2. A Night Talk
That Friday after classes, several students were at the Great Hall. Some of them were working on their assignments while others were playing wizard chess or just killing time waiting for dinner-time.
Harry and Ron were working on the essay Snape had assigned last Monday, while Hermione was rewriting an essay for Arithmancy. By mistake she had done the wrong assignment. She had realized she had opened her book in the wrong page when she was only a few inches short from what the Professor had assigned.
Neither Ron nor Harry could believe that she had made such a big mistake. If it happened to one of them, it would have been understandable. In fact, it had happened to Ron just a couple of weeks ago, but Hermione wasn't the kind of person who would so such a thing.
She had tried to excuse herself to her two friends, not doing that good of a job. She was so mad at herself for being so foolish, but most of all she couldn't believe that her mind was giving up on her.
Lately, Hermione was having a hard time concentrating in her classes and her work. The image of Harry and Angie seemed to be in her mind all day long not giving her a chance to think about anything else. Her work was beginning to show her lack of concentration and she hated that.
The previous year had been difficult for Hermione. Having to hide her feelings for her then "girlfriend-free" friend and act as always had not been easy, but now that Angie was in the picture, things were even more difficult for her.
She was trying very hard not to let out all of the feelings that were burning her insides. When Harry was around, she had to pretend things were okay, but if her mind would keep failing her she wasn't going to be able to hide it from him any longer.
"Teachers shouldn't be allowed to give us so much work!" complained Ron. He had finished Snape's essay, but still had a couple more that were also due the following week. "I haven't been able to finish up this week's work and you know that on Monday they'll give us another mountain of work."
"Instead of wasting time and energy complaining, you should keep working," said Hermione.
"So, what do you guys think about Angie?" asked Harry in a very casual way, as if he were talking about something as simple as the weather.
Ron immediately looked at Hermione. She only sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"Well?" pressed Harry. "What do you think Hermione?"
She was not expecting him to direct the question to her, and wasn't quite sure he was going to like what she had to say.
"I prefer to keep my opinion to myself, if you don't mind," she said without looking up at him.
Harry looked at Ron trying to get a clue from him, but Ron avoided his eyes and pretended to concentrate in his essay.
"Why?" Harry finally asked Hermione.
She finally looked at him and after a couple of seconds responded. "Cause I believe that if one has nothing good to say about someone, then it's better to say nothing at all." Immediately after that, trying to keep Harry from asking anything more, she moved closer to Ron to take a look at the assignment he was working on. Then, she saw Angie was approaching them.
Without even saying a word, Angie went straight to Harry and kissed him on the cheek, a little too close to his mouth. Harry looked at Ron, blushing a little, and gave him a wide smile.
"There's something I want to show you Harry, come!" Pulling his hand, Angie made Harry stand up. She then dragged him out of the Great Hall and out of sight. Ron would have given everything he owned to follow them and find out what it was she was going to show Harry.
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Dinner had already started when Harry came back with a pleased smile on his face. Ron was anxious to hear whatever it was Harry had to say, but the look in Hermione's face kept him quiet.
It almost looked as if Hermione was in a state of cruel and harsh pain. "Relax," she said to herself, but it wasn't working. Her other self, the Hermione in love, couldn't believe that as soon as Angie called him, he had run after her.
Then, looking across the Hall, at the Hufflepuff table, Hermione saw Angie whispering to her friends, who were giggling at whatever it was she was saying to them. Hermione was pretty sure they were talking about Harry.
She had overheard Angie talking to her friends in the girls' lavatory the day before. Angie had seemed really proud of herself for turning Harry into a puppy in her hands. Hermione was sure Angie was only putting on a show to her friends to prove them she could do whatever she wanted with Harry, or with any other guy for that matter.
Hermione felt she needed to do something about it. Not just because she loved him and wanted him to be with her, but as the friend that she was. It just wasn't fair for Angie to play around with anybody's feelings. She just didn't know what to do to make him see the real Angie.
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That night, Hermione couldn't sleep. She had so many things in her head. She just kept tossing and turning in her bed. Frustrated, she lifted her head to see what time it was. The clock placed on the night table told her it was 12:49 a.m. (The clock actually talked to her and told her the hour. It also told her she was supposed to be sleeping.)
Thinking that she was just wasting time waiting for a sleep that could never come, she decided to make better use of it. She got out of bed, put her white night robe on top of her pajamas - white cami and baby blue pants - grabbed some of her books and walked out towards the Common Room.
She had expected the room to be empty by that time, but it wasn't. When she was getting to the bottom steps she could hear the soft rustling of a quill moving across a piece of parchment. When she got to the last step, she could see who was at the table working late. It was Harry.
