Disclaimer: I don't own Van Wilder. National Lampoon does.
A/N: This has been a really painful chapter to write. But in a certain way I felt it was needed. Hope you won't hate me too much…especially since this is uploaded on Christmas night, intended as a small gift to all of you my faithful reviewers!
Chapter Four
"Heaven is not on Earth"
As soon as Draco got the photos, he showed them to Goyle, and they commented them together.
"This time the cancer doesn't stand a chance" he said. Then he saw Fleur walking by.
"You did an amazing job, Fleur, thanks. I owe you big time" Draco said.
"It's been nothing. After all, who's the girl who doesn't long to kiss Harry Potter?" she said.
Draco rolled his eyes at that, then packed the photos and sent them to Hermione, at the newspaper, with a note he made one of his fellow Deltas write, so she wouldn't recognize his writing.
She was happily writing her last piece for the newspaper, hoping to end soon so she could get ready for the romantic dinner Harry had invited her to, when the small package was brought to her.
She was curious, so she opened it hastily, and looked at the photos.
Her smile froze seeing Harry in such compromising situation with another girl, even kissing her. She felt her blood boil in her veins, so she quickly left, walking angrily toward his dorm.
He was relaxing in his couch after another hard day of planning, and was still upset for what had happened the night before with Fleur. He wanted to tell her his mind about that, but all day she didn't show up to the party location. Seemed she got what she wanted and stopped caring about the party.
Ron and Nev were with him when a loud knocking on the door was heard. Harry got up and opened, finding Hermione in front of him.
Oblivious to the fact she was seething, he spoke.
"Hey, Hermione. I thought we agreed I would come to pick you up later" he said.
"Me or that other girlfriend of yours?" she said icily.
Nev and Ron took their cue to leave and give them some privacy.
"I knew this would end that way, you know. As soon as Harry told me what had happened with that Fleur bitch, I knew this would happen" Ron said, while leading Nev as far as possible before the shouting match would start.
Back in Harry's room…
"Hermione, I can explain…" Harry started.
"You can explain what, Harry? That you were snogging her in a restaurant? What do you want to explain?" she said, throwing the photos at him. "Look! You can't deny it, there are photos!"
"It's not like it seems…"
"It's easy to say that now, Harry. I can't believe you just did that, after all the good times we passed together, after all the times you said you loved me!" she said, tears starting to fall from her eyes. She hated herself for being weak just in that moment and let him see how much that affected her. "You've matured a lot since the first time I met you, Harry Potter, but it's clear you've not matured enough to have a long lasting relationship. We're through" she said, her voice broken, exiting the room and slamming the door close.
"Blimey" Harry said when he was alone. "I didn't even got the chance to say a word…"
Some time later, his friends came back.
From his sour face they understood all what they wanted to know.
"I'm sorry, mate" Ron said.
"Thanks, Ron. You know, I can't blame her. If I got photos of her in the same situation with a boy I would have reacted the same way…it's just that it was like I was in Heaven, being with her…"
"Heaven is not on Earth, mate" Ron said.
Harry laughed hollowly. "I know that now, mate, thank you very much. Earth seems more like Hell"
"Now, it's not that bad. Some kind of half way…"
"Well, guys, sorry but I would like some time alone. I need to get my thoughts clear again" he said, leaving.
In the meantime Hermione was now telling all of what had happened to her friend.
"What hurt me most was that he almost didn't attempt to speak, like he just admitted it, and it was fine with him that we were breaking up…" she said.
"Well, you didn't give him so much of a chance, did you?" her friend reasoned.
"Well, no, but…do you think I should have let him speak?"
"Hermione, you can't shut him up and then complain because he didn't speak. He'll try in few days, tough, hoping you'll calm down a bit"
"No way. I don't want to see him anymore. I need somewhere to hide till the end of semester, then our ways will part forever" Hermione said
Her roommate shook her head. "Poor Herms, I hate to see you hurt" she said soothingly, hugging her crying friend.
In those same moments, Harry was walking under her window. He sighed, looking at the lights coming out from the room.
He had thought to go and see her and try to explain, but once he was there, he decided not to.
"Better give her some time to cool off" he thought, setting for a walk. "I swear if I meet Fleur…she better not cross my path or it won't be pretty" he thought angrily then.
He kept working on the "Submissions Party", but without the same enthusiasm he had before.
