Chap 45
Ron didn't know what time it was when he began to stir, not that it really mattered. It was Saturday and he could lie in as long as he wanted. So rather than check the time, he rolled over on his stomach and reached for Hermione. It wasn't the first time he'd reached out for her in a groggy state, only to discover that she wasn't beside him. The difference was he hadn't simply been dreaming about her. She had been there when he dozed off, he was certain of that. They'd spent the better part of the night snuggled up together, so he was expecting to find her.
Where'd she go? he wondered, as he begrudgingly opened his eyes and looked at the empty spot beside himself for a moment before glancing at his watch. Damn, he thought, when he realized it was after eight, which meant she hadn't just popped off to use the loo. So she's not coming back, he told himself, as he rolled over on his back and covered his eyes with his arm, that doesn't mean you can't go back to sleep.
Unfortunately after ten minutes of tossing and turning Ron realized that he was waging a loosing battle. As tired as he was, he simply couldn't go back to sleep. His mind was too active wondering where Hermione had gone and why. And as if that weren't enough, his stomach had gotten in on the act as well and was grumbling loudly, almost as if it were saying, 'Hey! What are you just laying here for when there is food downstairs?'
"All right," he muttered in defeat, as the threw the covers back, scrambled out of bed, and hastily got dressed, before heading downstairs. "I'm going already, so knock it off will ya?"
"You're up early," Ginny said, when she spotted her brother descending the stairs to the Common Room. If she'd been expecting a reply, she didn't get one, at least not a spoken one. All Ron did was grunt at her as he threw himself down on the sofa.
"Good morning to you too," Ginny said, rolling her eyes at the ceiling before she began walking back and forth in front of the windows.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked, stifling a yawn as he watched his sister pace.
"Nothing," Ginny snapped. "What are you doing?"
"Watching you wear a hole in the floor, apparently," he replied.
"Oh shut up."
"Someone's cranky this morning," Ron chuckled.
"I am not," she insisted, her hands now on her hips. "I'm just..."
"Nervous?" he finished for her. "I get it," he added, turning his attention to the girls' staircase the instant he caught the motion of someone descending it out of the corner of his eye. Unfortunately it wasn't the person he'd hoped it would be.
"Fancy meeting you here," Lavender said to Ron, quickly scanning the room before she approached him.
"Where's Harry?" Parvati asked, as she came up behind her best friend.
"Dunno," Ron replied honestly. "Still asleep I guess."
"You guess?" Parvati questioned.
"Well it's not like I jump up and check his bed first thing in the morning. Have you seen Harry yet, Gin?"
"No," his sister replied, narrowing her eyes and locking them on the two girls conversing with her brother. "Maybe you ought to ask Hermione," she added, mentioning his girlfriend's name on purpose just to see how the girls would react.
"Well there you go," Ron said to Parvati. "What's it to you anyway?"
"It's just a bit odd seeing you down here on your own," Lavender said, as she sat down on the couch beside him.
On his own? Ginny asked herself in outrage. What the hell am I? I do exist, you stupid bint. No one asked you to come over here and butt in where you're not wanted.
"You two are inseparable, when you aren't fighting," Lavender added. "You're not still fighting are you?"
"No," Ron replied curtly. "And I'm not going to tell you what it was about, so don't bother asking."
"It's good that you two made up though," Parvati chimed in. "I'm sure Hermione appreciated it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny demanded from her spot by the window.
"Nothing," Lavender said quickly. "Just that it will make things easier for her because she won't have to pick sides or anything."
"Where is Hermione anyway?" Ron asked his sister.
"She went down to breakfast early," Ginny replied, "She said that she had some reading she needed to get done and that she'd meet us down on the pitch later."
"Oh," Ron replied.
"Oh that's right," Parvati said, glancing over at Ginny. "The Quidditch tryouts are today. So you're trying out for one of the Chaser positions then?"
"I suppose that's better than reserve Seeker, anyway," Lavender added.
"Actually I prefer scoring to seeking," Ginny replied honestly, "so even if Harry wasn't back on the team, I'd still go out for Chaser."
