Chapter Seven: Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days (Wannadies-you and me)
Hermione wasn't like other girls, in that she was not a boy crazy freak. She would often scowl when Parvati or Lavender stayed up half the night discussing the various aspects of the boys they considered 'doable'.
They even discussed everything from techniques they had used on their dates to get boys to kiss them to whether or not size matters. Parvati had even described in gross detail some of the more steamy details of her dates with Seamus. Hermione never really meant to eavesdrop on the conversation but they weren't exactly talking in whispers. She had learnt a great deal from them, a lot of it involuntarily, like how to kiss and how to give hand jobs and blow jobs.
They never tried to include her in these discussions, which could be for one of many reasons, perhaps they didn't like her, or perhaps they felt she had nothing relevant to say on the subject. Whatever the reason for her exclusion she didn't care, it suited her just fine. She had far more sensible things to be doing in her spare time like arithmancy or transfiguration. Hermione was secretly burning with jealousy, no one but Viktor had ever asked her out, and he wasn't even good looking.
She didn't like boys, rather she liked one boy. One boy in the entire world she felt was worth the bother. Ron was not devastatingly handsome, nor would he ever be. His nose would always be too big, his features out of proportion. He was largely overlooked by the females of the school because of this. Which was part of why he appealed to Hermione, Ron wasn't ugly to her. He was a diamond in the rough, an undiscovered treasure.
Hermione liked Ron for other reasons, he was responsible, a good quidditch player, a prefect, and most of all he made her laugh –even if it was only ever on the inside. She had liked him for years ever since third year, the dark days.
During Hermione's third year she was under so much pressure to perform and perform well that she nearly killed herself. Her parents had pressured her to take too many classes assuring her that it would all be worth it in the end. The entire year she never got more than a few hours of sleep because she was always doing school work, preparing for Buck beaks case or else worrying about when Harry and Ron would start talking to her again.
She had come so close to killing herself that year that if it weren't for Hagrid she would be dead.
She had decided, after Ron had finished yelling at her over Scabbers bloody sheets, that she had had enough. Ron was the only boy she had ever liked and he wouldn't even look her in the face anymore. She had cried herself to sleep that night, and when she awoke in the middle of the night she grabbed the robe she had been practicing a knot tying charm on and proceeded down to the Forbidden forest, tears leaking down her face, with the full intent of hanging herself from the nearest tree. She had climbed half-way up a thick birch when Hagrid had stumbled out of his cabin drunk and caught her in the act.
She had tried to find some clumsy excuse to explain what she was doing out in the Forbidden forest in the middle of the night. Hagrid was drunk enough to believe her dimwitted lies, but he insisted she should hug the trees some other time and walked her back up to the castle. He had, however, served his purpose in preventing Hermione's suicide.
She shuddered every time she reflected back to those days. Life was better for Hermione these days. She was a Gryffindor prefect, and she received outstanding in all her OWL's. But most important of all two days after term had started Ron had asked her out on a real date.
She was so shocked when Ron had asked her, right out of the blue, that it took her several moments to recover herself. She had accepted and spent the entire day grinning goofily.
Even the professors seemed to notice a difference in her behavior. Usually she was the first one to voice and opinion, for she had many, or to answer a question correctly. That day, however, she was too busy day dreaming about Ron.
Hermione was all nerves on the date, she started getting ready an hour in advance. Rummaging through her closet until she had found the t-shirt her cousin had leant her, a muggle t-shirt with a picture of a bunny on it. she had thought it too cute and girly when she had first seen it until her cousin explained to her what the bunny represented.
She pulled the shirt on roughly then started scouring her trunks for her favorite black denim jeans. She pulled them on, hopping slightly, and looked in her mirror. Her hair was just impossible. She reached in her drawer and pulled out her last bottle of hair straightening potion, it worked rather well, though it left a small curl at the end.
She sat down in front of her mirror. She started applying mascaras to her eye lashes thinking more about Ron than what she was actually doing. Something Ron had said the other day stuck out in her thoughts, something about how he used to look at Charlie's old nudie magazines.
Hermione had never considered herself ugly in fact she thought she was one of the better looking girls in her year, when she was on form, without the big bush of tangles she usually sported. Her hair, she thought, was pretty much the only thing holding her back physically. She had a rather nice body, if she did say so herself. She could fill out a bra better than anyone else in her year she had a slender waist and nice hips.