"Mate, you really need some distraction. Me and Nev are going out tonight, you may want to come with us"
"No, thanks, Ron. I appreciate you guys looking out for me, but I don't feel to" he said.
That same night, since Harry didn't want to come with them, Nev and Ron decided to go each one on his way.
Nev took Hanna to a French restaurant not far from the college.
"So, how's Harry doing?" she asked.
"Worse than last semester. He's totally crushed, I would be too if my girlfriend accused me of cheating on her and broke up with me when I was innocent" Nev said.
"Well, now don't take it the wrong way, but he wasn't totally innocent. I mean, yes, that girl has been tricky, but he could, he should have been more careful. I mean, he knows every girl keeps throwing herself at him, he could have expected that…" she said.
"Yeah, that's what I thought too. But give him a break, one cannot think every girl he meets is going to fling herself at him"
"But you said he had this impression about her at her audition too, so he was already suspicious about her…"
"Harry was totally out of the world when he was with Hermione. There was nothing or no one else in the world for him. With this, I mean he used to let his guard down, sure that the worst period in his life was gone. That lead him to discover it was still to come…" Nev said.
They then took a walk in the college grounds, unknowingly repeating the same path Hermione and Harry were used to follow, and coming to the small wood.
They sat there some time, in silence, gazing at the sky.
"This is so beautiful" she said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I think that too" Taj said, then kissed her. "But I know someone more beautiful, if you believe that" he whispered to her then.
She answered his kiss eagerly.
Soon later he walked her back to her room.
That same night, Ron had gone alone clubbing. He went to the strippers' then to a disco, and finally at late night came back to the college.
He saw one girl lonely sitting near the pool.
"Hey, what's happened to you?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing special" she said. "Just not being able to sleep, so I thought to come out here and take some fresh air, since it's such a beautiful night"
"Well, if you don't mind I could keep you company…" he suggested. She was really pretty, blonde hair, blue eyes, and an hot body too.
She smiled at him. "Sure. I would love to. Tell me, aren't you Harry Potter's best mate?"
"Yeah, I am"
"So where's Harry? Is it true he cheated on his girlfriend and she caught him?"
"Yes and no"
"What do you mean?"
"That she caught him, but he didn't actually cheat on her. It was the girl's fault, kissing him and such. But from the photos you can't judge that, so she assumed the worst and broke up with him" Ron said, sighing. "Harry is like a bunch of Hippogriffs has run onto him"
"I can understand that"
"However, it's not right for me to be here gossiping with you about my best mate's love life. What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No, I don't. But if you want to know, I think you're cute enough"
"Hey, baby, men are not cute. Men are virile, handsome, charming, but not cute" he said. "Girls are"
She giggled. "Ok, then, Mr. Handsome"
"That's better, Ms. Sexy" he teased her.
She blushed. "No one has ever called me sexy" she admitted, looking down.
"Well, I'm doing now, because I really think you are" Ron said, then kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself on his lap, kissing him back and pushing her tongue in his mouth. A battle of tongues soon started.
Next day, Draco thought wise to go and see Hermione.
"I reckon she's ready now for that surgery on our relationship" he chuckled walking toward her room.
She was exiting just then, to go to her lessons. She looked like the living dead.
"Hey, Herms" he called.
She turned to look at him. "Hi, Draco" she said, sourly.
"I'm so sorry. I've heard what that bastard has done to you. But now, don't take this wrong, however I told you he wasn't right for you. You didn't want to hear me, and now you've had your wonderful heart broken" he said, trying not so subtly to woo her once again.
"Thanks for your support" she said, rolling her eyes and walking away.
"You know you can ask me everything and I'll help you, don't you Herms?" he called after her.
"Well, can you give me a room in the association then? I don't want to be in my room anymore"
"How come? Is Potter stalking you? We can denounce him, you know…" Draco said, maybe a bit too happily. Hermione didn't notice tough.
"No, he isn't. I just feel he may want to talk to me soon, and I don't want it"
"Very well. I'll make you have your room ready by tonight" he said, and walked back to the Delta Iota Kappa's building.
"She's gonna come here to avoid him. My plan couldn't go better" Draco announced proudly.
"Good for you. Just hope no one will mess it up this time" Goyle said.
"Merlin, Goyle, on which side are you?" Draco said, rolling his eyes.
