Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of HP but I do own this little plot.
Author's note: This is my fave chapter to write because I've been planning it out for a really long time. For Wanying dearest who took me to the sick bay when I fell sick. Her favourite guy's name is Jesse who coincidentally happens to be the Quidditich Captain of the Falcons! Enjoy!
Alright. Surprised her with a bouquet of roses at work? Or simply showed up at her doorstep, unannounced with a pair of tickets to Celestina Warbeck's latest concert? Good. We're slowly getting to the first important milestone: telling her how you feel about her. But let's take it nice and slow. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Let's move on to the fourth step, shall we?
4. Dispel all her insecurities.
This is a very important step that all wizards seem to neglect at one point of time or another. Witches, no matter how successful or pretty they are will have their moments of insecurity, disbelief that they are really as good as others make them out to be. And you, my friend, will be the one to dispel those unfounded fears and win her over.
The first thing to do is to watch out for signs. Are her eyes downcast, or even red-rimmed? Is her voice faint and her answers monosyllabic? Observe her body language; remain on the alert at all times. If she exhibits any of these signs, take her aside and ask her gently what's wrong. Be sure to maintain this gentle tone with her in her state of vulnerability.
If she wants to be left alone, which is quite common for the first reaction, try again. If she still insists on being left alone, respect her wishes but let her know that you are here if she wants to talk. If she tells you that she thinks she's ugly/ unsuccessful/ mean, and if she is, quite plainly the opposite of what she's just described, tell her that and mean it.
Any witch can discern from your voice whether you truly mean what you say so be sure to really mean it. If what she's feeling insecure about is true, comfort her in a nice way, and bring up something that she's good at to boost her up. Every and any witch will have their moments and you need to catch those moments to be the one she can lean on.
So go out there and chase those insecurities away from her!
-12 Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches, Chapter 4, Moments of Insecurity
"Where is she?" Ron burst out, pacing the length of the marble foyer, his newly purchased loafers making a squeaking noise with every step he took, glancing at his watch with a look of impatience on his face. "It's already 7.30 and she said she'd be here by 7.15!" He continued his pacing in the greatest state of agitation. "If she doesn't get here in five minutes time, we're going in without her. The ball's already started."
"Relax, Ron." Harry assured the redhead, casting an almost worried glance at the entrance of the building where a few reporters and cameramen were still lurking, hopefully for a picture of the trio and other guests. "Hermione said she'd be here. Maybe she got held up at work. You know they've just made that breakthrough on finding the cure for that disease today, it would be hard for her to leave after finally getting something to work on after so long." But even as he said this, his brow furrowed slightly. Hermione was very absorbed in her work at times but it was very rarely did she turn up late for an event, especially one as important as this. He leaned against the pale white wall and shook back the sleeve of his jacket, looking at his watch once again.
The trio had been invited to the ball that the Ministry of Magic was throwing to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the death of Voldermort. Seeing as how the trio had played the biggest role in leading to the demise of Voldermort they were, to be the guests of honor at this event and were forced to accept this occasion which would require them to wear formal robes, (which met with the groans of Harry and Ron) as well as involve an inane amount of smiling at complete strangers and being forced to listen to others gushing over how brave they had been in the war, how courageous and the like.
It would take nothing short of a miracle for Harry to survive the night, especially since he had been the one to actually duel with Voldemort which meant double the attention, and double the gushing. He prayed that the Ministry would not make this a yearly affair, if not he would migrate to somewhere far away, like Siberia or something.
Just then Ron stopped in his tracks and gaped at the vague direction of the entrance. Harry's head immediately swiveled his head in that direction too and it was all he could do not to gape in both amazement and astonishment.
Hermione had appeared and was now walking towards the building, her face lowered slightly, away from the harsh glares of the camera bulbs that were flashing furiously with loud pops. She was walking hurriedly, her face showing no hint of a real smile, but rather a small one, a polite one that was for the benefit of the cameras and Harry could see why.
She looked gorgeous, her jade dress highlighting her curves in the most flattering fashion that Harry had ever seen, the second layer above the full skirt being made of some translucent, floaty material that had elegant spirals of green, sparkling glitter spreading from the pleats of the gown that dragged slightly on the floor. From her ears, dangled two simple yet tasteful emerald diamonds that offset the entire effect of the dress.
But that was not what Harry was focusing on.
He stared in shock at her hair, or what had been her hair for lack of a word. Her hair had been cut, just today, he guessed, in a hairstyle that vaguely resembled a bob, the longest strands of her hair being able to touch her collarbone and the rest behind cut in a slanting fashion. Her hair was now very much curlier that before for some reason and it looked slightly…
"Awful!" Ron seemed to be thinking along the same thoughts as Harry as he watched Hermione hastily enter the building, but thankfully Hermione had not heard that particular comment as she hurried towards them, not meeting their eyes.
"Sorry I'm late." She took both of their elbows and propelled them towards the large ballroom a distance away, her head still lowered slightly. Her voice was quiet and was shaking slightly, nearly on the edge of tears. "Let's go in now."
