Chapter 16 – Racing over Ron
On January seventeen Hermione witnessed something she had never witnessed before. She was coming back from her Daily Head duties tiredly, and when she entered the common room, she found someone sniffing in the corner. Curiously, she approached the location of this noise and found a redhead's head buried in her arms. Most of the other students in the room didn't notice Ginny crying but some did cast anxious looks her way. Hermione lowered herself to the floor and budged Ginny in the arms.
"Ginny, Ginny." But Ginny didn't look up. To Hermione, it was a scary sight. Ginny was one of the strongest young women she knew, if not the strongest. She had never seen her friend breakdown and cry like this. That was her job.
Maybe she just wants to be left alone. Hermione backed away to where Harry was sitting.
"What's wrong with Ginny?" asked Hermione, settling herself on the chair next to Harry.
"Dunno." said Harry, while working on his Potions essay.
"Where's Ron, then?"
"Trying to avoid you." said Harry with a smirk, his quill still brushing the parchment.
"This is getting ridiculous! Just because I worked together once, count that please, once, with Draco, doesn't mean the end of the world! He didn't have a partner and I was the one who told him to come there!"
"Bad idea."
Hermione glared at him ferociously, "Sometimes I wish guys would just grow up! If Ron's talking to another girl, do I flip out? No!"
At last, Harry put his quill down and faced her, "That godiva chick from the Halloween Dance suddenly comes to mind."
"He was kissing her, not talking!" screeched Hermione.
"Whatever. I'm just trying to point out that he got jealous-"
"It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."
"-or worried that you don't like him anymore."
"WHAT! That's insane!"
"That's what I would think if I was in his position." He said simply.
Hermione decided not to say anything else. She knew Ron had grown up over the years but he still had not overcome his issues about jealousy. She didn't know what she could do to prove that she only cared about him…but then again, did she really?
Of course I care about him. I can't believe I just thought that.
But what if they just kept on fighting like this all the time and then after they got married they would fight more and then get divorced…
Whoa, you're going too far ahead, she thought. She didn't need to be thinking about marriage when she was only seventeen years old. But if Ron flinched at the sight of her conversing with another guy, then maybe she needed to really think about this relationship…
The Common Room began to empty until there was only Hermione, Harry, and Ginny left. Hermione stood up.
"I'm gonna go talk to Ginny." said Hermione to Harry, who looked at her and got up as well.
Ugh, when will they learn? "Alone. Woman to woman talk."
"Oh, fine." He grumbled and sat back down carelessly.
As she approached her, Hermione saw Ginny staring dreamily at the ceiling as if it were the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen. Well, at least she wasn't crying anymore.
"Ginny, what's wrong?" she said concernedly, but her friend didn't jerk out of her reverie. She had the appearance of a ghost, with no feelings or expressions.
"Ginny!" Hermione yelled so loud that Harry looked at them with his eyes raised. Finally, she bolted and sat up, "Sorry."
"What's wrong? Why were you crying?" inquired Hermione, sitting down next to her.
Ginny looked terribly embarrassed and once again was on the verge of tears, but she did speak, "Dean and I broke up…"
"Oh dear…" said Hermione, patting Ginny, "I'm sorry to hear that. What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"
"He…cheated on me…" said Ginny silently, tears dripping out of her overcast eyes.
"Ginny, when you say cheated, do you mean-?"
"Yeah. He-"
"Never mind." Hermione cut her off, "I get the picture"
Ginny smirked grimly, "Who ever created men? They must have lost their minds…"
Hermione secretly agreed, but at the moment, that wasn't going to cheer up Ginny, "Why did he do it?"
She made an angry noise somewhat between a huff and a snarl, "He said he was tricked. Yeah right. Who the hell gets tricked into something like that?"
"Oh…who was it?" said Hermione.
"Do you think I stayed around to find out?" barked Ginny.
"Okay, sorry…maybe you can talk to him and figure out exactly what happened."
Ginny shot her a threatening look.
"You've been together for two years, you can't just throw all of that away." said Hermione in a calm voice.
"How about this: You try to explain to my brother why you chose Malfoy over him and I'll try to listen to that rotten cheater." said Ginny.
"I didn't CHOOSE Draco over Ron, I only-" she stopped abruptly and glared at her, "Nice try trying to change the subject."