The only thing is nobody else seemed to notice, perhaps it was the bulky school robes she had to wear, but nobody seemed to notice the magnificent figure she had. Tonight, though, everyone would know, or at the very least everyone in the common room that night.
She descended the steps leading up to the girl's dormitory that night like a fairy-tale princess. Everyone in the common room, basically a bunch of third years, gasped to see their respected prefect dressed so sexily. She looked around but couldn't find Ron, she checked her watch, he was five minutes late. She turned around to look at the entrance of the boys' dormitory. If Ron wasn't down in five minutes she was going to go up and fetch him.
Suddenly she heard the pounding steps of someone coming down the stairs. Ron did not immediately register Hermione standing right in front of him rather he scanned the crowd for her.
This gave Hermione ample opportunity to get over the shock of seeing Ron so… so… sexy. Ron looked so causally elegant she wondered for a moment if it was truly him. There was no mistaking how handsome he looked, his hair hung slightly in his face giving him a playful look. His face was wearing a look on concentration as he searched the crown in vain.
Comprehension dawned on his face when he spotted Hermione standing right in front of him. She blushed slightly as Ron looked taken a back by her appearance. She decided to play with Ron a little when she caught him staring at her chest. She flushed at Ron's compliment about how she looked. She felt triumphant at having Ron finally notice her.
The date was awkward at first and she felt herself fall into comfortable subjects of conversation like SPEW and school work. She felt Ron's attention drifting so she decided to tell a joke. It didn't work so she challenged him playfully to tell a better one.
She laughed so hard she felt her sides were splitting apart. Ron looked at his watch and informed her that it was three in the morning, nearly. They would have to leave, they hurried out of the forest and up to the castle. They said hasty goodbyes and went up to their separate dorms. Hermione was a little upset that she didn't at least get a goodnight kiss from Ron.
She woke up the next morning dead tired from the night before but she knew she had school so she dutifully got up and got ready. She arrived first for breakfast in the great hall. She started buttering her toast looking around the Hall and saying morning to various students.
Harry was striding across the hall wearing a wide grin on his face. Oh no, not another day of idiot giggles. She wasn't going to let it get that far, she'd cut him off before he even got the chance to annoy her.
When she finished scolding him he told her that he was just happy, but she thought she saw a flicker of something else flash through his eyes. Something too happy and then too sad. A second later she was sure she had just imagined it. After a few awkward moments things were back to usual. Meaning that Harry was asking to borrow her History of Magic notes and she was scathing.
If they only knew how much effort she put forth in keeping good organized notes they might be a little more appreciative. It had always been like that, she was the intruder on Harry's and Rons friendship. Kept around because she was clever in classes, lent them her notes before tests, and could sort out there confusing girl problems. She was the expendable one, or at least that's how she had always felt. Certainly her third year at school had proven her right.
She was still expendable and she knew it in her very bones. She felt cold shivers run up and down her spine at the thought of it. What if her and Ron dating ruined everything? What would happen if they broke up? What would happen to her, would she be left out in the cold. She felt all the light, all the warmth, all the happiness gone from the room. It was as though a Dementor had swooped down on her. She started to drown in her own thoughts.
Suddenly, though, the sun parted the clouds of doom around her. Ron had just entered the Great Hall with a brilliant smile from ear to ear. She felt her heart leap in her chest. Ron took a seat beside her.
She could only just pull off an annoyed look when Ron asked to borrow the notes. She was secretly floating on air. She got up and exited the hall when she finished her breakfast. She walked along the halls barely taking in her surroundings. Her feet carried her automatically to the charms classroom. She felt a tap on her shoulder, she spun around
Ron was standing in front of her. "Hermione, umm I was wondering Do you want to go out with me again tonight" Ron flushed red.
She was so happy she felt she might burst. Of course she would go out with him again, just not so late and no more rule breaking. Hermione could tell that Ron had prepared for her no rule breaking response when he simply replied that they would just hang out in the common room.
That day in charms class they were practicing the bubblehead charm. Most of the class was already well versed in this charm due to the events of the previous year. During the last few months of their fifth year it had become second nature to cast the charm on yourself before you stepping out into the corridors, due to the amount of dung bombs being set off on a regular basis.
