looked at Harry seriously and muttered "This isn't the time to play hero." "Katherine, what on earth could have possessed you to even consider such a thing?!" Snape exploded. Kat stood her ground however.
"I saw a challenge, Uncle, and as you've told me before, Snapes don't turn down challenges," she stated.
Snape look like he wanted to protest, but McGonagall jumped in. "That may be all well and good, Miss Love, but Rose Duels are forbidden at this school!"
Kat looked surprised. "There's such thing?"
"Of course, where else would you have gotten the idea?" McGonagall said wearily.
"From a comic book. I thought it was fake, but it looked interesting so-"
"Well, Miss Love," Dumbledore interrupted. "It seems as though there is a fine line between fantasy and reality, and you've just overstepped it."
Kat bowed her head. She held out her sword. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry," she said. She turned to Harry. "I'm sorry to you, too. This wasn't supposed to get you involved." she turned back to the Professors. "If you're going to expel me, I completely understand," she said.
Harry couldn't take it anymore. "Professors, don't expel her, she didn't know it was against the rules or-"
"Hold Your Tongue, Potter!" Snape snapped.
"What Miss Love's fate is, will be up to the Professors and I, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said wearily. He sighed heavily, then said "I see some of you are in need to medical attention." He conjured up a stretcher from nowhere, and levitated Hermione onto it. With a wave of his hand, it started on its way to the hospital wing.
"Best let Madame Pomphrey have a look at your arm, Mr. Potter," Professor Dumbledore said. "Katherine, follow me please." He now addressed the large crowd with was still standing watching the whole scene. "As for the rest of you, you might as well go to dinner, there's nothing left to see here." He turned, along with the other Professors, to go.
"Kat, you have NO idea-" Harry began painfully.
She smiled softly at him. "Don't worry about it, a'ight? Everything's going to be all right," she said reassuringly. She patted Rons arm genuinely, and let it linger there for a sec, before grinning at them in that oh so confident way that she did, and turned to follow the Professors.
There was a sigh, and Harry looked to his left. It was Malfoy, watching Kat walk off. It surprised Harry to no ends that Draco looked really and truly sad. He sighed heavily again, then turned to leave, muttering as he left "That arm isn't going to heal itself Potter."
Harry watched him go with curious eyes, then winced again as his arm told him hat he should probably hurry up and get some medical attention. "Come on then Ron," Harry said, and Ron helped him towards the castle.
"You will never cease to amaze me, Mr. Potter."
Harry was sitting on a hospital bed in the hospital wing, and Madame Pomphrey was tending to his arm.
"Every year, without fail, you go and damage yourself in some dangerous feat," she said, shaking her head. "And every year you drag yourself into my office, so I can fix something or other."
Harry smiled warily at her, and she glared sternly back at him. "What was it this time? Oh yes, a sword fight! My goodness, I don't understand how you children operate these days, getting into duels, getting stalked by dark lords, those bloody animals that Hagrid keeps, and now sword fights!" She shook her head again as she tightened his bandage. "Now you stay here, and don't you dare move! I'm going to see Professor Dumbledore about adding another medical form to your already extensive file."
She shut the door, leaving harry sitting on the bed. He looked around his surroundings and was startled to see Hermione sitting on a bed on the other side of the room staring hard at him.
"Hey."
"'lo."
This didn't make sense, they weren't supposed to be this distant.
"All right then?" he asked.
She shrugged, "Suppose so. You?"
He smiled weakly with a side glance at his arm. "As all right as I could be I guess."
Not even a chuckle from her.
Harry sighed. "Hermione, seriously, is there something wrong?"
"So nice of you to notice, " she said bitterly. Harry's eyebrows raised to the heavens. "Ok, now I know something's wrong."
She remained silent.
"I'm going out on a limb here, does this have anything to do with Kat?"
That did it, he thought. He had hit something, he had seen a kind of reaction in her.
"It is, isn't it?" he asked. No response. "What was with that duel today, eh? That isn't like you at all."
"I've already told you," she snapped angrily, "I was proving to myself-"
"Hermione, what could you possible have to prove to yourself?" Harry interrupted.
"That I'm better than that damn Katherine!" she exclaimed angrily.
Harry looked at her surprised. "What?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Harry, maybe you don't understand what it's like to feel that you've been replaced."
