Okay. I am so confused about the story, because I have not written in
months, but I am going to attempt to continue. I did have a plan for this
story, but now I have forgotten it, so be prepared for odd twists in the
plots.
I tried to take into mind all the things that Blue Mew said to me about being more detailed. I just hope it doesn't seem too long and drawn out. Oh yeah, to Echoe, and everyone else confused by my plot twists, I meant to have Hermione think that Ron hit her. Now that I try to explain it, I forgot my reasoning, but it helps in the plot. Honestly it does. I'll somehow go back to that one punch and everything will make sense. It will.
Before I begin, here's a summary of events, believe me, I need it as much as you all do. Skip over it if you remember it so far. Oh yeah, how could someone not notice that I kept saying Knockturn Alley, when I meant Diagon Alley. Hehehe!! My bad!!
Summary: Harry's pumped about going back to school, because he got all buff and fine over the summer. Then he discovers that Dudley is going to Hogwarts and he hooked up with Cho. Too bad Harry! A mysterious girl admits that on a family visit to see Charlie in Romania, she hooked up with Malfoy, turns out she's pregnant. Malfoy shows that he's in love with the mystery girl and isn't going to let Harry have her. Mystery Girl confirms that she's pregnant at the Muggle doctor's office. Everyone meets at Diagon Alley for school shopping. Cho sees Harry and is like damn! She wants him again. Harry sees both Hermione & Ginny and wants them, because over the summer they both got fine. Both happened to have gotten sick on trips in Romania as well. Hmm!! Cho & Duddy hook up in a room at Leaky Cauldron. Malfoy tries to approach his girl, but she's surrounded by her usual friends. Pansy sees Malfoy and tries to hook up and then gets pissed off at Harry and the girls because she suspects Malfoy likes one of them. Ron tells Harry that he's going to confess his love to Hermione. Harry tells him, Hermione knows and doesn't like him like that. Ron gets pissed and takes off. He ends up drinking at Leaky Cauldron. Harry tries to hook up with Mystery Girl, but she admits she loves Draco. He gets pissed and goes to beat up Malfoy. A lil' scene with Cho and Duddy hooking up. Cho sees Ron after a few drinks, when he's ready to beat up Harry. She chases after him and Duddy thinks she's acting like a slut. He eyes Lavender and starts his game. Harry and Malfoy begin a fight and Ron jumps in to kick Harry's ass. He beats Harry's head into the ground. Hermione jumps in to stop Ron and gets punched by Malfoy, thinks it's Ron. Malfoy's surprisingly upset by this. Twins break up the fight with Malfoy & Ron. Ron runs after Hermione. Ginny's upset about Malfoy being upset about punching Hermione. Whoa! That's confusing. Cho begins to help Harry, sends Ginny after Hermione. Draco's wondering how to regain her trust, and daddy Lucius overhears him. After some fidgeting, Draco admits he's involved with Ginny. Ginny confronts Hermione about her man and Hermione admits that she's been involved with him. Ginny is upset because she got pregnant by Draco. Ron finds them both and tries to comfort Hermione, thinking she's been hurt by Harry. She admits to him that she's with someone else. Wow! That's one long plot so far.
Well here's the next chapter. Oh yeah, I don't own any of the characters. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling. Blah blah blah blah BLAH! -Kaida
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Chapter Four: The Truth
"Harry, can you sit up?" Cho asked as she knelt next to him. 'Jeez, he's been pretty beat up.' There seemed to be blood everywhere. Harry's nose was bleeding, his lip was cut, his eye was swollen, and he basically was a mess. "Harry..." Cho tried to get his attention, but he was still in a daze. Either that or Ron's punches had knocked him out.
"Here's a towel." Fred said as he handed her a wet rag. He glanced at the mess that Harry had become and wondered aloud, "What upset Ron so much that he would do this?" His eyes drifted in the direction Ron had run off to.
"I know." George added. "He even punched Hermione. Boy, did she look upset about that!"
"Who could blame her?!?!" Fred replied. "Her best friends fighting like savages about who knows what. She tried to stop them and she gets punched. I'd be pissed to. I'm surprised she didn't slug Ron back."
"I would've." George answered. "If Hermione doesn't jinx him, he's getting off lucky."
"Of course, you would hit Ron." Cho finally chimed in. She was getting sick of these macho punks talking about Hermione getting involved. "She is a girl after all. It isn't in her nature to throw punches around like you boys." She emphasized her 'like you boys' to show her disgust for their conversation.
"I guess so." Fred replied. "I hope Ginny can calm her down." He tried to change the subject, seeing that Cho looked a little ticked off as she cleaned up Harry's face.
"I don't know...." George trailed off. He remembered seeing Ginny's face when she ran after Hermione. She looked kind of upset herself, and not over the fight. "She seemed to have something else on her mind than helping Hermione out."
"What do you mean?" Cho was confused by this statement. She hadn't been looking at Ginny, except to tell her to help Hermione. After that, she took over to care for Harry. Cho carefully applied pressure to Harry's lip. She needed to stop the bleeding. She had already wiped off all the blood, but his dang lip was still bleeding. He was going to look even more awful in a few hours.
"I mean, her face dropped while they were arguing. I don't know what caught her attention, but she knew something about the fight and she didn't seem too happy with Hermione." George answered. He was trying to make sense of what he just saw happen in front of him. Maybe he was wrong about Ginny's expressions, but something inside of him nagged that he was right about his sister.
"I wonder what it was." Fred wondered. As he thought about it, another fact sunk into his brain. "Do you think we should allow Ginny to confront Hermione? I mean, if they're having problems, won't there just be another fight."
