Crossing the Rubicon

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to: Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

…

A question was posed awhile back on the H.M.S. Pumpkin Pie on FAP as to how Harry would deal with a slightly tipsy Hermione. This fic is my answer to that question. First off, I’d like to quote from someone who has been very influential to me in regards to understanding Drama:

“There is only one reason why anyone drinks in a play: to release inhibitions, to be able to say and do things he was normally afraid to do, too repressed to do, too considerate or cowardly to say, too polite or fearful to risk. Have a few drinks and all this can come pouring out, once the blocks are down and the dam has broken.
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Actors tend to use drinking negatively. It’s important to find the positive: allow drinking to heighten the emotional needs, to free you to express deeply-buried feelings. Not to escape from relationship, but to pursue it. Not to become vague and fuzzy about the world and whoever is in it with you, but to seek confrontation, to fight for what you want in ways normally denied you. Not to withdraw from your scene partner, but to seek in a richer, more needful way, warmth, camaraderie, love.”

Michael Shurtleff, Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part, (Bantam: New York,) 1979, p. 159.

….

Rating: PG-13

Chapter One: Ron’s Plan

Hallowe’en 1997.

It was a cold and blustery Friday night. The chinks in the castle walls could not keep the cold wind out.

Harry was putting his books away and trying to get ready for the feast when he saw Ron quietly pour a bottle of alcohol into a leather boda bag and tuck it under his cloak. Harry was a little surprised that Ron being a Prefect was willing to break the school rules against alcohol, but didn’t say anything to his friend.

“I’m gonna do it tonight, Harry,” Ron said with confidence.

“What are you gonna do?”

“Make my move with Hermione. It’s now or never,” he said checking his look in the mirror.

“You think she likes you that way?” asked Harry.

“I don’t know. I just can’t take it any longer. If she doesn’t like me, then I need to move on and find someone else,” said Ron.

“So how are you planning on approaching her?”

“I’ve got a plan,” Ron said smiling and nonchalantly readjusting the leather bag under his cloak.

Harry and Ron had never talked about Hermione in that way before, but it came as no surprise that Ron liked her. What surprised Harry was that Ron didn’t ask him how he felt about the idea of the two of them getting together romantically. It was as if Harry’s opinion didn’t matter. He tried to shake the uneasy feeling that was growing in the pit of his stomach as he followed his friend down to the Great Hall to join the feast already in progress.

Harry had noticed Ron taking his mug of hot cocoa and placing it under the table so that he could add some of the alcohol to it. As the party progressed Ron began to tell jokes just a little louder than normal and was becoming a bit bolder when it came to reaching for food on the common table.

As the feast began to wind down, Ron insisted that Harry help him bring back loads of leftover desserts back to Gryffindor Tower. Ron had wanted to continue celebrating long after the party was officially over.

Ron had set up a table near the fireplace in the common room with all of the goodies and had insisted that Hermione forget her studies for one evening and join him and Harry in celebrating the anniversary of the Trio’s friendship that happened on another Hallowe’en evening six years before.

“Come on, Hermione, loosen up a little,” he said as he handed her a cup of cocoa.

“All right,” she said smiling at him. “Hmmm, this tastes different than the stuff I had before.”

“It’s a special blend,” he replied. “Wanna play a game of chess?”

“Nah, why don’t you and Harry play,” she said taking another sip. “I’ll just sit here and watch.”

Harry’s chess game had steadily improved over the years and their game took over an hour before Ron eventually won. Harry noticed that Hermione’s cheeks began to become flushed and she began to look uncomfortable.

“Is it getting hot in here?” she asked as she loosened her tie.

“The wind has died down a bit,” said Ron. “If you’re hot why don’t you take off your sweater?”

Her eyes started to droop and she nodded. She removed her tie and then slowly and with a little difficulty pulled her sweater over her head. Harry noticed Ron staring at Hermione’s chest as the sweater was being lifted over her bustline.

“That’s better,” as she threw her sweater on the couch.