"Replaced?" Harry said, confused. "What are you-"
"Ever since this year began," she continued, "everything has been about Kat. I just barely see Ron or you anymore, because you're always off with Katherine!"
Harry realized with some guilt that she had a point.
"Yeah, well, you haven't been the most social these days," Harry countered. "Always grumbling and glaring-"
"Because you're talking or hanging around with Katherine!"
Then it hit him. He wasn't it sure it was actually possible but-
"You're jealous, aren't you?" he said softly.
"And what if I am?" she said peevishly.
He was quiet for a moment, then said "What are you jealous of Kat for?"
She didn't answer, but a faint blush crept onto her face. It wasn't like he didn't already know, but he wanted to hear her say it.
"How long?" he asked softly.
At first, she didn't respond, then said "First year."
"I see."
"But it doesn't matter anyway," she suddenly exclaimed, "because she's won."
"Won?" Harry asked. "Won what?"
She glared at him again and hopped off her bed and walked to his and stood in front of it. "Don't you get it?" she hissed. "That duel stood fro something. Take a good look at me Harry," she said, stepping back and spreading her arms. "What's missing here, eh?"
His eyes searched curiously, until they stopped on a rose stem that hung limply on her robes.
"I don't get-"
"I lost, Harry!" she snapped. "Did you not notice a rose blowing freely at the end of the match?"
He laughed bitterly. "I was a bit preoccupied with the bleeding of my cut arm."
"That rose stood for something," she continued, ignoring his last remark. "She still had hers!" her voice steadily rising. "That rose symbolizes the one thing that she has that I'll never have!"
"Hermione, you're being highly unreasonable!"
"AM I?" she said shrilly. "It seems reasonable to me!"
"Why don't you just get to know her?"
"Because I don't WANT to get to know her!" she yelled. "I HATE her! I hate everything about her! The way she looks, how popular she is, and MOST of all, how she holds all your attentions!"
"Well maybe YOU would if YOU weren't acting like such a BITCH!" Harry yelled back.
SMACK.
Harry's head slapped to the left at the force of Hermione's hand, which still hovered dangerously in the air.
"I dare you, Harold James Potter," she hissed, barely above a whisper. "I DARE you to say that again."
"How DARE you even act like you know how I feel. Calling my exclamations 'unreasonable'." Her voice was rising again. "You have NO idea-"
"Oh YES I DO, Hermione!" he snapped, grabbing both her hands. "I know all too well how you feel! I've experienced this before, all right?!"
"They why don't you-"
"Because I can't help who I love!" he said, throwing down her hands.
Wait a minute, he thought. Did he really love her? He knew it was a serious crush, but was it really love?
Hermione was breathing pretty heavy and looking extremely put off. Her face fell as she whispered "And neither can I." Harry's eyes widened.
"What-?"
"I've got to go," she said distractedly. "Sorry about the slap..."
"No, it was, uh, my fault..." Harry said, dazed.
"And your arm."
"Yeah.."
She turned to go, but Harry grabbed her arm, holding her back. They're eyes locked. For some reason, he felt an overwhelming urge to just take her into his arms and make everything better, back to the way things were before this year, before Kat came.
Unknowingly they were drawing closer together, they're faces only inches apart. Hell, if he was going to lose someone who meant the world to him because of a girl, maybe it would just be best to-
"You never listen to me, do you?"
Harry snapped out of his reverie and let go of Hermione's arm. They moved apart and turned to see Madame Pomphrey and Ron standing in the door.
"Do you think I don't know what's good for you?" she demanded. She strode over to where he was standing with her hands on her hips. "I'm a Nurse, I'm SUPPOSED to know what's good for you!"
"I better go. Thank you Madame Pomphrey," said Hermione. She glanced once more at Harry, then walked to the door, past Ron, and left.
"Now you, back into bed! You're not leaving until that arm is healed, do you understand?" Harry sighed and hopped back on the bed. "Yes ma'am."
"Good. You have a visitor," and went into her office.
Ron was looking from the hospital door, to Harry, and back again, with a highly confused look on his face.
"Ok, did I just walk in on something-?"
Harry shook his head. "Don't worry about it...we just had a kind of.....row, I suppose, that's all."
Ron nodded dimly. "You sure?"
Harry thought about telling him everything, how he didn't want to hurt Hermione, how much he really really liked Kat, how much Hermione loved him, how he felt about her loving him.....
