Disclaimer- I don't own Harry potter or anything in Hp universe

CHAPTER 5

Hermione pov

It had been days since I came back from the dreamscape but I was apprehensive about just go and break up with Ron. Even with all his faults I knew that Ron loved me. And he hadn't given me reason to be mad at him recently. So after much arguing with myself I had decided to give him a final chance.

Being the practical person I was, I wanted to confirm my escape plan and choices if it came to break up. So here I was standing by the lake looking for the only other person who stood by me in everything. Harry Potter.

It was weekend and classes had gone smoothly. I hadn't brought my problems to Harry because I wanted to have long and undisturbed chat with him. But now that I look back, I was just trying to avoid bringing it up.

Though we were in same house and shared almost all classes I rarely saw him properly saw him past week. He was always surrounded by people who were smitten by Man-who-conquered. He was sitting with Lavender or Parvati, and spent most of his time hanging with Luna.

Before all this Ron, I and Harry were always together. You just had to find one of us and get all three. It was a shame that now I didn't even know where my best friend was. Ron didn't seem too bothered by this and was enjoying company of his own admirers.

After hours of searching for Harry I was walking towards Hagrids hut, which was my last stop before I went back to castle to have lunch. He was still teaching 'care of magical creatures' but had mellowed down on dangerous creatures a bit after death of professor Dumbledore. McGonagall didn't have influence like him to convince new board of governors of school.

When I reached Hagrid's hut I was disappointed to see the door locked and was about to turn back when I heard voices coming from way to forbidden forest. It was Harry but he was not alone. He was walking beside dreamy looking Luna and meek looking Lavender. It looked like they were having fun and Harry was smiling at something Luna had said. Even if they were covered in dirt and blood, Harry was happy. I felt a little jealous looking at them, and remembering all the happy moments of us as Golden Trio.

I was about to hide when Luna saw me and waved her hand. I was busted and therefore plastered an overly cheery smile on face and waved in return. When they were close enough, Harry asked me with a smile.

"Hey, how are you Hermione? And what are you doing here? If you are waiting for Hagrid, he won't return for a while. Preparing for the lesson with thestrals for fifth years." He was going mile per minute like a child on sugar high. This proved that he was very excited.

"I am fine Harry. I was looking for you actually. Wanted to talk to you." I replied looking around, hoping that two girls will take a hint and leave us alone. Luna stood there unfazed as usual and Lavender began to get nervous under my gaze.

"I will go ahead Harry; want to wash off this ferret blood off me as soon as possible."Lavender said finally and took Luna along with her, understanding that I wanted to talk to Harry alone. But before she turned to leave Luna came up to Harry and kissed on his cheek.

"Goodbye Harry Potter. I had fun." Luna said.

"Same here Luna. I will see you tonight." a blushing Harry replied.

When they were gone I couldn't help but ask

"What was that about?" I tried and failed to sound less annoyed than I actually was.

"Oh! We were helping Hagrid with the creatures. I had nothing better to do and thought about meeting him. Lavender was just sitting there in common room so I asked her to join me and Luna was there already." He replied not catching drift of my question.

"I got that Harry. I meant the kiss and meeting at night part." I asked calmly.

"Well… you see… Luna thinks I am not good at interacting with people and should be comfortable with human touch. And its Luna we are talking about, she came up with this way to make me comfortable. As for the night part, Luna can play flute and was going to show us how giant squid reacts to music. So we are meeting tonight." He replied trying to control his blush.

I remembered all the times Harry would flinch away when we would hug him and some part of me was happy that Luna was helping him with that aspect of his life. But the other part was screaming with jealousy. 'It was my job. I was supposed to be there for him….And for Ron.

"Why didn't you come for me and Ron? We would have been happy to see Hagrid. In fact we would like to see you too. We haven't spoken for days Harry."I said trying to control my anger.

"I thought you and Ron would like to be left alone now that you guys are couple and all. And I didn't want to feel like a third wheel with you." Harry replied with a flat tone but I could see underlining bitterness.

"So you go and spend time with Lavender and Luna. Honestly Harry I think you can do better than that." I snapped at him but immediately regretted when I saw expression on his face.

"You know, you sounded just like Malfoy for a second there. Just like him you are seeing people lower than you." He said quite disappointed." it's like even after winning the war against prejudice we still haven't eliminated it completely because we have become part of it."

"That's not what I mean and you know it Harry. Don't twist my words against me." I said losing my patience.

"But subconsciously you believe them to be beneath you. Because Lavender does not apply herself in studies and Luna believes things that are not mentioned in books." He said giving me a sad smile.

"Well that is because they waste their time on petty things like fashion and clothes or in Luna's case imaginary creatures." I replied defending myself.

"Evolution was not caused by the beings who followed rules Hermione it was caused by the ones who had mind to break them. World does not change by the ones who read book's it changes because of the ones who have the guts to write them." Harry said with so much conviction that I was speechless.

"Einstein was considered a loon until his theories were proven. I am not saying that you believe everything that Luna says just keep open mind about it. Who knows they might exist. And Lavender is actually good at clothes altering charms and has a great sense of fashion. She might become famous in that field." He stopped seeing the hurt expression on my face.

"I am not mad or anything at you Hermione because for past six years I have been doing the same mistake and want to change it. I am mad at myself for belittling them. They have different interest than us does not mean they are stupid. It just means that they are brilliant something that we are idiots at." He said looking down

"I guess, never thought about it that way. I had to apologize to her." I replied realizing my mistake.

"I never expected anything less from you Hermione. Lavender has not been same since the battle when Greyback bit her. Her confidence took a huge blow and with her father's death it became harder for her. I just wanted to help her." Harry said giving me a small smile.

"I know Harry. And I want to let you know that I am with you."I said and he nodded in reply

"Why were you looking for me and where is Ron?" He asked and brought up the question I was dreading very much.

I took a deep breath and said

"You see Harry I don't think it's working out between me and Ron"

"What do you mean; I thought you guys were going great?" He asked confused.

"No Harry we are holding back our personalities for sake of this relationship to work. I don't say that it is overly bad thing but I think I should not feel cautious about what I say around a man I want to spend rest of my life with. I should be able to talk to him without fear of fight and should be able to have a sane argument. But that is not happening and I don't think that is healthy for our relationship."

"Ron is a great guy but has many faults of his own. And though we have been friends for long time I think we are not compatible for each other."I finished when I saw thoughtful expression on his face.

"So what do you want to do now?" He asked giving me a questioning look.

"I think I am going to break up with him. But I don't want to lose him as friend. I know Weasely's will be mad at me as well. I just wanted to know what you think about it." I replied sadly looking down and was shocked when he hugged me and whispered

"I will always stand by your side Hermione. If you doubt your relationship this early, it is better to break up before it becomes hard. And I don't want you to let anything else but your happiness to influence any decision you make."

I smiled at that and knew that I will make it through this. I just stood in his arms enjoying every bit of it when moment was ruined by sound of his stomach signaling that he needed food.

"Now that I have saved yet another day let's get something to eat. I am starving." He said giving me a lopsided grin.

I pushed him away playfully and said "Boys. That's all you think don't you sleeping and eating."

"That's me. Mr. Charming. Come on now before I die of starvation." He said grinning

Harry and I began walking towards the castle. Not sure that life will be good but sure that we will not be alone.