Disclaimer: Characters you recognise are the creation of J.K Rowling, just my version.
As soon as I woke up the next morning, I groaned, remembering the events of the night before. It was bad enough with Diane, my parents and Oliver thinking we were dating, but our best friend? Sure I had become attracted to Harry over that week, but there was no reason to believe the feeling was mutual…he might flirt with everyone. But whatever was going on, we certainly weren't dating.
As I passed through the common room on my way to breakfast, I heard someone calling my name.
"Hermione!" It was Harry, on one of the red leather couches. I wandered over to him.
"What is it?" I asked. I was starving.
"Do you mind if I show Ron your present?" he asked.
"No, I don't mind, but why?"
"I think I realize what Ron misunderstood last night", he said with a grin, "so I thought I might clarify your "gift"".
I smiled.
"Sounds like a good idea. You had breakfast?"
"Nope".
"Good. Let's go. I'm ravenous".
"Wonder if the house elves can live up to my toast?" he said with a wistful look, as the Fat Lady swung closed behind us.
Ron's face adopted a stormy expression when we entered the Great Hall, me in hysterics over a crack Harry had just made about Snape's hair. We sat down across from him (Ron that is, not Snape) and got our food. Harry cleared his throat.
"I've got to show you something later Ron" Harry said with a hesitant glance.
"Whatever" Ron muttered and began talking to Fred and Alicia next to him. I shot Harry a concerned look. As much as I valued my own friendship with Ron, the one thing I was most worried about was coming between the two boys. Harry returned a comforting look.
"It'll be alright," he mouthed.
Throughout the lessons of the day, Ron remained cold and silent. At lunch he sat with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, which was nice, because he always struck me as a homophobe…maybe he doesn't realise?
After classes, everyone headed towards their respective towers. Ron shot straight towards the dorm. Harry glanced at me and ran up the stairs after him. I crossed my fingers.
Five minutes passed. I wonder what's going on in there? I wish I knew a spell to spy on them. Ten minutes passed. At least there's been no yells or screams. Seventeen minutes passed. Maybe Ron found something in common with Dean and Seamus…and Harry's got that 'flirty' personality…After eighteen minutes, I heard footsteps on the stairs. Ron's ratty old trainers came into view, then the rest of his body, his shoulders hunched and eyes downcast. He was followed by a jubilant Harry, who went off to talk to George.
Ron looked up to find me and walked over. He plonked down next to me on the same couch that Harry had been sitting on that morning. He looked into my eyes.
"I'm sorry Hermione". Ron apologising is so weird. He looks like a red-haired puppy. "Harry's cleared up a few things for me". He blushed. I smiled, not wanting to interrupt him. "I spose you don't want to go to the ball with an idiot like me anymore".
True, you can be a stubborn, self-righteous bastard, but it was a pretty heated argument, both of us were carried away… and how can I resist when you're looking at me with that pout and those big eyes? I want to scratch behind your ears…okay that was weird. Anyway, it's one night, not the rest of our lives.
"I'd love to go to the ball with an idiot like you. But no more stupid insinuations about Harry and I, okay? We're all friends, that's all!" I smirked. His face contorted to some indistinct expression, and then he smiled again.
"Okay Ninny".
At dinner we were the happy trio once again, with Ron imitating Professor Trelawny, and Harry and I laughing until milk came out of Harry's nose, at which point we were all basically rolling on the floor laughing.
"Mr Potter". We all gulped. That was Snape's voice behind us. No one dared turn around. "Five points from Gryffindor for your crudeness".
Angelina, sitting across from us, giggled. We turned around, to see Fred with a triumphant smile on his face.
"Nice to see you three smiling again" he said, and then set himself down next to Ron. We were still gaping at him when bloody Cho Chang came up and brushed Harry's arm seductively. The three of us snapped pur heads in her direction, Harry's going crimson. She sat down next to him, he thigh pressed against his. No respect for personal space.
"H-hi Ch-Cho" he stuttered.
"Hi Harry. Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had kept on going with that subtlety and winked…or shoved her hand down his pants.
"N-n-n-n-no" he said. Since when does he have a speaking disorder?
"Good. I just wanted to make sure you hadn't forgot my offer" she said with a coy smile. Only the knowledge that Ron would be suspicious if I did kept me from lunging across the table and slapping her, or him. Instead we all finished our respective meals in silence. When she was done, Cho once again brushed his arm.
"See you round Harry" she whispered and walked away. Nice of her to acknowledge anyone else's presence.
I told the boys that I needed to use the loo and went for a walk to let off some steam. I was kind of afraid of running into someone like Snape, or Filch, but it wasn't actually late, students were still having dinner, so I wasn't breaking the rules. Still, you don't want to run into either of them in a dark corridor.
As I passed Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, I heard voices inside. This was strange, as students had been banned from entering since our second year. Also, the voices sounded familiar. I opened to door a crack, silently, and peeked in. Cho Chang was sitting on a basin, talking to her two friends and Quidditch teammates, Elissa Ford and Tara Burr. None of them could see me.
"But Cho, don't you think it's a bit, you know, wrong?" Tara was asking her.
Cho looked confused.
"No, why?"
Elissa exchanged a look with Tara.
"Because you've got a boyfriend…"
Cho smiled.
"Well, he's not here. I need something to keep me entertained; otherwise I'll go out of my mind. And think of all the benefits I could reap from our little Harry".
Oh crap.
A/N Please review! I'm only a week into exams (but I've got 4 out 5 down! Yay!) But I decided to write this because it was Friday and I had nothing to do. Anyway, exams have frazzled my brain, I've been forgetting so much, so if this is crap, just give us a yell, I might re-write or something…