Hi! Remember me? If you don't, it's because it's been a long time. And for that, I apologize hugely. Truly, I'm sorry for not being able to update. But ahh, university is very time-consuming. In the course of a few days, I had three exams and two papers to write, followed by another exam. So, my free time is very limited. I'm sorry!!
To the following people: weirder, Dietpepsigurl, ears91, Ramy, Brian's Sarah, The Laguna, Weasley1200, Zaraky, Rebecca Franco, Hermione512, Bachy A, couch-potato01, Ignited Gonja Cat, Harry's Sex Goddess, aprilcotton, myman-harry526, fartearter, clyde2, JuLzYAnGeL, h/hr lover, babygirl4U and Andra…my reviewers. Thank you so much for reading my story! It really makes me happy to know that this story is well-received, and if you can believe it, you motivate me to actually keep writing this story. For some reason, I'm not as into this story as I was the last one, but when I get such wonderful reviews, I give writing Fall Into Me another chance. So, thank you very much! I'm sorry for the huge wait.
Now, I'd like to point out, I realize this chapter is short and therefore probably dissatisfying, since the wait was so long. However, it's pretty important to the story, although that'll be more apparent once the story is done.
Two bits of good news before I get on with it: One, I have free time now! Hahah! Celebration time! That means that I can finish this story much more easily and quickly! Two, I'm very excited about the story to follow this one. I've been planning it for a while, and soon I'll get around to writing it—which means posting it. It will be much better than my other two fics, I think so at least.
Disclaimer: The usual…I'm not J.K. Rowling, I don't own Harry Potter…etc…Title is from the Kelly Clarkson song Low.
Enjoy!!!!
~*~
Lavender stood in front of Harry and Hermione, a mixture of shock and fury on her face. "What's going on?" she demanded again, with even more anger in her voice this time.
Harry was speechless. How had Lavender gotten into the room? And why was she there—had she seen them leave together? Was she suspicious?
"Somebody tell me now," she said loudly. It was clear she wanted an explanation.
"Lavender…" was all Harry could come up with. He glanced at Hermione, who looked as helpless as he felt.
After a few moments of silence, Lavender made a noise of disgust, spun on her heel, and started to leave. With another look at Hermione, Harry jumped off the bed and ran after her.
"Lavender! Lav, wait up!" he called out. She was hurrying down the hall, trying to be sure he couldn't catch up to her. "Lavender!"
She stopped abruptly and turned around to look at him. Her eyes were streaming tears and she wore a look of hurt that he had never seen her wear before.
"How could you?" she asked. "What were you thinking?"
Harry felt defensive. He and Lavender were not exclusive; he had even told her that he was seeing another girl. "I'm allowed to, you know," he shot back. "We talked about this, remember? I'm allowed to see other people. You are too."
Lavender looked confused. "But you never told me you were seeing someone. You said you wanted to, but you never told me that you were still seeing her."
"I didn't think it was any of your business."
"How is it not my business? We're dating!" she pointed out.
"Not exclusively."
"You could've told me! You never mentioned that you and her…you should've let me know what was going on."
For the first time since being barged in on, Harry felt guilty about his actions. "Look, Lav, you're right. I should've told you. Hermione and I have been together this whole time, and we love each other."
Lavender's eyes searched his for one moment; the next, she slapped him as hard as she could. Harry staggered backwards in shock, raising his hand to where she had hit him.
"What you did was low, Harry," she said. "You were with another girl without telling me. You led me on, making me believe that you cared about me. Well, it worked, because I'm in love with you."
She turned and ran away, leaving him alone in the hallway. He wouldn't have been able to stop her if he wanted to, he was in too much shock to say or do anything.
After a minute or two of stunned silence, Harry came back to his senses. His girlfriend was in her room, waiting for him. He had to get back to her.
He found his way back to the room, where Hermione was sitting on the bed, drinking out of one of the champagne glasses.
"How'd it go?" she asked, handing him the other.
