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Just One Night
Chapter 11 - Breaking Up
Harry and Ron left early that day. Harry, not being able to believe that Hermione had rejected him after everything that had happened between them, could not bear to stay in her presence. Nor was he able to pretend that everything was okay when it wasn't. He was mad. In fact, you could even say he was pissed. He could not believe how stubborn she was being. There was no way that she didn't feel the same way he felt. The connection between them was unmistakable, but she wouldn't admit it just because she didn't want to be wrong.
Ron and Ashley sat by and watched with dismay as Harry shot Hermione incredulous looks while Hermione avoided him all together. It was very confusing to say the least. They had returned home last night only to find that the sleeping arrangements had changed. It was a very unexpected, however pleasant surprise. Both Ron and Ashley knew that Harry and Hermione still liked one another and thought that they had finally realized it themselves last night. This should have been the beginning of a new and wonderful relationship for them. So why were they acting so cold towards each other?
Ron took one look at Harry and knew the type of mood he was in. He had seen it before. You don't go to school with someone for seven years and face some of your worst times together without getting to know these things. He could tell one thing. Harry was pissed. Ron knew not to argue with him when he was like this. Seeing that Hermione was pretty much avoiding everyone, Ron knew she probably wouldn't be good company anyway. So he reluctantly said goodbye to Ashley, said goodbye to Hermione who barely waved back, and followed Harry out the door.
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A couple hours later, Hermione had yet to emerge from the solitude of her bedroom. She had spent the majority of the time feeling guilty about cheating on Kyle. What time wasn't devoted to that, she spent feeling guilty about how much she enjoyed cheating on Kyle.
This was a place Hermione had never been before. She had spent years longing for Harry. Now she had a great boyfriend whom she cared for deeply and she had betrayed him with the one she sworn that she had gotten over. And what was worse, she could not suppress the part of herself that was elated at the time spent with Harry. She felt bad about hurting Harry also. He was one of her best friends and she did not mean to hurt him.
Hermione was startled out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on her door.
"Come in," she called, knowing it was Ashley on the other side of the door.
"So," Ashley said cautiously, seeing Hermione sitting on her bed with red, puffy eyes. Ashley could tell that she had been crying. It pained her to see her friend like this.
"So what," Hermione said just as slowly. She knew Ashley wanted answers. She deserved answers too, seeing that Hermione had kicked her out of her own room last night and was responsible for cutting her time with her new found love interest short. Though Hermione desperately needed to talk to someone about this, she wasn't in a hurry to reveal how much of a horrible person she really was.
"Well, are you gonna tell me what happened between you and Harry, or am I gonna have to force it out of you. You know I can be persuasive," Ashley said, knowing that if she didn't jump to the point it would take all day to get it out of Hermione.
Hermione looked at Ashley, trying to pick the right words to say. She opened her mouth to speak, but started to sob instead.
"Oh, don't cry Hermione," Ashley told her, sitting down next to her and putting her arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "Everything will be okay. Tell me what happened."
"Well, as you know Harry and I spent the day together yesterday," Hermione said through tears.
"Right," Ashley said, encouragingly. "It couldn't have been that bad."
"Oh no, no," Hermione said, wiping away her tears, as she had finally stopped crying. "We had a wonderful time actually. I took him around the city to show him all the sites. We had a picnic and talked. It was wonderful, just like old times."
"So what went wrong?"
"We came back here and….." Hermione paused as if not saying it would make it go away. "We had sex."
"I figured that much," said Ashley. She knew that now was not the right time to ask, but she couldn't resist. "How was it?"
Hermione shot Ashley an unbelieving look, but could not stop the smile from forming on her lips. "It was unbelievable. It was perfect, absolutely perfect." Tears began to form in Hermione's eyes again as she thought about the night she shared with Harry.
"So what's the problem?" Ashley asked. "He didn't use you did he? I swear, I'll curse him if he did."
"Don't you see?" Hermione asked. "I'm a horrible person. A horrible, horrible person. I'm in a committed relationship. I cheated on Kyle."
"Oh, I see. So Harry didn't use you."
"No, no. He loves me, or so he says. But why now? He never felt this way before. So I suppose I should have just sat around and waited for the great Mr. Potter to realize that he loves me. Well, it's too late. I'm over him. I got tired of waiting. I have moved on. I'm not going to put my life on hold just because he has finally noticed me."
