A/N: Well, here's the promised chapter. Might be a little bit before the next one though. I wish I had the time to reply to all the reviews I got, but at the moment I don't. I'll get to them soon though, and I'll just say here: Thank you all so much. Each and every one is appreciated. If you've been paying attention, you can probably tell what this chapter is about just from the title, but even if you can't, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for the support guys. Until next time!
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: DISASTER STRIKES
~~~~~January 22nd, 1997. Hogwarts.~~~~~
Harry watched the last of the DA senior class walk out of the Room of Requirement. They were all doing so well that he was extremely proud of not only his students but himself as well. Hermione shut the door after the last one left and turned back to smile at him.
Instantly the room morphed into the cozy room they were used to. He watched her walk towards him with a smile.
"I think a good old snogging session is in order after all that hard work." Harry grinned as he took her in his arms.
"Oh, do you, Mr Potter?" Hermione smiled up at him.
"That I do, Miss Granger."
The kiss started slowly and got deeper as that now familiar electricity ran through them. Harry tightened his hold around her and her hands gripped the front of his clothes. The two were wrapped up in each other and didn't notice the door opening.
"What the bloody hell?!"
The cry tore them apart and both turned to see Ron staring at them, his mouth open, his eyes wide and his brow furrowed. His face was slowly turning the colour of his hair and it looked as if he'd stopped breathing.
"Ron!" They called simultaneously, a feeling of dread building in their stomachs.
"You two...." He started pointing. "What the.....bloody snogging." He stammered.
"Ron, we can explain." Harry began and slowly moved toward his friend.
"Explain? There's not much to bloody well explain is there?! It's bloody true! The two of you have been shackin' up behind my back!"
"We wanted to tell you, Ron." Hermione informed him.
"Bloody hell." Ron murmured and ran his hands through his hair. "I can't bloody believe
this."
Harry was only about a meter from Ron, deciding to keep a little distance between the two. "Ron, mate....."
"Don't call me 'mate' Harry. I can't believe you would do this to me! You're supposed to be my best friend!"
"We haven't done anything wrong, Ron." Harry tried to explain.
"Haven't done anything wrong?! You already get bloody everything, Harry, but I thought it was alright because she was going to be mine. She was supposed to be mine, Harry. And now you've come in and taken her from me!" Ron roared.
Harry stole a glance back to Hermione and saw the fire build in her eyes, he didn't think she'd appreciate being talked about like a possession. He saw his two best friends and knew there was nothing he could do to stop the explosion that was about to take place.
Hermione pushed past Harry, "Yours?! I'm not an object, Ron, I'm a person. And I am no ones to have. I'm not yours and I'm not Harry's! But I do love him!"
That was like a slap in the face for Ron. "Fine. Bugger the both of you. Neither of you have the right to call yourselves my friend." He told them, his voice quivering a little and deathly quiet.
With those final words he walked out of the Room of Requirement and left the two standing in a shocked silence.
Harry saw the tears slide down Hermione's cheeks and cursed Ron for causing her pain, even though he knew they probably deserved it, they should have told him straight away. He walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight.
Her silent tears turned into full on sobs, so he turned her around and sat them on a couch that appeared behind them, sitting her on his lap and letting her cry. His own tears were hard to keep at bay, the fear of losing his best mate overwhelming.
"What are we going to do, Harry?" Hermione cried.
"I don't know, Love. Maybe we'll just give him some space and then try and talk to him."
"He hates us. He'll never speak to either of us ever again." The sobs got harder as she spoke.
Harry rubbed circles on her back, "He doesn't hate us, Mione. He's just shocked, angry and upset. He needs some time. And if he won't speak to us then we'll make him." He paused for a moment then lifted her chin, "Just remember I love you."
"How could I forget? I love you too, Harry."
~~~~~January 25th, 1997. Hogsmeade.~~~~~
Ron had avoided both Harry and Hermione for three full days. He'd walk away from them whenever one approached him, he would completely ignore Harry when they were in their dorm, and he shot them dirty glances while they were in the Great Hall.
They were giving him time, however. Both wanted to speak to him, but they knew he needed space away from them to deal with things.
After Ron had walked in on them, news of their relationship had spread quickly around Hogwarts. Although, as Lana had told Ron, people already thought they were together. So now they weren't hiding it from anyone.
The two walked through Hogsmeade hand in hand. The only unusual event that had occurred was when they ran into Draco Malfoy. He was alone and he simply nodded at the two and kept walking.
"Guess Ginny talked to him." Hermione muttered.
"It's so weird to see him being civil." Harry said back.
They spent the day in the normal way during a Hogsmeade weekend, visiting shops and spending most of the time at the Three Broomsticks attempting to get Madame Rosmerta to take some money.