“Hermione, your hair,” Harry said pointing at it. “It is all wild.”

She giggled and then touched his nose with her index finger giving him a shock of static electricity.

“Gotcha!” she shrieked. “Just think if we had kids, they’d have bushy wild hair with cowlicks!” Hermione then laughed as she tried unsuccessfully to smooth her hair down.

The other students who had been in the common room looked at them with strange glances and then one by one went upstairs to their dormitories. It was once again, just the Trio in the room.

“Harry, you gotta try this stuff. It’s really good,” said Hermione as she handed him a mug full of cocoa.

Harry took a small sip and tasted peppermint in the chocolate. It gave him a slight burning feeling as it went down his throat. His suspicion that Ron had spiked the pitcher of cocoa was confirmed. The earlier uneasy feeling in his stomach all of a sudden grew into concern. Just what exactly was in Ron’s plan, Harry wondered.

They moved to the floor and sat before the blazing fire. Ron started to reminisce about their first train ride on the Hogwarts Express and how neither he nor Harry could stand Hermione after their first meeting. Hermione was howling with laughter and leaned against the couch and then started to slip and found her head resting against Harry’s shoulder.

“Hey, you’re Harry Potter!” she said in a singsong voice. “I think I’ve heard of you.”

Her breath was now filled with a minty alcohol smell to it and Harry knew that she was drunk.

“I could go to sleep right here,” she said pointing to the ground.

Ron then leaned over and whispered in Harry’s other ear.

“Harry, go to bed. Or else I’ll never get the courage to do this.”

Harry couldn’t believe that Ron still wanted to approach her romantically when she was clearly not in her right mind. He looked at Ron and saw a fierce determination in his bloodshot eyes.

Harry gently lifted Hermione’s head off his shoulder and moved her against the couch.

“I think I need to go to bed,” he said quietly.

“Bed, yeah, I’ll join you,” she said giggling with her eyes shut.

Harry left the room, but couldn’t force himself to go up to the boys’ dormitory. Instead he found himself standing on the third stair just out of sight and listening for any sounds from his friends. He had to know how Hermione would react. He was afraid that Ron might go too far and take advantage of her, but he didn’t want to argue with him either. The whole situation had his stomach in knots.

“Why don’t you come up here and sit next to me, Hermione?” Ron said gently.

Shortly afterward Harry heard what was unmistakably the sound of kissing. Harry began to feel sick, it reminded him of one night passing by his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon’s bedroom on his way to the bathroom and hearing them in the throes of passion. Harry shook his head willing himself to erase the mental image of his aunt and uncle in bed together from his brain when he heard a different sound. He heard Hermione’s muffled voice and then --

Clunk!

“Harry! Help me!” cried Hermione desperately.

To be continued.

Author’s Notes:

Yes, I know it is a cruel place to leave you hanging, but even with short fics I adore cliffhangers! This ending is almost exactly in the middle of the whole short story, so I had to include a cliffie since it presented itself to me. Stay tuned and you’ll see how it ends.

I had said when I finished my novel length story, “Secrets, Lies and the Daily Prophet” that I didn’t have any intention on writing any more HP fanfics. That was because I wanted to spend my energy focused on writing original stuff that I could get paid for. I didn’t expect that my muse would give with a few short plot bunnies in the HP realm again, but because she did I am sharing those with you.

I hope you enjoy them. (Taking a small break from other writing projects to post this…)

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to: Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Harry ran back to the common room and was surprised to see Ron’s unconscious form on the floor with Hermione starting to sit up on the couch and holding her wand.

“What happened?” asked Harry.

“He – he started to kiss me and then he - ,” stuttered Hermione. “He started to grope and I – well, I hexed him.”

Harry looked down at Ron and shook his head. That was a really nice plan you had there mate, he thought. He tried hard to not smile at the thought that Hermione turned the tables on him. He then looked up at Hermione and saw that she was trembling.

“Are you okay?” asked Harry.

