Chapter Ten

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Decisions, Decisions

"If you don't come down for dinner right this minute, Harry Potter, I'm going without you!" Hermione called as she stormed into the Gryffindor common room.

Behind a haze of purple cloud, Harry peered out at her. "Sometimes you sound just like Aunt Petunia," he scoffed.

Hermione hated for him to say that. And he knew it.

"We're already late, Harry!" The teachers were probably frantic. But Harry needed to eat some dinner for the Quidditch game tomorrow, and Hermione needed to talk to him anyway.

Harry flicked his wrist and more purple clouds sprang from his wand. He scowled, and began to practise flicking his wrist. "I can't get this spell right," grumbled Harry.

She turned her back on him. "I'm going," she said and began to march towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. "You can stay in here all night and lose the Quidditch match tomorrow for all I care."

Harry sighed and tucked the wand into his pocket. "What's the rush?" he asked, catching up to Hermione as she stepped out of the portrait.

"We're late for dinner."

"So?"

"So I'm always on time for dinner."

"That's your first mistake," Harry said. "If you always do something, teachers get to expect it. You should keep them guessing. It gives them something to do."

"It's different with you," Hermione said. "The professors here expect exemplary behaviour from me."

Harry chuckled. "It's not the professors, Hermione. It's you."

This was not the first time she had heard that. Harry and Ron said she depended too much on schedule. They should she should be more flexible. But she was not a spur of the moment person.

Deliberately changing the subject, she asked him, "So where'd you go at Hogsmeade last weekend?"

He pulled out his wand again and began to practice his technique again. He started looping his wand around, shooting more purple clouds. "Nowhere."

She stepped back to avoid his flailing arm and coughed a little on the smoke. "The rest of the boys came over to Honeydukes."

He stopped midcircle, his arm hanging forward. "How'd you know?"

"I was there."

"You?" His arm fell to his side. "Were at Honeydukes?"

Hermione nodded. "Ginny asked me to come with her there." She shrugged. "So I went."

"I thought you didn't like her."

"You said that. I didn't," Hermione said. "Why weren't you with the boys?"

"I didn't feel like following Ginny around."

"I thought you liked her."

He grinned. "You said that. I didn't."

"Well, you sure act like you like her."

"She's all right," he said. "Cute and all that, but not worth all the…" Unable to find the right word, he shrugged.

"Millicent Bulstrode thinks she's boy crazy."

"She has a funny way of showing it," Harry said. "Like the other day. She just disappeared. There everybody was fighting over her, and she wasn't even there!" He chuckled. "I was the only one who saw her leave."

"What'd they say when you told them she was gone?"

"Me? I didn't tell them. Why should I tell them and spoil all the fun?"

They both laughed.

Growing suddenly serious, Harry asked, "Hermione, if you could pick someone from the class – someone to be your… boyfriend – who would it be?"

Despite his serious expression, Hermione thought he was joking. "No one!" she said emphatically.

"What about… Ron?" he persisted.

Hermione rolled her eyes skyward as if to say, Save me!

"Seamus?"

Hermione groaned.

"Dean?"

She said "Harry!" hoping to put an end to this ridiculous conversation.

A smile broke across his face. "Me? Really?"

"You? My boyfriend?" She giggled. "That's the funniest thing I ever heard!" She broke into a hardy laugh, expecting Harry to join in.

But he didn't.

o-o-o-o-o

Hermione went to her dorm room immediately after dinner. She glanced around at the crimson walls, the mahogany wallpaper border, the Gryffindor patchwork quilt on her bed. She liked the peaceful order of the room. It quieted her mind and helped her organise her thoughts. And they certainly needed organising today!

Folding a leg under her, she sat at her maple desk, lit her oil lamp, and opened her Arithmancy nook. But she couldn't concentrate. She kept thinking of her conversation with Harry, wondering why he had asked her whom she would choose to be her boyfriend. He knew her well enough to know it wasn't a subject that interested her. Boys were all right but, except for Harry and Ron, she thought it better to have as little to do with them as possible. They weren't… serious people.

