A/N- I HAVE A TITLE! It should make more sense later on, but I was so excited to have finally made a decision that I wanted to change it ASAP. Bathroom Confessions, courtesy of CarrieMaxwell on AO3, was also in the running. Anyway, this is a longer chapter(this is apparently a red letter day for me lmao). It's a little slow, but I'm hoping the plot willill pick up from here. I hope you enjoy, and please review.
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Hermione emerged from the prefects' bathroom with a spring in her step, wet hair pulled up into the neatest ponytail possible(which is to say, a rather messy one). She was headed for the Gryffindor Common Room to retrieve her bottle of Sleekeazy's and a fresh set of robes from the girls' dormitories. Then she'd have to try to piece together the assignments from all the classes she'd missed. She was grateful she hadn't missed Arithmancy. Her favorite class consisted solely of her and a few Ravenclaws. She didn't know where the Ravenclaw Common Room was, and she certainly wasn't going to just hover at a fork in the corridor on the off-chance that one of them would happen by. She scowled at the mere thought of this, earning her inquisitive stares from a group of first years that she passed.
Eventually, Hermione reached the entrance to the Common Room.
"Password?" the Fat Lady asked uninterestedly, studying what appeared to be a manicure. Hermione frowned at this. Where did she get nail polish? she wondered, dismissing the thought as she noticed the Lady's expectant stare.
"Dilligrout," she said quickly. The portrait swung forward, its occupant's gaze already back to her fingernails. Hermione stepped into the warm atmosphere and immediately felt at home. The sight of the crimson and gold drapings, along with the hubbub of warm chatter and the crackling fireplace seemed to restore order to her world, which had been turned on its head for the past few days. A smile played across her lips as she made a beeline for the entrance to the girls' dormitories, taking the steps up to her level two at a time. She grabbed fresh robes and snapped the curtains on her four-poster shut while she changed. After that, she grabbed her bottle of Sleekeazy's and situated herself in front of a mirror. After a brief struggle to free the hairband from her locks, she began applying liberal amounts of the stuff.
Forty-five minutes and half a bottle of potion later, Hermione reentered the Common Room, book bag hung over her shoulder. She beamed at the sight of her friends' hunched-over figures, Harry's head of messy dark locks nearly touching Ron's neat(er) mop of fiery red hair, as the pair sat opposite each other at a small table, quills scratching furiously against parchment. She took a seat at the table with them, folding her arms together and resting them on a stack of books. Neither boy noticed her presence. One of her eyebrows shot up. She had never once seen them this engrossed by their studies in their entire time at Hogwarts, even when they'd been preparing for their O.W.L.s the year before.
"So…" she began. Both boys jumped, Harry so much so that his glasses flew right off his face. He began fumbling blindly for them. Hermione sighed, but her smile remained. No, her friends were still the same Harry and Ron. They hadn't miraculously changed in her absence. She drew her wand from her bag and waved it. Accio! she commanded silently. Harry's glasses flew into her outstretched palm. She closed his fingers around them and watched, bemused, as he shoved them back and turned to stare at her, blinking several times as if he didn't believe his eyes. Ron hadn't moved(with the exception of the jump) since she'd spoken. He sat there, gaping stupidly at her. Harry was the first of the two to recover.
"Where the fuck have you been?!" he demanded. The Common Room grew silent, save for the crackling of the fireplace. All its occupants turned to glare at Harry, except for a small group of second years, who gaped wide-eyed, clearly shocked by the use of the curse word. Harry, however, was completely oblivious to this, his emerald eyes focused on Hermione. Ron still had yet to move so much as a muscle. As the Gryffindors slowly returned to their work, many still shooting Harry the occasional dirty look, Hermione began to speak, choosing her words carefully.
"I… um, well… it's a rather long story, you see," she stammered, unsure of how much to divulge, "so, um-"
"YOU SCARED US HALF TO DEATH!" Ron exploded suddenly, having come to his senses. This outburst earned still more dirty looks from the other Gryffindors.
"Will you two shut up?" Hermione hissed, shooting an apologetic glance at the table nearest theirs. She took a deep breath and began to recount the story in hushed tones. Harry and Ron remained mercifully silent while she did so.
"I didn't know what to do, so I hid," she finished, having conveniently left out the details of where she'd hidden, let alone what had transpired there. What her friends didn't know couldn't hurt them. But if they ever did find out, it could certainly hurt her. Her friends would never let her live that down as long as she lived. Blinking to clear her thoughts, she returned her focus to her friends, who blinked stupidly at her. Once again, Harry was the first to recover.