Hermione avoided his eyes and shook her head. “No. Take get him upstairs and then, I need to talk with you.”

Harry nodded and then took his wand out and started levitating Ron up the spiral staircase similar to how Sirius had levitated Snape when he was unconscious. He found that the alcohol he consumed made it difficult to maintain his concentration on levitating Ron. He slipped twice and Ron’s head bonked on the wall as they went up the spiral staircase to the Gryffindor 7^th year dormitories. Harry shook his head as he thought of the headache that Ron would have the next morning, between the alcohol, the hex and now the bumps against the wall. He was in no mood to undress Ron and put him in pyjamas. Instead, he simply took off Ron’s shoes and put him under the covers fully dressed. He then closed the curtains around the bed so that their roommates wouldn’t see the sleeping Ron.

When Harry returned to the common room he saw Hermione in tears. She rushed into his arms.

“Harry, I can’t believe he did that!” she sobbed.

Her body started to sway and Harry wasn’t able to maintain his balance. They tumbled onto the couch and Harry tried to sit back while she was still clutching onto him. He found a position leaning against the back of the sofa while she was curled up in a ball on his lap.

Harry held her like that while she made his shoulder damp with tears. Her thick bushy hair had covered his face and made him cough, until he smoothed it out his way. He began patting her on the back of her head in a comforting gesture. It reminded him a little of how Cho had cried after kissing him in the Room of Requirement during his fifth year. The difference of course was Cho was a girl he knew very little about when she broke down in his arms and he didn’t know how to respond. This time he was comforting his best friend and he fully understood why she was so upset. He also felt guilty because he knew that he should have tried to prevent it from happening, but he hadn’t intervened because of his friendship with Ron.

Harry didn’t know what to say to her, so he remained silent and allowed her to seek comfort from him. He began to notice how soft her hair was to the touch and the smell that was distinctly Hermione filled his senses. She finally lifted her head from his shoulder and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Oh Harry, I’m so pathetic. I’m seventeen and I have yet to be kissed properly. I want someone to kiss me tenderly and gently. To make me feel special. Tonight, Ron could have tried to do that, but instead he pounced on me like I was a steak being fed to a lion. If I hadn’t had my wand…” she shuddered. “I hate to think what might have happened.”

“He wouldn’t have done anything bad to you, I wouldn’t have let that happen,” Harry said trying to reassure her.

“You were listening?”

“Umm, yeah,” he said becoming very embarrassed.

“So you knew,” she said crestfallen. “And you let him do that to me?”

“Look, I didn’t know what he was planning to do. I didn’t know he was going to feed you liquor,” Harry insisted. “I thought he was just trying to settle his own nerves.”

“Am I that scary of a person, that you need to have a drink in order to approach me?”

Harry looked in her eyes and saw a vulnerability that he had never seen before. He was still holding her in his arms and he began to feel very warm and uncomfortable in this situation, because he found that his body was beginning to respond to hers. He realized how soft and wonderful she felt in his arms. His thoughts began to wander, but he forced himself to answer her question.

“No, you’re not scary Hermione.”

She nodded with a rueful smile. “Tell me what I should do Harry. Ron is going to wake up in the morning hung over with a terrible headache. He won’t remember what happened, except that he’ll know that he kissed me. I need to know what you want me to do.”

“Me? Why are you asking me?” Harry said perplexed. “I mean, isn’t this supposed to be about how you feel towards Ron? Whether or not you can forgive him for…”

“Harry,” she said patiently, “If I start dating Ron, everything will change between us.”

“Yeah, so you’ll be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“No, I meant between us. Between you and me.”

“We’ll still be friends,” Harry insisted.

“But if I start dating Ron, then I’ll be putting his needs before yours. I’ve never done that before. You have always come first with me. Sometimes before my own needs,” she gave a small smile as her fingers brushed his temples. “It’ll no longer be three good friends, it’ll be a couple and their good friend.”

Harry swallowed deeply and tried to think about how things would change and how he would deal with that.