For a fraction of a second, Hermione thought about turning around and going back to her room, hopefully before he'd notice her. But it was too late.
He had also heard her coming down. She was barefoot and Harry could hear the sound of her feet hitting the stone steps. Harry had turned to see who was coming and was pleased to see it was Hermione.
"Can't sleep?" asked Harry while inviting Hermione to sit down at the table with a movement of his hand.
Hermione wasn't quite sure this was what she needed. The reason she had come to the Common Room was to take Harry out of her mind. Having him right next to her was not exactly going to help her.
Harry could see that Hermione seemed to be preparing to run away. He immediately remembered that she had been very distant from him all through the week. Had he done anything to upset her?
"Are you mad at me?" he asked with concern in his voice.
Hermione looked away trying to avoid Harry's green eyes. No, she wasn't mad at him, she just didn't want to talk to him. Since she remained silent, Harry stood and walked to her.
When Harry was next to her, he put one of his hands in her arm, stroking it gently. Hermione realized that she had been holding her books against her chest a little too tight, as if her life depended on it. Her whole body tensed under Harry's touch and she jumped as if his fingers had electricity.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry had noticed her reaction and felt even more worried.
Hermione walked away from Harry and went to the couches in front of the fire. She sat down, trying to gain control of herself.
"It's nothing," she finally managed to say.
Harry came and sat in the chair next to where she was, not convinced by her words.
"You don't want to tell me?"
"It's not that, Harry, it's just that…" amazingly enough, she could not find words to get her out of this tight situation. To make matters worse, Harry's eyes were examining her meticulously.
"Oh god!" Hermione thought. "I hope he won't be able to see right through me." Something she had no doubt he'd be able to do with such a penetrating gaze.
For a couple of minutes, Harry didn't say a word. He sat back and stared at the fire. Hermione had no idea what was going on in his head. Finally, he leaned forward towards her and took one of her hands in his.
Hermione, even though she loved the feel of his hand in hers, thought about retrieving her hand. But after she saw a look of concern in Harry's face, decided not to.
"Hermione, can I ask you something?"
Hermione started sweating. "Oh no," she thought. "Please god, please, don't let him ask me about that. Please!"
Since Hermione didn't respond, Harry went ahead and kept talking.
"It's uh,… it's something personal, and you don't have to answer me if you don't want to." He was also getting rather nervous, which only made Hermione feel even more nervous. "Hey, you can even slap me if I'm invading your business, I know that I shouldn't…'
"Harry…," interrupted Hermione wanting to get it over with. "Just ask."
"Okay." He took a deep breath and then asked what he wanted to know. "Are you… you know, in those days… of the month?"
It took Hermione a couple of minutes to finally understand what he was talking about. For a second she had thought Harry was going to ask her about her feelings, but now she was this close from laughing. When she realized Harry's mind had been into something completely different, she felt as if a great weight had been lifted of her shoulders.
Hermione's mind, which always acts really fast, didn't let her down this time. It started working at high speed.
Harry himself had given her the perfect excuse for her behavior. She could not believe it. That was great. She couldn't help but wonder when had Harry become aware of her biological changes, but she thanked god for putting such idea in his mind, which now allowed her to give a perfect explanation to him. "How come I didn't think about it?" Hermione wondered.
"Yes, Harry. I am."
"Oh! I see," said Harry now gently stroking Hermione's hand, which was still in his, as if trying to soothe her. "That's why she had such a look of pain during dinner," Harry thought
"Does it hurt a lot?"
Hermione couldn't help but smile. It was so nice of him to be this concerned about her. It definitely felt good to know he worried about her well-being.
"No," said Hermione, but then she quickly added "Not any more."
"Did you go to Madame Pomfrey?"
"No, I... didn't." She was hoping he wouldn't offer to take her to the hospital wing.
"You should. I reckon she should have something that could help you." Harry's voice still sounded a little concerned.
"Don't worry Harry. I'm better now."
"Okay, but promise me that if don't feel good tomorrow, you'll go to the hospital wing." Harry finally let go of her hand, and leaned back in the chair. "If you want, I can even go with you. I'd wait for you outside, of course, but I could walk you there."
"I promise," she said. Then, she thought, "as long as you keep holding my hand I can promise you whatever you want."
After that, both of them relaxed and moved back to the table. Since Angie had distracted Harry that afternoon, he was trying to make as much work as he could. They were supposed to have quidditch practice the following morning and he also wanted to have some free time during the weekend to spend it with Angie. He, of course, didn't say this to Hermione.
Harry was glad to see that Hermione was back to normal. She offered to help him out with his work and they both stayed in the Common Room for a couple of hours more.