One week later
She sighed as she lay on her bed, not knowing how she was going to cope with normal day to day living. Honestly. Hadn't all the misery of the war against Voldemort in the past enough for her? She sighed again. Was she falling in love? The sudden happenings when her heart started to pick up pace, smiling for no reason whenever he was present, the constant bickering even though the cause of the fight was quite a trivial thing in reality and so on. Wait a minute. Was it possible to fall in love with two people at once? Or was it just things playing with her head? She honestly didn't know how to cope with love.
She closed her eyes and tried to think. Two people? The thing was... she had a feeling that she was falling out of love with Ron if that was even possible. Like Draco had liked her, it was only an infatuation, a very powerful infatuation that she had on Ron. That was it right? Right?
First up, there's Cormac. The sporty, rough and cocky brat who could be surprisingly conventionally sweet in terms of how he could make her feel. He was a really sweet guy in some sense although nobody could see through him because of his attitude of being so full of himself. What had really surprised her was the fact that he had taken time out of his 'busy' schedule for her once this week since the incident in the Forbidden Forest. He had preformed all sorts of spells for her such as "Avifors", which she realised he had only learnt for her sake, to surprise her. The spells he had learnt explained why he had asked her where was what in the library, his nightmare room out of the entire school.
Then there was Zacharias Smith. Also cocky, but somewhat different from Cormac after spending more time with him. At first glance, anybody would have thought that he was just like Cormac McLaggen, all full of himself. He was actually very different. He always managed to press all of the wrong buttons, leaving her furious, but he also alway managed to force a smile back onto her face, no matter what he did. Just the other day, he had driven her up the wall because he had damaged one of the ingredients they had needed during an experiment for Potions class. He made up for it somehow later by just smiling at her. Honestly. What's wrong her her?
Some time later, she finally fell asleep, only to be woken up by the blast of light that suddenly hit her face.
"Rise and shine, Hermione!" Ginny yelled into her ears.
Hermione squinted as she tried to open her eyes. "Morning to you too."
She noticed how happy Ginny looked. "What's with the smile on your face?"
Ginny cocked her head. "Oh, nothing." She paused. "Actually, I have a feeling Draco Malfoy likes me!"
Hermione smiled. "That's great!"
Ginny then crossed her arms, looking like she was in thought, though not a deep one. "Since when did Hermione Granger speak like this? "What's with the smile on your face"? Hermione, those boys are really getting to you, you've never been like this before!"
Hermione looked around and noted how they were the only two in the bedroom. It was a Saturday. Of course. "I suppose they are."
"Do you like them? One of them?"
She sighed. "I don't know. I've been thinking about that myself the entire night."
Ginny laughed as she suddenly said. "Suppose that I'm Zacharias. Treat me as you would him."
Hermione laughed. "Ginny. This is so awkward."
"Come on!"
The two ended up playing a game of pretending to be the other. Hermione didn't know if she was actually behaving any differently when Ginny was Zacharias or Cormac, but did note how Ginny blushed furiously whenever she played the part of Draco Malfoy. Her attitude and mannerisms completely changed. Honestly. She'd never understand why her friend even liked the platinum boy.
Three days later
Her thoughts were no better than it had been three days earlier. A complete mess. Concentrating during class had gotten harder. Cormac and Zacharias were being both equally nice and loving and caring and all sorts of wors to her, she couldn't choose between the two. The thing was, her heart beat differently whenever with either one of them. The problem? She couldn't tell if which one was love. Could it be both? Maybe she was feeling a different kind of love when with the both of them.
"Hey Zach!" she greeted Zacharias when she spotted him by the Black Lake.
"Hello!"
A smile was brought to her face and she felt happy around him. Obviously a good sign. But was this love?
Zacharias gave her a weak grin. "I kinda need help with my Potions essay." He made a face. "Just kinda."
"Just kinda?" Hermione repeated. She frowned. "Zach, I thought I told you to do your homework."
He sighed. "I did! I just couldn't finish it! At least I did as you told me to!"
He had a point there. "I'll help, a bit. You have to do the work yourself though. Promise?"
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say." He then looked over to her. "Sometimes, I wonder why you weren't put into Ravenclaw."
"Same here."
"Stupid sorting hat." He suddenly paused and stared at her. "Actually. I take that back."
"Why?" she asked.
