Chapter 9 - The Building of a Plan
THURSDAY
I spent the whole night imagining what had happened after Ron and Elizabeth had left my apartment. I pictured fights and break-ups in all styles, forms and colors: there were dramatic ones, violent, even funny... For me, of course.
Being the curious and impatient person I am, the first thing I did that Thursday morning was go to the Burrow. I apparated in the front door and knocked.
"Hi dear!" saluted Mrs. Weasley, opening the door.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley. Is Ron here?" I asked quietly. Mrs. Weasley looked as cheerful as ever. Probably she didn't know yet that there would be no wedding.
"Sure, but he's still asleep. But don't worry, this is the perfect excuse to wake him up. Please come in, I'll send him down right away."
I waited in the living room, pacing nervously. I had prepared a comforting speech for him. I wondered how he felt. Was he sad? Angry? Relieved? Twenty minutes later he came down. He looked at me with a sleepy face. I searched for signs of any other emotion in it, but I didn't find any. Well, Ron has never been a very expressive person in the morning.
"Good morning Ron," I said, serious.
He yawned. "Herm, it's 8:30 in the morning, please tell me you have a good reason for waking me up this early," he said slowly, rubbing his eyes.
"Sorry I woke you up. I came to see how were you doing," I said, sitting down and patting the spot in the couch right next to me. He sat down and stared at me.
"Well that's very nice of you," he said, yawning again, "But couldn't you have waited until it was a more decent hour to ask me that?"
"No, I was worried about you."
"Worried? Why?" he asked dumbfounded.
"Because yesterday, when you left my apartment, you were very angry, that's why," I reminded him.
He widened his eyes, understanding. "Oh! You're totally right, I had forgotten about that."
"Well... What happened?" I asked, barely able to restrain my anticipation.
"We talked about it..."
"And?"
"And everything's fine."
"What?" What did he mean, fine? What about the breaking up? The fact that there would be no wedding?
"I said everything's fine. Elizabeth apologized and recognized she was being selfish, then she started to cry. Of course, I told her that it wasn't such a big deal, I might have had a bad first reaction, but she had all the right to tell me what she thought about this. So we discussed it deeply, and she ended saying she would love to live here, in England."
That was the one thing I hadn't expected. How could Elizabeth be so damn weak? Why couldn't she stand for herself? Why they had to work it out?
"Geez, Herm, you really didn't think it would be a great fight, did you? When you said "good morning" to me, you looked as if you though that we had broken-up or something."
"Of course not, I was just concerned," I muttered. I had been such a git. Of course, no one would broke an engagement two days before the wedding just for a stupid reason like that. "I'm glad you're fine. I gotta go," I said, standing up and almost running towards the door. I needed to get away from Ron.
"What? You're leaving? You make me get up this early and now you're just going to leave?" he asked, following me.
"I'm really sorry, I just remembered I have something really important to do. See you later!" I disapparated before he could ask me anything else.
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Long ago, I had learnt that, to get your mind away from things, the best thing to do was work. So I apparated in my office. I didn't care if Mr. Weasley had given me the week off, I was going to make so many reports that there would be no Death Eaters left without a registration.
I started writing furiously. I wasn't even aware of what I was doing. I was angry. I shouldn't had trusted that good for nothing girl. When you want something done, you have to do it yourself. I was getting nowhere and the fact that I had only two days left wasn't comforting me.
I don't know how much time I spent like that. All I know is that I was just cooling down when the door of my office opened and someone stormed in.
The last person I would like to see when I was in my neurotic state was standing in front of me, with his usual smirk. I grimaced and frowned, all at the same time.
"Malfoy. Did anyone teach you to knock?" I said bitterly.
Just because this life likes to play cruel jokes on people, Draco Malfoy happened to work in the same department I did. It's true that I barely saw him, but maybe that was because I did anything to avoid him. However, on our few encounters he enjoyed to make my life miserable. Not even on the good side he was bearable.
"So jumpy, Granger," he said, sitting in front of me and putting his dirty feet on my desk.
"What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy here? I don't have time to deal with you."
"I can see that," he said, smiling. "You're too busy whipping because that Weasel is getting married, aren't you?"
"What? Why would I do that?" I snapped. He had caught me off guard.
His smile grew wider.
"Believe it or not, Granger, I happen to know you a lot more than you think. And because of that, I know that you aren't happy with your little friend's wedding."
"Yeah, whatever you say Malfoy," Was I that obvious? Even Malfoy could tell?
"I don't blame you. After all these years, anyone would have thought that he would crawl forever behind you..." I picked my wand, ready to hex him. "You don't have to do that. I came here to help you."
