A/N- Thanks for your reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Drunk
"You keep staring at him," Ginny nudged Hermione as they trudged through the snow to Hogsmeade. Hermione quickly looked down and crossed her arms. Sometimes she didn't even realize she was staring at him.
"I don't mean to," Hermione whispered, not looking at her friend. "I don't even know that I'm doing it." She heard Ginny giggle. "What?" She looked over at her. "What's so funny about my pathetic love life?" Ginny shook her head and frowned.
"It's not pathetic, it is so sweet. Even if it is with…" she raised her eyebrows up and down.
"Yeah well I don't know if I would call it sweet." Hermione sighed, shaking her head. "It's just so complicated. You know I have been practicing what to tell Harry and Ron already when they see us together… not to mention the whole school."
"No that's not surprising," Hermione shot Ginny a look and she shrugged. "It's okay though, I've seen him sneak a peek at you too." Hermione's eyes flickered over to Draco.
"I just wish it were simpler. You know, walk with him and be able to hold his hand in front of everybody."
"Maybe it can be?" Ginny hooked an arm with Hermione's.
"How do you know?" She looked at Ginny. "What if it can never be like that? Even when everybody knows, because all they will do is give us disapproving looks."
"Hermione," Ginny frowned, "since when have I known you to actually care about what people think?" Hermione stared at her friend and bit her bottom lip.
"Oh my god, Ginny…" Hermione looked unbelievably at the ground. "You are right; I've never cared what other people think. Well I mean besides in first year when Ron made fun of me but I mean about something like this. I shouldn't care, but why do I?" She looked back at her friend for advice.
"I really don't know," Ginny stared back at Hermione. "You know what," she slipped her arm out from Hermione's. "Let's not worry about that right now, we have to focus on your dress." Hermione rolled her eyes as Ginny began tugging Hermione in the direction of the dress store.
"Fine," Hermione smiled, letting her friend tug her along the way.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, uneasily.
"Yes now buy it!" Ginny pushed Hermione to the checkout counter. "It's beyond perfect! Seriously he will love it!"
"It's just-" Hermione protested.
"No! Buy it, now!" Hermione handed the lady her dress and she rang it up for her. She paid for it and turned back to Ginny.
"Are you going to buy that one?" Hermione nodded at the one Ginny was holding.
"Yeah I think I am, why don't you go walk around. I'm going to stay in here a while."
"You don't want me to stay?" Hermione frowned. Ginny shook her head and waved her hand.
"Nah I will be a few minutes. I'll meet up with you for a Butter Beer in like fifteen minutes."
"Okay," Hermione turned to the lady behind the counter. "It will be delivered to me the day before?" She checked again. The lady nodded, boringly. She turned back to Ginny. "See you," she squeezed her friends arm and headed out the door.
The wind nipped at her cheeks, turning them pink, and she put her hands in her pockets. She wandered around and found a half covered-in-snow trail. She decided to follow it and rehearse her speech again to Ron and Harry in her head. She had tried about twelve different ones by then and finally came up with one she liked. But as she mumbled it to herself, she frowned. Would it be better if it was a spur of the moment speech? She was good either way at coming up with just thing right thing to do or say on the spot, or when she rehearsed or practiced it. But what did this call for exactly?
She sighed, frustrated and stopped in her tracks. Was that a crunch? She whipped her head around and frowned as a familiar face appeared in view. She turned her body around and huffed. "Ron are you following me?" She asked, infuriated. She did not want to talk to him.
"No… well I just saw you and I needed to talk to you." He came closer to her and she shook her head.
"Unbelievable," it was like they were following her everywhere now. "Can't you and Harry just leave me alone?"
"What?" Ron frowned. Hermione shook her head and sighed.
"What do you want Ron?"
"Look Hermione," Ron shifted nervously, putting his hands in his pockets. "I know we haven't really been on good terms lately."
"Yeah," Hermione stared at him.
"Well I just wanted you to know that after everything that happened between us I just wanted to let you know that I still care for you, Hermione. You are still my best friend."
"Ron," Hermione crossed her arms. "Please," she felt her eyes sting.
"I know but just hear me out." He stared into her eyes. "I know that Ginny told us that we have to wait to know what's going on. But Hermione I can't do that. If that ferret, Malfoy is making you do something or-" Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head. She stepped back from him and put up a hand.
