Chapter the Twenty-Fourth
Hermione woke with a heavy feeling in her stomach. It was Valentine's Day. Sure, it was midweek, but really, she ought have had an answer for the boys by now. Neither would accept her going out with both of them to Hogsmeade, not even if it was Ron on Saturday and Draco on Sunday.
… No, that was a heavy feeling on her stomach.
Hermione sat up carefully and just managed to catch the box of chocolates as it attempted to slide off the bed. She grimaced and looked at the little gold tag.
Happy Valentine's day, it read, with love from –Ron- -your- -secret- -admirer- -your- -friend- -Ron- -Mr X- -Ronald Weasley-Ron –xxx- x x x
Hermione sighed and smiled. Ron had tried so hard it made her stomach flutter. A few weeks ago it hadn't even occurred to her to think of him as anything more than a friend; now he was doing things like this that made her positively want him to be more than a friend. It was strange. It wasn't entirely unpleasant. She smiled to herself.
Hermione opened the box and laughed delightedly. Ron had left a note inside it, pointing out that he'd taken out all the nutty ones, which Hermione didn't like, and had replaced them with the caramel ones, Hermione's favourite. It was little things like that that made Hermione really think of Ron as a rival for Draco. Ron knew her in ways Draco could ever hope to. Maybe it wasn't always a good thing, but when it came to gifts Hermione knew that no matter how cheap or clichéd the gift appeared to be there would be some small thing that showed it was a gift from Ron to Hermione, not from a boy to a girl or a friend to a friend.
Down by her feet she spotted another gift. It was almost like Christmas. It was rather more symbolic, and certainly more expensive, than Ron's gift. At first Hermione assumed it was going to be considerably less personal, another flashy show of wealth, but when she opened the card her heart stuck in her throat.
…She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:
She swore, in faith 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange,
'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful…
Hermione bit her lip. Othello, of course. Maybe it wasn't personal in the way Ron's was, personal from years of knowing her, but it was a shared kind of personal. It summed up their shared history so perfectly. Regretfully she tore her eyes from the card and turned to the small, elegantly wrapped present. Carefully peeling off the paper she withdrew the kind of box expensive jewellery came in. Could she be blamed for her thoughts immediately turning to rings?
Hermione blinked and shook her head crossly. Of course it wasn't a ring. That would be ludicrous. She opened the box and gasped.
"What is it?" an excited voice squealed. Hermione jumped, startled, and lost the box among the rumpled covers. She threw back the curtains around the bed to see Ginny bouncing up and down, hands clasped together in front of her chest. Lavender and Parvati were both watching as well, though the other sixth year girls also had a handful of cards and small gifts on their beds.
Hermione stared at them. "Have you been watching me?" she demanded, trying desperately to keep her voice angry and her cheeks pale. After all that sappy smiling and girlish giggling blushing would just be the cherry on the cake for the other girls.
Ginny had dived for the box, causing Hermione to scramble up the pillow to avoid roving hands. Ginny didn't blush when she realised why Hermione was ducking away and even managed a crude leer before collapsing into fits of giggles and falling sideways off the bed, as tangled in the covers as Hermione was. The small box skittered across the floor and Lavender made a grab for it, crashing headlong into Parvati who had had the same idea.
While they were blaming each other for the bump Hermione managed to scramble out of the bed and grabbed the box, fleeing to the prefect's bathroom, still in her pyjamas. Locking the door and collapsing against it, she was greeted by the curious faces of Moaning Myrtle and the mermaid.
"Go away," Hermione snapped, unable to help herself. "I've only been awake ten minutes and this is already shaping up to be a miserable day."
"Oo-oh," Myrtle teased. "Pretty Miss Prefect's in a strop. Too many boyfriends? Poor thing."
"Shut up," Hermione ground out.
The Mermaid produced an ear splitting shriek of a giggle, making even Myrtle wince. The aquatic girl wiggled her fins and made crude gestures with her fingers that raised Hermione's eyebrows.
"Yes, I'm sure an orgy would solve all my problems," she said scathingly. "I only came in here to get a proper look at this necklace without everyone peering over my shoulder."
"What is it?" Myrtle asked despite herself.
Hermione held up the delicate gold chain. The pendant consisted of three roses, one with an ebony head, one with a pearl head, and one with a ruby head. The black rose and the white rose were entwined around the red rose.
"Oo-oh," Myrtle, Hermione and the mermaid sighed simultaneously.
