1Chapter 12: Honesty and Indifference
Damn you, Selphie, Squall thought, crossing his arms against the frigid British winter. They were sitting about midway up in the bleachers, which were actually the best seats, because then they could see all the action.
"I wonder what's taking Hermy so long?" Selphie spoke, her cheeks rosy from the cold. "It's almost halfway through the practice, I think."
"She probably met up with some friends on the way," Rinoa replied. "Or maybe she's too nervous... with Squall being here and all."
She threw a playful glance at him. He stared back unemotionally. Face falling, she turned back to the practice and said, "I wish she were here so she could explain this quidditch thing."
Just as she said that, Harry zoomed by after something gold and flickering and Ginny flew past him before using a baseball-bat like object to hit what looked to the Garden students bowling balls. Selphie shook her head, a look of disgust crossing her face. "What makes her so special?" she scoffed quietly to herself.
Squall spotted a breathless Hermione making her way towards the stands. Selphie and Rinoa noticed when they saw him fixated on something. Selphie stood up quickly and cried, "Hermy! Over here!"
Hermione made her way up relatively fast, considering how high up they were. Squall noticed how red her face was, especially her left cheek, and assumed it was because she had rushed to get there. "Hello," she greeted, giving a sideways glance to Rinoa.
"Hey!" Selphie grinned. "What took so long?"
Hermione hesitated before answering, "McGonagall needed to speak with me about something."
Squall was pretty sure Selphie and Rinoa, like him, knew that was a load of crap.
"Oh," replied Rinoa. "Well... now that you're here, can you explain this game to us?"
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After quidditch practice, the four hung around outside the Gryffindor locker room waiting for Harry and Ron so they could all go to dinner together. Selphie and Rinoa couldn't seem to stop talking about how interesting it was and how they couldn't wait until the next match, which was Slytherin v. Gryffindor ("Highly anticipated," Hermione had told them). Squall kept his cool demeanor up but couldn't help noticing the troubled glances Hermione kept throwing in Rinoa's direction. Suddenly the door opened and the team poured out. Harry, Ron, and Ginny brought up the rear. The air instantly tensed as she and Selphie locked eyes.
"Hello, everyone," Harry said, seeming not to notice the brewing cat fight. "I'm sure Hermione explained it well enough to you."
Rinoa gave him a sincere smile and answered, "Definitely. You're a great Leaper."
He and Ron exchanged looks. "You mean Seeker?" Ron asked incredulously, his eyes wide. After seven years, he still wasn't used to the idea of outsiders not understanding quidditch. Rinoa blushed furiously.
Hermione coughed as if to lighten the general mood, but before she could say anything Ginny cut her off. "I know everyone here heard what happened last Friday," she said clearly, eyeing Ron, Squall, and Selphie the most. "And I'd just like to say something. Irvine is one of the most charming and attractive guys I've met, but I had no knowledge whatsoever that he was involved with anyone else in the slightest, and I would not have involved myself with him if I had known. In fact, I think the way he acts is disgusting, and will let it be known here that I intend never to involve myself with him again. I'd like to apologize to anyone who was hurt because of my actions."
She tried not looking at Selphie, who's face softened. Everyone else was silent. What could they say after that? They'd known who it had been directed towards anyway. Selphie suddenly smiled.
"On that note, you guys had a busy practice, so... let's go eat!"
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The mood was cheerful as they entered the castle. Ginny and Selphie were even laughing together about something. Squall noticed he had perked up a bit, but he figured it was because he wasn't freezing his ass off anymore. The only one who didn't seem to have a smile on their face was Hermione, who attempted to keep up a front but Squall saw right through it.
As the others made their way into the Great Hall, she motioned him off to the side. Squall was, honestly, surprised. If something was bothering her this bad, why would she come to him first?
"Squall," she said quietly. "Did anybody say anything about my coming late?"
"Not really."
Hermione paused for a moment. "Rinoa and Seifer are going out, right?"
Squall held back a face. "Yeah."
Pause. Silence. Awkward silence. Hermione suddenly seemed resolved on something and continued, "Seifer tried to... rape me... this afternoon."