She kept refusing so with a resigned sigh Harry made his way back to their table with their butterbeers. The two sat and talked quietly in their corner of the wizard bar. Harry looked up to see Brodsky enter.
The older man smiled as he sat at the bar and Rosmerta walked up to him. Harry had never seen Brodsky smile the way he was smiling at Rosmerta. And Rosmerta was most definitely flirting with Brodsky. Harry hoped something would come from this. Passing through the mystery of the man, Harry was becoming very fond of Brodsky, but knew he was miserable. Maybe a little romance in the older wizards life would make him smile a bit more.
With his own hidden smile he turned his attention back to Hermione who was talking about NEWTs. Harry had to grin at the enthusiasm in her tone.
"They'll be really difficult, but I honestly can't wait." She looked up at him, "What?"
"Nothing, Love. I just enjoy your excitement when you speak about learning."
Hermione blushed a little, but smiled all the same, "Well, I enjoy learning."
"I know. That's part of what makes me love you so much. I can't think of anything more beautiful then when you're in the library surrounded by stacks and stacks of books, biting that poor bottom lip of yours, your eyes alight with knowledge."
Her blush grew deeper as she asked, "Are you just teasing me now?"
He reached out and took her hand, "I'm as serious as a heart attack, Mione. I honestly can't think of anything more beautiful."
After a few more butterbeers and gentle conversation the two decided to return to Hogwarts. They agreed upon walking to enjoy the rest of a nice day.
They were just out of Hogsmeade when they ran into Ron and Lana. Ron saw them and tried to storm away but Lana held his hand tightly and kept her feet glued to the ground. Harry and Hermione cautiously approached.
"Ron...." Harry began softly.
"Don't speak to me, Potter." Ron spat.
Harry looked at him with disbelief, "Since when do you call me 'Potter'?"
"Since you betrayed me." Ron pulled himself out of Lana's grip and went to walk away.
Harry's call stopped him, "You're hurting us, Ron! Stop being a stubborn fool and talk this through with us!"
Ron turned back to him, "I'm not a stubborn fool, Harry, I've just been treated like one." He looked at Lana, "You can either come with me or stay with them, I don't care."
She hesitated for a moment and Ron shook his head and took off. Lana looked at Harry and Hermione with sad eyes, "I'm so sorry. I've tried to talk to him about it, but he really is being stubborn. He's just not the same person without you two."
After those rushed comments Lana ran after Ron. Harry and Hermione sadly watched them both walk away. They had feared this right from the beginning, they were losing Ron.
"He'll come around." A voice spoke from behind them.
They spun to see Ginny and Malfoy standing there together. Malfoy was looking at his feet, while Ginny watched her retreating brother. Harry and Hermione moved closer to them.
"Malfoy." Harry greeted as pleasantly as he could.
Draco glanced up, "Potter."
There was still a lot of tension between them so Ginny broke in, "Don't worry about Ron too much. As soon as he realizes that he's being a git, he'll come good."
Hermione snorted, "When has Ron ever realized he was being a git?"
Ginny laughed, "It's rare, but it has happened and it will happen this time. Like Lana said, he's not the same person without you two. And you two aren't the same without him."
Malfoy muttered something and Harry, thinking he was making a smart-arsed comment asked a bit angrily, "What was that, Malfoy?"
Malfoy sighed, he couldn't believe he was about to say what he was. "A tripod can't stand if it loses a leg. You need each other."
Both Harry and Hermione were taken back by the comment, but Ginny just smiled at Draco. "That's a perfect way to put it. Well, we'll excuse the two of you."
With a final smile at them she took Malfoy's arm and led him away. Harry and Hermione stood there dumbfounded for a moment.
"That was actually nice what he just said." Hermione muttered in shock. "It looks as if Ginny has had a positive effect on him."
Harry shook himself out of the slight daze Malfoy's words had put him in and grabbed Hermione's hand. "Anyway, we were going back to the castle."
~~~~~January 30th, 1997. Hogwarts.~~~~~
"You really need to sort this thing out with Ron, Harry." Neville said as he caught up to Harry in one of the halls of the ancient castle.
"We're giving him some space." Harry explained. "He'll be alright, he's got Lana."
"No he doesn't." Neville said quietly.
Harry stopped them walking, "What do you mean?"
Neville sighed, "He got real angry yesterday and went off about how Hermione was supposed to be his and all that right in front of Lana. She dropped him like a sack of potatoes."
Harry closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Bloody hell." He muttered.
"He's having so much trouble concentrating while we're training, Mad-Eyes threatening to whip him unless he sorts himself out. And well, you saw him at quidditch practice, he couldn't even stop one goal. And I noticed you weren't on top of your game either."
