If I owned Harry Potter, he wouldn't have married Ginny, and his son wouldn't have been named ALBUS SEVERUS. I mean, come ON.
But I don't, so don't sue me.
Track to listen to while reading: All At Once, The Fray)
"~ There are certain people, you just keep coming back to...she's right in front of you, you begin to wonder, could you find a better one...~"
A few hours later, they stopped pretending to do their homework and decided to visit Hagrid. Neville tagged along as usual, and they took the front doors to avoid the Dementors.
"There's a light on in the window," Neville pointed out as they walked across the slippery grass. There was sweat beading on his pudgy brow, making it obvious how nervous he was to be out so late. "I hope we don't get in trouble for coming down here..."
"We're fine, Neville." Ron said, though he didn't sound so sure of himself. "Hagrid's a teacher now."
There was indeed a light in the window, and as they grew closer to the door, they could hear voices coming from inside.
"He sounds like he's with somebody." Neville whispered. Ron ignored him and pounded on the heavy wood. "Hagrid, it's us!"
There was a moment of silence, and shuffling sounds. "Hagrid, please let us in." Hermione pleaded.
"We got special permission to come see you!"
"No we-"
"SSHH! Hagrid, come on, open up."
After another minute or two, Hagrid's voice growled out. "C'min." He sounded awful, and Hermione's heart broke at that one word. Anger at Malfoy bubbled up all over again. She was talking before Ron had finished pushing open the door.
"Hagrid, it'll be alright, please don't feel...bad..." The words died in her mouth, and fell flat on the wooden floor as her tongue grew leaden in shock. For an honest minute, she thought she was hallucinating-there was just no way-
Harry Potter looked up from the cup in his hands and flashed her a cocky smirk, obviously enjoying her surprise. "Hello, Hermione."
Her mouth worked soundlessly for a few seconds, trying to recover the moisture and wit she needed to speak. What in the HELL was Harry Potter doing at Hagrid's?! It didn't compute, it didn't make any sense.
He was stalking her, there was no other explanation. This had to be some sort of cruel Slytherin prank or something-
Ron came back to his senses quicker than she did. "What the BLAZES are you doing here, Potter?!" the ginger squawked. Harry's smirk turned into a small sneer of genuine dislike.
"Well right now I'm sitting." he said slowly. "And I'm also talking, and blinking, and-"
"You know what-!"
"That's enough there you two," Hagrid grumbled loudly, cutting across the argument. "Harry, er...yeh might want ter get goin', s'gettin' late and all. Don't want Snape ter be throwin' a fit."
Harry, shockingly, nodded and stood, giving Fang a ruffle on the ears. He strode past them without another word, banging shoulders with Ron on the way out. Hermione's ears burned, and she felt more than saw the teasing glance he shot at her.
Oh yes, this had to STOP.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Ron exploded. "Hagrid, what was THAT prat doing here?!"
"Never yeh mind," Hagrid mumbled. He sat back down at his table and pulled his pewter tankard closer to take a large swig. He sat it back down with a clunk and tried to bring them into focus. "'Spect it's a new record," he said thickly. "Don't reckon they've ever had a teacher that lasted on'y a day before."
All thoughts (or most, at least) of Harry Potter flew from Hermione's mind. "You haven't been fired, Hagrid?" she exclaimed. Dumbledore wouldn't be that blind, would he?
"Not yet," he said miserably, taking another big gulp. "'S'only a matter of time, i'n'it, after Malfoy...s'all my fault..."
"It was Malfoy's fault, Hagrid," Hermione said fiercely. "We're witnesses. He wasn't listening when you warned us about insulting them. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."
"Yeah, Hagrid, we'll back you up!" Neville piped.
They spent a few more minutes there, reassuring their friend with promises and hearty insults against Malfoy, until he no longer looked seconds away from drowning himself in his tankard. Hagrid sent them back to the castle once he'd sobered up.
The walk back up the lawns was quiet and solemn, each one of them locked in their own thoughts, mostly worries about Hagrid.
Dew flew out of the grass like shining insects and stuck to their ankles, cold and wet. Hermione stared at the whispy tendrils under her feet, black and soft in the dark.
Black like unruly hair over green eyes...
Oh, Merlin...
"Hermione." Ron's voice pulled her out of her head. She turned to look at him, and even in the dark she could see the deep frown on his freckled face.
"What?"
"Potter..." Her stomach turned a flip flop, and then squeezed painfully. She reached up to yank on a brown curl, grateful for the shadows that hid her flaming cheeks. "W-what about him?"
"He called you Hermione. Like...like he knew you or something." Ron muttered.
Her quick mind seized, and swiftly descended into panic mode. She couldn't let Ron think that anything was going on between her and Harry Potter, because there wasn't.
Was there?
No, there isn't! He's a Slytherin! I barely know him!
"Hermione!"
"How should I know?" she snapped. "They say he's crazy don't they? Maybe he is."
Deep down though, she knew that whatever Harry Potter was, it wasn't crazy. Ron scowled, but let the conversation drop.
When they reached the front hall, Hermione's stomach was still churning, and a nasty headache was thrumming in the back of her skull. She broke away from them and headed in the opposite direction from the common room.
"Hermione?"
"Oi, where are you going?"
"Bathroom..." she groaned, nearly sprinting for the girls toilet. Inside, she braced her palms on the counter and rested her forehead on the cold mirror. She felt hot and feverish, and the pain in her head was making her nauseous.
