Unofficial Portkey Archive

Confused Paths

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, just the plot (is there a plot here?) and the OCs. Don't sue me, JKR; I'm poor and I don't have any money.

Chapter 7 - Second Chance

The second half of September was much happier than the first, in Harry's mind. Even though he had lost his friendship with Ron, having Hermione back was paying for it. He didn't tell her about his feelings, because he knew the incident with Ron was still sore on her. Ron's rage outburst over her birthday present didn't help it, also.

Harry and Hermione were returning from the library that day, to have lunch. They hadn't seen Ron since the argument on the Quidditch Pitch last night. Hermione was wearing Harry's gift and he was also wearing hers. Harry had just cracked a joke about the pendants, when someone cleared his throat in front of them. It was Ron.

He had his gaze locked on the jewel that hung at Hermione's neck. Harry saw his face reddening before he finally spoke. "So, it is true, eh," he said, mockingly. "First, you admit you are jealous of me. Then, surprisingly, you steal my girlfriend from me, and then, you give her an expensive present just to humiliate me. Have you not had enough, Potter?"

Harry took some time to understand Ron's accusation. The red-haired was thinking Harry's gift was just a display of the Potter's fortune, not a show of friendship. Harry couldn't believe Ron would make up something like that, after what had happened the day before. He was about to open his mouth in reply, but Hermione beat him to it.

"How can you think Harry would do something like that, Ron? After everything he said yesterday?" The girl said, as if reading Harry's mind. "He gave this to me as a proof of friendship, Ron, because Harry is my friend! If you were, or at least wanted to be my friend, you would have remembered of my birthday, and would have spared me of this pointless argument." With that, Hermione turned on her heels and stormed off. Harry gave Ron a last look before parting after her, and saw Ron's expression of utterly shock. He probably didn't remember Hermione's birthday.

October proceeded just as fine as September. On the second Saturday, Harry had his first quidditch match, against Slytherin; he was very nervous about it. Harry knew he wouldn't lose the Snitch to Malfoy, but his disagreements with Ron had affected his latest performances. He just hoped he could play well enough that day. His prayers were heard when Hermione gave him a good-luck kiss on the cheek; Harry caught the Snitch after ten minutes. Malfoy (being both the seeker and the captain) left the pitch cursing so loudly he got a detention. Harry couldn't laugh more.

The third Saturday of October was a Hogsmeade Saturday. Harry was very excited about it; he would ask Hermione to go with him, and he would give her a good time there. Fortunately, she would forget about the rows with Ron. Harry wanted to be sure she was over it, before he talked about his own feelings.

That morning, Harry woke up early, and got himself ready to leave. He waited in the common room until Hermione got down. He sat on his usual chair by the fire, and waited, reading Quidditch through the Ages for the thousandth time. His thoughts were taken away from the book when he heard her voice behind him, "Good morning, Harry."

"Good morning," he answered, and turned to her grinning. She was dressed in jeans and a light blue top, and Harry thought she was very beautiful like that. 'She is beautiful anytime,' he corrected himself. She smiled back at him and he stood on his feet. They left the room together to the Great Hall.

"You are going to Hogsmeade, aren't you?" Harry asked, on their way to the hall. She nodded, but Harry saw her expression was gloomy. "What is the matter?" The boy asked again, a little concerned. "Ron asked me to go with him," she answered. Harry was taken aback. "He says he is sorry and that he wants to make up for the things he said before. So I thought I could give him a chance to excuse himself," she continued. "I guess if I forgive him, he will apologize to you too, so we could have our friendship again," she finished. Harry nodded and smiled at her, but was quite disappointed. Hermione seemed to notice and said, "I guess I should have told you before." Harry shook his head and said, "Do not worry about it. I was just surprised Ron is apologizing. It's not like him, you know," he said. "And it is nothing like we were going to do anything special," he added. "We were just going to walk around and drink butterbeer, anyway. I am sure it can be just as fun with him," Harry finished. She nodded and they entered the Great Hall.

Harry and Hermione had their breakfast together, like they would have everyday; this day, unlike the others, Hermione left first and Ron followed her. This change of scene created a wave of gossip between the students who were there. Harry pretended nothing was wrong, and left silently after he was finished.

Harry wasn't so sure he wanted to go to Hogsmeade anymore. He planned to have a nice day with Hermione, but now she was there with Ron and he didn't want to risk walking on them. He was in front of the Fat Lady's portrait when he decided he would go to Hogsmeade, fetch a butterbeer and come back to school. Maybe he could plan a lesson for the DA in the afternoon. 'No, not without Hermione,' he thought.

Harry's trip wasn't as fast as he had planned. He had stopped on a few shops, namely the quidditch and joke shops, and spent quite some time in them. He fortunately didn't run into Hermione and Ron, and feared they would be in the Three Broomsticks, which was the next stop on his plan. He decided to avoid the pub and headed for the other pub, the Hog's Head.

