The Love Hexagon

A/N: Yes, I know it's been a long time... but don't go throwing tomatoes at me, it's all my BETA's fault. She is, of course, the very best reader you could have (I'm saying this so she won't be mad at me, lol, just kidding...), but she takes a long time. It's okay, because it's worth it. Happy reading, even though this chapter is solely about Hermione's worst day, as the chapter title says. Don't say I didn't warn you: Angst Alert!

Hermione walked towards the former Divination tower, feeling worse with every step. Harry was in love with Ginny. Ginny Weasley, her best female friend, of all people. She had to will herself to continue walking, because if she gave in to what she really wanted to do, she'd crumble down to the floor at that moment and cry.

When he had called her to talk alone, she had hoped it would be something at least less painful. She had expected his apology, of course. Harry was Harry, and as long as he didn't change, he'd apologize for treating someone badly. But the last part of what he had said… Hermione stopped and had to lean against one of the walls, closing her eyes to avoid spilling any tears. It had hurt a lot more than she could have imagined. She had asked herself many times how she'd feel if Harry one day decided to tell her he was in love with somebody and at the moment to reveal the girl's identity, went on to say a name that was not hers. She had guessed it'd probably feel like the end of the world, but she now realized she had been wrong. This felt much worse. This felt like the end of her.

“Hey, Hermione,” Parvati greeted cheerfully inside their workplace after Hermione had reached the tower and pushed the door open. She didn't look up, however, to greet the entering girl, for which Hermione was glad. She didn't want Parvati to see her face. She guessed it would probably mirror a little of her anguish inside, and would no doubt spark curiosity on her nosy friend.

“Hi,” Hermione said curtly. She walked to her desk and sank down into her chair with a sigh.

“Ooh… moody, are we?” Parvati hinted with a smile, looking up from her notebook. Hermione would have tried to snipe at her with a scathing remark, but she was exhausted. All she wanted to do was crawl to someplace safe, where she could sleep. Hopefully forever, she added mentally. Parvati's smile disappeared. “Herms, honey, what's wrong?” Parvati inquired, dropping her notebook and walking to Hermione's desk. “What happened? You look… terrible.”

“Thanks,” Hermione said simply. Her emotional wound was right open, and she didn't want anyone to see that, least of all Parvati, the gossip queen. “What are we going to do today?”

“Just edit the story, it has to be handed in tonight for tomorrow's paper,” Parvati explained, looking at Hermione's expressionless face with suspicion. Hermione knew why: normally, she'd have a scowl stamped on her face due to the prospect of writing about other people's lives.

“Fine. I'll do it, don't worry,” Hermione reassured her flatly, picking up the piece of parchment where their stories were written, to revise it.

“Oh, and Ginny Weasley told me this morning she'd be coming. You invited her to help us?” Parvati interrogated, clearly offended. “You think we need help?”

“Oh… yeah, she's coming.” Hermione answered vaguely. She had completely forgotten that Ginny had told her she'd drop by. She had told Hermione her plan was simply to chat, so Hermione would have company and wouldn't have to talk to Parvati for a long time. Hermione could have died right then when she realized that she knew what they'd talk about: Harry. Ginny alone knew of Hermione's feelings towards Harry, and had always encouraged her to tell him once and for all. And now, Hermione had just found out that she, Ginny, was the one he liked. “Oh, the irony,” she muttered to herself grimly. And there would be no avoiding talking about him. After the incident the night before with the Firebolt, Ginny would certainly interrogate Hermione on her feelings, and wouldn't give up until Hermione opened up.

“Hello, Weasley,” Hermione heard Parvati greet unenthusiastically and reluctantly raised her eyes to the door. Her mouth felt very dry all of a sudden, and she gulped.

“Hi, Patil,” Ginny greeted in kind, starting to walk towards Hermione's table. Hermione braced herself. This was the girl who was the object of affection of her object of affection. Could the day be any worse? she asked herself, dreading every second she'd spend with Ginny that day. Or, more correctly, dreading every second she would live that day.

“Hey, Hermione,” Ginny greeted in a low voice, pulling a chair and sitting beside Hermione. Examining her face with worry, she took one of Hermione's hands, and was taken aback when she flinched slightly. “What is it? Hermione you look…”

“Terrible? Yes, Parvati told me,” Hermione said faintly, carefully worming her hands out of Ginny's.