What he almost did a minute ago....
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure..."
Ok, that was long, and kinda angsty, too. Didn't mean to get so emotional ~_~;;;;. Hey, if you're an anime fan, you might have noticed that the comic book she got the duel from was Shoujou Kakumei Utena (or for you people who can't understand Japanese, Revolutionary Girl Utena). It's one of the more insane animes with female/female relationships and incest, and people possessed by black roses....yeah, it's swell. LOL. However, there's a message in it that you can achieve anything with love and friendship, even revolutionizing the world, so, it's all right in that retrospect. Moving right along, things will get happier in the next chapters, it's almost finished. I'm thinking maybe 10 and an epilogue perhaps. ^_^ ja ne!
A/N: Ok, I'ma try this out. This chapter holds a bit of, um.....random- ness. LOL. You might have a bit of a time trying to figure out "ok, what the HELL does this have to do with the story?" but this is the result of when a little thing called BORED-NESS happens to you. ~_~;;;; Oh yeah, and to keep you happy, a little bit of H/Hr goodness.
"Hey Harry!"
Harry turned around to allow Ron to catch up with him. "Yeah Ron?"
Ron slowed down, panting as he reached him. "I think you'd better come see this."
"Why, what's up?" Harry asked, a curious look on his face.
"Well-it's-oh, come on!" Ron said, seizing his arm and dragging him away.
"But what about class?" Harry asked, confused.
"Oh, trust me, this is MUCH more interesting than any lecture Binns could give on Moblin Rebellions," Ron said, nodding vigorously.
Truth be told, ANYTHING was more interesting than any lecture Binns could give on Moblin Rebellions.
Harry, thoroughly confused, had no choice but to let Ron drag him along. It wasn't long before they reached the courtyard, where a large group of students had gathered. Ron pushed and shoved his way into the center with Harry in tow, and Harry felt his jaw drop.
Hermione was on the left end of the circle, holding a sword, glaring defiantly at the other end of the circle, where Kat was standing, also holding a sword, and wearing a pair of red shorts, and buttoned blue jacket with ruffles and tassels on it.
"Wh-what the hell is going on?!" Harry exclaimed, looking from girl to girl.
"Well," Kat began with a grin, "I was reading this comic book, and I thought, hey, wouldn't it be cool if I could do that in real life? So, I found 2 swords just hanging on the wall, and I found Hermione, so here we are!" she finished with a broad sweep of her arms.
Harry looked to Hermione with a shocked expression on his face. "And you agreed to this?!"
She put a hand on her hip and glared at him. "I have my reasons."
"And what would those be?"
Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "I have certain things to prove to myself by beating a certain other person that a certain other other person is smitten with."
It was either nobody caught that , or they chose to ignore it. Harry, however, got the message loud and clear, and his eyes widened.
She's dueling her over me?!
His mouth opened and closed like a goldfishes, until Ron nudged him back to his senses.
"Hermione, regardless, it isn't like you to make reckless decisions like this," he said exasperatedly.
She shot him another defiant glare, then turned back to face Kat. She lifted her sword and took a dueling stance.
"Kat-Hermione, please reconsider," Harry pleaded, torn between anxiety and embarrassment, considering this was about him, whether anyone knew it or not. "You don't even know how to duel!"
"I read a bit about it in a book, I know enough, so SHUT UP Harry!" she snapped.
Kat chuckled on the other side of the circle and also took a fighting stance. "Ready?"
"Hermione-" Harry tried again.
"Begin!" she yelled, and lunged.
Kat raised her sword into the air. "For the Revolution of the World!" she exclaimed, and dived to the center.
Clash after clash of the swords, Harry got more and more anxious. The crowd was cheering, and Ron was nervously standing next to Harry, as worried as he was.
Harry watched as Hermione thrust her sword at Kat, but Kat sprung backwards in a n amazing acrobatic feat, landed on her feet, and sprung forwards, sword out towards Hermione.
"Hermione MOVE!" Harry exclaimed. It surprised him a bit, he had thought if anything he'd be more concerned about Kat.
Hermione skid out of the way and rolled back onto her feet, sword at ready.
Harry reluctantly tore his eyes away from the match as he felt that Ron nudge him again. "What?" Ron pointed to the other side of the circle, where Harry could see Malfoy watching Kat's every move anxiously. Quite frankly, Harry didn't care right now if Malfoy was dancing around naked with a tea cozy on his head, he was more concerned about Hermione.
