A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update. My family just moved, so I didn't have time to write, plus I didn't have internet access for a while. I hope you enjoy this next installment though!
"Hermione, will you pass me the steak and kidney pie?" Harry asked, his plate piled high with about every dish there was on the table. I pushed the platter over towards him, and resumed the methodically swirling of my potatoes on my plate, trying work up the willpower to eat my lunch.
"Hermione, just take a bite. Remember the picture?" Harry admonished once again, pulling out the single event that shocked me back to myself.
"Okay," I replied slowly. My fork came up to my mouth as slowly as possible, with just a tiny bit of potato on the very end of it. I closed my eyes, trying not to think about the calories, fat, and other contents of the food, and took a quick bite. I swallowed quickly, then took a huge gulp of water to wash it down like it was some nasty medicine.
"I guess that's a start," Harry sighed.
I gave him a sorrowful look. "I don't think I can just go back to the way it was just in one day," I explained to him. "I want to eat right, I really do. It's just so hard to change."
"I know it must be hard Hermione, but I'm here for you," Harry replied with a smile. I returned his smile, then went for an unprompted bite of my chicken.
It had been three weeks since Harry had confronted me about my eating disorder; I was now recognizing it for what it was. The major problem was trying to combat the effects it had had on my mind, and my eating habits. Harry had been a major help through all this. But even he couldn't get me to overcome the delusions I had put in my mind about the food I ate.
"Hermione, it's not so hard. I don't know how you managed not to eat," Ron questioned me around half of his roll. I glared at him, half for his comment and half for his rude gesture.
"Ronald, in polite company, we chew and swallow our food before making a comment," I chastised his behavior.
"Sorry," he muttered, then took a big gulp as he swallowed the roll.
"What's wrong Granger? You afraid your food is going to attack you?" Draco sneered as he walked by. I felt a prickling behind my eyes and tried not to let the Slytherin see how he affected me.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry stood up and began to reach for his wand.
"You can't stand up for yourself anymore Mudblood? You have to have Potty fight for you?" Malfoy said with a smirk.
"Now you're just asking for a fight," Harry defended me, but hesitated to actually attack due to the full staff table that sat at the head of the hall. Most of the teachers seem to be observing the interchange very closer, ready to jump up at the first sign of a fight.
"Maybe we should settle this some other time. We never did get to our Wizard's Duel did we? Tonight, midnight, down at the Quidditch pitch," Malfoy said after glancing at the wary professors himself.
"I'll be there if you actually decide to show up this time," Harry replied, giving the staff table his own look.
As Malfoy walked off, I turned to Harry. "What do you think you're doing? You can't fight with Malfoy! He's a prefect, he could bring a Head student or teacher with him to get points docked for being outside after curfew!" I insisted, not wanting Harry to get into trouble because of me.
"Don't worry. Malfoy may suspect it, but he doesn't know for sure about my invisibility cloak. And I highly doubt he has a clue about the Map. If he comes with anyone other than his second, I'll just slip away, and let him get caught by another prefect," Harry explained, smiling at Ron, who, after Malfoy walked away, had returned to stuffing his face.
"You mean me?" he said around a whole drumstick.
Harry just nodded. "Hermione, you should eat that," he said, pointing at my pile of green beans. I smiled at Harry's plan, then proceeded to nibble at the vegetables.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At 11:45, I heard shuffling coming down from the boy's dormitory. I sat quietly in the corner of the deserted common room, determined not to let Harry and Ron head out without me.
"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Harry asked, pulling the cloak off to reveal him standing in the middle of the room.
"I'm not letting you go without some back-up. Plus, Ron and I can corroborate each other's story when McGonagall asks us about finding Malfoy at the Quidditch pitch," I interjected a voice of reason into my friends.
"Sounds good to me," Ron shrugged.
"We can't fit three people under the cloak anymore," Harry also reasoned.
"That's why I changed our rounds to include the pitch tonight. Ron and I are late for duty," I grinned at my friends, then pulled Ron towards me and we walked out of the common room, Ron pinning his prefect badge on his pajama top as we headed down the corridor. Harry pulled up beside us, and pulled his invisibility cloak up around himself.
We got to the pitch, and to my surprise, Malfoy was actually standing there, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him as usual.
