A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am so glad that you liked the reveal - I know a lot of you guessed it, but I hope it wasn't too obvious. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter eleven and be on the lookout for chapter twelve soon!
Hermione wiped furiously at her eyes, glad that no one was able to see her tear streaked face as she wandered through the hallways, looking for a good place to hide. She hadn't known what to do the minute that she laid eyes on Ron and Lavender snogging, but the impulse to get as far away from the Gryffindor Common Room as possible was impossible to ignore.
Ducking into an empty classroom, Hermione sat on one of the desks by the window, staring out into the inky darkness of the night. She wondered how it had all gone so wrong.
It had happened earlier in the week. She wasn't entirely sure what brought it up, but Ginny had announced, quite untactfully, that Hermione had snogged Viktor Krum back in fourth year. That had sent Ron into a sputtering, angry mess. He'd been pressing her for more information on it, for confirmation that it wasn't true, but Hermione couldn't see any reason to lie to him. Besides, it wasn't really his business who she snogged. Or did more with, Hermione thought with a stubborn blush.
Ron had remained furious with her all week, only made more acute when he grew more nervous for his first Quidditch match as keeper. Hermione tried to be supportive of her friend, knowing that he was just going through a stressful period in his life, but she found his tantrums to be really quite grating.
She'd thought he'd gotten over his...his childish jealousy when he'd been carried into the Common Room on the shoulders of the other players, his spirits high. He'd met her eyes and given her a dopey smile, and she was so excited to congratulate him, especially after Harry told her that he hadn't given Ron the Felix Felicis that he'd won in Potions class. For once, she really felt herself getting swept up in the euphoria of a Quidditch win.
But, her hopes were immediately dashed when she watched Ron pull Lavender Brown into a full blown snog, the Common Room swelling to a volume so loud that she couldn't even hear herself think. The tears had prickled at her eyes when she realized that Ron was doing this to get even with her, as if kissing Viktor had been something she'd done to hurt him. She knew that Ron was petty, but this was a new level for him.
Now that she was alone, she lazily tried conjuring her patronus, but wasn't able to manage more than a few wisps due to how sad she was feeling. She hadn't been able to stop crying, thinking of how bad it hurt to know that Ron wanted her to feel just as terrible as he must have. Well, it obviously worked, she thought to herself with a frown. She wondered how she'd ever had a crush on the big lug.
The door to the classroom creaked open, and Hermione cursed herself for not having cast a charm on it, wondering if it was Harry who'd come after her. To her surprise, the tall form of Theo Nott slipped in, closing the door behind him. "Granger?" he asked, peering at her with concern. "Are you alright? I heard crying."
Hermione blinked at him owlishly, embarrassed at how loud she must have been crying if Theo had been able to hear it in the hallway. And here she'd thought she was being discrete. She run her hands over her wet cheeks, looking down and biting her lip. "Yes, I'm fine," she said. "Just a bit of...intra-house drama."
"What could you Gryffindors possibly have to fight about?" he asked, crossing the room until he stood in front of her. "You just won a great game of Quidditch."
She looked up into his blue eyes and gave a little shrug. "Ron snogged Lavender in front of the whole common room," she started.
Before she could relay the rest of her thoughts, Theo was practically snarling at her. "You're jealous?" he demanded, sounding incredulous and surprised. "What do you even see in Weasley? The whole school knows that you are leagues ahead of him."
Hermione blushed brightly, thinking that that rather sounded like a compliment. "It's not...I'm not jealous of Lavender," she stammered, unsure of how to get her thoughts on the matter out. "I'm sure that if it was a year ago, I'd be very jealous. It just always kind of seemed like Ron and I would end up together...but now..." she trailed off, not sure what to tell him. She couldn't just come out and say that she found Theo infinitely more attractive to her than her redheaded friend. She didn't think she could stand the rejection.
Theo took a step closer to her, until he was practically touching her bent knees. "And now?" he asked, his voice catching in his throat.
"Now, I guess...I just find him childish," Hermione revealed, unable to stop from staring at the Slytherin in front of her. "He got mad at me after he learned that I kissed Viktor Krum back in fourth year. I imagine that this is his way of getting even with me. That's what hurts...that he just wanted to make me feel bad for doing something he didn't like."
"Why do you care what Weasley thinks of you at all?" Theo questioned, an edge of anger in his voice. "I mean, I know we aren't friends or anything, but it doesn't seem like Weasley is a very good friend to you. Or Potter for that matter."
Hermione bristled, not wanting him to say something bad about her friends, not even if she was made at them for the moment. "He can be a good friend," Hermione insisted, unsure of why she was defending him. "But...he's got a bit of an inferiority complex, if I'm honest." She was surprised that she'd said that aloud, but there was something about Theo that made her want to open up to him. And, it wasn't as if it wasn't true about Ron. "I don't know if you can really say anything about friends, either, Theo. You and Malfoy are constantly bickering at the Slytherin table."
