A/N: So, here it is! A new chapter at last, it only took me a couple of years… But I really don't plan on letting such a long time go by again before updating. This chapter doesn't offer much plot progression but I wrote to get back into the story and the characters, so I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless. And I must warn you guys of a few things. First of all I wrote this before DH came out, so I really didn't know the final verdict on Snape or many things for that matter! But even after he killed Dumbledore in HBP, I still thought that there was some reason for Dumbledore's trust in him, and as we found out there was, but I didn't know any of this when I mapped out the story, so I'm still deciding how to mix in canon with my story. Don't worry there won't be any camping trips involved, hehe ;)
And forgive me for any typos (I read this over many, many times but that doesn't guarantee I caught everything!). I have no beta (and have found a search for one fruitless), so please don't tell me over and over in the reviews that I need one if there are errors! Thanks all!
Well, here we go!
Disclaimer: Canon plot and all characters property of J.K. Rowling, I make no claim to any of them. All hers!
Chapter 15 - Breaking Points
Hermione, Harry, and Ron sat at a table in the Gryffindor common room taking advantage of one of their free periods before their next class to catch up on the massive loads of work they were being assigned in addition to having to worry about N.E.W.T.s Hermione was fairly undaunted by the prospect of so much work, but her two best friends were not quite so pleased their extra studying and effort that was being required of them, particularly Ron whose mind was far more occupied with Quidditch.
At the moment said redhead was more engrossed in the candy he was snacking quite noisily on, some of his left over treats from their last trip to Honeydukes. He moaned and cursed loudly as a couple of his Fizzing Whizbees fell to the floor, scaring an especially small First Year who had been hurrying past them at that moment. Hermione shot a look of exasperation over at him.
"Oy, what's your problem today, Hermione?" he protested as he looked up and noticed her cross expression.
"My problem, hmmm well, perhaps it would be the fact that you're chewing more loudly that a pack of mountain trolls having supper while some of us are trying to study things other than how much candy we can consume without becoming severely ill," she snapped at him, coming off a bit more nastily than she had intended. She was quite worried about what Draco was up to and about Harry as well, he didn't seem to be handling the situation well lately and his mood was being to grate on her already frazzled nerves. She was certain that Snape not seeming to be involved had thrown him for a bit of a loop. The result was that she was very short-tempered.
Ron looked sufficiently cowed by her words and hastily grabbed a textbook out of his bag and attempted to look engrossed in it. He made a show of dramatically scribbling on a piece of parchment, as if furiously at work on an essay, though none too convincingly considering the fact that the book he was meant to be get information from was upside down and on a page with more pictures than text. When Hermione finally looked away and went back to her own studies, he dropped his quill and leaned across the table, trying to get his best mate's attention.
"Harry!" he called in a loud whisper but he didn't respond to Ron. Frowning Ron grabbed a piece of his candy and threw and Harry who it hit squarely in the forehead just a couple inches from his infamous lightening scar. Harry finally looked up and glared at his friend who smiled sheepishly.
"I think Hermione got her monthly gift or something if you know what I mean, Harry. I just thought I should warn you, watch out mate! She's acting fairly mental today even for her that is."
Hermione slammed the book she had been looking through to find research for a History of Magic paper shut. Being particularly old it let out a cloud of dust along with a loud thump. Ron jumped and nearly fell out of his chair in addition to choking on some of the dust.
"Ronald, I heard that. Believe it or not, you weren't being quite as stealthy as you thought you were. I think that you should have just perhaps passed a note to Harry instead of your failed attempt at whispering and your candy assault on him."
Ron glared and Hermione out of the corner of his eyes but pretended not to hear her and kicked Harry's shin under the table, trying to get back his full attention.
Harry looked up from his Potions book and grimaced at Ron and rubbed his now bruised shin. He was still trying to make the essay Snape had set as a punishment just a little bit longer and the last thing he wanted to deal with was a bickering match between Ron and Hermione and he didn't especially wanted to think about some particularly intimate details about his girlfriend this very minute. He was barely able to focus on school work as it was these days.
"Sod off Ron," Harry mumbled in irritation.
"Bloody hell, you're both in a mood aren't you? In fact I think Snape's company would be even more pleasant than being around the two of you."