"Potter decided to send you two to tell me he's too scared to show?" Draco sneered.
"No. Harry just didn't trust you enough to show up without some else to get him into trouble. Like back in first year?" I reminded Malfoy about his cowardly attempt to put Filch on Harry's trail.
A short moment later, Harry appeared from behind a pillar. I questioned him silently if others were present, and he answered me with a nod and smile.
"Let's get this over with," Harry muttered, and pulled out his wand.
"Which is your second?" Draco asked. "I don't want to be double-teamed after I get you."
"Ron. And yours?"
"Goyle."
"Good." The two combatants stood about twenty paces away from one another. Surprisingly, they both remembered the niceties Lockhart had taught us back in second year, and bowed to one another. That was the kindest gesture offered before the curses began to fly.
"Reducto!" Malfoy cried out. At the exact same moment, Harry fired off the Jelly-Legs jinks. Malfoy began to wobble around as Harry dodge the reductor curse.
Colored lights lit up the field, with neither attacker gaining any advantage. The duel was dragging on to a full hour when Draco seemed to have gotten desperate.
"Cru-" he began, when a large hand came down on his shoulder.
"Wha' do you lot think you're doin'?" Hagrid questioned the group. Harry lowered his wand quickly, looking sheepishly at his giant friend. Ron and I both began to sputter out excuses, while Draco looked quite scared under Hagrid's trashcan lid sized hands.
"It's nearly one in the mornin'. You all get up to the castle now, and I'll only take ten points from each o' you. Now get," Hagrid commanded in his gruff voice. I had never heard him use such a stern tone of voice, even when he chastised us for some of the thing we had gotten into in the past.
"Sorry Hagrid," Harry, Ron and I murmured in unison, before following the retreating Slytherins into the school.
"You're lucky Hagrid came when he did," I murmured to Harry.
"Yeah, but didn't he hear what Malfoy was about to do? He deserved detention, at least," Ron mentioned vehemently.
"Ron, we're lucky we didn't get detention. What does it look like, when three prefects get detention for being out of bounds?" I reasoned. We walked up the steps, and I began to get really woozy.
"Harry, Ron, I…" I stopped, and began to wobble, dangerously close to passing out.
"Hermione!" They both ran towards me, and helped me to gently sit on the stone steps.
"When was the last time you ate?" Harry asked pointingly.
"Dinner," I mentioned quickly.
"And how much did you eat?" Harry asked again. I slowly ticked off a short list of what I had eaten that night.
Harry consulted the Map quickly, then muttered, "in for a penny, in for a pound. Why don't we take a short trip to the kitchens before bed?" he added louder.
"Sure!" Ron replied excitedly, and looked as if he was about to run off towards the fruit bowl painting. He stopped short, and aided Harry as he helped me get slowly to my feet.
"I just need a little snack," I murmured, but Harry was ignoring me.
"Mister Potter, sir. Dobby is most pleased to see you again!" the house-elf mumbled from around Harry's waist. He gave a sheepish smile, then pulled the small slave away from him.
"What can Dobby get for Mister Harry Potter?" he looked at Harry with admiration shining in his eyes. Harry looked at me, ignoring Ron as he rattled off a list longer than his last potions essay of food that Dobby could get him.
As I contemplated, my stomach growled, and I realized just how hungry I was. "Do you have any lasagna left from dinner?" I asked, the craving suddenly hitting me. Dobby scampered off, and returned with a full, steaming pan of the pasta dish.
"Thank you Dobby," I replied, and grabbed a fork for myself and Harry. We sat at the replica Gryffindor table, and tucked in. Harry and I talked as we ate away at the pan. During a break in our conversation, I looked down and realized that I had eaten at least a third of the pan so far.
"What? When did I eat so much?" I questioned.
"You tend to eat more when you're not so focused on your food. How do you feel?" Harry asked.
I paused a moment, then gave Harry a huge grin. "I feel full!" I replied with excitement. I had not felt this full, or this good, since I began my crazy diet.
"See? You just need to forget that you're eating, and listen to your body. It will tell you when it's had enough."
I smiled at Harry. "Thank you." I leaned over the table to give him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Oy, what are you two doing? Don't you know there're children in here?" Ron said with a mouth full of potatoes.
"Swallow," I replied, not breaking eye contact with Harry as we smiled at one another.
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