"Well good luck," Parvati said. "Not that you'll need it, I'm sure. You're a good flyer and you were already on the team last year."
"Plus you've already got two votes in your favor," Harry said, as he descended the stairs and joined in the conversation.
"Oy, speak for yourself," Ron objected. "I'm voting for whoever is best, sister or no sister."
"Thanks a lot," Ginny sighed.
"Not that it really matters," Ron continued as if he hadn't heard her. "Since Katie is the one with the final say."
"So are we waiting for Hermione?" Harry asked, when Ron's stomach rumbled.
"Naw," the redhead replied as he stood up. "Ginny said she already went down without us. She's probably in the library buried behind a stack of books by now."
"So breakfast then?" Harry asked, glancing at Ron and then Ginny.
"Sounds good to me," Ron replied, heading off towards the portrait hole.
"Mind if we come down with you?" Parvati asked Harry.
"Suit yourself," he replied, shrugging his shoulders as he followed Ron out of the Common Room. "You coming, Gin?"
You're damned right I am, she thought, springing forward and following Harry out the portrait hole.
....................
Ok, this is just getting ridiculous, Ginny thought, gaping at Lavender who had just reached out and felt her brother's arm as she complimented him on his Keeper skills.
"I can't wait for this afternoon," the vivacious blonde continued, speaking so rapidly Ron wouldn't have been able to butt in even if he had wanted to. "It's going to be so exciting watching everyone try out. I wonder if Seamus is trying out. I bet he is. He's always talking about Quidditch. I wonder if he's any good. Well, I'm sure you're better. Your entire family plays, right? Even your older brothers. I mean the ones that weren't at school with us. Wasn't one of them Quidditch Captain? Oh, it's going to be so much fun watching you take everyone on this afternoon. I can hardly wait."
Oh! My! God! Ginny cried in her head, the plate of food she'd been picking at since they'd sat down completely forgotten as she watched the scene unfolding before her. Take a breath already. Where the hell is Hermione? she asked herself, as she stared at her brother who was completely gobsmacked.
Fifteen minutes of shameless flirting hadn't been enough to get through his thick skull, but apparently being felt up at the breakfast table had clued him in and now that he realized what was really going on, he was more aghast than his sister. If the size of his eyes was any indication, Ron finally saw the out of control train speeding towards him, he just didn't know how to get the hell out of the way.
At least she's a little more subtle about it, Ginny thought, shoving her plate away from herself as she refocused her attention on Parvati who was sitting on the other side of Harry chatting him up.
There was no way she could eat anymore. She hadn't really been all that hungry in the first place, but watching the raven haired beauty compliment Harry on his defensive spells and tell him what a wonderful teacher he was, while she questioned him about whether or not he planned on restarting the D.A. was nauseating. At least with Ron she could pretend that the outrage she felt was on Hermione's behalf, but deep down she knew the truth. It wasn't Lavender and it wasn't Ron, it was Parvati that had her stomach in knots.
"I... uh... I've got to go," Ron cried without warning, jumping up and slowly backing away from the Gryffindor table.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked, as he and everyone else in the vicinity, stared at Ron in surprise.
"Nothing. I'll see you upstairs," he called back over his shoulder as he bolted for the door.
"What the hell was that?" Harry asked Ginny, who simply shrugged her shoulders. "Did he look pale to you?" he continued. "I mean, I know he gets nervous about Quidditch and all, but you don't think he'd actually make himself sick over it, do you?"
I don't think it was Quidditch that turned his stomach, Ginny thought, her eyes falling on Lavender who was looking slightly bewildered. "I don't know," she replied, as inspiration struck and she acted on the impulse. "Maybe you ought to go check on him."
"Yeah, all right," Harry agreed, as he pushed away from the table and stood up himself. "Guess we'll see you down on the pitch later," he added, as he turned around and walked off.
"Right," Ginny said, feeling both satisfaction and guilt as she watched him follow after her brother. She was relieved to see him go and she couldn't help feeling a little smug as she noted the disappointed expression on Parvati's face. But at the same time she knew that she had no right to interfere the way that she had. She had no claim on Harry after all.