“Parvati, dear, could you please leave?” Ginny asked in a falsely sweet voice. Parvati gave her a glare before obligating. “Thank you.”

“So… what are you doing here?” Hermione asked, shifting nervously in her chair. She wished she didn't have to look at Ginny at that moment, but she did. Glancing up, she felt her body freeze when her eyes captured Ginny's understanding smile. Oh, why couldn't she just go away, Hermione whined inside her head.

“I saw what happened yesterday, and I— since I was already coming here, I thought you'd want to talk about it with a friend,” Ginny explained sympathetically.

“Well, I don't want to talk about it at all, so thank you,” Hermione said simply, taking deep breaths to keep from fainting or crying or letting her face show exactly the pain she was feeling at that instant.

“Why don't you want to talk about it?” Ginny asked, frowning.

“I don't want to talk about that either,” said Hermione, standing up and walking towards one of the nearest windows.

“Hermione, come on. Tell me what's going on,” Ginny pleaded, walking over to where Hermione was standing.

“You're not going to leave me alone until I do, are you?” Hermione inquired rhetorically, turning to Ginny with a harsh glare.

“Alas, the school-wide infamous Granger-death-glare directed at me. How sweet of you. I thought I'd never see it,” Ginny said unaffected.

“You want to know how I felt yesterday?” Hermione asked angrily, and, not waiting for an answer, she went on, pacing the room. “I'll tell you how I felt… humiliated! That's the word for it,” she informed hotly, clenching her fists. “I'd never, in a million years, expect to be humiliated by my best friend, in the Common Room, in front of all Gryffindors!”

“Technically, not all Gryffin—“ Ginny started to correct but was interrupted by a furious Hermione.

“And to think I actually had the nerve to ask him to go fly with me! I can't believe how foolish I was!” She continued her ranting and pacing with determination.

“Hermione, stop beating yourself up,” Ginny reprehended, beginning to sound equally irritated. “Stop. That won't do any good for you.”

“Stop telling me what will be good for me and what won't! I'm older than you!” Hermione exclaimed, panting with fury. “You're younger, you're one of my best friend's baby sister and you're telling me what's good for me! Stop!”

“You have to tell me what happened, Hermione,” Ginny told her with a maddeningly serene voice. “I'll help you in any way I can.”

At that moment, Hermione felt a tear leak through one of her eyes. The wound was right open and still bleeding, and she couldn't hide it. “It really hurts… he… Harry, he doesn't like me.”

“What? What do you mean, Hermione…?” Ginny was looking at Hermione as though at loss as to what to do.

“He told me…” Hermione whispered, feeling her heart shriveling with each word. “He told me… who he likes.”

“He did? When?” Hermione could tell Ginny was trying to hide her enthusiasm, with little success. Hermione slowly sat down again and watched Ginny do the same thing with apprehension beside her.

“He told me this morning. An hour ago… oh, Ginny… it hurts so much…” Hermione buried her face in her hands, trying in vain to contain her tears. “I had promised myself I wouldn't like him again… when Viktor left I promised myself I wouldn't like him, that I'd like someone else…” She stood up once again and let her tears flow freely. “I promised that to myself exactly so I wouldn't be hurt like this!” She grabbed a quill and angrily broke it in two. “I hate myself now! I'm foolish, a foolish hag who can't even stop liking someone!”

“Hermione… no one can, you know? Not even you. You can't control the heart. I can help you, though,” Ginny said, standing up also and looking at Hermione's face with concern and seemingly profound sympathy. “Let me know how I can help.”

“You…” Hermione couldn't get the words out and avoided Ginny's eyes. Part of her wanted to hex and curse Ginny until there was no Ginny left to hex and curse; the other part wanted to hug her, to be consoled by her best friend. It wasn't her fault, Hermione told herself firmly. It wasn't Ginny's fault that she was, at the moment, exactly the person Hermione wanted to be.

“What? What is it?” Ginny inquired, trying to get Hermione to look at her.

“It's you,” Hermione whispered miserably, looking at the floor through vision-blurring tears. “Harry told me who the girl he's in love with is. It's you,” she said, in a barely audible voice. She wasn't sure if she should have told Ginny about Harry's feelings towards her, but she no longer cared. If Harry suffered because of that, that was his problem, and she'd be happy. He'd only suffer an infinitely smaller parcel than what she had suffered when he had revealed everything to her.

