Ron stood there for a moment. It took ever fiber of his being not to reach up and touch the spot on his cheek that Hermione had kissed. When she was out of sight, he finally allowed himself to. It amazed him that the skin didn't feel any different.
When he got up to his dorm, he saw Harry sitting up in his bed.
"Hey, you're up. Did you know Hermione was back? Why didn't you come down and see her?" he asked.
"I'll see her tomorrow," Harry said, though he had a slight smirk, "besides, I knew you'd want to be alone with her first . . ."
Ron raised his eyebrows, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh come on," he said, "I saw what you grabbed when you came up here. You wanted to give her that present . . ."
Ron looked at him, turning red, " H-how did you-?"
"Ron, I was there when you wrapped it." Harry said simply.
He seemed to get redder by the second. Apparently he hadn't known that Harry knew about his present for Hermione. "I-"
"Ron, it's fine. I get it."
Ron didn't know what to say, so he just got into bed.
Harry spoke again, changing the subject, "So . . . how is she?"
"She seems fine, but . . . I don't know. She was really upset when she found out . . . everyone thinking that . . . you know." he gave a nervous glance toward Dean, Seamus, and Neville's beds, checking to see of they were awake.
Harry nodded, understanding what he meant, "That everyone found out? Yeah, I figured she would be. She didn't blame you did she?"
"No . . . but she should have." he sighed.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Come on," he said, "you just did what any other person would've done. That bastard deserved it."
"He deserved worse than that! What I did was barely what he deserved!"
As his voice rose, they both noticed Seamus stirring in his sleep. When he stopped, Ron turned back to Harry, "I-uh- think I'm gonna go to sleep now . . . Night."
They both laid back, only pretending to fall asleep at first. Eventually, though, Ron was able to fall into the best sleep he had all week, with the idea of Hermione being safe and, for the most part, okay . . . The image of her walking into the library after not seeing her for so long . . . the look on her face when she opened his present . . . saying she loved it . . . kissing him . . . sure, it was just on the cheek, but he didn't bloody care . . .
He couldn't believe that just last week they weren't even speaking to each other.
As soon as she opened the door, Hermione wished she didn't take Ron's advice and go upstairs.
"Hermione!" Lavender squealed when she came in the room, "How are you?" she asked.
Though she enjoyed Lavender being genuinely concerned for her, she'd rather her not knowing this particular detail detail of her life. It was horrible. Especially since Lavender was notorious as one of the school's best-or worst, depending on how you looked at it-gossips. Hermione prayed that Lavender was able to keep at least one thing to herself.
"I'm fine," she said, "Listen, Lavender, about earlier-"
"Oh, that's fine," she said, shaking her head, "I get it. You probably didn't want to talk about it, and I didn't mean to pry, or anything. I just wanted to see how you were."
"That's really nice of you," she said, choosing her words carefully, "but . . . Ron told me what everyone thought happened that made me leave and-and . . . I was sick. That's all."
Lavender seemed to become tense for a moment, which worried Hermione. Perhaps she shouldn't have mentioned Ron . . .
But then Parvati stepped in and said, "Hermione, if you say you were just sick, then I-webelieve you," she quickly glanced at Lavender, "And if you want us to, we'll tell everyone that."
"Thanks, Parvati," Hermione said. Then she looked at Lavender.
Lavender looked from Parvati to Hermione, then sighed, but said, "Sure, Hermione, we'll tell everyone that you were sick."
Hermione smiled, "Thanks, Lavender. I really appreciate it."
"But I still don't like Cormac!" she said.
Hermione stopped smiling and said, "Good. I don't like him either." Though, she could tell Lavender said it to let it be known that she would never really believe her cover story. Hermione didn't mind, though. Whatever Lavender believed didn't matter, as long as she only told people what she agreed to tell people. Plus it would keep Lavender-and whoever she talked to-safe from Cormac. Not that it mattered, since he was going to be expelled soon, anyway.
It was that thought that made her groan inwardly. Of course. Cormac being expelled wouldn't just go unnoticed. In fact, it would only decrease the chances of anyone even starting to believe that she was just sick.
Hermione thought about it. She asked herself what the worse thing could happen would be, if she did admit the truth to Parvati and Lavender would be? It wasn't like they didn't already know anyway. And since Lavender didn't seem to be mad about anything that had to do with Ron, perhaps it'd make her feel better to have it out. She knew that they would still help her convince other people that she was just sick. Perhaps they could even help her figure out what she would tell people about Cormac getting expelled.
She sighed deeply, getting both of their attention, "Alright," she said, making up her mind, "The rumors . . . are true . . . and Cormac is going to be expelled."
Lavender gasped as if she was surprised to hear the rumors were true. "Oh, Hermione!" she got up from her bed and ran over to her, wrapping her arms around her.
