The next morning, Hermione walked down to the common room; fresh, pressed, and ready to go. It was the first day of Winter Holidays, so Hermione wasn't surprised when she came down and the common room was empty—all except for one. Harry was sitting on the couch staring into the fire. When he heard her come down the stairs, he looked over at her and stood up.
"Hermione, I—"
"Harry." Hermione held up her hand. He stopped trying to speak and fell back onto the couch. "I'm not heartbroken. I'm not the one that was hurt last night. Ron was—Yes, Ron. You hurt Ron far worse than you hurt me. How do you think he felt? His girlfriend and his best friend together? He felt betrayed. I just—didn't care. To tell the truth, I was relieved. It doesn't matter now. Just—don't bring it up. Let Ron deal with it in his own way." She walked off, leaving Harry on the couch, alone and confused. As the portrait hole closed behind Hermione, Harry sprang up off the couch and looked into the fireplace. Chess set that Ron and he had been playing on two nights before still sat by the couch. He jumped up and swept the set off the table. The pieces scattered all over the floor and rolled under furniture.
"She didn't care?" He growled under his breath, and then swept off, upstairs to confront Ron.
He emerged about twenty minutes later, red faced and frustrated, but strangely relieved. Ron had given him a piece of his mind, yes, but being the good friends that they were, they had settled it on fair enough terms. Ron had been planning on confronting Amy about her guys on the side and possibly breaking up with her. Harry hadn't wanted to hurt Hermione, but couldn't bring himself to stop seeing Amy. They ended the brief meeting with a handshake and the promise of a truce. Ron followed him out of the common room about five minutes later. He ran up to Harry, who had his cloak on and was about to head down to see Amy in the Great Hall. They spoke in hushed voices, with their heads huddled together for a few moments. Harry finally pulled away, a portrait of shock painted across his face.
"After all I did to you and Hermione, you're asking me for permission?" He asked in disbelief.
"Of course—that's what friends do." Ron couldn't help but stress the word friends, but he felt sorry for it almost immediately. Both boys turned red and didn't speak for a moment, but then Harry clapped Ron on the shoulder and nodded.
"Of course—if you deserve anything for Christmas, it's this—go on…with my blessings of course." Ron grinned, nodded, threw on his cloak, and followed Harry downstairs.
"Granger!"
Hermione turned around at the sound of her name. She saw Amy stalking towards her down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables in the Great Hall.
"What do you want Cooper?" She asked, rolling her eyes and turned around to face Amy.
"I want you to stop messing around with my man." Amy said, poking Hermione in the shoulder with her index finger. "He's mine now. He never liked you. You can have that dirty piece of shit I used to call my boyfriend—I've got a better chance with Potter than you do anyway." Hermione's eyes grew huge and all the frustration she'd felt in the past two days turned into searing hot anger.
"What?! Your man? Your man my ASS! And don't you DARE talk about Ron like that! He's the best thing that ever happened to me—the best friend I've ever had! Harry Potter was my boyfriend up until last night—you were the second—the girl on the side—you slut!" Hermione screamed as she lunged at Amy. Amy fell to the floor as Hermione sat on top of her, crying while pummeling her in the face. She had gotten a few good punches in when she felt someone jerk her off Amy.
"LET ME GO!" Hermione yelled as she took another swing, missing Amy by only a few inches.
"Hermione! C'mon—let's go!" A cracking voice choked into her ear. She struggled as she felt herself dragged out of the Great Hall. Just before she turned the corner, she saw Harry leaning down and comforting Amy, who was still lying out on the floor. Dozens of students surrounded her as Harry tried to stand her on her feet. She caught Hermione's eye as she started to get up. When she did, she turned around and planted a big wet kiss smack on Harry's lips, then smirked in Hermione's direction. Hermione strained to get to her, but someone held her arm firmly and dragged her off to the Gryffindor common room.