Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. If you think I'm lying, fine, I'm lying. Oh, and I forgot I don't own the song "Not that Different" either, Collin Raye does.
*** Special thanks go out to CurlsofGold and dksully for reviewing! It means a whole lot to me!
Chapter 3: Not that Different
Hermione pulled away from Ron, a slight, beautiful pink blush graced her perfect cheeks. She hadn't expected it to feel like that. His lips were so soft…she could lose herself in the memory of their two sweet kisses. She dipped her chin down so that he couldn't see her thoughts.
Ron bit his lower lip to keep from having that stupid, silly grin on his face that he supposed he had.
"I got the chess set Ron! Sorry I took so long, I couldn't find it under that mess of yours," Harry announced as he came trampling down the stairs.
He stopped abruptly as he saw a pink Hermione and an excessively happy looking Ron. Also, the catcalls, whoops and laughter might have tipped him off to the fact that something had happened.
Harry began walking slowly. "Hey guys!" he greeted, although neither of his friends looked at him, in fact, neither were looking at each other. Oh God, I hope they didn't just get in another fight, he thought wearily.
He changed his mind then and turned around, back toward Fred and George. "OK, what just happened?" he asked seriously. "Please don't tell me they just got in another fight-
Harry stopped talking when he saw the twinkle in Fred's eyes. "Nope. They just kissed. Twice," Fred informed him.
Harry's jaw dropped. After being put through five years of fighting between them, and then an obvious discomfort with each since the Yule Ball last year, and then there was that whole sob story Hermione told him, and he didn't even get the good luck to see their first kiss? Oh, that was just rotten!
"You'd think they'd wait to do that until I was around. After all those two have put me through," he grumbled jokingly.
Ron finally looked up to see Harry carrying his ancient chess set. "Hey Harry! You wanna play that game now?" Ron flashed a grin as Harry nodded.
Harry sat down across from Ron and took the liberty to set up the black and white pieces, quietly observing his two best friends, who were still looking flushed. Harry wanted them to tell him about it…well, not about the kiss (ugh, he didn't want to think of them kissing) but he wanted them to tell him they had kissed.
He cleared his throat. "So you guys want to fill me in what has everyone talking this evening?"
Hermione blushed even more and bit her lip to keep herself from smiling too madly. Ron just leaned back into the sofa with a cool look written across his face. He was still a bit red.
Oh, how cute, they're both nervous, Harry thought amusedly.
"Hey Hermione, just to warn you, now that you're with Ron you'll have to be jealous of his admirers," Fred or George Weasley called out.
"Yeah, and Ron, you can't get jealous if Dean wants Hermione to give him a private study session!" the other one called out.
"Hey, leave me out of this!" Dean yelled from where he was currently sitting, with Parvati Patil (his kind-of girlfriend) sitting on his lap. Parvati laughed.
Ron and Hermione just sort of looked at each other awkwardly, both having their silent doubts about their newfound feelings. "Oh shut up!" Lavender yelled at the twins. She settled back into her chair and continued filing her nails. "I think it's sweet."
Then she and Parvati passed a look that Harry wasn't sure his best friends would like. "They've been beating around the bush for years now." She winked at Hermione. "We knew you two were destined to be together since third year."
Parvati nodded in agreement. "It was always so obvious."
Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "Hey Hermione, just to warn you, now that you're with Ron you'll have to be jealous of all his admirers!" And there were a lot of admirers, Hermione knew. There with 17 to be exact. It wasn't as if she had counted them or anything. She didn't want to watch others fawn over him.
"Yeah, and Ron, you can't get jealous if Dean wants Hermione to give him a private study session!" Ron knew there was nothing to worry about when Hermione tutored his roommates or others for that matter, but he had always worried. He trusted her, always had, but he couldn't let her be alone with another classmate, could he?
Hermione looked at Ron at the same moment he looked at her. "We need to talk," the said in unison.
Ron stood up and started following Hermione to wherever she was going as he had momentarily forgot about Harry. Hermione stopped then, and whispered something in Ron's ear.
A muffled "Oh yeah," sounded from Ron.
"Hey Harry!" he called over, "Let's make that game for tomorrow night, OK?" Harry nodded. It didn't really matter anyway because he decided he was not in the mood to lose another game of chess to Ron Weasley, chess extraordinaire.
They found two empty seats in the back of the library, Hermione's favorite room. Of course, Ron had always known that.
She bit her lip. He looked her over.
She said we're much too different we're from /
Two separate worlds /
And he admitted she was partly right /
"I don't think we're going to work out Ron," she said with much more confidence then she actually was feeling. She did not pat herself on the shoulder for this though. Her heart was breaking.
Ron sighed. He had known their five seconds of togetherness wouldn't last much longer. He hadn't known what had possessed him to kiss her then, and right in front of everyone else. He must be going daft.
Hermione looked away and took a deep breath to steady her shaking nerves. "I don't want to be jealous of other girls Ron," she admitted much more weakly than she had originally spoken.
He smiled bitterly. He couldn't say anything to her response. He would be jealous no matter what.
She laughed but it wasn't the laugh he normally loved; it was a sad laugh, a desperate laugh. He had heard her laugh like that once before, after Viktor had broken up with her. The bastard!
"We're too different," she continued on. Then she looked up into his eyes. "We fight so much we'd probably end up killing each other," she said with a hoarse laugh.
"You really think so?" he asked in contradiction to what she said. Ron personally thought they could make beautiful music together…
But in his heart's defense he told her what they /
Had in common /
Was strong enough to bond them for life /
Hermione nodded, continually chewing on her lower lip and Ron was once again struck with how beautiful she was. "Yes, we'd never get along Ron." Then, as if to emphasize her point, she said something she would regret that night as she cried in bed. "I'm much better suited to someone like Harry. We never fight. And you belong with Lavender. You and I aren't alike at all."