Kat.
He couldn't take too much more of this. "Ron, how much longer do you think this is going to take?" he said, eyes never leaving the circle.
Ron shrugged worriedly. "Dunno...I reckon it'll end when someone's rose gets knocked off," he said, indicating the roses attached to the girls' shirts, gold on Hermione, green on Kat.
This is insane, Harry thought to himself. "Those roses are too small of a target to hit accurately, someone is going to get seriously hurt," he muttered to himself. "Why didn't they just duel like normal wizards?!"
There was a gasp from the crowd as Kat's sword just narrowly missed hitting Hermione, and instead, a brown lock of hair floated softly to the ground.
It was no good. Harry set his jaw firmly and set off again to the middle of the circle, but Ron held him back.
"Harry, what do you think you're doing?!" he hissed, looking at him wide eyed.
"Stopping this before someone gets hurt," he said determinedly. He wrenched his arm out of Ron's hand, and kept going.
"Yeah, but, what if that someone is YOU?!"
Too late to turn back now, he charged to the middle and skidded to a stop, but not noticing Hermione charging blindly towards Kat.
"Girls, stop-"
It happened in a split second. A sword clattered, a rose scattered, and a searing pain shot through Harry's arm as he sunk to the ground.
"Oh my God, Harry!" Kat exclaimed, dropping immediately to his side. He was holding his upper arm tightly, and red was seeping quickly through his sleeve. He winced slightly as he looked up to see Hermione staring down at him with a mixture of shock, horror, anger, and extreme sympathy.
"Harry, I'm-I," she began, but didn't finish, because she passed out. The crowd around them were freaking out, and Ron and Malfoy came running. They looked at each other for a second when they reached the center, then turned away.
"Harry, are you all right?" Ron asked, his voice full of concern.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm all right," he answered, taking his hand away from his arm to see how badly it was cut. It was pretty deep, and was oozing blood.
"you're such an idiot," Ron said, shaking his head hopelessly, looking at the cut. "Such a bloody always concerned about everyone but yourself idiot."
"Kat, are you all right?" Malfoy asked, with what harry was surprised to hear, real concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little shaken is all," she said, with a small smile. She now looked to Hermione. "I think someone better call Madame Pomphrey, 'Mione's out of it," she said with some urgency. "And you better get your arm checked too Harry," she added.
"Yeah," Ron said, a hint of worry in his voice. "And we'd better hurry too, before-"
"What is going on here?!" a voice thundered.
All the hustle and bustle stopped dead, as a hush came over the crowd. Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Professor Dumbledore came striding into the courtyard, and a group of students parted to admit them into the circle.
"Potter, what the hell-" Snape began, but Dumbledore held up a hand.
"I'll ask the questions Severus, thank you," he said firmly. "Now, Mr. Potter, would you care to explain what is going on here?" There was no twinkle in his eyes now.
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted immediately by Kat.
"It was my fault, sir," she said decidedly.
"What?" Snape asked, head snapping back to look at Katherine.
"I beg your pardon Miss Love?" Dumbledore asked turning to face her.
"It wasn't Harry's fault, sir," she said a bit more bravely as she got to her feet. "It was mine. I started the duel, it was all my idea, Harry was just trying to stop it."
"Kat, what are you doing, let me-" Harry hissed at her.
"Hush you," she whispered back, kicking his foot slightly.
She was going to get herself expelled, Harry thought. She's going to take all the blame and get herself expelled. He opened his mouth to protest, but he felt a hand on his shoulder shutting him up. It was Malfoy. He looked at Harry seriously and muttered "This isn't the time to play hero." "Katherine, what on earth could have possessed you to even consider such a thing?!" Snape exploded. Kat stood her ground however.
"I saw a challenge, Uncle, and as you've told me before, Snapes don't turn down challenges," she stated.
Snape look like he wanted to protest, but McGonagall jumped in. "That may be all well and good, Miss Love, but Rose Duels are forbidden at this school!"
Kat looked surprised. "There's such thing?"
"Of course, where else would you have gotten the idea?" McGonagall said wearily.
"From a comic book. I thought it was fake, but it looked interesting so-"
"Well, Miss Love," Dumbledore interrupted. "It seems as though there is a fine line between fantasy and reality, and you've just overstepped it."
