Chapter 3
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Harry looked back to the events of their last days at Hogwarts. There were the exams. It was late at night and the Gryffindor Common Room was almost empty. Harry himself was doing his best to study Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and Herbiology at once, when a certain brown headed girl stormed in, crying. She ran towards the girls staircase, sobbing. Harry got up quickly and caught her by the arm.
"Hemione what's wrong?"
She didn't answer but kept crying. Harry took her by the arms and shook her.
"Hermione what happened?"
"Its…sniff…Ron…He…sniff…is going with Lisa."
With that she ran up the stairs. Only moments later the portrait hole opened and in came Ron. He was breathless from running and gasping for air he said, "'Mione?"
"She went to her dormitory."
Ron almost darted off after her, but Harry stopped him in his tracks and made him sit down.
"Ron…What did you say to her?"
"Nothing…I…just…" He looked down at his shoes and mumbled, "I chickened."
"What!"
"It's just that…."
"What did you do?"
"Well I was going to ask her to go out with me and I asked her to see me over at the Trophy Room tonight after she came from the library. And you know how late she comes from the library these days. Well she told me to meet me there at 11 o'clock. So there, I am…waiting for her when I hear giggles… So I saw her and Dean coming up the stairs…"
"And…?"
"Well then…they…."
"They what?"
"They…hugged…and…Dean probably came here, right?" Harry nodded.
"Well Hermione came to the Trophy Room to meet me…and…I thought that she and Dean…so since Lisa had asked me today if I would go with her…and I said I'd think about it 'cause I didn't want to blow her off right away…and I thought that Hermione was going with Dean…and I thought I'd…Oh Bloody Hell! Who am I kidding here? I wasn't thinking, all right! I told her that I was going with Lisa and she ran away crying.
"Oh My Good God!" Harry groaned and let his head fall on his hands. "You guys are impossible you know that? God…its been 4 years…4 Goddamn LOOOONG years and you still can't say it to her? God…God…God…God! Before you two go to the ball together hell will freeze over or Voldemort will turn good."
With that he gathered his things and headed for their dormitory. Before closing the door, he mumbled a quiet 'goodnight'.
When Harry woke up the next morning, he saw that Ron had left already. At first, he thought that he had slept in because usually it was Ron who was the last to get up in their dormitory but as Harry looked around the room he realised that everyone else was still asleep. He got dressed, got his stuff and went down to the Common Room. He had hoped to find Ron there but instead he found Hermione.
She was studying for their Potions exam that was supposed to start in less than…3 hours. Harry panicked. He was certain of the fact that Snape would do anything in his power to flunk him and so he sat down in an armchair near the fireplace and opened his book. Hermione turned her head quickly making sure that Ron wasn't with him and mumbled something quickly that sounded like 'goodmorninghowsyourstudyinggoing'. Harry looked at her eyes that were red from crying and said: "I really think that you should talk to Ron."
"No", came a sad but sure answer.
"Hermione this is all a big misunderstanding."
"Let's not talk about this anymore, shall we? Have you got a date for the Graduation Ball yet?"
"No. I went with Cho last year…big mistake on my part…what's pretty on the outside doesn't necessarily have to be pretty on the inside…If you can keep a secret…I wanted to with Gin this year…"
Hermione turned after hearing her friends name being named.
"But she said that she wasn't interested. I should have gone with Gin last year…while I had the chance…But no. I was a stupid git and said, with pride, that I had asked Cho and was going with her…"
"Harry…there are only two days to the Ball…let's go together…I would have wanted to go with Ron but…" She turned away to hide her tears. "…If you haven't got anybody else in mind…It would be just as good to go with my best friend"
"Yeah sure, why not." Harry said. He turned his attention to his Potions Book just as the Portrait hole opened and Ron came in.
"'Mione? Can I talk to you a sec?"
She didn't respond. Just got up and left through the portrait hole with him.
Harry waited anxiously. He desperately wanted them to make up. His two best friends…when had they turned into something more than friends, he hadn't noticed...well by the July Ball it was obvious anyway. That was weird, he thought. Two of the closest people to him had hopelessly messed up and there was nothing he could do for them. He knew he wasn't any good being a matchmaker for them…
Just then, his thread was broke by a furious Ron rushing into the Common Room.
"You awful piece of shit!" He blurted out
"What?" Harry asked stunned
"You! You are going with my 'Mione!"
"So? Would you rather have somebody else go with her?"
"Yeah. Me, you thickheaded idiot!"
"Well then go, get your act together and go, ask her. Hell, I wanted to go with Gin to begin with."
"Wait, wait, wait! You asked my sister to the ball?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"I can't, bloody hell, believe this… Ah whatever! I have my share of problems. You can go with Malfoy for all I care."
"Sorry Ron but I don't find him by far as sexy as your sister."