"Oh shit!" George realized that Fred was right. "We better go find them before something happens." The twins took off after their sister.
Cho shook her head as she heard the twins run off. She didn't know what to think about what had taken place today. She was more confused by the fact that she still thought Harry looked handsome even with this beat-up face.
She gingerly continued to wipe his face. His nosebleed had stopped, but his lip still wouldn't stop. 'I need some ice.' She thought as she looked upon his eye. 'It's definitely going to swell.'
A groan escaped from Harry. He stirred a bit, but could barely move. "W-w- what happened?" Harry tried to ask Cho. His throat was dry and something was blocking his mouth.
Cho jumped slightly as she heard Harry try to talk. She removed the towel from his mouth. She whispered to him, "Hush sweetie. You need to rest for a second and then I'll help you into the twins' shop."
"Huh?" Harry groaned some more. He felt like the world wouldn't quit spinning and it was making him feel sick. "What happened?" He asked again. He tried to focus on Cho's face, but he kept seeing two of them.
"Hush." Cho repeated. She brought the towel back towards Harry's lips. "You got in a fight." She hoped that simple fact would keep Harry calm enough to sit still. She didn't need him to be getting upset enough to start another fight.
Harry lay still as he let Cho's words sink in. 'A fight...' Suddenly, it all started coming back to him. 'I'm in love with Draco!' rang through his ears again. After he heard that something snapped inside of him. He felt like the whole world had turned upside down and to fix it, he went after Malfoy. Only he didn't get to play hero for long. Ron had jumped in on fighting him. "Where's Ron?" Harry asked.
Cho sighed as she realized she couldn't stop Harry's questions. She wanted to keep him calm, but as he regained consciousness, it looked like he was going to keep questioning his surroundings. "Harry dear, you need to rest for a minute." Cho gently chided. "I'll answer all your questions in a minute. Now do you think you can sit up?"
"Yeah, I think I can." Harry replied. With Cho's help, he rose to a sitting position, but immediately felt dizzy. He started to fall back down to the ground, but Cho guided him to lean against her. He leaned his head against her shoulders. 'This feels nice.' He thought.
"Why were you fighting Ron?" Cho asked softly. As much as she wanted Harry to stay calm, she also wanted to know what happened.
"I don't know." Harry replied. "I was fighting Malfoy and all of the sudden Ron came out of no where and hit me." He tried to remember the fight, but it caused his head to start pounding again. "I feel like my head's being pounded against the sidewalk."
"That's because it was, sweetie."
"Huh?" Harry hadn't expected Cho to say that. "It was?"
"Yeah, you took a pretty harsh beating from Ron." Tears welled up into Cho's eyes as she remembered. She had never been so scared in her life. She could still visualize Ron savagely pounded Harry's head into the ground. She thought he was going to kill him. She never saw Ron so angry before. "Why was he so angry?"
Cho said this more to herself then towards Harry, but he took it as a question. "I told him that Hermione knew about his crush. That she wasn't interested in him. Ron didn't take the news very well, obviously..." He said with a short laugh. It hurt him to talk too much. He could feel his lip begin to swell. "Damn! What am I going to do?"
"I don't know, love." Cho tried to think of something to say to Harry. 'Damn! He really screwed up his friendship with Ron. She didn't blame Ron for being so pissed off now.' "You need to apologize to Ron, honey. You shouldn't have told him that about Hermione." She didn't mean to sound so critical, but that's exactly how she sounded.
"Yeah," Harry replied. It hurt him that even Cho was against him now, but what did it matter. He already lost her to Dudley of all people, lost Ron, and lost his woman to Malfoy. He didn't have anything. All that hard work to look good this summer had gone down the drain. "I doubt he'll forgive me though. Not like I deserve it."
"After some time, I'm sure Ron might forgive you. If he doesn't, you'll always have me to support you." Cho gently whispered into Harry's ear. She needed to tell him that she was all his again. Her body yearned to be with Harry and only Harry.
"Huh?" Harry wasn't sure if he heard her right. "What do you mean I'll always have you to support him? What about Dudley?"
"If you tell me to stop seeing him, I will for you." Cho replied.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE WITH SOMEONE ELSE!!!" Ron screamed at Hermione. He began to grow hot, as anger seared through his body again. He wanted to kick the shit out of whoever was with his precious Hermione.
"I mean, I'm dating someone already." Hermione whispered, as she continued to weep. It scared her how angry Ron was getting. She feared that he might snap and begin to hit her like he did to Harry. She had seen the look in his eyes as he pounded Harry's head into the ground. He had no life, just anger. It looked like his soul had frozen into pure anger. It unnerved her.
"HOW COULD YOU BE WITH SOMEONE ELSE?" Ron cried out. He saw the tears in Hermione's eyes, but couldn't control his voice as he tried to get answers.
"I hooked up with him this summer." Hermione began. Tears flowed down her face. She avoided both Ginny and Ron's faces as she tried to keep her voice steady enough to tell them the truth. "I didn't think any of you would approve, so I met him in secret in Romania."
'Romania?' Ginny thought to herself. 'How could she? How could he?' She thought that she had been the only one to be with Draco this summer. Obviously, she wasn't enough to satisfy him.
"I wanted to tell you before, but..." She trailed off. 'I need to tell them everything now. But how do I say it?' Finally, Hermione could keep it in no longer. "I'm pregnant!"
"No!" The words could barely roll off of Ginny's tongue. "YOU SLUT!!" She screamed at Hermione. Ginny got up and ran off. Tears weld up in her eyes as she blindly searched for Draco. 'How could she do this to me?'