Harry entered the pub, and headed straight for the counter. He asked the barman for a butterbeer and kept looking around the place. He remembered the day the "couple of people" had come to the bar, interested in the idea of the DA. It had been a wonderful idea of Hermione, after all… He loved to see her happy face whenever she learned anything new…

His train of thought was interrupted when the barman brought him his butterbeer. Harry paid for it and left the bar. Once he stepped outside, he was startled by a loud noise. Harry had just stepped on a black cat that was outside. Then he heard a female voice that said, "There you are," and saw a blond girl catch the cat.

"Thanks for catching my cat," the girl said. Harry recognized her as one of the transfer students from Beauxbatons, Rafaelle. Harry had talked to her a couple of times, and thought the girl was quite nice. She and her brother had joined DA last class (they heard about it from the Ravenclaws) and despite being behind everyone else, they weren't doing that bad. They also didn't mind Harry being Harry (maybe because France hadn't suffered much from the First War) and thus weren't so hard to talk.

"You are welcome, Rafaelle," Harry said, quite expressionless. "Oh, hey Harry! I did not see it was you, sorry," she said, a bit embarrassed. "I hope Shade did not give you any trouble," she said, pointing to the cat. "I was going back to the school when he decided to run off," she added. "Quite a troublemaker you are," she said, turning to the cat. Harry just smiled slightly.

"Where is Hermione?" Rafaelle asked. "It is unusual seeing you without her," she added. Harry blushed and lowered his head. "She must be around here somewhere. She had some things to take care of", he said, not wanting to go into any details. "Oh, I see," the girl replied. "Well, I will be going. My brother is waiting for me at Hogwarts," she said. "See you, then," Harry said.

The girl had already turned her back to Harry and started walking, but she stopped suddenly and turned back to Harry. "By the way," she said, "Me and my brother are going to practice some quidditch this afternoon. You know, we have made our house teams, but his captain is not happy with him", she added. "Would you like to join us? You seem quite bored yourself," she finished. Harry remembered seeing her brother in the match against Slytherin, as a chaser. He boy wasn't that bad, and even scored one shot against Ron. "Well, maybe I will show up," Harry said. "I will stay here for a while. It is still morning after all," he added. She nodded, and was about to turn her back to him when he said, "Oh, and tell your brother he should not worry. Malfoy was just throwing his anger at him, I am sure." She nodded again and left Harry alone at the main street.

Harry really wanted to go back to Hogwarts now, but he was afraid the girl would find out what's on his mind. He couldn't stop thinking Hermione could get back with Ron; that's why he was so disappointed when he heard she was going out with him today. Harry couldn't stand the possibility that Hermione could go distant on him again. Not now, when he hadn't even got his chance.

Eventually, Harry went back to the school. He had his lunch quickly and left to meet with Rafaelle and her brother in the Quidditch Pitch, carrying his Firebolt. Both of them were already there. Johan was throwing the Quaffle against Rafaelle, who was playing as keeper. She wasn't any better than Ron at his first game last year, Harry thought to himself. He called the two of them and they flied towards him.

"Hey, Harry!" The black boy said. Harry had learned few weeks ago (due to school gossip) that Johan was adopted by Rafaelle's family, what explained their lack of similarities. He wasn't as bad as most of the Slytherins, regardless of Rafaelle's constant complaints about his cockiness. But he was still a Slytherin, and Harry was a little less friendly towards him. Most of the DA members also complained about his presence there, but he had agreed to sign the enchanted parchment, so Harry had let him join.

"Hey Johan," Harry said. "Hello again, Rafaelle," he added. "Hey there, Harry," she replied. "Glad you came by, you really seemed bored out there, you know," she said, conversationally. "I just had a lot on my mind," Harry answered, then turned to Johan. "You are doing great as a Chaser. I was watching you before I called. Great moves up there," he added, changing the subject of the conversation. Johan scratched the back of his head and said, "Thank you, really. I just wished Malfoy said the same." "He will never say it, you'd better give up," Harry said. "I want the Giant Squid to eat me if Malfoy ever praises someone," he joked, and the three of them laughed.

"You said you have made your house team," Harry said again, turning to Rafaelle. "What is your position?"

"My captain would kill me he knew I am talking to the enemy", she said, smiling, "But I will tell anyway. I am the seeker. They have told me the Head Girl Cho Chang was the seeker last year, but she gave up because of the Head Girl business and the N.E.W.T.s." Harry was shocked, but not that much. Cho had also given up the DA meetings for the same reason. "Never thought she would do that," Harry replied. "She really enjoyed quidditch."

