~A/N> Here's this week's update :) My husband comes back from his five month deployment tomorrow
morning, so I thought I would post this now. There will be another update next Friday for sure, the chapter is almost
finished and just needs to be checked over. I'm (probably) taking the weekend off from all things HP, and on Monday
I'm doing a special Harmony Podcast with Twitch, where we'll be discussing the remarks JKR made in NY. So,
until next week, happy reading! :)
"Harry? Harry, get up or you'll miss brea...bloody hell!"
Ron had come bursting into Harry's room, convinced Harry had overslept, when he found his friend sound asleep on his bed with Hermione snuggled against him. As soon as Ron had opened the door they had awakened, their eyes wide as they stared at each other and realized they had slept together the entire night. Harry was the first to recover and quickly jumped off of the bed.
"Ron! Er, uh...this isn't what it looks like. We just laid down for a bit to talk and we fell asleep..." Harry lamely explained, embarrassed.
"You're both fully clothed, so why would I think anything happened?" Ron asked, quirking an eyebrow as he tried hard not to laugh at their obvious discomfort. "Unless you forgot that you're supposed to take your clothes off to shag?"
"Ron!!"
As they both yelled at him he held up his hands in defense, laughing, and said, "I'm going to go eat, I'll see the two of you down there...unless you get sidetracked."
Ron left, still laughing as both of them glared and Harry grabbed his pillow, throwing it at his friend's retreating back. "Git," Harry mumbled, rushing around to gather his clothes for the day.
"I'd better go get ready for classes," Hermione said, making her way to the doorway.
Smiling at her, Harry dropped his clothes on the bed and said, "I'll see you down at breakfast," while quickly giving her a hug.
"Okay," she replied, closing the door behind her, making her way down the stairs and out of the Head Boy and Girl quarters. Thankfully, she didn't run into anyone as she rushed back to her dorm, hurriedly dressing so that she could grab breakfast and get to her first class on time. Getting ready in record time, she practically ran through the common room and out of the portrait hole, almost running right into Harry. As they laughed at their near-collision, Harry took her hand and they started running toward the Great Hall.
When they walked in, there weren't very many students left at the tables, but those that were left turned to look at them as they walked in. Wondering why they were staring, Harry suddenly realized that he was still holding Hermione's hand and let go immediately. As he walked down the right side of the Gryffindor table to sit next to Ron, Hermione went to the left and sat across from Ron, quickly grabbing some toast and pumpkin juice. Listening as Ron and Harry talked about what had happened after the Quidditch match and their hasty exit, Hermione looked over as someone sat down next to her and stifled a groan as she came face-to-face with Ginny. Looking very hung over, Ginny started to put food on her plate and while pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice she offhandedly said, "Parvati said you never returned to your dorm last night."
Choking on the bite of toast she had been trying to swallow, Hermione took a drink of her juice and glanced over at Harry, who was glaring at Ginny. As she looked around her, she noticed that almost every Gryffindor sitting around them had heard what had been said and Hermione's face felt very hot all of a sudden. When she saw Seamus staring at her in disbelief, she looked away quickly and mumbled, "Really Ginny, I don't see how that's any business of yours?"
"It is if you're shagging my boyfriend," Ginny spat, giving Hermione a look of utter hatred.
"Knock it off Gin," Ron warned quietly.
"Not until she tells me where she was," Ginny replied, continuing to stare Hermoine down.
"I'm not your boyfriend anymore Ginny," Harry cut in, slamming the fork he had been holding in his hand down onto the table. "I can spend time with Hermione if I want, and what we do is none of your business!" As he spoke the last word, Ginny's glass of juice shattered where it sat on the table, sending shards of glass and pumpkin juice flying in all directions. As everyone pulled out their wands to cast scourgifying spells, Harry looked at Hermione and said, "Let's go, you don't deserve to be treated like this."
As he stood up and started walking toward the doors, Seamus stood up from where he had been sitting next to Dean and said, "Always playing the hero, aren't you Potter?" Dean tugged on his robes, trying to get him to sit down and to stop him from trying to start a fight with Harry, but he was determined to show Hermione who the better wizard was. "You used Cho and Ginny, and when you were done with them you just moved on to the next lass that caught your eye, leaving them hurt and alone. I'm not going to let you do that to Hermione."
"You don't know what you're talking about Finnegan, now get out of my way," Harry warned quietly, staring angrily at his classmate. When Seamus didn't move, Harry went to walk around him, only to have Seamus put a hand on his chest and shove him back.