Hermione stumbled backwards, shocked.
"Hermione, I'm so sorry!" Lavender weeped into her shoulder.
"Er, uh, it's-it's alright, Lavender . . ." Hermione said, awkwardly patting Lavender's back, looking absolutely panicked.
Fortunately, Parvati noticed and got up too. "Er-Lavender? I think maybe Hermione needs some space . . ." she said, gently pulling her off of Hermione.
Lavender let go, and finally went and sat back on her bed. Parvati and Hermione each went and sat on their beds, Hermione giving her an extremely grateful look.
"So . . ." Parvati said, trying to ease the tension, "Cormac's really going to be expelled?"
Hermione nodded.
"And you're . . . okay, right?"
She gave a small smile and nodded, "I'm fine now."
"Well, that's good-"
"What's that?" Lavender interrupted Parvait, pointing at the small box in Hermione's hand.
Hermione looked down, just barely remembering it was there, and blushed, "Oh, um, just a present someone gave me . . ." she mumbled, quickly shoving it into her bed side table drawer.
Lavender looked suspicious, but didn't say anything more about it.
"Um . . . well, even though I've told you this . . . you'll still tell people I've been sick, right?" Hermione asked.
Parvati got an uncomfortable expression on her face, "Well, we will if you want us to . . . but the thing is . . ."
"No one will believe us, anyway." Lavender finished, "I mean, we didn't. Plus with Cormac being expelled . . . don't you think it would just be better-easier-to not deny what people are saying? I mean, you don't have to go up to people and tell them what happened, but if someone comes up to you and says something like 'oh, I'm so sorry about what happened,' you could just 'thanks,' or something. You don't have to deny you know what they're talking about. Really, no one's buying that were just sick, especially since, Madam Pomfrey could've cured whatever you had in a second."
Hermione stared at her. Better? Yes, it would definitely be easier, but how could it possibly be better? She tried to imagine the idea of having to confront a group of people that knew. All she could see was those looks of pity she knew they would give her.
"I don't need people pitying me . . ." she said quietly.
"Nobody pities you, Hermione," Parvati said softly, "They just pity what happened to you. They all really just want to know you're not completely traumatized, and to . . . watch Cormac die. Trust me, everyone knows not to pity you, they know that you're tough, and you're the last person that needs pity. They want to comfort you, never pity you. Honestly . . . I agree with Lavender. You should just let people know what happened. No one will treat you any different."
"But they already have," she argued, "Do you think Lavender would be running up to hug me if I hadn't admitted it! ? Do you think she wouldn't be blaming me for her and Ron breaking up! ?" she was nearly yelling by now. She felt bad-Parvati was only trying to make her feel better-but she couldn't control the rage that was coursing through her veins. There it was again-the idea that Cormac had change her life. People were now treating her differently, like she was too weak to handel how they were treating her before. She also knew she had said too much about Ron and Lavender-and maybe Lavender didn't deserve this either-but that was the truth. Lavender wouldn't be this friendly towards her if she didn't know about Hermione.
Lavender's cheeks turned red and she looked a cross between flustered and defiant, "I wouldn't blame you for that!" she said, "You had nothing to do with that!"
Hermione felt her own cheeks heat up. Her senses were finally coming back to her. She didn't mean to say that, and she wished she could take it back. Sure, maybe Lavender would be blaming her if things were different, but it's not like she had proof of that, and claiming it now only made her seem unreasonable and a bit paranoid. She shook her head, "S-sorry," she said, "I-I really don't know what I'm saying . . . I . . ."
She didn't know what to say other than that, so without finishing whatever she was going to say, she stood up, ran to the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her. As soon as she did, something inside her seem to break and a wave of anxiety came crashing over her. She ran to the toilet and proceeded to be violently ill.
Hermione spent the rest of the night in the bathroom, half the time crouched over the toilet seat, vomitting or dry heaving, the other half curled up in a ball on the small rug on the bathroom floor, crying.
At one point, about ten minutes after she entered the bathroom, Parvati came in, to hold Hermione's hair up, or to rub her back, muttering things like, "sh, sh, it's alright," when she was crying. Eventually, though, Hermione insisted Parvati go back to bed, which she did reluctantly. Hermione, then, fell asleep on the bathroom floor.
When she woke up, she could tell it was really early in the morning, too early for even the sun to be up. She suddenly craved the comfort of her bed, and was feeling well enough to leave the toilet. She got up, and opened the door, but stopped.
Lavender was standing there, her hand up as if she was about to knock.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
Hermione was almost shocked at how sincere she looked. She even looked more concerned for her than when she approached her in the hallway, when Hermione first got back. "Better," she mumbled, moving past Lavender.
