Chapter 26
A couple days had passed, school was finished and the holidays had come in a matter of a few short weeks. Harry was surprised how quickly everything seemed to pass quickly. Harry was lying alone in his dormitory bed. Most of the students including his friend Ron Weasley had left for the holidays to go visit their families.
It was only Harry in the boy's dormitory. He wasn't sure who else had left him, nor did he care. Harry lost interest of school events or anything in general after witnessing a certain event.
Flashback
What he saw once he entered the common room, made his heart sting. Anger, jealousy, sorrow, revenge, hatred all bubbled up inside of him as he saw Hermione Granger hugging Ron Weasley.
Ron had caught a glimpse of Harry and stared at him wide-eyed. He pushed Hermione away, who then turned to see Harry standing there looking at them.
"Oh…uh, Harry…Hi" Hermione said to him.
The expression on Harry's face made her feel impeached, even more so when he spoke for the first time.
"You don't have to beat the bush. I'm sorry to disturb you two. I've had a long rather unexpectedly eventful day, so if you don't mind I will be off to bed now" he said, rather coldly.
Ron and Hermione watched him walk up to the steps towards the boys dormitory. Hermione was the first to react by following him.
"Wait! Harry!" she called.
Harry stopped in his steps but didn't turn around to face her.
"It's okay Hermione; you don't have to explain anything. I get that you two some time to yourselves. It's alright, take all the time you need. I'm going to sleep" he said, bitterly.
Hermione just watched him walk up the steps.
End Flashback
Harry had hoped that the common room anticipated that the common room would also be empty, so he got up and put his glasses on. He walked down the steps to the empty room and noticed the tree with a couple of presents at the bottom.
"Oh, yeah. It's Christmas" he said to himself as he started at the presents.
He looked at them and saw some of them were addressed to him. He gathered all of them and started opening them one by one. The first one was from Sirius; it was a broom cleaning kit for his Nimbus 2000. The second was from Remus Lupin, one of Sirius' best friends. He was also Harry's dad's best friends. Remus gave Harry a watch, not a wizard watch, just a plain muggle one.
The third was from Ron's mother, and it was a wool sweater with a variance of designs and a simple 'H' in the middle of it. Harry smiled at all the gifts he had received, until he reached his fifth gift which was from Hermione which was a box but along with it was a letter. Harry stared at this gift but then kept it aside. The last gift he had received had no name, only a letter with Harry's name on it.
Before opening the gift Harry opened the letter which read,
Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you.
Use It Well.
Harry eyed the paper and looked at the back, inside the letter hoping to find a name…nothing. Once he gave up searching, he opened the wrapped gift. Inside of it was a really soft, dark coloured cloak. Harry observed it and determined it wasn't a dangerous artifact, so he put it on. As harry put on the cloak he noticed his body disappear under the cloak.
"What the hell is this?" he said to himself. When he took the cloak off his body came back, once he put it on again his body disappeared again.
"An invisibility cloak?" he said to himself. He walked around and thought about how cool this gift was. He hadn't realized how silly he was acting with his cloak on until he smashed a flower vase to the ground. Suddenly he heard someone coming down the stairs. He quickly and swiftly put on his cloak to cover himself…
Hermione was lying on her bed in the girl's dormitory, alone. Everyone had gone home for Christmas, at least all the girls in her dormitory. Her mother had mailed her saying that she was going on vacation with a friend of hers and that Hermione should stay with her friends here.
That was her one problem though; she didn't have very many friends. Her friends came in the form of Luna Lovegood, Ronald Weasley, and Harry Potter. They were all her best friends but it was a different case for Harry Potter. She really liked him, well more than a friend would like another friend but she couldn't put a stamp on her emotions for him.
Especially after the conversation they had together…
Flashback
Harry then, once again looked distantly "Answer this one question then" he said.
Hermione who was wiping her face of the tears had said "What?"
"If ever there comes a point, far out there when the structures fail us, where the rules aren't weapons anymore, where they become shackles that imprison us instead of the bad guys, and let them get ahead" harry turned to Hermione whose eyes where dazed in his glare, and expression blank as snow, "if ever this moment of crisis comes, will you still agree to fight by my side?" he asked.
Hermione tried to register everything he just said. She wasn't confused, she was just conflicted, and she didn't know how to answer.
"Harry...I-I just don't know" she said before taking off and leaving Harry to himself in the common room.