"Running away as usual?" Seamus challenged.
"Seamus, stop it!" Hermione admonished from the other side of the table, wary of the look in Harry's eyes.
"You deserve to be with someone who'll respect you, Hermione," Seamus replied, still glaring at Harry.
"And that's you?" Harry scoffed, glaring back. "You wouldn't know what to do with a woman, Seamus. To tell you the truth, the guys and I always thought you might be a bit of a poof."
As everyone around them started to laugh, Seamus's face turned bright red and he drew back his fist and punched Harry...or tried to, anyway. A shocked gasp arose throughout the Great Hall as everyone watched Harry stop Seamus's fist with his hand, mere inches from his face. All of a sudden it felt as if the magic in the room was being drawn to Harry, gathering around him in a bright white circle, and the air crackled around him. With the slightest of movements, Seamus went flying across the hall, his head and back slamming into the wall with a sickening sound before he slid to the floor unconscious. As a few students went running to tend to him, Hermione cried out in pain, causing Harry to snap out of the magical trance he had been in.
"Ow! Get it off! It burns!" Hermione yelled, undoing her tie and top button of her shirt and then yanking out the necklace that Lily had given her. The pendant was glowing a bright red, and when she opened up her shirt a little more, Harry could see where there was a burn in the shape of the pendant on her chest.
"Mister Potter! What is going on here?" Headmistress McGonagall asked shrilly as she walked up to him. As she assessed the situation, Seamus was staggering to his feet with Dean's help, and Hermione was still holding the pendant away from her skin, an expression of pain etched onto her face.
"Mr. Thomas, would you please escort Mr. Finnegan and Miss Granger to the Hospital Ward?" McGonagall asked. When Harry turned to her and opened his mouth to speak she held out a finger and said, "I want to speak to you in my office, Mr. Potter. Now."
Looking like a scolded puppy, Harry hung his head and made his way out of the Great Hall watching as Dean helped Seamus to the Hospital Ward, Hermione trailing after them. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned his head to see McGonagall walking behind him with a stern look on her face. "Let's go, Mister Potter," she ordered, steering him toward her office as he thought of how much he wanted to be with Hermione instead.
~*~
As Harry was being lectured about how Head Boy's aren't supposed to attack their fellow students, Hermione was being examined by Madame Pomfrey. She had tended to Seamus first since he had received a pretty hard blow to the head, and by the time she had gotten to Hermione, her burn was almost completely healed. The part that didn't heal was what stumped both the nurse and Hermione; an outline of a sun with a lightening bolt through it still remained, an angry red colour against her white skin.
"I don't understand," Madame Pomfrey said, passing her wand over the scorched skin. "You said you felt your healing powers heal the burn, right?"
"Yes," Hermione replied. "While I followed Dean and Seamus here, I could feel the skin tingling as it healed. But then once I got in here and checked it again, I found the outline from the pendant remained while the rest had completely healed."
"Does it still hurt?" the nurse asked, gently running her finger over the raised skin.
"No," she replied, a little uncomfortable that she was touching her. After a few more tests with her wand, Madame Pomfrey said she was free to go, and she quickly re-dressed. Wanting out of the Ward, Hermione walked out from behind the curtains to find Seamus waiting for her. Feeling a little disappointed that it wasn't Harry, she mustered the most sincere smile she could and asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Sore," he replied, rubbing the back of his head lightly. Reaching out to take her hand, he rubbed the back of it gently and asked, "But what about you? You seemed to be in a lot of pain too."
"I'm okay," she replied, touched by his concern. Before she could say anything else, the doors to the Ward swung open and Harry walked in. The moment he saw Seamus holding her hand, his eyes darkened as he glared at them, and Hermione could feel the same magical draw she felt in the Great Hall. "Harry, no!"
But she was too late...Harry, with just a wave of his hand, had sent Seamus flying again. At the same time, she could feel the pendant burning again, except that thankfully this time it was resting against her shirt instead of her skin. As Madame Pomfrey bustled out of her office to check on Seamus, Hermione marched up to Harry and yelled, "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Getting that git away from you," he replied, breathing heavily.
"Who said that I didn't want him around me?" she asked angrily. When Harry's eyes widened in surprise, she said, "I'm your Guardian Harry, I'm here to protect you, but that doesn't mean that I belong to you. I can talk to or see anyone else that I want."
"But I thought..." he started, only to have her cut him off.
