Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling except for anything original, such as people, spells, or the plot. This is just something I like to do for fun.
Quick Notes: Hope you don't find Ron to be too OOC. My beta expressed views that he should have been angrier, but I felt that Ron could be both angry and hurt at the same time. Let's assume he's progressed to tablespoon level.
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"I don't know," Hermione said a little hesitantly. She wasn't sure how Ron was taking this. "Maybe he is the reason. I just don't know yet. I do have feelings for Harry; I'm just not sure what they are..."
"SO YOU DO!" screamed Ron. "Why Harry? Why is it always bloody Harry?"
Oh my god, thought Hermione. He's having a breakdown or something. "Ron, please calm down," she said soothingly. "I'm really sorry that I don't feel the same for you, and I hope that we can still be friends..."
She felt horrible having to do this. Ron was getting really red, and she for once didn't know what to do. He sat there, taking it all in, and finally opened his mouth to reply. Luckily it was in a more calm tone of voice, shocked calm, but calm nonetheless.
"I don't think we can actually," Ron replied. "You really have no idea how this feels. You ask a person the question you're most afraid of and get rejected. I don't want to talk to you anymore, less much look at you, Hermione. I know you can't understand this and I think I just need to go."
"Ron, wait!" she yelled, as he turned towards the door. "Please, don't go. We can work this out, I promise."
"Hermione, this isn't something you can just work out," he protested, a little angry again. "I just want to go and be alone. Can't you respect that?"
"Yes, Ron, I can, but listen to me. Stay here and be alone, and when you need someone to talk to you will have Harry or Ginny. I'll promise to keep my distance," she said.
"Maybe, but could you just go away?" he asked. He was trying as hard as he could do not get angry and start screaming at her. He had been rejected and she wanted to talk about it!
"Yes, I'll go check on Harry and Ginny," she finally said, while turning to leave.
As she opened the door, she turned around and said, "Ron, I really am sorry." And with that she shut the door behind her.
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"LET ME DOWN!" screamed Ginny. "HOW DARE YOU USE THAT JINX ON ME!"
"You said you wanted to learn a cool spell, and that was the first one that came to mind," Harry told her, trying to keep from laughing. It was very funny to see Ginny hanging by her ankle, in mid air, with that shocked and angry face.
"JUST USE THE COUNTER-CURSE!" she hollered back.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about the counter-curse. I'm not sure if this is right, but I'll try," he told her, face screwed up as he was trying to remember.
"Oh yeah...it's nonverbal also, so yeah, I hope this works." LIBERACORPUS! he shouted inside his head.
"OUCH! THAT HURT!" Ginny screamed, after hitting the floor. "I said to not do anything harmful!"
"I didn't think it would be harmful," he told her. "The spell didn't throw you on the floor. That was just the effect of the spell. Anyways, you said you wouldn't get mad."
"I guess," she responded, not looking too happy at not being allowed to get mad. "But you still could have warned me."
"Yeah, I guess so, but then it wouldn't have been fun," he laughed. "Anyways, now you can use it on Ron or someone if they are bugging you."
"I guess. I'm not really in the mood to do spells anymore, though, so do you want to go to something else?" she asked, hoping it would be something more romantic. "Like..."
"Actually, if you don't mind....I'd like to duel someone," interrupted a girl from the hall. Hermione had been watching them for the last few minutes, and she wanted to give it a shot.
"There you are! I was starting to wonder where you and Ron had gotten off to," said Harry.
"We just had to talk about things," Hermione said. "He stayed upstairs to think some other things through."
"Oh, alright, I guess I could duel you," said Harry, "if Ginny doesn't mind. She was saying something when you came in."
"No, I don't mind. Actually, I'll duel you, Hermione. Harry probably needs a rest," Ginny told them.
"I'm not tired! Anyways, weren't you tired of spells?" Harry asked.
"I'm all better now," she replied. I'm so sick and tired of Hermione interrupting everything. It's always Hermione this and Hermione that. Well, today it's going to be Ginny, not Hermione, thought Ginny. I'm going to take her out of the picture today!
"Umm, okay, then. What level spells?" asked Ginny.
"Nothing too harmful. I guess intermediate spells, maybe a few advanced," Hermione said, starting to get a little uneasy from Ginny's icy tone. "I studied healing spells and have some potions ready, so we should be okay."
Yes, of course you did, thought Ginny. "That really was a wonderful idea. You are always prepared for everything. Should we get started?"
"Yeah, I'll watch and make sure everything is fair," piped up Harry. He wasn't sure what Ginny's problem was, but he hoped she would calm down. "Now bow and both of you back down to the other sides of the room.
"Okay," he said when they had both retreated to the appropriate distances, "three...two..."
