Chapter 8-Second Thoughts
Harry and Hermione awoke at nearly the same time. Both of them seemed a little more self-conscious than they had a few hours before. They dressed slowly giggling about how they couldn't believe the hour and what had happened.
"Harry, I don't know what came over me. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not sorry. I just….well…I've never had to get up and get dressed in front of a boy before," she said nervously.
Harry wasn't much better because he felt bad that Hermione looked so out of sorts. He reached out and put his hand on the couch next to him as he pulled on his right shoe. Hermione was sitting on the other side of the couch and he felt self-conscious sitting next to her.
By the time they gathered their books they seemed to have settled down. Harry put his arm around her shoulder and he patted his hand softly and smiled. "Whew, that was a night to remember," she said. She looked around the room almost as if she wanted to get a good look at the first place that she and Harry had been together. She said, "I knew there was trouble when I walked in last night. The setting was too beautiful, too cozy."
"Hermione, don't regret anything. You are everything to me," Harry said.
"I might be a little more cautious though, Harry--at least for a while anyway."
Harry was okay with that, he thought. Things had moved a little too rapidly and they could just hang out. They'd proven that for the previous six years.
Harry and Hermione walked out the door to the Room of Requirement without the slightest bit of fear of discovery. Immediately, they realized their mistake. At the far end of the corridor two people shuffled noisily into a classroom in an attempt to hide their presence. Calmly, Harry reached for his wand and looked at Hermione. "Did you bring your wand?"
"No," she said fearfully. "You don't think we'll need them, do you?"
"I hope not, but I learned how to obliviate short term memory and it would be useful if they couldn't remember seeing us. Whoever it is." Harry asserted to a nodding Hermione.
Harry added, "It could be other young lovers who had the same idea but had to use the classrooms up here for a midnight liaison. Let's just be on our way and take no notice of them."
"Alright," said Hermione. "What if.." she began.
"It's too late to deny we were here, so we'll just have to wait and see," he said trying to be calm, knowing that word back to Ron or anyone for that matter would be catastrophic.
Harry wished he'd always brought his invisibility cloak in his bag. He could keep going until he was out of sight and sneak back if he had it, but no such luck. And, what a night for them to come out of their dorms wandless. He and Hermione just walked at a normal pace toward their destination not looking into the classrooms as they passed and hoped for the best.
The first staircase was about twice as far as Harry could see clearly from the door of the Room of Requirement he estimated. He had an idea. He motioned for Hermione to go down the stairs. "Start talking about anything. Just give the impression that we're getting further away." He stood plastered to the wall and just in a little indentation. When Hermione reached two floors down, Harry saw two hooded figures come out of a room much closer than he thought to the Room of Requirement. He ran trying to see who it was but was careful to not get in range where a wand hex or something could get him. He remembered flashes of something familiar but nothing he could definitely recognize. But if someone asked him he'd definitely say one was a girl. They were gone into the Room of Requirement. To his surprise, the door to the Room of Requirement was ajar as he got there. He waited as he heard Hermione coming. He was not in any hurry to run in and get ambushed.
"What happened?" asked Hermione. "Who was it?"
Harry put his hand on the door knob and pushed the door further open. Harry's heart raced as he looked into the room. It was as he'd seen it when Old Professor Trelawney had been there last year and when he'd stashed the Half-Blood Prince's potions book in there. "Hermione, it looks just like last year when Malfoy brought in the Death Eaters. We need to alert Professor McGonagall. There was an intruder in the school tonight."
"Harry, do you realize what you're saying?" she pleaded.
She was right, of course. They couldn't tell Mrs. McGonagall that they'd been somewhere like the Room of Requirement at this hour. It would certainly bring suspicion. Anything that happened could be blamed on them just as easily as anyone else. He looked around for any signs of anything like the safe or old strong box that Malfoy used the year before. Harry started to wonder about who might have been here. They were student robes on at least one of them. Harry was too tired to worry about it now and there was nothing he could do.