"Why did you do that anyway?" asked Ginny, appearing in a slightly better condition now that she was scandalizing Hermione.
"I already told you before, and if Ron gets irked at the smallest things, then…" she trailed off the rest of her sentence.
Ginny peered at her as if she didn't believe what she was hearing, "You're going to break up with my brother? Over Draco Malfoy?"
"Ginny!"
"Okay, okay, but I see where he's coming from." said Ginny.
"I hate it when he acts so jealous! You remember Viktor?"
"He liked you then and didn't realize it. Of course he was jealous, but you can't break up over something silly."
"Look who's talking." said Hermione furtively.
"I have a good reason. Come on, Hermione, you and Ron are destined to be together. Everyone knows that."
Destined to be together. That was a powerful thought, "You really think so?"
Ginny nodded, "People would kill to have a relationship like yours. Ron's madly in love with you. You can't break up with him over a stupid thing."
"He's madly in love with me?" Hermione restated. She suddenly felt lightheaded.
"Well, duh." said Ginny as she wiped her eyes.
"But I don't want to fight like this all the time-"
"Everyone has fights. It's normal."
Not if it gets you divorced, Hermione thought. Her parents entered her mind again, wishing that they were still together.
…
Hermione opened the door anxiously to Professor McGonagall's office and sniffed the air curiously. An odd smell of dead rats was coming from it, poisoning her nose. The rough-textured wall closed in on her as she walked to the teacher's desk and sat down in the chair. Hermione was nervous about her first Animagi lesson, and seeing that Professor McGonagall wasn't there, she was getting more nervous by the second.
On the desk were a few solid silver goblets and beside them were a couple of untitled ancient looking books. I can never resist a good old book…Hermione made to grab the top one when suddenly, something sprung up from under the desk, making Hermione jump back. A dark tabby cat with glowing eyes put her paws threateningly on the book that Hermione had almost touched.
"You scared me half to death, Professor McGonagall." She said and sat back down with relief as the cat vanished and her teacher grew back to her normal size. An old full grown woman faced her now with diamond-red robes that illuminated in the yellow light. Professor McGonagall took a seat in her chair.
"Sorry, Ms.Granger, I'd just prefer it if you didn't touch those books." She said, "All right. Let's get started, shall we?"
Hermione nodded, wondering what they were going to do first.
"Today will be a practical lesson, and you'll be practicing to change these rats' appearances as I say."
She thought it was a rather easy first lesson. First, Professor McGonagall told her to make the rat's tail longer with a specific spell and she did so on the first try. The rat scrambled frantically but it had nowhere to go in the box that McGonagall had put the rat in. It reminded Hermione of Scabbers, which reminded her of Ron, who wasn't talking to him. She brushed away the thought as hard as she could, but it stayed with her like an annoying shadow for the rest of the lesson.
…
Hermione had quite a hard time getting out of bed the next morning since her Animagi lesson had lasted until ten and then she had stayed up longer to finish her homework. If she didn't hurry up with her shower, she wouldn't have any time to study for her Ancient Runes test at breakfast. One advantage was that her hair was so short now that it didn't take long to wash it.
Hurrying, she rushed down to the Great Hall and walked in the loud chatter of students, and spoons and dishes clinked with a vibrating sound. She strolled to her usual spot at the Gryffindor table when she noticed from a fair distance that someone was already sitting there.
It was her. Hermione knew right away that it was the girl that had been dancing with Ron on the night of the Halloween dance. She was so easy to recognize, even with the same colored robes as everyone else.
Instantly, Hermione sat down at the nearest table. A black-haired Hufflepuff girl next to her jumped and said rather rudely, "Excuse me?"
"Sorry." said Hermione distractedly, craning her neck to look at the girl. She was sitting across from Ron, who had an annoyed look on his face. This was a slight relief to Hermione.
Suddenly, something firing hot spilled on her and she yelped in shock. There was coffee splattered all over the front of her robes. She cleaned it off with a flick of her wand and when she looked back at the Gryffindor table, she saw Ron laughing.
A brave feeling arose in her body. That's it, she decided. He's mine, not yours. And with that, Hermione stormed up to their House table. This girl needed a serious clue to get off her boyfriend.
As she arrived to the table, Ron looked up at her, mildly surprised, and it was awkward for her too since they hadn't been talking to each other.