"Is that so? Then start helping me now and get your ugly face away from my sight, before I remind you how it feels like to be a ferret," I said.
"Even thought I would love to have a duel with you, I have other things to do," Malfoy said, not moving an inch. "So, tell me, what's your big plan to split the happy couple apart."
"Have you gone crazy Malfoy, or you're just plain stupid? Get out of here, NOW!" I said, walking to the door and opening it with violence.
Malfoy shook his head.
"That attitude won't help you. What you need to do is break the confidence between them," he said, matter-of-factly.
I didn't say anything.
"Listen, do you want to get Weasley back or not?" he asked, standing up and closing the door smoothly. "Because when you want something, you have to make some sacrifices. Such as forgetting old quarrels and hear a smart wizard with a plan."
"How do you know so much about...?" I trailed off.
Malfoy chuckled. "Come on, Granger. Tell me what do you have in mind and maybe I'll be able to help you."
I don't know what got into me. Why did I tell him about the US-England problem? What were you doing Hermione? At the time, I was desperate. And Malfoy just happened to be there, to play the part of that little evil side of you that you see on cartoons. He ended up making my white conscience disappear and prepared a plan. A perfect plan that would most definitely end that wedding and Ron's relationship for good.
"So what do you think?" he asked, when he finished telling me what he thought.
"You're an evil bastard," was my reply.
"I know. And you will be one too," he said, standing up. "Well, I'm off. It was nice talking to you, Granger."
He walked towards the door and had almost left, when I called him out.
"Malfoy!" he turned around. "Why are you doing this? I know it isn't to help me. Is it because you want to hurt Ron?" I asked.
He chuckled. "If you really want to know, the only person I'd like to hurt is Potter."
"What does Harry have to do with this?" I asked, confused.
He just smirked an closed the door.
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I truly had one hell of afternoon. I couldn't made up my mind If I'd dare to do something like that to Ron. I wasn't one to play dirty. On the other hand, this was for Ron's sake. He wasn't going to be happy with Elizabeth. Right now, he thought he was in love with her, but I knew it was just an infatuation. She wasn't right for him. Why I was the only one who could notice that?
I couldn't take this decision on my own. If I did it, I would be risking too much. If things turned out bad, I could lose my friendship with Ron forever. But how could he find out? Arhg! That Malfoy, putting this ideas in my head! How could I even heard him, you ask? I really don't know myself. I guess I was going through a really bad time and I just couldn't think straight. But I had let him got into my head and now his words kept sounding in my brain.
I wished I could talk to Harry about this. But I knew he would never approve something like that, being the fair and honest person he is. He would probably convince me that I shouldn't do it. And somehow, I didn't want that to happen.
I was now lying on my bed, my face buried in a pillow, trying to make a decision. But a noise coming from the living room startled me. I hastily picked up my wand and slowly made my way towards the living room. There was no one there. Another noise coming from the bathroom... I pushed the door with violence. The person that was inside turned around and screamed at the same time I did.
"Jesus, Harry, don't ever scare me like that again!" I exclaimed, with my hand still over my chest.
"I'm sorry Hermione," he apologized, although he looked startled as well. "I didn't know you were at home, I thought you were out with Liz."
"No, she had some boring meeting with her cousins," I said. "Anyway what are you doing here? It's just 6 o'clock, shouldn't you be training?" I asked, realizing he had his orange quidditch robes on.
"Yeah, I should... but I had a little accident," he said, lifting weakly his left arm. In that part, his robe was dirty with blood.
"Oh my God Harry, what happened to you?" I asked, reaching his arm. He winced in pain. "I'm sorry. Let me see."
I led him to the living room while he explained.
"I came here to look for your magic first aid kit, I don't know where I left mine."
"No surprise there," I teased. Harry never knew where he left his things. "Take your robe off so I can take a better look at this."
I helped him taking the robe off. Underneath he was wearing a white t-shirt and black trousers. It wasn't the first time that Harry had gotten injured during training. He never let the Cannons' nurse to tend his wounds, so I usually did it for him. I had taken a first aid course with Madam Pomfrey on my seventh year and it had proven to be very helpful.
"What happened to you?" I asked looking closely at his arm. He had a deep wound near the elbow. His arm seemed broken.
"I was hit by a bludger," he said, shrugging.
"Are you serious? That hasn't happened to you since school."
"I know, but I was..." he trailed off.
"Distracted. You were distracted again, weren't you?" I said, accusingly. He nodded sheepishly. I sighed "Harry, I thought you..."
"Yeah, well, I'm tired, that's all," he cut me off.