"What did you do to him?" she heard Parvati whisper to her friend.
"Nothing," the young blonde leaned forward and whispered back.
"You didn't grope him under the table, did you?"
"Of course not."
"Well, you must have done something to scare him off and now Harry's up and gone with him."
"I didn't do anything," Lavender insisted. "Nothing you weren't doing, anyway."
"I don't know, Lav. Maybe you should rethink this. I mean he seems rather standoffish to me."
"He's just playing hard to get."
"That's one possibility I suppose," Parvati replied doubtfully, "But I think it's more likely that he's just a prat."
"Ok, so he's a little rough around the edges, but we can work on that and..."
"A little rough?" Parvati cut her off. "He practically bit my head off the other day when I asked what was up with him and Harry."
"He was just being protective of his friends," Lavender insisted, "and I think that's nice."
"Yeah, well," Parvati replied, clearly not convinced, "Hermione is his friend and he yells at her on a daily basis."
"It's not just him though," Lavender replied in a hushed voice. "She certainly doesn't help matters any. She's always niggling them about something."
"Well, that's true."
I shouldn't have done that, Ginny thought, as she stood up and left the girls to their conversation. You've given up on him, remember? she scolded herself, feeling even worse as she approached the double doors leading into the Entrance Hall. He doesn't even know I'm alive. All right, she corrected herself, he knows I'm alive, but he doesn't think of me as anything other than Ron's little sister. That's all I'm ever going to be, so I better get used to it, because it's not going to change and interfering when other girls flirt with him isn't going to help any. All I'm doing is torturing myself, she thought, feeling thoroughly depressed now.
"I'm serious, Harry," she heard her brother's voice echo across the hallway the moment she entered it. "She was...," Ron started to explain and then faltered, as he and his best friend started to ascend the marble stairs. "She kept stroking my arm while she was blabbering away and she was complimenting me for no good reason and I think... no, I know... she WAS hitting on me."
"She was just being nice," Harry argued.
"She. Was. Touching. Me," Ron said indignantly.
"So she patted you on the arm. Big deal."
"Pat? It wasn't a pat. She bloody well felt me up."
"Uh huh," Harry replied, clearly not convinced. "We're still talking about your arm, right?"
"No, he's right," Ginny said, as she mounted the steps herself and followed after them. "I saw her do it."
"SEE!" Ron shouted triumphantly. "Wait a minute," he added, looking at his sister dubiously. "You saw it and... You're not going to tell Hermione are you?"
"Tell her what?" Ginny asked, "That you two were chatting up girls over breakfast?"
"But I wasn't," Ron moaned. "I was just eating and she... she was..."
"Oh relax, will ya. I'm not going to tell her," his sister assured him. "You didn't do anything anyway. Well that's not entirely true," she amended. "You did abandon Harry and make a run for it."
"Harry wasn't the one being groped."
"So it's progressed to 'groped' now, has it?" Harry chuckled.
"It's not funny," Ron groaned.
"Actually it is," Harry replied. "Don't you agree?" he asked Ginny.
DAMN IT! she swore to herself, when Harry smiled at her and she felt compelled to agree with him despite the fact she really didn't find the situation remotely funny. Of course that was because of the way it affected her. If it weren't for that, she had to admit that she'd find her brother's reaction more than a little humorous, so she decided she better just play along. "You should have seen the look on his face when he figured out what was going on," Ginny replied. "Now that was funny."
"Oh, shut up!" Ron cried, his face flooding with color as he spun around and continued to march up the stairs alone.
"You coming?" Harry asked, as he started to follow after Ron.
"Um, no," Ginny replied, despite the fact she was still climbing the stairs herself. "I... uh... think I'm going to go to the library instead," she continued. "I have some homework I need to get done before the tryouts and all. You know, because afterwards I'll probably be too nervous to really concentrate."
"Er, ok," Harry said, shooting a skeptical look her way. "Only, you don't have any of your books."