"Let me get this straight," Ashley said. "You are going to give up the chance to be with the one person whom you have been in love with, for how long? Eight years? Just to prove that you are over him? Not to mention, the best sex of your life. Because I gotta tell ya', that's crazy. And it really doesn't seem like you're over him to me."
"I am over him," said Hermione. "Don't look at me like that. I am over him. Not to mention I have a great boyfriend whom I happen to care deeply about."
"Don't get me wrong, Kyle is a great catch. And while you may care about him, you love Harry. There is a difference, you know."
"I'm over Har……" Hermione started to say but was cut off by Ashley holding up her hand.
"Look Hermione, I'm not trying to over step my bounds or anything, but you are my best friend and I don't want to see you hurt. It is so obvious that you still love Harry. I know that he has hurt you before but guys can be stupid some times. I can see that he loves you too. He looked really heart broken when he left."
"I know that you're only looking out for me and I really appreciate that. But I am over Harry. I think that I know my feelings better than anyone else."
Ashley rolled her eyes. She knew it was pointless to argue with her when she was on one of her stubborn kicks. "So what are you gonna do about Kyle? Are you gonna tell him?"
"I've thought about it and I know it's wrong but I don't think I should tell him. I know I'm being selfish, but I don't want to lose him."
The both sat in silence for a moment thinking over Hermione's dilemma.
"I think you're making a mistake," Ashley said after some time.
"I know, but it is my mistake to make."
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Back in London, Harry and Ron had just finished the same conversation. Ron, after watching Harry storm around the flat, muttering curses under his breath and slamming things around, had asked Harry what had happened. Harry told Ron all about the day he and Hermione shared together. Ron, like Ashley, had already figured that they slept together, so he was quite shocked when Harry told him how Hermione had rejected him.
"Is she mad?" Ron asked. "She's not really gonna go back to that git after you told her you loved her, is she?"
"Apparently so," Harry replied. "She made it quite clear that he means more to her than I do. A mistake she called it. A bloody mistake! It was one of the best nights of my life and to her it was just a mistake."
"Maybe she'll come around, mate. You know how Hermione can be. And at least you had this one night with her." Ron was doing his best to make Harry feel better, but unfortunately it was not working.
"And you know what the worst part is," Harry asked, angrily. "The worst part is that I still love her. I love her even more than before. It's tearing me up to think of her running to him. She should be with me!"
Harry was absolutely fuming. Ron remained silent as he really didn't know what to say to make Harry feel better. He hated to see him like this, but he was also Hermione's friend and he knew that she must have her own reasons, no matter how crazy they may be.
"Ah, enough of this. How are things going with Ashley?" Harry asked. Just because he was miserable doesn't mean he had to make Ron miserable too.
Despite the sour mood that had filled the air, Ron could not help the wide grin that spread across his face at the mention of Ashley. It grew even broader as he replayed the events of his day with her. He had never been able to spend an entire day with a date without getting bored. To his pleasant surprise, hanging out with Ashley was a lot of fun. Ashley had taken him to a muggle arcade. Ron had a blast. He had never seen anything like it, with all the noise and flashing lights. 'The things muggles come up with,' Ron had thought. Ashley literally had to drag him away. Later in the day, they went to a nice restaurant for dinner. Ron asked to taste a bit of Ashley's steak. She mistakenly got a bit of gravy on Ron's cheek which prompted him to toss a bit of his salad at her humorously. Needless to say, they were kicked out of the restaurant for the food fight that followed. It was all very amusing to Ron, and fortunately Ashley didn't even get uptight about having food thrown at her. In fact, she probably laughed harder than he did.
When they returned to the dorm, Ashley went to her room only to find that it was a bit occupied. So they camped out in the living room, talking way into the night. Ron even got in a kiss here and there.
"Yeah, Ashley's great. I've promised to send her tickets to our next home game," Ron said.
"That's great Ron. I'm really happy for you," Harry told him, still laughing at the fact that Ron had only been in town for one day and had managed to get banned from various places. He was obviously prone to the Weasley tendency to cause trouble.
Harry really was happy for Ron. It was just hard to get excited when his own life was in shambles.