"Ooooh...you look dreadful." cooed a delightedly morose voice behind her. Hermione raised her eyes to the mirror, and watched in the glass as Moaning Myrtle rose slowly from the stall directly behind her, piggy eyes narrowed.
"What are you doing in here? Your bathroom is downstairs." Hermione deadpanned. Myrtle huffed airlessly. "I don't have to stay there, you know. I can go where I please."
"Hurrah for you," Hermione sighed, closing her eyes and hoping the ghost would leave her alone. Of course, she didn't.
"You look like you're about to faint," she said happily. "What happened?" She drifted closer to her face and peered at her, and Hermione half heartedly tried to swat her away. "Buzz off Myrtle, please."
"Is it a boooooy?" It was so unexpected, it made her jump. Her hand slipped off the counter, and she banged her elbow on the edge of the sink- HARD.
"OWCH!"
"I knew it!" Myrtle crowed, turning a spin in midair. "Nothing makes you feel more AWFUL than being in love..."
"I'm not in love!" Hermione gasped, tearing up from the pain radiating down her arm. "I-I barely know him!"
"So it is a boy," the pearly ghost giggled horribly. "Oh, I remember before I died, when I loved Micheal Hornby...every time he looked at me, I wanted to throw up..."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Hermione said, turning on her heel and exiting the bathroom with Myrtle's taunts following her out.
Love...her, Hermione Granger, in love with Harry Potter? It was the most absurd thing to ever be said. OTHER than the most obvious fact that they were in two completely different houses (that hated each other, by the way,) they'd only spoken what, twice? Three times? She liked to think herself smarter than that, thank you very much.
Besides, he was...he was cold, and distant and...and...
And mysterious...and tortured...and different...intriguing. Merlin.
"We've gotta stop meeting like this, Hermione. People might talk." She rounded the corner, and there he was, almost like her thoughts had conjured him out of the air. She was convinced, life hated her.
Hermione slowed her steps to avoid crashing into him. Harry stopped too, and they stared at each other a few feet apart, him smirking, her blank. In that instant, she hated him. Her world had been so simple and easy, and then he'd come in and confused everything, making her feel like she was going crazy.
"Are you following me?" she asked wearily. Harry snorted. "Course not. I needed to talk to Proffesor Flitwick-"
"No!" she said, cutting him off. "I don't mean right now. I mean in general! Why where you at Hagrid's? Why can't I get away from you? Is it some sort of Slytherin joke; 'mess with the know it all mudblood, make her think she's going mad'-"
"Firstly," Harry hissed, eyes flashing, "don't call yourself that ever again."
"What do you care?" she retorted, aware that she sounded slightly frantic and not caring. She was going out of her mind with this...little game he was playing.
"Because my mother was a muggleborn, and it makes me sick every time I have to hear my "friends" say it. That a good enough reason for you?" he spat coldly. The ice in his tone brought her up short, and he continued.
"Secondly, I was at Hagrid's because he's the one that rescued me from my Aunt and Uncle's two years ago and he's just as much my friend as he is yours, not that it's any of your business. And I could ask you the same thing!"
Hermione was dumbfounded. "What do you mean?!"
"YOU'RE following ME! Every time I turn around, you're right there. You were in the Owelry when you don't even have a bird, stole my book in the library, and you're in every one of my classes now. Theo told me you kept looking at me during Care of Magical Creatures." he clarified, running an angry hand through his ebony hair. For a small second, she could see his scar on his forehead before it was covered again.
"So now what, Granger?"
"I...I..." She struggled to speak, pinned into silence by his burning emerald orbs. "I th-thought you were messing with me!"
"Well I'm not!"
They stood there in silence for a while, breathing hard with red faces, ashamed in their own ways.
Hermione felt like the biggest fool in the country. Slowly, she realized that she had just gotten into a screaming match with him over nothing at all. She exhaled and closed her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose with the heel of her hand.
"...We're very stupid, aren't we?"
"Speak for yourself," Harry muttered. But then he sighed too, and a rosy flush dusted his cheeks. "I thought you were...I dunno, monitoring me or something. Like maybe the other Gryffindors put you up to it..."
"Not at all," she said. She sighed again, and started to turn away, but his voice stopped her.
"I really didn't mind talking to you, you know..."
"W-why?"
Harry shrugged, tugging on his loose green tie. "Dunno. Maybe because you listen? Or because I know you won't go back to anybody in my house with it?"
"I..."
Yet another awkward silence. This was getting nowhere.
Hermione crossed her arms tightly under her chest, trying to shield herself from the weirdness. "Listen...this...this isn't working. This," she waved her hand, gesturing to the tense atmosphere.
"So what do you want to do, then?" He asked, still not meeting her eyes. Hermione wet her lips. When she spoke the words were halting and nervous, and she couldn't believe they were actually coming out of her mouth.
"M-maybe we could...we could try to be...friends? Just friends."
He was shaking his head before she was finished, but he didn't look angry, only sad. "They'd never let that happen and you know it. We'd be murdered."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying we skip through the corridors carrying each others books and singing show tunes," she snarked. "But maybe...when THEY'RE around, we can be a Slytherin and a Gryffindor. But when it's like this, just us, we can be Harry and Hermione."
"Just Harry..." he mused, a small smile creeping onto his face. Not a smirk- a genuine smile. "Huh. Alright."
Hermione smiled then, too. He had a very nice smile, when it was real.
(A/N: Shhh, listen closely. It's the review box, and its crying because it's empty. Make it happy again with comments XD)