-I Don't Own Harry Potter-
Chapter 13: When Will They Stop Fighting?
It had been a couple of days, maybe a week since their kiss in the Common Room, thought Hermione. And they hadn't talked about it since. Staggering into the bathroom to brush her teeth, Hermione mused on this. Was this bad? Was this normal? What was she supposed to do? She certainly didn't know.
She would ask someone, but Mrs. McGonagall, who she usually talked to about problems (which were normally school related) didn't seem like the right person to ask. She could ask Parvati or Lavender, she supposed, but she didn't really want to. She wrinkled her nose. She could just see them squealing, "Oh, Hermione! You've finally got a boyfriend!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. She had had a boyfriend before either of them, Viktor Krum. But she had broken up with him on her trip to Bulgaria the summer after fourth year. Or more correctly, he had met someone after he went home, and they had mutually decided to call it quits. The relationship hadn't felt right to her in the first place anyway.
Well, Lavender and Parvati had had rotating boyfriends since 5th year. It was a running joke, and all the boys knew what they were getting into when they decided to date one or the other. In the Muggle world, the famous break up line was "It's not you, it's me..." but in Gryffindor tower, it was "The stars have informed me that this relationship is all wrong, it's not you, really..."
So she didn't really want to go to them for advice. Not a good idea at all. She'd probably get really bad advice, and as well, the whole school would know. As well as being total flakes, they were bad gossipers too. So her roommates were out of the question.
She certainly wasn't going to ask Harry either! That was definetely out of the question. Ask Harry for love advice...Ha. Harry had never had any love intrests since 4th year, when he had had a crush on Cho. So it looked like she was going to have to figure this out on her own. That's what she had been afraid of. Putting her toothbrush away, Hermione walked back into her dorm room, ran a brush through her unruly hair and headed downstairs.
She hoped that Ron was there and Harry wasn't. She wanted to talk to Ron. Unfortunately, they were both standing at the bottom of the stairs. Harry raised his eyebrows. "Honestly, what takes girls so long?"
Hermione laughed and took a swipe at him when she reached the bottom. "I hate mornings. Get over it."
Harry laughed and turned away. She tapped Ron on the shoulder and she could see him tense. "What?" he hissed without turning around.
Hermione felt her heart clutch when she realized he wouldn't look at her. "I need to talk to you."
"Later."
Hermione, for a split second, felt like crying. Why was he ignoring her? Then she felt that sadness morph into anger. What right did he have to kiss her and then pretend she didn't exist? What was he trying to prove? Did he seriously think that she was going to take this? She wasn't going to hang on his every word and wait for scattered signs of affection! As they walked through the portrait hole, her vision started to blur with anger. She pushed ahead of the two boys and stalked down the hallway.
Harry stared in confusion at her retreating back. "What was that?"
Ron's brows furrowed together. "I have no idea."
"Well, she said she hated mornings..."
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Ron was thoughroghly dazed through out breakfast. Hermione wouldn't look at him at all. What did he do? As far as he knew, he didn't do anything wrong... Well, she burst into flames after he said "Later"...Did that mean something? But why would that make her spontaneosly combust? Girls always seemed to be reading more into things...Ginny certainly did. She had finally learned to ask, "What do you mean by that?" before assuming something.
What in the world was wrong with Hermione? And did she still want to talk?
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After breakfast, Hermione felt Ron grab her by the arm. "Come on, we have some time before our next class. What was it you wanted to talk about?"
Hermione stood her ground. "Nothing. Not now, anyway." She glared at Ron, and pushed stray hairs out of her face.
"You said you wanted to talk. Why don't you now?"
"It doesn't matter anymore."
Ron pulled at his hair in frustration. "Hermione! WHAT DID I DO??"
"Don't yell in the hallway." Hermione steeled herself and refused to show reaction.
"Fine." Ron pulled Hermione into a room. "Now we're not in the hallway."
"What was that? What RIGHT do you think you have to pull me around?" Hermione rubbed her arm and her eyes flashed in anger.
"What right do YOU have to tell me that you want to talk to me and then get angry?"
"You were being a jerk!"
"HOW?? Just tell me what I did!"
Hermione's voice sunk a couple octaves, "You kissed me and then pretended that I didn't exist. Did you seriously think I would take that? I'm not Lavender or Parvati, to hang on your every word and let any scattered sign of affection be my life! I'm sorry that I'm not the sort of girl that you want, but I have better things to do with my life than waiting for Ronald Weasley to acknowledge my existence!" But by the end of her tirade she was yelling, hands curled into fists and clenched at sides, hair billowing around her face, her brown eyes snapping.
"Is that what you think? I just thought you wouldn't want public displays of affection! And think about it, you didn't exactly approach me either!"
Ron made sense, but to Hermione this was a battle, and to acknowledge that was to admit defeat. "Well, you could've asked!"