“I want to be loved, Harry. I want to love someone and be loved in return. I’m willing to try that with Ron because I’ve known him for so long and because he is one of my best friends. I’d make sure to set the ground rules of what is acceptable with him, but I don’t know if we’d last as a couple. That’s because we’re always fighting with each other, but at least he cares for me it’s just that…” she stared in his eyes searching for the right words. “I’d rather do it with you.”

Harry held her face in his hands as if it was delicate porcelain. Her skin was flawless and he noticed for the first time flecks of gold in her brown eyes.

“I want you, Harry. I need to know what it is that you want.”

He saw a look on her face that was a mixture of hope and worry. He smiled at her and saw the worry disappear and then saw only her love for him remaining. Not adoration for his celebrity, but love for the boy that he was and the man that he was becoming. She was so beautiful and he wondered how he had never noticed that before. His heart started to swell in his chest as he realized that he was experiencing the feeling of love for the first time.

Then Harry noticed a spot of chocolate on the corner of her mouth. He leaned down and licked it off with his tongue.

“Mmmm, chocolate mint,” he murmured as he began to kiss her. A soft, gentle kiss that she had asked for. A sweet and tender exploration of her lips and mouth.

He realized after their lips had touched that he could never have felt happiness if Hermione had been with anyone else. She was a part of his life and he couldn’t imagine her not being at his side. He also couldn’t imagine any other girl that could understand him the way that she did.

Love. He loved her. It was only in the process of almost losing her that he realized exactly what it was that she meant to him.

Their kissing lasted all night. They had reclined on the couch and had their bodies pressed together, softly but demurely touching each other. More passionate sessions they knew would follow. They couldn’t stop kissing even as the night wore on and the clock struck the hours.

As the first rays of morning crept into the common room, Harry broke their kiss and looked at Hermione’s hair fanned out on the cushion.

“Umm, don’t you think it’ll be a scandal if it is discovered that the Head Girl didn’t sleep in her bed all night?”

“Probably,” she mused. “I suppose I should at least go upstairs and shower before the other girls wake up.”

“I should go, too. But before we leave each other, we should decide what it is that we are going to say to Ron,” Harry said.

“Well, we can say that thanks to him, we both admitted our true feelings to each other last night and that as it turns out, Rita Skeeter was right after all. Harry Potter has at last found love at Hogwarts.”

Harry smiled and shook his head. “You don’t think he’ll be upset with us?”

“Yes, but what would be worse?” she asked. “One person having a broken heart or two people trying to deny what they feel for one another simply to avoid hurting someone else’s feelings? Besides, Ron deserves better than me. He deserves to be loved by someone who loves him with all of their heart and not look at him as their second choice.”

“You’re right,” he said as he gave her a quick kiss. “See you at breakfast.”

Fin.

Author’s notes:

I’d like to thank those who left me reviews for this short fic: Anne U, babyhalo19, danielerin, Heaven, Hermione Cosplayer, KypDurron, Maggiedawg119, Rain, Sauron the Dark, spenceM7, Sweden's Pride, the real HOPE. And for anyone that wondered, the liquor used was just simple peppermint schnapps. That is because I like the flavor combination of chocolate and mint. I considered using sloe gin because it can be mistaken for just cherry pop and can be slipped in to drinks without people being really aware of it being spiked, but decided instead to use schnapps.

In case anyone would like to one type of confrontation I think Harry and Ron would have over Hermione, I direct you to my novel length story, “Secrets, Lies and the Daily Prophet” which is also published here on Portkey. I dealt with that very emotionally charged and conflict ridden topic, in a very dramatic manner. Somehow, I just don’t want to revisit that again and find myself ending the short fics before I have to deal with it. Well, that’s because I like leaving things on a happy note whenever possible and dealing with that conflict would really lengthen the piece and you have to work afterwards in order to get it back to a happy ending. That’s it for now, although I do have a few more short fics that I have started some scratching on.