Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, none of this is mine. If it was, I'd be rich, and I wouldn't be sitting here writing fics, I'd be out spending it. But No. I get no money from these at all. I own nothing. Except this… um… o_0 Yeah.
Author's Notes: You may find this story a little similar to my last one. The reason being is that it is similar to my last one. The reason for THAT being that I was replaying the last story I wrote in my head… Yeah… I do that… *sad person right here*… anyways, I was replaying it in my head and came up with another plot. Well, not a completely different one, just another one.
Yeah, enough rambling from the crazy person now, I'll get on with it.
I have no kind of plan for this, just the vague storyline that's in my head. Then again, I write most of my fics this way, so no worries, I guess.
-x-
Harry looked up suddenly as Hermione came streaking past him, emitting loud, almost screeching wails, her hands covering her face. It was all he could do to watch as she dashed up the girls staircase, all eyes in the common room upon her. Seconds later, the door slammed.
Instinctively, he got up and headed towards the girls staircase. Ron was not around, and Harry had no idea where he was, so considering he was the only one of Hermione's best friends around, it fell on him to calm her down. Plus, he was worried at what might have caused her to run into the common room crying like that; Hermione was hardly the over-emotional type. Yes, she had been known to cry at times for no reason, but this just seemed out of character even for her.
"Harry!"
Ginny appeared at his side, as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
"You can't go up there, you remember what happened to Ron last year? You'll fall right down."
Harry sighed impatiently. Hermione was crying hysterically upstairs right now, and he couldn't even get to her to calm her down.
"Well, I need to get up there, Ginny!" He practically shouted in her face, which took her aback. "She's upset!"
"I'll have to go up with you!" She stepped in front of him and started to climb the stairs, looking over her shoulder at him grimly, looking annoyed at his rude outburst. "Don't worry, I'll leave you alone when we get there."
Sighing again with relief, he smiled at her. "Thank you."
They climbed the stairs in silence, and in a matter of seconds they were at an oak door similar to the one for the boys dormitory, except for a gold plaque placed in the middle, which was engraved with the words 'Girls Dormitory - 6th year'. Inside there was the unmistakable sound of sniffling and sobs.
Silently, Ginny turned the knob and opened the door wide enough for Harry to slip through, before giving him a dry smile and leaving, closing the door quietly behind her. Harry smiled back before turning towards the middle of the room.
He vaguely registered how much tidier and neater the girls dormitory looked compared to the boys as he looked around, his eyes falling on a small shuddering figure that was sitting on the floor next to her bed, shaking and whimpering. He smiled wistfully.
"Hey."
She looked up in surprise, and Harry saw that her eyes were red from where she had been rubbing the tears away. Her hair was twice as messy and as bushy as before, and her clothes were rumpled where she had been leaning on her arms on her bedspread, which had a small wet patch where her tears had soaked it. She stared at Harry, taken aback, before sniffing, running her forearm across her face to wipe away the tears, and squeaking very softly, "How did you get up here?"
He smiled at her reassuringly, and walked over to join her on the floor, leaning against her bed as he sat down.
"Ginny helped me."
"Oh…"
She sat quietly, her hands neatly in her lap, sniffling occasionally. At least she's stopped crying, he thought.
"So… you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"Oh, Harry!"
To his shock, she suddenly flung herself on him desperately, hugging him tightly around the waist as she cried noisily into his t-shirt. Harry's eyes widened with slight panic, mostly from not having a clue what to do. He settled for gently hugging her back, bringing his arms around her back, embarrassed.
"It was Ron!" she cried, which caused Harry a confused look. "He- he said such horrible things to me! He was be-being really horrible!"
"Ron?" Harry asked, sceptical. "Ron said those things to you?"
She nodded into his chest, and Harry felt tears seeping through his shirt. Confused, the only thing he could think of to do was to hug her tighter.
"Why…?" he started, puzzled, but trailed off as she sat slowly up, wiping her eyes and sniffing loudly. He sighed in compassion, and looked around the room for a box of tissues or something to that effect. He found some, sitting atop another girl's (Parvati's, maybe, from the amount of Star Charts scattered on it?) bedside table.
"Be right back." He said to Hermione, who instantly adopted a panicked look, her red eyes wide.
"Where are you going?!"
He laughed softly. Upsetting though the circumstances were, he couldn't help but be amused by the way she panicked when he was merely walking 5 yards away.
"Just stay here, I'm only going to get you some tissues…" He got to his feet and strode quickly across the room, grabbing the box of tissues. Flopping down next to Hermione again, he pulled some out of the box and held them out for her. "Here. Dry your eyes, and calm down a little, okay?"
She did not take them. She merely looked down at her hands again, which were lying neatly in her lap again, continuing to cry softly. Harry looked on, not sure what to do.
"He- Ron… he…" She began, now beginning to hiccup slightly as she sniffled and whimpered. Harry's mouth went thin with empathy, and shyly, he brought the hand that was holding the tissues up to her cheeks. She looked up at him, her brown eyes filled with tears as he gently wiped away the wetness from her cheeks, and smiled. Harry smiled back.
"You okay now?" he asked, trying his best to look comforting. Fortunately, it seemed to have worked, for she gave him a watery smile before nodding.
"Yes. Thank you."
She looked away at her lap again as Harry screwed up the now soggy tissue and put it to the side. Looking up at her again, Harry waited in expectation.
"He asked me out. Ron, I mean." She said, breathlessly, and Harry's confusion grew.
"He asked you out?" he asked, bewildered. "And that's why he's horrible and you're crying?"
She gave a soft laugh, and sniffed loudly again. "No, obviously not."
