Chapter 5
With three days to go to the ball, it seemed as if all was settled. Ron seemed a little more reconciled to going with Parvati, Harry – though nervous – was very excited to have an evening with Cho, and Hermione and Draco had been disappearing for short periods of time all throughout the week.
"It's disgusting," Ron told Harry while they were alone in the Common Room one morning. "Hermione and Malfoy? Whatever happened to that punch she gave him last year?"
"Dunno," said Harry, engrossed in Potions homework. "Say, Ron…" he shot Ron an uncomfortable look. "Does Ginny have another date?"
Ron turned stony-faced. "No," he said coldly. "Didn't think it'd matter to you if she did."
"Listen, Ron," Harry began heatedly, but just at that moment Hermione entered through the portrait hole. She was flushed and smiling and looked suspiciously like she'd just run all the way from the edge of the lake.
"Hello!" she trilled, and sat down between Harry and Ron.
Harry stared at her for a moment. Hermione never trilled anything. "Have you been meeting Malfoy again?" he asked sharply.
Hermione shook her head.
"Who were you with?" Ron shot. "Obviously it was someone. Who was it? Malfoy? Crabbe? Goyle?"
"No!" Hermione said, her smile disappearing. "If you must know, it was…Severus."
Ron choked. "That's even worse!" he shouted. "First you agree to go to the ball with Malfoy, then you start sneaking out for secret rendezvous with Snape!"
"Come off it, Ron, it wasn't a 'secret rendezvous' at all! We were just talking."
Harry gave a disgusted shudder. "I dunno how you can stand them, Hermione," he began, but Hermione cut him off with a look fit to kill.
"Don't you start, too!" she said. "Honestly, I don't know why I hang around the two of you…if you can't appreciate someone else's relationships!"
She jumped up, her right hand clutching a letter. "I'm going upstairs!"
"Hey, Hermione, is that a letter from Severus?" Ron asked jeeringly, pointing at the parchment in her hand.
"No!" Hermione shouted. "It's none of your business who it's from!"
"Who?" Harry asked, curious in spite of himself.
"Remus," Hermione snapped defiantly. Then she whirled and ran up the girls' staircase.
"She seems to be doing that a lot lately," Harry said. "Running away to her dorm."
Ron was watching her, his jaw slack in amazement. "Remus?" he said, his voice cracking. "Remus Lupin? Professor Lupin?"
"S'pose so, how many other Remuses could there be?"
Ron shook his head incredulously. "This is getting worse all the time."
----------------
"Listen, Harry, I'm really sorry," Cho said. "But…" she sighed. "I like Cedric better," she finished after a short hesitation.
Harry felt as if he'd been slapped in the face. "Fine then," he said bitingly, "Go with Cedric, see what I care." He turned on his heel and marched back to the Common Room, shaking with anger.
"Cho just canceled on me!" he fumed to Ron and Hermione. Sinking into an armchair, he shot red sparks at the ceiling to ease his frustration. "She said she'd go with me! But she just now pulled me aside and told me she couldn't because she likes Cedric better!"
"I'm really, really, sorry, Harry," Hermione said sympathetically. "I know what you mean."
Ron grinned. "You know what this means, right, mate?"
Harry looked nonplussed and rather annoyed. "No," he snapped. "Well, yes. It means I no longer have a date for the Valentine's Ball!"
"How much thicker can you get?" Ron asked in disgust.
"I don't know what you mean!" Harry said furiously. "If you'd talk English maybe I'd get what you're trying to tell me –,"
Ron rolled his eyes. "I – am – saying – you – should – ask – Ginny," he said patiently.
"What?" Harry said in confusion. "Ginny? Why Ginny?"
Hermione gave a derisive snort. "Honestly, Harry, can you be any more stupid?" she asked icily.
"No, I know what you mean," Harry defended. "But why would I ask Ginny?"
Now both Ron and Hermione were staring at him in utter amazement. "Oh, I dunno," Ron said sarcastically. "Maybe 'cause she's only had a crush on you for like four years…maybe cause neither of you have dates…maybe cause I've been telling you to for two weeks…"
"Hey," said Harry suddenly. "What if I asked her to the Ball? Think she'd like that?"
