Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I do not own the places. I don't own anything J.K Rowling thought up, all I own is the plot.
Chapter seven: The Day After
"Hermione, please come down." Lavender pleaded through the door.
She could hear Hermione sob.
"Hermione please."
"No!" she cried. "I know he's down there, I'm not coming."
Lavender turned around and shook her head. "She's not coming down Ron."
Ron sighed. "I don't understand. Why did Harry let Parvati kiss him?"
Lavender sighed too. "It wasn't his fault. Amy, Seamus' date, said that Parvati was as drunk as a sailor. Apparently she flew around his neck and assaulted him."
"But couldn't he have….warded her off?" Ron asked desperately.
"No. You don't know how persistent she can be. She has a really tight grip, you know."
"Isn't there anything you can do?"
"I'll go talk to her."
Ron nodded.
"Hey, listen." He softly grabbed her hand. "I had a nice time. It was fun."
She smiled. "Yeah, I liked it too. You dance really well."
"Would you like to go out some time?" he asked carefully.
"I'd love to. Thank you."
She picked at her fingernails uncomfortably for a second. Then she quickly leaned in and kissed his cheek. Ron looked stunned.
"Wow…" he muttered.
"I'll just go up to try and talk to Hermione now…see you later."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
Lavender turned around and slowly walked back up the stairs. She could still hear Hermione cry through the door.
"Hermione? Please, Harry isn't here, I promise."
It was silent for a while.
"Can I come in?"
Again there was no answer. Lavender waited and suddenly the doorknob turned. The door opened a little bit and Lavender opened it further. Hermione sat back down on her bed, clutching a pillow to her chest.
Lavender sat down next to her. Hermione's mascara was running and her eyes were puffy. Tears had stained her cheeks.
"Oh Hermione…" Lavender pulled her into a hug. "It'll be alright, you know. Really, everything will turn out fine."
"How can it?" Hermione wailed. "Harry let her kiss him. He didn't…didn't even try to stop her."
Her crying slowed down to soft sobbing. Lavender looked at the ceiling. What could she do?
"Hermione, listen to what I'm going to say. What you saw…you understood it wrong."
"There's nothing wrong with my eyes, Lavender!" Hermione said shrilly. "…Oh….Lavender, I'm sorry, I-"
"It's alright Hermione. But let me explain what I meant."
Hermione nodded subdued.
"Parvati was drunk. She still is. She's plastered. Harry didn't want to kiss her. She practically assaulted him. And in the morning she'll regret it, if she even remembers it."
"Harry…didn't?"
"No."
"…Oh."
Lavender stood up. "I'll go down now. You just sleep and I'll go and see if I can get an anti-hangover potion for Parvati."
Hermione nodded silently. "Yeah…I'll just…go to sleep."
She stood up, letting the pillow drop to the floor and went into the bathroom. She looked into the mirror. She nearly started to cry again at the messed up face staring back at her. She kept seeing Parvati and Harry over and over again.
'But Lavender said…'
She shook her head. She trusted Lavender. Lavender wouldn't lie. And tomorrow she would talk to Harry, after she had rested a while. And everything would be alright.
She changed into her pyjama and got into bed.
-
She opened her eyes. Someone was complaining loudly. It was Parvati.
"Oh man…" she said, clutching her head. "It hurts."
She had her eyes closed. Hermione stood up and stretched out. Lavender looked at her with a worried frown.
'She probably thinks I'll throw a scene.' Hermione thought angrily.
She sat down on Parvati's bed. "Are you okay Parvati?"
The girl groaned. "I'm never touching alcohol again!"
Lavender snorted. "You say that every time we go out. You just shouldn't drink that much."
"I didn't want to…not really, but Neville kept filling up my glass and then…I can't really remember…Neville said something…and then there's a black hole….and then I found myself snogging Harry."
Suddenly she opened her eyes with a start. "Harry! Oh my God! Hermione, I'm so sorry! I can't believe I did that! I'm…god, I'm so sorry!"
