Chapter Two- Maybe It Wasn't You
"Guess what! There's a new guy at school!"
"Oh! What's his name? What does he look like?"
"Josh Wordsworth. I saw him walking across the schoolyard this morning, he is one of the most handsome guys I've ever seen!"
Hermione was sitting in Double Potions and was tired of writing Snape's notes, so she decided to listen to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown's latest gossip.
"Ah, Wordsworth, welcome to the class," Snape suddenly spoke up facing the doorway. "Why don't you sit near Ms Patil and Ms Brown."
Parvati and Lavender began giggling incessantly as he sat near them and in front of Draco and Hermione. Ten minutes into class, Josh turned around to gaze in Hermione's direction.
"May I help you?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Sure, you can help me calm down when you stop looking so fine," Josh said.
"By the looks of you, you're a sleaze," Hermione scoffed.
"Correct, if that's what you consider a wealthy pureblood," Josh said.
Hermione didn't know what to say, but Draco saved her and said, "It's obvious that she's not interested in someone like you." He put his arm protectively around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Have it your way," Josh said airily.
After that, Hermione had to endure the presence of Josh as he was also in Gryffindor. One night Hermione was sitting in front of the fireplace, studying alone, when a rustling noise interrupted her train of thought.
"Might I offer you this?" a haughty voice asked. Hermione knew that voice already. She looked at Josh approaching her, with a red rose in his hand.
"Incendio," Hermione waved her wand and the roses burst into flames. Josh let the ignited rose fall to the floor as ashes, his hands nearly becoming burnt in the process.
"If that's how you like it, that's fine with me," Josh walked back to his dormitory. On his way he waved his wand, emitting large, golden, heart-shaped bubbles from it. Hermione went to burst them, but realised that Josh had used a non-bursting bubble charm. She groaned and went to her dormitory for bed. From then on, Hermione had to endure constant stories and tall tales of Josh adventures involving vicious beasts and voyages. She tried to tell him to leave her alone, but he never seemed to get the message. Nothing would get through that pompous head of his. Draco was concerned for her, when she complained, but she told him not to worry because Josh could never change her mind. She decided to ignore Josh, and whenever he talked to her, she replied with absentminded "uh-huhs."
One day at lunch, Josh was sitting next to her in the Great Hall and telling her another one of his tales. She didn't know what he was talking about because she couldn't be bothered listening. His voice had blurred into a wave of sound.
"Yes, yes how interesting," Hermione muttered and looked away because she didn't want to look at him. Then she returned to eating her boring porridge. As she continued eating she began to feel a warm sensation creep through her and her porridge was tastier. Josh's ceaseless jabbering began to become clearer. Suddenly, Hermione wanted to know everything about the new boy.
"Can you repeat that story again, it's so intriguing!" Hermione piped up. What was this? Hermione couldn't believe what she was saying, but she could never stop saying kind things to Josh. She wanted to hear all Josh had to say, yet she wondered why this was happening to her. She had to agree with Parvati and Lavender, that Josh was handsome. She had already figured that he had much arrogance. Nonetheless, the story he was telling her seemed to override the negativity of his conceit.
Hermione was becoming increasingly fickle in her opinion of Josh. She now sat with him in her classes with Gryffindor and found herself admiring him. The next minute she was thinking about Draco and asking herself where her new views of Josh were coming from.
"First it was Draco, but now Josh? Josh! Of all people!" Ron exclaimed to Hermione.
"Yeah, it seems like your choices are getting worse and worse," agreed Harry.
"What would you know?" argued Hermione. "It seems that you two don't want your best friend to be happy."
"That's not true," said Harry quickly. "It's your decision, but I have to say I can't stand him."
"It's up to you," said Ron. "But really, his head does exceed the size of this room."
"That escaped my attention, but why should I care?" Hermione replied indifferently and walked away.
From then on, Hermione still sat with Draco in class, but made sure that Josh was next to her as well. Hermione often clung more to Josh than she did with Draco. In practicals, Hermione chose Josh to be her partner. The build up of these little brush-offs proved that overall, Hermione hung out with Josh more than she did with Draco. Draco was astonished that all of a sudden he did not have Hermione's undivided attention anymore. Sure, Josh and Hermione hadn't actually done anything behind Draco's back, as far as he could see, but he figured that something could happen soon. To Draco, it seemed that Hermione did not consider Josh with just friendship towards him but with adoration. It was abnormal. The guy was a total jerk. But what could Draco do? He could only just wait and see, and then talk to her.
Draco was walking across the grounds of Hogwarts when he saw Hermione sitting near the lake. She was practicing transfiguration of a piece of red candy to a heart shaped cushion.
"Hey," greeted Draco, kissing Hermione on the lips. Hermione returned the kiss and felt the tender feeling linger on her lips.
"Hi babe," replied Hermione.
"It seems like we haven't spent a lot of time together since..." Draco faltered.
"Since?"
"Never mind."
"Since Josh came, I know," finished Hermione.
"Um, yeah," Draco looked down.
"I'm sorry Draco, I didn't mean to snub you so much. I just want to get to know Josh, I've just met him."
"Hermione, I trust you. I just want to ask you one thing, do you have any feelings for Josh?" asked Draco.
"Look Draco, you're the one person who means the most to me, always," answered Hermione. Right at that moment, she knew it was true. She only wanted to be with Draco. However, when she was with Josh, she felt that she couldn't get enough of him, but she knew that if she did have feelings for Josh, they were definitely not her own doing. She could not explain that to Draco.
A week later, Hermione had been paying a little more attention to Draco, but still felt it was out of her control to be around Josh. In the Great Hall, Hermione was walking with Josh on the way to dinner, when she felt the earth slip from under her. Something on the floor was slippery and she had fallen flat on her back.
"Are you okay?" Josh asked above her.
"Yeah, I think so," Hermione replied, dizzy.
"Looks like you slipped on some pumpkin juice," Josh held out his hand to help her up and she accepted it. When she was on her feet, Josh and Hermione's faces were close together. Too close.
Josh leant in and pulled Hermione's face to his and their lips made contact. Hermione liked the kiss, but she didn't feel the same warm feeling that she experienced when Draco kissed her. Thinking of Draco had woken her up.
Hermione tried to pull away but Josh wouldn't let her out of his arms. Being more assertive, she pushed him away with all the strength she could muster in her state of dizziness, which certainly threw back Josh. She had stopped just in time to see Draco stalk out of the room. It seemed that he had not seen her push Josh away.
"Sorry Josh, I'll talk to you later," Hermione said to Josh, suddenly feeling sorry for him.
"Draco!" Hermione called.
Draco would not stop.
"Draco! Wait!" Hermione cried.
Draco turned around with a hurt look on his face. He then said coldly, "Wait for what? Wait for you to go to Josh?"
"Draco, I pushed him away!" Hermione exclaimed.
"You told me you didn't feel the same for him. Well, from where I was standing, it looked like you two were enjoying yourselves," Draco remarked. "If that's what makes you happy, fine!"
"Hmm, looks like I have a jealous boyfriend. Well you know what? Save it for someone else!" Hermione relented.
"Looks like you were the cheating girlfriend!" Draco retorted. "Your two little friends may have been right, that we shouldn't be together." This comment that he made, he soon regretted afterwards.
"I was wrong to think that you've changed. You know what, maybe it wasn't you after all," with that Hermione turned and walked away so that Draco wouldn't see the tears fall from her eyes.
