What if Hermione going behind Harry's back, resulting in the Firebolt to be confiscated, caused Harry to react differently?
OoOoOoOo
Harry couldn't believe what had just happened. The girl he considered one of his best friends had gone behind his back, hadn't even spoken to him, and now Professor McGonagall had confiscated the world class Firebolt he had received anonymously. He took a very long deep breath and slowly exhaled before he cut Hermione's rushed justification off mid-sentence.
"Hermione Jane Granger!"
The girl stopped her rationalizations in shock at Harry using her full name in such a cold tone, but immediately began her reasons again. "Harry, you have to understand…"
"Enough! You will listen to me this time, Hermione!" He ignored the girl's stunned and widened eyes and continued icily. "Have you forgotten that I have been on a cursed broom before, Hermione? I would never want to experience it again. I do not want to die. I am not stupid. I am not a toddler. And you, Hermione Jane Granger, are NOT my mother!"
She opened her mouth again, but he held his hand up palm out in the classic "stop" method.
"I would probably have spoken to our Head of House myself, but you took that opportunity away from me. You assumed that I was too stupid, too greedy or too ignorant to be trusted with a decision about my own well-being. You assumed that if you didn't do something, it wouldn't be done. And that, Hermione, is why our friendship is now on the line. You may be intelligent, but the rest of us have minds as well. You may get good grades, but getting a better grade than me does not make you better than me as a person. If you want to be a friend, then treat me as a friend, not as some idiot who can't walk and chew gum at the same time!"
"But Harry," the girl began in disbelief, "you can't mean that."
He took another deep breath. "I mean precisely that, Hermione. Our friendship is in jeopardy because you believe you are the only person that can think or make an intelligent decision. You look down on the rest of us because of that belief, and the Firebolt is just a symptom of the problem. You didn't even give me the courtesy of speaking to me. You went behind my back without giving me the opportunity to make a decision myself. Does that sound like a friend to you? Should I go behind your back to our Head of House and tell her you need to take a break or drop some classes because your health is suffering? You would be furious with me, but you just did the exact same thing."
He took another cleansing breath. "This is your only warning, Hermione. If you ever treat me like a dim-witted baby again, our friendship will be over. As for today, I really need to spend some time away from you before I can even begin to think about forgiving you for behaving in such an underhanded and patronizing way."
He ignored her calls and left the Common room, but heard Ron say as before the portrait closed, "He's absolutely right, Hermione. You treat us like we're in diapers and you're the Mum, not as your friends. I'm with Harry on this." Harry walked down the hallway and headed to one of the hidden passages to cool down and avoid meeting anyone.
OoOoOoOo
Sometime after regaining his temper, he returned to the Gryffindor common room only minutes before curfew. Hermione was waiting for him and stood up when he came in to the nearly empty room.
Hello, Harry." Her voice was guarded, but not cold, which he perceived with cautious optimism.
"Hello, Hermione." He looked around. "No Ron?"
The girl shook her head. "He went to bed. I decided to wait for you."
Harry nodded and the two sat down on a sofa near the slowly dying fire. "We have a bit to talk about, don't we?"
She looked at him and then nodded herself. "You were right that I should have talked to you before going to Professor McGonagall. It's just…" She shook her head and seemed to take a deep breath. "Harry, you've never shown an interest in school, or homework, and you seem to rush in to things so often!"
Harry waited for her to collect herself and finish her thoughts. "You and Ron don't look into things; I feel like I always have to do that. I have to balance out how reckless you two are!"
The dark-haired teen took a deep breath and released it slowly. "I admit that I do sometimes rush into things. However, I had the Firebolt for half a day and never once mentioned riding it." She seemed surprised and apparently thought about it, before nodding slowly.
"Hermione, I'm not eleven any more. I've grown and I've changed, but you don't seem to realize that. You assume that I won't do my homework if you don't tell me; you don't wait to see what will happen. You assume that I will take an expensive broom from an anonymous person and put my life at risk. You assume I will always rush into things. Those assumptions are wrong. I never had friends before Hogwarts, so you and Ron became very important to me. You both accepted me as Harry, rather than the stupid "Boy-Who-Lived" label. But as I started to grow up and acted differently, both you and Ron made negative comments about it, almost as if it was unacceptable for me to change. Both of you make comments if I spend any time with people you haven't approved. Ron is OK as long as it's the Quidditch team, but anyone else is unacceptable to him.
"You seem to think I should defer to your judgment or have you participate in any decision I make. Do I participate in your decisions? No, only if asked for my opinion. Whenever I make a decision that you two weren't involved in, you both act annoyed or hurt. That's not how friends should behave. They should support each other and encourage growth."
"I don't want to lose you as a friend, Harry," Hermione whispered.
"And I don't want to lose you or Ron. But we all have to admit that none of us are perfect, that we each have our own interests, and it's OK to be different. I don't need or want a 13-year old Mum. I want a 13-year old friend. I may make mistakes if I don't always rely on you, but how can I learn without a few failures?"
"That's….that's surprisingly mature, Harry," Hermione replied with a small smile.
He decided to ignore the implied amazement that he was capable of being mature. "I'm not eleven any more. I have to grow up sometime."
"So we can still be friends?"
Harry gave her a lopsided grin. "Of course we can. I care about you. As long as our friendship lets us both grow and learn."
Hermione grinned and grabbed him in a tight hug. "So how do we get Ron in on that deal? I'm not so sure he's willing to either grow up or learn."
"We could always set the twins on him," Harry replied with a smirk.
"Evil, Harry. Evil, but I like it."