“You… you're joking, aren't you?” Ginny whispered, taking a step back from her friend. “He can't like me. He doesn't even talk to me.”

“It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me anymore. Not this,” Hermione stated, drying her tears, frustrated. They wouldn't stop pouring out. Why couldn't she stop crying? Why couldn't she stop feeling?

“You must be wrong. You must be kidding,” Ginny insisted incredulously. Hermione, who was trying very hard to contain her temper, stopped trying to at that moment.

“You think I'm joking?” She asked quietly, her voice sounding to her even more lethal than she had intended. “You think I'm bloody joking?!” Ginny took a step back in fear as Hermione took a step forward in her direction. “Let me tell you something, Weasel! I don't joke about this sort of thing, hear me?! I DO NOT JOKE ABOUT THINGS THAT HURT ME LIKE THIS! RIGHT NOW I WISH I WAS DEAD, AND YOU'RE PARTLY RESPOSIBLE FOR IT!” She took a deep breath, glad the tears seemed to have ceased to spill themselves over her face. Ginny looked at her, aghast. “Now please, stop telling me I've got to be joking or kidding with you, because I'm not. I wish I was. I wish Harry was when he told me.”

“Hermione… I don't know what to say,” Ginny said quietly. “This all sounds so wrong… I'm sorry.”

“You don't have anything to be sorry about. I hope, though, that you don't have that problem with David,” Hermione said sadly, remembering that Ginny had confessed to her in the last couple of days that she was starting to fancy David Gardner. Hermione had assured her that he was quite available, and was completely uninterested in her, which was a lie. She had thought it strange how easily Ginny fell for boys she didn't know well; like Harry, Michael Corner, Dean, and now David. The only boy Hermione had ever fallen for was Harry, and she had known him for years. "I hope you don't have my problem with him," she stated at last.

“I hope I stop liking him… thank God he doesn't like you anymore,” Ginny said, with a small smile, and Hermione once again gulped. She shouldn't have lied…. She had a feeling the day wasn't done worsening. “No offense, but… it'd be a cruel joke from fate if he liked you, wouldn't it? I'd like the boy who likes you and you'd like the boy who likes me,” she said, containing a laugh.

Hermione couldn't laugh, however, even though she felt the atmosphere between them become slightly lighter than it had been when they had first started to talk. She had lied to Ginny about David... but she couldn't reveal that now, she had to pretend that was the truth.

“Yes, thank—“ she started to say, when the last person she hoped would show up at that moment, showed up.

“Hello there, Hermione,” they both turned immediately to the door, where David was casually leaning against with a grin. Oh... no… Hermione's mind screamed. She faintly felt her chin drop.

This was a nightmare, she assured herself. Just a really bad nightmare. She hoped she woke up very soon, because the day was just getting worse with each hour. She didn't dare look at Ginny, feeling she'd probably be smiling or blushing, half-expecting David to at least acknowledge her. Wake up, Hermione, wake up.

“Not the time, David. I'm busy,” Hermione said as panic started emerging in her body and flooding her mind. If David was his usual self, he'd flirt with her for the entire time they talked. She had to get him to leave.

“Hello, Gardner. Have I told you your timing is the worst I've ever seen?” Ginny said with an annoyed voice that Hermione could tell was entirely forced.

“Oh, hello, Weasley. Sorry to have ignored you,” he said, looking as though he was still ignoring her, for his eyes were firmly settled on Hermione. Meanwhile, she was trying to think of something to get him to leave. Even though she currently pretty much wished Ginny didn't exist, she didn't want to pain her with David's actions towards her.

“Oh, she'll forgive you. If you leave,” Hermione bargained coolly. David was unaffected, however, to Hermione's frustration. Her panic increased when he started to walk and only stopped when he was a step away from her desk. “Why are you here?” Hermione asked, picking up a few books and opening them. She had told him she was busy, but now she realized she didn't look busy at all.

“Ooh… straight to the point is it? Love that in you,” he flirted with a smile, leaning against her table, which made Hermione immediately push her chair back and away from him. Worse than his flirting, was Ginny's expression, which Hermione couldn't see but could guess wasn't one of joy.

“You haven't answered my question,” Hermione pointed out, giving him a glare.

He nonchalantly pushed himself off the table and started to examine his hands. “I actually came here to… well, I've heard some rumors,” he said, looking up from his hands and to her face. “I just wanted to sort out the truth.”

