Title: Love Really Hurts Without You
Team: Caerphilly Catapults
Position: Chaser 1
Round: 7
Prompt: "It's just every time I look at him I get these pains in my chest, and I know it's his fault, that bastard!"
Additional Prompts used: [word] invisible; [dialogue] "Aw, now two people are mad at me!"; [setting] Hogwarts Express
Murder Mystery: location, carriage three (Ravenclaw); murderer, Justin, Finch Fletchley; weapon, wand
Prompt: [action] reading a book; [weather] drizzly; [dialogue] "Is that a wand in your pocket or are you happy to see me?"
Writing club: fight club number 14
Prompt: [weather] rain
Gather Your Party: ranger number 9
Prompt: [dialogue] "You actually came back!"
Word count: 2748
Betas: Rose, Dora, Bea
A/N Set in Harry and Hermione's 7th year at Hogwarts. A No Voldemort!AU where Harry's parents are still alive and James Potter was a famous Quidditch Player/now manager of a Quidditch team. This story is a sequel to my story I (Don't) Want You, written for the Daily Prophet Don't Be Mean competition but of course, this can be read as a stand alone. The main prompt for this story was used as both the inspiration for the story and as dialogue within the story.
It's just every time I look at him, I get these pains in my chest, and I know it's his fault, that bastard!
Hermione, Theo, Harry, Draco, Ron and Pansy were sitting in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express as they made their way home for the Easter holidays. The rain that had been lashing at the windows since they left Hogsmeade had subsided to a drizzle. Inside the compartment, the windows were fogged up with the heat of their bodies. Hermione was leaning against the compartment partition, her legs draped over Theo's lap, her nose buried in a book. Pansy was sitting beside Theo at the window, drawing pictures on the fogged-up window with her finger, while Ron sat opposite her and Draco was practically sitting in Harry's lap as he appeared to be trying to eat Harry's face. Ron kept glancing at them with disgust and Theo was banging the back of his head against the seat.
"Theo," Hermione said, looking up from her book, "could you please stop doing that? It's very distracting when I'm trying to read."
"Sorry, love," Theo replied. "But I want to know whose bright idea it was to get those two together?" He gestured in Harry and Draco's direction. Hermione looked over at the pair, rolled her eyes and replied, "Well, Theo, that would have been your bright idea. You were the one who wanted to lock them in a broom cupboard together so you wouldn't have to listen to Draco's rants about Harry as he pinned after him."
"Yeah, thanks for that!" Ron said sarcastically, before giving Harry a sharp poke in his side. "Knock it off you two, will you? Merlin's pants, your constant snogging is worse than your constant rants about Draco were."
"I didn't rant about Draco–" Harry started to protest.
"Right, of course not," Ron said. "And I'm a Hippogriff's uncle."
"Well, if it bothers you so much, Weasley," Draco said, now with his face buried against Harry's neck, "then don't look."
"Hard not to see it, really," Ron grumbled. "It's not like you're invisible you know."
"But we could be," Harry smiled, pulling his invisibility cloak out of his pocket and draping it over himself and Draco so they vanished from the view of those in their compartment.
"Is that a wand in your pocket or are you happy to see me?" Harry asked, grinning at Draco beneath the cloak as he moved to straddle Harry's legs.
"OI!" Theo protested. "We can still hear you and Merlin knows I did not need the image that you just put in my head. So, just knock it off. It won't kill you to be apart for five minutes you know!"
"Aw, now two people are mad at me!" Harry grumbled as he took the cloak off and Draco resumed sitting in his own seat, resting his head against Harry's shoulder.
"You should've just left them in that broom shed, you know," Pansy said to Theo. "It would've saved us all having to bear witness to this spectacle." She gestured at Harry and Draco. Harry's head was resting against the top of Draco's. "I really think I preferred Draco's pining rants about Harry."
"I didn't pine–" Draco began to protest but stopped at the withering look that Pansy gave him. "Well, not much. It wasn't that bad!"
