The next day, Ron met up with Hermione in the great hall and plopped down next to her on the bench.
"Hello, 'Mione, love," he teased sweetly.
"Oh, please, Ron. Don't you dare," Hermione glared at him.
"I'm sorry!" he told her truthfully.
"You know, maybe it means a lot to me to be part of the prom committee. Maybe," she sniffed, "I want to do what normal people are supposed to do!"
He blinked in response. "Normal? You mean, muggles? C'mon, Hermione, they send pieces of papers back that could get lost or someone could read them or they have pieces of wire that you could talk to! What the hell is that?"
Hermione only stared at him before turning away and continued to eat. For the first time in a long time, Ron didn't feel like eating. Harry walked over to them with a lopsided grin but it faded when he saw that they were still in a fight. He sighed and sat down next to Ron.
"Good going, mate," Harry grumbled.
"Well, it's not like you have a date," Ron shot at him.
Harry cleared his throat and looked away uncomfortably. Ron's mouth dropped open as he looked from Harry to his little sister, Ginny, who was at the other end of the Gryffindor table.
"You already asked her?" Ron gasped.
Harry rolled his eyes.
"Next, you'll be telling me you've been snogging this whole time!" he accused. When Harry did not deny it Ron let out an exasperated groan.
He felt courage (and exasperation) swell up inside of him and turned to Hermione. "Hermione, would you like to—."
He was interrupted by Draco Malfoy who strode by and commented to Hermione, "I thought they didn't allow owl's to build nests in here… Oh, wait, that's Granger's hair!"
Ron growled under his breathe and stood up to defend Hermione and felt Harry rise with him. All around the great hall, voices were silenced as everyone felt the air tense.
"Were you going to do something, Weasley? About to defend your Mud-Blood girlfriend, perhaps?" he sneered, looking at Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe for support or just to look at them, who knew?
Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance and got up from her bench to walk away before she actually had the guts to stick her wand in his eye.
"Fallaparus!" Draco shouted, his wand pointing at Hermione.
She tripped hard on the ground and giggles could be heard the Slytherin and Ravenclaw's table. The Gryffindors silenced them with cold stares.
"Why, you bastard," Ron reached back to punch Draco in the face when he felt a strong grip on his arm. Ron looked eye-to-eye with his despicable Potions teacher.
"Violence, Weasley? 150 points for disturbing the great hall. And Draco," Snape turned to him and nodded at Hermione, who was still on the floor, "good job taking out the Mud-Blood."
From behind them, they could hear the tinkling of their points decrease.
Snape let go of Ron and walked away with a smirk on his face. Hermione finally stood up and brushed off her robes with as much dignity as she could muster.
"Tsk, tsk, Granger. You better be more careful," Malfoy gave that evil sneer of his and walked away.
"'Mione?" Ron asked quietly, rushing to her side.
She kept her head down and sniffed a little. "It's okay, Ron. I'm fine."
Harry stood there with his mouth agape and felt such hatred for Malfoy at that time. He looked at Hermione from up and down to make sure she was okay. His eyes stopped at her leg.
"'Mione," Harry stared. "Your leg, it's bleeding!"
Hermione looked down and noticed the blood trickling down her leg. She nodded and gathered her stuff and walked into the Gryffindor common room.
"Is she fine, mate?" Harry asked quietly.
"I hope so," Ron replied back.