"Pregnant?" Ron replied stunned. He stood next to Hermione in a daze. Just a moment ago he was ready to get in another fight, but now he didn't know what to do. "Pregnant?" He repeated.
"Yes... and I don't know what to do." Hermione sobbed. Her head slumped down into her chest. She was a bit relieved that Ron wasn't angry, well showing anger at least, but now all kinds of questions floated into her mind- the same questions that had consumed her when she first found out. "I don't know how I'm going to raise a baby and finish at Hogwarts. I don't know if Dumbledore will even let me finish at Hogwarts. If I don't get to finish, I don't know if I'll be able to live in the Wizarding world. I don't know how he's going to take the news that we're having a baby. I don't know if he'll take responsibility. I don't know what to do about Ginny now. I didn't think she'd be so upset." Hermione began to sob as she thought of Ginny's reaction.
"Pregnant?" Ron replied. His mind seemed to have shut down to everything but that one word.
"Yes, pregnant." Hermione snapped at him. Her face balked as she felt bad for snapping at Ron. He had never done anything to her, well except hit her, but that had been an accident.
"Pregnant?" Ron said again. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET PREGNANT?"
Fred and George stopped as they heard Ron scream at Hermione. They had just turned the corner when they spotted them. Since both seemed to be okay, except for Hermione's crying, it didn't seem important to rush. "She's pregnant?" Fred turned and asked George.
"How the hell should I know?" George replied. "Let's listen and maybe we'll hear."
"Sounds like a plan." Fred replied as he leaned against the wall, anticipating Hermione's reply.
"HOW THE HELL ELSE DO YOU GET PREGNANT!!" Hermione cried back at Ron. She was getting sick of Ron's stupidity and his constantly yelling at her. She covered her mouth after yelling this. She didn't mean to say it so loud. 'Now people are going to think I'm a slut!'
"..." Ron had no reply to Hermione's cry. Instead his head filled with images of some guy brutally forcing himself on his precious Hermione. "Don't worry." Ron began to say to Hermione. "I'll take care of you." He wasn't going to let this guy deflower his Hermione and get away with it. Most of all, he wasn't going to let Hermione suffer through this by herself.
"What do you mean you'll take care of me?" She was even more confused now. "I can take care of myself."
"Just tell me who he is and I'll kick his ass for forcing himself on you." Ron began to have delusional images of Hermione rewarding him with kisses after beating up her attacker.
"Since when did Ron start being all macho?" Fred whispered to George. His baby brother had always been such a crybaby and now here he was trying to be a man.
"Shut up! I want to hear them." George whispered back. As he watched the scene, he also wondered where their sister had disappeared to. If Ron had found Hermione in his rage, then surely Ginny could have too.
"What do you mean force him self on me?" Hermione couldn't believe that Ron was jumping to conclusions so fast. She rose to her feet and grabbed a hold of Ron's shoulders. She looked into his eyes as she tried to get the truth into him. "He did NOT force him self on me. I gave up my virginity willing. So don't go trying to beat him up!!"
"He didn't force him self on you?" Ron replied. "How could you, Hermione?"
"I'm sorry, Ron. But I fell in love with him." Hermione was glad that a little bit of truth was sinking into Ron.
"Why not me...?" Ron asked one of his most dangerous questions of all. He didn't know if he could handle the answer, but he needed to know. His heart felt like it was being twisted inside of him. His best friend betrayed him. Hermione was in love, and pregnant, with another guy.
"I'm sorry, Ron." Hermione said again. "I only see you as a friend." She began to cry as she said this. She didn't mean to. She knew she was breaking Ron's heart, but this all made her hurt. She didn't want to break his heart, but he needed to know the truth- the whole truth, including who the other guy was. But how could she tell him. After all, she didn't expect Ginny to act so upset. Ron would go ballistic.
"Who is he?" Ron asked his other most dangerous question. The one question that he knew would eat him up the most, the guy that he had lost out to.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So Duddy, how long have you been going to Hogwarts?" Lavender asked as she nervously toyed with her hair. It puzzled her how he popped out of no where. It was like she was destined to be with him.
"Well, I just received my acceptance letter a few weeks ago." Dudley replied. He grabbed her glass and asked her, "Shall I get you another soda?"
"Umm... sure." Lavender replied. 'A few weeks ago... Is he a first year?' She didn't know what to think about this situation. Sure it hurt to be rejected by Neville, but to date a first year. 'That's cradle robbing. What would everyone think of me? But damn, he sure doesn't look like he's 11 or 12. He has to be around 16 or 17.' She fidgeted as she tried to figure out what to do about Duddy. She liked him, but a first year.
"Here ya go, sweet thang!" Dudley handed her a fresh glass of pumpkin juice. "So what's Hogwarts like? Are all the girls as pretty as you?"
Lavender blushed at the compliment. "I'm not really that pretty." She stammered. No guy had every treated her like she was that special.
"Girl, you must be tripping. I thought I died and gone to heaven when I first laid eyes on you." Dudley leaned in closer as he flirted with Lavender. 'She's not as pretty as Cho, but she sure won't cheat on me.' He thought to himself. "I just had to come over and talk with you, because sweetness is my weakness." He gave her one of his dynamic smiles as he used one of his best pick-up lines.
Lavender laughed a little as she listened to Duddy. 'Wow! He's a sweetheart! Not much of a looker, but I could really like him.' Her face flushed as she had these thoughts. "Umm... "She stammered as she tried to regain her focus. "So are you a first year?" As much as she liked Duddy, she needed to know.