"Well, then, I'm afraid I don't understand-"
"I said no."
Harry fell silent, expecting more. There had to be more to it than this. Thankfully, she seemed to be about to tell him, as she shifted uncomfortably and wiped her eyes again, sighing.
"When- when I said no, he… got nasty."
"Ron did?"
"Yeah."
She moved closer to him tentatively, and surprising him for the second time, she wrapped her arm around his waist again, leaning her head on his chest. Harry decided not to question her at the moment since she was upset. Instead, he wrapped his arm around her and hugged her back, sighing comfortingly.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it, Hermione," He said, as she began to sniffle once more. Harry wrinkled his nose at the prospect of another wet patch on his t-shirt, but did nothing to stop her. "He's probably just upset… you know how Ron is."
"He's jealous."
"Jealous?" Harry laid his head unconsciously on top of hers, and furrowed his brow in thought. "Why is he jealous?"
"I told him I couldn't go out with him because I like someone else too much," she whispered, as she gripped him tighter. "When I told him who it was, he got angry. I knew he would."
Harry sighed. He knew all too well how annoying Ron could be when jealous of something, and sympathised with Hermione. However, he did understand how it must have hurt Ron to hear it, but he knew that Ron always came round eventually.
"Don't worry, Hermione…" He smiled reassuringly, though he wasn't entirely sure she could see. "Like I said, you know how Ron is. He'll get over it after a while…"
She shook her head softly, and sniffled again. "It's different this time."
"How so?"
He felt her reluctantly relax her grip on his waist and sit up, sniffing louder and more frequently. He gave a dry smile, and pulled some more tissue out of the box, holding it up to her eyes once more, though this time, much to Harry's surprise, she covered his hand gently with her own, and held it to her face, her eyes closed.
"I think he took it pretty hard that once again, you had something he didn't."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked densely.
She giggled softly, a small sweet noise Harry couldn't remember having heard before, though he decided he liked it.
"It's you, Harry. Ron was angry that I like you and not him."
Harry fell silent. He understood now, and if he was honest with himself, he couldn't blame Ron. If he also admitted it to himself, which he was reluctant to do, he would probably be upset too if Hermione had said yes to Ron, whether he liked her or not. Not that he had ever really thought about it.
She was looking at her lap again, and had released his hand, which had dropped unconsciously away. Harry stared at her, not really knowing what to say, but he decided to give it a go anyway.
"Hermione," he began uncertainly, still not really knowing where he was going to go with this, but ploughing on determinedly all the same. "I… I wouldn't worry about Ron. I think he'll see sense… I mean… he did in fourth year, right?"
She sniffed and nodded, and Harry wondered what else to say. He supposed he had to address the issue that Hermione liked him, but in all honesty, he didn't know what to do. He had never thought of Hermione in that way, there had never really been opportunity. He was always far too preoccupied with Voldemort, or schoolwork, and then there was that stupid fiasco with Cho Chang.
It's not as if I don't think she's pretty… he thought, as he surveyed her, glad that she couldn't see him staring. She was very pretty at the Yule Ball… and actually… thinking about it, I guess she's very pretty all the time…
They sat in silence for another minute, while Harry made up his mind. Hermione spent the time leaning dejectedly against her bed, her hands in her lap once more, tears trickling silently down her face. Harry inwardly cringed at the sight, though he smiled. He had finally come to a conclusion.
"Uh… Hermione?" he asked tentatively, not looking her in the eye. He didn't know why he was nervous… she had already told him that she liked him. "About… the other thing…"
"Yes?"
She was looking up at him expectantly, her deep brown eye wide with hope, and Harry noticed that they were indeed quite pretty. He smiled bravely.
"Um… how about… since it's a Hogsmeade trip tomorrow, and Ron probably won't want to go, you know, him being all grumpy and angry and all, and if I'm honest I don't really want to spend a day with him if he's going to be-"
"Harry, you're rambling."
He stopped his rant and looked up at her apologetically, his face beginning to burn.
"Well… it'll be just… you and me, won't it? How about we… we make it like a… date… type thing?"
He stopped to glance at her reaction, which was just how he imagined it. Her eyes were wide with shock, her mouth slightly open, but on her lips was the smallest trace of a smile. He let out the breath he was holding and grinned at her.
With a loud giggle, she flung herself on him again, as he laughed.
"Oh, yes!! Yes, please, Harry! I'd love to!"
"You would?" He asked, feeling a lot more confident now that she had stopped crying and was giggling again.
"Of course I would!" She laughed, hugging him tightly, her arms flung around his neck as she smiled into his shoulder.
Harry grinned broadly, though she could not see. He had decided that even if he didn't know how he felt about Hermione, he was going to give it a go. So far, so good, he thought, as his stomach gave a strange gurgly feeling as if butterflies would burst from it. If his reaction to her saying yes was anything to go by, then maybe there was a chance that Harry did like Hermione the way she liked him.
They spent a good minute or two hugging and smiling, before she released him and sat back, every trace of tears gone. He smiled, before rising to his feet and stretching.
"I should probably go now, since I don't want to be up here when Parvati or Lavender comes back. They'll probably give me horns or something for being in here."
"Okay," she replied, as she also started to get up. Harry offered her a hand, which she gracefully took with a smile, their hands remaining linked even when she had got to her feet. "I guess I'll go to bed. I feel tired anyway."
"Right."
They smiled at each other companionably.
"See you tomorrow then." Said Harry.
"Uh huh." She was still smiling.
"Looking forward to it."
"Not half as much as I am."
He grinned, then turned and left the room, casting her a lingering glance as he went.