Ron didn't speak. Hermione was right, she was always right. Why would now be so different?
He said look behind you own soul and person that you'll see /
Just might remind you of me /
She stood then. "We're better off being friends Ron. You can't deny that."
He nodded absent-mindedly. If she continued to talk she would see his heart ripped out and shredded into a thousand pieces. He wished she would shut up.
I laugh, I love, I hope, I try /
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry /
And I know you do the same things too /
So we're really not that different, me and you /
Hermione saw how badly he was hurting, and felt how bed she was hurting. She needed to leave. She hated the silence. "Goodnight Ron."
He nodded but didn't say anything. He just continued to stare straight ahead. She could tell he was either deep in thought or not thinking at all. She couldn't stand the tension anymore in here and so she fled.
She ran all the way up to the Gryffindor Common Room, lucky enough to not run into Filch, Mrs. Norris, or Peeves. She stopped just short of the Fat Lady, who smiled down at her, waiting patiently.
"Purple flying pigs," she said breathlessly. The Fat Lady smiled.
"Where's your boyfriend? I could have sworn I saw you two leave together." She smiled knowingly. "Don't worry Dear, I won't tell anyone." She giggled as her portrait swung open.
Hermione had hoped no one would be up, but much to her disappointment nearly everyone was still awake. The only people she didn't see were the Creeveys. "Where's Ickle-Ronniekins?" one of the twins asked while batting their eyelashes.
They thought they were so smart. Hermione's eyes narrowed.
"Ooh, better not upset her too much Forge or else she'll get her big boyfriend to beat you up," the one said.
Forge gasped. "She wouldn't!"
Hermione didn't respond to any of this. It was all stupid talk anyway. They didn't know what they were talking about, as usual.
She could hardly argue with his pure and /
Simple logic /
But logic never could convince a heart /
Instead of answering, she ran up the stairs to the fifth year girls' dormitory. Lavender shook her head. "Hmm, I wonder what is with her…?" she mused quietly to herself so no one else could comment while Hermione threw herself down on her bed and let the tears pour forth.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she wailed. She had never felt as upset as she did now. She didn't know she could cry like this.
Hermione tried to console herself. She tried to tell herself that he was just a stupid prat anyway. She tried telling herself that his red hair wasn't really that gorgeous and that his eyes weren't really that blue. She tried telling herself that his lips weren't really that soft.
But he wasn't just a stupid prat: he'd always been her stupid prat. And his red hair really was that gorgeous and his eyes really were that blue. Hermione knew his lips were that soft and even now, after all she had said, she could still feel his lips pressed against her sweetly.
She had always dreamed of loving someone /
More exotic /
And he just didn't seem to fit the part /
So she searched for greener pastures but never /
Could forget /
What he whispered when she left /
The door to her dormitory swung open. "Why did you let those awful twins get to you Hermione?" Lavender asked.
"I thought you were smarter than that," Parvati added in.
"Thanks," she whispered dryly.
Lavender gently sat down on the edge of Hermione's bed while Parvati sat across from Lavender, on Lavender's bed. "You know they were just teasing anyway, Hermione. Ron doesn't really have a ton of admirers." Parvati raised a skillfully arched eyebrow at this lie. Lavender shook her head, signaling for Parvati to keep quiet. "Besides, no admirer could compare to you in Ron Weasley's heart."
Parvati took this time to jump into the conversation. "Yes Hermione! Remember last year's Yule Ball? Ron went with Padma but stared at you the entire time!" she exclaimed excitedly.
Hermione didn't bring up the fact that Padma was not an admirer of Ron.
I laugh, I love, I hope, I try /
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry /
And I know you do the same things too /
So we're really not that different, me and you /
Hermione sat up, wiping away the tears still left on her cheeks. "You don't know how he feels about me! How could you say that he wouldn't leave me for another prettier girl?" she asked, desperately grasping at straws to somehow make her worries seem real.
"He wouldn't Hermione," Parvati said sincerely. "He loves you."
"Oh yeah? And how do you know that? Did you read that in your tea leaves?" she barked back.
Her two roommates backed away from her, both holding their hands up defensively. "Alright, alright!"
***
Long after Hermione had left Ron stayed in the library. He decided he loved, but hated, this room. The books reminded him of Hermione which was both why he loved the place and hated it. It was stupid of him to have kissed her, he decided.
Was it time or was it truth /
Maybe both led her back to his door /
As her tears fell at his feet /
She didn't say "I love you" what she said /
Meant ever more /
The creaking of the floors brought Ron out of his reverie. Excited that it was Hermione coming to tell him that it was all a mistake, he frantically looked behind his shoulder, only to find Harry standing there, leaning one shoulder against the bookshelf; Ron's chess set was in his other hand.
"How does that game of chess sound now?" Harry asked quietly. Madame Pince had seen him come carrying the chess board and shot him a disapproving look.
Ron shook his head. "I don't feel like it tonight. Maybe tomorrow," he suggested quietly.
Harry nodded sadly. He had heard Lavender and Parvati's speculations and seeing the look on his best friend's face, he knew they were more than mere speculations, they were the truth too.
He took a seat next to Ron at the table, not knowing what else he could do.
I laugh, I love, I hope, I try /
I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry /
And I know you do the same things too /
So we're really not that different, me and you /
You didn't think I would just allow them to get together just like *that*, did you? Well, what did you think? Review, please! It means so much to me!