Hermione nodded. "You were drunk. Let's just forget all about it."
Parvati nodded subdued. "I really am sorry."
"Forget about it. If I can just talk to Harry about it, everything will be fine."
She took a shower and got dressed to go downstairs. She wanted to wait for Harry to come down, but he could've had his breakfast earlier, so she decided to go down.
Slowly she wandered into the Great Hall. When she entered, she scanned the table to see if Harry was there, but he wasn't.
She sat down, feeling sad, and looked at the food. Nothing appealed to her a lot and a nauseous feeling rose in her stomach. But deciding she needed to eat something she took a bit of toast. She looked up as someone sat down beside her. It was Neville.
"Heya." He said in a soft voice. "Are you okay? After last night?"
She nodded. "I- I just need to talk to him, then I know everything will be alright."
He took a boiled egg and cut it into thin slices on his toast. "He already had breakfast. He was up in the dormitory. He was really upset. He felt terrible about it. I heard him cry last night."
Hermione looked up. "He cried?"
Neville nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure he'll be waiting in the common room for you to get back."
Hermione's eyes opened wide. Harry would be waiting in the common room for her. Suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore. She stood up.
"Wait! I'll come with you." Neville said as he quickly finished his breakfast.
She turned back and took a few steps towards the exit. "Come one, Neville. Let's go."
She took a few more steps backwards and bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sor- What do you want, Malfoy."
Malfoy was grinning. "Oh, how sweet. You get dumped by lover boy and immediately you go to Longbottom for comfort."
"I'm warning you for the last time." She said as her voice began to rise.
"Aw, you don't have to put on a brave face for me, Granger. It's okay, you can cry on Longbottom's shoulder."
He started to laugh.
Hermione felt her hands tighten to fists. She saw Malfoy almost bending double with laughter. Suddenly it all seemed to move in slow-motion. She felt her arm pull back by itself and then she let it fly. She could feel his nose breaking under her knuckles.
When the noise of the crowd came back to her and time seemed to run normally again, she realised what she had done. Malfoy was on the floor, blood oozing from his nose and screaming like a piglet. Neville was tugging at her sleeve.
"Hermione." He urged. "Get out of here…go and talk to Harry before someone has the chance to put you in detention."
She nodded and ran out of the Hall, looking back only once to see Malfoy on the floor again. She raced through the corridors. She knew she should be worried about detention of loosing points, but all she could think of was Harry. She just had to hear from him that they were still together. That he still loved her.
She stopped at the portrait hole to catch her breath.
"Come on then dear, the password please."
Hermione nodded. "Periwinkle pastures."
The Fat Lady smiled and swung open to let her in.
She took a deep breath and walked inside. She could see Harry sitting on the couch, his back was to her. He seemed to be talking to someone, but she couldn't see who. She decided to tiptoe up behind him.
But as she came closer, she saw who he was talking to. Parvati. The moment Hermione wanted to open her mouth to say something, Parvati flung herself around Harry's neck. Hermione gasped, turned around and fled.
She stumbled out the portrait hole and fell to the floor. She was sobbing against the stone wall when someone helped her up. It was Neville.
"Hermione? What happened."
"Parvati happened!" she cried. "I walked in and she flew into his arms…he really…he did…he doesn't love me anymore."
Neville pulled her into a tight hug. "Shh…shh…calm down. He's blind, He doesn't deserve you. You deserve much better than that. How can he treat you like that if he loves you? Shh…"
She sobbed into his shoulder.
"You're too good for him." Neville said as he hugged her tightly. "And how can Parvati call herself your friend if she chases after him? No real friend could do that."
"What should I do, Neville?" she sobbed.
"Go talk to Ron. He'll choose your side, because he knows you are right and Harry's not. And if he doesn't….then I guess….I think Ron isn't your friend anymore either."
Hermione looked up, rubbing her eyes with her sleeve. "…I have to force him to pick sides? But why?"
"Because everyone should know what a slimy git Harry's been. And if Ron chooses your side, then everyone will know that. And as your friend he should stand by you. That's what friends do."
