My friendship with Hermione was growing beyond Potions. We were in a few of the same classes. I joined her table in Herbology, especially. It was early December, and snow was falling on the grounds outside us. Luckily, heating charms made it comfortable in the green house, and we were faced with the task of opening Snargaluff pods and removing their tubers.
Hermione and I were fighting with one of the plants, while Ron and Harry took care of another. "This isn't that bad," I said. From the frustrated comments coming from other tables, I had expected worse.
"It's almost fun," Hermione said, laughing as she removed another pod from the stump. I used a knife to pin it down, as it was my job to crack them open and remove the insides.
"You've got a really strange sense of fun, Hermione," Ron commented, as he and Harry struggled to get their first pod out of the stump.
"Speaking of fun," she changed the subject. "Slughorn is having a party for Christmas, and I don't think you'll be able to get out of this one, Harry."
Harry groaned. Somehow, he had managed to avoid all of Slughorn's get togethers over the past month. Harry was strange, that was for sure. I knew that there were many things I didn't know about him, and attributed it to that. Hermione assured me that he was a great friend. I tried to remind myself that he had been through a lot over the last few years.
I took a moment and glanced at Ron. His face had turned sour when we brought up the party, as he wouldn't be going to the party. I felt bad, and sort of hoped that Hermione would ask him to go as his date. It would probably eliminate the horrible tension that was going on between him and Hermione, and he wouldn't be such a git about the Slug Club when he saw how dreadful it was anyways.
"When's this?" Harry asked, not looking up from his stump. Finally, he managed to wrestle a pod from it, and he passed it to Ron.
"Weekend after this one," she said. I was glad we had another weekend, because I needed to get dress robes for it. I hadn't been planning to go to anything that required dress robes this semester, so I hadn't brought any. But luckily I had enough money to get some. I still had over a hundred Galleons left, and there were only two weeks left of the term. I wasn't really looking forward to the holiday.
"Great," he said, though he didn't sound as excited as the word implied.
"Well, I guess you three will have just loads of fun at Slughorn's party then," Ron said. "Cormac will be there too won't he, Hermione? Guess it will be loads of fun for you."
This was the first time I had truly seen the side of Ron that Hermione despised so much, but I completely understood why she felt how she did. "Actually Ron," she said, finally facing him. "We're allowed to bring our own dates."
He looked up and met her eyes, and they held the glance for a few seconds. Ron was definitely in a better mood after looking away.
"Are you bringing Adam, Kat?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," I said. "He just needs to buy new dress robes first, but he's going with me. He's excited."
"Oh, that's cute," she said.
I thought so too. He was genuinely interested in what we were doing, even though I told him it wasn't a lot. I wasn't sure exactly what the party entailed either, but we would have fun. Anytime we were together, it was enjoyable.
We finished up on our Snargaluff pod, and got to leave class early. Hermione and I walked back up to the castle together. "Hermione?" I asked.
"Hmm?" she asked, turning to me.
I took this moment to my advantage. We were alone, and I could finally ask her a question I wad wondered for a few weeks. "Do you fancy Ron?"
She didn't say anything, but a bright red blush moved up her face. That was enough of an answer for me.
"You do!" I exclaimed. That was a little exciting to me.
"It doesn't matter," she said.
"Why not?" I asked her. "Of course it matters. You guys have tons of chemistry."
She couldn't deny the chemistry they shared, though whether that was always a good thing was not clear. I thought they would be a great couple. "It's complicated, Kat," she said. "There are more important things on all of our plates at the moment than some silly infatuation."
I guessed that was all she was going to say on the subject, so I dropped it for now. Once we got in the castle, we went our separate ways.
We met up the next day, however, to finish up our potions project. It was complete, finally, but we had to assemble it. I brought the five vials of potion that Slughorn wanted, and she had copied the recipe. Her handwriting was much neater.
"All that's left to do is name it, I guess," she said. She got out her quill, and looked to me to see if I had any ideas in mind.
I watched as Harry approached her from behind. "What are you two up to?" he asked.
I snatched the paper, and hid it. "You're our competition, go away," I said.
"Oh, the Potions project," he said, pulling out a chair to sit down in. "Ron and I are done."
"What did you make?" I asked.
"Ateri Elixer," he said. "It's like the opposite of Felix Felicis." I thought that was an odd potion, and not really anything that had a practical use.
However, since he already had his project all set, I put our papers back on top of the table. He looked at them. "This is actually brilliant," he said, reading it. "What's it called?"
We both shrugged. "We're still working on that."
"Sedation Serum," he said, taking the quill from Hermione's hand and scrawling that across the top. "Done."
Hermione and I both exchanged glances, and shrugged. That seemed like a good enough name. "Great," I said, collecting the parchment.
"So you're done?" he asked Hermione. She nodded. "Good. Can you come with me?"
His behavior was very odd, and I was definitely confused. Hermione just gave me a glance which told me she would try and explain later, so I waved her off. "Bye guys," I said. "Have a nice night..."
~.~
Two days later was the Quidditch match. Today, Gryffindor was playing Slytherin. It was a big deal for Adam, because he wanted to see what the other teams strategies were for their games. He was obsessed with winning the Cup this year.
So I was a good girlfriend and went with him, even though it was snowing heavily. Saturday morning, I had been sure that they were going to call the game off, but they didn't. There was an ice cold wind which stung my face. I spent a lot of the game with my head tucked into his neck for warmth, sort of resenting the fact I was here. This was not weather that we should be outside in, and a lot of the school had chosen to spend the day inside. There were only a few people from Ravenclaw sitting in the stands.
