Prologue: Hell Hath No Fury

The buzz of the win was a heady high. Soaring above the heads of the cheering crowd, Harry held the snitch in his fist, his toothy grin visible from the stands. The Gryffindors shared in his victory, whooping, grinning. Only one face in the stands was surly. Her face stood out like a beacon of disapproval. Harry's grin slid off his face.

It's not what you think, Hermione.

Ginny zipped past him, making a beeline for the stands. She crashed into the commentators' box. Harry shouted after her, but looked back over his shoulder. Hermione was gone.

He made his way to the cause of it all. Ron was amid the throng of the team, taking the pats on the back. Harry landed with his usual grace, dismounting smoothly. Ron's responding beam made it all worth it. Almost.

Before long, he and Ron were alone in the changing room. Harry's gut squirmed with nerves at the inevitable confrontation and reveal. They were about to leave and join the others at the party when Hermione stood in their path, wringing her Gryffindor scarf in her hands.

"I want a word with you, Harry."

Seeing her disappointment made him feel guilty despite not having done anything wrong. He hated being at the other end of her disapproval.

"You shouldn't have done it. You heard Slughorn, it's illegal."

"What are you going to do, turn us in?" demanded Ron at once, coming to Harry's defence. Harry cringed at the harshness of his voice. He turned away to hang up his robes.

"What? Of course not!" Hermione frostily retorted. Harry felt a surge at her words at least. She was disappointed, but she still was loyal. That was Hermione. A steadfast friend who, while she wasn't afraid to criticise his actions, would still support him regardless.

"I just hoped that Harry would have saved the Felix Felicis for something more important than Quidditch!"

"What are you two talking about?" Harry asked, pretending to fuss with his robes.

"You know perfectly well what we're talking about!" said Hermione. "You spiked Ron's juice with lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!"

"No, I didn't," said Harry, turning back to face them both.

"Yes you did, Harry, and that's why everything went right, there were Slytherin players missing and Ron saved everything!"

Harry reached into his jacket pocket and turned around. He held up the tiny bottle for her and Ron to see. Hermione's eyes widened as she saw the cork still tightly sealed with wax.

"I didn't put it in," Harry said calmly, gazing into her eyes. "I wanted Ron to think I'd done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking." He looked at Ron. "You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself." He pocketed the potion again.

"There really wasn't anything in my pumpkin juice?" Ron said, astounded. "But the weather's good and Vaisey couldn't play. I honestly haven't been given a lucky potion?"
Harry shook his head. Ron gaped at him for a moment, then rounded on Hermione, imitating her voice.

"You added Felix Felicis to Ron's juice this morning, that's why he saved everything! See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!"

In an instant, his plan backfired.

"I never said you couldn't. Ron, you thought you'd been given it too!"

The cold, sneering expression appeared upon Ron's face again. He pushed past her, not entertaining either her or Harry a glance as he strode out the door with his broomstick. Harry sucked a breath between his teeth, his temper prickling under his skin.

He sighed, shaking his head. He turned to Hermione, faltering when he saw the tears sparkling in her eyes.

"I'm sick of Ron at the moment," she burst out furiously. "I don't know what I'm supposed to have done."

Harry reached a hand out to her, words lost between them.

"You've done nothing," Harry said quietly. His arm dropped down. She sniffed, hugging her arms around herself. She peered over at him then offered him a small smile.

"It was smart, faking the potion. Maybe you should apply that brilliance to the classroom as well as the pitch."

He laughed softly. "I'm glad someone appreciated it." He hadn't meant to voice his disappointment out loud. "I… I'll see you up there, yeah?" He asked her. "I need to shower and stuff."

She only offered a small nod in response, leaving him alone in the changing room. Harry groaned, putting his hands over his face. When did their friendships become so complicated? How could he tell Hermione that Ron was angry over her kissing Krum two years ago? How could he explain that when he himself didn't understand the reason for Ron's behaviour?

Ginny's remarks about Ron's inexperience when it came to romance had really gotten under Ron's skin. Harry just couldn't understand it. Weren't there more important things to worry about? How could he value such a small thing over their friendship with Hermione? She had even asked him out on a date! It was obvious that she and Krum weren't an item and hadn't been for a while.

I need to sort this out myself.

Harry had to do his part. He had to have words with Ron, man-to-man. As awkward as it would be to have a serious conversation about relationships and feelings, he had a responsibility to his friends. If he was honest with himself, he was tired of seeing Hermione hurt. He wanted to see her smiling and laughing again.

Fuelled with purpose, Harry made it to the party up in the Common Room. Dread pooled within him when he searched the crowd for Hermione and couldn't find her. He found himself the centre of attention, girls surrounding him, batting their eyelids at him. They tittered at his least amusing comments, making him feel like some sort of show. He extracted himself from the throng, making some lame excuse to Romilda Vane to free himself from her advances.

