'How could she think I didn't need her?' I thought to myself as I watched her walk away from me. She's the only person I had ever shared everything with, and she was leaving me to go see Ron. Had I done something to make her mad? I had just watched my Godfather fly away and now I was watching my best friend leave me behind.
I went up to the dorm that night and went straight to sleep. My heart hurt; not physically, but it just ached because she was mad at me. It never bothered me when anyone else was angry at me, but her, her opinion of me meant the world to me. I was the person I was because of her. There were times when I had just wanted to say "fuck it all!" and run away from this world. But I stayed because of her; she made me want to help people and be a better person. I fell asleep that night with a very heavy heart.
I got up the next morning and went to the Great Hall for breakfast. When I got to the table, I noticed a broomstick lying there. When I noticed Ron standing there on a crutch, I looked at him and asked "who's broomstick is this?"
"It says it's for you mate" he said, smiling. I looked it over and noticed that it was the newest Firebolt model that I had admired when we had gone to Diagon Alley before school started. I noticed the note attached to it and picked it up. Along with the note there was a huge feather; I knew who had sent the broom immediately. The feather belonged to Buckbeak, which meant Sirius had sent it to me. I was looking it over when I heard Hermione say "you can't possibly be thinking of keeping it? You don't even know who it's from."
I looked at her and held up the feather. I saw the recognition in her eyes and said "not that it's any of your business, but yes I do know who it's from." I felt bad as I noticed the hurt look that flashed across her face, but it was gone in an instant.
"Excuse me for worrying about your safety" she snapped, turning on her heel and heading out the doors of the Great Hall.
"What's with her this morning?" asked Ron.
"Your guess is as good as mine" I said, staring sadly after her retreating figure.
How dare he! All I wanted was to make sure that the bloody broomstick wasn't sent by some Death Eater looking to hurt Harry. 'Not that it's any of my business?' I thought, seething with anger. Harry Potter was impossible!
I started to make my way up the stairs to go back to the common room when I was stopped by Professor Lupin.
"How are you Hermione?" he asked, looking pale and tired.
"I'm fine Professor; are you ok?" I asked, wondering why he had new scratches on his face.
"Oh, I'm fine. I wanted to ask you, were you ever able to work on your boggart?" I looked at him, afraid to answer his question. Boggarts took the form of your greatest fear; Harry's had turned into a Dementor and the Professor had ended the lesson early, meaning that I hadn't had to do it.
"No Professor, I never got around to it" I fibbed. I hadn't even attempted to work on it.
"You always want to learn new things; how come you didn't practice with the boggart?" He sat looking at me, waiting for my answer,
"I..." 'to hell with it' I thought "I already knew what my boggart would turn into."
"May I ask what that might be?" he asked. This was Professor Lupin, one of my favorite teachers, and Harry seemed to trust him...
"My Father" I said quietly, and quickly. He stood there staring at me for a moment, as if he hadn't heard me.
"Your Father?" he whispered "But why would he be...?"
"Please don't ask" I said, sounding desperate even to my own ears. "You asked what my boggart would be, and I told you. Please don't make me explain it to you."
"Ok" he said, looking at me sympathetically. I started to walk up the stairs again when I heard the Professor say "Ms. Granger?" I turned and looked at him, noticing that he hadn't moved from his spot. "I resigned today; I'm no longer the Defense teacher. I won't be around anymore, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm only an owl away."
"Thank you Professor" I said, smiling. It felt good knowing that there was an adult on my side. I walked upstairs and went to my room, packing up the rest of my things. I would be leaving tomorrow to go to the Burrow for the summer. Thank Merlin I wasn't going home.
As I sat on the Hogwarts Express, I was thinking about the past week. Hermione and I hadn't said more than two
words to each other since the incident in the Great Hall yesterday. I felt like I didn't know how to talk to her
anymore; all I knew is that I wanted my best friend back. I watched her read her book; she had sat next to Ron again
and I was sitting next to Ginny, who seemed to be touching me whenever she could. I knew she had a little crush on me,
but she had never been this forward about it before.
"Don't you think so Harry?" I heard her ask. Unfortunately, I had no idea what she had been talking about.
"Think about what?" I asked, noticing her frown.
"That this summer is going to be great!" she said excitedly.
"Oh yeah, it ought to be a bunch of fun" I deadpanned. She had missed my sarcasm and smiled at me happily. I noticed Hermione just shake her head, as if in disbelief, at Ginny's behavior.
I gathered my courage together and asked "your summer ought to be a good one, 'eh Hermione?"
"Yes, for once" she answered and continued to read, never once looking at me. I gave up after that; obviously she didn't want anything to do with me.
We pulled onto Platform 9 3/4 and disembarked the train. I got my trunk and slowly made my way out to where I knew Uncle Vernon would be waiting for me. Professor Dumbledore had explained that there was a reason I had to go back to their house; something about my protection. I watched as Ron, Ginny and Hermione happily met up with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley; I wished I was going with them today.