Lavender grabbed Hermione's arm, and glanced at Parvati's bed. "Listen," she said, seeing that Parvati was asleep, "I . . . I want you to know that . . . I've been thinking about what you said, and . . . I don't know how I would feel toward you, if . . . if things were different, if I didn't know what happened to you, but I know it wouldn't be right. So . . . I guess I'm kind of glad that I know. I do consider you to be one of my friends, Hermione, and not knowing what happened to you would probably make me do, or say, something that would make you hate me, or at least more than you already did, because I can be really stupid like that sometimes, and . . . I don't want you to hate me. Can we just be glad I did know, and base our friendship off of that?" She gave Hermione a half smile, along with her small attempt at humor.
Hermione looked at her. She was right; Lavender was treating her differently because of what happened. And here she was admitting it, and asking if they could just pretend she wasn't treating her differently.
But . . . she was admitting it, and admitting that it wouldn't be right. Hermione had to give her credit, especially since now she didn't feel so unreasonable or paranoid about the accusation she made the other night. And Lavender was saying she wanted to be friends, and that she would actually care if Hermione hated her.
"Lavender, I wouldn't hate you, whatever you would say to me. And I never did hate you. At the most you just annoyed me at times . . ." she too offered a half smile, "And, yeah, I suppose everyone can be stupid at times, so I wouldn't blame you. And . . . I guess it was a good thing you knew. I . . . consider you to be one of my friends too." The last bit was a stretch; she barely considered anyone beyone Ron, Harry and Ginny, and sometimes Neville and Luna, to be a friend, but she'd be willing to start considering Lavender, and probably Parvati, to be her friends, if it meant this considerate thoughtful Lavender, rather than the other one she had gotten to know over the years.
Lavender smiled, "Thanks." she said, then walked into the bathroom.
Hermione walked over to her bed and pulled back her sheets. She curled up inside them, smiling as the scent of clean linen hit her, and was able to fall back asleep, without the the thoughts and worries, that caused her to be sick, haunting her.
She woke up again around ten. This time she did not plan to go back to sleep. Getting up, she realized she was still in the clothes she wore yesterday and her mouth tasted, and probably reeked, of sick. Her throat was sore and felt worn out, and her head was pounding, which made her realize she hadn't had anything to eat or drink since her train ride. At that moment, it felt like it had been weeks ago.
She sat up and looked around. Parvati was sitting on her bed, brushing her hair. She was already dressed. When she saw Hermione was up, she smiled, and brought over a small tin from her bed side table drawer.
"Mint?" she offered, "Take as many as you want."
"Thanks," Hermione said, grabbing a handful and popping one in her mouth. She looked around again, "Where's Lavender?" She started to wonder if running into her outside the bathroom had been a dream . . .
"She went down to breakfast. I stayed to make sure you were okay, and I figured you'd need some of these," she said, shaking the tin before putting it back in the drawer, "I always do after I'm sick."
"You didn't have to wait for me," Hermione said, though she did feel touched. Plus the mints were making her feel better.
Parvati rolled her eyes, and smirked, "Oh, I didn't? I really thought it was mandatory to stay and make sure my friend was alright . . ."
Hermione smiled, "Thanks."
Parvati waited for Hermione to get dressed, but before they were out the door, Hermione stopped and said, "Go on down, I just forgot something . . ."
When the door closed behind Parvati, she went over to her bed side table, took out her present from Ron, and placed it around her neck, tucking it under her shirt.
She could definitely see this bit being a part of her morning routine . . .
Ron woke up to the sound of moving around. Harry was up and getting dressed. When Ron looked over, he saw that he was putting on some quidditch gear.
He narrowed his eyes right away, "Harry," he said, firmly, "We. Are. Not. Having quidditch practice today." Then he got up and started getting dressed himself.
Harry stared at Ron for several seconds, as if making up his mind about something, then slowly took his quidditch gear off and said, "Alright. I suppose we can skip it once . . ."
Ron grinned and slapped him on the back, "Glad you see it my way."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but it's for Hermione, okay? Not you . . ."
Ron shrugged, "Fine with me."
Then Harry smirked, "I never got to ask you-did Hermione like your present?"
His ears turned red, as he muttered, "Shut up, Harry . . ." and headed toward the door.
"What?" Harry said, innocently, but was holding back a smile, "I genuinely am curious . . ?"
Ron just rolled his eyes, as they both walked out the door.
They both stopped, a little past the entrance of the Great Hall, at the sight of Hermione sitting with Parvati and Lavender. They looked at each other for a second, then walked up to the table and sat across from the three.
Ron looked at them, nervously, but they were just talking casually about classes. Though he did find it strange, and a bit unerving, he was more relieved than anything.