This one is a bit longer than some of the others, and while I definitely borrowed some inspiration from the Half-Blood Prince, I tweaked it a bit to better fit the story in my head, so hopefully it feels original. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter or any of his friends. Woe is me...

Chapter 8

The next morning found Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast with the boys before they headed down to the Quidditch Pitch. Well, eating was a term best used loosely. Hermione had tucked into her eggs, sausage, and toast and Harry was steadily working his way through a bowl of porridge. Ron, however, was busy slaughtering his breakfast with his fork as opposed to eating it and was staring morosely at the table in front of him; his skin had taken on a rather pallid tone, and he looked on the verge of vomiting at any moment.

"Ron, you really should try to eat something," she said gently, hating that he felt so nervous but knowing that he would feel better if he would only eat a little bit of food.

"Here, how about a piece of toast?" She handed him a slice from her plate, already buttered with jam on top. The looked he aimed at her plainly said that he wouldn't be eating that even if she tried to shove it down her throat. She dropped it back onto her plate in defeat.

"Here, Ron, maybe just some Pumpkin Juice instead, and then we'll head on down to the pitch," Harry said. He handed Ron a goblet full of juice, and Hermione saw him slip a small vial back into the bag that sat on the bench beside him. She knew immediately what was in the vial, remembered it from their very first Potions lesson that year: Felix Felicis.

"Harry, no!" she said, reaching out and putting her hand over the top of the goblet before Ron could raise it to his lips.

"That is cheating," she hissed out quietly, so as not to be overheard. "What could you possibly be thinking?"

Although most people rarely took the time to realize it, Ron had always been more perceptive than anyone ever gave him credit for, and he understood almost immediately what Harry had done from her vehement protestations. His eyes brightened and he pulled the goblet out of Hermione's reach, lifting the juice to his lips and drained the entire drink while Hermione continued to quietly scold Harry for his actions.

"Feeling okay there, Ron?" Harry asked with a broad grin, interrupting Hermione's tirade. He rose to his feet and slung his bag over his shoulder, preparing to make his way down to the Quidditch pitch.

"Oh, yeah, that juice hit the spot; I'm feeling much better now. You know, Harry? I'm feeling pretty lucky, today. I think we're going to absolutely smash Slytherin." Harry clapped Ron on the back, grin still planted firmly on his face, and they made their way out of the Great Hall.

Hermione watched them go with a scowl on her face. She couldn't believe that Harry would cheat by using Liquid Luck on Ron during a school sporting event. Not only was it against school rules, but it was also simply wrong. She huffed and tucked back into her breakfast with a vengeance, determined to bring it up again to Harry later.

Hermione sat in the stands next to Luna Lovegood, who was sporting her roaring lion's head headpiece. Both were wrapped up snugly in their cloaks, scarves wound tightly against their necks to protect them from the chilly November air. She had noticed as soon as she had arrived in the stands that Malfoy wasn't on the pitch. Shortly after, Zacharias Smith, who had taken over commentating after Lee Jordan had left the year before (much to everyone's disappointment) had announced that the Slytherin Seeker was sick and that his position would be filled by…

Hermione had stopped paying attention to him at that point. Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd but there wasn't even a hint of Malfoy's distinct white-blonde hair. She hoped that he was okay; she couldn't imagine what could have happened to him between yesterday evening and now. Soon enough, however, her attention was diverted to the match taking place in front of her.

She watched as, true to Ron's prediction at the breakfast table that morning, the Gryffindor team pummeled the Slytherins. Ron made some truly spectacular saves that even she, an apathetic fan of the sport even on her best day, couldn't help but admire, and he did not allow a single Quaffle past him. The rest of the team was doing a great job as well, but it was Ron that Hermione couldn't take her eyes off.

He seemed incredibly confident and was making such amazing saves that even Zacharias Smith seemed begrudgingly impressed; considering his and Ron's contentious relationship the year before, that was saying quite a lot. By the time Harry snatched the Snitch right out of the reserve Seeker's fingertips, the score was 250-0, an undisputedly deserved win for Gryffindor in everyone's mind…except for Hermione's that was.

She made her way up to the Common Room with the rest of Gryffindor House, dropped down into an armchair by the fireplace, and waited for the boys to come up. Harry and Ron walked in together and Ron was immediately mobbed by all of their housemates, heralded loudly as the hero of the match. Harry, however, saw her sitting by the fireplace and came over to sit in the chair beside her.

"I can't believe you did that, Harry," she said, leaning closer to him and whispering in a stern voice. The disapproving frown on her face was a more than accurate imitation of Minerva McGonagall and would have made their Head of House proud.

"You know it's against school rules. And not only that, but I never took you for someone who would cheat just to win a game. It's…"

Her voice trailed off when Harry reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small vial: the topic of their current discussion. He held it out for her inspection, and she watched as it twinkled in the firelight. She could see the seal at the base of the cork still firmly in place; he had yet to remove the stopper. She looked up at Harry in shock.

"You didn't actually give it to him." Harry shook his head. "You only made him think you had." He nodded.

She was stunned. Hermione realized that Harry had tricked Ron into thinking he had been dosed with Liquid Luck in order to boost his confidence. It had certainly worked. Although she in no way approved of the use of deceit, she found herself secretly proud of her friend's cunning and ingenuity. Everyone who said that Harry Potter was all brash actions and impulsivity really didn't know the wizard at all; he could be quite a keen plotter when he wanted to be.