"Oh, well," Ginny came back quickly, "that's because the books I need are still in the Library. I probably should have checked them out sooner, but I spent most of my free time practicing so I'd be ready today. I'm sure Hermione will be able to help me find what I need though and I'll just borrow some parchment from her. Well, I'll see you later," she said, as she increased her pace and scurried up the stairs ahead of him.
...................
Well, that's just one more thing to feel guilty about, Ginny thought, as she walked down the fourth floor corridor on her way to the Library. It was bad enough that I stuck my big fat nose into Harry's business and tricked him into walking out on Parvati, but then I had to follow it up by lying to him? What was I supposed to do though? I couldn't very well tell him the truth, she thought with a sigh. I really need to talk to Hermione about this. Even if she doesn't have any useful advice, I just need to tell someone and I know I can trust her to keep it to herself.
Unfortunately, Hermione was nowhere to be found. Ginny searched the entire Library, to no avail. If she was reading, she wasn't doing it there.
Maybe she got what she needed and went back upstairs, Ginny thought, as she slowly made her way back up to Gryffindor Tower. But when she entered the Common Room, her friend wasn't there either. Fortunately her brother and Harry were also absent, so she was able to sneak up to the girls' dorms without being seen.
She wasn't too keen on the idea of going to Hermione's room, mostly because she didn't really want to run into Parvati again so soon, but as it was the only other place she could think to look, she didn't have much of a choice. She needn't have worried however. When she finally did reach the 6th year girls' room, it was empty.
Out of ideas about where to look, Ginny made her way back to her own room instead, knowing that sooner or later Hermione would show up and until then she'd just have to shove it all aside and find a way to distract herself.
"Besides, you have more important things to worry about anyway," Ginny reminded herself, as she flopped down on her bed. "You need to be focus on Quidditch right now," she mumbled, reaching for the copy of Beating the Bludger- a Study of Defensive Strategies in Quidditch that was resting on her bedside table and flipping it open. "You can think about boys later."
....................
Hermione finally showed up in the Great Hall, just after her friends had finished their lunch and were about to head down to the pitch to warm up for their Quidditch tryouts.
"I need to talk to you," Ron leaned forward and whispered to his girlfriend, after she had grabbed some cheese and an apple off the Gryffindor table and joined them.
"Well," Hermione asked, as they followed Harry and Ginny through the door leading out of the Entrance Hall and onto the grounds. "What is it?"
"Uh... not now," Ron replied softly. "After the tryouts," he added. "You're going to wait with Ginny while the team discusses everything and Katie makes her decision, right?" he asked, his eyes darting from her to Harry and his sister, who were still walking just slightly ahead of them. "Right then," he continued when Hermione nodded her head in response to his question. "I'll tell you after that."
"Why not now?" Hermione asked creasing her brow as one eyebrow hitched up higher than the other. "If something is wrong I'd rather know about it..."
"Nothing's wrong," he assured her. "It's nothing like that. It's just... something odd happened at breakfast and....I'll tell you about it later," he added, when Harry stopped walking and spun around to check on them.
"So where've you been all day?" Harry asked Hermione.
"What?" she replied, rather startled by the question. "Didn't Ginny tell you? I had some reading I had to do."
"But you weren't in the Library," Ginny said. "I checked."
"They didn't have the books I needed," Hermione admitted, "so I went to the Room of Requirement."
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Ron asked, in what he hoped was a casual manner.
"More than I was expecting, actually," she replied. "Unfortunately most of the books I looked through contain the same information. Mostly just historical accounts and the like. I suppose I'll have to go back tomorrow."
"You are the only person I know that would use the Room of Requirement as a Study Hall," Ginny said, shaking her head sadly.
"So what have you three been up to?" Hermione asked, ignoring her red-headed friend's comment and quickly changing the subject.
"Er..." Ron mumbled.
"Let me guess," Hermione said. "Chess?"
"And exploding snaps," Harry replied.
"Did you do any homework?"
"Not really," Ron replied, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "Oh come on," he moaned, when she pursed her lips and shot them a disapproving look. "You didn't really expect us to work on those boring essays without you," he stated. "We always work on History of Magic together."