"Ron,"
"Hermione," He grabbed her shoulders, gently. "I can help you."
"Ron," she whispered, looking at him.
"If he is hurting you I'll kill him."
"Stop," she breathed heavily.
"Hermione," he bent his head down to meet her eyes. "I still love you."
"Stop!" She stepped back from him, a tear dropping down her cheek. "You can't do that!" She yelled at him. "You can't play with my emotions like that!"
"I'm worried about you." He frowned.
"Just… stop." She tried to calm herself down. "Ron," she looked at her ex lover and sadness washed over her. "If you want to salvage whatever of this friendship we have left… you will just go now and let me tell you when I'm ready."
"Hermione,"
"Just go," she began to turn away from him but he caught her wrist.
"Don't do this," his eyes begged her. "Don't shut me out." Her mouth fell open in disgust.
"You did it first." She yanked her arm away, a smug look on her face. "I'm leaving." She bumped shoulders with him as she headed back to Hogsmeade on the half covered snow trail, her ex lover watching her leave him behind this time.
Hermione cried on the bathroom floor as she stared at her silver ring on the tile floor. She had kept it hidden in the back of her drawer until now. She should have flushed it instead. It was the ring Ron had gotten her after a month of them being together. It had a cliché saying and a heart on it just like Lavender's necklace. Coincidentally, Hermione had taken it off the night they went to the Great Hall and put on their show and had not put it back on since.
She picked it up and read the ring for the one hundredth time. Always. It was on the inside of the ring as the heart was on the outside carved in. It was simple and cheesy yet to her at the time it had meant so much. And maybe it still did to her, considering she could not get rid of it.
Did that mean she still had feelings for Ron? She did not know. She was so confused, she was scared, and she just wished he had never come up to her today. How dare he tell her that he still loved her? It was just wrong. Even if it had been in a friendly way. But the look in his eyes said differently and that's what had frightened her. Not to mention he has a girlfriend and she has a boyfriend, even if nobody really knows yet.
She closed her eyes and cracked her neck. What was she going to do? Nothing, she was going to do absolutely nothing about it. She was not going to tell Ginny and she was certainly not going to tell Draco.
Hermione put the ring down and covered her face with her hands. She felt out of control with her life. She felt out of control with her feelings. Why could she not control them? They were the reason she was sitting on the bathroom floor, crying, holding her ex lover's ring he gave her. "Stupid promise ring," she picked it up. "What is a promise anyway?" She scoffed. Hermione sighed, and pushed herself up from the cold tiles and held the ring tightly in her palm; she could feel it indenting in her skin.
"Hey," Draco ran his hands up Hermione's arms and smiled down at her.
"Hi," she did not return the smile. They went back to their old meeting place in the bathroom, considering the weather outside.
"Did you get a dress yesterday?" He raised an eyebrow. "Because I can't wait to take it off you." Draco smirked. Hermione's lip twitched into an attempted smile and walked past him. She turned to face him and leaned back against the sink. Draco eyed her and frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she shrugged.
"I don't buy it." He walked over to her.
"I'm fine," Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's nothing." Hermione knew she wasn't fooling anyone.
"Are you rethinking the dance?" He asked.
"I don't know," she mumbled, looking down at the ground. "I just don't think it might be the best idea."
"Then what do you want to do?" He snapped.
"Draco," she looked at him. "If I knew I would tell you."
"What's up with you today?"
"You always knew how I felt about this idea."
"Yeah but you're acting all moody."
"I am not!" Hermione said defensively.
"Oh really?" Draco grunted. "Is it Potter or Weasley?" Hermione flinched at Ron's name.
"No, listen I really don't want to talk about this right now." She began to walk away. "I'll just see you later when were both no so tense."
"Hey," he said from behind her. "I'm not the tense one here."
"Draco," Hermione turned around to face him. "Don't start,"
"I was in a good mood till you showed up all-"
"Then I'll just leave you to yourself." She snapped. Draco reached out and grabbed her arm before she could leave. "Let go," she pried his hand off of her.
"No," he pulled her back into the bathroom. "I'm not letting you leave like this. We finally got our relationship into a steady thing. I'm not letting a dumb fight ruin that. Now tell me, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"I said it was nothing." Hermione finally got her arm free. "I'm just feeling very anxious about everything is all." Hermione shifted uncomfortably.