"Don't worry Harry, I'm sure everything will turn around," Ron told him.
'I hope so,' Harry thought. 'I really hope so.'
****************************************
For the next couple of weeks, Hermione literally had to force her mind off Harry. She emerged herself into school and studying. The worst part was seeing Kyle. He was still as sweet and caring as ever. Each time they were together Hermione was consumed with guilt. But no matter how guilty she felt, it did not stop thoughts of Harry from entering her mind. All it took was a glimpse of black hair, a whiff of the cologne he wore, or talk of Quidditch and Hermione's mind was filled with images of Harry. Harry, Harry, Harry. She heard his name everywhere. Celebrity spotlights in the Daily Prophet that she had delivered to her each week. Not to mention he was in many of her text books due to the fact that he had defeated of Lord Voldemort. It was as if all of these things were taunting her. Even when she was with Kyle, she often found her mind landing on Harry.
Right now she was sitting with Kyle in his apartment. It was a Friday night and he had just taken her to a movie. Hermione truly enjoyed Kyle's company but something just wasn't right. Still not willing to admit defeat, Hermione pushed those thoughts away and devoted her attention to Kyle.
Currently she and Kyle were sitting next to each other on his couch just talking. Kyle had his arm resting around her shoulders. Hermione knew where this was going. Kyle made it clear that he loved her and wished to take their relationship to the next level. Though Hermione liked to believe that she was falling in love with Kyle, she still did not want to take that step yet.
Considering the mood Kyle had tried to set in the apartment by dimming the lights and turning on some soft music, Hermione was not surprised when Kyle tried to kiss her. She allowed him to tilt her face towards his and place a kiss upon her lips. Not sensing any resistance from her, he skillfully deepened the kiss.
One would think that being kissed with so much passion and such a gentle tenderness would cause Hermione to feel week in the knees. But it didn't. She didn't feel a thing. Nothing at all. It was at this moment that everything became clear to her. Perhaps she always knew, but now was the moment that she was willing to admit it to herself. She still loved Harry. She loved Harry. She had been fooling herself into believing that Kyle could fill a place in her heart that belonged to Harry. That had always belonged to Harry and always would. All so she could prove a point. She knew then that she had to end it with Kyle. She had already caused enough damage. Even more pressing, she needed to see Harry.
Hermione placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed Kyle away.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, peering at her intensely. He too, however, knew the answer. He and Hermione had been dating for almost a year now. He loved her very much and had the hope that she would soon return those feelings. But over the last couple weeks it was becoming clearer and clearer that it was not happening. He still held on, hoping that his instincts were wrong. But no matter how much he tried to get closer to her, he always felt as if she were holding back. It was as if the place in her heart the he wished to claim already belonged to someone else. He had a sneaky suspicion of who it was but he couldn't be sure.
"Kyle, I think we should stop," Hermione told him.
"Okay, I didn't mean to push you further than you wanted to go. We can take as much time as you like."
Hermione drew in a deep breath. She really did not want to hurt him but she knew it was the right thing to do.
"No, what I mean is I think we should stop this. I think we should break up. I'm sorry. I just don't feel the same way you do."
Though he may have had suspicions, nothing prepared him for the pain he felt when she said those words. "It's Harry Potter isn't it?" Kyle asked not able to hold in the suspicions any longer. His question was confirmed by the shocked expression on her face.
"Kyle I…." Hermione began, but was cut off.
"How long Hermione? How long were you planning on stringing me along while you pined over your so called best friend?" He was so upset. Why had she waited this long to tell him. She should have told him before he had fallen this deeply.
Tears began to form in Hermione's eyes. "I never meant to hurt you," she told him desperately.
"I think you should leave," Kyle told her coldly, suddenly wanting her as far away from him as possible.
"But…."
"There is nothing left for you to say. Please leave," he said turning his back on her.
Hermione knew it was pointless to stay any longer. She had succeeded in breaking his heart and he probably hated her now.
"Sorry," she whispered lamely and promptly apparated home.
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A/N: Poor Kyle. Oh I know, who cares about Kyle. Well there you have it. We finally got him out of the picture. So what do you think? I hope you liked it. Please review. All comments, questions and criticism are appreciated.
Thanks for reading,
The Sweetest Things