Looking down quickly, Hermione fell silent again. Squall's jaw literally dropped. "What? How?"
Hermione propped her back up against the stone wall and slid down as to sit against it. She kept her face averted from his. Squall hesitated before sitting next to her. "Hermione?" He felt he had to say something. There was a strange fury swelling up inside him. How could Seifer do that to her? And Rinoa? How could he hurt them like that? Of course he knew Hermione wasn't lying to him. He had figured out from the past few days Hermione would not lie about something like that. Something in him made him trust her more then he had ever trusted anyone else.
"Promise you won't say anything to anyone?" she spoke softly, still avoiding him.
"I promise." It'd be nice if you told me a little more though. Seifer! Fucking ass hole...
"It's too crowded here," she said, noticing the growing hoards around them making their way to dinner. "But I want to talk to you about it. It's eating me up, especially because of Rinoa. If I told Ron or Harry... I don't know..."
Her eyes started looking watery. Squall wanted to comfort her, but he knew there would be way too many rumors going on about him if he did it right there. There was only one place he could think of that he would feel most comfortable at. He just hoped Irvine wasn't there.
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"Not hungry, my dears?" The Fat Lady asked as they approached.
"Balamb Garden," was all Squall said. The woman had changed the password in honor of so many of the guests being in her house. She sighed and the portrait swung open.
The Common Room was quiet as they entered. Squall cautiously peered around, feeling he had to do so, to protect Hermione's privacy in some way. "Wait here," he said before stealing away up the stone steps. He flung open the door to the Boys' Dormitory and took a good look in. Thankfully, no giggles from behind closed curtains. In fact, no closed curtains at all. It was clearly empty.
He motioned for her to come upstairs. Hermione looked nervous as she came in and sat herself by the window. She gazed up through the ancient glass towards the sparkling night sky. Squall sat on his four-poster.
They were quiet for a few moments before Hermione said, "You know, it's really interesting how you all came here."
"I guess." Small talk? Isn't she upset about Seifer?
"I wonder, is your world somewhere out there? Or is it in a completely different universe?"
Aren't you upset?
"Don't know. Maybe we'll find that out," Squall replied.
They were quiet again.
"This afternoon was... strange," she said, suddenly looking at Squall. Her voice was wavering a little bit. "Everything's so confusing lately. It's hard for me when it's like this. So many things to think about... the only thing I can seem to find going right is that the Deatheaters and Voldemort have been pretty quiet. But even that's something to worry over."
Squall tried to think of a response. He wanted to help her out, but he couldn't with her beating around the bush like this. He knew it made her upset. Why couldn't she just talk about what happened? She seemed so eager to before.
Hermione looked outside again. "What happened today needs to be talked about. I don't know the situation with him where you come from, but we need to keep Seifer away from other girls. He can't do this to anyone else. Most other girls aren't as strong in their magical skills as I am. They might not be able to fend him off. What he tried doing...," she trailed off before continuing. "He needs to be stopped."
Squall nodded in agreement, even though she really wasn't looking. He went for it. "What happened?"
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"I won't make you late," Seifer said, with a slightly sinister grin. Hermione felt a lurch in her stomach at those words. She knew exactly what was going to happen if she didn't do something, and fast. But before she could even process what kind of curse to use against him, he forced her down hard on the couch with his strong arms and straddled himself over her small body. Hermione gave out a small cry as he pulled her up roughly so that her face was close to his. He forced his mouth on hers and shoved his tongue in. She struggled against him, but his hands were pressed firmly on her shoulders. She gave a hard bite down with her teeth. Seifer yelped in pain and flung his face away.
"You little bitch!" he yelled, smacking her across the face, his expression mixed of both anger and pain. He pulled her face up again by her hair, causing her to make another pain-filled noise, and sneered in her eyes, "I was gonna go easy on you, but now I'm going to fuck your brains out so hard you won't be able to walk for a week."
Hermione's mind and heart raced. What could she use? How could she do it? If she took out her wand, he'd know what she was doing. But she had to stop this.