"Alright then. Do you want public displays of affection?"
"Well no, but..."
"HERMIONE! YOU CAN NOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!" Ron flailed his arms around, his ears gradually growing darker and darker shades of red, while his face grew paler, causing his freckes to stand out in sharp relief. His blue eyes had turned a dark stormy blue, and he seemed even taller than usual.
"Well, I can bloody try, can't I."
"Yes you can, but I'm not going to sit here and suffer through it. So forget it, Hermione. Forget it ever happened. If this is how it's going to be, I don't even want to bother." Ron strode out of the room. But then he stuck his head back in, a smirk on his face. "Besides, we're late to class."
So he left. Hermione stood there, mouth open, but then ran out of the room, getting to class the only thing on her mind. Or almost...Her eyes were wet. She could say that running was making her eyes water. But that's what she could say. Not necessarily the truth, but you knew that already, didn't you?
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Ginny felt sick. She pushed away her food and put her head in her hands and moaned. She really didn't want to have to deal with anything today, she was still mad from her encounter with Malfoy.
Colin Creevy looked her way and said, "Ginny? You alright?"
Ginny forced a smile. She said, "Yeah. Just tired is all."
Colin smiled back at her. "Oh, okay. Yeah, with all the studying we have to do for our OWLs, I'm not getting very much sleep either."
Ginny smiled weakly at him and stood up. "Now that you mention it, I think I'll go to the library to get some studying in." Ginny trudged over to the doors. She had told Colin a half-truth, she was really tired. She had been struck with a case of insomnia recently.
She slowly made her way to the library, not really caring how long it took her to get there. She leaned against the wall by one of the stairs, and fell half-asleep for a couple of minutes. She was jolted awake by a drawling voice.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Is the littlest weasel tired from staying up all night catching rats? Well, we all have to earn our keep, but some of us pay actual money. But I suppose in the absence of such, manual labor would suffice, though I doubt a scrawny little thing like you could do much."
"Eat dung, Malfoy. You may have money, but you don't have power, or at least not anymore. Or have you forgotten that little detail? And I saw the look on your face yesterday. That punch was not a light tap on the jaw. I would've expected to see a bruise...Did you go to Madame Pomfrey? The poor little ferret can't stand a little pain? What did you tell her? That you fell down the stairs? Wouldn't be surprising, clumsy as you are." Ginny then yawned and closed her eyes again, blatantly dissmissing Malfoy as any threat. She was rather pleased with herself, she had realized the best way to deal with Malfoy was to throw everything back in his face. She cracked an eye open, and sure enough, there he was, fuming.
She laughed and turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. "What? Still here? Hungry for more punishment, are we Malfoy?"
He threw his hands up in the air. "Why are you so god-damned hard to deal with, Weasley?"
Ginny stared at him in disbelief and then burst out laughing. She doubled over, clutching her stomach, shaking with laughter. When her chuckles had died down, she grinned at him. "Thanks, I needed that."
He glared at her. "Why was that funny?"
Ginny almost stuffed her fist into her mouth to keep from laughing. "Why was that funny? I mean, you stopped in the middle of the hall and insulted me, I insulted you back, and you asked me why I was hard to deal with? I mean, come on! What was I supposed to do? Break down crying?"
"Well, it would've been preferable."
Ginny didn't even try to stop laughing this time. "You should start up a comedy show, Malfoy. You're hilarious."
"Only you seem to think so."
"You're very entertaining. Once one gets over the hurtful things you say, you're actually quite funny when you act like a pompous ass. But why are you still here? Don't you have better things to do than converse with a 'weasel'?"
"No. Yes! Uh...They can wait?"
Ginny's brows furrowed. "What are you saying?"
"Uh...."
"Yes?" Ginny's mouth quirked into a half smile. This was too fun. "Alright, fine. I'll help you. That is why you're here, right?"
"No! I don't need help from you!"
Ginny grinned at him. "Riiiight. I'll rephrase that then. I'll help ME. And none of your silly conditions either. I know you're stuck, you know you're stuck, but you can keep your precious dignity and I'll pretend you never came crawling to me begging for my help."
"I never did any such thing!" Malfoy's eyes flashed, but there was an underlying emotion that could've been amusement.
"Oh don't worry, I won't spill your little secret." Ginny made a motion as to zip her lips. "I solemnly swear that I won't tell a soul." She winked and then streched. "Bye!" She strode off down the hallway. 'This is going to be too much fun,' she thought, and a wicked smile spread over her face. 'Way too much fun.'
She grew a little more serious, as she realized that this could be the difference between having Voldemort come back to life or not, but hey, she figured, why not have fun in the process? Not going to hurt anything. The wicked smile resuming it's place on her face, she walked down the hall, a visible bouce in her step.