He came face-to-face with Ginny.

"Looking for Ron?" She asked him.

"Actually-."

"He's over there, the filthy hypocrite." Ginny steamrolled over him, smirking. She pointed over to the corner. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.

"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it?" said Ginny dispassionately. "But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow. Good game, Harry."

She disappeared, leaving Harry gaping in shock at Ron. Shock diminished to a wave of anger on Hermione's behalf. Then at the thought of her, he thought he saw a mane of bushy brown hair whipping out of sight. He darted forward, sidestepped Romilda Vane again, and pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. The corridor outside seemed to be deserted.

He glanced at the many doors leading off to disused rooms. He pushed through the first one, finding Hermione within. She perched on the teacher's desk, a small ring of canaries twittering around her head. He couldn't help but admire her spell work.

"Oh, hello, Harry," she said in a brittle voice. "I was just practising."

"Yeah, they're really good," he said, then cautiously approached, seeing her drawn expression. "I… er… are you-."

"Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations." Hermione said over his feeble attempt to ask if she was alright.

"Er…does he?" said Harry.

"Don't pretend you didn't see him," said Hermione. "He wasn't exactly hiding it, was…?"

The door behind them burst open. To Harry's horror, Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand.

"Oh," he said, drawing up short at the sight of Harry and Hermione.

"Oops!" said Lavender, and she backed out of the room, giggling. The door swung shut behind her. There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence.

Hermione was staring at Ron, but he refused to look at her, instead rounding on Harry. He clapped him on the shoulder with a mixture of awkwardness and bravado.

"Hi, Harry! Wondered where you'd got to!"

Hermione slid off the desk. The little flock of golden birds continued to twitter in circles around her head so that she looked like a strange, feathery model of the solar system.

"You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside," she said quietly. "She'll wonder where you've gone." She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door. Harry glanced at Ron who was looking relieved that nothing worse had happened.

" Oppugno !" came a shriek from the doorway. Harry spun around to see Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild. The little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.

"Gerremoffme!" he yelled, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it.

The sound of Hermione's sob cracked Harry out of his inaction. He drew his wand, watching the feathered barrage attacking Ron.

" Finite!"

Yellow feathers covered Ron from where he had been previously covered in birds pecking and scratching him.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ron said in a strained voice as he inspected the odd scratches he'd received, wincing at them.

Harry looked at him, really looked at him, seeing his disshevelled collar from where Lavender had been grasping his uniform and snogging him senseless. Ron gazed back at him and for a moment, a flutter of guilt entered his eyes. Harry brought his left hand up to push his glasses back up his nose, where he pinched the bridge. He sighed into his hand.

"Ron… have you really never heard the expression 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'?"

Ron was rubbing at his arms, walking over to him, feathers falling off him.

"Huh?"

"You…" Harry lowered his hand and thought of the broken sob he had heard before Hermione slammed the door after her. He shook his head. "Go… go back to Lavender. I'll deal with this."

Before his temper could spike at how clueless Ron was at what he had done to their friend, Harry tore off to the door where Hermione had disappeared through.

"Harry?" Ron's affronted voice followed him, but Harry didn't turn. Hermione's need was greater. She needed him and for once, he wasn't going to be the neutral party between Ron and Hermione's spats. He had enough of Ron's attitude towards her over the past weeks. He helped him out, getting him to believe in himself. Now he wished he hadn't bothered. Not when it would end up like this, with Hermione's brittle voice and trying to hold back tears at Ron's harsh words.

Lavender was outside.

"Where did Hermione go?" He asked her in cold clipped tones.

"She went that way…" She pointed away from the Fat Lady. He noticed that she looked guilty. He didn't stop, turning to rushing down the corridor. While he was relieved she hadn't already gone to the Girls' Dormitory, he also had no idea where she was. He pulled out his Invisibility Cloak, relieved that he had been following Dumbledore's instruction for always keeping it on him. He threw it over his shoulders and continued down the corridor.

He didn't get far until he heard sobbing. His heart seized at the sound, following it to the girls bathroom. He reached the door.

"Er…" Unlike Myrtle's bathroom, this one wouldn't be deserted. He drew in a breath. Hermione was worth a potential embarrassing moment. He entered.

Hermione was on her own. Her hands were pressed flat on the edges of a sink, her shoulders heaving from where she was crying. She didn't even look up at the sound of the door opening. Harry pulled the cloak off him at once.

"Hermione…" He said, not wanting to scare her.

He did anyway. She let out a shocked, wet gasp, her wand flashing out. Harry yelped, dodging out of the way as her hex missed him, cracking against the tiles. Hermione's puffy, red-rimmed eyes widened at the sight of him. Then her face fell and she was tearing across the bathroom. His back slammed against the wall, his vision obscured by curls. He brought his arms around her, not sure what else to do. She burrowed her face into his shoulder and cried.

