Stupid

Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn’t mine, the wonderful JK Rowling owns it!

Stupid

He couldn’t find her.

He’d checked every room in the castle twice, and still Hermione was nowhere to be found.

She hadn’t shown up at dinner after Arithmancy, and when she wasn’t in her dorm when he’d asked he had become worried.

Now, Hermione was more than capable of taking care of herself and she didn’t need *him* fretting all over her, but what kind of friend would he be if he didn’t?

Besides, and even though he hated to admit it, he kind of missed her a little…

Harry wasn’t blind, and it was hard to ignore the beautiful young woman she had grown into; taken, there were cuter ones, but in Harry’s opinion, his friend was by far the prettiest one he had ever met.

And the most brilliant.

There was no one else’s company that he’d rather be in than hers, as she wasn’t any giggling goose like the other girls in their year, and she could actually stand up for herself.

He liked how he could hold an actual conversation with her, and how she wasn’t afraid to oppose him when he was wrong-Harry had lost count of the times she’d told him and Ron to sod off.

She was smartness and strength and beauty. And when she desired it, she was sweet and loving, and her smile warmed him like sunshine.

Right now Harry wanted to see that smile again, and it really worried him that she wasn’t at any of the places she usually was.

Besides, it was almost past curfew.

There was only one last place he could think of where she could be and so, after a quick stop at his dorm to retrieve his invisibility cloak, Harry proceeded to go outside.

It was near sunset now and if Filch found them he would have a field day, but Harry didn’t care because he had finally found who he was looking for; Hermione was sitting alone by the lake, her back against a tree with her nose buried in a book, though Harry couldn’t see how she could possibly be reading it when she was holding it upside down.

Harry shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he watched his friend’s figure from afar; he knew something was wrong, as Hermione wasn’t one to just run off like that, but he hoped she wasn’t crying.

Harry hated to see her cry; he never knew quite what to do when she did, and he knew he wasn’t the best when it came to comforting. At least not as good as Hermione was.

Then his fear was confirmed as Hermione lifted a hand to her eyes to rub them, and it was clear to him that she had been crying; he let out a resigned sigh, and made his way quietly to her side.

The girl jerked, startled, as Harry appeared out of nowhere next to her, plopping down beside her and draping the invisibility cloak over them both.

She squeaked a surprised “Harry!” and hastily wiped her eyes with her hands in a futile attempt to look presentable, but she knew he had seen; her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her cheeks were still wet with tears.

It broke Harry’s heart to see her like this, but he gave her a little smile anyway.

“I looked everywhere for you…”,-he whispered, sliding closer to her under the cloak.

Hermione lowered her eyes to her lap, and mumbled something that Harry interpreted as ‘I don’t need babysitting, I’m fine…’

He gave her a lopsided smile and, taking her hand, he squeezed it and said,

“I know you don’t, but I missed my best friend…”

That caused her to look up; her eyes were wide with surprise, and a blush was spreading demurely across her cheeks.

“You did?”,-she asked, in a little voice.

Harry’s face broke into a grin, and he nodded at her once; then his smile faded, and he was looking worriedly at her.

“Why didn’t you show up at dinner, ‘Mione? What happened?”

He watched with growing concern as her entire face darkened, and she looked back down at the ground; what had happened at class to break her confidence like this?

“It’s nothing, Harry, don’t worry about it…”,-she mumbled, looking at their entwined fingers in her lap.

Harry sighed and moved so that he was facing her; with his free hand he lifted her face gently, looking tenderly into her eyes.

“Of course I’ll worry; anything that makes you lose your smile like this requires my immediate attention and concern.”, he said, wiping her cheeks softly with his thumb., “Please, tell me what’s wrong? You know I hate to see you cry…”

Hermione blushed, and tore her gaze away from him; her eyebrows were joined together at the middle and she was pouting cutely.

“You’ll laugh…”

Harry’s eyebrows rose. He hadn’t expected that.