"It wasn't bad compared to that soppy look you currently have on your face. But then, hindsight is twenty-twenty."
"I. Do. Not. Have. A. Soppy. Look. On. My. Face," Draco said with gritted teeth.
Hermione peered over the top of her book saying, "I never thought I would agree with Pansy, but you do have a soppy look on your face."
"No, I don't. I'm a Malfoy. We don't do soppy looks."
"Tell your face that then," Pansy muttered.
"It just proves how right we all were about you two," Hermione finished, looking smug before disappearing behind her book once more while Draco pulled a face at her and Harry stuck out his tongue. Ron gave a snort of laughter. It was usually him who was on the receiving end of Hermione's smug looks.
There was an outburst of giggling in the corridor outside their compartment.
"Hi, Ron," Lavender said, as Parvarti giggled again. "You look nice today."
"Oh…uh…thanks," Ron sounded surprised but looked delighted. Hermione looked up from her book once more and rolled her eyes as Lavender blushed. "You're looking very pretty today."
Lavender blushed harder and giggled as she said, "See you around, Ron."
Parvarti giggled furiously as she linked arms with Lavender and they disappeared up the corridor. Ron looked incredibly pleased with himself as he watched Lavender go.
Hermione was once again buried in her book as she and Theo discussed something about their holiday homework in low tones. Harry's eyes were closed as he rested his head on the top of Draco's. Draco was the only one who noted the furious expression on Pansy's face as she stood up and stomped to the door of the compartment and pulled the book out of Hermione's hand.
She grabbed Hermione and Draco's hands announcing, "I think we need a girly chat." And pulled them from the compartment, to Hermione's surprise and Draco protests about not leaving Harry. "He can survive without you for five minutes!" she snapped.
They made their way along the train until they reached the toilet where Pansy unceremoniously shoved Draco inside and tugged Hermione in after her. It was a tight squeeze and the space seemed all the smaller for the look of anger on Pansy's face. Then, it hit Draco, it wasn't a look of anger–Pansy looked hurt, sad.
"What's wrong, Pans?" Draco asked as the train rattled around a bend, forcing him to sit down on the toilet due to the cramped space.
"It's just every time I look at him, I get these pains in my chest, and I know it's his fault, that bastard!"
"Every time you look at who?" Hermione asked.
"Ron!" Pansy burst out and Hermione goggled at her.
"Oh, my Merlin!" Draco exclaimed. "You're in love with him!" Hermione gasped.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Pansy snapped. "Of course I'm not in love with him. He's infuriating."
Draco smirked at her. "So, when I say it about Harry, I'm in love with him but not when you say it about Ron?"
"That's different. You would rant on and on and on about him," Pansy insisted.
"But yet, you just described exactly how I felt about Harry when you were talking about Ron," Draco replied.
"What?"
"Every time I looked–look–at him, I get these pains in my chest. Like my heart could just burst if I can't be near him."
"It's how I feel about Theo," Hermione said, giving Pansy a small smile.
"I–" Pansy looked between Draco and Hermione.
"What's wrong with you, Pans?" Draco asked. "Normally, you just speak what's on your mind and don't care if it makes anyone else uncomfortable."
"Why don't you tell him how you feel?" Hermione asked.
"Because he doesn't even notice me. I might as well be invisible for all the attention he pays to me. It's not like you and Harry," Pansy sighed.
"Then make him notice you!" Hermione said zealously. "Honestly, Ron has no idea about what's good for him! And Lavender is most definitely not good for him. Sure, he might enjoy her 'attentions' at first, but her empty-headed vanity will soon annoy him. Ron likes people with more substance to them."
"What was that about?" Harry asked, looking bewildered as they watched Pansy dragging Hermione and Draco up the train corridor.
"Pans has a bee in her bonnet about something," Theo said slowly.
"Girls!" Ron exclaimed. "They're just unfathomable."
