Hi, hope there are not to many mistakes in this chapter, Scrubs was on and
I couldn't be bothered triple checking. (I did double check however)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Then you just have to work hard for the next thing you want"
Vixen's words were haunting her. Running through her head at a million miles a minute. She couldn't stop dwelling on them, she couldn't kick start her brain, she couldn't get it past the simple sentence, because, truthfully, it meant so much more. Held so many answers to the complications that were flooding Hermione's thoughts and feelings.
It made everything make sense, all of it made perfect sense to Hermione now. Everything that Vixen had shared in the conversation just took so much away from the situation.
Vixen was right, Hermione had completed one chapter of her life, she had succeeded in one of her major goals, and now, she had to move on and work hard towards the next thing that her heart desired.
And the next thing that her heart desired was him. Was Ron. She wanted Ron. Not only as he the next logical step, but he was the next desired step.
There were 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, 672 hours in a month and 8424 hours in a year, and Hermione knew she spent to many of those hours working. She was always at the library, or sitting somewhere with a book in her hand.
So many hours, to many of them wasted. Hermione sighed, and closed her eyes. She did so much work, and she knew that she brought it all on herself. Did she really have to do so much work? No. Did she really have to learn each and every text book word for word before going into a class? Probably not. Did she have to answer every single question and embarrass herself in the process of making herself look impossibly smart? Hell no.
She didn't need to. She didn't need to be a know it all goody two shoes; she didn't need to know every single thing about every single subject. She didn't need the hassle.
Hermione was tired of that. She was tired of the looks people would shoot her as she raised her hand to answer a question, she was sick of people pointing and giggling at her because she was not little miss social. She was sick of being alone.
Well, not completely alone, because she did have great friends. But she wanted more. She wanted a relationship. Hermione had spent the last six years sharing a room with Lavender and Parvati, so she had spent endless hours listening to them exchanging stories and giggling about their various boyfriends.
Stories of stolen kisses and hidden little notes, Hermione had to admit that many times she had been jealous of them. They all had boyfriends, and she didn't. They didn't get the highest marks in the class, but they were all happy.
Hermione wanted happiness. She wanted the happiness that a relationship can bring, she wanted the stolen kisses and hidden little notes, and she wanted it all from Ron.
Ron was offering, he was offering her a relationship, he was offering her happiness, he was offering love, and she had pushed him away. Not completely away, but far enough away that he had not spoken to her since the night in the common room.
They had sat together silently in potions, neither knowing what to say to each other. Actually, neither Harry, Hermione or Ron had spoken to each other all lesson. (Harry was to busy staring at Vixen, who was sitting with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle)
Ron wasn't avoiding her. He was just not talking to her. Hermione knew there was no difference really, but she had technically been avoiding him to. If she had to talk to him in classes, she would say what she needed to quickly, and he would reply just as fast. Hermione had been avoiding his eyes, because she knew that she would find disappointment staring back at her.
Well, he didn't have to be disappointed any more. Hermione stood, not caring who she was disturbing, and turned to leave the library, leaving her books on the table.
The halls were long and winding, and Hermione amazed herself by the fact that she could still get lost in the everlasting halls. But she finally came to a stop outside of the portrait hole. She entered quickly and looked around.
"Where's Ron?" She called. A few people looked up at her and shook their heads. So she turned and ran from the room again.
The school was a big place; she knew that, what she didn't know was where Ron would be. Pausing, she sighed, where would Ron be?
After checking the great hall, Hagrid's hut and the quidditch pitch, Hermione turned back to the school.
But something caught her eye. Some one was sitting on the main stairs of the school. Some one with bright red hair. Hermione smiled, she must have run straight past him. She approached him silently.
Ron was looking down at his hands; it was obvious that he had not seen her speed past him.
"You were right" She told him. Ron looked up at her, a smile tugging at his lips. He hid his excitement and just looked up at her, meeting her eyes for the first time since the incident.
"Yeah, well, I guess there is a first for everything, what was I right about?" He asked.
"I want you" she replied. Ron did a double take. Did he really just hear what he thought that he heard?
"Umm, huh?"
"I didn't know what I wanted. But now I know what I want, and I want you" Hermione replied confidently, but the silence that followed was unnerving.
"Umm, you want me?" He asked. She sighed.
"I want to be with you. I thought that you wanted to be with me to" Hermione began, and then moved to continue up the stairs. "Obviously not"
"Wait" he said, she stopped and looked back at him "Sit down"
After taking a deep steadying breath she sat down on the stairs beside him. He looked at her, and this time he couldn't help his smile as it spread across his lips.