"Date him!" Myrtle exclaimed, the mermaid nodding vehemently. "Stuff the dull redhead, date the rich boy!"
Hermione sighed. All the joy she had taken in the exquisite gift was instantly wiped away at the reminder of the choice she faced. Ron or Draco?
She had time for a bath before breakfast, didn't she? Anything for a little relaxation. God knows by the end of the day she'd be desperate for anything to soothe her frayed nerves.
Breakfast just confirmed Hermione's suspicions that this was going to be an absolutely terrible day. She was a bit late, hair still dripping, clothes a little crooked, and lying next to her plate was a bunch of twenty four red roses.
"Krum," Harry said dully.
"Oh no," Hermione moaned as she sat down.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked apprehensively.
"There was a melee in the dormitory this morning," Ginny explained. "Poor Hermione was chased out."
"Parvati and Lavender both got gifts," Hermione grumbled. "Why were mine so much more interesting?"
"Because Dean's been giving Lavender chocolates for three years now and Parvati sends herself half those gifts just to try and outdo her," Ginny grinned. "The only time Valentine's was ever a big thing here, for every one else anyway, was when Lockhart made that big deal out of it. I mean, have you ever sent a card? I know I haven't."
Ron was slowly turning a darker and deeper shade of red.
"I guess," Hermione said. "I suppose getting anything counts as a big deal." She grimaced. "Oh god, why me? I'm going to be the centre of attention for weeks!"
Ron slid down a few more inches in his seat, arms folded defensively across his chest.
"I think it's cool," Ginny insisted. "I mean, you've got chocolates, jewellery and roses! It's all so traditional and sweet and romantic. You're the most sought after girl at school!"
"Certainly by the staff," said a cold voice behind her. "Perhaps it has escaped your notice, all of you, but the bell has gone." Snape sneered. "I think a week's worth of detention each, for being late for lessons?"
Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Harry stared in dismay around the empty hall.
"How did we miss that?" Harry groaned. Ron, however, looked glad of the escape.
Hermione began to wonder whether someone was tinkering with her timetable. Some times it seemed like every other lesson was Arithmancy or Potions or DADA. No, more than that. It was like she couldn't escape Draco. At least in Arithmancy she was free of Ron, but Draco practically tailed her around the school. He didn't say anything to her, but she could feel his eyes on her constantly.
In Care of Magical Creatures he sidled up to her. They were all watching Hagrid demonstrate how to wash a phoenix as he handled an indignant Fawkes, Dumbledore watching from nearby. The class were sombre beneath the watchful eye of their headmaster. Hermione was distracted, watching Fawkes try to take lumps out of Hagrid's already impressively scarred arm as he drenched the firebird in water, when Draco came up behind her and slipped something into one of her hands. She turned to stare at him, but his eyes were fixed intently on the screaming bird.
Hermione glanced around and opened the card one handed, down by her side. Looking surreptitiously down, she saw it was plain white with gold writing. She sucked her breath in as she read it.
"Othello is a tragedy," she pointed out sotto voce.
"So is life," he said in the same soft tones. "Will you go out with me?"
"Draco," Hermione sighed, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Please?" he turned to look at her then, and her stomach flip-flopped.
"I don't know," she managed. Then, "I can't."
"Because of Ron," he stated, voice bleak. He returned his gaze to the irate phoenix.
"Because of everything." Hermione couldn't take her eyes off him. She could feel Ron watching them, Harry watching them, half the class watching them. Part of her wanted to throw her arms around Draco and kiss him senseless, a most un-Hermione-like feeling. Instead she steeled herself and made a point of watching the lesson, only saying out of the corner of her mouth: "meet me in the library after supper."
As the lesson ended and Draco had returned to 'his own kind', as Ron put it, the red head in question made a point of joining Hermione before she could escape to the relative solitary of the dorms. Harry kept away, whether out of tact or because he was still upset with Hermione, the girl couldn't work out. Whatever the reason, Hermione found herself cornered alone with the lanky Weasley.
"What did Malfoy say to you?" he asked, keeping his voice pleasant.
"Gave me another card," Hermione admitted.
"Can I. . . Do you mind if I look at it?" Ron asked awkwardly. Hermione, to the surprise of both, handed it over without a word. "'She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her, that she did pity them.'" He sighed and handed it back. "Where's the quote from?"
