Chapter Two
Ron continued to look at Hermione with a slightly stunned look on his face. He was used to seeing the plain bushy-haired brunette whenever he looked at Hermione but instead, he found himself facing a young woman who wasn't quite as plain as she used to be. "Ron, what is it?" Hermione asked when his words didn't continue.
Ron stared at her for another moment before shaking his head and saying, "Nothing, never mind."
Hermione rubbed her forehead in slight frustration as she said, "You know, for once in your life do you think you could stop bottling everything inside and just… talk?"
"Don't feel much like talking just now, thanks," Ron replied, turning and beginning to walk away.
Hermione let out a low growl and, once again, followed Ron as he stalked off. "Ron, will you just stop and talk to me?"
Ron stopped and whipped around to look at her. "Hermione, I already told you; I don't feel like talking," he snapped, "I don't want to share my feelings; I don't want to open up."
"Well, the more you bottle things in, the angrier you're going to become," Hermione snapped back, "It's not healthy to hold things in and you know it. I mean, look at what happened to Harry during our fifth year."
"Well let's try this; I'm not Harry!"
"I know exactly who you are, Ronald! However, who you are isn't the point…"
"Oh, well then please tell me what the bloody point is, I mean really, I'm dying to know."
"The point is, if you keep harboring your feelings the way that you are right now, you're likely to figuratively explode… or considering your magical heritage, combustion is even a possibility."
Ron ran a hand through his hair and sighed loudly. "Listen, not that I don't appreciate the fact that you're trying to make me feel better, really I do…"
"But?"
"But I'd rather you just kept your nose out of my business."
Hermione took a deep breath and bit her bottom lip to keep herself from allowing the tears that wanted to fall from her eyes to do so. "Well at least I care about what's going on with you," she snapped.
"Just leave me alone, alright? I'm not in the mood to deal with your endless supply of lectures."
Without warning, Hermione's hand came up and her palm cracked against Ron's cheek. She then turned on her heel and stormed off to find Harry and Ginny so that they could find a compartment. As she walked, tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't believe how childish Ron was acting. She was only trying to be there for him and he just kept pushing her away, just like he always did.
Suddenly, Hermione stopped walking. She ran a hand over her face in an attempt to compose herself but found that she just wanted to cry harder. There was a part of her that was saying she shouldn't be crying at all; that she understood Ron's need for solitude, but the other part of her was saying that Ron was just being a great prat and needed to get over himself.
Hermione, stop being so hard on him, she told her-self mentally, you know what it's like to care for someone so much it hurts, I'm sure that's what's going on with him. Ugh! Why does it have to be Lavender Brown though? I mean, what does she have that I don't?
As she stood there pondering what Ron could have seen, or still saw, in Lavender, Hermione began to get the feeling that she was being watched. She wiped her eyes quickly as she tilted her head up and looked around. Before she had the chance to find the source of her "paranoia", Hermione found herself looking straight into the brown eyes of her best female friend. "Hey, Gin," she said quietly.
"He's not taking things very well, is he?" Ginny questioned.
Hermione wiped a fresh tear away from her cheek as she shook her head and said, "Not in the least."
Ginny placed her arm around Hermione's shoulders and rubbed the upper part of her arm. "I wouldn't worry about him just now, Hermione," Ginny said, "You know how Ron gets when he's upset about something."
"Yes, he completely shuts down; bottling up every single thing that's bothering him until he decides that he's ready to just explode and takes it out on the people he supposedly cares about."
"Hermione, you know Ron cares about you; you're one of his best friends."
Hermione sniffled and nodded her head as she ran her hand through her hair. "Yeah, and at this rate, that's all I'll ever be."