The rest of the week passed much like that night, Hermione trying and
trying to get over Harry, and failing miserably. She simply didn't know
what to do! In everything she did, she couldn't help but think about him,
he popped into her head at most times, and every other time she was
thinking about stapling Lavender to the wall.
She spent most of her time hidden away in the library or the girl's bathrooms. Reading had begun to take her mind off him slightly, but she began to turn famous witches and wizards into Harry in her head.
No one missed her; everyone assumed that if Hermione wasn't in the common room or her dormitory, she was studying as usual. Hermione did not feel like studying. She didn't care about studying. Grades were grades. She was already the brightest witch at school; exams were a long way off yet.
What got her down the most was that while she had to admit that it was more embarrassing to let people see her cry, she hated the fact that no one, not even Ron, and not even Harry himself, noticed that she was down. Everyone who thought she was acting differently just thought it was because she'd broken up with her boyfriend, and she was trying to "find herself" again. Please. If she ever lost herself, it wasn't hard to find her; she was always in the library studying.
It was eight days after Lavender had first told them about her new relationship with Harry when Hermione began to realize that she was losing her grip on reality. She knew homework and stuff was important, but she hadn't been doing it. She was being excused of course, because being Head Girl was a very hard duty, and teachers thought the reason she wasn't doing her homework was because she was too busy looking after the first years and checking to make sure the school rules were being obeyed. Even the strictest of teachers, like Snape and McGonagall were letting her off, though just barely.
She had decided to do her homework one night when she couldn't bear idleness any longer and was in the library hidden in a desk at the back. She finished off an Astronomy Q&A sheet, and put the finishing touch on her Transfiguration essay. She was about to start the work Snape had set for the class, which was three nasty essays on the properties of Moongrass and Tolemy, and what the two produced when added together; the correct method of a Silencing Potion; and a particularly horrible one which was about what colours a Brigold potion turned according to what hour it was. As there were 24 different colours and they were expected to write in detail on each one, it was not an easy assignment.
Hermione was becoming involved in her work and hadn't given a thought to anyone around her when she heard voices in the bookcases in front of her.
"Did anyone see you?" she heard a girl's voice. It sounded familiar, but Hermione couldn't put a name to it.
"Nah, its nearly twelve o'clock, we're supposed to be in our dormitories now." The male's voice also sounded very familiar, but again Hermione was confused. She shook her head and continued to work. There was no more speech from the bookcases, but after a while, Hermione needed a reference book to check up on a Brigold colour that she had forgotten. Looking at her watch, she realized she would be in a lot of trouble if she was caught, it was nearly twelve thirty, and even the seventh years were not allowed out this late. She rounded a bookcase and stopped.
There on the floor was Lavender Brown and Dean Thomas. Lavenders robes were slipping off her shoulder, Dean had lipstick all over his face and neck, and they were both red faced and sweaty looking. They hadn't noticed Hermione yet, and continued to make out, Dean kissing Lavender passionately on the lips while her hands moved about in his hair and on his body.
Hermione lifted her hands to her mouth and then said in a gasp, "Lavender?"
Lavender and Dean sprang apart from each other as quickly as they could. Expressions of guilt and forced innocence spread across their faces as Lavender answered, "Hermione. Um.what are you doing here?"
Hermione simply stood and stared a bit longer. Then when realization hit, she turned and ran, leaving behind her homework. She would pick it up in the morning. She could hear footsteps coming after her, and Lavender called, "Hermione, wait! I can explain this."
Hermione just kept running. This was all like a nightmare. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. The girl who Harry adored, who had won Harry's heart, the kind, wonderful, smart, gorgeous Harry's heart, was not yet content with taking one of the most gorgeous guys in the year, she had to take Dean, who was still going out with his Ravenclaw girlfriend, as well.
She got to her dormitory and into her bed. She knew if Lavender wouldn't try to explain in the dormitory because it was too risky. Any of the other girls could hear.
Lavender came in a few minutes later, and it sounded as though she had been crying, because she kept sniffling and sounded very choked up with every shaky breath.
Hermione smiled savagely. Served her right to be upset. How dare she treat Harry so undeservingly? Harry was the sweetest, most wonderful boy in the world, and Lavender felt she could just use Harry like a toy and pick up Dean when she got bored?
After a very long night of thinking about whether or not she should tell Harry, she got up in the morning, having not slept at all. Looking in the mirror, she groaned. The face staring back at her was puffy and white with red rimmed eyes from tears she had shed.
Another face appeared in the mirror next to hers. It was Parvati.
"Hermione, are you okay?" Parvati asked in concern. "You look terrible!"
"I do, don't I?" Hermione said gloomily, carefully examining her hair.
