(A/N: Thank you for all those who reviewed!!! I will now post, as I promised. Enjoy!!!)
Disclaimer: The characters belong to J.K. Rowling, the lucky girl ;).
Chapter 2:
Harry woke up early on Wednesday morning and found that Ron's bed was already made. This was weird, since Harry was always the one to have to wake up Ron. But then again, everything was weird these days. He remembered that Lavender had passed away and thought to himself that if Hermione passed away he would be just as depressed as Ron. He was hoping that his talk with Ron last night had some effect on him. Harry had replayed the conversation in his head about a million times and found that his words were actually convincing, which was a major accomplishment. He figured that he might be in the Great Hall having breakfast, so he got dressed, picked up his book bag, and went downstairs. Passing through the common room, he spotted Hermione sprawled on the couch reading a book. She didn't notice him and this gave him the opportunity to check out the way her fingers gently turned the pages and wished that she would use her hands to…
"Harry, you're up already?" asked Hermione, sitting up on the couch and making room for him.
"I can't sit down now, I have to look for Ron," he said. Even though all this intense drama had barely commenced yesterday, he was already quite tired of it. Not that Ron was annoying him or anything, it's just that he always had something to worry about.
"Wait, look for Ron? I thought he was upstairs sleeping," she said, putting her book aside and standing up.
"No, I woke up and he was gone. So you didn't see him come downstairs?"
"I would have followed him if I had seen him. He must have come down very early, before either of us woke up," she surmised, swinging her heavy book bag over her shoulder. Harry's heart twinged with jealousy as she said this. She never waited for him downstairs in the common room, much less at such early hours.
"Let's go look for him," suggested Harry, and he and Hermione walked out of the portrait hole and to the Great Hall. Even though she had not suggested to look for him, she walked with a certain determination that Harry guessed was the same one that drove her to do so well at school.
"How did it go last night, did you talk to him?" asked Hermione, walking beside Harry at a much faster pace. Her wavy brown hair flew behind her in a long stream.
"Yeah, I did. I'll tell you about it later, though. It's a long story," said Harry, and with one last turn they reached the Great Hall. Hermione loved the way it looked and especially the ceiling. She was surprised that after so many years of seeing it over and over again she was still baffled by its beauty and splendor. The Hall was not yet packed with students, but a couple of early birds sat there munching on toast or doing last minute studying. They looked around, expecting to spot Ron seated at the Gryffindor table but he wasn't there. Hermione gave a worried glance at Harry and turned around, headed for the entrance of the school. She exited Hogwarts at top speed, Harry closely running behind her.
"Hermione, what-" he began, but Hermione held out a hand and silenced him. She was staring across the grounds toward the lake and, sure enough, there was Ron sitting in the grass staring at in intently, as though deep in thought. The morning sun made his hair look redder than it really was, which Harry had thought wasn't possible.
"Should we go and talk to him?" asked Harry, catching his breath.
"No, I think we should leave him alone. He needs this time to think. Plus, that's the spot where he and Lavender used to watch the sun set," said Hermione and headed back to the school.
"How do you know that?" asked Harry, walking right behind her.
"The window in my dormitory has a view of the Great Lake," she said without stopping. "I would see them all the time hugging and kissing."
"Oh," replied Harry. He hated the note of jealousy in her voice, which made him jealous because that meant she felt something beyond friendship for Ron.
"Let's go get some breakfast before class, I'm sure he'll catch up to us later," said Hermione. Harry was glad to have a breakfast alone with Hermione, even though he wasn't going to do anything but talk to her in a strictly platonic way. Oh, how he prayed for the courage to sweep her off her feet, as corny as that may sound. The Great Hall had a bit more people than it had when they first went, and Harry and Hermione went to sit in a partially empty part of the Gryffindor table. Harry found he wasn't that hungry, even though they had all his favorite breakfast foods laid out on golden plates.
"So now can you tell me about what happened last night?" asked Hermione, picking up a piece of toast off one of the large plates.
"It took a lot to get just a bit of information out of him, I'll tell you that," said Harry, watching her eat.
"What did he tell you?" she asked curiously, chewing her toast.
"He said that he had wished he and Lavender could get married and have a nice house with lots of kids but now that dream was shattered," replied Harry, pouring himself some pumpkin juice just so he wouldn't go until lunch with an empty stomach.
"Oh, really? And did you say anything to that?" she asked, not sure she wanted to hear any more of it. It was hard on her to think that if Lavender would have lived, the relationship between her and Ron would have gone on even after they graduated. Hermione had to admit that she hoped that Ron and Lavender would break up by then.
"I told him he still had the chance and that he would fall in love with someone else eventually and he got angry. Can you believe that?" said Harry, taking a sip of his juice.
"I think he doesn't want to deal with the future right now when he has the present to worry about."