"Why don't you go down to the dungeons and bond with him then?" Hermione retorted, her brown eyes flashing. She looked over at Ron's progress on the homework he was supposedly working on and frowned in disapproval. "How is that I have two essays for Professor Snape finished and you haven't even started one of yours, hmm?"
She looked over at Harry and Ron's lack of motivation immediately slipped her mind. Her expression went from one of frustration to concern. Harry wasn't working on anything resembling school work either now, but she knew that far bigger problems were weighing down on his mind than Ron's and distracting him.
"Harry, are you okay?" she whispered, gently laying her hand on his arm.
"Yeah, fine, completely fine. I'm just trying to get this essay done for Snape," he replied a little brusquely, jerking his arm away from her touch.
Hermione pulled her hand back hastily, looking quite hurt.
"Sorry, I asked," she snapped, her wounded feelings turning into annoyance. She went back to the essay she had been working on but wrote so hard that her quill was destroying the piece of parchment.
Harry felt immediately remorseful when he looked up and saw how much he had upset her. None of his problems were Hermione's fault after all; he just had the tendency, even now, to want to push away those close to him when things weren't going well in his life. He was just so frustrated with everything lately.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I'm just overtired or something I guess," he said apologetically, though he knew it sounded.
Her expression softened slightly, but her feelings were still slightly bruised. This hadn't been the first time that Harry had acted like this in the last several days, not just towards her but to everyone. She knew that he wanted to get everything sorted out with the Malfoy issue but couldn't understand what was with him lately. It wasn't as if it was a new development.
"It's fine, Harry, really," she replied, not meeting his eyes as she knew her own would betray the fact that it was not alright.
He didn't seem to notice this and went back to his essay. Hermione sighed and stared out the window for a moment and frowned. Even with Voldemort gone, it didn't change the fact that Harry was still Harry and right now his was displaying signs of vintage Harry angst and his short temper. Maybe Ron had stood for and Ginny had put up with it, but Hermione Granger wouldn't, especially now that she was Harry's girlfriend.
"Well, I think I'm going to go to the library for a while and get some more serious studying done. I need a couple more books for my Ancient Runes essay anyway. I only have 20 or so sources I've used. I think I could find more," she told Harry and Ron, getting up from her chair and stretching out her stiff back before bending down and picking up her book bag. She tossed several heavy looking tomes in it before taking of out of the portrait hole without another word to either of the boys.
Quite a few other students were in the room, and after Hermione's disappearance several of the girls began some very lively whispering to each other. Harry tried to ignore them.
Ron frowned, looking quite puzzled about her sudden disappearance.
"See I told you something was off with her today, completely mental," he told Harry shaking his head in bewilderment. For Ron women were a never ending mystery.
"No, no I've upset her, I should really go talk to her," Harry said, staring down at one of the books open in front of him, the text blurring into a mass of nonsense before his eyes, refusing to focus on the task.
"I don't think that's a good plan; remember those canaries she set on me when she was jealous of me and Lavender? She's probably moved onto bigger birds now, I'd just let her settle down or something. She can have a right nasty temper," he advised, taking a large bite of a licorice wand and then proceeding to wave it around for emphasis as he spoke.
"Thanks for the warning mate, but I really do need to sort things out with her. And uh, I hope she saved the canaries just for you and doesn't use them on anyone else. Besides I don't think I should really be following your advice when it comes to Hermione. You two didn't stay together for all that long."
Ron frowned and stared down at his Potions book.
Harry jumped to his feet and grabbed his bag, throwing the books nearest to him in and taking off, hoping to be able to catch up with Hermione.
Despite the fact that he had taken off after barely two minutes after she had left, Harry wasn't able to catch up with her until half way to the library. Knowing Hermione she probably knew some secret shortcut that she'd read about in Hogwarts a History which she'd read to death.
Rather than looking pleased that he had followed her she looked more annoyed with him than when he'd left, and almost sad too.
"Come on, Hermione. Talk to me, what's wrong? I may be love dense, but I clearly said or did something to upset you, I know it!" he said gently grabbing her by the shoulders and making her look at him when she turned to keep walking instead of stopping to listen to him.
"Harry, really, can we talk about this later? I told you I'm busy," she told him evasively, refusing to meet his gaze.
"No, we can't. Come on Hermione!"