"You need to learn to control your anger Harry, because it may not effect you, but you're hurting others when you lose control like that," she admonished. Unbuttoning her shirt, she opened it just a little so that he could see the burn on her chest. "This is what happened when you lost control in the Great Hall; your anger was channeled through the pendants to me and it burned my skin. It's not healing, Harry. And just now, when it happened again, I could feel the pendant burning just like before. The only reason I didn't get burned again is because I had it outside my shirt, instead of hidden underneath it, or you would have hurt me even more."
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Harry replied, reaching out toward the red, burned skin that was in the shape of the sun and lightening symbol on the pendant. Taking a step backwards so that he couldn't touch her, she glared at him and then closed her shirt once more.
"I think you should go," she said, staring him straight in the eyes with a look that would haunt his nightmares that night.
"Hermione..."
"I'll talk to you later, Harry. Right now, I need to check on Seamus."
Turning quickly on her heel, she walked toward the back of the ward where Madame Pomfrey was once again tending to Seamus, leaving a very angry and confused Harry behind.
When Seamus looked up and saw that Hermione was walking toward him, he looked past her to where Harry stood and smirked at him, silently rubbing in the fact that she was staying with him instead of fawning over the-boy-who-lived.
Harry's anger was so great that he was visibly shaking from the energy it took to suppress the temptation to curse Seamus from here to hell and back. Unable to stand the smug look on the wanker's face any longer, he turned and stormed from the Ward, slamming through the doors so hard that the glass in their windows shattered from the force.
"Tsk, tsk," Madame Pomfrey said, casting a quick 'Reparo'. "That boy's temper is going to get him into real trouble one day."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Hermione mumbled, staring at the doors, but the only thing she could see was the hurt look Harry was wearing when he had stormed out of the Ward.
~*~
After declaring Seamus still healthy enough to leave, Madame Pomfrey gave both he and Hermione strict orders to come back to see her if either experienced any new symptoms and sent them on their way. As they made their way back to the Gryffindor common room, Seamus said, "I hope that I didn't cause any trouble between you and Harry, I just don't want him to hurt you again."
Not buying his excuse, but seeing that he sincerely cared for her well-being she replied, "He didn't intentionally hurt me Seamus, and the trouble between us was from something different."
"Oh, so are you and Harry a couple then?" When Hermione gave him a weary look he quickly added, "Sorry, that's none of my business."
"It's alright," she replied, giving him a small smile, hoping it hid her true feelings. If she were truthful with herself, she would admit that she had absolutely no idea what her relationship with Harry was. Answering truthfully she added, "And no, we're not a couple."
Saying the password as they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady, she walked into the common room, which was pretty full since it was still lunchtime. As she started to make her way toward the stairs, Seamus put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. When she turned to look at him, he wore a nervous expression and she asked, "Seamus, what is it?"
"I was um-just wondering if you would go to the Halloween Ball with me?" he asked, sounding as nervous as he looked.
"Halloween Ball?" she asked.
"It's the Ball held at Hogwarts every year on Halloween. It's pretty big...fourth through seventh years are allowed to attend, and if you don't already have a date, I was wondering if you'd go with me?"
Hermione stared at him for a moment before saying, "I didn't know about it...that's in twelve days, right?" When he nodded, a hopeful look on his face, she answered, "Sure, I'll go with you," silently thinking, 'Since no one else has asked me to go.' If Harry had wanted to go with her, wouldn't he have asked her the night before, when he had the perfect opportunity?
"Great! We'll talk more about it later," he said, smiling happily at her. Trying her hardest to give him a sincere smile, she was surprised when he leaned in and quickly kissed her on the cheek. As he made his way up to his dorm, she stood rooted to the spot, wondering what she had just gotten herself into. There was even a small part of her that wondered how Harry would react when he found out.
Unfortunately, she found out a lot sooner than she thought she would. Turning to go up to her dorm, she stopped in mid-turn as she saw Ron, Ginny, Dean and Harry sitting on the sofa and chairs in front of the fireplace. All of them sat staring at her until Ron said, "Well, we'd best get going if we're going to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts on time."
He, Dean, and Harry all stood up, grabbing their book bags, and made their way to the portrait hole. As he passed by her, Harry paused and wearing a look that was a mixture of hurt and anger he quietly said, "I'm glad you're okay."
Before she could respond, he rushed after Ron and Dean, leaving her feeling bad for not speaking to him before giving Seamus her answer. She knew she didn't have any obligations to Harry, but something deep down inside of her was telling her that what she did was wrong. Sighing, she climbed the stairs to her dorm, missing the hopeful, triumphant look on Ginny's face as she realized that this was her chance to get Harry back.