Mrs. Weasley looked up and noticed me walking by. She separated from the group and walked over to me. "Harry dear, you make sure to be careful, ok?" she asked, her voice full of concern. I tried to give her a smile to reassure her, but my heart wasn't in it. "I tried to convince Dumbledore to let you stay with us for the summer, but he said there was a reason why you couldn't. I promise we'll get you out of there as soon as we can." She had tears in her eyes and she wrapped me in her arms, giving me a hug. It felt so good, so motherly; I had never wanted to just break down and cry before like I did at that moment. Why couldn't my Mum and Dad have lived?
"If they hurt you at all, you make sure to owl Dumbledore, and then send a letter to us, ok?" she whispered, so that no one else could hear her. I was glad for that; it was bad enough that she and Mr. Weasley knew.
"I will, I promise" I said, giving her a real smile now. She had turned to walk away when I said "Mrs. Weasley?"
She turned back to me and said "yes Harry?"
"Thank you" I said, and watched her face break out into a watery smile.
"Anytime" she replied, and walked back to her waiting family.
I stood next to Ron, watching the exchange between Harry and Mrs. Weasley, and my heart broke. When Mrs. Weasley had hugged Harry, I could see the longing in his eyes. I knew he missed his parents; thank Merlin for Molly Weasley.
After she had walked over to rejoin our group, I looked over and saw Harry watching me. He gave me a small smile and waved goodbye, and then made his way through the barrier to meet his wretched Uncle. No matter how mad I was at him, I still wished there was a way I could protect him from his horrid relatives.
We made our way through the barrier and out into the parking lot. Mr. Weasley had borrowed a Ministry car again, and as we made our way to it, I noticed Harry and his Uncle. Vernon Dursley had his meaty hand wrapped around the back of Harry's neck, forcefully pushing him towards the car. Harry just walked with his back slouched and his head hung low. Mrs. Weasley looked in the direction I was looking and noticed Harry also. "That poor boy" she said, shaking her head sadly.
"You have no idea" I whispered, getting into the backseat and closing the door. 'Be strong Harry' I thought, watching them get into their car as we sped away to the Burrow.
That summer was exactly like all of the others; Aunt Petunia ordering me around and Uncle Vernon smacking me upside the head, or worse, if he didn't like the outcome of my work. Dudley had been put on a diet because Smeltings felt he was getting too fat. That made him crankier than ever, and he often sought me out to work out his frustrations. The only thing that was different was that my scar would hurt occasionally and I started having horrible nightmares. I finally broke down one day and wrote to Sirius, telling him what had been happening and how often it hurt. Thankfully, I got a letter from Ron one day saying that his family wanted to take me to the Quidditch World Cup. They would be picking me up the next day and I would stay at the Burrow for the rest of the summer.
I packed my trunk that night before I went down to make dinner. Apparently, Mrs. Weasley had written a letter to Aunt Petunia asking permission to take me. For some reason, probably to get rid of me, they agreed to let me go. I ran upstairs and wrote Ron back saying that it was ok for me to go. Making sure I had everything in my trunk, I went to sleep that night, excited about something for the first time in a long while.
The Weasleys came to get me the next morning and caused all hell to break loose. They had come by floo, and unfortunately the fireplace in the Dursley's had been sealed off. Mr. Weasley had to blast a hole through it to be able to get into the house. Uncle Vernon had turned purple at the sight of the damage to his home. While Mr. Weasley tried to convince my Uncle that he could easily fix the damage, Fred and George had slipped a piece of candy to Dudley. When he ate it, his tongue grew huge, practically cutting off his airway. As we sat there trying not to collapse onto the floor in laughter, Mr. Weasley shooed us into the fireplace and said he would be along when he had 'fixed the situation'.
The one thing I had noticed was that Hermione didn't come with Fred, George and Ron to come get me. I decided that it might be best just to leave her alone; obviously she wanted nothing to do with me right now. When we arrived at the Burrow, I took my things upstairs while Fred, George and Ron explained to Mrs. Weasley what had happened at the Dursleys. I had ducked out of the kitchen as quickly as I could; I didn't want her to see the bruise by my eye that was Dudley's going away present. I was walking by Ginny's room when I heard the girl's voices float through the closed door.
"So do you like Ron then, as more than a friend?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know; even if I did, I don't want to do anything to ruin our friendship" replied Hermione. Hearing her say that made my stomach clench painfully.
"I wish Harry would see me as more than a friend" said Ginny. I almost rolled my eyes; that girl was persistent, if not determined. "Do you think you could talk to him for me?"
It was quiet for a while, as if Hermione had to think over Ginny's question. Finally, she sighed and said "I guess I could; I wouldn't get your hopes up though. I don't think Harry's interested in girls yet."
'What?!' I thought; of course I was interested in girls, it was just that I had high standards. Every girl I met and talked to, I compared to Hermione. I just hadn't found one that measured up to her yet.