Lavender came over. "Hermione, can I talk to you? Please?" Hermione was on the verge of walking out and just ignoring Lavender, but then realized that she was, in fact, very interested to know what Lavender had to say for herself. She gave in, and followed Lavender to her bed, where they pulled the curtains around so the other girls couldn't see and hear as well.
Lavender turned to Hermione and took a deep breath. For someone who should have been more sleep deprived and tormented than Hermione, she looked as though she had slept quite well.
"Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what you saw last night." Lavender peered up at Hermione who was looking at her incredulously.
"You're sorry?" Hermione repeated. "You toy around with the affections of my best friend, cheat on your boyfriend, let Dean cheat on his girlfriend.and you expect me to let you feel all good about it because you said, "I'm sorry"?"
"Look, I didn't mean for it to happen! It was one of those spur-of-the- moment things!" Lavender said desperately.
Hermione smiled grimly. "Funny, to me it sounded as though you two had planned it. Something along the lines of, 'did anyone see you?' and 'no, we're all meant to be asleep.' It made it so incredibly obvious that you had planned it."
Lavender looked down at the sheets. A tear rolled down her cheek. "Listen, Hermione, I know Harry is your best friend, and you care a lot about him, but please, please don't tell him. This is the last thing he needs."
Hermione laughed scoffingly. "You don't think!"
Lavender looked up. "You're not going to tell him, are you?"
Hermione saw Lavenders wide, frightened eyes and sighed. "No Lavender. I'll leave that up to you. It's not my place to tell him that his girlfriend cheated on him. It's yours. But I'm warning you. You had better have told him by the end of the day."
Lavender gasped, aghast. "You want me to tell him about Dean?"
Hermione was slightly shocked. "You mean, you weren't going to? You were just going to pretend it had never happened?"
Lavender looked a little ashamed. "Well, he's been through so much already in his life, I didn't think it would be good for him."
Hermione couldn't believe she was hearing this. "Well, listen, he might have had a rough time in life, but there's no reason for you to think its ok to go cheating on him and then lying to him about it. So if you haven't told him by the end of today, I will tell him for you."
Lavender folded her arms. "Are you threatening me?"
Hermione didn't answer at first, as she got up and pulled the curtains back to reveal an empty room. The other girls had gone down to breakfast already. She turned back for a second to see Lavender facing her with a bewildered and slightly stubborn expression.
Hermione paused and then grinned slightly. "Why yes, Lavender. I believe I am."
She spent most of her time hidden away in the library or the girl's bathrooms. Reading had begun to take her mind off him slightly, but she began to turn famous witches and wizards into Harry in her head.
No one missed her; everyone assumed that if Hermione wasn't in the common room or her dormitory, she was studying as usual. Hermione did not feel like studying. She didn't care about studying. Grades were grades. She was already the brightest witch at school; exams were a long way off yet.
What got her down the most was that while she had to admit that it was more embarrassing to let people see her cry, she hated the fact that no one, not even Ron, and not even Harry himself, noticed that she was down. Everyone who thought she was acting differently just thought it was because she'd broken up with her boyfriend, and she was trying to "find herself" again. Please. If she ever lost herself, it wasn't hard to find her; she was always in the library studying.
It was eight days after Lavender had first told them about her new relationship with Harry when Hermione began to realize that she was losing her grip on reality. She knew homework and stuff was important, but she hadn't been doing it. She was being excused of course, because being Head Girl was a very hard duty, and teachers thought the reason she wasn't doing her homework was because she was too busy looking after the first years and checking to make sure the school rules were being obeyed. Even the strictest of teachers, like Snape and McGonagall were letting her off, though just barely.
She had decided to do her homework one night when she couldn't bear idleness any longer and was in the library hidden in a desk at the back. She finished off an Astronomy Q&A sheet, and put the finishing touch on her Transfiguration essay. She was about to start the work Snape had set for the class, which was three nasty essays on the properties of Moongrass and Tolemy, and what the two produced when added together; the correct method of a Silencing Potion; and a particularly horrible one which was about what colours a Brigold potion turned according to what hour it was. As there were 24 different colours and they were expected to write in detail on each one, it was not an easy assignment.
Hermione was becoming involved in her work and hadn't given a thought to anyone around her when she heard voices in the bookcases in front of her.
"Did anyone see you?" she heard a girl's voice. It sounded familiar, but Hermione couldn't put a name to it.
"Nah, its nearly twelve o'clock, we're supposed to be in our dormitories now." The male's voice also sounded very familiar, but again Hermione was confused. She shook her head and continued to work. There was no more speech from the bookcases, but after a while, Hermione needed a reference book to check up on a Brigold colour that she had forgotten. Looking at her watch, she realized she would be in a lot of trouble if she was caught, it was nearly twelve thirty, and even the seventh years were not allowed out this late. She rounded a bookcase and stopped.