"Harry, let's go. Let's get out of here before someone does come up and see us," said Hermione. Harry agreed. They were stone cold silent as they walked back except for a brief kiss outside the common room a floor down. Harry waited 20 minutes before going in after Hermione.
It had been several hours since he'd seen Hermione and he wondered if she were alright. It was almost noon and Harry thought for sure she'd be down by now. He went to the Great Hall and got some lunch. There didn't seem to be any murmurs going through the students and the members of the staff seemed unworried for the moment. Everything seemed okay to him, yet as time since seeing Hermione grew longer he became more anxious.
Just then he saw her coming across the aisle with her tray and she sat down with a smile. "Hi, Harry." She began eating right away.
Harry knew he couldn't ask anything remotely connected to last night because of the wacky way it had gone. For the first time in three days or more he had no idea how to approach her in public. And, apparently, she must not either, he thought.
He slowed down his pace. He had been eating fast to get back to Gryffindor Tower. "Man, I almost ate the whole plate in like two minutes," he said to break the silence.
"You did look a bit rushed," she said looking at The Daily Prophet.
He couldn't help himself. He knew she often brought the news with her to the table but he felt different about it today. "Is everything, okay?"
"Sure, why wouldn't it be, Harry?" she said curtly. "It's not like anything exciting or confusing has happened around here to make me feel otherwise."
A second year whose name Harry couldn't remember, guffawed at her remark. "You can say that again. It's boring here on the weekends."
Apparently, Hermione thought that would be a good nondescript answer and the young boy's answer through her off. She tried to hold back the laugh at the irony. She'd been sarcastic and the tension broke her. "Yeah, boring. Exactly," she said.
Harry laughed too. Somehow he understood what Hermione was saying. She was nervous about the whole thing. "So, let's go out on the grounds today and study. We could take a walk toward Hogsmeade Station to kill time, later too."
"Yeah, sounds better than sitting inside all day," she replied. Neither of them had the foggiest idea that it had been raining cats and dogs all morning.
"You'll get wet," said the eavesdropping second year.
Hermione turned to Harry and just smiled shaking her head. The kid was driving her nuts.
"Hey, what's your name?" Harry asked politely.
"Gary, Gary Benton of the Oxfordshire Bentons," he said proudly.
"Gary, thanks for the bit of news about the rain and stuff, but could you kindly do me a favor and keep that stuff to yourself unless we ask you?" Harry said. "We're having a bit of tough time this morning."
"Oh, sorry. Sorry Harry, Hermione. I didn't mean to be a busybody. I'll be quiet," said Gary.
"Thanks, Gary. I just have a headache and now our day is ruined by the rain," said Hermione. She smiled at him. "I wish Ron were here."
That last comment was quite unexpected, yet Harry realized that it was in character and the lack of those kinds of comments would seem a little odd. "Yeah, he'll be back, when? Tomorrow night?" He went with the flow even though caught off guard.
"Maybe the rain will stop for a while so the whole day isn't ruined," said Hermione.
At around two o'clock the rain stopped and Hermione woke Harry sleeping in the chair next to her in the common room. "Harry, let's go out for a while. The rains stopped."
They walked slowly through the castle toward the Entrance Hall carrying backpacks that umbrellas sticking out, passed through the Entrance Hall and the huge doors that sealed the entrance at night. Hermione, didn't turn her head, but muttered, "Did you bring money?"
"Yes, of course, what did you have in mind?" he asked.
"London, of course, there's plenty to see in all sorts of places inside. We can take taxis if we have to. We just couldn't be drenched before we got outside the grounds to Apparate," she said. "The clothes are in case we get caught in a downpour in London, silly. I hate being the brains of this outfit," she chided with a wry smile.
Harry smiled. That was the Hermione he hoped to see again today. That was the story, but they intended to stay the night there, since the Room of Requirement was absolutely too dangerous now.