"Then why don't you ask Oliver for holidays? You haven't taken any since you joined the team."
"The season is starting soon, I can't stop training."
I went to the bathroom to look for a bottle of Repairing Broken Bones Potion and a couple of bandages. When I came back to the living room, Harry was staring at a photograph I had over the fireplace of the two of us. It had been taken a few months ago, during a celebration party at Oliver's house.
"You should have let the Cannons' nurse to have a look at your arm," I said, startling him. He quickly left the photograph in its place and sat down in a chair.
"You know I'd rather be eaten by a hippogriff than be attended by that woman," he said. I knew that Harry didn't like her, and he secretly had confessed me that she scared him, because she looked like Snape.
"You're lucky I was here," I said, giving him the bottle of Potion. "You have no idea how to repair broken bones."
He took a sip and made a disgusted face. I started putting the bandages in his arm.
"Ron and Elizabeth made up," I announced, not looking at him.
"I know," he said. I looked at him. "Ron came to see me this morning," he explained.
"Really? Why?" I asked, deeply interested.
"Because he wanted to see me Herm, we haven't had many chances to talk," Harry replied, rolling his eyes.
"Did you talk about me?" I asked immediately.
"I knew that was coming," he said, sighing. "Not too much. He asked me a few questions about our engagement, nothing else."
"What did you tell him?"
"Don't worry, I didn't say anything that could uncover your lovely story." I stuck my tongue out and he laughed. I finished putting the bandages.
"He loves her, doesn't he?" I asked, sitting in the couch, in front of Harry. He stood up and sat beside me.
"I think he does," he said, gently.
"But she's not right for him, Harry," I argued. "You saw them yesterday. They can't even agree on where they are going to live."
"It's not your call to make them realize if they're right for each other or not, Hermione. Ron has made a choice, you have to deal with it."
"But I can't!" I exclaimed, standing up. "You don't know what it feels to be in love with someone who is fixed on somebody else!"
Harry didn't say anything. He stood up and walked towards the window.
"If it's that important to you, tell him," he said, after a while.
"Tell him what?"
He turned around to face me. He was extremely serious. "Tell him that you love him. If you're the one for him, he'll realize when he knows how you feel."
"I wish I could tell him," I said, sighing in defeat. "But I couldn't... What if he gets angry or he wants to end our friendship?"
Harry shook his head. "Did you end your friendship or got angry with him when you knew he loved you this past years?"
"No, but..."
"Then tell him. You have nothing to lose."
I studied Harry's face, thinking about what he had said. His eyes had a weird glint, and looked darker than usual. Maybe he was right. Maybe I should tell Ron. Or maybe, it would be easier to do what Malfoy had told me to.
Harry sat back on the couch. I sat beside him and put my head on his shoulder, as I usually did when I was sad and he was comforting me. He put his good arm around my shoulders. We stayed like that for at least an hour, each one in our own thoughts.
"Do you think that someone could love me above anything else?" I asked softly. "Like your father loved your mother?"
"I'm sure of that," Harry answered.
"But why? I'm nothing special," I argued. "I'm not beautiful, I'm not very funny, I'm just a know-it-all, stubborn witch which happens to be a pathetic workaholic."
Harry chuckled. "You can't even imagine how wrong you are Herm. I'm sure that more than one man realizes how incredible you are. You're the smartest witch I know - although you can sometimes act like a crazy woman - you're beautiful, funny, comforting, honest..."
The word "honest" kept sounding in my ears for a while.
"What about you, Harry? Have you ever been in love?"
Harry seemed surprised. He shifted a little and I leaned back to look at him in the face.
"It's weird, but I've never asked you this before," I said. "I have seen you go out on a few dates, but I've never seen you steady with someone."
I could see that Harry was blushing. He tried to hide his face from me. I chuckled.
"Come on, answer me," I said, grinning. "Oh you have!" I exclaimed. "Maybe you're in love right now!"
"Why would you think that?" he snapped, his cheeks still red.
"Because you're blushing and avoiding my eyes. You're doomed, Harry Potter, you'll have to tell me right here, right now who is the woman who has stolen your heart."
"I don't see why I should answer that to you," he said.
"I always tell you everything! Come on!"
"There's nothing to tell," Harry said stubbornly.
"Oh yes, there is. I know you."
He stood up hastily.
"If you know me that well, then you shouldn't be asking me that."
I blinked. Harry muttered an apology and left for his apartment. I kept the next ten minutes thinking about what could have upset him, but my thoughts shifted to another subject that was bothering me.
If I was going to stop the wedding, the next day was my only chance.
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