Hermione was shocked to find Ron resting his head in his arms and drooling. This was usually the lesson the three of them would spend conversing about more important things. Hermione was eager to discuss the contents of Moony's latest letter with Harry and Ron. On second glance she found that Harry, too, was slipping in and out of consciousness.
Once again she would be the only to take notes in the class, the only one to truly care how they did on the next test, the only one to worry about Voldemort and his growing influence. The irony she thought savagely to herself is that the only one who cared about them is the only one they considered expendable.
The rest of the day passed in a similar fashion with Hermione shooting disgusted looks at the two of them. Looks that were largely lost on them, seeing as they were either barely awake, playing hangman, or else discussing quidditch.
She finished her dinner in a hurry that night so that she could prepare herself for her date with Ron that night. She decided she would change out of her school robes and into something a bit sexier. She chose from her closet a red and black punk plaid mini skirt and a black t-shirt with the words 'ColdPlay' across the chest. She tried to fix her hair but decided that it was a lost cause, she didn't have enough time.
She had just descended the stairs to the girls dormitory when Ron entered the room looking distracted. She sat down on the couch and Ron sat down beside her.
"So umm… what do you wanna do?" Ron started off lamely.
"Umm, I dunno. I was actually going to start knitting more socks for the house elves again this year. I can show you how it you want, it's really quite easy once you get the hang of it." Hermione could have kicked herself. Why is it that she could never find anything to talk about when they were on dates? Ron gave her a look as though the same thing was just passing through his mind
Hermione started thinking that it was never going to work out. They were just too nervous around each other. Their last date had been a fiasco and this was looking to be no better. "Ron I was thinking that maybe…"
Hermione couldn't finish her sentence because Ron was now kissing her right on the lips. Hermione had just enough time to marvel at how plush and soft Ron's lips were before Ron pulled back and flushed.
She made up her mind to put all her worries aside and just go for it. She didn't want to be Hermione the worry-wart anymore, she wanted to be sexy. She threw caution to the wind and grabbed Ron and started kissing him passionately.
She had never kissed a boy before, not like this. She was soon overwhelmed with the passion of the kiss. Ron was making her light headed, she felt so alive.
The sounds of someone else entering the common room stirred them both from the kiss. Neville had just stumbled into the room laden with what looked like an entire library shelf worth of books.
Neville set them down on the table nearest to him and looked over at Hermione and Ron, both of them looking rather embarrassed.
"So Ron why don't you show me those notes from astronomy class, I believe you said you left them up in your room." She said to Ron with a pointed stress on the words up in your room.
Before Ron could say another room she grabbed his hand and led the way up to his room. When they reached the room she opened the door stepped inside and watched as Ron sat down on Harry's bed. She kicked the door shut behind her, if she was going to be sexy she was going to give it everything she had.
She walked right up to Ron making a quick decision to for go the easy route of sitting beside him and instead sat on him. Straddling his lap, she leaned down without warning and started kissing Ron. She sucked on his bottom lip drawing it away with her own lips and then ravishing his mouth again. She ran her hands through his hair amazed at the silky feel of his red tresses.
She was a little surprised when she felt something quite unexpected. Either Ron had stowed his wand in his pants or she was a natural at kissing. She preferred the latter. Suddenly Ron was kissing her with an intensity she had not yet experienced. His hands started slipping up her thighs going into uncharted waters. This sent a bolt of reality through Hermione's mind. She wasn't ready for it to go that far yet. She untangled one hand from his hair and used it to redirect his back up to her waist. Ron didn't seem to notice or mind.
Ten minutes later they were unexpectedly disturbed again. Seamus was applauding their little snog fest. Hermione blushed furiously. "um, yeah I have homework, see you tomorrow Ron" She left half running to her own dorm room.
"Speak of the devil. Hermione we were just discussing you." Lavender said with the air of one discussing the weather.
"You were." Hermione looked uncertainly at them something strange was going on and she didn't like it.
"Yeah we were just wondering why little Miss Prefect was out of bed yesterday well passed curfew." Parvati chimed in sarcastically. "Lavender had this ridiculous idea that you were having a secret rendezvous with Krum"
Hermione looked at them trying to keep the truth from showing on her face. "I was studying in the library" she quickly lied.