"Uh hum," she replied, clearly not buying his excuse, "because you need my notes."
"Not just your notes," Ron shot back, with a cheeky grin. "I need..."
"Don't," Harry cried, as he suddenly realized what his friends were doing.
"...you too," Ron finished.
"Oh god," Harry groaned, wrinkling his face up in disgust. "Did you really have to say that in front of me?"
"What?" Ron asked innocently. "We do. I'd like to see you finish your essay without her help."
"That's not what you meant," Harry protested.
"Well, no," the redhead admitted, his ears flushing slightly. "Not entirely, but it works both ways, doesn't it?"
"I can't believe... you were... flirting," he said, screwing his face up in disgust. "In front of me."
"No, I wasn't," Ron protested, his cheeks taking on the same coloring as his hair and ears.
"That was nothing," Ginny chuckled. "Wait until you walk into a room and catch them snogging. Hell, Fred caught them in the shower."
"GINNY!" Hermione screeched, blushing so deeply her flaming red cheeks actually surpassed both Ron's and Harry's.
"I'm going to kill that bloody tosser," Ron mumbled under his breath.
"So it's true then?" Ginny asked with a devilish smile, not unlike the one her twin brothers wore when they were up to no good.
"No it is not," Hermione cried indignantly. "He caught us in the bathroom," she corrected, as if that made the slightest bit of difference. Although technically speaking they had been in the shower at the time, but Fred had no way of knowing that for sure and Hermione wasn't about to admit it to anyone.
"Well there ya go, Harry," Ginny said smugly. "I'd say that lovely mental image ought to be enough."
"To what?" he retorted, his green eyes wide with horror behind his glasses, "To scar me for life?"
"Best to just get it over with now," she replied, giving his arm a sympathetic pat. "Nothing you're liable to see can possible be any worse than that, so there you go, the worst is over and we can all move on."
"Speak for yourself," the two boys mumbled at the same time as they both diverted their eyes to the ground.
"Aw come on," Ginny sniggered. "It's not that bad. I could always tell you how I found out."
"NO!" Harry insisted, holding his hand out in front of himself to stop her. "I don't want to know," he said, shaking his head from side to side as if that would erase the pictures in his mind. "I'm going to get changed and then I'm going to play Quidditch and pretend this entire conversation never happened. That's right," he said to himself, as he walked away from his friends. "It never happened."
"What?" Ginny asked when Ron's head shot up and he glared at her. "He's going to catch you two going at it eventually. We all have, even Dad."
"Oh shut up," Ron cried, blushing again. "We're not that bad."
"Yeah, you are," his sister corrected. "And you're getting worse. You spent most of yesterday smiling and making goo goo eyes at each other and frankly it's a bit annoying, so knock it off, will ya?"
"No," Ron replied flatly. "If you don't like it, you don't have to watch."
"But Harry does, and you're going to make him uncomfortable."
"I'm not the one that just made him uncomfortable," her brother shot back. "That was you and your 'mental images'. I can't believe you told him that. I should have known Fred would never keep that to himself, but to tell you... "
"He didn't," Ginny confessed. "I overheard him and George talking about it that night after you snuck back to your room."
"Bloody extendable ears."
"Ron," Hermione said, placing her hand on his arm in and effort to calm him down before he worked himself up any further. "She was only trying to help and she has a point. We probably should tone it down a bit for Harry's sake. "
"I don't want to tone it down," Ron stated irritably. "I don't want to hide it anymore," he added, "And I don't want other girls hitting on me over breakfast."
"WHAT!" Hermione cried in surprise. "WHO?"
" It doesn't matter," Ron said. The point is once they know about us, they'll stop doing it.
"It most certainly does matter," Hermione came back quickly, turning away from him and locking her eyes on Ginny. "It was Lavender, wasn't it?" she asked, narrowing her eyes when Ginny nodded her head.
"You knew?" Ron exclaimed in surprise? "But... how?"
"She's been asking me about you. About you and Harry actually," Hermione admitted, her voice eerily calm now.