"A Muggle play," Hermione dismissed it. "It's Draco's way of saying he appreciates the sympathy I've shown him."
Ron shook his head. "Its Malfoy's way of saying he's chosen to interpret your actions as a sign that you love him. Arrogant bastard," he added, more out of a sense of tradition than any real malice.
"He asked me about Hogsmeade again," Hermione said. "At least, I think that's what he was referring to. He might have just been asking me out, full stop."
Ron closed his eyes.
"I said no," Hermione added.
"Yes!" Ro cheered under his breath. He opened his eyes too late to notice Hermione's amused look. "So. . ." he began hopefully, but his face fell at Hermione's pained expression. "I guess not, then," he sighed.
"I don't know!" Hermione snapped. She rubbed the heel of her palm across her forehead, wiping away the irritated frown. "I'm sorry, Ron, but I really don't. I want to say yes to both of you, and I can't do that because it will make me unhappy. So then I want to say yes to one of you, but then the other's unhappy. So instead I find myself saying no to both of you, which means none of us are happy."
Ron stared at the ground. "Is this a subtle hint that I should back off and, if I really love you, let you be happy with Draco? Because I'm not good with subtle, and I'm not good with letting you date Malfoy."
Hermione smiled. "No, it isn't," she reassured him warmly, reaching out and squeezing his hand. "I wouldn't do that to you. I don't know how I'd feel about you as a boyfriend, but I know I love you too much as a friend to do that to you."
Ron smiled back. "If I'd known you were going to be that nice about it, I'd have told you how I felt years ago."
"Years?" Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "Oh god, Ron, I had no idea!"
Ron shrugged awkwardly. "Yeah, well, you were one of my best friends. I didn't want to screw that up. I kept kinda hoping it would go away, I guess."
Hermione couldn't help but smiled. "You're one of the sweetest people I've ever known," she told him sincerely. "Almost as sweet as those caramel creams," she added.
Ron grinned at her. "You liked them? I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing, especially after this morning."
Hermione grimaced. "I'm sorry, I overreacted a bit this morning. It's just this is all so much at once. I didn't expect it when I began this year. Maybe I should have, but romance simply wasn't something I ever thought about, except in vague terms. You know, something for the future."
Ron chuckled. "Yeah, it does that. Sneaks up on ya. Sneaky like that."
"Yes, very sneaky," Hermione nodded solemnly. Her mouth twitched.
"Bad, sneaky feelings. Naughty hormones," Ron grinned.
"Naughty," Hermione echoed, giggling.
They looked at each other, and both started to laugh uproariously, standing in the middle of the corridor. It was a release. Ron felt the relief of the revelation of his crush on Hermione, and Hermione was relaxed in the knowledge that Ron wouldn't force a decision from her, friends as they were and would always be, no matter what.
"Do you want some of those chocolates?" Hermione asked. "I've still got plenty left. Been too upset to eat much today."
"After lunch," Ron told her. "Come on. Everything'll be gone by the time we get there if we don't hurry up."
"Sure," Hermione said sardonically. "Because the refilling plates will cease to work simply because we're not there."
"Didn't you know? Without us nothing works around here!"
If you had asked her, Hermione wouldn't have been able to say what lesson she had after lunch that day. Could have been Japanese for Beginners, for all she remembered. Eating Ron's chocolates, fingering Draco's necklace and arranging Victor's flowers, she tried to calm the storm in her thoughts. She'd told Ginny to tell the others she wasn't going down for dinner. The chocolates would keep her stomach from whining too much and she wasn't really in the mood for company.
She had to make a choice, but there was no solution where everyone got to be happy, which was the only thing she actually wanted. And the worst part was, the absence of a solution also made people unhappy. There was no way around this without upsetting people. It was like some horribly complicated maths puzzle, where x had to equal y, 52 and v13.
Ron's scrawled and blotted card lay on her bed, next to Draco's carefully crafted calligraphy and Victor's printed note. As much as she cared for Victor, Hermione knew she could dismiss him. The age difference bothered her more than she had let on to the Bulgarian, and sweet as he was he wasn't what she was looking for. He lacked the sharp wit she exchanged with Draco and the down to earth common sense Ron shared with her.
She had to meet Draco in the library soon. It had never occurred to her, when she arranged that meeting, that she wouldn't have an answer for him.
Hermione sighed and put down the chocolates. She knew the answer. She always had done. It was just a question of saving someone's feelings.