"Is that really all?" He stepped closer to her.
"Yeah," Hermione sighed, looking up into his grey eyes. "I swear," she lied.
"Okay," he put his hands on her shoulders. "I just want everything to be okay with us." He shook her playfully.
"Me too," she gave him a small smile.
"I love you," he wrapped one of her curls in his finger. "You know that?"
"Yeah," she averted his eyes. "I know that."
Hermione quickly slipped away from him in the bathroom and walked back to the Gryffindor common room. She felt as if somebody had put a heavy weight on her chest and she could barely breathe.
She did not know what was happening to her. She thought she was so sure of everything just a few days ago, and now everything is crashing again. She had almost caused another fight with Draco, and she had unwanted feelings fluttering back into her every time she thought of Ron. She had tried to avoid him since their encounter.
Damn her, she really hated herself. How could one minute she be so sure of somebody and then the next minute she wasn't? She has Draco now; she had wanted him for a while. And when she finally gets him, her feelings change? Or is it that she knows she can't every really have him and so she is letting her feelings for Ron come back as an excuse not to be with him in fear she won't be able to have him? That had to be it. Hermione knew that in the long run she couldn't have Draco, so she is trying to end it with him first instead of having to face the heartbreak of not being able to have him later.
But then again, she was not giving them a fair chance. She was not a psychic? How would she know if they could make it? Gut-feeling, she told herself.
Hermione walked past Professor Slughorn's room and stopped in her tracks. She hesitated before going over to the door and knocking on it. When she got no response, she tried her luck and jiggled the door handle. The door opened and she poked her head inside. "Professor Slughorn?" She called out. She waited for a response but did not get one. Hermione quietly pushed the door open and stepped inside. Her eyes traveled over to his wine bottles and she headed over to them, with a plan in mind. She grabbed at one of his many bottles of wine, one half full, and plucked it up. She popped off the cork and took a swig of it.
Hermione looked around his room. It was warm and quiet and she really wished she could just lie on his couch and fall asleep. She sighed and chugged down more of the wine. At this point she really did not care of getting caught. Her life was already screwed up as it was. She blew out a breath and popped down on the floor, finishing the rest of the bottle in fifteen minutes. She unsteadily got up from the floor and found another wine bottle exact to the one she had just finished. She opened it, poured half of its contents into the one she finished off and put the cork back on both of them.
Hermione closed her eyes, and put a hand out to steady herself. She was still in control of her actions for a couple more minutes before she knew it would hit her. She reopened her eyes and fixated them on the door. She began to head for it and walked out of the room, remembering to close the door behind her. She began to wander through the hallways, stumbling here and there, and it was twenty minutes later when she finally figured out where everybody was going, to the Great Hall for dinner. "I'm starving!" She told a guy in the hall next to her.
"Cool," the guy said to her.
"Who are you?" She squinted at him.
"Jonathon," he said, uneasily. He noticed her odd behavior.
"I'm Hermione," she stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you." She stated firmly.
"Yeah I know," he shook her hand quickly and dropped it.
"It was nice talking to you," she began to slur. "But I must tell my friends something." The idea had come to her when she walked into Professor Slughorn's room. She had needed some way to tell her friends about her and Draco without any worry or fear. And then it came to her, the only way she knew how she could accomplish that. To be drunk. She could take Harry and Ron in that state; hell she would not even care how she did it, she just would. She hadn't really been thinking about the consequences when the idea came to her, she just did it.
Hermione stumbled her way into the Great Hall, spotted her friends, and marched over to them. "I have an announcement," she tipped over and grabbed Ginny's shoulder for support. "Whoa," she said. She let go of her friend's shoulder and straightened herself up. "I have an announcement." She said again.
"Hermione?" Ginny stood up next to her. "Are you okay?" She had everybody's attention now, it was her perfect chance.
"Every- everything is fine." She gave Ginny a smile. "I'm- I'm going to tell them, about you know what." She whispered the last part to Ginny.
"What?" Ginny asked, confused.
"Yeah," Hermione chuckled. "Okay right," she looked back at Ron and Harry.
"Hermione?" Harry said.
"Shh! This isn't about you, Harry." She put up her pointer finger and shook it at him. "Now listen, I have an announcement!"
"We get that…" Ron said, uneasily.
"Oh my god, are you drunk?" Ginny's mouth fell open.