"True, but he could have taken it a bit more lightly."
"What, he threw a thong at your head or something?"
"Ron wears thongs?" asked Harry, taken aback by her comment.
"No, but I suspect he does," she said, smiling. "I mean, Lavender thought it looked sexy on guys and Ron was always so willing to make her happy."
"I don't think Ron would go as far as wearing a thong."
"Why not? Malfoy wears a thong," said Hermione, and Harry spit pumpkin juice all over the table.
"How the hell do you know?" he said, wiping his mouth with a cloth napkin.
"Dobby told me so. He said that 'Master Malfoy' always demanded a fresh thong to put on in the morning," said Hermione, almost unable to contain her laughter. Harry's mouth was hanging open and after a while he burst out laughing.
"Who would have guessed? Malfoy in a thong," he said.
"So how did Ron take it?" she asked, getting back to the subject.
"He told me he would never love anyone like he loved Lavender again and a whole load of other bullshit," replied Harry, finishing his pumpkin juice. "We better get to class, hopefully Ron is there already."
"Ok," said Hermione a bit shakily, standing up and following Harry out of the great Hall. That last sentence had burst her little bubble of hope involving getting with Ron. He would never love her as much as Lavender. If she was to get with him, she wanted to be his sun and earth, just what Lavender had been to him. She wanted Ron to love her so strongly that he would think of a life together after Hogwarts, just like he had done with her. All of a sudden Hermione wasn't so sure she wanted to be with Ron. Not if he wouldn't love her back.
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Their first class of the day, History of Magic, was so boring it almost made Hermione fall asleep. Professor Binns was lecturing in his usual lazy voice, pretending not to see students throw balled up parchment through him. Ron, sitting on her left, was turning the pages of his History book, skimming through it without actually reading anything. Hermione didn't know how he could just sit there and pretend to listen to the lecture while his whole world was slowly falling to pieces. Harry, on her right, was stabbing his parchment with a quill. She saw his eyes were half closed, looking as though any second he might fall asleep. She had to admit that she has once had a crush on Harry that lasted about a week and a half because she thought he was simply adorable, and then it went as quickly as it came when she managed to convince herself that there was no way famous Harry Potter would ever like her back. That had all happened during her first year. He spotted her looking at him and she looked away quickly, pretending to take notes on the lecture. He tore a piece of paper out of a notebook he had and wrote a message on it, handing it to Hermione. She picked it up and opened it.
"Are you bored?" it said. Hermione rolled her eyes. She wasn't a big fan of note passing, but since she was bored and she already knew Professors Binns' information by heart, she decided to play along with it. She dipped her quill in her inkpot and wrote a message, then folded the note up. She handed it back to Harry with a smile.
"Not as bored as you are" he read. He loved her neat hand writing and the way she wrote small, but not so small it was unreadable. Harry thought about whether this was the right time to tell her about his crush. If she looked at him weird he couldn't bail, which wasn't a plus. He thought it was now or never, so he carefully chose his words and wrote them neatly on the paper. His heart was beating as though it wanted to burst out of his chest and the classroom suddenly started to feel hot. He folded it up and handed it to her, looking away.
Hermione took the note from him and slowly opened it. She noticed how Harry was nervously tapping his quill on the wooden desk. "There's something I have wanted to tell to you for a long time. I love you." said the note. When Hermione read what it said she almost had a heart attack. Not out of disgust but just of pure shock. She liked Harry a lot but didn't love him like she loved Ron. She quickly thought over what to say, noticing that Harry was avoiding her gaze which she thought was rather cute. She didn't want to break Harry's heart and secretly admired his courage to be able to tell her. Hermione was thinking about how Ron would never love her because he was still obsessed with Lavender. She couldn't spend the rest of her life hoping he would notice her and want to be her boyfriend. Hermione understood that now was too soon to start trying to get to his heart because Lavender had barely passed away the day before. Deep down, though, she knew it would be hard for Ron to ever forget Lavender and fully devote himself to someone else. Making her decision, she picked up her quill and scribbled a message back.
"I like you too Harry…now what?" she wrote and folded the note, knowing this message would mark the beginning of a new thing in her life. She didn't love Harry but she would try her best to learn if it made him happy, even though it would probably prove to be difficult. She knew he had suffered a lot in life and she was willing to try to bring the love in his life that he was missing. Hermione handed the note to Harry, not looking him in the eyes. Harry's heart felt 10 times lighter when he read it. He couldn't believe she loved him back. This was turning out to be a great idea.
"Now we talk about it rather than just writing. This isn't a romance novel, you know." Harry wrote, and Hermione laughed out loud when she read it, even though it really wasn't that funny. The whole Gryffindor and Ravenclaw class turned to look at her and Professor Binns looked up from his book, glaring at her.
