PART THIRTY-ONE
A Perfect Final Argument
Do you know how a mosquito bite feels so good when picked at and scratched, because it satisfies the itch even though you know that in doing so, you're only making the bite worse? And do you know how it feels not to be able to scratch that bite, the feeling of irritation, of discontent, of not being able to help yourself? Similar feelings kept erupting inside me every time Malfoy popped up in my mind, the keen urge to tell Hermione, to stop their relationship, to end the evil that was about to come concerning Malfoy once and for all, because it would feel so good, albeit it would make things with Hermione worse. But just as well, there it was, the sole urge that I wanted yet dreaded to do…plain and simple right in front of me…yet it was an itch I cannot pick at, a task so difficult to be done…leaving me with the same feeling, the same irritation, the same discontent. And there was nothing to do about it.
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"I'm surprised your boyfriend let you leave his side tonight," Ron commented the next night, as he and Hermione were seated at a table in the Great Hall, where some of the students were kicking back before lights out, because the final exam had just ended earlier that day. Ron jerked his head towards Malfoy, who was a few tables away, talking to Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy.
Hermione glanced towards him as he ran his hand through his blond hair, his back to her, and then she turned back to Ron. "I told him right after dinner to go talk to his friends…or so-called friends. He really needs to, you know. He's drifted apart from them…and I feel partly responsible for it."
"Come off it," replied Ron. "It's their fault for not being supportive of the relationship. Trust a Slytherin to be just like that." He grinned, but then saw the look on Hermione's face and quickly added, "Er, not that Malfoy's not supportive or anything…"
Hermione giggled, but her heart was getting squished by the thought that Malfoy had just lost his father and yet didn't have any friends around to comfort him at all. "It's okay, Ron. I know what you mean." She shifted in her position and reached out to hold his hand, making Ron raise his eyebrows. "Listen, I'm really thankful for everything you and Harry have done for me. You guys are the best; you never left my side one second. I can never ask for a better friendship."
Ron, who seemed to recover from the sudden hand-holding, smiled at her sincerely. "Hey, it's no big. We've stood by you after all these years, so why back out now? And now that the exams are over, we're still here beside you," he paused. "Well, Harry's off somewhere with Cho tonight, so maybe tonight doesn't really count as being by your side and all…"
The two of them laughed for a while, and Hermione squeezed Ron's hand. Ron stared at her face for a few seconds, before he cleared his throat.
"Actually, there's something you really need to know…" he began, and Hermione's eyes widened as she watched Ron's face come closer to hers…
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Malfoy looked around at the almost empty Great Hall that night, trying not to let Dumbledore's words last night haunt him, and his eyes once again fell on Hermione and Ron, seated a few tables away. He saw Hermione giggle, and then reach over to hold Ron's hand. Malfoy bit his lip and tried to ignore the sharp tugging at his heart, and all at once he ran the same sentence that he'd been memorizing to himself all day like a mantra: He's just a friend…he's just a friend…he's just a friend…
"Draco?"
Pansy's voice snapped him back to the current conversion he had at hand. He reluctantly dragged his eyes away from Hermione and Ron, and turned back to the three other people he shared the long table with.
"We've been thinking about what you just said," Pansy continued, jerking her head towards Crabbe and Goyle. "We know you just apologized and all, but I think it's a little overboard, the way you punched Goyle and almost knocked the wind out of Crabbe with your wand."
"If you're going to say that that thing was just an impulsive, protect-your-girlfriend kind-of thing, then you should seriously consider improving your self-control," Goyle seconded.
Malfoy sighed. "Look, for the millionth time, I'm sorry, okay? If I hadn't done what I did, who knows what you could've done to Hermione? Besides, I'm not the only one at fault here. You guys weren't exactly being the best friends either. What kind of support was that—joining in on the Malfoy-bashing of the Slytherins and all the other Houses, and even egging them on? You guys weren't even supportive enough to visit me when I was in a coma!"
Pansy rolled her eyes at this and opened her mouth to speak, but Malfoy held up his hand.
"And I know this is a free country and you can side with whomever you want; not to mention do whatever you want to torture me. But turning against Hermione? That was just a bit too far. You can stop being my friends if you want to, but leave her out of this."
"God, you're such a martyr, Draco!" Pansy said, and Malfoy almost flinched as the memory of his father—who'd said the same thing to him—came floating back to his mind. "Fine, we're sorry too, okay? But you have to understand that this whole thing isn't working out for all of us."
"You have to start thinking about Slytherin, and everything you've ever lived for. No matter what you say, we just can't accept your relationship with that Mudblood. And if we can't change your mind about her, then…we don't want anything to do with you anymore…" Crabbe said, and Malfoy, though hurt at what he'd just been told, was still a bit glad that at least there was sadness and reluctance in Crabbe's voice.
Malfoy sighed again for the umpth time. "If you could just give her a chance, you'll—"
"Correction, Draco. We can't give her a chance; we just can't," Pansy broke in. "Besides, I think you're giving her way more credit than you ought to," she grinned slyly, glancing at something over Malfoy's right shoulder. "She's not exactly the perfect girlfriend, seeing as how she's so…unfaithful to you…"
This time, it was Malfoy's turn to roll his eyes in frustration at their conversation, which seemed to be going nowhere the moment it had started. He knew that he would either lose Hermione or his ex-cronies slash partners-in-crime forever. Obviously, he knew what he wanted to keep between the two. "Pansy, don't start."
"I think Pansy's serious, Draco. The next time you choose a disgusting Mudblood as your girlfriend, you better choose a better one…one who won't cheat on you behind your back…literally," Goyle lifted his finger and pointed.