They Apparated directly to Platform 9 and three-quarters. Even though it was risky being seen there, it was the best excuse available. They were coming to see Ron. Their conversation picked up the further into the city they got. He wanted to go past Buckingham Palace and see the river Thames. Hermione wanted to go the Royal Art Museum and just walk some of the city streets. For late March, the cold rain was pretty common. They felt lucky to have the three or four hours they did to walk before it started just after nightfall. Hermione had copied down a hotel near movie theaters and restaurants. They got in the taxi just in time before the deluge made even the windows of the cab hard to see through.
"So, what was your favorite part Harry?" she asked.
"I couldn't believe those blokes can stand there that still and motionless. I'd have to move or something at least every ten minutes or so. Probably, more often than that, I'd say." Harry said.
"What about you, Hermione?" he asked.
"I've always liked the beauty of the city itself, so as far as sights…that would be it. But my favorite part, was you acting like a monkey trying to get one of the guards to move. I think you actually succeeded when you pretended to pick bugs out of my hair." She laughed.
"Who was pretending? You got big coodies," Harry laughed as Hermione snarled at him.
The check-in was a little uncomfortable because even though she was eighteen and he was almost eighteen they feared they'd be asked for ID. Hermione's parents made sure she got it in her brief stop home, but Harry would probably never have muggle ID. The lobby was nice and cozy with just enough traffic to give them both the vacation feel Hermione wanted.
"The last time I went on vacation I never really did. I came back for you to Grimmauld Place. I've never been sorry I did either," said Hermione. "My parents always wonder who that Harry boy is that I talk about. I lay awake thinking last night Harry. I thought of when I crossed that line with you. You know, the love line thing is really a good analogy. We were the loving friends you talked about for a long time."
Harry was happy that she'd listened to him. He had thought that up one night when he was desperate on how he would be able to stay focused on not hating Voldemort and loving Tom. That was it. He figured if he could just look at Tom as a disadvantaged friend who just needed one person to love him, he might be able to avoid the hate that would have allowed Voldemort the upper hand to kill him. He looked at Hermione and realized that it was too deep of a subject for now. But one day he'd tell her where it came from. "So, you see it now do you?"
"Yes, I do." They put their things on the nightstands in front of their respective beds and got ready for dinner. "These beds will be better Harry. We can still cuddle but we aren't forced into an awkward position," she added.
"Yeah, you snore. That way I don't have to hear it," he smiled and stuck out his tongue. The arrangements were fine with him. He realized that he was the luckiest guy alive about now anyway.
She ignored his remark and brushed her hair. "So, I saw this Italian restaurant in the hotel guide. It's just down the block. Let's go there," she said.
Harry shrugged. He didn't care as long as the food was hot and Hermione was there. "Sounds good to me."
Harry found himself smiling more than usual since he was not used to wine at all and drank the first two glasses much too fast. Hermione had a good laugh when at one point Harry tried to say Cabernet Sauvignon even after Hermione pronounced it for him. The waiter stood back in the corner and smiled at Hermione asking if they wanted more and she shook her head subtly. He brought out two sodas for them.
"Hermione, where'd the wine go?" Harry asked. He was playing around a little but he knew he and wine were a bad mix. He handled beer better. It didn't go right to his head.
"No more, you lush. You can stop acting drunk, Harry. Don't embarrass me, please." Hermione was sweet about it but Harry could tell by her body language that maybe he was carrying this joker and prankster thing too far. He could see how she might be embarrassed.
"Sorry, Sweetheart, I'll straighten up. I mean it." Harry took his table napkin and from his lap and placed it on the table. "That was outstanding, Hermione. What next?"
The weather was still frightfully blustery and rainy so they decided that they'd see what movies would be on TV before deciding whether to go out to one. If they didn't have to go out, Hermione explained how the in-room movie might be best. As usual, Harry was all for it.
When they returned to the hotel lobby and Hermione saw that the little gift shop was still open. "Harry, over here. I want to look at some stuff." Harry saw what he wanted, but he couldn't get it now. Hermione would know and it would spoil the surprise, so he said he'd just be over in the corner near the hotel bar.
