3. Laughs and Tears
Hermione's Arithmancy lesson had just finished. Since she needed to ask Professor Vector a few questions, she was the last one to leave the classroom. She started walking towards the library hoping to do some work before dinner. As she made a turn, she heard someone giggling behind her. Her curiosity made her turn to see who it was.
Angie and two of her friends were coming out of an adjacent classroom. Whatever it was they had been talking about, they immediately stopped as soon as they saw Hermione looking at them. Angie walked forward and stood in front of Hermione, just a couple of steps away from her.
"Hello Hermione!" said Angie in what could have been her sweetest voice. For some reason, that made Hermione's temper rise. "Aren't we looking great today?" said Angie while pulling up some of Hermione's brown curls.
Hermione moved her head to free her hair of Angie's hands. "What do you want?" asked Hermione in a not so friendly tone.
"That's not nice, Hermione. You should be more friendly."
"I already have plenty of good friends, I don't need to make new ones." Then changing her voice to a softer one, Hermione added, "As a matter of fact, I happen to be a very good friend of Colin Creevey."
"So…"
"So… it just happens that he has such a great portrait collection." Hermione started walking very slowly around Angie, who could not understand what Colin's photos had to do with anything. "He was just showing me a very interesting photo the other day. You have any idea who's in that photo?" Without waiting for Angie to respond, Hermione continued. "You, isn't that great! Oh, but it's not just any photo, no. It's a photo of your Sorting Ceremony! Do you remember?"
The night Angie arrived at Hogwarts for the first time, it had been pouring. Making the trip from Hogsmeade Station to Hogwarts on boat had not been a pleasant ride. All of the students had arrived at the castle soaked. Not only that, but as Angie was stepping out of the boat, her foot had slipped on the muddy ground making Angie fall face down into a mud paddle.
No matter how much Angie tried to get the mud off of her face and hair, it seemed that every attempt only made matters worse. Even Filch had given her his nastiest look when he noticed the mud prints she left on the floor all the way to the Great Hall. That photo was certainly not one of Angie's best looks.
Angie remembered very well that episode. Her expression said it all. Hermione smiled triumphantly looking at her. Then, she turned around to leave. After she took a couple of steps, however, she stopped and turned around. "I'm sure Harry will love to see it."
"Don't you dare!" Angie's eyes were flashing with anger. "You're just jealous! That's what's behind all of this, isn't it?"
"Jealous? Of what? A mud pie?" Right after saying that, Hermione finally left, laughing at Angie's angry face when she noticed her friends had laughed at Hermione's words.
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Harry was anxiously waiting for Angie in the Entrance Hall. It was Tuesday after classes and Harry had agreed to take Angie for a ride in his firebolt after she begged him for hours. At first she had asked if she could borrow Harry's firebolt, but Harry was very fond of his broom and would not put it in risk for anything. Plus, he knew Angie was not that good at flying. For that reason, and to take off the look of disappointment from her face, he proposed they'd take a ride together.
Harry looked at his watch for the tenth time to see that Angie should've been there half an hour ago. He walked towards the Great Hall and peered in through the big wooden doors. Several students were there, but Angie was not among them.
He thought about looking for her in the Hufflepuff Common Room, but he suddenly realized he didn't know where it was. They had always met at neutral places and he had no idea in which direction their Common Room would be.
He also thought about looking for her in the library, but he was pretty sure she wouldn't be there. Angie just didn't like being in such a boring place (as she called it), and hated that Madam Pince would always tell her to be quiet.
Beginning to feel frustrated, Harry walked toward the great oak doors that led to the grounds. He walked to the edge of the stone steps and with his eyes searched the grounds looking for Angie. She was nowhere to be seen. For a while, Harry just stood there feeling the cold wind play with his raven messy hair.
"What are you doing out here?" Ron was standing right next to him. "Aren't you coming to dinner?"
Harry then realized he had been rooted to that spot for quite a while.
"Yeah, let's go."
"What were you doing out there anyway? It's kind of cold, isn't it?" said Ron as they began walking towards the Great Hall.
Harry explained to Ron how he had been supposed to meet Angie for a broom ride and that he had waited for her for more than an hour.
"And you waited for her?" asked Ron in an amazed tone. Even when Angie was the prettiest girl in school, he wouldn't have waited for her that long, or… would he?
"Well, yeah. I kind of lost track of time."
The two of them got inside the Great Hall and made their way towards the Gryffindor table. They had just sat down when Angie entered the Great Hall talking very animatedly with Ernie Rogers, the Hufflepuff's quidditch captain. In their match with Ravenclaw last Saturday, Rogers had turned into some kind of hero when he made an awesome save after being badly hit by a bludger.
Angie walked by where Harry was sitting, without even looking at him, arm in arm with Rogers. Ron's jaw felt to the ground at the sight of the two of them.
"Now we know why she kept you waiting."
Harry couldn't believe it. He was getting mad, but not precisely at the guy. What bothered Harry was that she had made him wait for nothing. He stood up and walked to where Angie was now sitting.
"Angie? Can I have a word with you... in the Entrance Hall?" Harry did not feel like putting on a show for everybody to see, but Angie was not willing to go.
"Can't we talk later?" she said with that usual tone of hers.
Harry was getting even angrier. "What's she thinking? That I'm going to be waiting for her all the time?" thought Harry.
"You know, I was waiting for you..."
"You were?" asked Angie. By the puzzled expression on her face, Harry realized she forgot about their broom ride, and of course, about him.
"Never mind," he simply said and went back to Ron.
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Hermione was at the library when she realized she was very late for dinner. She had been working on some assignments that were due the next day. She was falling back in some work and that made her feel anxious. She always liked to start working on an assignment as soon as it was assigned, not like Harry and Ron who liked to wait until the due date was getting closer to work on it.
