Chapter eight - Reunion
The last few days of the Christmas holiday flew by. Her parents believed every single story she made up from The Burrow; George and Fred had pulled a prank on everybody, Percy had shown up, and she, Ron and Harry had reunited.
Hermione wished she were telling the truth. She had enjoyed the night with Draco, but actually becoming friends with Ron and Harry again would be magnificent. She had to admit she missed them. It was tearing her a bit apart that she had to sit by herself on the train. She couldn't count on faith to bring her next to Draco once again - last time had been a coincidence, and he probably wouldn't sit with her if he had a choice.
She still did not fully believe him. She wanted to, but a part of her told her not to lose herself in his eyes – they could be deceiving.
"Hermione, dear, I've poured tea for you!" Hermione's mother yelled up the stairs the day before she was going back to Hogwarts. She was packing her suitcase and enjoying the last few moments at home.
"Coming!" she yelled back. The smell of cinnamon reached her nostrils.
An hour and two cups of tea later she walked back upstairs, but as she approached her room she could hear voices. Four, maybe three, people, men, were chatting inside her room. Hermione first thought it to be Draco, Lucius and a Death Eaters coming to punish her for being at their house, but the voices didn't belong to them, she was sure. They were familiar voices, but ones she hadn't heard in a while.
All of a sudden two of the voices disappeared. Maybe they had heard her coming? Hermione felt her stomach tighten. With slow steps she entered her bedroom to find her old friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasly sitting on her bed.
"I must be dreaming!" Hermione began, shocked by her schoolmates' appearance at her house. "You can't Disapparate!" Hermione realised those were the first words she spoke to them in quite a bit.
"Hello, Hermione, it's nice to see you, too," said Harry in a sarcastic tone. They all stared at each other for a while. Awkward silence filled the room instantly. Hermione wondered if her parents had heard her yelling just before, but she couldn't hear steps on the staircase.
"I didn't mean it like that, Harry. It really is nice to see you. I apologise for my bad behaviour, you just caught me by surprise," Hermione finally said, breaking the silence. Ron looked relieved, as if he had actually believed Hermione was furious with them for showing up.
"We can't Apparate, but Fred and George can," Ron explained. Hermione smiled even though she didn't want to. It felt nice to actually be talking to Ron again. She had missed him much – more than she had realised.
"Oh that explains the voices all of a sudden disappearing," Hermione said to herself.
Harry and Ron nodded. "But why are you here?" she asked after a while.
"I've…" Ron started, interrupted by Harry coughing. "We've decided that this whole argument is stupid, and it has lasted far too long." Hermione felt a stone fall from her heart.
"This is all great and so, but it's actually me who's supposed to apologise. I mean, it is after all me who's been so angry." Hermione felt a bit of her pride going by admitting that she was the one to apologise, but if it made her friends with Harry and Ron again, it had to be done.
"Yeah, but we figured you'd never come around, so we had to make the move," Harry said with a slight of laughter in his voice. He was right – it was hard of her to budge.
"And I also feel like I need to apologise for the entire Lavender thing. I really want to break up with her, but I have no idea how to!" Ron added, looking slightly confused.
Hermione felt her heart skip a beat. He was really going to break up with her? She felt herself get a bit excited.
"I... Thank you," Hermione mumbled. She walked up to the two boys and opened her arms wide, inviting them into a hug.
"Can't you ask your mum to bring up some food, I am starving!" Ron said after the three of them had been chatting for a while about Hogwarts, Christmas and other chatter (not mentioning Draco, Lavender or Ginny). "No!" Hermione nearly yelled. She had not yet told her parents that she had visitors, and she didn't intend to tell them either. They already thought she'd made friends with the guys. "I don't want my parents to know you're here," she admitted. She was nervous about their reaction. She was telling (part of) the truth before she'd even considered it.
"You don't want them to know that we're here? Hermione, what is going on?" Harry broke in. Both he and Ron looked very concerned. Hermione wished she had just shut her mouth.
"They think..." Hermione hesitated. "They think we made friends a while ago. They think I spent Christmas at The Burrow." Ron looked very surprised.