"They're not that unfathomable." Theo smiled knowingly. "You just need to look out for subtle hints."
"Or the not-so-subtle ones from Lavender." Harry laughed and Theo nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that one is about as subtle as a brick wall."
"It's just every time I look at her, I get these pains in my chest, and I know it's her fault, that bitch!" Ron said suddenly.
"What?" Harry and Theo exclaimed together.
"Lavender?" Harry asked incredulously.
"What?" Ron yelped. "No, not Lavender! Where would you get a silly idea like that?"
"We were talking about Lavender and her not-so-subtle hints that she fancies you and then you tell us–" Harry stopped at a loss for words.
"That your heart aches when you look at her," Theo finished.
"I wasn't talking about Lavender! I was talking about–" Ron broke off.
"Who?" Harry and Theo asked together.
"Never mind," Ron muttered. "She doesn't notice me. I'm invisible to her or like a slug or something."
"How do you know that?" Harry asked. "Have you tried talking to her?"
"Worked for me with Hermione," Theo added.
"And me with Draco," Harry said.
"What do you mean it worked with you and Draco?" Theo goggled at Harry. "You two would have gone on not properly talking if I hadn't taken the drastic action of locking you both in the broom shed!"
"Exactly!" Harry nodded enthusiastically. "And we talked and–"
"And I don't need to know the rest! Thank you very much."
Harry smirked at Theo. "Well, it worked for me and Draco. Maybe we can lock Ron and this mystery girl in the broom shed and it'll work for them."
"You two were a very special case. You'd been dancing around each other for years."
"Talking about Harry and Draco?" Pansy asked, as she, Hermione and Draco entered the compartment again and took their seats.
"How could you tell?" Theo asked, with mock surprise in his voice.
"Wild guess," Pansy replied sarcastically.
"You actually came back!" Harry exclaimed happily as Draco sat down beside him and Harry threw his arms around him.
"What'd you think we were going to do? Jump off the back of the train?" Pansy sneered, rolling her eyes.
"And yet how you guessed who I was talking about remains a mystery," Theo said to Pansy, pretending to look puzzled.
The compartment door slid open again and Blaise entered. He looked at Harry and Draco before saying, "For Salazars' sake Draco! Don't you two ever need to come up for air?"
"Your wit is beyond compare, Blaise," Draco drawled sarcastically as Blaise looked about the compartment to see where he could sit. "And it's a bit cramped in here, so we'll see you later no doubt."
But Blaise had spotted the uncomfortable look on Ron's face at being seated beside the over-affectionate Harry and Draco. Nor did it escape his notice that Pansy was watching Ron out of the corner of her eye. He smirked.
"Plenty of room for us all," he drawled. "I can just sit here."
He plopped himself down on Ron's lap causing Ron to splutter indignantly.
"What are you doing?" he hissed.
"Oh, come now, beloved," Blaise purred. "Don't tell me you haven't told them about us?"
"There's no us!" Ron spluttered, turning a blotchy red. "Get off me."
Blaise put a hand to his heart theatrically. "No us? How could you say such hurtful things after last night?"
"There was no last night," Ron growled, shoving at Blaise. "Now get off me!"
"Such hurtful things you say," Blaise teased. "I'm so comfy here."
"Get off him, Blaise!" Pansy snarled, yanking Blaise off Ron's lap so forcefully that he landed with a thud on the floor. "He doesn't want you there!"
"Aw, now two people are mad at me!" Blaise sniggered from the floor. "Guess that's where you want to be seated, eh Pans?" Blaise smirked, as Pansy blushed but Ron was oblivious, gazing out the compartment window. "Budge up." Blaise said to Harry, who scooted over, pulling Draco onto his lap to let Blaise sit down.
The sky was growing dark as the sun moved behind the hills in the distance. The sky was covered in thick black clouds as the drizzle that had been present for most of their journey back to Platform nine and three-quarters became heavier and heavier.