Malfoy frowned and turned around to look at what Goyle was pointing at. "What the hell are you—" But he wasn't able to finish his sentence.
Because right there, in the Great Hall, Ron just kissed Hermione.
The stupid mantra he'd been running through his head just shattered into a million pieces and was blown away into oblivion. And as Pansy giggled evilly across from him, he didn't even have time to process what he knew he was about to do.
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Ron's breath tickled Hermione as he whispered to her ear, "I'll let you in on a little secret—Harry's out there right now getting it on with Cho."
Hermione laughed giddily and as Ron leaned back away from her face, she looked up to see Malfoy making his way towards them. She smiled as she was just about to say "hi", but when Ron turned around to see whom she was smiling at, she screamed instead.
Ron was now groaning on the ground, because Malfoy had just punched him right in the face.
"God, Draco! What the hell do you think you're doing???" Hermione jumped from her seat and knelt down in front of Ron on the ground, cupping his cheek to inspect the damage, as Ron covered his bleeding nose and mouth with his hand.
"What am I doing???" Malfoy retorted. "Why don't you ask your hell of a friend here???" And he made a move to kick Ron on the ground, but Hermione immediately stood up to hold him back, clutching his shoulders. "Stop it, Draco!!! What is wrong with you???"
"Me? Oh, nothing's wrong with me," he snapped, as the few people in the Great Hall started crowding around them. "I'm not the one who goes around kissing my best friend!"
"What???" Hermione's brows furrowed as the confusion swirled around in her head. And then, as she looked down at Ron and then back at the enraged fire in Malfoy's eyes, she suddenly understood. "Oh my god…" She stepped back and squeezed her temples in frustration. "Oh god…you're not still dwelling on what we talked about last night, are you?" And when Malfoy didn't reply, she gritted her teeth in utter frustration. "I don't believe this!" She bent down again to help Ron get up, and then she looked at Malfoy with an almost pleading expression in her eyes. "Don't you trust me enough?"
Malfoy looked back with the same intensity at her. "It's him I don't trust, not you."
"Then that just proves to me how immature you can be." With that, Hermione led a bleeding Ron out the Great Hall, without even looking back.
And Malfoy, cursing himself for being a fool yet again, dropped down on a seat and buried his face in his hands.
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"Ginny told me a while ago about your once again memorable encounter with Malfoy tonight," Dean commented later that night, as the four roomies played a little before-sleep game of Gobstones. "Heard it was a hit, pun intended."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Dean. By the way, did I mention that if you start fooling around with my sister, I'll be forced to learn the Avada Kedavra Curse and use it on you? I'll even throw in a "densaugeo" for free buckteeth, if you're interested."
"Threaten me all you want, but that huge swollen cheek of yours proves my point," Dean snickered, and Ron threw his pillow at his face.
"C'mon, you guys; let's just play; Malfoy's not worth chatting about," Harry grinned, popping a few Chocoballs into his mouth.
"Speaking of him, are both of you really okay with him dating Hermione? I always thought you two were very protective of her, especially Ron," Seamus opened a pack of Exploding Bonbons and started eating. "That Victor Krum thing is still fresh in our minds, you know."
Harry shrugged. "What can I say? She's seventeen; she doesn't need two bodyguards beside her all the time—"
"Bloody hell!" Dean exclaimed, and Ron laughed to see that a weird stinky substance was squirting all over Dean. He had just lost the game. "Right before bed, too!" Dean wailed.
The four boys laughed and talked and joked around for a while, trying to finish up all the food they'd just opened in celebration of the end of exams. At around midnight though, Dean and Seamus began to doze off, and when Ron yawned and decided to turn in for the night, Harry grabbed his wrist and whispered, "I had another premonition."
Ron listened intently, massaging his sore cheek from time to time, as Harry told him every detail of what he'd seen. When he was done, Ron said, "And you're not going to tell her?"
"What, and freak her out? No thanks," Harry said. "Besides, even if I told her that I'm positive Malfoy's got something to do with it, she wouldn't listen to me anyway. They love each other that much."
"Don't I know it," Ron grumbled, touching his red cheek again.
"Look, we just need to keep an eye on her, okay? We have about a week before the results come out, and we don't have much to do. There's going to be another Hogsmeade visit tomorrow, and that's when we should be extra watchful of her. And by the looks of things, I don't think Malfoy's going to be hanging out with her tomorrow," mused Harry.
"Tell me about it; with how Hermione looked at him this evening, I'm thinking they wouldn't want to see each other for a bit…" Ron shook his head. "Damn, I really shouldn't have leaned too close to her face…trust Malfoy to react just the way he did, the slimeball…"
"What was it you told her that was such a secret that you had to whisper it to her anyway?"
"Er…" Ron looked nervously at Harry. "It's nothing, really…my mistake to think it was some big secret…" He clutched his blankets and started to climb onto his bed. "Shouldn't we be getting to bed now?"
Harry shook his head. "Whatever it is, we have to look after her tomorrow."
"Hey, you know me," Ron grinned. "When it comes to Hermione, I'm a martyr enough to be all eyes and ears."
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Heya!!! Thanks again for the reviews!!! A whopping number of 'em!!! My god…:D I know this chap isn't much, but there goes how Draco would react to Ron's feelings for Hermione, for those who asked me how he was going to take it:D Not very well, huh?J I hope this installment's okay for now! Oh, and I know that there's been another row between our beloved couple, but don't worry, this row won't last long like the previous ones. Hermione won't be able to help herself…they both won't be able to stand not being on speaking terms again:D Thanks for your undying support guys!!! Please stick around for the next chappie, "Ode to Farewells"!!! By the sound of the title, you can tell that there'll be a few goodbyes . See yah!!!