When Hermione entered the common room her feet slowed at the sight of Lavender massaging Ron's shoulders.
He had the blonde girl worshiping him like he was a god.
Hermione wanted to puke. To avoid the couple, she swiftly moved towards the stairs. When she got to her dormitory, she released her bag from her shoulders and threw off her robe.
She plopped onto her bed and let out a long exhale. She hadn't fully processed what just occurred in the library. But her flustered cheeks was enough evidence that she needed.
And the way she was feeling. Frustrated. Unsatisfied. Starved. Hermione launched back and let herself lie down. Her hands laid on her stomach and she stared at the ceiling.
Maybe she was imagining this, but she could hear her name being repeated. By his voice. Soon, she let her eyelids close and she imagined his soft hand caressing her thigh. She could feel it.
"I enjoy winning even more."
Her eyes fluttered open and she looked down at her thigh. Her hands had wandered down there. Immediately, she flung them back to her stomach and awkwardly looked away.
Her head was turned to face the other girls' beds and as she carelessly drifted in her thoughts her eyes wandered to Lavender's bed. She noticed there was a book laying on her trunk.
The brunette scoffed. She knew her roommate was practically allergic to reading. But out of curiosity, Hermione got up. She was attracted to any book and wanted to snoop at the one Lavender had.
Her face dropped when she noticed the markings on the side of the book. They were identical to hers. She immediately picked the book up. Perfidious Predicament.
It was the book she was missing from her bag.
Had she left it in her room? Maybe one of the girls found it on the floor and randomly placed it on Lavender's chest. No, that wasn't possible. Hermione would never leave her books casually laying around.
She was thinking hard, about the last time she remembered having the book.
Yesterday, in the library. Before Ron came in.
And she didn't remember putting the book away in her bag.
Curiously, Hermione flipped to the first page, and a small scrap of paper floated down. The second she picked it up from the floor she could make use of the words from Ron.
To Lavender. From Ron. X
She slammed the book shut after placing the note back inside it. Her jaw was clenched and she started panting out of anger. Why would Ron steal one of her books and gift it to Lavender? It wasn't making sense. But Hermione was infuriated. That was her thing with Ron. Gifting him books she cherished and valued because he was worthy of that right. What right did he have to do it with Lavender? And most of all, with her books.
In a fit of senseless rage, Hermione practically flew down the dormitory stairs, book in hand, and rushed toward Ron and Lavender.
The couple's grins immediately faded once they caught sight of the brunette with the book raised in the air.
"What are you doing with this?" She spat at Lavender.
Lavender stood from the couch slowly. Her eyes scanned the room. She knew fellow Gryffindors were watching them. They both knew.
"What are you doing snooping in my belongings, Hermione?" Lavender innocently asked. The blonde girl attempted to snatch the book but Hermione swerved just in time.
Lavender gasped at the movement to which Ron stood up alongside her.
The ginger boy didn't even phase Hermione. Especially when she took one step closer towards Lavender. She was in her face now.
"Why the fuck do you have this?" Her voice slowly broke down.
She was glaring down at Lavender who shuddered at her brown eyes. Even Ron was taken aback by Hermione's hostility. The look on her face was deadly.
"Come on, Hermione. Relax." Ron slowly pushed Lavender behind him.
"Did you give this to her?" her nostrils flared at him.
"What?" Ron scoffed.
"Are you two truly this daft?"
Ron took a step back from the insult and watched in horror as his deranged best friend snorted at her comment.
However, her facial expression quickly hardened again and she neared the couple. "Did you give your blonde bimbo one of my fucking books?"
Ron crinkled his face in confusion but he slowly backed up. "What's your problem?"
Hermione snorted. "My problem? You want to know what my problem is?"
"I think that's what I just asked, yeah." Ron gritted. His eyes squinted at the brunette in front of him. He didn't even recognize the girl that was prowling toward him like some kind of animal.
She stopped and scowled at him. "My problem is that you seem to lack respect for other people's belongings."
"He gave that to me, Hermione!" Lavender argued from behind her boyfriend.
Ron immediately tried pushing Lavender away from Hermione. His arms were blocking the girl from moving any closer to the brunette who maliciously smiled at the two.
"Do you even know what Perfidious means?" Hermione giggled.
Lavender wanted to retaliate. But Ron shushed her while Hermione shook her head at the lesser intellect girl.
"God, honestly!" the brunette hunched down and sprung back up with more frustration in her veins. "How could you exchange complex books such as mine when the both of you barely know to read! Let alone draft your own essays?"