“Fine… I didn't steal Harry or you from Cho Chang, I'm not dating Viktor Krum, and Ron Weasley doesn't fancy me,” she informed him with determination. “Now, will you leave?”

“Ron Weasley doesn't fancy you… that's interesting… I heard otherwise,” he informed calmly.

“Obviously, you don't have very reliable sources,” Hermione snapped. To her surprise, she found herself actually glad he was there, postponing her talk with Ginny. On the downside, she thought, he was probably crushing Ginny's heart at the moment. That last thought increased the feeling of urgency in her. She'd make him leave even if she had to curse him out of the room with the strongest spell she knew.

“Well… what did you say about that one of you stealing me from Cho Chang?” He asked that with a mischievous smile on his face, which made Hermione immediately uneasy. She had a faint idea of where he was going, and she didn't like it one bit.

“What about it?” Hermione asked slowly, ignoring the urge to run away from the place and trying to focus her mind on remembering where she had placed her wand.

“How can you say it's not true? You don't know that…” he continued, and Hermione swallowed hard. Ginny was watching all this, she thought with horror. “Only I can tell you that…”

“I really think you should leave now,” Hermione said, her eyes wandering to the door. She was convinced now that that day was playing itself so horribly, it was rapidly ascending posts in her list of worst days in her life. Just leave, David… just leave…

“Why are you always like this with me?” he inquired, and she could see he was failing in trying to look as though he didn't care about her answer.

“Because I have to be. Now please…” she stood up and walked to him hesitantly. “Leave.” Watching his face, she became aware that her words had wounded him at least a little bit, and she felt no satisfaction come to her from it.

“I'd just like to say, before I go, that I enjoyed the scene last night between you and your dear Harry Potter. I enjoyed it very much,” he whispered, loudly enough only enough for Hermione to hear. She swallowed hard as she inevitably recalled the scene. She closed her eyes to avoid crying and wished, for what felt in her heart like the thousandth time in the day, that she would forget it. And for the equal number of times, she found that she couldn't.

“Why did you enjoy it so much? Fancy seeing someone's misery?” She retorted weakly. He turned to her with anger in his eyes.

“I actually just thought it was very nice to see the Gryffindor Ice Queen melted. In public. So I, along with everyone, could watch it,” he drawled with asperity.

“Sod off, David,” she said nastily, raising her chin defiantly. “I don't care if you enjoyed it. I'll have you know that I enjoyed seeing your eyes on this moment much more than you enjoyed seeing the Ice Queen being melted yesterday.” That made his pride and anger disappear, Hermione noted unemotionally.

He looked at her for an instant as though not sure whether she had been serious. “You don't realize it, Granger…” he murmured in her ear in a very private manner, “but you're breaking my heart right now. And it's never been broken like this before.”

“I guess there's a first time for everything, Gardner,” she said softly, and watched him pull his head back slowly.

“You like to hurt me?” he inquired, his glare cold and surprisingly unnerving for Hermione.

“I think I already have.”

“But you'd like to hurt me more?” He insisted, taking a step closer to her. They were uncomfortably close now, and Hermione discreetly searched for her wand in her side pocket. It wasn't there, frustrating her plans to curse him away from her. Why couldn't he just give her up and leave?

“I'd like for you to leave,” she affirmed firmly.

“What if I don't?”

“You'll find that all that talk about friends not letting friends mess with me was quite well-earned,” she said, now feeling for her wand in another pocket. It wasn't there either.

“That won't be necessary,” he said, and in one rapid motion, he pulled her by the waist with one hand, and with the other in the back of her head, he kissed her. It took a full three seconds for Hermione to realize his tongue was actually in her mouth, and she stepped back in horror away from him.

“Ugh! What in bloody hell do you think you just did?!” she exclaimed, beyond furious. Her hands were trembling and she could still feel that sickening tingle on her lips.

“I just kissed you,” he informed with a happy smile. “Even if you despise me from now on, I'll have a happy memory to live with me for the rest of my days.”

Hermione's mouth was still open with shock, and she wanted nothing more than to slap or punch him hard at that moment. Suppressing her enormous rage, she clenched her fists and forced herself to think of a way to extract some use out of the situation. “Will you stop pursuing me after this?” she inquired, still resisting the urge to look at Ginny, who was probably still watching beside the table. She couldn't imagine the wreck this last event was doing to the friendship with her red-haired friend. “Please stop?”

