Chapter eight – Ron's jealousy

Hermione's POV

I woke up the next morning feeling tired still. Thoughts have been swirling around in my head which has kept me up later than usual. Ron sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Morning" he said cheerfully. I gave a fake smile and we both went to have a shower. Once we were dressed we just stood there staring at each other.

"Should we-" Ron began but before he could finish his sentence, I slapped him. Ron held his now red cheek and looked utterly confused. I walked down to breakfast with him being dragged along with me. "Hermione wait" Ron said and he stood in front of me and held my arms.

"Don't touch me" I snarled, breaking out of his grasp. "What is the matter with you?!" Ron asked. I held up the card and Ron's face went pale. "What is the matter with you Ron?" I snapped. "Hermione, I…" Ron started.

"Don't! How could you do this Ron? After everything that happened, I thought we were friends now!" I said. "We are!" Ron managed to choke out. "Then why did you hide this from me? We've been through this before and even then you didn't give me a straight answer, explain!" I yelled at him.

"I… can't… you… don't… understand" Ron stuttered. "No Ron, you don't understand! Why do you have to be like this? How do you think it makes me feel?" I asked. "I…don't-" Ron stammered. "I'm fed up of this, from now on you are invisible to me Ron. I don't care that we're handcuffed together, you are not my friend any more!" I shouted.

Ron's POV

I just stared at her. "But 'Mione-" I began. "Don't call me 'Mione! Only friends can call me that!" she said. She dragged me down to dinner but I didn't feel hungry at all. I just sat there staring into my food with a gaunt expression on my face.

"Are you ok, Ron?" Harry asked from next to me. I tried to speak but it seemed as though I'd forgotten how to so I merely nodded.

The whole day was awful. Hermione didn't speak to me once. I tried to talk to her but she put her nose in the air and ignored me. Harry knew what was going on but said nothing about it, which I was thankful for. Harry seemed to have thoughts of his own at the moment anyway, not sure what they are though…

Harry's POV

What a bad day it has been. Not only is Hermione not talking to Ron for reasons unknown, Ginny is avoiding me. I tried to talk to her at breakfast but she hurried off before I could even begin. I just know it's because I kissed her last night. It wasn't even a real kiss, just a peck on the cheek, a sign of friendship. Surely she could understand that?! Obviously not.

Ron seems to be more troubled than I am though. I wonder why Hermione is so mad at him anyway. I tried asking them both but they didn't tell me anything, I think it's something personal between them. I'm sitting in the common room at the moment, staring into the flames. I need someone to talk to about all of this, but who?

I know, Sirius. I crept upstairs into my dorm and found my mirror. I checked the whole room, even in cupboards just to make sure no one was listening. Then I said quite clearly: "Sirius Black". A face appeared in the mirror but it wasn't Sirius', it was Remus Lupin's.

"Hello Harry, looking for Sirius?" Remus asked. "Yeah, is he around?" I replied. "I'm afraid he's in a meeting with the order. I've just came out to feed Buckbeak, do you want me to tell him to speak to you when he comes back?" Remus asked. "No, that's ok. I'm meant to be speaking to him tomorrow anyway it's just, I kind of needed some advice" I said.

I decided it was too embarrassing to tell Remus about Ginny so I told him the story of Ron and Hermione. "Ah yes, Sirius did mention about the handcuffs. If you want my advice, I'd go and see them both about it and sit them down and try and get them to explain" Remus said. "I've tried talking to them but they wouldn't tell me anything" I said.

"Well, is there any time when one of them won't be able to listen?" Remus asked. "When they're asleep I guess". "Wake one of them up when the other is asleep and then ask that person" Remus said. I smiled at him. "Thanks Moony". We talked for a while longer about the order and other things until I decided it was time to talk to my friends.

"Thanks for your help Remus. Tell Sirius I said hello and I'll talk to him tomorrow" I said. "Ok, bye!" Remus said. "Bye" I replied and I put the mirror back into my trunk.

I left my dorm and said the password to Ron and Hermione's. The door opened and I slipped inside. Hermione was already asleep and Ron lay on his bed with his eyes open and staring. "Ron?" I asked quietly. Ron sat up and smiled weakly at me. "Hiya Harry".

I sat down next to him on his bed and began the conversation. "Ron, I think we need to talk" I said seriously. "We're not breaking up are we?" he replied, smiling more than he had all day. I smirked at him and raised my eyebrows. "Look, it's about you and Hermione" I said, shooting a nervous glance at her.

"Don't worry Harry, she is such a deep sleeper. This owl flew into our window once and was hooting really loudly and she still slept on" Ron said. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I wanted to know why Hermione and you are arguing again. In fact…" I said, thinking of something suddenly. "Why have you been arguing so much in the first place? You weren't as bad as this in our other years here.