"So… you disappeared," she nodded tentatively, "for three days," - another nod - "because of a bad grade?!" she grimaced, remembering Malfoy's reaction to this information. She knew her friends would at least try to be a bit more empathetic. Merlin knew that term didn't exactly resonate with Draco Malfoy. But what about- she bit her lip, forcing the thought from her mind and narrowing her eyes defiantly when tears began to threaten. Harry appeared not to have noticed this, busy as he was ogling her as if she had just sprouted a third arm.
"Wait…" Ron said softly, emerging from his stupor in a much quieter manner this time, "does that mean… the slip… in the Common Room" - he gestured broadly - "...is that why?" the question came in strung-together bits and pieces, but Hermione knew exactly what he meant, no deciphering necessary.
"Yes," she replied simply, worried he would want further explanation - which he was rather entitled to. But Ron seemed entirely content with this answer, and he turned away from her, softly muttering nonsense to himself and seemingly oblivious to Harry, whose jade green eyes were flicking back and forth between the two of them, his expression perplexed, if a bit wounded. Hermione shook her head at him, mouthing, "long story," but remaining silent so as not to disturb Ron. She imagined Harry already knew the basic details of what had transpired in the Common Room that evening, but she'd rather he didn't find out any more of the harsh details than necessary. She was a bit embarrassed by the whole debacle. And that was without factoring in Draco Malfoy.
"Look," she said, returning her attention to her friends. Ron's gaze shot back to her, clearly fully alert now. She considered that for a moment. Ron certainly wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, not by a long shot. He was a bit slow, but that didn't stop him. He was always dependable in that he would be there to lend an ear, even if he had difficulty fully comprehending the weight of what he was hearing. She eyed him for a moment, but quickly dismissed the thought. He was probably still recovering from the inevitable shock of this whole mess. And he didn't even know the half of it. Right there and then, she made herself a promise. No matter what happened, Ron(and hopefully the rest of the world) could never know what had happened between her and Draco Malfoy in that girls' bathroom. He made no real effort to hide his feelings for her, despite the fact that she'd broken up with him last year. They'd dated briefly, but she'd realized quickly that she couldn't reciprocate his feelings. It had been a bit of a relief, actually. At first she'd found his simple personality endearing, but eventually it became a nuisance. And the whole situation had been rather awkward. Granted, friends to lovers wasn't always the smoothest of transitions, but Ron certainly hadn't made it any easier. Hermione had found herself turning to Harry in desperate attempts to keep the relationship afloat while she puzzled out her feelings. The last straw had been when he'd stolen Harry's invisibility cloak to eavesdrop on a conversation between his girlfriend and his best friend in an inane attempt to see if they were secretly together behind his back. They weren't, of course, but that had set her off. She'd broken up with him on the spot, infuriated as she was by the idea that Ron, who'd known her for years thought that she would do something like that. And with one of her best friends, no less! She knit her brows in frustration at the mere thought. She knew he meant well, but it had seemed as if jealousy had just overtaken him. He'd forced himself to extremes in a vain attempt in keeping them afloat, only to capsize them even faster. But it had likely been for the best, even for him. They were never going to last. Deep down, both of them had known it all along.
She blinked herself back to reality, relaxing the muscles in her face, which had tightened into a scowl, and silently berating herself for getting lost in thought again. She desperately needed sleep. She'd slept soundly the night before, but there was only so much good that could do when it had occurred whilst perched on the edge of a bathroom sink. Hermione forced her full attention back towards her friends, who did not appear to have noticed her brief lapse into deep, meandering thought, making her wonder how long she'd been zoned out. She inhaled deeply before continuing, "our… our entire time at Hogwarts, I've had my sights set on Head Girl," she paused, glancing at each of the boys in turn to ensure they were following before she continued on, "and… well… this ruined my chances," she finished lamely, unsure of what to say next but plowing onward when Harry and Ron remained silent, "anyway, um… yeah, I'm all good now," she cringed as she said it. She sounded like such an idiot. She angled her gaze toward the table before her, pursing her lips. After a moment of absolute silence, she couldn't stand it any longer. She spoke once more in an attempt to break it, "so… um… what homework did I miss?"
Harry and Ron shared a glance, before breaking out into identical grins and turning back to their friend, beginning to talk at the same time, in the same frantic, hurried tone. Hermione smiled herself, a soft, contented sigh escaping her lips. Thank Merlin that's over, she thought.
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A/N- Okay, so Harry and Ron were a bit OOC, and the chapter was a little slow, but I did write a longer chapter finally! If all goes as planned, the plot should start picking up once again. I hope you enjoyed, and please review!
~hermionegrangerandarocketship