"If you hadn't been in Gryffindor, none of this would have happened. I mean like, you know, defeating Voldemort and shit. Also, we wouldn't have been able to be friends or anything, or have gotten to know each other. Maybe sorting you into that cocky brat filled house was a good idea."
She laughed. "And you aren't cocky?"
Couple of hours later.
Dinner time
"Hey, Hermione!"
She felt a sudden heat, human body heat next to her fill the gap that had once been empty. She turned to her left and found that Cormac had seated himself next to her and appeared to be all smiles. Something good must have happened to him, she thought.
"I'm surprised you're early." He continued. "You're always late."
"Not always!"
He smirked. "Whatever. Anyway. Did the Slytherins make up yet? Ever since that fight between Zabini and Malfoy, the whole house has been divided."
She nodded. "Yes, they've made up. Had a long telling off from Professor Snape. Blaise told me about it although there are still hard feelings. He's made up with Draco though, but only for Luna's sake. And I think it's the same with Draco, who's doing it for Ginny's."
"Right. That's just fucked up."
She watched as Cormac muttered 'wingardium leviosa', causing a piece of meat to rise before brining it over to himself. He placed the meat onto his dish before cutting a piece in a surprisingly neat manner, only to ruin his once gentleman-esque moment by stabbing the cut piece with his fork. He then offered it to her.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked.
"Don't you want some?"
Before she could even reply, he stuffed it into her mouth with a smile, whispering into her ears, going on about how skinny she was.
"If you want my opinion, you should eat." he said, as she chewed. "What if we get trapped in the woods again? You're going to pass out on day one."
"Ha ha, very funny." she said with as much sarcasm as she could. "And who was the one who got all scared?"
He ignored her by clearing his throat.
"Well, it's almost time for the party," he muttered, some time later when he was almost finished with his meal. "In four days."
He was a fast eater so Hermione was still halfway done eating. She was surprised that he managed to keep the table so clean. He was so unlike Ron, who was also a fast eater, but extremely messy when compared.
"You have a dress yet?" he asked.
"Yes, I do."
"So do I. I mean, you know, a suit."
"Of course." Hermione said before bursting out into laughter. The row of Gryffindors stared at her like she was mad. "I'd love to see you in a skirt again."
Cormac blushed. "As much as I'd like to please you with your request, I'm unfortunately going to have to reject such a ludicrous idea."
"Oh, you break my heart." Hermione rolled her eyes.
Noises of running footsteps could be heard, and when Hermione turned to see who was running, she found that the person had already stopped and was standing before her. The person, who turned out to be Zacharias, froze as he saw Cormac. He hesitantly sat next to Hermione after Ginny made space for him as she had been sitting next to Hermione.
"Why are you so late?" Hermione asked him.
"I was finishing off the Potions essay like you told me to." he mumbled.
She smiled. "And did you?"
He nodded.
A moment of silence past by them as the the presence of either of the boys seemed to be threatening either one of them. Hermione felt stuck in the middle, literally, and didn't want to be the bridge between the two. To be honest, she didn't want a fight to start or anything, so maybe staying where she was was a good idea. To keep the peace.
"Well, I'm full now." Cormac said, suddenly standing up. He gave Hermione a wink, before leaving the hall, completely ignoring Zacharias' glares.
"What was he doing, sitting next to you?" Zacharias asked.
"He was only eating. Zach, it's our dinner time right? Everybody's eating."
"Whatever. I still don't like him."
"Whatever suits you best." Hermione muttered.
Two days later
Hermione wondered if she even liked, or rather, loved either of the boys. Could it be possible that she was just making things up along the way? Cormac could have been playing a joke the whole time on her with Zacharias helping him along the way. If they were, they were really way too good at it. She shook her head. No, that couldn't be possible. Either of them were too... nice? Nobody would agree with her thought there though.
She was in her Charms class with Zacharias. He was over in the middle of the classroom, being used by Professor Flitwick for a demo for a certain spell. Not on Zacharias of course, but Zacharias doing the spell. He made a face at her, an overly dramatic scared one, and caused her to grin. Then, her heart began to feel warm. It was the kind of feeling one felt when around or with a really good friend. The kind of person that would be your friend for life. Was that what Zacharias was?
A/N Another update! Hope you liked this! The story is almost coming to a close! I think maybe two or three chapters! I'll try and update before the year ends!