"You want to be with me?" He asked. Hermione nodded. Ron reached out and held her hand in his. "Are you sure about this, because the other night, you didn't seen to sure about anything"
"I am sure. I am sick of pushing things away; I shouldn't have pushed you away. I am sorry, I was just so, unsure, as you aid, but now I am sure, I don't think I have ever been surer of anything in my life" Hermione admitted. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze "I think I might be in love with you to"
"I am glad" Ron smiled, and then placed a soft gentle kiss on her cheek. "You mean the world to me Hermione"
"You mean that much to me to Ron" She replied.
"Things are going to be confusing for a while" he told her. Hermione smiled at him again.
"It will be worth it"
~*~*~*~*~*
He watched her from across the great hall as Vixen chatted away with a few random Slytherins.
"Harry, stop staring" Hermione mumbled. He smirked and did as she said, glancing down at his plate. He had taken the food, but he seemed unable to eat it. He didn't even have the strength to raise his fork to his mouth.
No matter how much he tried, his gaze kept returning to the Slytherin table, to her. He wanted to take her all in, to memorize the way her hair flipped when she turned to look at some one, the remember the way her lips moved as she chatted, the way her eyes lit up as she laughed.
"Harry, you are staring again" Hermione mumbled. Harry shot her a dark look.
"You are staring at Ron, but I am not trying to stop you" Harry replied. Hermione blushed and Ron laughed.
"I am not trying to stop her either" Ron replied, laughing. Harry laughed as well.
He had been happy for his best friends when they had told him they were together. Harry had even managed to hold his tongue and not say "About time". But he was also sad. They were so happy together, and he had nothing of that really. He had no one to care for him the way that they cared for each other.
But he didn't want anything like that with any one other than Vixen. He didn't want to talk to any one like they talked to each other unless it was Vixen. His heart was reserved for her and her alone.
But she obviously had some one else in her life. And the other some one else had just entered.
Harry watched Draco, his eyes shooting daggers as the blonde moved to the Slytherin table, sitting down beside Vixen.
Harry continued to watch as Vixen moved away from him slightly. Draco glared at her, and said something. At that instant, Harry wished he could read lips.
After Draco said something else, Vixen shook her head and pushed her plate away from her, standing, she moved out of the great hall. It was only seconds before Draco stood up and followed her.
"Looks like there is trouble in paradise" Harry said sarcastically, a genuine smile breaking out on his face.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, reaching for more food from the center of the table. Harry indicated with his fork to the door. (He had found the energy to eat again)
"Looks like Vixen is fighting with her boyfriend" Harry grinned. He knew that he shouldn't be smiling, because the breaking of any relationship was sad, but he knew that if Vixen broke it off with that scum Malfoy, then she would need a shoulder to cry on.
"What, didn't I tell you? Malfoy is not her boyfriend....."
~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey, what was that all about?" Draco yelled as soon as they got to the silence and privacy of the halls leading to the slytherin dungeons. Vixen didn't answer, she just kept walking.
"Hey, answer me when I talk to you Vix" He exclaimed.
"Don't call me Vix" She replied, turning to him. He stood in front of her, but they were approximately the same height so there was not much intimidating going on between the two of them.
"Why don't you treat me with respect anymore?" Draco asked. Vixen glared.
"You don't respect me any more, than why should I respect you" She replied. His hands grabbed her arms harshly.
"Now you listen here..." Draco began, she shrugged him off.
"No, you listen, you cant control me. We used to be equals, and then things changed, now, this is the way it is, stop treating me like a little kid" She glared, Grey eyes stared into grey eyes, neither of them daring to look away.
"Is this attitude because of Potter?" Draco asked his voice at a scary level of calm. She narrowed her eyes.
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
"Goyle said that you were talking to him in the library the other day, you looked comfortable together apparently." He accused. Vixen sighed.
"Not that it is any of your business, but I was telling him that he would never have a chance with me...I told him that there was no way we would work" Vixen replied, somewhat sadly.
"Listen, just remember what we said about him, he is bad news...." Draco told her. Vixen glared at him.
"You know, I think you are the one who is bad news Draco" She mumbled, turning again to continue to the common room.
"Does he know who you are Vixen? Who you really are?" He asked. Vixen didn't reply. "I didn't think so. Just remember, when he finds out who you really are, he is not going to want anything to do with you anyway"
"Well, I'll just risk it" Vixen sighed.
"Well, I wonder how long it will take him to find out Vix, or maybe some one should take it upon themselves to tell them" Draco pondered.
"You wouldn't dare!" She exclaimed.
"Wouldn't I?" He asked. "What are you going to do to stop me, Tell Lucius?"
Vixen knew she would have to remove herself from the conversation before she hurt him. So she turned and began to move away. Stopping only to turn back to him, intent on having the last word in the argument.
"You know what Draco, you are some much like dad sometimes, its scary"
~*~*~*~
"Well, come on Hermione, out with it!!" Harry exclaimed.