“What?”

Hermione’s pout deepened, and she glared half-heartedly at him.

“It’s stupid, you’ll laugh at me.”

Harry blinked. How could she think that?

“I would never laugh at you, ‘Mione, you know that…”, he added softly.

Herrmione looked at her friend, seeming to consider him, and then sighed resignedly.

“Ok, Harry, I’ll tell you… But if you laugh at me, I swear I’ll-”

She was cut off abruptly by Harry sighing impatiently at her.

“I’m not going to laugh, Hermione, honestly. Tell me, please?”

She bit her lip.

“Ok…”, she shifted nervously, not looking at him., “I… I did badly in Arithmancy today… It’s not like that, though, I really, really messed up my essay, and Professor Vector said-”

Her voice broke, and she felt moisture well up behind her eyelids.

“Professor Vector said…”,-Harry encouraged her to continue; he was stroking her hand with soft, gentle motions, and he was gazing at her with the sweetest look on his face.

Hermione took a deep breath, willing herself not to cry.

“She said it was terrible, that she expected better from me and that she was disappointed…”, she couldn’t help it, the tears were already making their way down her face., “I’ve been so stressed lately, with the Order and Head Girl duties, plus the NEWT’s are coming up and I’m so worried about them and you and You-Know-Who and Malfoy’s been such a pest lately and when I wrote that essay I just… I just don’t know what happened to me…”, she paused, and then continued., “It feels stupid to get so worked up over an assignment, but… Maybe it was the way she said it, I don’t know, but it made me feel like the lowest scum on Earth…”, she trailed off at this, ducking her head quickly so she wouldn’t have to see his face; she felt like a real idiot.

The silence stretched for a few seconds, until she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Go on, you can laugh now…”, she whispered, setting herself up for humiliation.

Harry wasn’t saying anything, was just sitting there, holding her hand, but Hermione was sure he was going to laugh any moment now.

Ron would have…

“I’m not going to laugh.”

Hermione lifted her wide brown eyes to his.

“What?”

He sighed, and with a sudden movement she found herself in Harry’s lap with his right hand stroking her hair and his left holding her about the waist.

“I’m not going to laugh, Hermione…”, he repeated., “I know how important schoolwork is to you, and I’ve seen how tired you are… Not only because of the NEWT’s, or Voldemort or the Order, but because you’ve stood by me throughout the last seven years, helping me and comforting me even when it seemed hopeless, and I’m sorry I put you in that position. So I’m not going to laugh at you, my ‘Mione, though I promise I’ll laugh *with* you when you ace the next assignment and Professor Vector gives you top marks because of it...”

Hermione was staring at him, dumbfounded; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

She was overcome with a sudden urge to hug him, and so she did; throwing her arms around his neck, and tucking her head under his chin, the girl rejoiced in his solid and warm presence. She could hear his heart beating, a regular, comforting thrum, and she couldn’t imagine loving him more than she did at the moment.

They sat like that for a few minutes, with Harry rubbing softly up and down her back.

“You really don’t think I’m stupid?”, she whispered after a while, leaning back a little to look at his face.

He smiled and gave her nose a playful pinch.

“How could I, when you’re the smartest person I know?”

“But Ron always says-”

“I’m not Ron, though, and *I* don’t think it’s stupid.”

Her eyes softened.

“Thank you, Harry…”

He smiled again, and leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on her lips.

“You’re welcome, ‘Mione…”

Hermione blinked, a little surprised, and then gave him the sweetest of smiles; they stood together under the cloak and, gathering her book in one hand and her own in his other, the couple slowly made their way back to the castle.

*The End*

A/N: This little ficlet was inspired in a similar situation I found myself at the beginning of the semester at college. Oh, how I resented my teacher when he told us what he did… (Don’t worry, Susy, I still love him, as I know you do too. ***sniggers***) I still wish I had had Harry to comfort me, though.