“You can't control the heart, Granger,” he answered her softly. “It was good, though. That you broke my heart this way. Very satisfying,” David told her with a visibly forced smile.

“What do you mean by that?” Hermione questioned against her own will. She could have smacked herself in the back of the head for asking a question whose answer she didn't want to know.

“It was a lesson. I'll never again do anything silly because of foolish feelings,” he said melancholically. “Like asking the Sorting Hat to place me in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw.”

“Oh…” she murmured with dread. She hoped with all her heart she hadn't been the reason for his request to the Sorting Hat. Please, let him have had some other reason…

“You were the reason, by the way. That I asked to be in Gryffindor,” he informed, and Hermione looked down, feeling exhausted. Exactly what she didn't want was occuring to her that day. She felt helpless suddenly; everything she dreaded was coming true in one single day, and she couldn't stop it from happening. And, she added mentally with alarmingly increasing anguish, it was still barely noon. Plenty of time left for more disaster to take place in her life before the day ended.

“I'll leave now…” David said, and Hermione heard his footsteps approach the door. “Sorry if my words and actions weren't to your liking, but they were truthful. All of them,” he said, and Hermione felt him leave the room, which gave her courage to look up to the door. She walked over to it very slowly and closed it, still avoiding looking at Ginny.

“So… he stopped fancying you, did he? That sure was obvious in your chat with him today,” Ginny stated with heart-breaking sorrow. “And to think I believed you.”

“I didn't want you to give up on him… I thought I could get him to give up on me so you two would have a chance,” Hermione explained, her voice sounding strangely feeble to her. She worried that Ginny wouldn't hear their words, considering the distance between them and how low her voice had come out. They were a few feet away from each other, with Ginny standing right beside Hermione's table, her arms crossed and her glare shooting death daggers at Hermione was, who, in turn, just standing in the middle of the room.

“You didn't want me to give up on him so this would happen! So I could watch with my very own eyes as he practically made a declaration of love to you!” she accused wrathfully, her hands disentangling themselves and moving to her hips.

Hermione remained absolutely still. “That's—" Hermione started to say, but was stopped by a wave of weakness that threatened to render her unconscious or at least sprawled on the floor. “That was never my intention… I never wanted you to suffer like I did.”

“You still expect me to believe you?” Ginny asked sourly, looking away from Hermione and into the scenery outside the nearest window.

“Yes… because I've never done anything to sadden you. We're best friends,” Hermione explained, wincing as she felt a small headache begin to plague her.

“Hermione… I'll leave you for now. You had your heartbreak, I just had mine,” Ginny said, her eyes directed once again to Hermione. “I hope we both recover,” she added, wiping a tear from her cheek. “We won't stop being friends, will we?”

“I thought you'd want to sever ties,” Hermione informed her, forcing a smile to appear on her face. It was in vain, however, no amount of sheer would curve her lips. “At least you can like Harry again,” she said, ignoring the stabs in her gut when she said Harry's name.

“And you know, David is very attractive,” Ginny said, and Hermione observed that she, too, had had a hard time saying David's name. They both walked to the door, too pained to say anything else. “I hope you'll be all right,” Ginny said before she left.

“I hope you get well, too,” Hermione answered, opening the door and letting Ginny out. “Do you have any idea where Parvati went?”

“Probably to the Common Room. Why?”

“I don't want to work any more today. I'm really, really tired,” Hermione confided, looking behind her to her desk, and to the pile of parchments settled on it. “And anyway, everything is ready for the first edition of the newspaper.”

“Then don't work. Just leave,” Ginny counseled, smiling. Hermione looked behind her one more time, her mind pondering on how long Parvati's ranting would last when she found out Hermione hadn't edited anything. It doesn't matter, she told herself. The day had so far been… grim? Terrible? She asked herself, and mentally disagreed; there were no words to describe it. It had been so horribly heart-shredding that she felt numb. Contemplating a few hours of privately crying somewhere where no one would hear her, she made her decision.

“I think I'll do just that.” Then, even though they were best friends, they walked to the Gryffindor tower in silence and with a few feet of distance separating them, while their minds were absorbed in their own thoughts. Hermione had a feeling their friendship would never be the same again.

A/N: Calm down, people... the next chapter will have plenty of humor and those funny moments between Harry and Hermione that make our stomachs do that flip-flop thing. I'd also like to thank everyone for those wonderful reviews. Keep on reading, folks, because everything just gets more interesting, I can assure you.