There on the floor was Lavender Brown and Dean Thomas. Lavenders robes were slipping off her shoulder, Dean had lipstick all over his face and neck, and they were both red faced and sweaty looking. They hadn't noticed Hermione yet, and continued to make out, Dean kissing Lavender passionately on the lips while her hands moved about in his hair and on his body.
Hermione lifted her hands to her mouth and then said in a gasp, "Lavender?"
Lavender and Dean sprang apart from each other as quickly as they could. Expressions of guilt and forced innocence spread across their faces as Lavender answered, "Hermione. Um.what are you doing here?"
Hermione simply stood and stared a bit longer. Then when realization hit, she turned and ran, leaving behind her homework. She would pick it up in the morning. She could hear footsteps coming after her, and Lavender called, "Hermione, wait! I can explain this."
Hermione just kept running. This was all like a nightmare. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. The girl who Harry adored, who had won Harry's heart, the kind, wonderful, smart, gorgeous Harry's heart, was not yet content with taking one of the most gorgeous guys in the year, she had to take Dean, who was still going out with his Ravenclaw girlfriend, as well.
She got to her dormitory and into her bed. She knew if Lavender wouldn't try to explain in the dormitory because it was too risky. Any of the other girls could hear.
Lavender came in a few minutes later, and it sounded as though she had been crying, because she kept sniffling and sounded very choked up with every shaky breath.
Hermione smiled savagely. Served her right to be upset. How dare she treat Harry so undeservingly? Harry was the sweetest, most wonderful boy in the world, and Lavender felt she could just use Harry like a toy and pick up Dean when she got bored?
After a very long night of thinking about whether or not she should tell Harry, she got up in the morning, having not slept at all. Looking in the mirror, she groaned. The face staring back at her was puffy and white with red rimmed eyes from tears she had shed.
Another face appeared in the mirror next to hers. It was Parvati.
"Hermione, are you okay?" Parvati asked in concern. "You look terrible!"
"I do, don't I?" Hermione said gloomily, carefully examining her hair.
Lavender came over. "Hermione, can I talk to you? Please?" Hermione was on the verge of walking out and just ignoring Lavender, but then realized that she was, in fact, very interested to know what Lavender had to say for herself. She gave in, and followed Lavender to her bed, where they pulled the curtains around so the other girls couldn't see and hear as well.
Lavender turned to Hermione and took a deep breath. For someone who should have been more sleep deprived and tormented than Hermione, she looked as though she had slept quite well.
"Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what you saw last night." Lavender peered up at Hermione who was looking at her incredulously.
"You're sorry?" Hermione repeated. "You toy around with the affections of my best friend, cheat on your boyfriend, let Dean cheat on his girlfriend.and you expect me to let you feel all good about it because you said, "I'm sorry"?"
"Look, I didn't mean for it to happen! It was one of those spur-of-the- moment things!" Lavender said desperately.
Hermione smiled grimly. "Funny, to me it sounded as though you two had planned it. Something along the lines of, 'did anyone see you?' and 'no, we're all meant to be asleep.' It made it so incredibly obvious that you had planned it."
Lavender looked down at the sheets. A tear rolled down her cheek. "Listen, Hermione, I know Harry is your best friend, and you care a lot about him, but please, please don't tell him. This is the last thing he needs."
Hermione laughed scoffingly. "You don't think!"
Lavender looked up. "You're not going to tell him, are you?"
Hermione saw Lavenders wide, frightened eyes and sighed. "No Lavender. I'll leave that up to you. It's not my place to tell him that his girlfriend cheated on him. It's yours. But I'm warning you. You had better have told him by the end of the day."
Lavender gasped, aghast. "You want me to tell him about Dean?"
Hermione was slightly shocked. "You mean, you weren't going to? You were just going to pretend it had never happened?"
Lavender looked a little ashamed. "Well, he's been through so much already in his life, I didn't think it would be good for him."
Hermione couldn't believe she was hearing this. "Well, listen, he might have had a rough time in life, but there's no reason for you to think its ok to go cheating on him and then lying to him about it. So if you haven't told him by the end of today, I will tell him for you."
Lavender folded her arms. "Are you threatening me?"
Hermione didn't answer at first, as she got up and pulled the curtains back to reveal an empty room. The other girls had gone down to breakfast already. She turned back for a second to see Lavender facing her with a bewildered and slightly stubborn expression.
Hermione paused and then grinned slightly. "Why yes, Lavender. I believe I am."