Even those who were very bright made fun of school. Sports were all any of them cared about, which made no sense to Hermione at all since, aside from their value as exercise, sports were meant to be a diversion, something to take a person's mind off the really important things in life.

She sighed, wishing she had someone to talk about the changes in third year. But they were all a part of what was happening, and they wouldn't understand. She didn't understand it.

Lavender Brown, who rarely spoke to Hermione, arrived at her dorm room at seven.

"How come you went to Hogsmeade with Ginny?" she asked, her tone accusing.

"Because she asked me," Hermione said simply. She wasn't going to let Lavender make her mad.

"A lot of people ask me places I don't go," Lavender shot back.

Hermione didn't respond. If Lavender wanted an argument, she'd have to find someone else.

"Besides," Lavender went on," I didn't think you liked her."

"I never said I didn't like her." Silently, Hermione added, You're the one calling her names all the time.

"But you acted like you didn't."

"When?"

"During the hippogriff thing for one," Lavender snapped.

"That didn't have anything to do with Ginny." Hermione wanted to add, You just wanted to cause trouble, but that would only make Lavender madder. Instead, she said, "Listen, Lavender, I can't talk now. I have to finish my Arithmancy."

Lavender left the room without saying goodbye, slamming the door on her way out.

Almost immediately, Padma came in. Hermione could hear voices coming from the common room.

"Hi, Hermione," Padma said. "How are you?"

Hermione heard a muffled giggle.

They're all together, Hermione thought. She imagined the girls gathered in the common room, having a laugh at her expense. Well, she wouldn't give them the satisfaction of thinking it bothered her. She said, "I'm fine. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm okay. I just thought I'd come, you know, to talk."

"About what?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Whatever." She paused for a long time during which Hermione could hear whispered prompting. "I was wondering," Padma said finally, "how'd you like hanging out with Ginny?"

"It was fine," Hermione responded.

"Did she say anything?"

"About what?"

"I don't know – anything. Like, about any of the… boys or anything."

"No," Hermione said.

Someone whispered, "Get out, Padma," to which Padma whispered out of the corner of her mouth, "No!" Then she said to Hermione, "No? Really? What did you talk about?"

"We didn't talk much," Hermione answered, waiting with delicious anticipation for the next question.

"What did you do?"

"Ate candy," Hermione, emphasizing every word carefully and getting up from her chair and walking towards the door, "the most delicious candy I have ever tasted." Then, she shut the door.

It opened again. Hermione closed it again before seeing who had opened it and shouted, "I have better things to do than talk to you." Although she hated arguments, she felt a satisfying surge of victory.

The next time the door opened, she waited for it to open completely. She didn't say a word.

"Hermione?" It was Parvati. "Listen, I don't blame you for closing the door on me."

Hermione listened for background sounds, but she heard none.

"I mean, what I did a few lunchtimes ago!" Parvati went on. "Padma was being horrible to you, and all I could think about was Draco. And the other day, we had plans, and I just went off to meet Ginny with everybody else. I did try to find you and all, but…" She paused. "Hermione are you okay?" She paused again. "I just wanted you to know that I feel really bad about all that, and - "

Hermione couldn't stand to hear the sadness in her friend's voice. "It's okay," she interrupted. "I'm not mad."

"Really?" Parvati said. "Let's do something next weekend, okay?"

"Okay," Hermione agreed, adding lightly, "you need all the friends you can get. I mean anyone who flips over Draco Malfoy of all people!"

Parvati laughed. "Isn't it weird? I don't even like him!"

"Everything's weird," Hermione said.

"That's for sure," Parvati agreed.

"Greg even asked who I'd pick for a boyfriend!"

Where that had struck her as disturbing before, it seemed hilarious now. She began to laugh, thinking Parvati, too, would see the humour in it.

But Parvati's voice was serious when she asked, "Who would you pick, Hermione?"