"Well, I guess you could consider me that." Dudley began. The change of topic really threw him off. He'd have to be careful how he phrased things. He didn't need a repeat of Cho so early on. "I never really showed magic talent until recently. I'm a bit surprised that I even got a Hogwarts letter. You know, being 16 and all. I guess my talent was so strong, that they wanted me even if I was a bit behind on all the formal schooling." It took a lot of Dudley's brain power to produce this theory. He wanted Lavender to think he was something special, something worth having.
"Oh." Lavender was a bit shocked by all this info. 'So Dumbledore accepted him later than usual.' "I guess you must be something special, if you were accepted this late." She finally said to him. She smiled now that she knew that he wasn't some child.
Dudley lit up at her comment. 'She's mine.' He thought. "So tell me, do you have a man?"
Lavender blushed at the question. She hoped that he would ask her out, but she didn't expect it to be so soon. "Umm... not really," Lavender couldn't think of any way to phase her response to get Duddy to want her as much as she wanted him.
"What!" Dudley faked a surprise face. "You must be joking. Such a gorgeous girl like you doesn't have a boyfriend." He shifted a little closer towards her.
"Well... no." Lavender was at a loss for words. Her... Gorgeous?
"So how about me and you...?" Dudley trailed off, hoping that she wasn't too much of an idiot to not figure out what he was asking. He flashed another smile to convince her that he was charming.
"I'd love to." Lavender spit out her answer as fast as she could. She prayed that he was asking her out, and he did. She couldn't be happier. Her eyes lit up as she smiled at Duddy. 'I have a boyfriend now. Take that, Neville!'
Dudley returned her smile. He leaned forward to give her a kiss. 'I hope the pumpkin juice doesn't leave a foul taste.'
Lavender's heart beat faster as she saw Duddy approaching her face. 'Is he going to kiss me?' It was weird how fast things were going, but she closed her eyes in anticipation. She felt his lips pressing against hers. He tasted sweet, and kind of salty. Lavender was in heaven, until she felt his tongue pushing urgently between her lips. He thrust his tongue into her mouth. It was so weird feeling. She didn't know how to respond, so she didn't.
'Damn. She can't even kiss.' Dudley thought. 'Guess I'll have to train her. Hmm... I wonder if I can get her to do other things. Things Cho refused to do.' Perverted thoughts ran through his head. Then, he remembered Cho. He'd have to dump her soon.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"GINNY WEASLEY!" Lucius was outraged by his son's actions. He slammed his hand into the wall behind Draco. He didn't intend to hurt his own flesh and blood, but if he couldn't see reasoning, he planned to force it into him.
"Yes, father." Draco replied in a low tone. He finally told his father the truth. He knew there would be punishment, but he wasn't about to let his father insult Ginny. She was special.
"Do you know what a disgrace you have brought to our family by dating that muggle-loving freak!" Lucius spoke with such disdain towards the Weasley girl. He glared at Draco as he waited for his response.
"Ginny is not a muggle-loving freak." Draco replied in a low tone. His father's glare was penetrating through his body. Draco knew that he should be moving away from the corner that he father put him in, but he couldn't move. He was still as stiff as a board. "Her father is, but Ginny is not." He decided to try reasoning with his father, which would be a difficult task but he needed to try.
"Damn you boy! Listen to me! Her whole family loves Muggles and you're dating her disgraces the Malfoy name." Lucius slapped Draco as he said this last statement. 'I guess I have to beat it into him.'
"Then maybe I don't want to be a Malfoy." Draco was quickly slapped again after this declaration. Now he was going to choose love over silly family honor. Whatever the consequences, he would stand up for Ginny to his father. "Fuck being a Malfoy! If it means I can't be with the woman I love, than I don't want to be one."
"LOVE! You don't know the meaning of love! And I will not stand by and let you disgrace the family." Lucius slammed Draco into the wall. In the same type of fit of rage that Ron showed earlier, he began to beat the shit out of Draco.
"Fuck the family!" Draco cried back at his father, as he managed to get a single punch to connect with Lucius' face. His struggle was answered back ten-fold. He received numerous blows to the face as his father screamed at him.
"You WILL obey me BOY! You are to NEVER see Ginny again!" Lucius threw his son onto the ground. He delivered a swift kick to Draco's side. "Answer me, boy!"
"STOP IT!!" A shrill scream rang out through the alleyway. Ginny had found Draco, but he was being beaten by his father. She ran in front of Lucius.
"Ginny." She heard Draco groan. "Get out of here!"
"You should listen to him, you muggle-loving freak!" Lucius said as he delivered a slap to her face. "And stay the fuck away from my son!"
"Damn you, old man!" Draco cried as he regained enough strength to tackle Lucius. He wasn't about to let his father slap Ginny around. His small victory was short-lived though. His father quickly reversed him and Draco found him self pinned to the ground.
"NO! Stop it!" Ginny tried to get Lucius off of Draco by hitting him with a piece of wood she found in the alleyway. A lot of good it did though. Lucius hit her upside the head and she was knocked out.
"Stupid little kids!" Lucius muttered as he realized that both Ginny and Draco were knocked out. He picked up his son and began to walk off into Knockturn Alley. He needed to take his son home and teach him a lesson in the privacy of his own house. He left Ginny in a slump in the alleyway.
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Wow! I meant to have a bit more to this chapter, but I decided to save it for another one. This is the most I've ever written so far, so it's a bit overwhelming. Hopefully, I still stay on the same mode that helped me finish this chapter. I'm starting to get more ideas of where to go from here, so I think I should be continuing it more frequently. Well hope ya liked it. Please Review!!