"Why do they believe that?" he asked. He had never considered Hermione a liar – she always told to truth unless she really was in trouble.
Hermione frowned. How was she supposed to tell them the truth without mentioning the episodes with Draco? They would both go crazy if they found out about her rendezvous with their mutual enemy.
"I received a letter and I told my mum it was from you," Hermione admitted. She could feel herself blush heavily. When had she ever gotten so lost in a lie? She had never been a liar before she had gotten to know Ron and Harry. They had taught her how to and when to lie if necessary. The guilt of lying ate her up.
"But who was the letter really from then?" Harry asked in curiosity. His curiosity and suspicions were annoying, but they had often saved lives.
"Eh, Luna - Luna sent me a letter." Hermione could tell Harry was growing uncomfortable.
"Luna? Why did you have to lie to your parents about Luna?" Ron asked. "Yeah, and what did she want from you?" Harry added.
Hermione's brain was twisting and turning like a crazy to make up yet another lie.
"She… Uhm, she invited me over for Christmas. To have dinner with she and her father." One thing she had learned about lying was to be as truthful as possible. In this case she just swapped Ron's name with Luna.
"She did what? That is crazy. I didn't know you were friends like that," Ron said with a confused look on his face. Harry nodded in agreement – he had gone speechless.
"We sat together on the way home for Christmas. She is actually really nice." Harry chuckled without a noise, and Hermione knew why. She had always found Luna quite strange and weird, so Harry couldn't imagine them actually having much in common.
"But why did you lie to your parents?"
"You see, I once showed my parents a copy of The Quibbler, and they thought that Xenophilius was quite strange. They would not want me to make friends with his daughter." Hermione had indeed showed them The Quibbler last year, but they had actually loved it. It was the only Magic magazine that they read. They liked to keep a bit up with what was going on in their daughter's world, and Hermione had told them that The Quibbler was closest to the truth.
"Anyway, can we stop the bad tension now and just cherish that we are actually on speaking terms again?" Ron asked all of a sudden. All three of them brightened up and smiled.
"Yes - yes of course."
Harry and Ron did not leave again until around dinnertime. They all agreed to sit together on the train the next day to catch up.
"I'll see you then!" Ron said and waved at Hermione. Hermione waved back. At that exact moment Fred and George arrived. They were going to bring Ron and Harry back to The Burrow.
"Ron, have you kissed your girlfriend goodbye properly?" they asked at the same time. Ron's face turned red and he threw himself at his brothers, trying to start a fight. Hermione took the opportunity to say farewell to Harry. She noticed a rather concerned look in his eyes.
"What is wrong?" she whispered to him. At first he looked as if he did not know what she was talking about. Then he spilled.
"I was just wondering… Are you sure that letter was from Luna?"
Hermione looked at Harry in surprise and felt her heart beat faster than before. Had he seen her through?
"Y-yes, indeed. Why?"
"Ron was apparently too busy snogging to notice that Luna in fact was sitting not far from us on the express - and not with you, as you said." Hermione felt like disappearing into a hole. She had not thought that through. Of course Luna had been sitting with them, she always did!
"I-" Hermione began, but Ron and the identical twins were done fighting, so she shut up.
"See you tomorrow, Hermione," Harry said and hugged her good bye, as had their conversation not occurred.
"Yeah, see you," she stammered. She was screwed. Harry had seen through her lies. She could only hope he would have forgotten the whole thing by tomorrow.
The four boys left her room with a plop; Ron and Harry holding on to each their twin.
Hermione sat down on her bed and slowly started to sob. Since when had her life been such a mess? Maybe she was just tired of Ron always being so rude towards her. Or maybe, Hermione thought to herself, being with Draco had all been to make Ron jealous, because Ron, as much as Hermione didn't want to admit it, made her jealous by being with Lavender. It was her who was supposed to be with Ron! Not snogging with him like that in public - she had class unlike Lavender. No, just be with him. It was her he should hold in his arms... Hermione hesitated with the thought. That would never happen, she was aware. They had been friends for far too long to develop any kind of romantic relationship. And even if they did, Ron wouldn't have a clue how to be a decent boyfriend.