Chapter 13: When Will They Stop Fighting?
It had been a couple of days, maybe a week since their kiss in the Common Room, thought Hermione. And they hadn't talked about it since. Staggering into the bathroom to brush her teeth, Hermione mused on this. Was this bad? Was this normal? What was she supposed to do? She certainly didn't know.
She would ask someone, but Mrs. McGonagall, who she usually talked to about problems (which were normally school related) didn't seem like the right person to ask. She could ask Parvati or Lavender, she supposed, but she didn't really want to. She wrinkled her nose. She could just see them squealing, "Oh, Hermione! You've finally got a boyfriend!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. She had had a boyfriend before either of them, Viktor Krum. But she had broken up with him on her trip to Bulgaria the summer after fourth year. Or more correctly, he had met someone after he went home, and they had mutually decided to call it quits. The relationship hadn't felt right to her in the first place anyway.
Well, Lavender and Parvati had had rotating boyfriends since 5th year. It was a running joke, and all the boys knew what they were getting into when they decided to date one or the other. In the Muggle world, the famous break up line was "It's not you, it's me..." but in Gryffindor tower, it was "The stars have informed me that this relationship is all wrong, it's not you, really..."
So she didn't really want to go to them for advice. Not a good idea at all. She'd probably get really bad advice, and as well, the whole school would know. As well as being total flakes, they were bad gossipers too. So her roommates were out of the question.
She certainly wasn't going to ask Harry either! That was definetely out of the question. Ask Harry for love advice...Ha. Harry had never had any love intrests since 4th year, when he had had a crush on Cho. So it looked like she was going to have to figure this out on her own. That's what she had been afraid of. Putting her toothbrush away, Hermione walked back into her dorm room, ran a brush through her unruly hair and headed downstairs.
She hoped that Ron was there and Harry wasn't. She wanted to talk to Ron. Unfortunately, they were both standing at the bottom of the stairs. Harry raised his eyebrows. "Honestly, what takes girls so long?"
Hermione laughed and took a swipe at him when she reached the bottom. "I hate mornings. Get over it."
Harry laughed and turned away. She tapped Ron on the shoulder and she could see him tense. "What?" he hissed without turning around.
Hermione felt her heart clutch when she realized he wouldn't look at her. "I need to talk to you."
"Later."
Hermione, for a split second, felt like crying. Why was he ignoring her? Then she felt that sadness morph into anger. What right did he have to kiss her and then pretend she didn't exist? What was he trying to prove? Did he seriously think that she was going to take this? She wasn't going to hang on his every word and wait for scattered signs of affection! As they walked through the portrait hole, her vision started to blur with anger. She pushed ahead of the two boys and stalked down the hallway.
Harry stared in confusion at her retreating back. "What was that?"
Ron's brows furrowed together. "I have no idea."
"Well, she said she hated mornings..."
--------
Ron was thoughroghly dazed through out breakfast. Hermione wouldn't look at him at all. What did he do? As far as he knew, he didn't do anything wrong... Well, she burst into flames after he said "Later"...Did that mean something? But why would that make her spontaneosly combust? Girls always seemed to be reading more into things...Ginny certainly did. She had finally learned to ask, "What do you mean by that?" before assuming something.
What in the world was wrong with Hermione? And did she still want to talk?
--------
After breakfast, Hermione felt Ron grab her by the arm. "Come on, we have some time before our next class. What was it you wanted to talk about?"
Hermione stood her ground. "Nothing. Not now, anyway." She glared at Ron, and pushed stray hairs out of her face.
"You said you wanted to talk. Why don't you now?"
"It doesn't matter anymore."
Ron pulled at his hair in frustration. "Hermione! WHAT DID I DO??"
"Don't yell in the hallway." Hermione steeled herself and refused to show reaction.
"Fine." Ron pulled Hermione into a room. "Now we're not in the hallway."
"What was that? What RIGHT do you think you have to pull me around?" Hermione rubbed her arm and her eyes flashed in anger.
"What right do YOU have to tell me that you want to talk to me and then get angry?"
"You were being a jerk!"
"HOW?? Just tell me what I did!"
Hermione's voice sunk a couple octaves, "You kissed me and then pretended that I didn't exist. Did you seriously think I would take that? I'm not Lavender or Parvati, to hang on your every word and let any scattered sign of affection be my life! I'm sorry that I'm not the sort of girl that you want, but I have better things to do with my life than waiting for Ronald Weasley to acknowledge my existence!" But by the end of her tirade she was yelling, hands curled into fists and clenched at sides, hair billowing around her face, her brown eyes snapping.
"Is that what you think? I just thought you wouldn't want public displays of affection! And think about it, you didn't exactly approach me either!"
Ron made sense, but to Hermione this was a battle, and to acknowledge that was to admit defeat. "Well, you could've asked!"
