Chapter 11

When Harry and Hermione entered the common room, they saw Ron sitting on the couch with Ginny.

"Feeling better then, Ginny?" Harry asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"She'll be alright, wont you Gin" Ron said, getting up from the couch. Ron looked at Hermione and she returned his questioning stare. Neither of them knew what to say. Ron wanted to bring comfort to her Hermione and show her that no matter what happened in their lives, he would always love her just as much as he always had. But he didn't know how.

Hermione looked to Ron with guilt. It was eating away at her. Could he see it? He could see right through her and he knew what she did, didn't he? Hermione almost began to cry.

"Well then" Harry said, breaking the silence, "How about some lunch"

The four began to walk out of the common room, and Harry put his hand on Ginny's back, guiding her out of the room; bringing that ever so present comfort to her that Harry always possessed. Harry knew he brought this to her and wondered if he should continue this, knowing that in the end, it would not be her who he would choose, and when that day comes, he probably wont be that pillow to her anymore. Was this just hurting the both of the more? He figured he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

Ron tried to put a hand on Hermione as they sat down in the great hall but she flinched and pulled away. Ron tried not to blow up but he was never one to hold feelings back.
"Alright, Hermione, we have to talk"

Hermione just glared at him, expecting him to say what he had to say right then and there in front of everyone. But he did not.
"Come on then" he said, grabbing her hand and walking out of the great hall.

***

Harry sat there with Ginny and suddenly felt very awkward. He didn't really have anything to say to her. The moments that they shared that their words connected them had passed. Those were the only moments of that verbal connection that they would share. Now, their connection was purely physical and Harry knew he couldn't stay in that situation for too much longer. But he knew that Ginny still needed that connection with him and he knew that even though he knew better, he would always give her what she needed.

Harry snapped out of his trance as Parvati sat down next to him. She looked from him to Ginny and it was then that Harry realized how deceitful he was being. He was going from Ginny to Parvati, leading them both on, and the two didn't have a clue about each other. This wasn't like him. Harry didn't do this. He needed to figure out a solution to this new girl problem in his life and he needed to figure it out now.

"Am I interrupting something…" Parvati asked, looking as though she was about to leave.
"No, no, not at all, but I need to go to the library…" he said nervously, getting up from the table, "Ginny will you be alright? Do you want me to take you back to the common room?" He asked, not being able to just leave her there.
"I'm alright thank you Harry" she said quietly, somewhat glaring at Parvati.

Harry began to walk out, his heart racing, not knowing what was going on with him. When he reached the hallway, he leaned up against the wall and closed his eyes. What was he going to do with himself.
"Harry, is there something I did?"

Harry opened his eyes to see Parvati standing there, hurt expression on her face.

"No, Parvati, it's not you… I've just been having a … weird… week… and I need some fresh air or something, I'll talk to you later."

With that, Harry nearly ran down the hall, and out the castle.

***

When Ron and Hermione reached the common room, Hermione jerked her hand from Ron's.

"Let go of me! What's the meaning of all this?!" Hermione screeched as she folded her arms.
Ron looked around to see how much of a commotion they were causing but there was no one else in the common room.

"Sit down Hermione"

The two sat down at a table across from one another.

"Hermione, look, I know you're upset about this morning but it's no reason to ignore and not let me near you. I tried 5 times to come into your room today and 5 times you told me to go away but you let Harry in to talk to you? What's that all about? I'm you're boyfriend, not Harry. You don't tell me what happened, you don't tell me how you're feeling, and you wont even let me touch you. Please, tell me what's going on. Is it because of our fight this morning?"

Hermione sat there looking at him and couldn't help the tears that began to stream down her face. He didn't know. He couldn't see it. She was wrong… but still guilty.

"Hermione, please don't do this… please. I just want to be here for you but I can't be if you don't want me to be." Ron slowly crept his hands across the table and tried to take her hands in his, but she pulled away.
"See" he said, sighing and leaning back in his chair.
"I'm sorry Ron, it isn't you"
"Well then what is it Hermione? There has to be something"
"Well if you must know, you're going to not want to be with me anymore, so we might as well get it over with now.

"Hermione what are you talking about, why wouldn't I want to be with you?…. Wait a second… Malfoy was trying to rape you wasn't he?"

Hermione just sat there and cried, she couldn't tell him, the words wouldn't come out of her mouth.

"Hermione? Was that not against your will?"
"No, Ron, he was trying to rape me"

Ron let out a sigh of relief and then realized it wasn't that great of a victory and looked back to Hermione.

"Then what is it?" he asked, getting impatient with her.
Hermione cried into her hands and barely mumbled the phrase "I liked what he was doing"

But Ron heard it loud and clear. He sat back down in the chair and stared blankly at her, then a look of disgust made its way onto his face. "You what"

"I'm so sorry Ron, I feel awful, but when he was doing those things to me, I figured that I wasn't going to get out of it… so… I… pictured it as you… and allowed myself to enjoy it, and I felt awful because afterwards I found myself more upset that you don't touch me like that, then I was at Malfoy for touching me like that in the first place."

Ron put one hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Hermione, what are you saying"

"I dunno"

"Hermione, we've been together for a total of a day, I wasn't going to just give into my hormones in the first day we're together. You think I don't want to do things to you? Do you know what's been running through my head for years now? You couldn't even imagine what I think about… but I thought that you wouldn't want those things. I thought that if I even kissed you like I wanted to, I'd get a slap in the face… I just wanted to respect you…"

"Are you mad"

Ron thought about it for a minute. He was mad. He couldn't help it. He watched the tears drip down her face and decided that he could silently be mad at her, she didn't need a fight right now.
"No" he said, forcing a smile. He was glad he did that cause as soon as the word came out of his mouth, a smile busted onto Hermione's face and she leapt from her chair and into his arms.

"Haha, and just for you, I'll try to act more horny"

Hermione burst out into laughter at this comment, it was just what she needed. And Ron made a promise to himself that from now on, he'd be giving her more and more of what she needed.

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