Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: This chapter… Harry tells Won-Won what's been going on. And Ginny confronts Hermione. I wonder how it turns out? :D read to find out! And please remember to review at the end!
How My Love Life Got Even More Complicated
Chapter Seven: 'Aint No Sunshine When She's Gone
Hermione:
I knew Ginny had worked it out.
She had to. She wasn't stupid. She must have realised it. The looks she was throwing at me and Harry were terribly accusing, but somehow understanding.
I'm not quite sure of how to explain it… but she knew.
---
"You like him, don't you?"
Hermione sighed and looked up at Ginny. Knowing she couldn't lie to her, she said, "Yes."
Ginny sighed and sat down next to her.
"When did you find out?" Hermione asked softly.
"I only worked it out last night," Ginny replied, crossing her arms and looking down at her feet under the table.
"I'm sorry," Hermione said, putting her quill down and noticing Harry walk through the entrance to the Library. "I should have told you."
Ginny smiled bitterly and said, "Yeah, you should have." She sniffed and said, "I didn't come here to get angry at you. I just wanted to make sure that I was holding out for no reason."
"Ginny…"
"Hermione I'm not going to lie to myself anymore," she continued, cutting across Hermione. "He likes you back and there's nothing I can do but move on."
Hermione nodded.
"I'd hold off on actually getting together," she added, standing up and looking down at Hermione. "Ron's still pretty… hurt and angry."
Hermione nodded again and said, "I'm sorry Gin."
"I know," she said before turning her back on Hermione and walking briskly out of the Library.
"She knows," Hermione said as Harry sat down next to her with a questioning look on his face.
"How?" he asked in surprise.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and said, "She's a girl."
Harry smiled and poked her softly, "Shut up."
---
They were nearing the Christmas holidays when Ron finally decided to start talking to them again. He was still irritated though and laughter was scarce when the three of them would spend time together - Ron was still too angry to laugh and Harry and Hermione felt very guilty when they were around him.
A couple of days before the Christmas holidays began Hermione announced that she was leaving for two weeks.
"It'll give you time to talk to Ron," she said reasonably to Harry, as she packed her clothing into her bags.
Harry pouted and ran a finger up the engraving of the word Firebolt on his broomstick - he'd flown into her room after everyone else had gone down to dinner. "But I don't want you to go."
Hermione smiled and looked at him. "Time apart will do us some good. Aren't you getting sick of me?"
"No," he said immediately, looking up at her hopefully.
Hermione laughed softly and said, "Well, I still think time apart would do us some good. And I think it would be good if you told Ron about us while I'm away. This way he won't come looking to yell at me. I won't have to take my wand out on him."
"I still don't want you to go," Harry said stubbornly, standing up and walking over to hug her from behind.
"Come on Harry," she said, leaning back into him and placing her hands on top of his.
"No," he muttered, leaning down and kissing her cheek. "Don't leave."
Hermione smiled, "I've got to."
"Her-my-oh-neee," he whined, moving lower and kissing her neck softly a couple of times.
She closed her eyes, enjoying feeling his lips on her neck. "No honey," she whispered, pushing him back slightly. "There's plenty of time for that when I get back."
"When is that?" he grumbled, stepping back and crossing his arms.
"New Years' Eve," she said, closing her bags and looking around to check if she left anything lying around. She turned back to Harry and smiled cheekily, "You'll have a nice snog at the stroke of twelve with me, don't worry."
"I should think so," he said, smirking at her.
"Alright. I'm finished packing," she said, smiling in a satisfied way now. "You need to get back on your broom and fly back to your dorm."
"Oh, alright," Harry grumbled, moving back to her and kissing her cheek softly. "See you in a minute."
He mounted his broom and jumped out the window. Hermione walked to the window and watched him fly around for a moment before he disappeared in the open window of his dorm. She smiled and shut her window.
---
"Remember to let Ron send Pigwidgeon one day and then you send Hedwig without him knowing the day after," Hermione said quietly as she and Harry walked down to the Entrance Hall, carrying her bags.
"Yeah I know," Harry said, smiling at this cute and worried side of her. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'll tell him about us in a couple of days."
Hermione nodded.
"Your train will be in Hogsmead soon Hermione!" Ginny called to her from the entrance to the Entrance Hall.
"We're coming!" Hermione called back.
"I blame the slowness on how heavy these stupid bags are," Harry grunted, heaving two forward at a time.
"Well let me help then," Ron said, taking one from Harry. "Hermione, what on earth did you put in here?" he asked, struggling to carry it to the waiting carriage.
"Stuff," she said defensively. "Are you all coming to the station with me?"
"Yeah," Ginny said, taking one of the smaller bags from Hermione.
They loaded all the bags up onto the carriage and were soon off on their way, sitting in silence and listening to the sound of the thestrals' hooves as they clip-clopped up towards the gates.
"So where are you going?" Ginny asked, breaking the silence and looking across at Hermione.
"My cousin's wedding," she said, "Out in the country south of London."
"Sounds like fun," Ron said, with a forced smile.
"Yeah. Bring us back a souvenir," Harry said, smiling a real smile at her.
Hermione laughed softy and asked, "What sort of souvenir can I bring back from a wedding?"
"Your place setting, a napkin, those odd still photos muggles think are so wonderful," Ginny said, counting them off her fingers.
"Alright," Hermione said, laughing again. "We'll take lots of photos and I'll bring a napkin back for everyone."
"I do love still photos," Harry said, smiling and looking off into the distance, raising a hand to his chin and making a pistol grip with his forefinger and thumb.
Hermione smiled and nudged him softly with her foot.