I continued to listen in for a little longer when suddenly I felt a tapping on my shoulder. I swear I jumped high enough off of the floor to touch the ceiling. I turned quickly to see Ron standing behind me, his eyebrow quirked up in question. "What are you doing?" he whispered.
"Nothing" I answered, sounding very guilty. I made my way to his room and put my trunk at the end of the bed Mrs. Weasley had put in there for me. Ron followed me in and closed the door.
"Are you going to tell me what you were doing outside my sister's bedroom?" he asked.
"I, um I heard them talking about us. I was curious about what they were saying" I explained, embarrassed at being caught eavesdropping.
"They were talking about me and you?" he asked, his curiosity piqued. "What'd they say?"
"Ginny was asking Hermione if she liked you as more than a friend" I answered.
"Uh yeah, I asked her to do that" mumbled Ron, not meeting my eyes. "What'd Hermione say?"
"She said that she didn't want to do anything to ruin her friendship with you." He looked at me for a minute, a strange look on his face. "She'll kiss you but she won't consider me as more than a friend?" he asked.
"Ron that was a friendly thank-you kiss" I said, feeling defensive suddenly. "How many times do I have to tell you that?" He just stared at me for a moment, as if trying to figure out if I was lying or not. Getting uncomfortable from his scrutiny, I just sat down on my bed, feeling very tired all of a sudden. Didn't I have more important things to worry about than girls?
I woke up early the next morning, trying to wake Ginny, but failing miserably; she wasn't really a morning person. Finally I just gave up and went to the bathroom to get ready. As I walked towards the bathroom, the door to Ron's room opened and Harry walked out, looking sleepy and rumpled. I couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face, he looked so cute. 'Whoa, where did that come from?' I thought. I quickly reminded myself that we were just friends. "What are you doing up so early?" I asked.
"I've been getting up at this time all summer" he said, yawning and stretching. Hmmm..."What about you?" he asked, breaking me out of my trance.
"I wanted to get to the bathroom before everyone else got up and wanted in there" I replied.
"I was heading that way, but I can wait until you're done" he said. He was always so thoughtful; I wondered how he turned out as well as he did living with his Aunt and Uncle.
"Thanks, I'll try to hurry so you can get in there before Ginny" I said, and then remembered my talk with her last night. 'I can talk to him about that later' I thought, smiling at Harry and making my way into the bathroom.
After about twenty minutes, I walked out into the hall, freshly showered and now wide awake. I lightly knocked on Ron's door and saw Harry peek out. "I'm done" I said.
"That was fast" he said, smiling at me. I just shrugged and made my way back to Ginny's room. When I saw that she was still in bed asleep, I pulled the blankets off the bed, subsequently pulling her off of the bed with them.
"Bloody hell Hermione" she had mumbled, pulling herself up off of the floor "you could have just shook me awake."
"Right; I tried that an hour ago" I said, trying not to laugh at her disheveled appearance.
She started shuffling towards the door as she said "I'm going to go take a shower."
"Harry's in there right now" I said; she seemed to perk up after I said this. "Do you think I could accidentally walk in on him?"
I stood there wondering if I had heard her right. "I think he knows that I would tell you he was in there" I said, not believing how daring she could be sometimes. I wished I could be like that.
"I'm going to go see if he's out yet" she said, smiling...wickedly. I just shook my head as she walked out of the room.
I followed her out, planning on going down to the kitchen to get some breakfast, when I saw Harry in the hallway. He was standing there with only his sleep pants on, water drops glistening on his back, with his hair wet and sticking up at odd angles. 'Oh Gods' I thought. He wasn't built; Harry wasn't fed enough at his Aunt's house to have a filled out body. He was lean, but had toned muscles in his arms and stomach. He reminded me of the saying "tall, dark and handsome". The thing that topped it off was the brooding look he wore on his face most of the time; it made him look kind of dangerous. 'Where is this coming from?' I thought, shaking my head, trying to clear it. I noticed that Ginny was practically drooling, standing in the doorway of the bathroom.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, looking at me strangely. It was then that I realized that he had caught me staring at him.
"Hmm?" 'Well that was an intelligent reply' I thought, chastising myself.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"J-Just going downstairs for breakfast" I answered, mad at myself for stuttering.
"Kitchen's that way" he said, pointing to the stairs behind me. I felt my cheeks start to burn and watched as that killer smile of his spread across his face.
Feeling mad at myself for reacting to him that way, I abruptly turned and almost ran down the steps, trying to escape to the kitchen.
We left about an hour and a half after I got out of the shower; it took a while to wake Ron up. His Mum had to come in and yell at him, which didn't put him in a very good mood, and he grumbled the entire time we were eating breakfast. I looked at Hermione, who was sitting across the table from me, and almost laughed as she rolled her eyes. It seemed that maybe things were getting back to normal between her and I.
As we walked to our portkey point, I couldn't help but feel excited. I loved Quidditch and I was going to go watch some of the best players in the world; I remembered thinking that it was going to be one of the best days of my life. If only I had known what was going to happen that night.