There were a few gasps and quiet comments in the room that reminded Hermione that they weren't alone. But she paid no attention to them. Her eyes were glaring at Ron. The red-haired boy glanced at his housemates with flustered cheeks and a sour expression in his eyes.
"You're a bitch. You know that?" said Ron, harshly.
Hermione's face heated up. She was probably red now. Her fists were clenched at her sides and the book probably had nail markings on the cover.
"You had no right gifting her my book!" Hermione opened the book and held the scrap paper up in the air in Ron's face. "The markings and notes I decorated in the book leave you no room to leave this pathetic note for your stupid girlfriend!"
Lavender let out a loud whimper and Hermione scoffed at her. Ron turned to his girlfriend and whispered something lightly in her ear before turning back to Hermione with a murderous glare on his face.
"You will not disrespect her like that! If you want your stupid book you can have it back!" He shouted whilst taking the crying Lavender in his arms.
"Well, my stupid book is more valuable than your stupid girlfriend." Hermione pointed at Lavender with the book in her hand.
"God, what the fuck is your problem?" Ron had now let go of Lavender and charged at Hermione. He stopped right in front of her and shook his head at the brunette who glared at him. "Are you so miserable with your life that you have to ruin people who are actually happy?"
"Fuck you." Hermione muttered.
Ron shook his head at the girl with one sly smirk. "Get off that high horse of yours, Hermione. Without Harry and me, you're just another bushy-haired, know-it-all fucking prude."
The room went silent. And that's when Hermione decided to take her glance at the audience she was currently entertaining. The whole house must've been watching the showdown between her and Ron and Lavender. And from the portrait hole, she could see Harry and Ginny watching the two with concerned expressions.
"Just keep ignoring us. We're better off without you."
Ron backed away, his head still shaking at her.
Hermione couldn't deny his words slicing at her heart. And from Ron's shoulder, she could see Harry looking awkwardly off to the side of the room. He was ignoring Hermione's stare.
Her eyes went numb to the sight of Ron and Lavender leaving the common room. They too ignored Harry's presence.
The room was still quiet and Hermione took this time to let out a sarcastic laugh. "What are all of you staring at?" she spat at them.
Immediately, the Gryffindors dispersed into their cliques. And the whispers began. Hermione swallowed the dryness of her throat as she began to receive judge stares from all around the room. She shoved the ridiculed note back in her book and held onto it tightly.
She once again met the eyes of Harry and Ginny. The boy immediately flickered his eyes to the ground again. He truly did not want to make eye contact with her. Ginny was the first one to approach Hermione.
"Mione." Ginny nervously said. She shoved her hands awkwardly down her back pockets. The redhead looked like she wanted to say something but was having trouble getting it out.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Hermione noticed Harry eventually walking toward her and Ginny. He came up right next to Ginny and laid his hand on her waist.
While Ginny was managing to get out incomplete sentences here and there, Hermione inspected the jet-haired boy who wouldn't dare make eye contact with her. Harry looked out of place. Eventually, Hermione rolled her eyes and focused her attention back on Ginny.
"Look, I was thinking the two of you could talk things out before we talk. And uhm.." Ginny looked toward the portrait hole. "I'm going to check on Ron, to see if he's okay." she said very carefully.
Hermione was aware that Ginny didn't want to make her upset. After all, she had just blown up in front of the entire Gryffindor house. The brunette flickered her eyes back to Harry who was now surprisingly looking at her.
"Is that okay?" Ginny asked.
"It's perfect." Hermione responded.
Ginny shed a small smile at Hermione before turning to Harry. And to her horror, the redhead girl pecked Harry's lips with a small kiss. The same lips that were snogging Cho Chang not too long ago.
Hermione waited for Ginny to leave the common room. And once she saw the portrait swing close, she shook her head at Harry and scoffed at him before storming off towards the dorms.
"Hermione! Wait!" she could hear him call amidst the crowd of students.
She continued up the stairs in anger and was about halfway until she felt his hand tug on her arm.
"Let me explain." He huffed from below her.
Hermione took a deep inhale and spun around to face him. She brushed a stray curl from her face.
"What part? You ignoring me for the past week or me catching you snogging Cho?" she exclaimed.
Harry's mouth retorted multiple times before he said. "Hey! I'm not the only one out of line. You just freaked out back there!"
She had nothing to say back. Because he was right. In fact, there had been a lot more than just her snapping at Ron. Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and glanced away.
