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A Red And Gold Scarf
Battles And Breakfast
The first day of break seemed to follow the same pattern as italways had. The Gryffindor dorms were near barren and at seven o'clock in the morning, there sat only one girl in the common room.
Hermione Granger.
But, this year, something was different. Instead of the usual array of parchments and ancient texts, all that sat in front of her were two long needles, one red and one gold ball of yawn, and a slowly emerging…something.
"Good to see you're up already!" Ron greeted cheerfully, coming down the stairs in his ratty pajamas.
Hermione blushed slightly without realizing it. She assumed if they weren't as close as they were, seeing each other in pajamas could potentially be very embarrassing. However, she had no complaints. In all honesty, she found his tearing plaid pants and small, stripped t-shirt to be quiet endearing.
"Want some breakfast then?" he asked with a yawn, plopping down lazily beside her.
"Where's Harry?" she asked. It was unusual to see the two of them apart.
Ron hid a frown, feeling rejected. "Still sleeping, I can wake him, if you'd like."
"Oh…no," she said, noticing the boy's disappointed tone. "I suppose I could go for breakfast."
"Alright," Ron grinned, grabbing the maroon sweater he had left on the chair the night before. "Let's go."
"You're going in that?" Hermione asked, eyebrows raised inquisitively.
"Hermione, it's 7 in the morning, on the first day of our winter holiday. We're the only ones up."
She grinned, packing her knitting supplies into a bag, and lifting it over her shoulder. "So, why are you up this early?"
He fidgeted nervously in an attempt to cover his blush. "No reason, really."
She nodded uneasily, her mind blank as to what else she could ask. She hated awkward silences.
"No skiing this year?" he contributed.
"No."
"Disappointed?"
"Can't say that I am."
"Miss your family?"
"A bit."
"So why stay here?"
"You and Harry are my family too."
"Hermione. If it's about last Christmas-"
"It's not."
"I don't believe you."
"I suppose that's your lost then. Toast?"
"No thanks. Nice, isn't it? Quiet."
"Yes. Too bad the house elves can't enjoy-"
The conversation stopped abruptly.
"The contract."
Hermione stifled a groan. "A contract can't hinder belief in basic human rights, Ronald."
"Human rights?"
"Don't give me that," Hermione rebutted, "You know what I meant. It's a basic regard of human decan- Ron! Could you at least pretend to pay attention?"
"Ifhm afm pafhying atmfenftion!" Ron said, attempting to speak through the great deal of food he had been stuffing in his mouth. He made a sincere effort to swallow it all. "I just don't understand why you have to be so….why you've got to care so much about everyone else."
Hermione blushed, finding the "insult" to be quite complementary. "You care about other people too."
Ron shook his head, tearing into another bit of biscuit. "Not like you. I only care about…well, the people that I care about."
"Well, it's the same with me."
"You have a personal relation with every house elf then?"
She thought about this for a second, and resisted the urge to make an elongated speech on the fact that human and magical creatures rights should be a cause that everyone belongs to. But, she had made the speech a hundred times before and gotten nowhere, and really didn't feel like starting another argument with her friend.
"I suppose girls are just more sensitive."
This seemed to satisfy him, as he took a large swig of whatever he was drinking.
"All finished?"
Hermione looked at the plate she had barely touched, and nodded, deciding she would just eat a big lunch.
When they arrived in the dormitory Harry was just coming down the stairs.
"Where have you two been?" he asked suspiciously.
"Breakfast," was the unanimous declaration.
Harry looked slightly disappointed and Hermione wondered what response he would have preferred.
"I suppose I'll have to eat by myself then?" he asked, showing the real reason for his displeasure.
Ron looked thoughtful. "Well, I suppose I could go with you…but…someone's going to watch her," he jerked his thumb in Hermione's direction.
She rolled her eyes. "Your distrust is completely unwarranted."
"Oh?" Ron said. "Let's not forget Krum."
Automatically, Harry sent a threatening look. Conversations about Krum between Hermione and Ron always ended up in disaster.
"What about him?" Hermione sneered. She had turned harshly to Ron and placed her hand on an out-jutted hip. Like a cat flexing it's claws; it was a tell-tale warning of a brawl to come.
"What about him?!" Ron repeated with a laugh, as he often did when he started an argument with no factual basis. "Well, obviously, we couldn't trust you about that."
He finished proudly, feeling he had somehow validated his argument.
"I never lied about Krum. And besides, it wasn't any of your business to begin with."
"So…what about that breakfast?" Harry attempted with a weak laugh.
"Wasn't any of my BUSINESS?" Ron repeated, again. "He was Harry's competition! You were dating someone that we thought, at the time, might have had it out for Harry! I'm fairly certain you can consider that untrustworthy!"
Hermione seemed to be trying to hold back a scream.
"What is it with you?! First of all, Viktor, never 'had it out' for Harry, and you know it. Secondly, Fleur was Harry's competition as well, and you would have had no problem dating her, if she had actually given you the time of day!"
Harry shook his head. Though Hermione was right, and had presented a perfectly logical argument, logic served only to further upset an angry Ron. It was like, as Hermione put it, "presenting a complicated math problem to a very large ape."
"What are you trying to say?" Ron bit furiously. "That I-"
"Guys…" Harry tried.
"You know exactly what I'm saying," Hermione said. Her eyes were narrowed; her voice was cold.
"Oh is that it then?" Ron burst out. "Think I'm jealous because you hooked Krum, and Fleur could care less about me?"
"Yes Ron," Hermione snorted in exasperation and sarcasm. "That's it."
"Well that's rubbish!" he yelled. "That's not it at all!"
"Then what is it?"
Ron's already red face seemed to swell. "No-nothing…I just…you must of put a spell on him or something! I mean, why would he want you, a stuffy, stuck-up, bushy haired, know-it-all, bookworm, when he could have any other girl in the whole school!?"
Halfway threw his speech, tears had started streaming down Hermione's cheeks. "How dare you, how DARE you! And if Krum didn't want a stuck up know-it-all with bushy hair, then who were you fooling to think anyone would want a wretched, immature, destitute, gangly, freckly, redheaded mess who has to leech off his best friends fame to feel better about his boring self!"
"Take that back," Ron growled lowly, clenching his fists.
"No," Hermione spit.
"This has really gone far enough." Harry started, but it was too late, Ron had, in an act of protest, thrown all of Hermione's knitting off of the table, and stormed out the door.
Hermione dropped to the ground, fumbling to pick up her knitting, and began crying lightly.
Harry, wishing that one of them had listened to him, attempted to console her. "Hermione…you know how he gets."
She nodded, still sniffling back tears. She looked at herknitting, where Ron had caused her work to come undone.
She shuffled the fabric back into her bag, and lifted herself up from the ground. She smiled slightly, although still crying. "I think I need some time alone."
Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Harry nodded, and went on his way. After all, he never quite learned how to handle crying girls.
Author's Note: My apologies for the short chapter, chapters 3 and 4 are longer. A million thanks for the reviews, you bring joy to my depressing little life ;D I LOVE YOU!Another apology for taking so long to get this chapter up, but FFN was down all Thursday nightand last night I was out partyin' ;D
Next chapter should be up very soon! REVIEWS ARE LIKE CANDY TO MY SOUL! :D
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Soragirl
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