Accidentally In Love

Time flew by and soon it was the day before the Valentine's Day ball and Hermione was thinking hard about her outfit. She knew all the girls would be wearing elegant, feminine and pretty dress robes but she didn't know where they got them from. She wanted to look amazing for Harry - but how if she couldn't even find the right dress?

Parvati Patil, nosy and very good with fashion, saw Hermione fretting and immediately rushed to her.

“What's up?” she questioned.

And so Hermione confided in her the big problem that she had. Parvati burst out laughing.

“I can fix that in a second! Look, I have a collection of really nice dress robes in my wardrobe, how about I show you some? A couple of them would really suit you!” she said kindly.

“What about my hair and make-up though?” asked Hermione?

“Leave that to Lavender!” giggled Parvati.

So they raided Parvati's wardrobe, and to their delight found a pretty, light blue shiny set of dress robes that looked really good on Hermione. She thanked Parvati immensely for her kindness. Parvati didn't think anything of it. She was always doing things like this for girls, to help improve their romance.

“Hermione!” called Ron, “come down here!”

He was sitting at a table in the Gryffindor common room, with a funny smile on his face. Hermione knew that smile meant he was up to no good. She felt afraid and didn't want to go and speak to him. However, he kept on calling and patting the seat beside him, so she went.

So, quite slowly, she walked down the stairs from the girls dormitories towards him.

“R-R-Ron?” she stuttered.

“Hermione,” he said, still with that strange smile on his face, “you've been spending an awful lot of time with Harry lately.”

“I know. He's very nice,” answered Hermione.

“Good,” Ron nodded his head. Then, he seized Hermione by the shoulders and pushed her hard against the wall. She hit her head hard and winced.

“Painful, isn't it? Yes. Now that will happen a lot more times if I find you've been cheating on me,” he hissed. Hermione could feel his foul breath on her face.

“Do you understand?”

Hermione nodded.

“Good,” said Ron and pushed her aside as if she was worth nothing. She stumbled and fell over. Her heart was pounding in her chest once more. She tried to get up but Ron pushed her back down again. He continued to do this for about ten minutes, at which point Hermione had very sore legs. Ron, however, kept on laughing.

But then Harry, Hermione's knight in shining armour, came in. He saw what Ron was doing to Hermione and marched up to him.

“Ron! Leave her alone!” he shouted from the other side of the common room.

Hermione shook her head behind Ron's turned back but Harry ignored it.

Ron walked up to him.

“Oh yeah? And who's going to make me?” he challenged Harry. Ron was much taller than Harry. He towered over him, in fact.

“I am,” growled Harry, pulling out his, “unless you get your act together and treat Hermione like a human being.”

Hermione had now got up and was stealthily creeping towards the girls dormitories. She gave Harry a thumbs up when she was at the door, and disappeared.

Ron sensed something was going on just from where Harry's eyes travelled.

“You idiot!” he boomed.

Harry smiled smugly.

“I know you fancy her like crazy, OK? But if you dare try and get close to her I will be forced to cast on you one of the worst Unforgivable Curses. Do you hear me?” he whispered menacingly.

“It would be fair that way though. You kissed Luna after all,” shot back the daring Harry.

“SHUT THE CRAP UP ABOUT THAT, YOU LOSER!” yelled Ron.

Harry shook his head. The two boys looked at each other, determined to stare the other out. Harry clenched his free fist and tightened his grip around his wand. He would not let Ron get the better of him.

Ron narrowed his eyes at Harry. He knew that he had a huge crush on Hermione and he would not let him steal her from him. Hermione didn't deserve the likes of Harry Potter.

“I thought I'd find you in here.”

Harry jumped then sighed as he saw Hermione slip into the Room of Requirement with him. It looked exactly as it had looked that night when they had fallen asleep there together.

She sat down beside him and took hold of his hand, stroking it gently.

“I'm really sorry about Ron. I'll have to break up with him soon,” she smiled.

“It's fine, don't worry,” said Harry, carefully avoiding Hermione's eyes.

“Thank you for sticking up for me,” she continued, trying to make conversation.

Harry shrugged.

“It meant a lot…” she added hopefully.

This time he grunted.

“But how can you ever have loved someone who treats you like that? Why can't you just split up with him now - this second?” shouted Harry suddenly.

“He'll hurt you if I do. I can't risk that happening,” replied Hermione.

Harry gave Hermione a grateful smile and hugged her. Then, as he held her in his arms, they shared a sweet kiss. Their last kiss before the ball.