"If only you knew the week I had," she muttered under her breath.
She heard Harry exhale. He was defeated and hung his head low. She couldn't help but feel awkward in their current position right now. Normally, Hermione would've reassured Harry that things would be okay whenever he let out a sigh like that. And if Hermione was ever upset Harry would pull her aside and be the shoulder she would cry on.
But in that tight staircase, all they could do was avoid eye contact with one another. Hermione didn't know if this was hurting Harry the way it was hurting her. To be in the presence of someone you know very well and feel like a complete stranger.
She grew tired of shifting uncomfortably on her feet and grabbed onto the wall to lower herself. She sat down on one of the steps and hugged her knees to her chest.
Harry pressed his back against the stone wall and shoved his hands in his pockets. His face was tilted up and he was looking at the ceiling.
"I thought you liked Ginny." Hermione finally managed to get out.
It took a little longer for Harry to reply than Hermione anticipated. "I do." he said.
"Then why were you snogging Cho?" She looked at the boy.
His eyes were empty and they were glued onto the ceiling. Harry shrugged and shifted his focus to Hermione. "I don't know."
It was an unsatisfying response, and Hermione searched her mind for a question he could answer.
"Why were you ignoring Ron and Ginny?" she asked.
Harry let out a humorless chuckle. "I couldn't just ignore you. They would know something was wrong between us. But if I ignored all of you…" He paused and let out a sigh. "Well, it was easier that way."
Hermione crinkled her eyebrows. She tilted her head at him. "What do you mean by easier?"
His silence worried her. And the blank expression on his face advanced her suspicions. Thoughts, she did not dare to ever think about.
Hermione rose from her seated position after a few more minutes of silence. "Harry." Her best friend didn't pay any attention to her and kept his eyes on his shoes. She anxiously placed both her hands on his shoulders and gave him a light shake.
Harry slowly lifted his head to meet Hermione's eyes. She was terrified to see that he was hesitating from the truth. Something she was begging for yet didn't want to hear.
"I've…had a nice time." he slowly got out. "With new friends."
She let her arms slip from his shoulders and didn't say anything. For the past six years, their trio, the golden trio, had been inseparable. Hermione especially felt that way knowing that Ron and Harry meant so much to her. She's experienced the good and the bad with them. Life and death.
Things like that don't just create a temporary bond. It's a lifetime relationship. But Harry thought otherwise. And maybe Ron too.
"You're not saying this, right?" she quietly whimpered.
Her hands reached out to grab his arm but he flinched it away from her. He didn't respond to her and kept his focus away from her tear-filled eyes.
Hermione let out a breathy sob and glanced away because her vision was becoming blurry. She felt pathetic. Because between the both of them, she was the only one that seemed to care.
"What about Gin?" she abruptly asked.
"I need her in my life."
Hermione crossed her arms. "So did you decide that before or after you kissed Cho?"
She was offended. There was nothing wrong with Ginny, and Hermione knew that the two of them had been crushing on each other for some years now but to disregard their friendship? Hermione had no idea that Harry was capable of having a heart so cold.
"Listen Mione."
She flinched backward. Hearing her nickname leave his lips didn't feel special anymore. It felt foreign.
"I need you to promise me that you won't tell Gin a thing."
She scoffed and glared at him. "Why should I do that? Unlike you, she actually values our friendship."
"I never said I didn't value our friendship!" he fisted the wall next to her.
Hermione jumped out of the sound. With her wide eyes, she hopelessly stared at Harry who inspected his bloodied knuckles. She had felt the wind from his arm brush against her. His fist was that close to her.
Her mouth was dry and she couldn't even acknowledge the boy standing before her. Harry had never been violent with Hermione like that. His physical outburst truly terrified her.
He even looked ashamed. But there was nothing left to say. She wasn't in the mood to talk to him after that scare.
The brunette looked down and made her way slowly up the stairs. But it was Harry's panting that made her hesitant to continue. She grabbed the stone wall for balance before closing her eyes.
And then she turned around to face him from a couple of steps up.
"I don't recognize you anymore."
Harry again, didn't say anything. He just nodded in compliance which urged Hermione to continue back up.
But it was his words that echoed off the tower walls that sent chills down her spine.
"Us. You don't recognize us anymore."
Hermione took her time cleaning up after Ancient Runes. She had nothing to look forward to after class so there was no need for her to rush. She reached for her last quill but someone had bumped into her desk, causing it to fall.