Kat bowed her head. She held out her sword. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry," she said. She turned to Harry. "I'm sorry to you, too. This wasn't supposed to get you involved." she turned back to the Professors. "If you're going to expel me, I completely understand," she said.
Harry couldn't take it anymore. "Professors, don't expel her, she didn't know it was against the rules or-"
"Hold Your Tongue, Potter!" Snape snapped.
"What Miss Love's fate is, will be up to the Professors and I, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said wearily. He sighed heavily, then said "I see some of you are in need to medical attention." He conjured up a stretcher from nowhere, and levitated Hermione onto it. With a wave of his hand, it started on its way to the hospital wing.
"Best let Madame Pomphrey have a look at your arm, Mr. Potter," Professor Dumbledore said. "Katherine, follow me please." He now addressed the large crowd with was still standing watching the whole scene. "As for the rest of you, you might as well go to dinner, there's nothing left to see here." He turned, along with the other Professors, to go.
"Kat, you have NO idea-" Harry began painfully.
She smiled softly at him. "Don't worry about it, a'ight? Everything's going to be all right," she said reassuringly. She patted Rons arm genuinely, and let it linger there for a sec, before grinning at them in that oh so confident way that she did, and turned to follow the Professors.
There was a sigh, and Harry looked to his left. It was Malfoy, watching Kat walk off. It surprised Harry to no ends that Draco looked really and truly sad. He sighed heavily again, then turned to leave, muttering as he left "That arm isn't going to heal itself Potter."
Harry watched him go with curious eyes, then winced again as his arm told him hat he should probably hurry up and get some medical attention. "Come on then Ron," Harry said, and Ron helped him towards the castle.
"You will never cease to amaze me, Mr. Potter."
Harry was sitting on a hospital bed in the hospital wing, and Madame Pomphrey was tending to his arm.
"Every year, without fail, you go and damage yourself in some dangerous feat," she said, shaking her head. "And every year you drag yourself into my office, so I can fix something or other."
Harry smiled warily at her, and she glared sternly back at him. "What was it this time? Oh yes, a sword fight! My goodness, I don't understand how you children operate these days, getting into duels, getting stalked by dark lords, those bloody animals that Hagrid keeps, and now sword fights!" She shook her head again as she tightened his bandage. "Now you stay here, and don't you dare move! I'm going to see Professor Dumbledore about adding another medical form to your already extensive file."
She shut the door, leaving harry sitting on the bed. He looked around his surroundings and was startled to see Hermione sitting on a bed on the other side of the room staring hard at him.
"Hey."
"'lo."
This didn't make sense, they weren't supposed to be this distant.
"All right then?" he asked.
She shrugged, "Suppose so. You?"
He smiled weakly with a side glance at his arm. "As all right as I could be I guess."
Not even a chuckle from her.
Harry sighed. "Hermione, seriously, is there something wrong?"
"So nice of you to notice, " she said bitterly. Harry's eyebrows raised to the heavens. "Ok, now I know something's wrong."
She remained silent.
"I'm going out on a limb here, does this have anything to do with Kat?"
That did it, he thought. He had hit something, he had seen a kind of reaction in her.
"It is, isn't it?" he asked. No response. "What was with that duel today, eh? That isn't like you at all."
"I've already told you," she snapped angrily, "I was proving to myself-"
"Hermione, what could you possible have to prove to yourself?" Harry interrupted.
"That I'm better than that damn Katherine!" she exclaimed angrily.
Harry looked at her surprised. "What?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Harry, maybe you don't understand what it's like to feel that you've been replaced."
"Replaced?" Harry said, confused. "What are you-"
"Ever since this year began," she continued, "everything has been about Kat. I just barely see Ron or you anymore, because you're always off with Katherine!"
Harry realized with some guilt that she had a point.
"Yeah, well, you haven't been the most social these days," Harry countered. "Always grumbling and glaring-"
"Because you're talking or hanging around with Katherine!"
Then it hit him. He wasn't it sure it was actually possible but-
"You're jealous, aren't you?" he said softly.
"And what if I am?" she said peevishly.
He was quiet for a moment, then said "What are you jealous of Kat for?"
She didn't answer, but a faint blush crept onto her face. It wasn't like he didn't already know, but he wanted to hear her say it.
"How long?" he asked softly.