"Hey Ron, I was wondering if you could help me with that homework." Hermione made up an excuse, pretending not to notice the person he was talking to. Like she would ever need help with homework, she thought savagely.
"It'll have to wait. I'm in the middle of something." said Ron in an indifferent voice, darting his eyes ahead. Hermione turned to look around at the girl as if she had just seen her for the first time. Now she knew why this girl stood out in the crowd. She had the coldest gray eyes that looked somewhat inhuman to Hermione, and there was an ivory smoothness glowing on her flawless skin, giving her the appearance of a shining dove. The feature that offended Hermione the most was her thick black hair that curled up into spirals, resting on her shoulders and giving off a scent of rose that even Hermione could smell from where she was standing. Hermione felt as though this was a comparison to her, both having natural curly hair, but she could clearly see that the girl in front of her was winning that battle.
She took note of Hermione's stare but didn't comment on it. Instead, she held out her hand, "Hello, you must be Hermione."
Hermione reluctantly shook hands with her and sat down next to Ron, who gave the girl a warning look.
"And you are?" said Hermione coolly.
"Serenity Bywater." She said serenely. Hearing this, Hermione secretly wished she would drown in the water or even by the water.
"Do you mind, Hermione? We were discussing something private." said Ron frostily.
Hermione felt like she'd been slapped. She could feel the color rising in her cheeks. Private, huh? The only private thing should be between her and Ron, and nobody else. And if he's talking so privately with this girl, why is he going out with me?
"That's okay, you can talk in front of me," said Hermione confidently, hiding her hurt feelings, "I am your girlfriend, if you seem to remember."
"We'd rather discuss it alone." said Serenity, twirling back her dark hair like a model.
Anger erupted in Hermione's body like an electric shot and she had the sudden urge to yank all of Serenity's hair out.
"Excuse me? Who exactly are you to discuss anything with my boyfriend alone?" said Hermione, disposing her calm voice.
"Hey, calm-" Ron stated, but Serenity interrupted him, "I can be anything or anyone Ron wants me to be. What are you going to do about it?"
Hermione could not believe the nerve of this girl. She was after her Ron? She was never going to let that happen. Not if they broke up. Not even in a million years.
"You disgust me, with your paws all over him like a-"
"At least I don't walk around with a book permanently attached to my hands, you-"
"HEY, HEY!" Ron cut in, and suddenly, both Hermione and Serenity jumped up from the table at the same time and pulled out their wands. They glared at each other with utmost hatred. The Gryffindor students near them were now watching the situation as if it was a drama show.
"You keep your hands off of him or you'll be sorry you ever met me." said Hermione in a dangerous voice.
"Is that a threat?" said Serenity coldly, "You're not as tough as you think, or loyal to your boyfriend, for that matter, and you have no idea who you're dealing with-"
Hermione had made up her mind. Having no realization of her surroundings, she yelled, "Stupefy!"
In a whiff, Serenity deflected the spell with a wave of her wand and shouted, "Aridus!"
"STOP IT! THIS WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL!" Ron bellowed. Serenity briefly glanced at him, and Hermione had her chance. She shrieked, "Vibro!"
A brand of white light struck Serenity's body and she twirled violently in the air like a pinwheel and fell hard onto the polished floor. A sudden stream of gasps and cries broke out in Hermione's radius as they stared at the beaten body below them.
"Ha ha, look who's the tough one now." said Hermione, smirking.
"HERMIONE!" Ron screamed, pulling her by the arm, "have you lost your mind?"
"But-" Hermione was cut off by a significant gasp behind her. She swerved around and came in contact with the raging face of Professor McGonagall, "What in the world…?"
She helped Serenity up and then glared fiercely at her. Hermione observed herself and saw that her wand was still pointed up.
"Ms.Granger! How dare you attack a student in the middle of the Great Hall! Deliberately hurting another student when you have the authority of Head Girl! I'm ashamed of you! Thirty points from Gryffindor! A detentioin! Now get out of my sight before I break out on you!"
As Professor McGonagall stormed away with a staggering Serenity beside her, murmurs and whispers formed again and a majority of the students gave Hermione criticizing and angry looks. But Hermione didn't notice this. Detention. She had been given detention for the first time in her life.