And that was when it all started when Ginny cast her infamous Bat Bogey Hex a little too early.
"PROTEGO!" yelled Hermione from the other side of the room, looking shocked and a little angry. I can't believe she did that. Luckily my Shield Charm blocked it, thought Hermione as she yelled, "CONFUNDO!"
Ginny easily dodged the returned spell, but the Confundus Charm almost hit her. She threw herself on the ground and screamed, "REDUCTO!"
Harry couldn't believe it. It seemed like Ginny was more trying to hurt Hermione then win the duel. It made him proud to see Hermione dodge her spell and send two Reducto Curses in quick succession at Ginny in return, forcing Ginny to roll across the ground to dodge them.
"LOCOMOTOR MORTIS," Ginny shouted back and it unfortunately hit Hermione, locking her legs together. "STUPEFY," she shouted again while Hermione was down.
Hermione rolled to get away from the Stunning Spell and shouted, "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS! FINITE INCANTATEM," she then shouted, while pointing her wand at her legs, ending the Leg-Locker Curse.
"FURNUNCULUS!" Ginny shouted, while diving sideways from Hermione's jinx, but she aimed very badly and didn't get even close. Hermione's body would not be breaking out into boils today. By the time she got up Hermione had sent a Stunning Spell at her, which she then had to dodge.
"AVIS," Hermione said again, while Ginny rolled away. She could have easily just won but she was mad and wanted to play. She also wasn't ready to give up a way of getting out her frustration and anger over Ron and her dad. This was a good outlet.
When Ginny got up she saw birds flying in the air but didn't pay any attention, she narrowed her eyes and shot an Incendio Spell at Hermione, which was easily put out with an extinguishing spell.
"OPPUGNO," Hermione shouted, waiting to see what Ginny would do.
What does that spell do? Ginny wondered, but understood when a dozen birds suddenly shot at her face. "INCENDIO!" she shouted, but it only killed two, and then they were upon her.
I do feel a little bad, thought Hermione while laughing, but she asked for it. Should I end it now, she thought to herself a few moments later. I guess I should, those birds are scratching her face.
"IMPEDIMENTA," Hermione shouted at the whole scene, causing them to all slow down. "EXPELLIARMUS!" she shouted, causing Ginny's wand to fly from her hand. "Accio," Hermione then said, causing Ginny's wand to fly into her left hand. "Finite Incantatem," she said, without yelling, finishing the duel. She walked over to help Ginny up because she had fallen over while ducking. "Episkey," she said to mend Ginny's cuts. "Tergeo," she added to get the blood off.
"Thanks, Hermione. That was a good duel. Congratulations," Ginny said, although she could tell Hermione didn't believe her sincerity. She knew Hermione could tell she wasn't very happy about losing.
"Ginny, is something the matter?" Hermione asked.
"No, why would you think that?" Ginny asked, slightly sarcastically.
"Harry," Hermione said, turning towards him, "would you please give us a minute alone?"
"Yeah, I guess. Do you know where Ron is?" he asked them.
"Yes, I do," responded Hermione. "But he said he wanted to be alone for awhile, so it might be better to do something else."
"Okay, I'll go fix some lunch or something," Harry said, while leaving the room.
"Okay, Ginny, out with it. What's your problem?" Hermione asked.
"It's nothing, Hermione. I was just trying to look good for Harry. He mentioned early that the D.A. was going to be different and the top people would be the elite," Ginny lied.
"Oh, okay...if that's all," Hermione said, not sure if Ginny was telling the truth or not. But the reason did seem justified. Harry had mentioned it earlier when they arrived. "Would you like some lunch?"
"Yeah, please. I'm ravenous," Ginny responded. She was glad Hermione had accepted her answer.
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Later that night, they had all retired to the living room to talk and mess around and wait for Fawkes' arrival in half an hour. Ron had come out of hiding about an hour before and seemed to be keeping everything together. They were getting along fine, even though Ron and Hermione seemed to barely talk to one another.
"Do you think Marietta still has the word Snitch written across her face?" Ron asked.
"They might have gotten it off, but I doubt it. They hadn't found a cure before we left school, and Madam Pomfrey is the best around. I don't even think Dumbledore knows the answer, or he would have done something by now."
"Oh, I doubt they know the correct counter-jinx, considering I created that spell on my own," Hermione said. "I've been working on that a lot lately, actually."
"Oh my god, Hermione, really?" asked Ginny, shocked and surprised.
"Yeah," Hermione answered, "why?"
"I remember Dad talking about it once," she replied. "He had been talking about how there were always so many shortages in the Department of Mysteries. Something to do with being able to create spells and how only some of the smartest witches and wizards could do it. How many have you created?"