"Draco is not Vixen's boyfriend, he is Vixen's brother"
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Review now please
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"Then you just have to work hard for the next thing you want"
Vixen's words were haunting her. Running through her head at a million miles a minute. She couldn't stop dwelling on them, she couldn't kick start her brain, she couldn't get it past the simple sentence, because, truthfully, it meant so much more. Held so many answers to the complications that were flooding Hermione's thoughts and feelings.
It made everything make sense, all of it made perfect sense to Hermione now. Everything that Vixen had shared in the conversation just took so much away from the situation.
Vixen was right, Hermione had completed one chapter of her life, she had succeeded in one of her major goals, and now, she had to move on and work hard towards the next thing that her heart desired.
And the next thing that her heart desired was him. Was Ron. She wanted Ron. Not only as he the next logical step, but he was the next desired step.
There were 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, 672 hours in a month and 8424 hours in a year, and Hermione knew she spent to many of those hours working. She was always at the library, or sitting somewhere with a book in her hand.
So many hours, to many of them wasted. Hermione sighed, and closed her eyes. She did so much work, and she knew that she brought it all on herself. Did she really have to do so much work? No. Did she really have to learn each and every text book word for word before going into a class? Probably not. Did she have to answer every single question and embarrass herself in the process of making herself look impossibly smart? Hell no.
She didn't need to. She didn't need to be a know it all goody two shoes; she didn't need to know every single thing about every single subject. She didn't need the hassle.
Hermione was tired of that. She was tired of the looks people would shoot her as she raised her hand to answer a question, she was sick of people pointing and giggling at her because she was not little miss social. She was sick of being alone.
Well, not completely alone, because she did have great friends. But she wanted more. She wanted a relationship. Hermione had spent the last six years sharing a room with Lavender and Parvati, so she had spent endless hours listening to them exchanging stories and giggling about their various boyfriends.
Stories of stolen kisses and hidden little notes, Hermione had to admit that many times she had been jealous of them. They all had boyfriends, and she didn't. They didn't get the highest marks in the class, but they were all happy.
Hermione wanted happiness. She wanted the happiness that a relationship can bring, she wanted the stolen kisses and hidden little notes, and she wanted it all from Ron.
Ron was offering, he was offering her a relationship, he was offering her happiness, he was offering love, and she had pushed him away. Not completely away, but far enough away that he had not spoken to her since the night in the common room.
They had sat together silently in potions, neither knowing what to say to each other. Actually, neither Harry, Hermione or Ron had spoken to each other all lesson. (Harry was to busy staring at Vixen, who was sitting with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle)
Ron wasn't avoiding her. He was just not talking to her. Hermione knew there was no difference really, but she had technically been avoiding him to. If she had to talk to him in classes, she would say what she needed to quickly, and he would reply just as fast. Hermione had been avoiding his eyes, because she knew that she would find disappointment staring back at her.
Well, he didn't have to be disappointed any more. Hermione stood, not caring who she was disturbing, and turned to leave the library, leaving her books on the table.
The halls were long and winding, and Hermione amazed herself by the fact that she could still get lost in the everlasting halls. But she finally came to a stop outside of the portrait hole. She entered quickly and looked around.
"Where's Ron?" She called. A few people looked up at her and shook their heads. So she turned and ran from the room again.
The school was a big place; she knew that, what she didn't know was where Ron would be. Pausing, she sighed, where would Ron be?
After checking the great hall, Hagrid's hut and the quidditch pitch, Hermione turned back to the school.
But something caught her eye. Some one was sitting on the main stairs of the school. Some one with bright red hair. Hermione smiled, she must have run straight past him. She approached him silently.
Ron was looking down at his hands; it was obvious that he had not seen her speed past him.
"You were right" She told him. Ron looked up at her, a smile tugging at his lips. He hid his excitement and just looked up at her, meeting her eyes for the first time since the incident.
"Yeah, well, I guess there is a first for everything, what was I right about?" He asked.
"I want you" she replied. Ron did a double take. Did he really just hear what he thought that he heard?
"Umm, huh?"
"I didn't know what I wanted. But now I know what I want, and I want you" Hermione replied confidently, but the silence that followed was unnerving.
"Umm, you want me?" He asked. She sighed.
"I want to be with you. I thought that you wanted to be with me to" Hermione began, and then moved to continue up the stairs. "Obviously not"
"Wait" he said, she stopped and looked back at him "Sit down"
After taking a deep steadying breath she sat down on the stairs beside him. He looked at her, and this time he couldn't help his smile as it spread across his lips.