End Flashback
The nagging question kept repeating in her head over and over again. Will you still agree to fight by my side?
She knew in her heart that her answer was yes, but her mind for some reason disagrees. She just couldn't decide which one to listen to, her mind or her heart.
Flashback
"It's complicated, Ron" Hermione said, rather coldly.
"Well then 'uncomplicated' it for me" he said.
Hermione presumed to tell Ron about the conversation she had with Harry.
Ron's response was that he laid back a little on the couched and pondered. Then he spoke "Well, what's your complication with this? I mean you already know your answer"
"That's the problem Ron; I thought I knew my answer. I mean, my heart keeps telling me yes, but my mind is trying to stop me from it. I don't know anymore" she said, with a frown on her face.
"Why did the sorting hat place you in Gryffindor?" Ron asked
"What?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Why did the hat place you in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw?" Ron asked.
"I don't know why, probably because I'm brave or something" she said, bitterly.
"Exactly, Hermione! Exactly! People in Ravenclaw are intelligent but when it comes to practicality, they can't do anything. When they face something in real life, they are clueless. Hermione, your intelligence is uncanny for Gryffindors but natural for Ravenclaw's. But what really sets you apart is your bravery. You understand that are more important thing than cleverness" he said.
Hermione just stared at him with shock written all over her.
"You are brave Hermione, you know that, I know it and Harry does too. So you know your answer all along. You know it's always the heart you have to follow when dealing with bravery, not the mind. For without the heart, you would never have liked or met Harry" he said.
Hermione looked at him with a raised eyebrow "How did you-"
"I've always known that you have a thing for him Hermione. It's just that obvious when you two are around. Now I know that he also has something for you since he opened up this much to you. He needs you now more than ever Hermione and you've just got to be there for him" he said with a small smile.
Hermione smiled and then hugged Ron unexpectedly "Thank you Ron" she said, before Ron hugged her back.
They remained like that for a moment until she felt him push her away. It was when she turned around that she understood why.
"Oh, uh…Hi, Harry" she said.
End Flashback
After Harry saw them, he barely hung around with them. He never came to lunch, breakfast, dinner, nor did he even sit near them in class. He had been avoiding them for most of the time. Finally Ron was able to earn his forgiveness but Harry was still acted a little bitter or different towards Hermione.
Flashback
"He doesn't hate you Hermione" Ron said.
"Then why is he avoiding me?" she asked.
"It's complicated, but it's not because he hates you" Ron said.
"Gee, that makes perfect sense now Ronald. He doesn't hate me but doesn't want to see me either" she said, sarcastically
Ron laughed and then said "Just trust me, I've talked to him and he does not hate you. But you do have to give him some time"
Hermione looked at him with a bitter face and then nodded.
End Flashback
Hermione just sighed on her bed hoping that "some time" will come around sooner rather than later. Suddenly she hear something, in the common room and catapulted out of bed. She then ran through the door and headed downstairs. The common room was empty but it was still messy. There were wrappers from presents lying around, and there was a broken vase but apart from that there wasn't anything, or anybody else.
She looked at the presents that were sitting dormant on the couch. She noted how all of them were addressed to Harry. She also noticed the gift that she got him was apart from all the other gifts and it was untouched.
This made her teary eyed as she connected the dots. "Harry must have been here. He must have seen my present and broke that vase because of it" she said to herself.
Harry noticed tears forming in Hermione's eyes, "Harry must have been here. He must have seen my present and broke that vase because of it" she said out loud, without meaning to. She then started sobbing a little, she wiped her tears and then said out loud again "I'm sorry Harry, please forgive me…in time" she said, and then walked back up.
Harry felt impeached when he saw her crying. "Harry Potter you are such an asshole" he said to himself before walking towards the present. He opened it up but kept the letter for later. What he found inside made him cry because he realized just how much of an asshole he was.
AN: I hope this was somewhat emotionally moving for you guys. I wish there was more, but hey at least this was longer. I'm trying to move this story along so I'm sorry if it might suck near the ending but I promise that the next book will make up for all of it. I have been getting any comments about the character death stuff, so at this point I'm just going to surprise you guys. Just a heads up this story will get a little darker. If you guys have any questions about this whole Harry and Hermione situation then please ask. Hopefully I can answer more questions in the next chapter, if not then ask me for any nagging questions. Please Rate and Review.