"Alright then. Do you want public displays of affection?"
"Well no, but..."
"HERMIONE! YOU CAN NOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!" Ron flailed his arms around, his ears gradually growing darker and darker shades of red, while his face grew paler, causing his freckes to stand out in sharp relief. His blue eyes had turned a dark stormy blue, and he seemed even taller than usual.
"Well, I can bloody try, can't I."
"Yes you can, but I'm not going to sit here and suffer through it. So forget it, Hermione. Forget it ever happened. If this is how it's going to be, I don't even want to bother." Ron strode out of the room. But then he stuck his head back in, a smirk on his face. "Besides, we're late to class."
So he left. Hermione stood there, mouth open, but then ran out of the room, getting to class the only thing on her mind. Or almost...Her eyes were wet. She could say that running was making her eyes water. But that's what she could say. Not necessarily the truth, but you knew that already, didn't you?
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Ginny felt sick. She pushed away her food and put her head in her hands and moaned. She really didn't want to have to deal with anything today, she was still mad from her encounter with Malfoy.
Colin Creevy looked her way and said, "Ginny? You alright?"
Ginny forced a smile. She said, "Yeah. Just tired is all."
Colin smiled back at her. "Oh, okay. Yeah, with all the studying we have to do for our OWLs, I'm not getting very much sleep either."
Ginny smiled weakly at him and stood up. "Now that you mention it, I think I'll go to the library to get some studying in." Ginny trudged over to the doors. She had told Colin a half-truth, she was really tired. She had been struck with a case of insomnia recently.
She slowly made her way to the library, not really caring how long it took her to get there. She leaned against the wall by one of the stairs, and fell half-asleep for a couple of minutes. She was jolted awake by a drawling voice.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Is the littlest weasel tired from staying up all night catching rats? Well, we all have to earn our keep, but some of us pay actual money. But I suppose in the absence of such, manual labor would suffice, though I doubt a scrawny little thing like you could do much."
"Eat dung, Malfoy. You may have money, but you don't have power, or at least not anymore. Or have you forgotten that little detail? And I saw the look on your face yesterday. That punch was not a light tap on the jaw. I would've expected to see a bruise...Did you go to Madame Pomfrey? The poor little ferret can't stand a little pain? What did you tell her? That you fell down the stairs? Wouldn't be surprising, clumsy as you are." Ginny then yawned and closed her eyes again, blatantly dissmissing Malfoy as any threat. She was rather pleased with herself, she had realized the best way to deal with Malfoy was to throw everything back in his face. She cracked an eye open, and sure enough, there he was, fuming.
She laughed and turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. "What? Still here? Hungry for more punishment, are we Malfoy?"
He threw his hands up in the air. "Why are you so god-damned hard to deal with, Weasley?"
Ginny stared at him in disbelief and then burst out laughing. She doubled over, clutching her stomach, shaking with laughter. When her chuckles had died down, she grinned at him. "Thanks, I needed that."
He glared at her. "Why was that funny?"
Ginny almost stuffed her fist into her mouth to keep from laughing. "Why was that funny? I mean, you stopped in the middle of the hall and insulted me, I insulted you back, and you asked me why I was hard to deal with? I mean, come on! What was I supposed to do? Break down crying?"
"Well, it would've been preferable."
Ginny didn't even try to stop laughing this time. "You should start up a comedy show, Malfoy. You're hilarious."
"Only you seem to think so."
"You're very entertaining. Once one gets over the hurtful things you say, you're actually quite funny when you act like a pompous ass. But why are you still here? Don't you have better things to do than converse with a 'weasel'?"
"No. Yes! Uh...They can wait?"
Ginny's brows furrowed. "What are you saying?"
"Uh...."
"Yes?" Ginny's mouth quirked into a half smile. This was too fun. "Alright, fine. I'll help you. That is why you're here, right?"
"No! I don't need help from you!"
Ginny grinned at him. "Riiiight. I'll rephrase that then. I'll help ME. And none of your silly conditions either. I know you're stuck, you know you're stuck, but you can keep your precious dignity and I'll pretend you never came crawling to me begging for my help."
"I never did any such thing!" Malfoy's eyes flashed, but there was an underlying emotion that could've been amusement.
"Oh don't worry, I won't spill your little secret." Ginny made a motion as to zip her lips. "I solemnly swear that I won't tell a soul." She winked and then streched. "Bye!" She strode off down the hallway. 'This is going to be too much fun,' she thought, and a wicked smile spread over her face. 'Way too much fun.'
She grew a little more serious, as she realized that this could be the difference between having Voldemort come back to life or not, but hey, she figured, why not have fun in the process? Not going to hurt anything. The wicked smile resuming it's place on her face, she walked down the hall, a visible bouce in her step.