"You want to be with me?" He asked. Hermione nodded. Ron reached out and held her hand in his. "Are you sure about this, because the other night, you didn't seen to sure about anything"
"I am sure. I am sick of pushing things away; I shouldn't have pushed you away. I am sorry, I was just so, unsure, as you aid, but now I am sure, I don't think I have ever been surer of anything in my life" Hermione admitted. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze "I think I might be in love with you to"
"I am glad" Ron smiled, and then placed a soft gentle kiss on her cheek. "You mean the world to me Hermione"
"You mean that much to me to Ron" She replied.
"Things are going to be confusing for a while" he told her. Hermione smiled at him again.
"It will be worth it"
~*~*~*~*~*
He watched her from across the great hall as Vixen chatted away with a few random Slytherins.
"Harry, stop staring" Hermione mumbled. He smirked and did as she said, glancing down at his plate. He had taken the food, but he seemed unable to eat it. He didn't even have the strength to raise his fork to his mouth.
No matter how much he tried, his gaze kept returning to the Slytherin table, to her. He wanted to take her all in, to memorize the way her hair flipped when she turned to look at some one, the remember the way her lips moved as she chatted, the way her eyes lit up as she laughed.
"Harry, you are staring again" Hermione mumbled. Harry shot her a dark look.
"You are staring at Ron, but I am not trying to stop you" Harry replied. Hermione blushed and Ron laughed.
"I am not trying to stop her either" Ron replied, laughing. Harry laughed as well.
He had been happy for his best friends when they had told him they were together. Harry had even managed to hold his tongue and not say "About time". But he was also sad. They were so happy together, and he had nothing of that really. He had no one to care for him the way that they cared for each other.
But he didn't want anything like that with any one other than Vixen. He didn't want to talk to any one like they talked to each other unless it was Vixen. His heart was reserved for her and her alone.
But she obviously had some one else in her life. And the other some one else had just entered.
Harry watched Draco, his eyes shooting daggers as the blonde moved to the Slytherin table, sitting down beside Vixen.
Harry continued to watch as Vixen moved away from him slightly. Draco glared at her, and said something. At that instant, Harry wished he could read lips.
After Draco said something else, Vixen shook her head and pushed her plate away from her, standing, she moved out of the great hall. It was only seconds before Draco stood up and followed her.
"Looks like there is trouble in paradise" Harry said sarcastically, a genuine smile breaking out on his face.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, reaching for more food from the center of the table. Harry indicated with his fork to the door. (He had found the energy to eat again)
"Looks like Vixen is fighting with her boyfriend" Harry grinned. He knew that he shouldn't be smiling, because the breaking of any relationship was sad, but he knew that if Vixen broke it off with that scum Malfoy, then she would need a shoulder to cry on.
"What, didn't I tell you? Malfoy is not her boyfriend....."
~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey, what was that all about?" Draco yelled as soon as they got to the silence and privacy of the halls leading to the slytherin dungeons. Vixen didn't answer, she just kept walking.
"Hey, answer me when I talk to you Vix" He exclaimed.
"Don't call me Vix" She replied, turning to him. He stood in front of her, but they were approximately the same height so there was not much intimidating going on between the two of them.
"Why don't you treat me with respect anymore?" Draco asked. Vixen glared.
"You don't respect me any more, than why should I respect you" She replied. His hands grabbed her arms harshly.
"Now you listen here..." Draco began, she shrugged him off.
"No, you listen, you cant control me. We used to be equals, and then things changed, now, this is the way it is, stop treating me like a little kid" She glared, Grey eyes stared into grey eyes, neither of them daring to look away.
"Is this attitude because of Potter?" Draco asked his voice at a scary level of calm. She narrowed her eyes.
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
"Goyle said that you were talking to him in the library the other day, you looked comfortable together apparently." He accused. Vixen sighed.
"Not that it is any of your business, but I was telling him that he would never have a chance with me...I told him that there was no way we would work" Vixen replied, somewhat sadly.
"Listen, just remember what we said about him, he is bad news...." Draco told her. Vixen glared at him.
"You know, I think you are the one who is bad news Draco" She mumbled, turning again to continue to the common room.
"Does he know who you are Vixen? Who you really are?" He asked. Vixen didn't reply. "I didn't think so. Just remember, when he finds out who you really are, he is not going to want anything to do with you anyway"
"Well, I'll just risk it" Vixen sighed.
"Well, I wonder how long it will take him to find out Vix, or maybe some one should take it upon themselves to tell them" Draco pondered.
"You wouldn't dare!" She exclaimed.
"Wouldn't I?" He asked. "What are you going to do to stop me, Tell Lucius?"
Vixen knew she would have to remove herself from the conversation before she hurt him. So she turned and began to move away. Stopping only to turn back to him, intent on having the last word in the argument.
"You know what Draco, you are some much like dad sometimes, its scary"
~*~*~*~
"Well, come on Hermione, out with it!!" Harry exclaimed.
"Draco is not Vixen's boyfriend, he is Vixen's brother"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Review now please