"Ms. Granger, I don't think the Fedilius the Awkward's beheading is very funny," he said harshly.
"I'm sorry, sir," she said, and with that Professor Binns returned to his boring lecture. Hermione looked at Harry and they exchanged smiles. She thought that maybe learning to love Harry wouldn't be so hard after all.
Meanwhile Ron had seen the whole thing from his seat next to Hermione. He had read over her shoulder every single word that Harry had written her. He remembered when he had been talking to Harry last night and he had told him who he loved. Ron knew Harry loved Hermione but he wanted to know for sure, which is why he had posed the question. When his suspicions proved to be correct, he felt an awful sinking feeling in his stomach which he shook off immediately. He loved Lavender with all his heart and would always love her, which is why he didn't understand why he felt jealous when he heard Harry say he loved Hermione. Maybe it was just that he felt protective of Hermione because he knew what a bitch love could be, or maybe he felt Harry would not love her enough and make her suffer, or even because he didn't want his two friends together because then he would feel left out. Or maybe it was because he loved Hermione again. Whatever the reason, now he felt dirty and guilty for that brief pang of jealousy he had felt. How could it be that so soon after Lavender's death he had started to feel something, which could possibly be romantic love, for somebody else? He wouldn't listen to that perverted, awful, unsentimental part of his heart. His heart would remain with Lavender and he would never love anyone again. Harry and Hermione could be with each other and he would try to support it. The bell rang and everybody stood up, making their way to their next class. He stayed behind and watched, with a bit of satisfaction, as Hermione walked quickly ahead of Harry, as if trying to avoid him. By the looks of it, Harry would have to wait until lunch to talk to Hermione since she had a different class. Ron packed up his books slowly and was the last one to leave the classroom, brain still buzzing with thoughts.
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Harry and Ron's next class, Divination, was a breeze. As soon as class started, Professor Trelawney instructed them to get into partners and try their hands at palmistry, telling them to turn their books to page 408. She walked around the classroom, observing her student's work and correcting them if she saw a mistake. Harry just sat back, pretending to read the book. He couldn't wait for class to be over so he could talk to Hermione. Ron, on the other hand, had his arms crossed and was tilting his chair back so that I was balanced on two legs. Harry felt the incredible urge to push him backwards, something Ron had done to him earlier that year. He didn't do it, though, because he saw the look of intense frustration and sadness in his face and thought it wasn't the appropriate time. Instead, he resorted to balling up paper and launching it at Parvati, who was working with Neville now that Lavender, her partner in crime, was gone. Harry was amused at the way he would throw one, bonk her right in the back of neck, and she would turn around, eyes full of fury, and scan the classroom. Harry would pretend to be reading and she would turn around and continue working, then he would do it again. He thought it was hilarious that by the 15th ball she still hadn't figured out who kept on throwing it.
"Want to give it a shot?" asked Harry to Ron, balling up another little piece of paper and hitting her in the back of the neck. Parvati turned around furiously, almost falling out of her chair and Harry burst out laughing.
"Are you throwing paper at me, Harry?" asked Parvati angrily.
"Not me. I just thought it was funny you were about to fall off your chair," replied Harry, a smile playing on his face.
"Ha Ha," said Parvati sarcastically, "I'm watching you Potter."
"Watch me all you want, I'm simply irresistible," said Harry, and Parvati stuck her tongue out at him and turned around once more.
"Asshole," said Ron playfully to Harry.
"Yeah, I know," said Harry, balling up another piece of paper. "You want to give it a try?"
"No, I think she might kill me if she sees me," replied Ron, uncrossing his arms and scooting his chair closer to the table they shared. He rubbed his eyes and observed as Harry threw another paper ball at Parvati, but missed, hitting Neville in the eye. Neville stood up with such force he knocked the table over, which landed on Seamus and Dean at the next table. Seamus fell out of his chair, flailing his arms wildly trying to grab hold of something and instead grabbing on to Dean, bringing him down with him. Meanwhile Neville had tripped over a spare bean bag chair on the floor and crashed into a shelf of teacups. The teacups fell on the floor, some bonking him on the head, and shattered.
"Oh shit," said Harry, sinking down in his chair and pretending to read his book as though nothing happened while the entire class burst out laughing. Professor Trelawney sat in her rocking chair, mouth hanging open, seemingly unable to move.
"Mr. Longbottom!" she yelled finally, standing up and looking indignant. "What is the matter with you?!?!"
"Something hit me in the eye, Professor," said Neville, standing up and rubbing his head.
"All this commotion because something hit you in the eye?" said Professor Trelawney, not believing his story.
"I'm sorry, Professor, I'll clean it up," said Neville, getting on his hands and knees, picking the glass up off the floor, cutting himself. Professor Trelawney put her hands on her head, silently asking for patience.