Harry frowned down at her in concern but Ron did not seem to hear that odd timbre in her voice because he stopped in mid-way and asked, "What in the name of Merlin, have you done to your hair?"
This made Hermione look down completely at the floor but she continued to yank the both of them ahead, "I cut it." Her voice was brittle, and held an almost imperceptible note of warning not to probe. "We'll talk about that later." Over her head, Harry shot Ron a glare that made Ron raise his other free hand in defeat and roll his eyes heavenwards.
"Hermione…" Harry began, but she cut him off so abruptly that even he was shocked into silence.
"I don't want to hear anymore about my hair." They stopped in front of the closed doors from which the strains of music could be heard as well as the gentle murmur of polite conversation. "Let's just get this over with."
She lifted her head and pasted on a smile, one that did nothing to hide the embarrassment and the misery in her eyes. Harry looked down at her, stricken by her apparent shame at her appearance, his heart constricting almost involuntarily at her pain.
"Hermione…" He tried again, more hesitantly this time, but now she had pushed the door open to a blinding white spotlight on all of them.
Immediately, he forced an obligatory smile as he entered the room, with Hermione's arm threaded through his and Ron's. He gave small nods, uncomfortable smiles to the sea of faces that had stood from their seats and were now clapping enthusiastically for the three of them. He heard how the murmurs had now swelled, how some witches were whispering to one another, their eyes flirting back from Hermione's hair and away when they noticed Harry looking at them.
But Hermione didn't seem to notice it, her smile still ever-fixed on her face but Harry could tell that it was stiffening with every step they took into the room. Finally, finally they reached their table, which was of course at the front of the room together with all the remaining members of the Order. Harry's smile then melted into a real one, as he looked around at all those familiar faces, the warm smiles of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the tanned face of Kingsley, the dreamy expression that belonged to Luna the radiant beam on Ginny's face.
He seated himself at Ginny's motion to her right and Ron sat in his left, with Hermione beside him. Ginny looked very nice too, Harry had to admit. Her long, straight auburn hair had been charmed into gentle curls that cascaded down her back and she was dressed in a simple black dress with a rather low neckline. Diamond earrings sparkled from her ears and her best features were highlighted in light make-up. He smiled then at her and she smiled back, reaching out to take his hand in hers beneath the tablecloth. His smile, faded slightly at her gesture. It felt wrong to be holding her hand for some reason.
But before he could even extricate his hand from her grasp, the food had arrived and the gentle classical music began to play, lilting and soft, blending in with the gentle clink of champagne flutes and polite conversation at each table. Glad for a reason to remove his hand from hers, he took a sip of his champagne which had been magically filled when he had seated himself and picked up a fork to take a bite of the filet mignon that had appeared on his plate as well.
He looked over at Hermione constantly throughout the course of the dinner, trying to catch her eye and give her a smile but her head was always lowered to her cutlets and she barely participated in the conversation, giving short answers to some of the questions asked by Kingsley and Mr. Weasley about the scenario at St. Mungos' now.
What Ginny had been saying was simply flowing over his head as he silently willed her to look up at him, he nodded absently in response to some of Ginny's questions, giving her monosyllabic answers as well and rarely looking at her, intent on getting Hermione to look at him. He knew that everybody at the table was trying to avoid conversing about her obvious change in appearance but still it hung awkwardly in the air.
When the dessert appeared, Hermione seemed to be unable to take anymore and getting up from her chair, she whispered something into Ron's ear and excused herself from the table without a backward glance. People were looking at her as she rapidly made her way out of the ballroom, knowing but malicious smiles of pleasure on some of the faces of the witches. Harry's insides seethed at this sight and as tempted as he was to throw down his napkin and go after her, he knew that probably she would need sometime on her own and that he too would go after her later. Carefully, forcing yet another smile, he took a bite of his dessert while listening to Ginny talk about her new job at the Daily Prophet.
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Hermione walked out of the ballroom and towards the ladies, wanting to find someplace quiet to compose herself before trying to make it through the last phase of that dinner. She could feel the burn of tears behind her eyelids and she roughly blinked them back, hoping that there would be no one in the bathroom at this time. All throughout dinner, she had felt Harry's piercing gaze on her, knowing that if she were to look at him, he would give her a caring smile, one that would probably have caused her to dissolve in tears right there and then.
She pushed open the heavy door of the toilet then, which was as luxuriously decorated as the entire building had been, a vision of marble and gold. Standing at the mirror she stared at the woebegone Hermione in the mirror and she felt tears blur her vision as she slowly raised one of her hands to touch the strands of hair that touched her collarbone. She looked horrible.
Just as she was about to leave, she heard someone talking vaguely from the direction of the cubicles and couldn't bring herself to walk away when she realized that they were talking about her. So she listened, tears filling her eyes momentarily as she listened to the two unknown voices conversing.
"Merlin, did you see her hair? It looks like she got into a fight with her hairdresser and the hairdresser won!" A voice trilled from the depths of the cubicle.