Hermione nodded slowly, sniffing her nose. "Will you…will you please tell Harry that I do still-"
She was cut off by the whoosh of the portrait hole opening. Harry climbed out.
"Hermione! Please! What you saw- Parvati, she-"
"I don't think Hermione wants to talk to you Harry." Neville said as he stepped in front of her protectively.
Harry snapped at him. "Oh, but she'll talk to you? Listen Neville, I need to talk to her. She needs to understand. Hermione, I beg you, please talk to me."
Hermione stared at him with teary eyes. Every fibre of her being wanted to fly to him, to listen to him say it's alright. She looked at Neville for less than a second. He looked back and shook his head.
Hermione looked at Harry again, her arms limp by her side. She felt her head shake. Harry's eyes were sparkling with tears.
"Hermione please." He said, his voice breaking.
He reached out, his hand begging her to take it. But she took a step back.
"Hermione, I-"
She took another step back, away from his teary face, feeling betrayed that he dared to cry after what she had just witnessed. Then she just turned around and ran.
"Hermione!" his arm fell to his side, tears burning in his eyes.
"You shouldn't have kissed Parvati, Harry. She's crying now. And Ron will be the one she'll turn to. Ron cares for her and she cares for him, she told me so herself. You hurt her really bad and Ron is the one who'll comfort her. You just messed up the one shot you had of getting back together with her."
Harry shook his head. "…no…she…I love her, Neville. I really do."
"But you're not the one she's run to for comfort. Ron is." Neville said as he slowly turned around. "Think about that, Harry."
Harry wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Hermione thought that he had let Parvati kiss him. Hermione thought he and Parvati were more than just friends. And Neville was right. Hermione was crying because of him and Ron would be the one to comfort her.
-
"Oh, it'll be alright…you know what he's like, he'd never do anything like that."
"How can you say that?" Hermione cried. "I saw them kissing and I saw Parvati flinging herself at him this morning. He didn't object or ward her off. He welcomed her into his arms!"
Ron looked hesitant. "Hermione…"
He couldn't bear seeing his friend like this. She was broken. He hugged her tightly. "I'm sure there's a good explanation for it. He loves you, Hermione. He loves you so much."
"How can he? How can he love me if he treats me like this?" she cried.
Ron patted her back awkwardly. "Just talk to him, give him another chance. I don't believe he really went behind your back with Parvati."
Hermione pulled away from the hug and stared at him. "Who's side are you on, Ron?"
"I'm on no one's side! I-"
"Harry hurts me and you still choose his side? You can't truly be my friend if you choose his side! I need you, Ron!"
He tried to hug her again, but she pushed him away. "No! You showed me who's friend you really are. Go on then, go back to Harry. I'm sure he'll be wondering where you are."
She stood up and ran away. Ron helplessly watched her leave. Why did he have the feeling that everything was slipping away from beneath his feet? He knew chasing Hermione wouldn't work. Right now she was beyond reason and she would curse him into oblivion.
He sighed.
He'd go and talk to Harry. Perhaps he would make some sense.
Magic and Sparkle: Well, Hermione does just think of Neville like a friend, she only meant well. And maybe you're right about Neville, or maybe not :P I'm not letting you in on the secret just yet. But it will be revealed soon, though, in one of the oncoming chapters. Glad you liked it.
Heather: I agree, Hermione's such a poor girl right now! She loves Harry and then all of this happens! But it's not Harry's fault either. He's still madly in love with Hermione…sad, isn't it…
Lucerito-del-alma: Jup, sometime's there's just not a guilty party in things like this. Poor Harry…poor Hermione…you're right. It's not the fault of either of them. And about Neville…well perhaps he did put something in Parvati's drink…perhaps he just wanted her to become drunk. But what the real truth about Parvati's assault is, is a secret for now. You'll find out eventually. But even though you're mad at Parvati, she did say she was sorry…can I plead for forgiveness here? Love you girl and I'm glad you still like the fic