I tried to take into mind all the things that Blue Mew said to me about being more detailed. I just hope it doesn't seem too long and drawn out. Oh yeah, to Echoe, and everyone else confused by my plot twists, I meant to have Hermione think that Ron hit her. Now that I try to explain it, I forgot my reasoning, but it helps in the plot. Honestly it does. I'll somehow go back to that one punch and everything will make sense. It will.
Before I begin, here's a summary of events, believe me, I need it as much as you all do. Skip over it if you remember it so far. Oh yeah, how could someone not notice that I kept saying Knockturn Alley, when I meant Diagon Alley. Hehehe!! My bad!!
Summary: Harry's pumped about going back to school, because he got all buff and fine over the summer. Then he discovers that Dudley is going to Hogwarts and he hooked up with Cho. Too bad Harry! A mysterious girl admits that on a family visit to see Charlie in Romania, she hooked up with Malfoy, turns out she's pregnant. Malfoy shows that he's in love with the mystery girl and isn't going to let Harry have her. Mystery Girl confirms that she's pregnant at the Muggle doctor's office. Everyone meets at Diagon Alley for school shopping. Cho sees Harry and is like damn! She wants him again. Harry sees both Hermione & Ginny and wants them, because over the summer they both got fine. Both happened to have gotten sick on trips in Romania as well. Hmm!! Cho & Duddy hook up in a room at Leaky Cauldron. Malfoy tries to approach his girl, but she's surrounded by her usual friends. Pansy sees Malfoy and tries to hook up and then gets pissed off at Harry and the girls because she suspects Malfoy likes one of them. Ron tells Harry that he's going to confess his love to Hermione. Harry tells him, Hermione knows and doesn't like him like that. Ron gets pissed and takes off. He ends up drinking at Leaky Cauldron. Harry tries to hook up with Mystery Girl, but she admits she loves Draco. He gets pissed and goes to beat up Malfoy. A lil' scene with Cho and Duddy hooking up. Cho sees Ron after a few drinks, when he's ready to beat up Harry. She chases after him and Duddy thinks she's acting like a slut. He eyes Lavender and starts his game. Harry and Malfoy begin a fight and Ron jumps in to kick Harry's ass. He beats Harry's head into the ground. Hermione jumps in to stop Ron and gets punched by Malfoy, thinks it's Ron. Malfoy's surprisingly upset by this. Twins break up the fight with Malfoy & Ron. Ron runs after Hermione. Ginny's upset about Malfoy being upset about punching Hermione. Whoa! That's confusing. Cho begins to help Harry, sends Ginny after Hermione. Draco's wondering how to regain her trust, and daddy Lucius overhears him. After some fidgeting, Draco admits he's involved with Ginny. Ginny confronts Hermione about her man and Hermione admits that she's been involved with him. Ginny is upset because she got pregnant by Draco. Ron finds them both and tries to comfort Hermione, thinking she's been hurt by Harry. She admits to him that she's with someone else. Wow! That's one long plot so far.
Well here's the next chapter. Oh yeah, I don't own any of the characters. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling. Blah blah blah blah BLAH! -Kaida
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Chapter Four: The Truth
"Harry, can you sit up?" Cho asked as she knelt next to him. 'Jeez, he's been pretty beat up.' There seemed to be blood everywhere. Harry's nose was bleeding, his lip was cut, his eye was swollen, and he basically was a mess. "Harry..." Cho tried to get his attention, but he was still in a daze. Either that or Ron's punches had knocked him out.
"Here's a towel." Fred said as he handed her a wet rag. He glanced at the mess that Harry had become and wondered aloud, "What upset Ron so much that he would do this?" His eyes drifted in the direction Ron had run off to.
"I know." George added. "He even punched Hermione. Boy, did she look upset about that!"
"Who could blame her?!?!" Fred replied. "Her best friends fighting like savages about who knows what. She tried to stop them and she gets punched. I'd be pissed to. I'm surprised she didn't slug Ron back."
"I would've." George answered. "If Hermione doesn't jinx him, he's getting off lucky."
"Of course, you would hit Ron." Cho finally chimed in. She was getting sick of these macho punks talking about Hermione getting involved. "She is a girl after all. It isn't in her nature to throw punches around like you boys." She emphasized her 'like you boys' to show her disgust for their conversation.
"I guess so." Fred replied. "I hope Ginny can calm her down." He tried to change the subject, seeing that Cho looked a little ticked off as she cleaned up Harry's face.
"I don't know...." George trailed off. He remembered seeing Ginny's face when she ran after Hermione. She looked kind of upset herself, and not over the fight. "She seemed to have something else on her mind than helping Hermione out."
"What do you mean?" Cho was confused by this statement. She hadn't been looking at Ginny, except to tell her to help Hermione. After that, she took over to care for Harry. Cho carefully applied pressure to Harry's lip. She needed to stop the bleeding. She had already wiped off all the blood, but his dang lip was still bleeding. He was going to look even more awful in a few hours.
"I mean, her face dropped while they were arguing. I don't know what caught her attention, but she knew something about the fight and she didn't seem too happy with Hermione." George answered. He was trying to make sense of what he just saw happen in front of him. Maybe he was wrong about Ginny's expressions, but something inside of him nagged that he was right about his sister.
"I wonder what it was." Fred wondered. As he thought about it, another fact sunk into his brain. "Do you think we should allow Ginny to confront Hermione? I mean, if they're having problems, won't there just be another fight."