At first, she didn't respond, then said "First year."
"I see."
"But it doesn't matter anyway," she suddenly exclaimed, "because she's won."
"Won?" Harry asked. "Won what?"
She glared at him again and hopped off her bed and walked to his and stood in front of it. "Don't you get it?" she hissed. "That duel stood fro something. Take a good look at me Harry," she said, stepping back and spreading her arms. "What's missing here, eh?"
His eyes searched curiously, until they stopped on a rose stem that hung limply on her robes.
"I don't get-"
"I lost, Harry!" she snapped. "Did you not notice a rose blowing freely at the end of the match?"
He laughed bitterly. "I was a bit preoccupied with the bleeding of my cut arm."
"That rose stood for something," she continued, ignoring his last remark. "She still had hers!" her voice steadily rising. "That rose symbolizes the one thing that she has that I'll never have!"
"Hermione, you're being highly unreasonable!"
"AM I?" she said shrilly. "It seems reasonable to me!"
"Why don't you just get to know her?"
"Because I don't WANT to get to know her!" she yelled. "I HATE her! I hate everything about her! The way she looks, how popular she is, and MOST of all, how she holds all your attentions!"
"Well maybe YOU would if YOU weren't acting like such a BITCH!" Harry yelled back.
SMACK.
Harry's head slapped to the left at the force of Hermione's hand, which still hovered dangerously in the air.
"I dare you, Harold James Potter," she hissed, barely above a whisper. "I DARE you to say that again."
"How DARE you even act like you know how I feel. Calling my exclamations 'unreasonable'." Her voice was rising again. "You have NO idea-"
"Oh YES I DO, Hermione!" he snapped, grabbing both her hands. "I know all too well how you feel! I've experienced this before, all right?!"
"They why don't you-"
"Because I can't help who I love!" he said, throwing down her hands.
Wait a minute, he thought. Did he really love her? He knew it was a serious crush, but was it really love?
Hermione was breathing pretty heavy and looking extremely put off. Her face fell as she whispered "And neither can I." Harry's eyes widened.
"What-?"
"I've got to go," she said distractedly. "Sorry about the slap..."
"No, it was, uh, my fault..." Harry said, dazed.
"And your arm."
"Yeah.."
She turned to go, but Harry grabbed her arm, holding her back. They're eyes locked. For some reason, he felt an overwhelming urge to just take her into his arms and make everything better, back to the way things were before this year, before Kat came.
Unknowingly they were drawing closer together, they're faces only inches apart. Hell, if he was going to lose someone who meant the world to him because of a girl, maybe it would just be best to-
"You never listen to me, do you?"
Harry snapped out of his reverie and let go of Hermione's arm. They moved apart and turned to see Madame Pomphrey and Ron standing in the door.
"Do you think I don't know what's good for you?" she demanded. She strode over to where he was standing with her hands on her hips. "I'm a Nurse, I'm SUPPOSED to know what's good for you!"
"I better go. Thank you Madame Pomphrey," said Hermione. She glanced once more at Harry, then walked to the door, past Ron, and left.
"Now you, back into bed! You're not leaving until that arm is healed, do you understand?" Harry sighed and hopped back on the bed. "Yes ma'am."
"Good. You have a visitor," and went into her office.
Ron was looking from the hospital door, to Harry, and back again, with a highly confused look on his face.
"Ok, did I just walk in on something-?"
Harry shook his head. "Don't worry about it...we just had a kind of.....row, I suppose, that's all."
Ron nodded dimly. "You sure?"
Harry thought about telling him everything, how he didn't want to hurt Hermione, how much he really really liked Kat, how much Hermione loved him, how he felt about her loving him.....
What he almost did a minute ago....
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure..."
Ok, that was long, and kinda angsty, too. Didn't mean to get so emotional ~_~;;;;. Hey, if you're an anime fan, you might have noticed that the comic book she got the duel from was Shoujou Kakumei Utena (or for you people who can't understand Japanese, Revolutionary Girl Utena). It's one of the more insane animes with female/female relationships and incest, and people possessed by black roses....yeah, it's swell. LOL. However, there's a message in it that you can achieve anything with love and friendship, even revolutionizing the world, so, it's all right in that retrospect. Moving right along, things will get happier in the next chapters, it's almost finished. I'm thinking maybe 10 and an epilogue perhaps. ^_^ ja ne!