For a week Hermione lived with the Deltas, going to lesson, avoiding all the places where Harry could be. On his part, he had tried to search her at her room just few minutes after she left transferring to the Deltas, and knowing she could be able to avoid him no matter what, till she was ready to speak, h gave up.
Harry simply concentrated the best he could on the party, which was coming over soon. Nev and Ron made their best to distract him from thinking about her, bringing him out and all, but they had both girlfriends now.
Yeah, right, even Ron, who always thought having steady girlfriends wasn't healthy, had changed his opinion once he met Luna.
So now and then they would leave him alone in their room.
He would take some Butterbeers and other alcoholics and get pissed, crying himself to sleep somehow.
Finally the day of the party arrived. The biggest square of Hogsmeade was decorated with banners, closed to the public circulation,, a DJ position had been built in the centre of it, speakers of huge power were hung on the palaces, and literally rivers of alcohol were ready to be drunk.
Even the professors showed up for a little time. Harry let Ron conduct it since he didn't feel too much partying.
"Hey, Nev, have you seen Hermione around here?" he asked
"No, mate. She didn't show up, not till now anyhow"
The whole school apart for the Deltas and Hermione was there, and they were all enjoying it to the maximum level.
Adults from the village came too, and even guys from other nearby towns. The fame of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its king, Harry Potter, was spreading once again.
He didn't care at all for all of that now. He just hoped she would in the end come, if nothing just to let him talk.
But she didn't.
Once the party was over, he walked back to the college, letting Ron and Nev go ahead with their girlfriends, and he headed straight to the Headmaster's office.
Of course no one was there, but he waited. He sat on the ground, thinking back to all what he and Hermione had been trough from the first moment they met.
"Maybe it simply wasn't meant to be" he thought bitterly. Then the words of that song by Swirl 360 came to his mind.
"Well I thought we were that perfect match
It's so hard to say that now without a laugh
There was never ever such a thing
Not as far as I can see
Now that all of love's such misery"
"That fits perfectly my situation" he muttered.
Finally Dumbledore reached his office.
"Harry, what are you doing here? Were you so pissed that took my office for your room?" the old wizard said, winking at him.
"No. I've been waiting here since the party has ended, sir. I want to resign. I can't be here anymore"
"Is it for that girl, Hermione Granger?" Dumbledore inquired.
"Yeah, it is"
The man sighed. "Ok, then, Harry. Feel free to leave when you are ready. By the way, brilliant results with the party. For the next school year the school is totally full again"
Harry smiled the first genuine smile since the break up, then walked to his room to pack.
Later, that morning, at the Delta's…
Hermione had just woken up after another night dreaming of Harry, and exiting her bed to go to the loo she overheard voices coming from downstairs.
"Hey, Draco. Setting up Hermione and Potter's break up has been the best thing we've done in ages, isn't it? Perfect result, I would say" Goyle said.
"Shut up, you idiot. Hermione is still upstairs and could wake up any moment now" Draco chastised him. "However, yes, I admit Potter's face after she broke up with him was priceless" he added then, chuckling.
Hermione couldn't believe her ears. She hoped she had been hearing wrong.
"Fleur did an amazing job with making an innocent dinner a romantic date. And the kiss! A real genius that girl is!" the two boys said. "And Colin, the "Hogwarts Prophet" photographer did too. With just twenty Galleons we got what we wanted. He's really talented"
Now Hermione sat on the bed, groaning. She realised her mistake.
If only she had let him explain…
But would she have believed him? Probably not. There was only one thing to do at the moment.
Hastily she dressed and exited.
"Hey, Hermione, where are you going in such an hurry?" Draco asked.
"Just remembered I need to end a piece for the newspaper" she said without stopping.
She ran to Harry's room as fast as she could, her lungs menacing to explode.
She stopped one moment catching her breath, then she knocked urgently on the door.
Ron opened.
"Hey, Hermione. What are you doing here?" he said.
"Harry. Is he here?" she asked.
"He's gone"
"Gone? What do you mean gone?" she asked.
"I mean he resigned, packed, and just few minutes ago left the room. He's probably moving his arse away from Hogsmeade right now to leave Hogwarts once and for all this time. Said there's nothing here worth remaining anymore"
She fell to her knees, like she had been struck in the heart.
The one man she loved was gone forever from her life, and it was all her fault.
Realisation hit her hard, and tears started falling freely, pooling on the floor.
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