"Not the hairdresser," the other corrected, malice tingeing her voice, "I would say the hairdresser decided to go the unconventional and cut her hair with a pair of garden shears this time!" Their laughter echoed around the walls of the toilet, along with the sudden roaring in Hermione's ears.
"Oh well, what can you expect from her?" The first voice continued, the poison in her voice unmistakable by now. "It's not as if she can afford such high-grade haircuts with her job as a Healer. I mean, honestly."
Hermione wanted to shout something back at these women, but found herself unable to make any sound at all. She was unable to pull herself away from the conversation but could only stand there dumbly, listening to the two of them twitter on about her.
'True." The other agreed. "After all, its not as if she's got her looks going for her, obviously the only thing she's good for is her brains."
Hermione found the tears spilling down her face by now, hot liquid on her cold cheeks. She felt hurt beyond belief, physical pain coursing through her entire body. She couldn't believe that such women could say such horrible things about her behind her back.
But before she could even try to react to these words, she heard the lock of the cubicle clicking open and with that she fled in tears from the bathroom.
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Harry gave the entrance of the ballroom yet another worried look. Where was she? Why had she been gone so long? He looked over at Ron, hoping that the redhead had too noticed Hermione's apparent disappearance by now, but instead saw his best friend talking animatedly to the captain of the English Quidditich team, the Falmouth Falcons, Jesse Wright. He sighed in exasperation. Merlin, Ron could be so dense at times.
"That's nice." He told Ginny absently as he stood abruptly in the middle of her sentence, causing her and the rest of the table to look at him in surprise. "But would you excuse me for a second?"
Without waiting for an answer, he strode out of the ballroom, curious glances following him as well but he ignored those, intent on finding Hermione. He stopped outside the ladies, before politely asking one of the witches that had just emerged to check if Hermione was inside. The witch appeared with a regretful smile, saying that no, Hermione was not in there. Harry thanked her and with that decided to look for her. She couldn't have left the place, not in the middle of such a big event without notice and so he proceeded to look for her.
He exited the building by the back door, realizing that the building was actually built on a hill. As he began his perilous descent down the grassy knoll, he spotted a small figure, huddled up by the edge of a magnificent lake, her jade skirts blending in almost perfectly with the grasses that were swaying, whispering in the night breeze.
He approached her cautiously and seated himself next to her. Her shoulders shook with quiet sobs and his heart constricted once again in despair at her anguish. He was quiet and did not say anything, simply letting her cry as the grasses continued to rustle in the cool night air, the sound having an almost soothing effect on Hermione.
When the sounds of her sobs had died away, he shifted himself such that his arm touched hers and asked quietly what had been the matter. She was able to relate the matter to him after a while, between some hiccups and stifled sobs, a few tears still flowing down her cheeks, washing away the make-up that she had so carefully applied.
When she had finished, Harry was silent, but inside he was furious that such people could actually say such horrible, untrue things about Hermione who was both pretty and clever. He swallowed instinctively, hoping to swallow some of the intense anger in his voice before speaking over the gentle sounds of the grass fluttering in the wind.
"Look, Mione," He began, his jaw tensing slightly when he looked at her distraught face. "Don't believe them. You have so much going for you and it's not just your brains. You're smart, witty, funny, caring and most of all," He paused to emphasize his point with complete sincerity, "beautiful."
She looked up at him then, her face still slightly tear-streaked. "Do you really think so?" Her voice was tiny, unbelieving almost. "Do you actually think my hair looks nice?"
Harry was quiet, studying her upturned face that glowed in the moonlight. And now he could see what her haircut had done for her.
He saw how really big and luminescent her brown eyes were, how there were flecks of amber reflected in those eyes he knew so well. He saw the light dusting of freckles across her nose that he wouldn't have noticed until her haircut, how vulnerable it made her look, how it made him want to take care of her for the rest of his life and not let her get hurt ever again. He saw the milky, smoothness of her skin and her high cheekbones.
And then he spoke, conviction and the intensity of the emotion in his voice making her flush slightly at the simplicity of his statement.
"You look beautiful."
And she believed it, that she was beautiful, at least in his eyes.
She leaned her head against his shoulder willingly, shutting her hot and sore eyes to enjoy the gentle night breeze and smiled as his arm wrapped itself around her shoulder, pulling her to him as he stared out at the lake which was glittering in the moonlight.
And there they enjoyed the quiet serenity of the night together.
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Standing at the top of the knoll, Ginny blinked away the immediate tears. She could see how much he loved her, how he had tried so hard to catch her eye, how he had listened absently to her, never taking his eyes off her. How he had left so abruptly and how he had spoken to her with such deep caring in his eyes just now, and how naturally he had drawn her closer to him at the end.
She knew that his heart was no longer hers to have.
And with that, she turned her back on the two seated figures as she walked away.
OMG that was the longest I've ever written, my fingers are aching! Please review for this, it was my fave chapter to write!