Lately, her mind was playing tricks on her. Always having a certain raven-haired handsome quidditch player in her mind was not helping her to keep up with her studies. Being this their last year at Hogwarts, which only meant NEWT year, made Hermione feel even more stressed about school.
Hoping she would at least be able to have some dessert, she gathered her things and left the library. Struggling to hold in her arms the books that didn't fit in her book bag, while running to make it to the Great Hall, she didn't notice she was running into someone. Inevitably, Hermione and all of her books ended up in the floor.
"CAN'T YOU SEE WHERE YOU'RE GOING?" yelled an angry voice at her. It was Malfoy.
Hermione ignored him and started collecting her things.
"Of course, it had to be you, Granger?" he said after he realized who had bumped into him. "So, those two idiots you hang out with finally got tired of you, didn't they?"
Hermione said nothing. She stood up holding tight her books tight to keep her hands from slapping Malfoy.
"I noticed Potter replaced you for someone else. Can't say I disagree with him, though. He finally realized that being around disgusting mudbloods is embarrassing and degrading."
Hermione wanted to say something back to him. She knew perfectly well she shouldn't pay attention to Malfoy's insults. She was kind of used to them since that was all he could ever say to her, but for some reason she couldn't ignore it this time. In fact, it was hurting her.
"At least his new girl looks good enough to show around, whereas you... who would ever want to be seen with you?" Malfoy started laughing at his own words, and without paying the least attention to the effect his words had on Hermione, he walked away.
Malfoy's words kept replaying in her head. "Who would ever want to be with me?" she thought. Forgetting completely about dinner, she headed to Gryffindor Tower instead. Since all of the students were still having dinner, the Common Room was empty.
If she had the energy, she would have gone all the way to her dormitory, but the tears that were now freely coming down didn't let her. Carelessly, she dropped the books and sank in a couch releasing all the feelings she had been holding for the last weeks. She felt so many things at the same time; it was too much to keep inside.
Then, the portrait hole opened and both Ron and Harry walked in. They had been wondering where she could be and decided to look for her in there. As soon as they entered, they noticed Hermione and the state she was in. Quickly, they went to her side.
"Hermione, what's wrong? What is it?" asked Harry. The sight of Hermione crying totally broke his heart.
When Hermione realized they were both standing there, anxiously waiting for her to speak, she felt a wave of embarrassment. She didn't want them, especially Harry, to see her like that. More especially, she didn't want them asking her questions. What could see say? How could she explain herself? Trying to avoid it, she quickly got up and tried to run towards the stairs.
Harry realized she was trying to get away and as fast as he could reached her before she was able to get to the stairs, and grabbed her arm. Pulling gently, he made her turn to face him. Ron, who was shocked by the whole situation, remained by the couch speechless.
"Tell me, what's wrong?" said Harry in a soft voice. "Did someone hurt you?" he asked in a stronger voice.
Hermione shook her head. "Please Harry, just let me go," pleaded Hermione with a broken voice.
"But..."
"Please..."
He finally let go. As soon as Harry loosened his grip on her, Hermione run upstairs before any of them could say or do anything else. Harry turned to Ron, with a look of concern in his face, but Ron just shrugged his shoulders.
Harry hated to see Hermione in that state, but most of all, he hated not knowing what was bothering her, not knowing how to help her feel better. But he was sure of one thing, he would give anything so that those pretty brown eyes would never have to look sad again.
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The following morning Hermione did not make it for breakfast. Harry was worried about her. If he didn't have to go to class, he would have gone looking for her. Unfortunately, they didn't have any classes together until after lunch.
Even though he had made a point to talk to her sometime during the day, he couldn't. When he thought he was going to have some time to do it, Angie appeared out of nowhere and dragged him away whispering in his ear something that made him blush.
Since Ron didn't have a girlfriend to keep him busy, he did find time to talk to Hermione. He had an idea as of what could've been the problem, but he didn't know anything about Malfoy being the one who had driven Hermione over the edge.
Hermione needed to get out all the things that were eating her insides, so she told Ron all about Malfoy. They were in the Common Room sitting by the window.
"I can't believe it, Hermione," Ron was so upset, he could hardly keep his voice down. "You know better than that. You shouldn't pay any attention to that scum bag. When has he ever said anything good to you?"
"I know Ron, I know. It's just… it hurts, you know." Hermione was playing nervously with a quill she had in her hands, avoiding Ron's eyes. "It hurts, 'cause I know it's true."
Ron looked at her as if he was ready to smack her to reality. He wished he could have Malfoy in front of him to kick the living daylights out of him.
"Hermione, how can you think that?"
"Malfoy doesn't have to lie to me, you know. He just pointed out what everybody can see."
"But he doesn't have a problem lying to you either, does he? You know he'd say anything to make feel bad, that idiot."
"And... you'd say anything to make me feel better."
Ron was beginning to feel frustrated with her and didn't know how to get through to her.
"Ron, you don't have to lie to me. I know perfectly well what I am and what I'm not. I know I could never compete against girls like Angie. What Malfoy said was exactly what I've always thought."
Perplexed, Ron looked at Hermione wondering where she had gotten such ideas. "So, you're going to pay more attention to what Malfoy told you than what I'm telling you?"
"Ron, please don't take this personal."
Feeling frustrated, Ron stood up and started to pace around. Hermione trying to calm him down so that he wouldn't start yelling - then everybody would hear what they were talking about - stood right next to him. Grabbing him by the arms, she made him stop.
"Ron, whatever you do, please... don't tell Harry anything about this. Please!"
Ron opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it back again. "I just can't believe you."