"I don't really like Harry Potter," he told me. "He's... I guess I don't understand the hype."
"He's okay," I told Adam. I didn't have any reason to dislike Harry. I just didn't understand him. But I didn't think it was a worthwhile argument. I knew the reason that Adam disliked him so much was because he was competition.
"Will he be at the party next weekend?" he asked.
"Of course," I said. "Slughorn loves him."
He nodded, and leaned forward in his seat to watch the game. For the next two hours, some of the longest two hours of my life, I was forced to listen to commentary on how defensive he thought the Slytherin were playing, how much he hated the maneuvers the Gryffindor Chasers played, and other things that didn't mean much to me. I tried to act like it all made sense and mattered to me, but it really didn't. I had a feeling Adam knew I didn't really care, but he kept his arm tight around me anyways.
It was one of the longest games in the last few years, according to Adam. I didn't mind watching, but it was just so damn cold. I didn't know how he didn't feel it.
Finally, after what felt like days, or maybe an ice age, Harry dove and caught the Snitch. I could have kissed him, because I was so relieved we got to finally go inside.
We went inside, and stopped in the kitchens for something to eat. We had missed lunch, and didn't want to wait for dinner. And then we went back to the Common Room and relaxed for awhile. I had never been so happy to sit by a fire in my life. I used that time to write to Dad and find out what our plans were for Christmas. I knew we would either sit at my grandparents', Vera's parents', or go away somewhere for the holiday. I really wanted to see my grandparents, but didn't mind the idea of a holiday. I just couldn't stand the thought of spending days with Vera's family.
I knew Adam wanted to see me over the Holidays, and I wanted to see him. I still had to figure out what I was getting him though, but I had time to figure it out. I had hoped Hermione and I would be able to hang out, as we lived close to each other. However, she was going to Ron's family's house.
A few hours later, I was finally defrosted, and planned on just going to bed. "Hey," Adam said, nudging me. I was almost asleep, too.
"Yeah?" I asked, not awake enough to open my eyes.
"Come do my Prefect rounds with me tonight," he pleaded. "Elisabeth Rivers was supposed to do it with me but she's sick."
I sighed. "I'm not a Prefect, I could get in trouble," I reminded him. I really didn't want to walk around the castle for an hour.
"No, you won't. I promise. You'd be with me," he said. "Please, Kat... please."
The way he was begging was really annoying, though my state of exhaustion could have exacerbated that. "Adam..."
"Kat..." he trailed off, "Please. I just want to spend some time with you. I don't want to go do it alone. Kat..."
I picked my head up, and saw he had a sad look on his face. I knew he was just trying to get me to agree to go with him, and it was working. I would feel bad if I stayed here, even if I was terribly exhausted. There was no way to make both of us happy, so I decided to please him this time. "Okay, but can we make it as quick as possible?" I asked.
He nodded. "Definitely," he said. He went to get his two cloaks, and I stole the warmer one from him. I was not going to be caught cold when we walked through the court yards. We walked through the court yards, and up. The castle was beautiful at night, but it was still too cold for my taste. Though, it sort of felt like a ghost town, made just for us, tonight. We were the only ones to see.
However, once we were working out way up, we came across an empty classroom with people in it. I recognized one of the classroom's occupants immediately. Hermione, Ron, and Harry all stood in the room. Both Hermione and Ron looked absolutely livid with each other, and I was a little afraid of the fire that lit up Ron's eyes. On his arm was Lavender Brown, the airhead sixth year that was in my Muggle Studies classes. That confused me, as I thought Hermione would soon be announcing she and Ron were together.
"What's going on in here?" Adam asked, bursting in.
"Nothing," Ron said, not even looking up at Adam. I was concerned for the situation, because of the air of the room. It felt like it was charged with electricity, and not in a good way. Hermione had her wand drawn and pointed at Ron.
"Put the wand down," Adam said, forcefully. I knew Hermione was going to get in trouble.
Lavender slipped out of there, pulling Ron with her. However, they disappeared up the stairs in the dark, so we had no idea where they had gone. "Adam," I said, quietly, but forcefully. "Why don't you go get the other two people that are out after their curfew and bring them back to their Common Room?" I asked.
He looked hesitant, his eyes darting back and forth between all of us. "Fine," he said. I watched him glare at Harry for a second, before disappearing into the dark. He was ridiculous.
"What's his problem?" Harry asked, grimacing.
"He's just a git," I explained. "You can ignore him."
Hermione had slunk down on the steps, and was crying quietly. This alarmed me so much, as it was very much uncharacteristic of Hermione. She was usually well pulled together and I felt terrible. I guessed she was upset because Ron was now with Lavender Brown, apparently.
Before I had time to react, Harry crouched down next to her and put his arm around her. She turned away from him, though, probably embarrassed of her tears.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her, when I bent down. I patted her hair, trying to calm her down.
She just shook her head, and let the tears slide down her cheeks. I hated when people cried, usually because I felt so helpless. I hated that she was so sad because Ron hadn't been very nice to her. She really did deserve someone who treated her well.
I looked at Harry. "I think I've got it under control," I said quietly to him. "I'll make sure she gets back to the Common Room in one piece."
He nodded, looking grateful that I was relieving him from his duties. "Thanks," he said, getting up and disappearing into the dark.
I turned around and looked at Hermione. What was I going to do?
Author's Note: Another week, another chapter. Thanks, as always, to my fantastic readers, for all you support and reviews (keep it up! Please!) and my awesome beta, potter-reading-coastie. You all are really great. Let me know what you think :)