"Oh shit!" George realized that Fred was right. "We better go find them before something happens." The twins took off after their sister.
Cho shook her head as she heard the twins run off. She didn't know what to think about what had taken place today. She was more confused by the fact that she still thought Harry looked handsome even with this beat-up face.
She gingerly continued to wipe his face. His nosebleed had stopped, but his lip still wouldn't stop. 'I need some ice.' She thought as she looked upon his eye. 'It's definitely going to swell.'
A groan escaped from Harry. He stirred a bit, but could barely move. "W-w- what happened?" Harry tried to ask Cho. His throat was dry and something was blocking his mouth.
Cho jumped slightly as she heard Harry try to talk. She removed the towel from his mouth. She whispered to him, "Hush sweetie. You need to rest for a second and then I'll help you into the twins' shop."
"Huh?" Harry groaned some more. He felt like the world wouldn't quit spinning and it was making him feel sick. "What happened?" He asked again. He tried to focus on Cho's face, but he kept seeing two of them.
"Hush." Cho repeated. She brought the towel back towards Harry's lips. "You got in a fight." She hoped that simple fact would keep Harry calm enough to sit still. She didn't need him to be getting upset enough to start another fight.
Harry lay still as he let Cho's words sink in. 'A fight...' Suddenly, it all started coming back to him. 'I'm in love with Draco!' rang through his ears again. After he heard that something snapped inside of him. He felt like the whole world had turned upside down and to fix it, he went after Malfoy. Only he didn't get to play hero for long. Ron had jumped in on fighting him. "Where's Ron?" Harry asked.
Cho sighed as she realized she couldn't stop Harry's questions. She wanted to keep him calm, but as he regained consciousness, it looked like he was going to keep questioning his surroundings. "Harry dear, you need to rest for a minute." Cho gently chided. "I'll answer all your questions in a minute. Now do you think you can sit up?"
"Yeah, I think I can." Harry replied. With Cho's help, he rose to a sitting position, but immediately felt dizzy. He started to fall back down to the ground, but Cho guided him to lean against her. He leaned his head against her shoulders. 'This feels nice.' He thought.
"Why were you fighting Ron?" Cho asked softly. As much as she wanted Harry to stay calm, she also wanted to know what happened.
"I don't know." Harry replied. "I was fighting Malfoy and all of the sudden Ron came out of no where and hit me." He tried to remember the fight, but it caused his head to start pounding again. "I feel like my head's being pounded against the sidewalk."
"That's because it was, sweetie."
"Huh?" Harry hadn't expected Cho to say that. "It was?"
"Yeah, you took a pretty harsh beating from Ron." Tears welled up into Cho's eyes as she remembered. She had never been so scared in her life. She could still visualize Ron savagely pounded Harry's head into the ground. She thought he was going to kill him. She never saw Ron so angry before. "Why was he so angry?"
Cho said this more to herself then towards Harry, but he took it as a question. "I told him that Hermione knew about his crush. That she wasn't interested in him. Ron didn't take the news very well, obviously..." He said with a short laugh. It hurt him to talk too much. He could feel his lip begin to swell. "Damn! What am I going to do?"
"I don't know, love." Cho tried to think of something to say to Harry. 'Damn! He really screwed up his friendship with Ron. She didn't blame Ron for being so pissed off now.' "You need to apologize to Ron, honey. You shouldn't have told him that about Hermione." She didn't mean to sound so critical, but that's exactly how she sounded.
"Yeah," Harry replied. It hurt him that even Cho was against him now, but what did it matter. He already lost her to Dudley of all people, lost Ron, and lost his woman to Malfoy. He didn't have anything. All that hard work to look good this summer had gone down the drain. "I doubt he'll forgive me though. Not like I deserve it."
"After some time, I'm sure Ron might forgive you. If he doesn't, you'll always have me to support you." Cho gently whispered into Harry's ear. She needed to tell him that she was all his again. Her body yearned to be with Harry and only Harry.
"Huh?" Harry wasn't sure if he heard her right. "What do you mean I'll always have you to support him? What about Dudley?"
"If you tell me to stop seeing him, I will for you." Cho replied.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE WITH SOMEONE ELSE!!!" Ron screamed at Hermione. He began to grow hot, as anger seared through his body again. He wanted to kick the shit out of whoever was with his precious Hermione.
"I mean, I'm dating someone already." Hermione whispered, as she continued to weep. It scared her how angry Ron was getting. She feared that he might snap and begin to hit her like he did to Harry. She had seen the look in his eyes as he pounded Harry's head into the ground. He had no life, just anger. It looked like his soul had frozen into pure anger. It unnerved her.
"HOW COULD YOU BE WITH SOMEONE ELSE?" Ron cried out. He saw the tears in Hermione's eyes, but couldn't control his voice as he tried to get answers.
"I hooked up with him this summer." Hermione began. Tears flowed down her face. She avoided both Ginny and Ron's faces as she tried to keep her voice steady enough to tell them the truth. "I didn't think any of you would approve, so I met him in secret in Romania."
'Romania?' Ginny thought to herself. 'How could she? How could he?' She thought that she had been the only one to be with Draco this summer. Obviously, she wasn't enough to satisfy him.
"I wanted to tell you before, but..." She trailed off. 'I need to tell them everything now. But how do I say it?' Finally, Hermione could keep it in no longer. "I'm pregnant!"
"No!" The words could barely roll off of Ginny's tongue. "YOU SLUT!!" She screamed at Hermione. Ginny got up and ran off. Tears weld up in her eyes as she blindly searched for Draco. 'How could she do this to me?'
