Jealousies are Known Chap. 5

The morning after their return to Hogwarts, Ron awoke yawning. Stretching his arms high above his head, he cast a look at Harry's bed. Harry was sitting on the edge of his bed, pulling his shoes on.

Harry looked up, noticing Ron's movement. "Come on, let's get to breakfast!"

Ron grumbled, but pulled himself out of his blanket and got ready quickly.

Downstairs, Hermione joined them at the Gryffindor Table as the daily post came. A swoop of Owls entered through the high windows, carrying packages and letters. An Owl flew to Hermione and let her remove the parchment tied to it's leg. Hermione looked down at the letter, and mouthed an 'Oh'.

Ron stared at Hermione, "So who's it from?"

Hermione, still reading the letter, distractedly said, "Oh it's from Viktor."

Ron's face turned red as he glared at Hermione. "As in Krum?" he said, his voice cold.

Hermione who was still reading the letter, didn't notice that Ron's face was flushed dark red, and he was shaking slightly.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, Viktor Krum. He's apologizing for not seeing me while I was in Italy," she said, finally looking up at him.

Ron looked at her disbelievingly, "You were going to meet with him?!"

"Well, I told him I would be in Italy, and he immediately wanted to see me, as we haven't seen each other for three years, you know. But he wound up being delayed by an extra long Quidditch match, so he was unable to see me," Hermione informed Ron and Harry as she rolled up the parchment she was holding in her hand.

Ron opened his mouth, and searched for the best words he could think of. "I can't believe you're still writing to that grouchy old git! --"

"Ron!" she said, looking up at him sharply. "He's really not that bad!"

"--I can't believe you're still CAVORTING with him!" Ron said angrily, knowing the words would sting.

Now it was Hermione's turn to turn red in the face. "CAVORTING?!" she said, outraged.

Ron looked at her incriminatingly.

"--Why do you care who I cavort with anyway? You're cavorting with Luna!" Hermione said bitingly as she grabbed her things from the table. Turning to Harry, she said, "I'll see you later Harry." With that, she stalked off.

Immediately Ron turned to Harry, "Can you believe that? She's still writing to that prat!"

Harry just shook his head, "Ron, they're just pen pals." Ron sat, fuming. 'She knows I hate that guy, and she still chooses to keep him in her life!' he thought bitterly.

Several minutes before Transfiguration was going to begin Ron discovered that he was missing his books. "I'll meet you in class Harry," he said as he rose from the table.

Once upstairs, Ron said the password to the Fat Lady, and entered through the portrait hole. He immediately saw Hermione sitting in front of the blazing fire. Guiltily, he noticed that her cheeks were stained with tears. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, but he still felt incredibly angry about their morning argument, too angry to apologize anyway. Ron walked briskly up to his dormitory to retrieve his book, then returned to the Common Room, clutching it in his hand. He glanced at Hermione quickly. She stood up and walked over to him.

"You really need to grow up Ron!" she said, her eyes red and her voice shaking with anger.

"ME?!" asked Ron incredulously, his eyes bulging.

"Yes, YOU!" she said, poking him with her finger. "I don't see why you get so angry when I mention Viktor's name!"

"Angry?! I don't get angry! I just don't see what you'd want with--Vicky-- when he's four years older than you! And him! What would he want with someone four years younger I wonder!" said Ron accusingly.

Hermione looked as if Ron had slapped her in the face.

"I-don't-see-why-you-even-care!" she said slowly.

Ron's mouth opened wide, "I DON'T CARE!!" His eyes were opened to the maximum and his face could've been mistaken for a very angry tomato. "YOU'RE the one that cares about Luna asking me to Hogsmeade!" he yelled.

"I don't care about you and Luna! You can do whatever you wish with her!" said Hermione briskly, her hair cascading madly around her face.

"FINE! I WILL!!" yelled Ron. He had no intention of spending any time with Luna, but at that moment he didn't care if Hermione thought he did.

"FINE!!" Hermione said, almost screaming. "AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, DON'T TALK TO ME EITHER!!" she said, stomping towards the portrait hole.

"WILL DO!!" yelled Ron, as she disappeared from behind the portrait, slamming the Fat Lady closed, and you could make out the phrase, "My, what an insolent young woman!"

Ron, who was breathing very hard and holding his book so tightly that his knuckles were white, exited the portrait hole and slammed the Fat Lady closed as well.

"Goodness! What is becoming of today's youth!" the Fat Lady said to herself as Ron trudged off to Transfiguration.

The next few days passed torturously. Hermione had completely stopped talking to Ron, and Harry was forced to make awkward conversation to fill the silence.

"So then Professor Trelawney said that I would suffer through a grueling battle with a dark toad," said Harry, desperately trying to find something to talk about with them. As silence ensued, he said, "Can you believe that? A dark TOAD?"---"What's it going to do? CROAK at me until I die?" said Harry smiling.

But it didn't work. Neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to even be listening to him. Finally, Harry accepted defeat, and didn't say anything else until they reached Gryffindor Tower. Entering through the portrait hole, Harry immediately said, "I'm not feeling all that well, so I'm going to go to bed." With that, he turned and walked quickly up to the dormitories.

Hermione sighed loudly and turned to walk up to the girl's dormitories.

"I do care," said Ron in barely a whisper, his face pale.

Hermione stopped at the foot of the stairs and slowly turned around. "What did you say?"

"I said, 'I do care'," Ron said louder.

Hermione gaped at him for several seconds. She couldn't believe the words escaping his mouth.

"Why?" she asked.

Ron swallowed and searched for the right words. He wanted to tell her, 'I care because I love you.' That's right, love, because he did love Hermione. He loved her with all of his heart, his body, his entire being. But Ron quickly pushed that thought out of his head.

"Because...because...you're my friend, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Ron, Viktor is not going to hurt me," she said, wishing he would explain himself more.

"Yeah, well, that's what you think now, but it's not like you know who he's seeing while he's traveling or in Bulgaria," Ron said. "You don't know if he's cheating on you with someone else." Ron said brazenly.

"Ron, Viktor is just a friend to me. Nothing more," she said, looking into his insecure azure eyes.

"But...but...he wanted more than just friendship," said Ron.

"Well, yes, but I quickly told him I wasn't interested and he understood," said Hermione calmly.

"Why weren't you interested?" said Ron. Viktor Krum might be duck-footed and a bit grumpy, but he was older, traveled, and he was on a famous Quidditch team, which meant he was probably filthy rich.

"Well...because...I wasn't," said Hermione simply.

Ron looked at her unbelievingly. "Why? He's famous, and older, and RICH!" he said with emphasis.

Hermione shrugged, "Those things aren't important to me. There are other things, like humor and friendship and trust, those are the traits that I think are important."

"Oh," said Ron bemusedly. His face was still pale, and he looked vulnerable. "So you're not in love with Krum?"

Hermione smiled. "NO! I'm not in love with Viktor," she said, throwing her arms up in the air.

Ron smiled slightly, "Oh." His heart felt a million times lighter than it had all week.

"So, are we talking again?" asked Hermione. Ron nodded. "Good," she said smiling at him warmly. Ron smiled back at her, looking deeply into her caramel eyes.

"Goodnight Ron," said Hermione, matching Ron's gaze.

"Goodnight Hermione," said Ron.

With that Hermione turned, smiling, and made her way up the stairs to her dormitory, with Ron's gaze on her back.