Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter- I only wish I could come up with such wonderfully unique storylines.
A/N: Thanks to the few people who have reviewed. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. FYI: I should be posting about once a week- but I'm going to be attending a national competition in May, so the writing may slow down for a while.
Chapter 2
Harry and Ginny walked back to the common room together, but in silence. They entered the contrastingly loud common room and Ginny walked swiftly up to the girls dorms. Harry plopped himself down on a chair and placed his head in his slightly sweaty hands. He hoped fervently that he had done the right thing.
Several minutes later he jolted upright as he felt the touch of a bony chin on his shoulder. He turned around quickly to see light brown curls of hair and then looked up, gazing into the eyes of his best friend. "Hermione," he breathed with relief, "You scared me."
She laughed playfully, and sat down beside him. Her face turned serious, however, saying, "Ginny told me that you two broke up…" she trailed off in a statement that sounded almost like a question. Harry nodded slightly. "She said you brought it up though. You don't seem too happy about it now."
Harry sighed. "It's not that exactly that I still think I love her, I'm just not sure that I did the right thing. I don't want her going off and doing anything stupid," he said carefully, then added, "and I feel even, well to be cliché about it, emptier now. Even though we weren't right for each other there was something there and it was always comforting to know she was there. Now I don't have anyone like that to rely on."
Hermione smiled slightly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure everything will be fine," she said. "I doubt that Ginny will do anything stupid. I think, from what she said anyway, that you two weren't really right for each other no matter how much you care about her. Anyway, I suggest you head up to bed, you look exhausted."
Harry looked startled by her observation but then sighed. "You're right as always," he conceded with a wry smile. He stretched as he stood up and gazed at Hermione. "Thanks for the support Hermione," he smiled as he sidled past her, making his way up the stairs to the dormitory. He glanced back over his shoulder to see her staring into the fire.
The next day Harry got out of bed with a stretch after a night of pleasant dreams. He descended the stairs and looked around the common room to find a whole bunch of the younger kids standing around whispering. He found it particularly irritating, but he figured there was no law against it, and so he merely made his way around the clusters of girls especially, and climbed through the portrait hole. He wandered slowly towards the great hall for breakfast. When he arrived, however, he found that there were mobs of whisperers here too, and from the looks on their faces, as he walked past them, they seemed to be talking about him.
His gaze passed quickly over the Gryffindor and alighted on ginger-haired Hermione. He made his way over to her quickly and sat beside her. "Is there something new about me in the Prophet today or something?" he questioned. Hermione merely shook her head, a slight smile playing with the corners of her lips.
"Have you noticed who is whispering?" she asked in response as she butted a piece of toast and proceeded to add marmalade to it as Harry inspected the clusters of people a little more closely.
"They're all girls…" he muttered, "but that doesn't tell me all that much…" Hermione merely bit into her toast. At her lack of interest in his speculation, he continued to scrutinize the people who were whispering incessantly. "The Slytherins don't seem to care about whatever this is," he added, turning back at Hermione. Then a look of comprehension dawned on his famous face. "They've heard about Ginny and me, haven't they?" he asked placing his hands on his hands.
"Good job Harry," she replied mockingly, "I knew you could do it!"
Harry just sighed. It was a good thing that he had figured out what was happening, however, because within a few minutes, a few girls were approaching him, trying to invoke some interest as they flipped their hair and giggled. Harry just sat there and finished his breakfast quickly. "I'm going to go back up to the common room and get my books, and then seek refuge in the library," he murmured into Hermione's ear.