Chapter Twelve
It had been three weeks.
Three long grueling weeks since she'd heard from him.
She sat on her bed now, unsure of what to do with herself. The day was gloomy and rain was pattering at her window.
Had something happened to him? She hoped with all her might he was just busy and nothing had happened to him. Surely if there was a sign of Voldemort, it would have been in the Daily Prophet. But she's been checking the paper day in and day out with no word.
She'd written to him more time than she could count, and still no reply, no matter how threatening or depressed her letters became.
After the first two weeks of no replies, she became rather depressed and lethargic, unable to do anything but worry or think about him. And as the next week crawled painfully by, she became steadily angrier.
Where the hell was he and why wasn't he answering her? Maybe he'd forgotten about her… Maybe he found another girl?
Tears welled in her eyes at the thought. She desperately wanted any word from him, anything at all, but she received nothing. She would catch herself staring out the windows of her home, looking for any sight of Hedwig. She hadn't seen the white owl since the last day on the train.
Sighing, and wiping her tears away, she climbed off her bed and walked to the large window in her room that faced her backyard. From one story up, she stared at the gray sky, and thought the rain was pouring just for her mood. She couldn't decide if she was angry or depressed, and these mad mood swings that haunted her only caused her to become more frustrated.
Unsure of what to do with herself still, she turned toward her desk. Should she send him another letter? No, that wouldn't work, the last hundred hadn't caught his attention so what would one more do? Nothing, that's what, she thought bitterly.
And then something struck her.
Ron!
Ron would know where Harry was, wouldn't he? They are best friends after all, right? But then again, she thought she was his best friend too.
She sat at her desk and flipped on her desk light, and frantically searching for parchment and ink. Finding both supplies buried under the summer homework she'd finished, she hurriedly scribbled a note to Ron, asking of Harry's whereabouts or existence.
Smiling for the first time in days, she rushed from her room and into her mother and father's room where the family owl sat snoozing on his perch by the window.
"Wake up boy," She said sweetly, poking gently at his feathery belly.
The barn owl blinked and hooted indignantly at Hermione, before he allowed her to tie the letter to his leg.
"I know it's not the best flying weather outside," She said, opening the window and offering her arm as a perch, "but I need you to get this letter to Ron for me alright?" The owl seemed to sigh, irritated, as he stepped onto her arm. "Don't be a brat, just get the letter there."
And he took off from her arm and out the window. She was grateful it wasn't a windy storm, only a drizzle. Maybe it would get there faster. She sure hoped Ron knew where Harry was…and that Ron would actually answer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few days passed, Hermione pacing in front of her window each day. Finally, the pacing paid off.
She was trying to get her mind of everything by reading peacefully on her bed when something small and feathery flew in from her open window and began circling the room noisily.
"Pig!" She cried, jumping up from her bed.
The tiny owl wouldn't slow down.
"You want an owl treat Pigwigen?"
Pig stop spinning around, and started just fluttering around her head. Rolling her eyes, she summoned a treat for the little menace and snatched the reply before he took the treat from her fingers.
She ignored him as he flew happily around her room, hooting as he went. She tore the letter open and read it quickly.
Hermione,
Yes, I've heard from Harry. He said he's dealing with moving out of the Dursley's. He's going to be moving in here next weekend. You're welcome to come over as well. I hope you're doing well. Talk to you later.
Love,
Ron
She read and reread the page again. So Harry was keeping in contact with Ron, but not her? What was going on? Suddenly angry and hurt, she ripped the parchment in half, and then into more pieces. Unknown tears streaming down her face, she felt the burn of betrayal. She gritted her teeth, feeling more hurt than she knew she should.
Suddenly she felt as if a ring of ice had been slipped on her finger. She started down at the silver band, seeing it growing frost, and the engravings slowly disappearing. But all she could think about was the cold, and how it was affecting her entire body.
Suddenly sobbing in hurt, she pulled the ring off and examined it. The engravings were gone…she shininess of the silver was dulled as if by age, and it felt as cold as ice.
What the?
She took a deep breath, thinking she was over reacting. What was going on? The tears continued to stream down her face as she sat down on the edge of her bed, the ring in one of her fists. No matter how hard she gripped it, the cold metal wouldn't warm.
In a sudden burst of pain, she threw the ring angrily across the room, and then threw herself into her pillows, sobbing hysterically for reasons she still couldn't understand.
~*~*~!!!!FLASH FORWARD!!!~*~*~*
And now, with her heart pounding rapidly in her chest, she remembered finding the next morning and never letting it out of her sight again After time she'd come to realize that Harry had left her, and that she was never going to hear from him. Accepting that fact was a completely different story.
He sat less than ten feet away from her on a barstool, and she couldn't breathe properly. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it go. The churning in her stomach never stopped though. She'd obviously never really truly gotten over him. What a pity.
So what was she supposed to do now? Talk to him? Surely not! What would she say?
`Hey Harry, thanks for breaking my heart back in 7th year, and I'm still hurting I bet you didn't know that!' No, that wouldn't do.
She tipped back the rest of her water, just to have something to do with her shaky hands. She didn't dare look over at him. That was not the thing to do. What if he spotted her? She hid behind her curtain of hair.
"More water Miss Granger?"
Why now did he have to remember her name? Why?!
"Uh, no thanks." She put money and the bar and jumped off her stool, heading for the door, trying to leave before the name clicked in Harry's head.
"Hermione?"
Too late. Damnit.
She stopped dead at the sound of her name, her hand reaching for the door.
"Yeah?" she said shakily, not turning around, but just dropping her arm.
"Is it really you?" she heard him say.
Unfortunately, she thought.
"Yes." Short answers, keep them short, she told herself. "Sorry Harry, I gotta run."
And she fled. There was no way she could face him. As much as she'd wanted to see him again and talk to him again, there was no way she could do it now. Courage had left her stranded with her broken heart. Great.
She hadn't gotten far when she heard the bar door open again, and hurried footsteps behind her.
"Hermione wait!"
"No, I'd really rather not." She said, quickening her step.
The steps were coming closer. She seriously thought about breaking into a sprint, but that would just make her look foolish.
She felt a hand close around her arm, and she stopped dead, feeling him standing behind her.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" He asked, releasing her.
"Away from you." She said quietly.
"Why?"
"Why?" She finally spun around to face him, and the wind was knocked out of her as she saw his intense green eyes for the first time in three years.
"Because," she said breathily, feeling the courage crawling back, "Because why would I want to talk to someone who doesn't want to talk to me?"
"What are you talking about?"
Anger flowed into her veins and she rode on it.
"Let me see." She said with venom. "I remember a young boy I met in Hogwarts. He made me the happiest I've ever been. Then made me all these promises," she reached into her pocket, "and he gave me this ring. And then I never heard from him again."
He was stared at her, not sure of what to say.
"Do you know who that boy was?" She asked.
"Well-"
"It was you, Harry Potter. It was you who made all those promises and broke each and every one. It was you who broke my heart and left me wondering what the bloody hell I did wrong. It was you damnit!" she raised her voice, but not enough to have it be considered yelling.
"Hermione, I can explain." He said pleadingly.
"Oh now you want to explain? Well I could have used an explanation a long time ago Mr. Potter. But I don't want one now. Do me a favor and don't try to contact me. That hasn't been a problem for you the past three years, so I don't think it should be a problem for you now. Good day Mr. Potter."
Feeling angry, confidant, and hurt all at once, she turned around and stormed off and into the lobby of the Inn.
-->