"I don't know what to do, Neville. He won't listen to either me or Hermione."
Neville got a thoughtful look on his face then smiled as a light bulb seemed to go off in his head, "Don't worry, I think you all may sort it out soon enough."
"What Neville? What are you planning?"
"Never mind. I've gotta' go, I need to see Professor Brodsky." With that Neville bolted away, leaving a very confused and worried Harry in his wake.
~~~~~January 31st, 1997. Hogwarts.~~~~~
Harry made his way to the DADA room for his usual Friday night occlumency lesson. He wasn't looking forward to it at all. He'd been so preoccupied recently that he'd completely forgotten to practice what he'd been taught and he knew Brodsky wouldn't be too happy about that.
The room was dark when he walked in and at first he thought it was empty. He wondered for a moment where Professor Brodsky could be until a familiar presence made itself known.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Ron asked from where he'd been sitting at one of the desks.
Both of them clicked a moment too late as they ran to the door just as it slammed shut. They tried to open it with no success and not even magic was working.
"Neville!" Harry realized with a yell.
"It's for your own good!" Neville's voice rang out from the other side of the sealed door.
Ron banged on the door, making every effort to knock it down for a good five minutes as Harry, figuring this wasn't so bad, sat down.
When Ron stopped his pounding Harry asked, "How'd they get you here?"
Ron sat on the opposite side of the room, "Professor Brodsky told me he wanted to discuss my essay results, told me to wait for him. You?"
"Occlumency lesson."
"We were bloody well set up!" Ron stated the obvious grumpily.
The two sat in silence for a long while until Harry finally broke it, "We really do need to talk, Ron." His friend stayed silent so Harry continued, "We didn't mean to hurt you."
Ron just snorted, making no effort to reply. It was over an hour later that either of them spoke again, both passing the time silently.
Ron broke the stillness of the room, "Why, Harry? Why'd you take her from me?"
Harry sat up from where he'd lay across a couple of desks and sighed, "She was never yours, Ron."
"She could've been." Ron mumbled.
"Yeah, she could've been, but both you and I know it never would've worked out between the two of you. It would've ruined the friendship."
"What and you think you and her will never split up?"
Harry answered without even having to think about it, "No, we won't."
"Why not?" Ron asked, his voice softening a touch.
"Because I love her more than anyone ever could, Ron, and I plan on spending the rest of my life with her."
"I could have loved her like that, Harry." Ron argued.
"That's just it, Ron, you couldn't have." He paused a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "You see her as an object, Ron. As a prize for one of us to win. I see her as a beautiful girl who I'm madly in love with. You may think you could love her the way I do, but you couldn't. You'd never treat her the way I do, the way she deserves to be treated. And pretty soon you'd realize that you don't love her like that. You think of her more like a sister, Ron, whether you know it or not." Harry explained.
Ron was silent at Harry's words and through the darkness Harry could make out the thoughtful look on his face. Harry lay back on his desk and it was another hour of silence before Ron spoke again.
"You get everything." He said quietly and Harry wasn't sure whether he was speaking to him or himself, "You've got the money, the fame, the purpose in life. And now you get the girl too."
Harry sat up again and looked over at his best friend, "Do you know how quickly I'd give up the money, the fame, the damn destiny! Just to have parents to go home to on the holidays, or a godfather. Merlin, Ron, you still don't get it. You may think I'm lucky because I've got tonnes of gold, because everyone knows my name. But do you know how many times I've wished I could have your life?"
Ron snorted, "My life? You'd be pathetic."
"No, I'd be lucky. You take your family for granted, Ron. You don't know how you'd feel if they weren't there. To me, you're the luckiest guy in the world." There was another long pause. "Hermione gives me a touch of normalcy, Ron. When I'm with her I don't have to be the orphan, the Boy-Who-Lived, the guy who has the entire fate of the bloody world on his shoulders! I can just be me, just Harry. I get that feeling with you too, Ron. You're my best friend. Hell, you're more than that, you're my brother, but I won't let you get in the way of what Hermione and I could have. I love you so much Ron and I want you to always be in my life, to always be my brother, but she's my future. And if you make me choose, I'll choose her."
"You really love her, don't you?" Ron asked quietly.
"More than you can imagine." Harry answered, equally as quiet.
Ron was silent a bit longer, but Harry could hear the emotion in his voice when he finally did speak, "Just give me some more time, Harry."
"You have all the time you want, Ron. Just remember what I said, you're my brother and my best friend and I don't want to lose you."
Ron and Harry were still forced to spend the night in the Defense room. They transfigured desks into mattresses and slept there. Come morning Neville and Brodsky let them out.
Before the two parted ways Ron grabbed Harry's shoulder, "Just give me some more time." He repeated.
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