"She's after Harry too?" he asked, his forehead wrinkling up in confusion.
"No Parvati is, you daft git," Ginny chimed in. "Honestly, can you two possibly be any thicker?"
"HEY!" Ron shouted.
"What happened?" Hermione said, both girls completely ignoring his outburst.
"It was nothing," Ginny assured her friend. "Just some harmless flirting. Lavender touched his arm and the instant he figured out what was going on, he got up and left."
"I am still here you know?" Ron said loudly.
"No, I mean with Harry," Hermione said. "Are you... uh...I mean did he realize what was going on?"
"Is she what?" Ron asked Hermione, his eyes jumping back and forth between her and his sister.
"Totally clueless," Ginny replied, although whether she was talking about him or Harry now, Ron wasn't sure.
"About what?" he demanded impatiently.
"Parvati," Hermione answered.
"Parvati is interested in Harry?" Ron asked. "Since when?"
"Since she and Lavender decided that it would be fun to have 'best friends dating best friends'," his sister said with a grimace.
"Dating?" he shouted with a look of disgust.
"Afraid so," Hermione sighed.
"They even had the nerve to ask Hermione for advice," his sister added.
"Wait a minute," Ron said incredulously, his blue eyes locked on his girlfriend's. "Let me get this straight. Lavender Brown, asked you," he said, pointing his finger in Hermione's direction, "for advice on how to chat me up?"
"Yup," Ginny said calmly.
"You and Harry, actually," she replied, as Ron gaped at her.
"And?" he cried, when she didn't elaborate any further.
"And what?" Hermione asked.
"What did you tell her?" he demanded.
"Nothing," Ginny answered for her. "She stormed out of the room in a huff."
"Hermione!"
"What?" she cried defensively. "I didn't know what to say."
"How about, 'he's already dating his best friend so leave him the hell alone?' "
"That might have worked," Ginny chuckled. "Of course the entire school would still be buzzing with rumors about you and Harry."
"You are not helping," Hermione scolded her amused friend.
"Well it's true," she retorted, laughing even harder when she saw the horrified expression on her brother's face.
"I don't believe this is happening," Ron said, more to himself than to anyone else. "If some bloke asked me for advice about you I'd..."
"Tell him off," Hermione replied.
"Beat the shite out of him more likely," Ginny muttered under her breath.
"And what good would that do?" Hermione continued. "None," she said, in answer to her own question. "At best you'd come off looking like an over protective friend."
"Or a jealous prat," his sister added.
"Don't you see? It wouldn't have matter what I said. It wasn't going to dissuade her. The only thing that might have done that would have been for me to tell her that you already had a girlfriend and I couldn't because Harry didn't know about us yet."
"Well, you can tell her now," Ron said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Not without the whole school finding out," she reminded him. "Do you really think Harry is ready for that yet?"
"Probably not," he begrudgingly admitted. "But... you can still tell her I'm not interested."
"I could," Hermione replied. "I'd love to in fact, but it won't mean anything coming from me. She won't believe it unless she hears it from you."
"ME!" Ron yelped. "No way. I'm not going anywhere near her."
"You can't avoid her forever," Ginny reminded him. "You do have classes together."
"Yeah well, she can bugger off," he snapped crossly.
"Well now's your chance to tell her that," his sister informed him, motioning towards the girls that had just exited the castle and were slowly making their way to the pitch together.
Bloody hell, Ron groaned in his head, when he saw Lavender and the Patil sisters were in the center of the group bearing down on them. "Come on," he said, grabbing Hermione's hand and dragging her forward, knowing that if he could make it to the changing room next to the pitch before they overtook them, he'd be safe. "Let's go."
"All right," she acquiesced, following along of her own accord. There's no point pressing him on it now anyway, she decided. He'll deal with it eventually and if he doesn't I will, she thought, despite the lecture she'd just given him. Logically she knew that the words would have more weight behind them if they came from Ron, but there was still part of her that was itching to do it herself. She'd hold her tongue for now, but as soon as Harry was used to them being together she was going to let Lavender Brown have it.