Chapter 3

Hermione ate quickly the next morning she had been looking forward to today for a very long time, but know she had lost all hope. He had walked in and come straight towards her but she had only gotten up and walked towards someone else.

Hermione stood up abruptly turning to the next table where she walked up to a boy with soft green eyes so unlike Harry's and tan skin he had black hair and he smiled smugly at her as she walked directly towards him. She wasn't proud of what she was about to do but she'd been doing some hard thinking now Ron was nothing to her she could be with Franklin. Because that was al behind her, you can't love someone when you don't know him. She couldn't know Ron she'd got him all wrong. She'd fallen in love with not Ron but what she'd wanted him to be. So as Franklin greeted her she grabbed him and kissed him passionately. Not once showing the slightest interest in the, dejected looking, red head standing mere feet away from them.

It was over all over he thought as he sat down next to Harry in the common room a half an hour later she hadn't even cared she didn't have any emotion in her eyes as she'd looked at him. No anger, no remorse, no nothing it had been as if she had never seen him before. She had looked so happy after kissing Smith as if she didn't have a care in the world, well if that was how she saw a six-year friendship than she wasn't worth his bother. Good riddance. But even as these thoughts crossed his mind he knew they weren't true, he could never forget Hermione. It just killed him to know that no matter how much he'd cared for her these past six years she'd pushed him aside with a swish of her hand- cutting him from her life.

Harry gulped he'd been lost in thought, and for once, it had nothing to do with Ginervra Weasley. He was the quidditch captain after all and had to pick out team members today. After hearing about what he'd have to do he'd just said that 'anyone above first year who wants to try out can turn up.' That had been it and by the buzz that was filling the common room since, everyone was trying out except himself and Katie Bell. Ron had demanded that Harry make him try out again because he had never seen him play less than atrocious and he wanted to belong on the team. So back to his predicament he would have to find good players and that he knew was going to be hard.

Harry and Ron walked down to the pitch together, each with broomstick in hand and an anxious feeling in their stomachs. As they looked up at the stands to which a group of about thirty sat each wearing red. "I'll go up and wait, hang on! What is he," Ron pointed towards a lone figure dressed in blue sat gazing a long the row, " doing here"

"Well he is a quidditch captain maybe he's trying to check out the competition?"

"Yeah, spying on us, ill get him to leave," he cracked his knuckles in the direction of Franklin Smith. Harry sighed looking directly at Ron

"I was just wondering, whether you wanted Hermione to ever talk to you again?" this seemed to soften Ron considerably, he headed up to the stands.

Harry zoomed up to the stands and called to order, everyone fell silent. Among the crowd he could see several familiar faces, which was good considering he didn't want someone who couldn't follow instructions properly. He did the keeper tryouts first, and to his relief he saw that Ron was definitely the most developed player of the lot. He did the Beater tryouts afterwards and quite amazingly the Creevy brothers stood out among the rest. When he enquired about this they told him that they'd spent the summer at their aunts farm flying. As much as a surprise those tryouts had been it was nothing compared to the Chaser tryouts their where only five people he could name. Ginny Weasley, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, where all there, but secretly Harry knew considering he was making the decision Dean had about as much chance of making the team as Hermione did. There were two others he knew but why they where here he had no idea Lavender Brown and Parvarti Patel where both squealing about the height there brooms where taking them to, and what the altitude would do to there hair. Harry looked over to Ron who was staring at the girl Ginny was talking to her straight hair was flying in all directions and she looked very nervous, in fact she almost looked like…

What had possessed her to do this she would never know? She was afraid of flying or rather she had been before Ginny had helped her get over it. She'd only been practicing so she could impress Ron, but know that didn't matter she wasn't going to do it. That was until Ginny had laid into her about how she had gotten so good that it would be a waist to let Ron ruin it. So now here she was passing the ball to Ginny and Dean trying to be on target. It was quite hard because Dean wasn't very good, but over all she thought she did rather well and all the time she didn't once look at Ron's face. She was walking back with Ginny and Franklin now talking avidly about the tryouts. Ginny asked her whether she thought she had made it- "well I didn't really see anyone else so maybe, I wasn't to off." Just after she'd said this they heard someone calling there names, turning she saw Harry sprinting towards them trailing behind him was Ron. Ginny kept walking though at a slower pace and Hermione waited for him to catch up. "When did you learn to fly like that?" Inquired a deeply impressed Harry,

"From me who else" said Ginny who had now come to a complete stop to wait for them.

"And you Gin I had no idea you could fly that well!" Ginny just shrugged of this complement without looking at Harry.

"So whys Ron so slow were going to dinner I thought he'd be running quicker than roger rabbit," Ginny said this all very quickly as though emphasising the hurt that Hermione had inflicted on her brother. Harry sighed he had tried to get Ron to come with him but Ron had said that he wouldn't force his presence were it wasn't wanted whatever that meant. He turned to Hermione to see what effect, if any, they'd had on her but instead that she and Franklin where walking some way in front of them. "The nerve of her, the cheek, how can she do that," she pointed at the now arm in arm couple in front of them "in front of my brother!" In spite of themselves they both looked behind and found Ron was not heading to the castle any more in fact he was just sitting there looking up at the skies.

He wasn't a baby it wasn't weird that he felt sad? He had been so sure that he had only liked Hermione and no matter how much you want the things you like you can live without them. But know he knew he couldn't live without her he didn't just like her he loved her. Her, the one kissing that boy in front of him, her, the one who didn't care about him anymore. He knew he couldn't live much longer like this, loving her, so he'd just have to stop it. He knew exactly how he'd do it. He'd get over her even if it meant doing something he'd regret.

Ron returned to the common room half an hour later to find her sitting by the fire with Parvarti Dean and Ginny. She was giggling uncontrollably and he cringed inwardly, if this hadn't been the only way to get over Hermione. He leant over the back of his sister's chair smiling at everyone and then he turned to her.

"Lavender…erm… I've kind of err liked you for a while will you go with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend on Halloween." His expression didn't falter when she accepted happily and giggly even though he was guiltier than he'd ever felt in sixteen years of life. So maybe he was using her to get over Hermione she was using him because she'd just been told he was the new keeper. That night he fell in to an angry sleep in which images of Hermione flashed through his mind. At that point he would have given anything to not be in love and to be happy that he was going out with Lavender Brown, but somehow it seemed more likely that he would drop dead.

Keep going! I will be!