"Were you friends with her?" Rafaelle asked. '"Friends" isn't quite the right term,' Harry thought. "Yeah… Something like that," Harry said. "I can guess. You are not supposed to be friends with the seeker of the opposite teams, right?" Rafaelle answered. "Anyway… I hope you do not mind I have called you here, since you are also a seeker. It is just that I have never really played seeker before, I am more of a chaser," she continued. "I guess they have made me seeker because no one else wanted to take Cho's position."

"Do not worry about that," Harry said. "I guess I can give you some pointers. Not everything, of course, because I do not want you to beat my team," he added, jokingly. Johan laughed heartily, but Rafaelle didn't find it so funny. "Well, I guess that is fair," she said, and slapped her brother playfully. "Stop laughing, idiot," she added.

The three of them had a funny afternoon; Harry had given Rafaelle some pointers, and Johan played seeker too, just for fun. Harry even said he could take Malfoy's place anytime, and the three of them broke into laughter again. After some time, they started playing keeper and chasers; Harry discovered that being a keeper isn't that easy, let alone against two people born as chasers. But then again, there was nothing better than being a chaser against those same people. Ron would have such a boost to his ego if he saw those two as keepers.

Harry thought that Ron would love this, if he were here; Hermione wouldn't like it so much, but she would be here watching amused. Harry wished everything was fine among the three of them again. She wiped the thoughts out of his mind when he remembered the things Ron had told him, one month ago. Harry hadn't given them much thought, as he was worried about Hermione, but those words had hurt him too.

His thoughts were interrupted as Johan tapped his shoulder. "Earth to Harry," he said. Harry was snapped from his thoughts and the boy added, "We have been calling you for one whole minute. I thought you had died on your broom," he joked. "Someone is here to talk to you," he added, and pointed down. Harry saw Hermione there, along with Rafaelle, and she waved at him. He smiled and flied towards her.

"Hello again," he said when he got to the grass, and grinned. She smiled back, but not too enthusiastically. Harry noticed something was wrong. "Do you mind if I leave now?" Harry asked, turning to the siblings. Both of them shook their heads and Johan said, "Do not worry, we were about to leave too." His sister nodded and said, "Yeah, that's right. Thanks for everything, Harry." They turned on their heels and walked away.

As soon as they had left, Harry turned to Hermione. "What is wrong?" He asked, concerned. She looked at his eyes, and sighed. "Well… Ron's intentions were not exactly what I was thinking. He wanted me to be his girlfriend again, you see," Hermione said. Harry felt a wave of jealous anger burning on his body, but ignored it. "We did not touch the subject for a while. We were just walking through the town, watching the stores, and then we went to the Three Broomsticks. There he said he was sorry for everything, and asked me to be his girlfriend again."

"And what did you answer?" Harry asked. He was afraid Hermione had accepted the proposal. "I said no, that I was not interested on it anymore, and I was going to tell him exactly why when he suddenly exploded on me. He asked me if I was interested in someone else," Hermione said. Harry saw tears forming on her eyes. Harry gave her a comforting hug and she continued. "I said I was not. Then he said I was lying and asked me if I was interested in you. I said no again. Then he just…"

Hermione was on the verge of tears, and Harry couldn't watch that. He was angered with Ron, and wanted to hear the rest of the story, but decided not to push Hermione further. He gave her another hug, and she hugged him back, sobbing on his shoulder. He stroked her brown curls while he lost himself in his thoughts. 'She is not interested in Ron anymore, but also not interested in me. It is logical; she broke up with him just one month ago… She just needs more time, I guess.'

Harry was once again brought back from his thoughts by her voice. She had stopped crying and was calling him. "Sorry," he said, "I was just lost in thought," he said. "It is okay… I just wanted to thank you for staying with me," she said, pulling away from him and looking into his eyes. He stared deep into hers before saying, "Anything for you, Hermione." He smiled and kissed her forehead, before they walked back to Gryffindor Tower.

A/N: This was a bit longer than the last one, mainly because I can use half of my left hand now (two fingers and the thumb, just to be exact). I hope you enjoy it anyway.

This chapter wasn't supposed to exist. I had removed it from the plot but decided to write it again when I added the OCs, just for you to taste them. I hope they aren't that bad. The second reason this chapter is back it's because of my hand. The next chapter will probably be too long to type with a broken hand.

SilverFoot: Hermione doesn't know about Harry's feelings… Yet. And yeah, we'll be having some asskissing from Ron's side. Not now, as you can see, because he's still playing badass boy.

ally81: You don't need to praise me that much… * blushes * I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. Well… Hope you have nice holidays. ^_^

Talion: You're absolutely right! It's something I'll explain later, but I'm glad you realized that.

Ariana: Hermione is probably the greatest flaw of this fic. I'm trying to improve on her character… Forgive me. +_+

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed last chapter. Next chapter will be out on Friday (due to a busy week). R/R please. ^_^