"Drop the glass, I'll take care of that, Mr. Longbottom. Go to the hospital wing and get you hand fixed up and come right back," she said, taking out her wand and fixing the teacups. Dean, Parvati, and Seamus flipped the overturned table and picked up the books they had dropped from the floor.
"Wow," said Ron, looking at Harry, who was bright red and looked like he wanted to disappear from the face of the planet, even though nobody knew he had done it.
"I didn't mean to do that, it was a mistake," said Harry, straightening up and placing his book on the table.
"I know, but that was hilarious," said Ron, cracking a smile.
"Nothing can ruin today, not even the destruction of half a classroom," said Harry, sighing.
"Why is that?" asked Ron, even though he already knew. He wasn't even sure he wanted to hear what Harry had to say, but asked anyway.
"I told Hermione I loved her, and she said she liked me too," said Harry, a huge smile appearing on his face.
"Oh really?" said Ron, trying to act surprised even though he already knew this. "What about Ginny?"
"What do you mean 'What about Ginny'? It's over between her and me," replied Harry. He hadn't thought about Ginny for one second…not that he really had to.
"She won't take it lightly when she sees you have a new girlfriend, mate. I know her," said Ron, playing around with his quill. Harry rolled his eyes and sighed once more.
"Ginny can't just expect me not to be with somebody else because she's still obsessed with me. I gave it a try with her and it didn't work out, so I broke up with her," said Harry, writing inside his divination book. An idea flickered in Ron's mind and he smiled inwardly.
"Ginny and Hermione are best friends, Harry. You are seriously willing to turn them against each other?" asked Ron.
"I think Ginny will take it okay, she's a big girl. She'll understand," said Harry, trying to convince himself more than Ron. He started to feel a bit worried and thought that maybe being with her wasn't a good idea, for the sake of Ginny and Hermione's friendship.
"I don't know, I guess we'll just have to see," said Ron, feeling amused. He had done his job. Harry looked worried and distracted, just the way he wanted him to be. At least now he would be thinking about what he was doing instead of having his head in the clouds. The bell rang for the second time that day, signaling the end of class. Ron swung his bag over his shoulder and left the classroom, Harry following close behind.
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The Great Hall was packed with hungry students ready to eat lunch. Harry followed Ron to where Hermione was sitting, a book open on her lap, not even touching her lunch. Harry sat next to her and Ron sat next to him. She looked completely distracted so Harry instead served himself some steak and kidney pie and waited patiently for her to finish. Ron, who usually had a humungous appetite, picked up a bread roll and began to eat. Hermione finished reading the last paragraph of the chapter and put it in her bag. She picked up her fork and commenced to eat her food, ignoring the fact that Harry and Ron had already joined her at the table. Truth was, she was kind of nervous about talking to Harry. After thinking it over during her Arithmancy class, she wasn't even sure she made the right choice. What if she couldn't love Harry? She would end up disappointing and hurting him, which wasn't something she wanted to do. Harry, distractedly eating his lunch, was also wondering if this was the right thing to do. What Ron had said had gotten to him. Maybe he should just find someone else and not cause any rivalry between Hermione and Ginny. He was also thinking that his life was in danger, with the choice being either Voldemort surviving or him. If something happened to him he didn't want Hermione to suffer because of it.
"Hey Hermione," said Harry, choosing to speak first. She turned her head to look at him and smiled.
"Hey Harry." she replied, not being able to find anything else to say. A long silence followed, while each of them tried to think about what to say.
"I think we need to talk," said Harry finally.
"Yes, we do. But not here. There are too many people," she said, looking around.
"Come with me," said Harry, standing up. "We'll be right back, okay Ron?"
"Sure," said Ron, taking another bite of his roll.
Hermione followed Harry around the corridors. She assumed he was looking for an empty classroom to talk in and wondered why he didn't head to The Room of Requirement. A million things were running through her mind as she walked with him. She felt kind of shy even though she reminded herself that this was Harry, her friend she had known for years. Harry was trying to make up his mind on whether or not to go through with this and if his love for Hermione was strong enough that he felt the need to break a friendship. Even though if the friendship breaks it technically wouldn't be his fault because Ginny would be the one to destroy it with her unthoughtfulness. He reached the empty classroom he had been looking for and opened it, letting Hermione walk in first. She sat down on top of a student desk and waited for Harry to lock the door behind him. They were silent for a few minutes and then Harry spoke, again being the one to start a conversation.
"I meant what I said in the note," he said, thinking it was a good way to start the conversation.
"I know you did. I meant what I said too," said Hermione, knowing she was lying a bit. Harry sighed and sat down in the chair at the teacher's desk. He put his head in his hands and sighed. Hermione stayed silent, not really having anything to say about it.
"There's something I have to tell you, Hermione…"
To Be Continued
(CLIFFHANGER)
(A/N: Another 15 reviews and I'll post.)