He took it and sat down on the edge of the bed, still in a bit of a daze. "Not well," he said simply. He took a swig of the champagne, but he barely tasted it. His guilt was doing a number on his stomach. "She said that I led her on because I didn't tell her about us, and that she's in love with me."
"I almost feel sorry for her."
"I feel really bad about it," he admitted, setting the glass down on the nightstand. "I didn't mean to lead her on, it just sort of happened. And now she's really upset."
"Well, she deserves it," Hermione said. "Just think of all she's put you through, Harry, and not only recently. Ever since you two got together way back at Hogwarts, she's been messing with your head. Just forget about her."
"It's not that easy, Hermione. She was my first…everything. My first girlfriend, my first love…you don't just forget that."
"But it's over. You can move on from her. You already have moved on from her," she corrected herself. "Remember?"
Hermione inched closer to him and rubbed his bare shoulders. Then she kissed his neck, trailing up to his face. Just as she was about to kiss his lips, he jerked back. He turned his face away from hers, his thoughts consumed by Lavender. He couldn't do this.
"Harry?"
He couldn't answer her, nor could he even look at her.
"Harry? What's the matter?"
Finally he turned to her, but for some reason, all he could think of was Lavender. He reached out and gently ran his fingers through her hair. "What happens now?" he asked.
~*~
The reception finally came to an end. Everyone said good-night to each other and headed off to bed, but Ron wasn't ready to go to bed. Instead, he went to the bar in the hotel, planning on buying a butterbeer.
The bar was almost completely empty. Only a few people were still drinking. The room was quiet; no one was talking. Only a few candles that hadn't burned out yet and the bar lights that glowed dimly were providing light.
"A butterbeer, please," Ron said to the bar tender. He sat on the closest stool, waiting for his drink. A pretty girl sat a few seats down, sniffing occasionally and drinking out of a large margarita glass.
It took him a few glances at the girl to realize that it was Lavender at the bar.
"Lav?"
She looked up at him, her eyes red from crying so much. "Hi, Ron," she said, her voice unsteady.
"What's the matter?" he asked, surprised at how concerned he was.
Lavender took in a shaking breath. "I caught Harry and Hermione snogging on the bed in her room. His shirt was off. I don't like to think of what else would've been off if I hadn't walked in at that moment," she admitted, wiping her eyes.
The bar tender slammed the butterbeer in front of Ron and hurried away. Ron turned to his drink, thankful for the interruption. He didn't really know what to say to Lavender.
"And then I found out," Lavender continued, "that he and Hermione have been together all this time, and that they're in love." She choked back a sob. "Harry said he didn't do anything wrong, since he and I weren't together 'exclusively.'"
"Well, you weren't," Ron said frankly.
Lavender shot him a nasty look. "I know that. But he could've told me! He shouldn't have led me on like that."
"I guess that's true," Ron admitted. "But he didn't mean to. He tried to break things off with you, but the timing wasn't right."
Lavender nodded, looking down at the floor. Ron felt very sorry for her, even though he didn't much like her. Still, he couldn't fight to urge to console her.
"Look, Lav," he began, moving down the bar and sitting down beside her. "What Harry did to you was pretty bad, but he didn't mean to, honestly. I know that he cares for you a lot, even though he's not in love with you anymore."
"But I'm in love with him!" she wailed. She flung her arms around Ron and sobbed into his shoulder. "I just love him so much. And I thought he loved me!"
He gave her an awkward pat on the back. "It's okay, Lav," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "It'll be okay."
As time passed, it felt less awkward. He wrapped his arms around her in a proper hug, where they stayed like that for a long time.
~*~
Ta-da! Chapter ten! Short, I know, but don't fret. The next one is coming soon—really—and the final chapter will soon follow that. Then it's on to my new story. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Hopefully you enjoyed it and hopefully you will review…(hint hint…hahaha). Also, Happy Holidays! Lots of love, me.