He tried to hide a smile that was threatening to form on his lips. "You sure do keep a keen eye on me, don't you, Hermione?" he asked, teasing. "Draco and I, just...well, sometimes he thinks he just knows everything. It's up to me to set him right. After all, it's not as if Crabbe or Goyle will do it."
"Merlin, do they ever even look up from their dinners long enough to know something is wrong?" she asked, making him laugh. She wanted to do that again. He stepped closer to her again, and then there was no space between them. Hermione's stomach twisted in excitement, a part of her wanting to open her legs for him, so that he could stand in the space she created. She could feel the heat of his body seeping through his jumper.
"You're clever, Granger," he said with a nod. His hands clenched at his side, as if he wanted to reach out and touch her, but was holding himself back.
"Hermione," she insisted, her tongue darting out to wet her lower lip. "And, you are wrong."
"What?" he asked, looking at her in confusion. "Are you trying to suggest that you aren't clever? I thought you were meant to be the brightest witch of our age, or some shite like that."
She shook her head back and forth. "No, I mean...you said that we weren't friends or anything," she explained. "I mean...I understand if you don't want to advertise it...I probably won't go telling Harry and Ron either, but...I'd like to think that you and I are friends at this point, Theo."
His eyes dropped to her lips, just like they had in the broom closet and Hermione wondered if he was going to kiss her this time. Merlin, she wanted him to do it more than ever, but she wondered if he would have enough courage to bridge the gap. Just as she was going to reach her hands out to grab the soft-looking material of Theo's jumper, the door to the room was bursting open again. A giggling Lavender was slipping in, dragging a stumbling Ron in after her.
Theo cleared his throat, stepping back from Hermione when Ron's eyes finally settled on the unexpected pair. He glared at Hermione when he began to understand the scene that he was seeing in front of him. "Oi, what the bloody hell is going on in here?" he demanded, shaking off Lavender's hands from where they were holding onto his arm.
Hermione glared back at Ron, hating that he'd ruined the moment between her and Nott, just when she thought that she might actually get a kiss out of him. Hopping off of the desk she'd been perched on, she turned to look at her friend. "It's none of your business, Ron," she said quietly, wishing that the two intruders would just leave.
"Come on Ron," Lavender pleaded, tugging at his sleeve. "It looks like the room is already occupied," she said in a sing-song kind of voice, recognizing the tension and trying to de-escalate the situation.
Ron did not seem to be convinced by Lavender's words, instead shaking his hand out of her grasp once again. "No, I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on, 'Mione," he said, his voice dropping an octave while he stared at her, oscillating between anger and hurt. Hermione barely was able to stop herself from snapping at him, wanting to remind him that he had no right to demand such information from her. What did he even care if she was spending time with Theo in the first place?
Before she could think of something to say, Theo was stepping in front of her, putting himself between her and Ron. "I think Granger made it very clear that it was none of your business, Weasley," he said, his voice graveley and firm, leaving no room for argument.
Ron looked like he wanted to say something, but whatever he saw in Theo's face made him second guess himself. Instead, he scoffed, shaking his head at her. "Fine. Do whatever you want, 'Mione," he said with pure venom in his voice.
She couldn't stop herself from peeking around Theo's back to glare back at him. "Just like you do, Ron," she retorted, hating that she was expected to fulfill a different set of rules from him and Harry.
Letting Lavender pull him from the room, Ron slammed the door shut, eager to show his displeasure with the situation. Once she was left alone again with Theo, she let her head drop, sighing, suddenly feeling very tired. "Great, I'm never going to hear the end of this," she said with a groan. "I don't know why he is acting that way."
"Really?" Theo asked in disbelief. "It's clear that...he imagines he fancies you."
Hermione let the silence stretch between them as she tried to decide how best to respond. "Well, I don't fancy him back...I fancy someone else," she said, biting at her lower lip. "Just because we are friends doesn't mean he's entitled to me. And if he really was interested, he could show it in a better way than by snogging another witch."
Theo was looking at her with his head cocked to one side, as though he were trying to figure her out. She wondered if he didn't believe her about her feelings towards Ron. It seemed as if everyone just expected her to end up with him. Was he speculating as to who else she could like?
Shaking her head, she didn't think she could spend another minute in his presence for fear that she would wrap her arms around his neck and try to kiss him. "Thanks for cheering me up," she said when she walked past him. "But, I better get back and try to do a bit of damage control. See you in class."
"Goodnight, Hermione," he called after her retreating form, none the wiser of the shiver that her name on his lips sent racing up her spine.