"And…did you tell Ron?" she asked.

"I told him on the way up to the castle. He knows that it was all him, and that he didn't need something like Liquid Luck to play the way he did…"

A loud cheer echoed through the common room, cutting Harry off mid-sentence, and Hermione looked up just in time to see Ron pulling Lavender Brown up onto the top of a table to stand beside him. Then he kissed her full on the mouth to the raucous applause of everyone in the room apart from herself and Harry. Hermione felt as though she had been slapped right in the face.

Her eyes began to well up with tears, so she turned and, with as much calm and dignity as she could muster, left the common room before anyone could notice. Once the portrait closed firmly behind her, shielding her from the eyes of her Housemates, Hermione raced down the stairs of Gryffindor Tower as quickly as she could. She ducked into the first unused classroom that she passed and, with her back pressed against the wall, sank down slowly onto the cold stone floor.

"Avis."

Her voice was quiet, hardly even a whisper in the silent room, and her wand was clutched loosely in her trembling hand. From the tip of the vine wood burst a flock of brightly colored birds that chirped and twittered as they slowly flew in circles above her spot on the floor. The chill of the floor seeped through her clothes, making a shiver run through her body, but she made no attempt to move, simply pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms tightly around them. She watched as the birds fluttered and chirped around her, trying to allow them to distract her from the pain of her fracturing heart while silent tears slipped, unchecked, down her cheeks.

She had no idea how long she sat there before she heard the heavy door creak open. Harry walked over to her, sitting next to her in the floor but leaving the silence unbroken. For several minutes they sat there side by side, unspeaking, simply taking and giving comfort to one another. The silence was broken when the door creaked open once again.

Hermione and Harry looked away from the birds above them to see Ron and Lavender burst into the room. The new couple's hands were intertwined, and Lavender giggled obnoxiously in a way that made Hermione's skin crawl. Her giggles stopped abruptly when she spotted Hermione and Harry sitting in the floor.

"I think we'll need to find another room, Ron," Lavender said with a forced smile, clearly uncomfortable at the sight of her roommate's obvious tears and wanting to resume her snogging session with the hero of Gryffindor House. "It looks like this one is already occupied." She made her way back out and through the door, but Ron allowed his hand to slip from hers, staying where he was and telling her that he would be right behind her.

Hermione watched as Ron's mouth opened and she knew that whatever he was about to say, she didn't want to hear it. She was tired of letting Ronald Weasley have so much power over her emotions and feelings, only to turn around and trample them time and time again.

She unfolded herself from her spot on the floor beside Harry, glaring angrily at Ron. Tears were still visible on her cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot from crying, but her wand was steady and unwavering as she lifted it to point directly at him.

"Oppugno."

The first word she had uttered since leaving the Tower sounded husky and thick from her tears, but the effect was immediate, nonetheless. Her birds stopped their leisurely fluttering about the room to swarm at Ron en masse. He let out a surprised yelp as the birds attempted to attack him. Although he was able to fend off most of them, she did see two or three hit their marks, leaving visible cuts and scratches to mar his exposed forearms and neck. He looked at her in anger and disbelief and, without a word, fled the room.

As soon as he was gone and the door had slammed shut behind him, Hermione felt all of the fight rush out of her immediately and she deflated, sinking back onto the floor next to Harry and burying her face in her arms. She felt Harry's arm drape across her shoulders as he pulled her in closer to him. She took comfort in her best friend's embrace, in the familiar scent that was warm and woodsy and uniquely Harry, and allowed him to hold her close as she cried.

"He'll come to his senses, 'Mione," Harry whispered quietly once her tears had tapered off. "He'll figure it out, and he'll realize what a bloody idiot he's been all these years for ignoring what's always been right in front of him."

Hermione knew that Harry had always been more observant that anyone ever really gave him credit for, including herself at times. She hadn't realized, however, that he had known that she had been halfway in love with Ronald Weasley for years now. She couldn't really even pinpoint when it had happened, exactly. She supposed it had begun first year when he had sacrificed himself in the chess game so that she and Harry could continue their quest to rescue the Stone from Professor Quirrell. It had continued to grow slowly over time from that point.

But, she decided, this was the last time she would allow Ron to trample her heart. She only had one to give, and she would save it for someone else, someone who would appreciate it and treat it with the care that it deserved. She lifted her head, brown eyes finally devoid of tears and clashing with Harry's bright green ones.

"No…" she said softly but firmly, shaking her head and causing her riotous curls to dance around her face. "I'm done waiting for him, Harry. I'm tired of trying to convince him that I can be enough for him and I'm just…I'm through."

Harry didn't say anything, merely hugged her tighter in response. In that moment, she was more thankful than ever for her best friend: her brother in all but blood. She leaned further into his side, allowing him to take the weight of her body and resting her head against his shoulder. They sat there together until Hermione finally felt ready to return to the Common Room, neither one of them saying another word.

Song Inspiration: GIRL – Maren Morris

I'm going to try to get out one more chapter today, but if not, it may end up being a few days before I am able to post again.

Hope you are all still enjoying the story!

sbz