At the door, he saw four men standing near the tap talking animatedly. He didn't know whether it was the movements of their hands or the fact that none of them looked at the television with the football game on next to them. Manchester United the screen said was beating some other team. That was when he saw Ron approaching them. Harry was dumbfounded. London, he thought. One of the largest cities in the world and he runs into Ron Weasley while he's with Hermione. His presence was easily explained but did he want to explain. He stepped back quickly and rounded the wall to avoid crossing the door. The big question he thought was whether he should tell Hermione.
When Harry got back to the gift shop, Hermione was paying for some little trinkets she bought and a postcard. "I got this for mum. I'm going to mail it in the morning," she said as he turned toward Harry. "You look like you've seen a ghost, relatively speaking of course." They chuckled because of the ghosts at Hogwarts. But he couldn't hide his discomfort.
"No, I'm okay. Really. I was at the door when I saw a near accident someone almost ran into someone else." He said it that way because it was true. He almost ran into Ron. That would be a nasty accident. He felt.
"I'll walk you up but I want to check this place out," said Harry.
"What the pub?" she asked. "Are you thinking of getting drunk?"
"No, but it's impossible to surprise you with anything if we're connected at the hip," he said honestly. He wanted to get the last two roses in the case just inside the gift shop. He hoped he wasn't so obvious now that she could figure it out. He would have been so much more prepared if he hadn't been caught off guard with Ron. Harry had a genuine dilemma on his hands.
He walked her to the door of their room and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and told her he'd be right back. He took two steps and realized that he'd remembered the invisibility cloak today. He knocked and Hermione came to the door. "I forgot my card and I need to use the loo really quick. Too much wine," he smiled and snuck past her.
He grabbed his key card and put the invisibility cloak in front of him so she wouldn't see it. He slipped under it and took the stairs down three flights. It would be easier to explain than being bumped into in a crowded elevator where he could move to avoid people. He slipped over to the other side of the bar and listened to Ron and his mates.
"Ron, you're really improving fast, mate. The triple move and pass fifty meters from the rings, high to low and back is hard to follow. You got it down pretty well the two of three times. That's about league average. Good show mate." Harry was fascinated at the level of Quidditch that Ron was learning. He was proud of his friend's accomplishments.
"Yeah, it's really hard to stay calm when a break happens and that many people come at you. At school, you have maybe one person in all the houses fast enough to do what you do and he's a seeker." Ron said.
"Harry?" asked the smallest guy.
"Yeah, we've heard a lot about him but our seeker, Louden, is young and barring injury should be around a while. Otherwise we'd look at your mate real carefully," said what appeared to be the oldest of the men.
"Hey, how'd it go with that girl last night, Weasley?" asked the one smoking the pipe. "There's more where she came from."
"I went to her place and couldn't do, Bosley. My girlfriend and I are on the rocks but once I realized I was about to do something with a hooker, I couldn't do it. And stop with the faggot stuff too, Novak." Ron looked over at the fourth guy with a wicked expression. Novak was the one with the pipe gathered Harry.
"It's alright Ron. We were all drunk and we thought it would be good to get the Cherry Boy laid," said Bosley. "I saw her picture, Weasley, I wouldn't cheat on her either."
Ron looked proud. "Well, I mean I still went too far. I mean just because I didn't do anything to her doesn't mean I'm not guilty."
"What a blow job and you feel guilty?" said Bosley. "Hey, if you love her, go back and make it up to her and tell us to leave your personal life alone."
"So this is what you do on your trips to London, Ron? You go to bars and talk about getting blow jobs from hookers and how bad you feel that your girlfriend is at home?" Harry's head snapped around as he saw Hermione standing there furious. "Well, she's not at home. She's here in London with her new boyfriend. You might know him. You told him to take care of me this weekend. And believe me; he takes better care of me than you ever could." She threw a salt shaker at him and stormed out.
Well that did it thought Harry. He could have thought of a hundred other ways for it to come out. He watched as Ron's mate's backed away in case the angry woman came at him. After she left, Novak looked at Ron and said, "Get used to it mate. It won't be the last time you piss off a woman."