Ron and Hermione both groaned.
---------------------
"Hey, Ginny," Ron said matter-of-factly to his younger sister that evening in the Great Hall. "Harry wants to ask you to go to the Valentine's Ball with him."
Harry choked on a sip of pumpkin juice. "Ron!" he said furiously once he'd finished coughing. "Thanks a lot, some friend you are!"
"Very romantic, Ron," Ginny said sarcastically. "But sure, I'll go."
Harry stared. "You mean you want to go with me?"
"Of course," was Ginny's nonchalant reply. "I would've thought you'd've guessed it by now, really."
Ron laughed, although Harry didn't see what was funny about it. "All right," he said. "Now – unless you dump me too, Ginny – I can sit back and relax until the day of the Ball."
Hermione slid into a seat beside them, looking stressed. "Hello," she said while filling her plate with food.
"Where've you been?" Ron asked coldly. "Off with Draco?"
Hermione flushed a deep scarlet. "No!" she said hotly. "I have not been!"
"Writing to Sirius, then?" Ron retored.
"No!"
"Lupin?"
"No!"
"I get it," said Ron mockingly. "You've been down in the dungeons visiting Severus."
"Well – yes!" Hermione cried, her eyes filling with tears. "And what if I have?"
Ginny choked on a mouthful of tart. "Snape?" she said faintly.
Hermione nodded, blushing even deeper – if that was possible.
"Hermione's got quite the tangled love life going here," Ron said icily to his sister. "She's secretly meeting Snape, writing to Sirius and Lupin, and she's going to the Ball with Draco Malfoy. Next I suppose we'll hear she's having a secret letter affair with Cornelius Fudge," he said in tones of disgust.
Hermione choked, blushing so dark it was nearly purple. "He's rather nice, you know," she said in a very small voice.
Ron gasped, spluttering pumpkin juice all over Fred, who was sitting opposite him. "YOU WHAT?" he bellowed, causing several of the nearby Gryffindors to swivel around and watch the interchange. "YOU DON'T MEAN YOU ARE WRITING TO HIM – ARE YOU?"
Hermione nodded, not meeting Ron's eyes.
"You can't mean to say you're actually writing Fudge?" Harry asked incredulously from Hermione's other side. "Not the Minister of Magic? And…" he shuddered slightly, "romantically?"
"Yeah well, Hermione's proven her lack of taste in men," Ron said darkly. Harry followed his gaze to Snape, seated at the staff table, looking – if possible – greasier than usual.
"Say Hermione," said Ron loudly a moment later. "Is it possible for you to be interested in a man who washes his hair? Or is entirely human? Or isn't wanted by wizard law? Or has one ounce of respect for Muggle-born wizards?"
"Ron!" Hermione hissed, really crying now. Her face had not lost its crimson hue, as the majority of the Gryffindor students in the hall watched the dialogue with great interest. "That was really low, Ron…you know Remus is fine! And Sirius, he's innocent!"
"And Snape, and Malfoy?" Ron retorted. "What about them?"
"Well…" Hermione bit her lip. "Listen, we'll talk about this later," she said, conscious of nearly a hundred highly interested pairs of eyes on her.
"No," said Ron loudly. "I want to talk about it now."
"Well –," Hermione stopped, drew a deep breath, and said in a hissing whisper – "If you hadn't been so stupid, if you'd have asked me to the ball before anyone else did, I would've said yes.
Ron, who had been preparing for another shouting match, stopped. He looked suddenly as if he'd been hit over the head with a large Muggle frying pan; his jaw slack, his eyes large as Galleons.
"You WHAT?" he gasped after a moment.
"I would have said yes," said Hermione in a very small voice. "But you didn't…and so I said yes to Malfoy instead."
With that she stood, tears rolling freely down her cheeks, and fled the Great Hall.
"Girls," said Ron in disgust as he watched her go.
His eyes on Ginny, Harry could only agree.
