Chapter 2
Slowdance -
I can't believe it, I just can't believe it, she thought, a year later, as she beamed up into his face. She finally had her moment. She swayed gracefully to the slow love song, losing herself in the music. She leaned her head on his chest, enjoying the feeling of one strong hand around her waist and another tangled in her hair, and gave a sigh, not of loneliness, but of contentment. Sure, it wasn't exactly how she imagined it, but it never was, really.
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Flash Back//
The day the Yule Ball was announced, Hermione's insides had been a turmoil of emotions. She would not let herself expect him to ask her, she just wouldn't! She would not be heartbroken again! But nothing could stop her from wishing…just wishing…
"Hermione, can I ask you something?" Ron had said that evening in the common room as he came up behind her and perched on the arm of her chair. Hermione's heart had done so many flips and cartwheels that it had taken her a moment to answer.
"Y-yes?" she had breathed, her voice cracked with emotion
"Can I take a look at your notes for Binns' essay?" he had asked casually, unaware that Hermione's acrobatic heart had just sunk to her shoes.
She had gritted her teeth as she dug through her bag and thrust the pieces of parchment at him. She had not brought herself to look at that disgusting git sitting so innocently beside her, with his gorgeous red hair framing his adorable face with his stunning blue eyes that she wanted nothing more to get lost in.
Part of her had been encouraged as she remembered he still had several more weeks to ask her before the Ball, but the other part has known that all her hope had fluttered out the window like a lonely owl.
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She closed her eyes as she danced, no, more like floated along the dance floor. Some were looking at her in admiration, at her pink, satin, low-cut dress, her tiny flower earrings that glittered in the soft light, and beautiful brown hair piled elegantly on her head and trailing over her shoulder. Others watched with envy and spite, but she didn't care. Nothing could ruin this moment. Except…
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Flash Back//"Hey, you are a girl!" Ron's words had driven through Hermione's heart harder then any bullet. And then to ask her to be his date not three seconds later! Though she had so desperately wanted to say yes, YES, it had given her great smugness to rub it in his face.
"Sorry, I already have a date."
She had regretted it, though, when he wouldn't speak to her afterward.
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Her eyes fluttered open and she glanced over his shoulder. They widened in surprise and what she saw. Ron.
That's right, stupid, Hermione told herself. You're dancing with Krum, not the man of your dreams.
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The bliss she had felt only seconds earlier at her first slowdance vanished to be substituted by an intense longing that was just as quickly replaced by a fierce anger. She would only ever be his best mate. Never anything else. She vowed then and there that she would never go to another school dance again. It hurt too much to see him standing there, not caring if she was nearby or in France. Never again. She would rather die.