"Pregnant?" Ron replied stunned. He stood next to Hermione in a daze. Just a moment ago he was ready to get in another fight, but now he didn't know what to do. "Pregnant?" He repeated.
"Yes... and I don't know what to do." Hermione sobbed. Her head slumped down into her chest. She was a bit relieved that Ron wasn't angry, well showing anger at least, but now all kinds of questions floated into her mind- the same questions that had consumed her when she first found out. "I don't know how I'm going to raise a baby and finish at Hogwarts. I don't know if Dumbledore will even let me finish at Hogwarts. If I don't get to finish, I don't know if I'll be able to live in the Wizarding world. I don't know how he's going to take the news that we're having a baby. I don't know if he'll take responsibility. I don't know what to do about Ginny now. I didn't think she'd be so upset." Hermione began to sob as she thought of Ginny's reaction.
"Pregnant?" Ron replied. His mind seemed to have shut down to everything but that one word.
"Yes, pregnant." Hermione snapped at him. Her face balked as she felt bad for snapping at Ron. He had never done anything to her, well except hit her, but that had been an accident.
"Pregnant?" Ron said again. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET PREGNANT?"
Fred and George stopped as they heard Ron scream at Hermione. They had just turned the corner when they spotted them. Since both seemed to be okay, except for Hermione's crying, it didn't seem important to rush. "She's pregnant?" Fred turned and asked George.
"How the hell should I know?" George replied. "Let's listen and maybe we'll hear."
"Sounds like a plan." Fred replied as he leaned against the wall, anticipating Hermione's reply.
"HOW THE HELL ELSE DO YOU GET PREGNANT!!" Hermione cried back at Ron. She was getting sick of Ron's stupidity and his constantly yelling at her. She covered her mouth after yelling this. She didn't mean to say it so loud. 'Now people are going to think I'm a slut!'
"..." Ron had no reply to Hermione's cry. Instead his head filled with images of some guy brutally forcing himself on his precious Hermione. "Don't worry." Ron began to say to Hermione. "I'll take care of you." He wasn't going to let this guy deflower his Hermione and get away with it. Most of all, he wasn't going to let Hermione suffer through this by herself.
"What do you mean you'll take care of me?" She was even more confused now. "I can take care of myself."
"Just tell me who he is and I'll kick his ass for forcing himself on you." Ron began to have delusional images of Hermione rewarding him with kisses after beating up her attacker.
"Since when did Ron start being all macho?" Fred whispered to George. His baby brother had always been such a crybaby and now here he was trying to be a man.
"Shut up! I want to hear them." George whispered back. As he watched the scene, he also wondered where their sister had disappeared to. If Ron had found Hermione in his rage, then surely Ginny could have too.
"What do you mean force him self on me?" Hermione couldn't believe that Ron was jumping to conclusions so fast. She rose to her feet and grabbed a hold of Ron's shoulders. She looked into his eyes as she tried to get the truth into him. "He did NOT force him self on me. I gave up my virginity willing. So don't go trying to beat him up!!"
"He didn't force him self on you?" Ron replied. "How could you, Hermione?"
"I'm sorry, Ron. But I fell in love with him." Hermione was glad that a little bit of truth was sinking into Ron.
"Why not me...?" Ron asked one of his most dangerous questions of all. He didn't know if he could handle the answer, but he needed to know. His heart felt like it was being twisted inside of him. His best friend betrayed him. Hermione was in love, and pregnant, with another guy.
"I'm sorry, Ron." Hermione said again. "I only see you as a friend." She began to cry as she said this. She didn't mean to. She knew she was breaking Ron's heart, but this all made her hurt. She didn't want to break his heart, but he needed to know the truth- the whole truth, including who the other guy was. But how could she tell him. After all, she didn't expect Ginny to act so upset. Ron would go ballistic.
"Who is he?" Ron asked his other most dangerous question. The one question that he knew would eat him up the most, the guy that he had lost out to.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So Duddy, how long have you been going to Hogwarts?" Lavender asked as she nervously toyed with her hair. It puzzled her how he popped out of no where. It was like she was destined to be with him.
"Well, I just received my acceptance letter a few weeks ago." Dudley replied. He grabbed her glass and asked her, "Shall I get you another soda?"
"Umm... sure." Lavender replied. 'A few weeks ago... Is he a first year?' She didn't know what to think about this situation. Sure it hurt to be rejected by Neville, but to date a first year. 'That's cradle robbing. What would everyone think of me? But damn, he sure doesn't look like he's 11 or 12. He has to be around 16 or 17.' She fidgeted as she tried to figure out what to do about Duddy. She liked him, but a first year.
"Here ya go, sweet thang!" Dudley handed her a fresh glass of pumpkin juice. "So what's Hogwarts like? Are all the girls as pretty as you?"
Lavender blushed at the compliment. "I'm not really that pretty." She stammered. No guy had every treated her like she was that special.
"Girl, you must be tripping. I thought I died and gone to heaven when I first laid eyes on you." Dudley leaned in closer as he flirted with Lavender. 'She's not as pretty as Cho, but she sure won't cheat on me.' He thought to himself. "I just had to come over and talk with you, because sweetness is my weakness." He gave her one of his dynamic smiles as he used one of his best pick-up lines.
Lavender laughed a little as she listened to Duddy. 'Wow! He's a sweetheart! Not much of a looker, but I could really like him.' Her face flushed as she had these thoughts. "Umm... "She stammered as she tried to regain her focus. "So are you a first year?" As much as she liked Duddy, she needed to know.