The rest of the trip to the station was made in silence, all three of them looking out the window at the passing scenery. When they arrived at Hogsmead, Hermione climbed out of the carriage first, beginning to haul her bags down.
"Let me help," Ron said softly, grunting slightly as he lifted her biggest bag down.
"Thanks," Hermione said, gratefully and smiling at him.
For the first time since they'd broken up, Ron gave her a sincere smile. "Really, what did you put in these?" he asked, pulling the second biggest bag down.
"Clothes… and books," she said, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I had to get all my work for this week, remember?"
"You know our Hermione," Harry said, coming around the back of the carriage and ruffling her hair up affectionately. "School before anything else."
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed reproachfully, running her fingers through her hair.
The two boys picked up the heaviest bags and Hermione and Ginny picked up the last two smallest bags. "Have a good time," Ginny said, moving forward and sliding an arm through Hermione's.
Hermione smiled at her and said, "I will."
"Just remember to bring me back some photos of some attractive boys," Ginny said, smiling slightly.
"Oh yes, I do have a couple of attractive boys in mind," Hermione said, smiling back at Ginny and glad that they were able to talk about that again.
"The train's here!" Harry called, squinting into the distance at a small, blurry image with a big puff of smoke rising in its wake.
Once Hermione's bags were all packed onto the train she said goodbye to her three friends. "See you in two weeks," she said, hugging Ginny tightly. "I'll bring some cake back for everyone too."
Ron immediately grinned and said, "What kind of cake?"
Hermione laughed softly and said, "I don't know yet. I'll owl you after the reception."
"Good girl," he said, hugging her. She kissed his cheek softly and then moved over to hug Harry.
"See you soon," she said softly, hugging him tighter than ever.
"Yeah," he replied, breathing in her scent before she kissed his cheek and stepped up onto the train.
"Bye guys!" she called, waving at them as the train began to move.
They waved back shouting good bye, running along with the train up until the end of the platform.
"Back up to the castle," Ron said, turning around and walking back with Ginny.
Harry lingered on the edge of the platform for a moment, watching the train disappear into the distance and hearing one last loud whistle from it. He smiled slightly and turned around to follow Ron and Ginny back to the carriage.
---
A few days had passed before Harry decided to tell Ron his… news. The two friends were in the Room of Requirement, playing a couple games of chess. The Room had morphed into a room with countless chess sets all stacked up inside a closet. A roaring fire was going in a huge fireplace, the mantelpiece carved with images of chess pieces.
"Checkmate!" Ron said triumphantly, stretching back and yawning widely.
"Good one," Harry said, smiling at his friend. "Again?"
"Sure," Ron said, re-organising the pieces back to their respective places.
"How are you feeling about Hermione now?" Harry asked, watching Ron move a pawn two spaces forward.
Ron shrugged and said, "I'm alright."
Harry nodded, moving one of his own pawns two spaces forward. "How would you feel if she were to go out with someone else?" he asked carefully.
Ron frowned and said, "I wouldn't be happy about it but I guess I couldn't stop her if she wanted to go out with someone else. I'd just make sure that the guy knew that you and I would hunt him down if he hurt her."
Harry nodded again, avoiding Ron's eyes.
"What's going on?" Ron asked suddenly, frowning again.
"Nothing," Harry replied, feeling very guilty.
"Harry, I may be thick but I'm not completely stupid," Ron snapped, now glaring at Harry.
Harry sighed and looked up at Ron, whose face was slowly turning red. "You how I broke up with Cho?"
Ron nodded.
"Did I ever tell you why?"
"You said that you guys didn't have anything in common, other than Quidditch."
"Yes… well… there was another reason," Harry said slowly, trying to think of a way to put his feelings into words. "I sort of… fell for Hermione."
"What do you mean, you fell for her?" Ron asked, the look on his face telling Harry he already knew.
"Ron…"
"Oh no," Ron said, glaring at Harry again. "No, I could have dealt with her liking someone like Seamus or Dean. But you?"
"It's not like we asked to have these feelings!" Harry replied angrily. "But to be quite honest, would you trust Seamus or Dean with Hermione?"
"That's not the point," Ron said through gritted teeth. "You're supposed to be my best friend! You're not supposed to go off with my girlfriend!"
"Ex-girlfriend," Harry said, now glaring at Ron. "And we didn't just go off with each other. She didn't want to do anything with me until she'd broken it off with you! She never wanted to hurt you, and nor did I for that matter," he added, calming down slightly.
"But why her?" Ron asked, groaning and sitting back in his chair, rubbing his eyes.
"I can't change how I feel, or how Hermione feels," Harry said softly, standing up. "I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't be surprised or even more hurt when she gets back."
Ron didn't say anything, now glaring at the chess pieces.
"Well, I'll be off to bed then," Harry said, standing up and leaving the room. He didn't look back as he opened the door and left.
---
Harry:
I honestly didn't like hurting Ron like that. I wish there was a way to make all of this better, so that Ron wouldn't be hurt and Hermione and I could be together.
No such luck, I guess.
My relationship with Ron wasn't ever really the same after that. The betrayal he felt probably went very deep. I mean, I know that he's always been jealous of me for being the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and having a small fortune tucked away in Gringotts. I guess the way I took Hermione away from him made him feel that I really did get everything I wanted.
I'm not going to yell at him for being jealous. Believe me I would absolutely love to tell him how much I would love to have a loving family with older brothers and a sister. I would love to tell him how lucky he is to have his parents still alive. But I'm not going to.
I'm not going to hurt him anymore than I already have.
---
To be continued…