Ron shot a glare at him. "I'd prefer you not talking about my sister being sexy in my presece."
"Oh yeah? Why not?" Harry asked innocently, with little sparkles dancing in his eyes.
Ron took out his Potions book and leaned back, trying to drown his worries into his exam fever and not to think about Hermione and Harry and his little sister together and Hermione and The Potions exam and Hermione… these were just some of the things on his mind. And did I mention Hermione?
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It was the night of the ball. They had finished their exams, and since Prof. MacGonagall had put a self-correcting spell on their papers, the results were out already. Hermione had scored highest, which was somewhat of predictable. To Harrys surprise he and Ron had done well, in fact Ron was the second best after a certain Ms. Granger. Harry had actually been quite worried about him already. After the morning Ron had found out that Hermione was going with Harry, he had not spoken to her anymore. In fact, he avoided talking to anyone, if possible. Of course he answered if being asked something but also kept it as brief as possible. The answer you were most likely to get out of him was yeah or NE. He was totally calm whilst he was taking his tests, just as if nothing in the world was wrong with him. Harry was beginning to think that Ron had fallen into some kind of a trance or lost his mind altogether.
Harrys thoughts before the graduation Ball.
This is what it all comes down to. The very end. Ground zero. The times that I've had to spend studying, fearing for my life, exams, everything. It ends. What a relief. Whom am I kidding here? I loved those years. All the things I'll be leaving behind here. Happy memories, sad memories. Laughter and tears. Friendship and hatred. This is my home, Harry thought, and now I'm leaving.
Tomorrow at the same time, he would not be here anymore.
Harry thought,Ron entering the bedroom interrupted his thoughts. He looked at Harry sadly, as if he were thinking the same thing. He turned to his trunk and started changing into his dress robes. For a second there Harry thought that Ron was going to ditch the Ball, grab Hermione and… well, he had not gotten further from that. Escape to Ibiza maybe?
"Shouldn't we get going?" Ron asked.
"Yea, you're right, let's go."
They walked down to the common Room and saw somebody standing by the fireplace, obviously waiting for her date. Once they had reached the bottom of the stairs, Hermione turned around looking nervous and said,
"And I thought that it was only allowed for women to be late?"
For the first time in days, Harry saw a reaction in Ron's face. He was stunned. If you could have described his face in any other way, you would have said that he was petrified. The best thing about the whole situation, Harry thought, was that that Hermione looked at Ron too, not moving a muscle. He found all of this very amusing, and after all you could not have blamed Ron. Hermione looked beautiful, but the fact was that she had tried so hard for Ron. Just to make Ron jealous.
She had on a long, sleeveless, dark blue dress; somewhat of what Harry would have described reminded him of a medieval princess dress.
"Hmm…Guys…The Ball?"
"Yes, right…of course…Lead the way Harry." A confused Hermione muttered as Harry gallantly offered her his arm.
"Shall we, my lady?" He joked.
Harry thought that if it were possible for a human to turn green from envy then Ron would be the perfect sample of it. He positively looked like a leaf of lettuce.
The walked down to the Great Hall, which was decorated with the colours of all the houses. It was beautiful with the blue, green, yellow and red. The tables had been moved so that there was a small dance floor in the middle. Harry looked for the teacher's table, but couldn't find it. Instead, he saw Prof. MacGonagall sitting at the head of their table and Prof. Sprout sitting at the Hufflepuff table. His eyes travelled to the Slytherin table and he caught sight of Snape.
"Um… I'm gonna go find Lisa. We were supposed to meet somewhere in the Great Hall." And with that, Ron walked away. Harry saw Hermione watch him go until he was finally swallowed by a huge group of people.
"Wanna go and eat?"
"Huh?" Was the best that the know-it-all of the class could come up with.
"I asked if you want to go and have something to eat." Harry said grinning and pronouncing every word very slowly. He would bet on his broom that food was the last thing on Hermiones mind.
"Yeah. Sure, why not. Right. Let's…go…eat."
"Dear Students. May I have a word or two."
From the Gryffindor table, Seamus shouted: "Sure thing Mr. D" After that comment the hole of the student body burst out laughing.
"Well Mr. Finnigan may I remind you that you have not graduated yet…" Bits of laughter were heard.
"All right, settle down, so we can get over with this speech and taste some of this delicious food the house elves (sp?) have prepared. I can see that they have tried especially hard because some of their favourite students are graduating." He directed his eyes on Harry.
"What I have to say is not long, but do all speeches have to be long? Of all of the classes that have ever graduated Hogwarts, this one is in no way special. Yes, you have had your share of adventures, laughs, and tears… all that, is a part of life. Nevertheless, and most importantly, you have received your share of knowledge. Use it for good." After that Dumbledore blinked and said: "Now let's eat!"
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