Chapter Two
"I told you to get away from her." Harry was fuming.
"She killed Draco Malfoy! She has to go!" Ron pleaded. "She has to repay the debt."
"He's right, Harry. I have to pay for my mistake. The Malfoys have the right to own me for fifteen years—it's just the way things are! You just don't understand!" Hermione cried. "Draco died! He died a horrible, painful death, Harry! I must do this!"
Harry looked at her. He looked down at the ground. He looked back up at her and quickly threw the invisibility cloak back over his head. He was gone.
"Harry!" they both shouted.
Harry tried to block their cries from his ears. He sunk down into a corner of the common room hidden under his cloak. He didn't want to hear them. He didn't want to understand why she had to go. Didn't she care about him at all? Didn't she realize the she was the most important person to him? Now she was going away to live as the Malfoys' slave. She had to repay the Malfoys for taking the life of their son. Draco deserved it, Harry thought to himself.
Since Cho had died, Harry tried to find comfort in talking to Hermione. Harry missed Cho Chang though—she was his Quidditch rival and equal. They had enjoyed many dances together and many good talks over butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Harry started to remember her face again. He remembered that Quidditch match. The horror of what happened was all coming back to him again….
He remembered going for the Snitch. Cho Chang was after it, too. She was racing towards it. Harry bolted to get there first. He remembered how much faster he seemed to be going than other times. The thrill was intoxicating. He remembered how close he was to the Snitch and to Cho. Cho was headed straight for him. He was headed straight for the Snitch. He tried to veer off, but he was going to fast and his broom wasn't responding. He smashed right into Cho. For a split second, Harry saw that his broom had perforated the left side of her ribcage. He fell off his broom, but was saved by Dumbledore before he hit the ground. Cho was still being carried by the momentum of Harry's broomstick lodged in her body. Madame Hooch had stopped his broomstick and Cho was rushed to the hospital wing, but it was too late.
She was dead before they got her on the ground.
Harry had lived with that daily vision for over a month. The students had always been cold and distant, but were now barely associating with him. They didn't mock him or taunt him anymore; now, they barely acknowledged his existence.
Hermione, too, was shunned. Everywhere she went she was met with more distrust and fear than Harry had ever experienced. The students still remembered the accident in potion class….
Draco was up to his usual malicious tricks and called Hermione a Mudblood in front of the whole class. Harry remembered her storming over to Malfoy's cauldron and engaged them in a very animated argument. Professor Snape ordered her to returrn to her seat. A few seconds later, Malfoy's potion appeared to "leap" onto Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. They only seemed confused and angry at first, but then they started screaming in terror. Malfoy's potion had changed to a dirty greenish color. Malfoy was screaming about his hands burning and then his legs. The green substance looked like it was turning them all into steam! In just a few seconds, all three had completely dissolved and wafted out the door, totally gone from all existence. All that remained was their clothes.
Dumbledore soon arrived, but he was too late to be of any help. Snape was questioned, but Hermione came forth right away saying that Draco had asked her to bring Lethifold extract to class for some fun. She told Snape and Dumbledore that she didn't know what would happen.
Later on that day when the Aurors arrived, they questioned Hermione for a long time. She told them she was innocent. The Aurors had no proof otherwise and they told her she was free to go…
Somehow Harry's and Hermione's similar predicaments pushed them together. Mere friendship was replaced by something stronger. Hermione, at least in part, filled the hole in Harry's heart left by Cho….
Harry's mind came back to the common room where he was crouched in the corner. The room was empty. The fire was still blazing and the empty room was warm. Harry glanced at the time. It was 4:30 am. He quietly went back to Hermione's room. He found her packing her belongings.
"Harry," she said, much to his surprise, "I know you are there. Do you think we could have spent so much time together and I wouldn't feel your presence?"
Harry shook his head and took off his invisibility cloak.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to talk to you," Harry said.
"You will never have me. Did you know?" Hermione said sharply. "You think you were in love with Cho. But I'm the only one who knows the true Harry Potter." She paused. "You know that I'm right about this, Harry; and you will never have me no matter how much you want it. You know about Ron and I, don't you. You know it is him I love, not you. You know we are going to be together."
"Hermione…" Harry whispered.
Ron stepped out from the shadows. He was smiling.
"You've lost this time, Harry. This is the one thing that you will never have over me. This time, I beat the famous Harry Potter! You think you are so special. Everyone loves you because everyone thinks you defeated You-Know-Who. Well guess what? I don't care about any of that! You're an orphan. You'll always be a ruddy orphan!"
"Stop it, Ron!" Harry shouted.
"Who's going to make me?"
"I said STOP IT!"
"Your parents? What are they going to do? They're de-"
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted.
Hermione screamed.
Harry's spell hit Ron squarely in the chest and punched him through Hermione's stained glass window. Harry ran over to the window where Ron had just fallen. Ron was screaming as he tumbled down the side of Gryffindor Tower, hitting the large gargoyles and stone carvings as he fell. He landed with a low thud that sent Harry's mind spinning. As he began to lose consciousness, he could hear Hermione saying, "Don't worry, Harry, I'll claim it was all in self defense. You'll be fine…."