She looked at the gold feather and then backed up to the person who quickly turned around.
"My bad, Granger." Theodore Nott smirked.
He exchanged a devious look with the other Slytherin beside him. He and Blaise gave the girl one last lingering look before exiting the classroom with the rest of the students. She sighed and picked up the quill before shoving it into her book bag.
After confronting Harry a few nights ago, she and Ginny were back talking again. Well, mostly it was Ginny blabbering on about her new relationship with him. And Hermione felt obligated to nod and smile each time her redhead best friend brought him up. Which was all the time. Ginny had never looked so happy and she didn't want to ruin that. And besides, it distracted her from asking Hermione questions about her complicated life right now.
"Hey, Hermione." she heard a voice call from behind her.
Hermione stopped and turned around. It was Cormac. And before she could come up with a reason to keep walking, he had already caught up with her.
"Uh, hi." she forcefully greeted me.
She tried to speed up but his legs were bigger and could effortlessly match her speed. It was affecting her more than him.
"I haven't seen you around those friends of yours." he slyly commented.
Hermione pressed her lips while she thought up an excuse. "Conflicting schedules, you know?"
"Or they've found out about Malfoy."
It was one word. That was all it took for Hermione to stop dead in her tracks. She tensed up hearing his name. She hadn't seen him for a while either. Mainly because she was trying her best to avoid him as she attempted to patch things up with Ginny. The last thing she wanted was for Ginny to be upset about the things she's done with Malfoy.
But how would Cormac know?
Her eyes flickered all around the corridor and she searched for any students nearby. Eventually, Hermione turned to face him. The dirty blonde boy had a challenging smirk on his face. It wasn't attractive whatsoever. She found it maniacal.
"I don't know what you're talking about." she denied.
"Oh please, Hermione." Cormac laughed. He quickly searched the corridor again. When he saw nothing he leaned toward her face and whispered. "Did you think the two of you were alone in the library?"
Her heart sank to her stomach. And she felt her stomach acids splash against her organs because she felt like she was melting.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She let out a humorless laugh to hide her guilt.
Cormac was dim. If she could talk him out of what he had seen she could fix this situation. But the guilty look on her face didn't help her case. She felt transparent.
"Don't play dumb Hermione. It's not your thing." he barked at her.
She bit her inner cheek and pressed her lips in one thin line. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. It was hard for her to think with his questioning gaze. And he was barely giving her any space to breathe. But she needed to stand her ground.
"Whatever you saw between me and Malfoy, was nothing. He was simply bothering me. Like what you're doing right now." She took a step back from him and he only smirked. "Now if you excuse me-" she began drifting away from Cormac.
"But at least I don't have my hands under your skirt."
His remark allowed her to drop her book bag right next to her feet. Just hearing those words come out of his mouth. It reminded her of what she had allowed to happen. And what she allowed people to see.
Hermione wanted to say something. Anything that would shut down Cormac but she was too horrified in the moment to say anything.
She allowed the confident boy to inch closer to her, fearing that if she tried to say something or even move, he would have no trouble telling the next student who walked down this very corridor what he saw between her and Malfoy.
"It's always the porcelain dolls." He tried to reach for her cheek but she drew the line and maneuvered away. "That allows themselves to be ruined by the most savage of hands."
"Don't touch me." She slapped his wandering hands from poking at her curls.
"Careful. You ought to be obedient to me now."
She wanted to throw up. Obedient? Was he seriously blackmailing her? She wouldn't doubt his intentions. Cormac would be the type to manipulate other people to get what he wanted. Similar to Draco.
Hermione's nostrils flared in anger. "I am not someone who you can control, McLaggen."
"Control?" he scoffed. With his big smile plastered onto his face, Cormac tilted his head. "You have a choice, Granger. You just have to pick the right one."
Hermione was breathing hard. She was angry and scared. Out of all the things that have happened to her this year, this was by far the most detrimental. But she knew to keep pushing.
Her arms crossed her chest. "What makes you think people would believe you?"
He grinned. "Please. The whole house of Gryffindor witnessed your explosion at Weasley. Which I enjoyed, immensely by the way." he paused to chuckle. Cormac held his hands behind his back. "You and Potter are not talking and well, everyone noticed. I'm surprised that you and She-Weasley are still friends. Because if she were to find out you've been shagging Malfoy-"
"I'm not shagging Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed a little louder than she had hoped for.
Her reaction had satisfied Cormac because his grin only grew wider. There was no way of getting out of this. He was right. She didn't have anyone left other than Ginny. And if she lost Ginny, she wouldn't know what she would do.