"You were not you little sneak. We saw you before you left the castle you were all dressed up as if you were going on a date, but then you left with Ron so we figured he was some sort of decoy or else escort."
It was no good they knew too much already "actually I went on a date with Ron". She really didn't wasn't to be having this conversation. She was blushing furiously.
"What!? I thought you were going with Krum. I mean didn't he ask you to go away with him to Bulgaria during the summer." Lavender queried
"I wouldn't believe everything you read in the tabloids" Hermione half lied. Viktor had asked her to visit him that summer but she had declined. She wanted to spend the summer with Ron at the Burrow.
"So you traded in an international quidditch star for an immature little boy." Parvati cried in astonishment. "He's not even good looking"
"Hey! He is too. You just don't see him the way I do" Hermione cried in indignation.
"But I thought he swung the other way. I mean he's never even had a girlfriend. And I mean he completely ignored Padma at the Yule ball and she's gorgeous. Instead he spent the whole night hanging around with Harry." Lavender pointed out.
"That's just because he didn't like Padma, he was jealous of Krum because he got to me first." Hermione corrected them.
They both looked at her skeptically neither of them seemed to be able to believe that she could be so sought after. "Yeah sure" they said with the air of people just nodding along, not really believing a word.
She felt insulted, she was furious. It was easier for them to believe that Ron was gay than to believe that two wonderful boys wanted her. "Fine! Believe what you want, but I'll tell you something. You don't spend a half hour kissing like that and not know which team a person is playing for." She instantly regretted saying that
They both looked at her shocked. Parvati walked up at her and examined her more closely. "It's true." She sounded surprised and disbelieving. "look her lipstick is smeared and there are marks on her thighs."
"On her thighs? What does Ron like things rough?!" Lavender said cruelly.
"Oh just shut up! You are just jealous." Hermione started getting undressed and changed into her pajamas. She crawled into bed and turned her back on the two girls.
She fell into fitful dreams about death eaters and Voldemort.
"You have to chose, you cannot have both" the evil hiss of a hideous snake like man said.
"Choose? You say it like it would be some horrible dilemma" Ron half laughed at Voldemort. "Hmm… Let me think… who will it be?" Ron said in mock deliberation. "Harry the-boy-who-lived or Hermione takes-notes-in-Binns's-class." Ron smiled cruelly.
"I don't know staying awake in Binns's class is quite an accomplishment, even I had trouble staying awake and I was head boy once" Voldemort said to Ron now placing an arm around Ron's shoulders. "You need to pick wisely Ron, Harry your best friend or Hermione your girl friend. One of them had to die you must kill one of them."
"Alright then" Ron sounded almost bored with the choice "Harry lives Hermione dies"
"Are you sure." Voldemort asked.
"Well I mean Hermione is nice and everything but well Harry is well just better," Ron said. "Did you know he plays quidditch? He's going to join the Chudley Cannons when he leaves school aren't you Harry" Ron said in an admiring childish voice.
"Course I am, see" Harry pulled a fairy from his pocket as if it were irrefutable evidence. Hermione noticed that while she was bound and gagged tied to a quidditch post Harry was staring around as though he was only mildly curious about what was happening around him.
"See. What did I tell you?" Ron said to Voldemort in a congenial voice.
"Alright if you're sure, you know what to do" Voldemort said resignedly
"Course I've been practicing, look" He motioned to the bodies of Dean, Seamus, Parvati, Draco, Neville, and several others.
"very good" Voldemort said in a fatherly voice.
Ron walked up to Hermione. She struggled fruitlessly against the bindings. Trying to scream but making only a gurgling noise. Ron raised his wand and pointed at Hermione's heart.
"Accio!" Ron said and Hermione's heart shot from her chest and flew into Ron's out stretched hand. She looked up and saw him run one finger over it and then taste the blood.
"Good?" Voldemort inquired.
"Naw tastes all…" He looked at her and grinned viscously "…Muddy"
They all broke out into deep booming laughs.
"Good one Ron" Harry said looking at Hermione.
Hermione screamed and woke up sweaty and breathing heavily. It took several minutes for her to calm down. It was nearly four A.M.