"It's raining Krups and Kneazles out there," Ron commented after several minutes of silence while the rain lashed against the window. "We can't be that far away now."
"There's still about another hour to go," Hermione commented absently from behind the book she was once more buried in.
"I'm starving," Ron groaned.
"When are you ever not hungry?" Harry laughed.
Suddenly, there was a great screeching of brakes. The lights in the train went out as the train came to a halt so suddenly and violently that Harry, Draco and Blaise were thrown off their seats, landing in a heap on the floor, knocking the wind out of them. Ron was launched off his seat and putting his hands out in front of himself, landed in Pansy's lap, his outstretched hands on her bosom.
Pansy made an indignant noise. "Blaise, if that's you grabbing my tits, I swear to Merlin that I will hex you into next week!"
Mortified, Ron cleared his throat and in a cracked voice meekly said, "Erm…sorry Pansy. I think it's me. Two seconds I'll…"
"Ouch! Watch where you're stepping, Weasley! That was my finger you trod on!" Blaise grumbled, as he tried to extract himself off the floor
"How can I watch what I'm doing in the pitch dark?" Ron grumbled, moving to get off Blaise's hand and falling back onto Pansy's lap. "Oh Merlin, Pansy, I'm so sorry."
"I don't mind," Pansy said quietly. "Really, it's fine."
Blaise tried to reach down to help Harry and Draco back onto their seats.
"Ouch!" Harry complained as Blaise's hand poked him in the eye, knocking his glasses more askew than they had been from landing on the floor.
"Oops, sorry, Harry. I was trying to help. Here…" Blaise managed to find Harry's hand and helped hoist him back into his seat. Draco got ungracefully to his feet in the dark, cramped space.
"Can anyone reach their wand?" Draco asked, sitting down, not in Harry's lap but Blaise's.
"Hang on," came Hermione's voice.
"Wrong lap, Draco," Blaise said.
"Oops, sorry," Draco said, shifting over and landing in Harry's lap rather more heavily than he intended. There was an "Ompf" from Harry as the wind was knocked out of him once more.
"Lumos," said Hermione, upon managing to extract her wand from her robes.
"That's better," Blaise said, able to see and move now that Draco was removed from his lap, he extracted his wand and lit it as Theo lit his own. The compartment was now dimly lit by the light of the three wands and long shadows stretched across the compartment.
"I suppose I should go and see what's happening," Hermione said, matter-of-factly, entering her Head Girl mode and she bustled out of the compartment. Blaise held his wand aloft, so Harry and Draco could find their own wands and light them.
"If you two would like to light your wands, we'd be ever so grateful," Theo said, turning to Pansy.
"Or not. They're a little busy," Draco smirked at Pansy.
Blushing furiously, Ron returned to his own seat, pulled out his wand and lit it.
"So, are we going to talk about what just happened?" Blaise smirked.
"No, we are not, Blaise!" Pansy said haughtily. "Because it's none of your business."
Hermione returned to their compartment moments later.
"There was a tree down on the track and in the dark and the rain, the driver only just spotted it in time. The connection between the engine and the carriages for the power was dislodged as the train halted suddenly. It should be sorted soon and we'll be on our way again."
Hermione plopped herself back into her seat and put her legs back on Theo's lap before she spotted Harry, Draco and Theo all grinning maniacally, Ron blushing furiously red and Pansy sitting with a pleased little smile on her face.
"What did I miss?" Hermione asked.
"Just Ron and Pansy's little snogging fest in the dark," Blaise smirked, while Pansy glared daggers at him and Ron blushed, if possible, redder.
"Oh," Hermione said quietly. "Good, about time."
"Hermione!" Ron and Pansy shouted together.
"Aw, now two people are mad at me!" Hermione laughed.
"I wish I was invisible," Ron mumbled.
"That can be arranged," Harry said, waggling his eyebrows at Ron and tossing him the invisibility cloak.