Harry looked at Ron and felt sorry for him. His mates just looked at him as he stood speechless, "You, okay, Weasley? Have a shot." Bosley raised his hand to the bartender. "Shots around."
Harry knew he had to get out of there now and that Hermione had probably figured it out by now. He had no idea what kind of shape she'd be in when he got to the room. He went out into the busy street and found a place where the noise and bustle was so loud no one would notice and he pulled off the cloak. He did his best to carry it like a jacket over his arm which of course disappeared beneath it. He got the roses and a vase from the porter. He got on the elevator. When he got to the room he heard the phone ringing. No one answered as he went in the lights were on and the TV was on, but no one was there. Harry panicked thinking the worst when he heard Hermione blow her nose in the loo.
When she popped out of the loo, she saw the cloak and the flowers. Harry realized the flowers were a wasted effort for the immediate moment. He put the vase on the desk and the flowers in it. "I wanted to see what was going on before I told you that I'd seen him."
"Are you sure? You did see a ghost for all I care now." She sat with her back to the headboard of the bed with a tissue in one hand her leg up and supporting the other as she pinched her lower lip.
Harry felt like he was in no man's land. He heard the whole conversation, saw the look on Ron's face, and was convinced that the purpose of the visits here were for Quidditch and not liaisons with woman. Harry realized that under different circumstances Ron could have saved face. Ron now knew that Hermione and Harry had something going on. Harry wished he could fast forward to see how this was going to come out.
"Hermione, don't you think you should talk to Ron? He's called here three times now." Harry figured out what the message minder was on the phone. He knew it had rung a lot.
She remained silent and stared at the TV.
Harry put on the sweats from the backpack and propped himself up on the other bed. He could feel pain surrounding him. He felt it for Hermione, for Ron and most of all for the friendships and relationships that were crashing and burning. His and Hermione's was no sure thing he could see too.
"So, no hug or kiss, now that I've kicked him out of my life? Am I alone?" she said. "The only difference between what we did and what he did was that he got caught. And, I'm so ashamed of myself. I acted like a whore with you last night."
Harry was in shock at the look on Hermione's face. No tears, no grimace even. She had a blank stare and just let words come out to anyone.
He moved slowly from his bed toward her to comfort her.
"Harry, I don't know if I want to be touched right now," she said with a glance at him. "I'm tired of men. I'm tired of trying to be something to someone. I need to see who I am right now. And the first results are discouraging."
Harry had no words of wisdom or jokes or anything that could help Hermione. He felt lost, but he knew he could take it if she was angry. He just hoped she was okay.
"Harry, don't worry. I love you and I know I'm a mess. Just let me think," she said. "Why don't you call him and tell him that she loves to have her belly covered in butterfly kisses?"
Harry looked out the window now as he stood near the exit to the balcony.
"Sex? All guys are all about sex. Maybe that's why I liked Ron and fell in love in the first place. He wasn't like that. But we know where that got me." She wiped her nose and got up and walked to the flowers. "Thanks, Harry. I know you must have thought of this before all this happened. Play the messages."
"Hermione, I don't know what to say. Please call me in Room 2250. Is Harry here too then? Damn it, not Harry. What…?" The familiar line tone interrupted.
"Hermione, I knew we were in trouble, but please tell me you were just pushing my buttons about Harry? Call me." Line tone.
"Hey, we almost caught you last night. Too bad Weasley knows now. We had a wonderful plan to expose you. Now we'll just have to go with Plan B. How's the Mudblood in bed, Potter?" Line tone.
"Malfoy, the git. I can't believe. How could he possibly know about Ron already?" Harry looked at Hermione.
There was pounding at the door. "Harry, come out and get what you deserve you traitor. I can't believe you let me go knowing…did you tell her? Did you? Faggot!" Ron was screaming at the door.
"Wow, this is a pretty sight. He's madder at you for telling me something that you no doubt have kept a secret than he is about reconciling. There goes your theory," said Hermione who sat back on her bed. "Call security and have them take him away."
Harry really had no choice. He called security and in a few minutes a cursing Ron was dragged away.
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