"Well, I guess you could consider me that." Dudley began. The change of topic really threw him off. He'd have to be careful how he phrased things. He didn't need a repeat of Cho so early on. "I never really showed magic talent until recently. I'm a bit surprised that I even got a Hogwarts letter. You know, being 16 and all. I guess my talent was so strong, that they wanted me even if I was a bit behind on all the formal schooling." It took a lot of Dudley's brain power to produce this theory. He wanted Lavender to think he was something special, something worth having.
"Oh." Lavender was a bit shocked by all this info. 'So Dumbledore accepted him later than usual.' "I guess you must be something special, if you were accepted this late." She finally said to him. She smiled now that she knew that he wasn't some child.
Dudley lit up at her comment. 'She's mine.' He thought. "So tell me, do you have a man?"
Lavender blushed at the question. She hoped that he would ask her out, but she didn't expect it to be so soon. "Umm... not really," Lavender couldn't think of any way to phase her response to get Duddy to want her as much as she wanted him.
"What!" Dudley faked a surprise face. "You must be joking. Such a gorgeous girl like you doesn't have a boyfriend." He shifted a little closer towards her.
"Well... no." Lavender was at a loss for words. Her... Gorgeous?
"So how about me and you...?" Dudley trailed off, hoping that she wasn't too much of an idiot to not figure out what he was asking. He flashed another smile to convince her that he was charming.
"I'd love to." Lavender spit out her answer as fast as she could. She prayed that he was asking her out, and he did. She couldn't be happier. Her eyes lit up as she smiled at Duddy. 'I have a boyfriend now. Take that, Neville!'
Dudley returned her smile. He leaned forward to give her a kiss. 'I hope the pumpkin juice doesn't leave a foul taste.'
Lavender's heart beat faster as she saw Duddy approaching her face. 'Is he going to kiss me?' It was weird how fast things were going, but she closed her eyes in anticipation. She felt his lips pressing against hers. He tasted sweet, and kind of salty. Lavender was in heaven, until she felt his tongue pushing urgently between her lips. He thrust his tongue into her mouth. It was so weird feeling. She didn't know how to respond, so she didn't.
'Damn. She can't even kiss.' Dudley thought. 'Guess I'll have to train her. Hmm... I wonder if I can get her to do other things. Things Cho refused to do.' Perverted thoughts ran through his head. Then, he remembered Cho. He'd have to dump her soon.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"GINNY WEASLEY!" Lucius was outraged by his son's actions. He slammed his hand into the wall behind Draco. He didn't intend to hurt his own flesh and blood, but if he couldn't see reasoning, he planned to force it into him.
"Yes, father." Draco replied in a low tone. He finally told his father the truth. He knew there would be punishment, but he wasn't about to let his father insult Ginny. She was special.
"Do you know what a disgrace you have brought to our family by dating that muggle-loving freak!" Lucius spoke with such disdain towards the Weasley girl. He glared at Draco as he waited for his response.
"Ginny is not a muggle-loving freak." Draco replied in a low tone. His father's glare was penetrating through his body. Draco knew that he should be moving away from the corner that he father put him in, but he couldn't move. He was still as stiff as a board. "Her father is, but Ginny is not." He decided to try reasoning with his father, which would be a difficult task but he needed to try.
"Damn you boy! Listen to me! Her whole family loves Muggles and you're dating her disgraces the Malfoy name." Lucius slapped Draco as he said this last statement. 'I guess I have to beat it into him.'
"Then maybe I don't want to be a Malfoy." Draco was quickly slapped again after this declaration. Now he was going to choose love over silly family honor. Whatever the consequences, he would stand up for Ginny to his father. "Fuck being a Malfoy! If it means I can't be with the woman I love, than I don't want to be one."
"LOVE! You don't know the meaning of love! And I will not stand by and let you disgrace the family." Lucius slammed Draco into the wall. In the same type of fit of rage that Ron showed earlier, he began to beat the shit out of Draco.
"Fuck the family!" Draco cried back at his father, as he managed to get a single punch to connect with Lucius' face. His struggle was answered back ten-fold. He received numerous blows to the face as his father screamed at him.
"You WILL obey me BOY! You are to NEVER see Ginny again!" Lucius threw his son onto the ground. He delivered a swift kick to Draco's side. "Answer me, boy!"
"STOP IT!!" A shrill scream rang out through the alleyway. Ginny had found Draco, but he was being beaten by his father. She ran in front of Lucius.
"Ginny." She heard Draco groan. "Get out of here!"
"You should listen to him, you muggle-loving freak!" Lucius said as he delivered a slap to her face. "And stay the fuck away from my son!"
"Damn you, old man!" Draco cried as he regained enough strength to tackle Lucius. He wasn't about to let his father slap Ginny around. His small victory was short-lived though. His father quickly reversed him and Draco found him self pinned to the ground.
"NO! Stop it!" Ginny tried to get Lucius off of Draco by hitting him with a piece of wood she found in the alleyway. A lot of good it did though. Lucius hit her upside the head and she was knocked out.
"Stupid little kids!" Lucius muttered as he realized that both Ginny and Draco were knocked out. He picked up his son and began to walk off into Knockturn Alley. He needed to take his son home and teach him a lesson in the privacy of his own house. He left Ginny in a slump in the alleyway.
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Wow! I meant to have a bit more to this chapter, but I decided to save it for another one. This is the most I've ever written so far, so it's a bit overwhelming. Hopefully, I still stay on the same mode that helped me finish this chapter. I'm starting to get more ideas of where to go from here, so I think I should be continuing it more frequently. Well hope ya liked it. Please Review!!