Suddenly she remembered a rather difficult charm Professor Flitwick had let her do for extra credit once. It was during the Umbridge period, when it seemed the entire school had rallied against the "Headmaster". It was an attack charm that you could use without a wand, as long as it was in your pocket. Very useful in situations like this, when one might need it at a moment's notice. He had told her that many of the Aurors had to be trained in it for weeks, but she had been able to do it within a day. How did it go again?
Seifer buried his face in her neck, keeping his hands firmly planted on her. She stopped struggling against him as he sucked painfully hard, one because she knew it would do no good and two because she needed to concentrate.
"Adrenalus Furios!" she shouted in remembrance. Instantly, it seemed, Seifer was knocked to the floor on his back, writhing in some sort of intense pain. Hermione knew it would wear off in a few seconds, so she quickly jumped up, pointed her wand at his groin and shouted next, "Penis Minimus!"
Seifer stopped rolling around and instead grabbed his crotch and cried out. He sputtered words and whined like he was two. "Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted for the final time, and Seifer froze in the position he was in, hands-on-crotch, except his eyes could move. He watched her scathingly as she stepped gracefully over him, gave him a sweet smile and said, "There's a reason I'm Head Girl. This was it. Not because of what I'm sure you thought of, pervert."
She strode proudly to the door. "Oh, I'm sure you won't be mentioning to Malfoy how you were beat up by a mudblood."
And with that, she left for the Quidditch Pitch.
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Squall stared at her. She was now sitting next to him on the floor against his bed, her arms around her knees. "I wonder if Malfoy went back to the room yet?"
"Hmm," was all Squall could get out. Hermione beat up Seifer? Seifer had actually tried raping her? She made Seifer's dick smaller? Squall had to smirk at that.
Hermione looked worriedly at him. "You don't think he'll tell Malfoy what happened, do you? Malfoy will tell everybody. And then it will get back to Rinoa..."
Squall looked at her reassuringly, trying not to laugh at what happened to Seifer. "Seifer won't let his own reputation get hurt like that. If anything, he'll just say you're evil and you attacked him out of nowhere."
Hermione gave him a small smile that quickly faded. "Oh, Squall... I can't believe him. And I can't believe Rinoa's his girlfriend. She seems so nice. He definitely doesn't deserve her."
Squall silently concurred. Rinoa... so defensive of her friends, of her beliefs... the way her hair flowed around her in the wind...
Hermione... so smart, so kind, so giving. The way she smiled and the way she made him want to spill his heart out.
Ugh... why were they both on his mind so much?
"Umm... Squall?" Hermione suddenly broke his thoughts.
"What?"
"Nothing. You just... spaced out again. Are you okay?"
What kind of question is that?
"I'm fine."
"Oh... okay. Hey, thanks for listening to me. It was bothering me all afternoon, but I think I'm better now."
Squall gave a quick nod. "Don't worry about it too much. Rinoa might not like you anymore, but I think that will be the only thing to come out of this. And your right; we should make sure Seifer is stopped."
Hermione looked at him. Squall felt a strange lurch and a little movement where he didn't expect it. His face grew hot and he looked up towards the window.
"Are you sure you're all right, Squall?" she asked him, laughing a little.
No...
She stood up and in front of his line of vision. She laughed again. "You're so indifferent. It's refreshing compared to Ron and Harry. They're so emotional about everything."
"I guess."
She sat back down again, right in front of him. He felt another wave of excitement but didn't turn away this time. They seemed to find themselves in a spontaneous staring contest, giving purposely funny looks to each other; Hermione squinting in a bitchy supermodel sort of way and Squall staring back at her as though to say "You're not as big of a deal as you think you are". Suddenly she broke it by looking down and giggled a bit. Quickly, she brought her face close to his and kissed him on the cheek, before jumping up and standing by the window, gazing out it again. After a moment of unblinking silence, she said, "Thanks again, Squall," before turning around and heading for the door. Squall knew it was now or never.
"Hermione, wait a second."
She hesitated before turning back around and giving him a slow smile.
"Yes?"
He walked over to her and, cradling her face in his calloused hands, gave her a deep kiss. "See you around," he whispered once they stopped, but she just grinned and kissed him again.