Ron sighed and looked like he was deep in thought. Finally he said: "It's a long story". "I'm willing to hear it" I replied. Ron sighed again. "Ok, it all started on September the first, our first night here…" Ron began.

*FLASHBACK*

Ron's POV

Back to school again, sigh. Just look at those frightened first years, about to put on the sorting hat. I remember that feeling, but then again, I'm sure most of those children didn't have most of their family put in Gryffindor, like I have.

After  a while, the sorting was finally over and we began our feast. "Stop that you! You're such a flirt!" I heard Hermione squeal. I looked up and saw Seamus Finnigan tickling her under the table. It made my insides churn and my fists clenched under the table.

No one else seemed to notice at all, they were too busy talking to friends they hadn't seen all summer. I looked next to me and saw Harry talking to Ginny. "Come on 'Mione, you know you like it really" Seamus said. Hermione started to giggle and the noise was deafening in my ears. I tried to block them out but it proved to be extremely difficult.

I was too busy concentrating on them that I accidentally knocked my fork onto the floor. I bent under the table to pick it up and saw Hermione and Seamus' hands entwined. I felt a wave of jealously wash over me, how dare they do that! They come back after one summer and they're all over each other.

I sat back up the table again and glared at Seamus. He didn't seem to notice though and carried on flirting with Hermione right in front of me. It felt wet just underneath my eye but I wiped it away and breathed deeply.

"Are you ok Ron?" Hermione asked, taking enough time to tear her eyes away from her lover boy. "Fine" I grunted in return. Hermione looked confused but that feeling was swept away when Seamus began tickling her again. I rolled my eyes at them and continued with my meal.

What on earth is wrong with me? I can't be jealous! I don't like Hermione that way again, at least, I don't think I do. I looked up at them again and saw Seamus whisper something into Hermione's ear. She smiled and they got up and left the Great Hall together.

I found myself stand up and following them, saying my apologies to Harry. I hid behind statues until they stopped at the top of the staircase. I crept behind a statue of a lion and watched quietly.

"I'm not sure about this, Seamus" Hermione said. Seamus smiled at her and then began kissing her. It started off rough and then slightly softer but Hermione didn't seem to mind very much. There was a hot anger inside of me which I hadn't felt since she'd been with Krum. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. Seamus started to rub Hermione's leg, upwards and downwards. It began there but his hand started to move slowly in the direction of her thigh.

Without thinking I jumped up, ran over to them, ripped them apart and punched Seamus in the face. He fell to the floor with a thud and his nose began to bleed. My face was extremely red and my fists were still clenched. My eyes felt like slits and my lips were pursed.

"What on earth do you think you're doing!?" Hermione yelled from behind me. My expression softened and I turned to face her. I suddenly realised the extent of what my rage would cause. Would Hermione still be my friend after this?

"I… um… sorry… I" I stuttered, cowering from her rage. She looked absolutely furious and her face was redder than mine. She slapped me across the face and ran back in the direction of the common room. "Hermione wait!" I yelled after her. I left Seamus and ran after her. By the time I'd reached the portrait of the fat lady, I was out of breath.

Luckily, I was a prefect so I knew the password and could enter the common room. I saw Hermione sitting in a chair crying into her robes. I felt a rush of guilt sweep over me and motioned towards her and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Don't you dare!" she shouted, springing up suddenly. "You had no right to hit Seamus! He wasn't doing anything wrong!" Hermione yelled. "He was kissing you and touching you!" I retorted. "So! Why do you care? This is just like it was with Krum. You can't imagine that any guy would want to be with me! You treat me like I'm a boy and don't have any feelings of my own as well!" Hermione said, tears still visible on her cheeks.

"It's not my fault if I don't like you being with these slimy, little gits! You know what Seamus is like! Have you forgotten what he was like last year!" I asked. "He apologised for that!" Hermione answered. I heard someone enter the room.

"Well if you don't like it you know where you can stick it!" Hermione yelled. "Why don't you ever listen!? If you would just let me explain" I said. Hermione ignored me. "Fine!" I snapped. "Fine" Hermione retorted and we both ran up the staircases and slammed our doors.

*END FLASHBACK*

Harry's POV

"And that's the whole story" Ron finished. I stared at Ron in bewilderment. If I had entered seconds before, I would have found this all out weeks ago. But there was one important question on my mind.

"You fancy Hermione?" I asked. "Yes" Ron replied, bowing his head. "When? Why? How?" I asked in shock. "In our forth year when that whole thing with Krum happened. But my feelings were fading away by our fifth year, until she kissed me on the cheek. I'm sorry I didn't tell you" Ron said.

"It's ok, I understand" I said waving his apology aside. "But how do you feel now?" I asked. "I think I love her Harry" Ron replied.

No one's POV

What they both didn't realise was that Hermione's eyes were wide open and she heard every word they said.

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A/N: Ouch! What did you think of that? Thank you for your reviews but carry on reviewing please!