She finally met his eyes, after chewing on her lip for a couple moments while she mulled over things she finally replied, "No, I really was serious when I said that have some work to get done. I'll talk to you after classes are over, after dinner. I promise."
"Fine, that's fine," he replied with a sigh, starting to feel as irritated with her as he sensed she was with him.
Girls…
Harry didn't see Hermione again until dinner, at least not directly because she avoided him in the rest of their classes, even going so far as sitting next to Neville in Potions. This choice backfired on her quite badly though when Neville's failed potion began making a stink so bad that it nearly caused everyone sitting nearby to pass out before Hermione recovered and Scourgified his cauldron.
Harry did not have such a successful class either, as he messed up any easy potion that they had learned back in their third year and were making to review for N.E.W.T.s. because his mind was so occupied with Hermione and his other worries. Professor Snape had looked inordinately pleased; in fact he'd managed a rather satisfied smirk, as he looked over into Harry's cauldron, having been rather unsatisfied with Harry's significantly improved working in Potions so far this semester.
Hermione arrived at dinner somewhat late that night, with a rather downtrodden look on her face, and she took a seat across from Ron instead of Harry. Further down Lavender and another girl giggled and began whispering across the table, but loud enough for Hermione to know it was about her and Harry.
She pushed the food around on her plate, not really caring much to eat now. Clearly word about her little disagreement with Harry had gotten around the school. She'd seen how all the single girls had suddenly begun to get bolder around Harry than they'd been since word was first out that Hermione and Harry were dating. Apparently the gossip had morphed the real story into them having a bitter breakup rather than a small row.
"So, do you think you're going to get back with Harry now? I always thought you guys were just the cutest couple," Lavender boldly asked Ginny who was sitting just a seat over from Hermione. Lavender feigned embarrassment when she saw Hermione look up, even though she had been intentionally aloud for her to hear.
"Oh, sod off, Lavender," Ginny replied, glaring at Lavender and her giggling friends. She was not in the mood to be toyed with anymore than Hermione was.
"Oh, we're just having a little funny. Harry's quite the catch you no. Can't believe you ever let him go. Although you had him longer than Granger," Lavender replied, as she twirled her hair an insipid smile plastered on her face.
That was it! Hermione stood up suddenly, her wand drawn and Lavender's face went white. Before she could doing anything rash and very un-Hermione like though, she felt someone's strong arms holding her against them and forcing her wand arm down. She looked up to see that it was Harry, who looked as furious as she felt. Ron was looking on, too surprised by the whole scene to continue eating for the moment.
"Lavender shut-up. You're nothing more than a pathetic tramp. It's not her fault that you've scared all the boys you've dated away," Harry said, glaring over at her. "You deserve whatever hex Hermione had planned, the only reason I stopped her was so that she wouldn't get punished."
Hermione, who he was holding closely against his chest, felt him inhale and exhale deeply before looking down at her.
"Can we talk now?" he whispered, his expression.
"Yes!" she replied heartily and followed him out of the Great Hall, dozens of pairs of eyes staring curiously at them as they exited.
Hermione made sure to shot a couple of them the evil eye. She breathed a huge sigh of relief once they were free of everyone's prying eyes and morbid curiosity. If it one thing Hogwarts students loved it was gossip. And it had gotten out of control this year it seemed.
She followed Harry to one of the least traversed hallways and took a seat on one of the benches near an old tapestry. He sat next to her and caught her of guard by gently taking her face in his hands and kissing her soundly. After a few moments he let her go, leaving her breathless.
"Wow, I think we should have an encore in the Great Hall," she said, laughing weakly. Harry smiled her favorite lopsided grin.
"Hermione, I'm really sorry. I know I've been an absolute git, and there's no excuse for it."
She gentled squeezed his hand. "No, there definitely is no excuse for it! I know this situation with Malfoy is just the sort of rubbish you didn't want marring your last Voldemort free year at Hogwarts, but we'll get through it. It'll work out, you'll see. And it will have a far better chance if you don't have a self-pitying attitude."
"Yeah, you're right, Hermione. Who knows, maybe Snape will save the day, he can toss one of my rubbish potions on Malfoy and the former Death Eaters and just take care of the whole thing," Harry joked grimly.
Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled. "Crazier things have happened at Hogwarts."
She and Harry burst into laughter and Harry kissed her again.