After a few minutes of silence and hopeless thinking, she raised her head at him and tried to scrape up any dignity she still had. "What do you want from me?"
He clicked his cheek with his tongue as if he were thinking hard. But it was a way to taunt the defeated girl. "Well, there's a Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. And I do fancy the cakes at Madam Pudifoot's Tea shop."
A date. He was using one of Hermione's biggest scandals to coerce her into a date. It wasn't as bad as she imagined he was going to do to her. But she couldn't imagine spending her free time with the slimy git. She had to, it was either that or the whole school would be looking at her differently. So Hermione simply nodded with her lips pressed together in pain.
"Awe. Cheer up, Granger." Cormac placed one of his hands on her arm. This time, the girl was too beaten to even care. "This is the start of something romantic."
Romantic? She was too busy cursing him out in her head to notice that he had left with his big smile on his face. She immediately grabbed her bag from below her and rushed out to the one place where she could hopefully find a solution to her problem.
The courtyard was secluded during this time. Many of the students were still in class but she knew the Slytherins often skipped to hang around. And thankfully for her, her eyes landed on the targeted blonde hair.
His back was to her but she rushed to him, alerting his two friends who saw her coming. Blaise nodded in her direction and Draco carelessly turned around.
He gasped mockingly. "You aren't skipping class now are you?"
She stopped right in front of him to catch her breath. Her eyes were filled with hatred but that didn't seem to phase Draco in the slightest. She took this moment to eye him up and down. He didn't have his robe or vest on and was dressed in a white button-up with the green tie pressed perfectly to his collar.
She hated to admit but he looked good in his tone-down uniform. She grew accustomed to always seeing him dressed in black.
"Hello, Granger." Theodore greeted from behind Draco.
"Zabini. Nott." she nodded at them. "Could I talk to Malfoy alone for a moment, please?"
The two boys looked at each other amusingly before nodding. They picked up their bags from the stone bench and wandered away from the courtyard. All while Draco kept his eyes locked on the girl.
He crinkled his brows. "Malfoy? I thought we moved past the last names-"
"I don't have time to play games right now." she snapped at him. "Someone saw us in the library a few nights ago."
Hermione's eyes widened when Draco snickered under his breath. "This isn't funny!" she gasped. She ran her hair through her tousled curls. "If word gets out that I-"
She wouldn't even let the words fall out of her mouth. It was a constant reminder of her desperation. And lack of dignity.
"I'll be ruined." she realized. Hermione's eyes flickered down to her feet. She couldn't bring herself to look at him any further.
Why did it take her so long to realize how destructive her careless actions were? It was one thing to allow a boy access between her legs. Yet it was another thing when that boy happened to be Draco Malfoy.
"You're the one who wanted to play this little game." he shrugged. "I warned you."
"Well the games over." she snarled. "There's too much on the line. And I don't even know what was going on in my head w-when…"
She trailed off as Draco stalked towards her. A murderous expression clouded over his pale face. Hermione could feel the atmosphere darken the second he stopped and was looking directly down at her. He crouched down so that his face was in front of hers and they were both at eye level.
"Don't tell me you're forfeiting already? You haven't even scored." he whispered.
"I-I don't care." she backed away. "I never should've challenged you."
"But you did." he snarled. Draco studied her face. He lifted one of his hands and fondled a stray curl from her face. Hermione tried to swerve him but unlike Cormac, he had swift movements and caught her waist with his other hand. "And the game is not over until I say it is."
"Y-you don't get to decide that." she stuttered.
"Hm." he smirked and let go of her. Draco straightened out his wrinkled shirt now and grabbed his robe and bag from the bench.
Hermione was running out of solutions. Though her solutions were never proven effective this year. It only dug herself into a deeper hole. He had his back turned to her and Hermione could feel all hope drain out of her body. She needed his help.
"Cormac McLaggen is blackmailing me." she wailed at the blonde boy who was about to leave. Draco stopped but didn't turn around. Which signaled Hermione to move closer to the boy. When she was only a few inches away from his back, the brunette clutched his arm for help.
"Please Draco."
He was silent for what felt like a few minutes. Until he turned his head and looked at her hand that only gripped tighter. His face was puzzled and it gave Hermione hope. But only for a split second.
Because when he turned around and let her arm slip to her side he only scoffed at her hopeful eyes.
"I seem to misunderstand how that's my problem."
And he was gone.