Harry had no idea what to do. He could feel her tears through his robes. Her cries tore into him, her heartbreak tugging into his heart. His breathing was shallowing at her pain, his heart racing in panic. He rubbed at her back.

After a couple of minutes, her sobs started to die down and she calmed. Her hands had gripped his robes tight and relaxed as she drew back. Harry carefully reached up to her face.

Seeing her tears, her blotchy face, Harry rested his head on her forehead. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply now she wasn't crying anymore.

"Do you want to go for a walk under the Cloak?" He asked her, holding up his Invisibility Cloak. "I don't really want to go back to the party either."

He really didn't. Not when he would be dodging Romilda's advances endlessly. She just nodded, moving back as she wiped at her face. Harry drew the Cloak over her gently, feeling suddenly fiercely protective.

They left the bathroom. Harry put his arm around her so they were close together under the cloak. Hermione's arm went around him and he led the way, not sure where to go. He took them down a corridor, walking slowly. They didn't speak as they silently moved through the darkened corridors.

They reached the stairs that led to the Charm classroom and Hermione swayed into him, her tears falling. Harry guided her to sit down on the step and he sat next to her. He just held her.

Then she spoke.

"God knows what you think of me right now, Harry."

Harry rested his hand on her back, looking at her, seeing now her brow were furrowed, her red-rimmed eyes burning with anger. He sighed and then rubbed her back again.

"I think you deserve so much better than this."

The truth flopped out of his mouth, sincere and heart-felt. Hermione's eyes were shocked at his response, wide and sparkling still with tears.

"It's not right." Harry reached across for her hand, still wielding her wand. He put his hand over hers, looking up into her eyes. "I'm… here for you, okay?"

Her eyes filled with tears and she nodded.

"Okay," she replied. She then rested her head on his shoulder and he felt a swell of warmth in his chest. That Hermione could take comfort out of his presence made him feel needed and wanted. He let out a low sigh, closing his eyes as he then rested his head on top of hers.

"He broke your heart for Merlin's sake. Over a bloody snog."

Hermione's hand shifted under his.

"What snog?"

He sighed. "It's so stupid. He and Ginny had an argument when he had a go at her for kissing Dean in front of him. She said that he's the only one acting like it's weird because he's never kissed someone. She brought up you and Viktor. I guess… he didn't know that you were both actually… together at the time."

Hermione extracted herself from him, her eyes hurt and sad. Her mouth twisted into a line, lips thinning.

"Are you serious?"

He drew his arm around her again. "Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't say this earlier. I didn't know how to explain it…"

She shook her head, giving a harsh laugh, looking around disbelievingly. Her eyes were hard and bitter.

"I can't believe I ever thought he could mature."

"Yeah, well… I guess with so many brothers, he's a bit funny about competition. He's in competition with them. With me… and I guess with you too."

Hermione looked at him, surprise lifting her brows.

"What?" He asked.

"That's… surprisingly perceptive of you," she said.

"It's known to happen from time to time," he said with a smirk, but then he sobered. "This is all my fault. I wanted to help with his self-confidence, but never planned for this to happen."

"It isn't your fault. You had the right intentions," she drew her arm around him again.

"To be honest, I sort of wish I hadn't bothered." He said, giving her a sheepish smile. "We would have won without it."

"You were being a good friend," she told him, then she smiled up at him, "you are a good friend."

"If I was a good friend, I would have stood up for you ages ago. I knew he was being a prat." He sighed, bowing his head. "Instead, I accidentally encouraged him."

"Harry…" Hermione said softly, taking his hand in hers. "This really isn't your fault. It's all Ron. He made his choices knowing full well that they would hurt me."

A surge of anger swept through him at her words. He gritted his teeth and looked down at the floor. His fingers curled around her hand.

"What happens now, Hermione? I completely get it if you don't want to be around him, but it's going to be pretty tough for me to avoid him. We share a dorm."

Hermione's smile was too understanding.

"I don't want this to be awkward for you too."

"Yeah well… what's a year at Hogwarts without some drama between us?" He said dryly. "I'll say my piece to him and how he takes it is up to him."

Fresh tears spilled onto Hermione's cheeks. She then wrapped her arms around him, taking him by surprise.

"Thank you… I thought… I was worried…"

"That I'd choose his side over yours?" Harry finished. He sighed, closing his eyes at the words. He brought his arms around her. "Then in that case, you forgot something about me? Something very important."

She lifted her head, gazing at him.

"What?"

He smiled at her.

"I have a saving people thing."

AN: Forgive the clunkiness. It's a bit of a hybrid of excerpts of HBP and my stuff.

The title comes from a line in A Winter's Tale, right at the end when everything is resolved and Queen Hermione and her King can be together.