"I-I no!" Hermione tried to contain her laughter.
"Oh my god, you are!" Ginny grabbed Hermione's wrist.
"Hermione!" Harry stood up from his seat.
"Will- will you guys let me talk!" She threw up her free hand.
"No, I am taking you to our room!" Ginny began to pull Hermione's arm.
"Stop," she tried to pull her arm free of Ginny's hand. "Stop!"
"Hermione, you're making a scene!" Ginny scolded her. What was her friend thinking? Getting drunk? This was not the right way to break this kind of information to everyone.
"I need to tell them!" Hermione protested.
"Not here and not now!" Ginny whispered.
"Yes now!" Hermione frowned at her friend. "Listen!" Hermione bent over and banged her hand on the table. "I need to say something!"
"Hermione, my god please control yourself!"
"Oh I lost that a long time ago." Hermione told Ginny, throwing her arm up in the air.
"What are you talking about?" Ginny said, shockingly. "I can't believe you got yourself drunk."
"I really think you need to take her upstairs." Harry looked around nervously. People were beginning to stare.
"I'm trying!"
"I want to hear what she has to say." Ron shrugged and Harry and Ginny threw him a look.
"Not helping," Harry frowned. Ginny looked around at the staring students and her eyes caught onto Malfoy's. He was frowning. Ginny stared at him, then out the door, then back at him, then out the door. Hoping he would catch the indication, Ginny began to pull on Hermione's arm again.
"I have an idea," Ginny improved. "We will go to the doors over there and announce to the whole Great Hall!" Hermione shook her head at her friend.
"I'm fine here,"
"No," Ginny tugged on her friend.
"Let me help," Harry offered.
"I've got this," Ginny told him.
"Ginny but I need to tell them about-"
"I know about your dress that you just got! We will tell them later."
"But-"
"Okay, come on," Hermione's drunken state won in Ginny's favor as her unsteadiness gave in and Ginny pulled her out of the Great Hall.
Once all eyes were off of them, Ginny put Hermione up against the wall. "Don't say anything," she frowned at her friend. Hermione frowned back. They waited a minute before Draco finally came out and mumbled to them which bathroom to go to. Ginny waited a few seconds before tugging Hermione along beside her to the right bathroom.
The minute they were in, Draco turned around to face them, fuming. "What the fuck was that?" He yelled. This was the first time Ginny had actually seen proof that Draco and Hermione were together.
"She's drunk," Ginny frowned, scared from his reaction. Draco walked over to Hermione and grabbed her arm roughly.
"Ow," she frowned.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"Malfoy let her go." Ginny told him. He looked at Ginny then back at Hermione and dropped his grip.
"Fine, but I will be seeing you later." He stared at Hermione for another second longer and broke it off. He bumped past her and left the bathroom. Hermione looked at her friend and shut her eyes.
"What were you doing?" Ginny yelled, not able to control her anger. She knew talking to Hermione in this state would do no good.
"Ginny," Hermione breathed.
"Just please stop talking." She grabbed Hermione's wrist. "I just saved your ass."
A/N- Insane day yesterday! I went to comic con and met Anthony Michael Hall (The Breakfast Club/Weird Science/16 Candles/Vacation), James Marsters (Buffy/Angel/PS I Love You), Charisma Carpenter (Buffy/Angel/Charmed), Nicholas Brendon (Buffy), the voice of Pocahontas, Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Amy Bruni (Ghost Hunters), Mercedes McNab (Buffy/Angel), Norman Reemus (Boondock Saints/Charmed/Walking Dead), Christine Elise (Child's Play 2), Anthony Guajardo (Walking Dead), Kelly Donavon (Buffy).
And I saw or was like right next to some of the cast from Willy Wonka, Julie Benz (Buffy/Dexter/Jawbreaker/Saw 5/Angel) I was going to get her autograph but her line was too long, also the other Boondock Saints guy, more Walking Dead people, Edward Furlong (the kid from Terminator 2) and like a bunch of other people.
It was amazing, I got a hug from Nicholas and Kelly (his twin brother) and my hands caressed by Norman Reemus, major hottie, he also greeted me with a hi babe and when I went back to get a picture with him I got a what's up sugar pop? Why can't every guy greet me like that? Haha, sorry for another rant, please review I appreciate and read every one of them!
Brittany