"Oh, I didn't know that," Hermione said. "Well, that was my fourth attempt at creating a spell. The other three didn't work and when we came up with the D.A., I thought it would be good to have a clever spell for punishment. I looked in the library but everything was so obvious and could be countered so simply, so I just decided to create one."
"I wish I could create spells," Harry said. "It would be useful to have an upper hand every now and then."
"You never know until you try. I wasn't for sure if I could at first either. I could try and teach you later, if you want," she informed him. "We have tons of time here anyways. We can do it after your tutoring in Potions or something."
"Harry, can I have a word?" interrupted Ron.
"Yeah, in a moment," he responded. "Hermione, I would love that! When can we start?"
"I'm not sure. Let me make sure I can actually do this by creating another spell, and if I can, I'll tell you. I'm afraid it was just a fluke."
"I doubt it," Ginny said. "You have to be extremely smart and also figure out how to balance the spell, otherwise it won't work. There's something else but I can't remember what Dad said."
"Oh, that part was easy. I just thought about what I wanted done and how I could describe that in a spell. Then I thought about it for awhile. I needed the perfect name for the spell I was creating, and I came up with Papule Snitch. It surprised me how easy it was. So, I tried it, but it didn't work. You have to find out the correct wand-movement also. That's where I had a little trouble. I had never read a book that shows you how to find out a wand movement for a new spell. They always just tell you what's right for which spell. I was stuck. I searched for weeks and still couldn't find anything, so I asked Professor McGonagall, who brought me to Professor Dumbledore. He told me it was more of a mental connection to the spell and that I needed to just mediate on it."
"And that worked?" asked Harry.
"Not at first. I sat in my dormitory for hours just thinking about what the spell meant and how I could focus the words into my wand and it just came to me. It was sort of a jab, like you were placing the pimples on the person's face. Watch, I'll show you," Hermione said. "It's difficult to explain. Ginny, come here."
"No, I will not. I'm not getting pimples put on my face!" Ginny exclaimed.
"I can take them back off. The first thing I did was come up with a counter-curse before I jinxed that paper," said Hermione. "I promise."
"Oh, fine," Ginny said reluctantly. "But don't you dare write something mean."
"I won't. Stand in the middle of the room, behind the coffee table," Hermione directed. She was a little nervous to be showing off her spell to others. "Okay, three, two, one...PAPULE WEASLEY!"
And, sure enough, when the beam of light hit Ginny, the word Weasley was spelled across her face. She shrieked when she saw herself in the mirror and demanded them be taken off. She turned around and waited in the corner because the guys were laughing at her hysterically.
"PAPULE ELIMANITUS," screamed Hermione. "See, you swish and jab. You swish on the first word and jab on the second word. Who wants to try?"
"I would, but do you mind if me and Harry have a word first?" asked Ron. He refused to look at Hermione while he asked.
"Umm, yeah, sure," Hermione replied uncertainly. She assumed the subject was going to be her. "I'll show Ginny how to do the curse on me."
"Thanks," Ron said hurriedly. "Come on, Harry."
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"Ron, what's the matter?" asked Harry. "You seem really nervous about something."
"Remember that word I had wanted with you when we arrived?" asked Ron. When Harry continued to look blankly, Ron continued. "Well, it concerned Hermione, and how I feel about her. I wanted you to tell me if you thought it was a good idea or not, and when we didn't get a chance to talk I went ahead and did it. I told her exactly how I feel and everything."
"When?" asked Harry, more than a little surprised.
"When you and Ginny were dueling, I was talking to Hermione," he responded. "I told her everything, Harry. I told her how I felt about her and what I had hoped would happen. And guess what?"
"What, Ron?" Harry said quietly, afraid to know the truth. Had Hermione said the same thing back? I don't know if I could deal with that, he thought.
"She said no. She crushed me. She basically said we argue too much and we couldn't make a relationship work between us. It hurts, Harry. I have never felt this bad before. I don't know what to do anymore. She asked me to stay but I had to be alone, and I have to know something, Harry. Will you promise to tell the truth?" pleaded Ron. "It's just something I need confirmation on."
"Sure, Ron. You can always ask me anything," Harry told him.
"How do you feel about Hermione?" asked Ron. "Is there something going on between you guys?"
"Ron, why do you need to know that?" asked Harry. He couldn't believe this was the question Ron wanted to ask him.
"Harry, you promised. Just tell me the truth," Ron pleaded. He needed to know if Harry was the one stopping Hermione from loving him.
"Ron," started Harry. "I am so sorry. But, yes, I do like Hermione."
~~~
Author's notes: I'd once again like to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews. Sorry for those of you who didn't appreciate the last cliffhanger. Not sure how much you will like this one either. Do please review! Your views really do matter. I respond to everyone and have even gone back and edited bits of the story.
-EthanG
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