A/N: Well, I needed to take a slight break from Return to Me, you guys know how it gets from time to time…. so I got this idea tonight and decided to write it for you guys. I hope you enjoy it. Remember to read and review, not flame! :)
OMG was Star Wars not just simply and totally amazing? I wont' spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but YODA! He ROCKS! If anyone wants to see me and Lily cat dressed to kill, as Amidala and a Jedi, take a jump over to the Haven and look in the Star Wars Premiere folder.
Happy Reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter related, just Hermione's stuffed cat and Ginny's two bitchy friends. And Ryoko owns Orgus Root, if you want to find out more about it read her fic Soul Scepter, you won't regret it, I promise.
"You're what?" Harry stared at his girlfriend of six months in disbelief. "You brought me all the way up to the Astronomy Tower to break up with me?"
Hermione Granger lowered her head to try and contain her tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. "I'm sorry Harry. This just isn't working out for me."
Harry moved forward and gripped her arms tightly. "That's bullshit, Hermione. Just last night we were up here…" he moved his eyes towards a certain dark corner of the tower and they both flushed red at the memory of what had taken place there the night before. "Is that it?"
"No…no that's not it at all…" Hermione couldn't even look him in the eyes, for fear she would drown in the deep emerald pools. "I don't think I'm good enough for you."
"Well I think you're perfect for me." Harry stated firmly. He tried to put his hand under her chin to tilt her head back, but she moved away.
"Please Harry, just don't…" she turned and fled the Tower, leaving Harry standing behind, feeling saddened and angry.
*** *** ***
"I don't know what I did wrong." Harry said, pushing his hair back with both hands. "I mean, this just came out of the blue." He looked at Ron with frustration.
Ron pursed his lips in thought. "She isn't…you know…. pregnant is she?" he asked tentatively.
"No…we both used some of that Orgus Root, you know, no way she can be." Harry said with a definite tone to his voice.
Ron heaved a sigh. "Okay, rules that one out." He thought hard for a moment. "You think she's interested in someone else?"
Harry looked up at him quickly, a stricken look on his face.
"No, no we would have noticed if she took a fancy to someone else." Ron said quickly.
Harry nodded, his eyes taking a faraway look. Suddenly the portrait door opened and Hermione stepped in, her eyes red and puffy. She looked their way and her mouth opened in a silent gasp. Harry quickly jumped from the chair he was sitting in to go over to her, but she ran up to her room, the Head Girl's room, and slammed the door shut. Harry winced as he heard the sound, and then slumped back down in the chair, burying his face in his hands.
"She hardly looks at me." He said, his voice coming out muffled. Ron opened his mouth to say something but the portrait door swung open again and Ginny Weasley walked in the room.
The shy innocent girl that had once been Ginny was gone. She had undergone a complete personality change, back in the beginning of this year. She had developed into a voluptuous woman, with a heaving chest, long red hair that brushed down her back, she wore her robes two sizes too small to emphasize what Harry heard some of the other guys in their dorm refer to as her 'goodies'. And she had developed a perfectly bitchy attitude to go along with it. Right around the beginning of the school year, she had practically jumped on Harry when they were sitting in the common room one night. He had pushed her off him, disgusted at her actions, as there was a group of at least twelve first years in the room. He had patiently tried to explain to her that they were only friends, that his heart belonged to another, Hermione. She had been angry to hear this, and the next day he and Ron had come into the common room only to find Ginny and Hermione having a huge row, apparently over him. It had taken both Ron and Dean to pull Ginny off Hermione, and Ron had hardly even been able to look at his sister since.
Right now, Ginny looked in their direction and a smile curved across her lips. She tugged her sweater down so her cleavage was visible, and unfastened her robe so it clung to her curves.
"Hello boys…" she said smoothly, her greeting going solely to Harry. She completely ignored her brother.
"Ginny." Harry said with a cool nod. Uninvited, she slid into the chair, almost on top of him. Rolling his eyes, he got up and silently moved to another chair. Ron laughed loudly and Ginny glared daggers at her brother.
"I'm so sorry to hear about you and Hermione Harry." She said with a fake pout, bringing one polished nail up to her silver necklace and toying with it seductively. "You know, if you feel too down, you can always come up to my room."
"No thanks." Harry said, ice dripping from his voice. He looked over at Ron, who had his lip curled in a snarl.
"Let's go to bed." He said, and Harry nodded and followed him up, without a second glance at Ginny.
Ginny sneered as she watched the two boys converse as they climbed the stairs to their respective dormitories, Harry to the Head Boy's room and Ron to the 7th year Dormitory. If she wasn't going to be getting anything from Harry that evening, she supposed she could sneak to the Slytherin House and find Draco. Smiling to herself, she slipped back out the portrait door.
Meanwhile, Hermione was in her room, trying to stop herself from crying.
"You did the right thing." She told herself. "He deserves someone better looking than me." She made her way over to the mirror and glared at her reflection. She took one hand up and pulled on her bushy brown hair, it had darkened over time and it was now a nice shade of chestnut, but no matter what she did, the bushiness remained. She'd let it grow longer, it was almost as long as Ginny's, but didn't have the straightness to it. Her eyes were a plain brown color, and while she had a decent figure to her, it was usually weighed over by the large amount of books she always carried.
"You'll never measure up, Hermione." She said. "Never." She fell onto her bed still wearing her clothes and clutched the stuffed cat that Harry had given her. She always liked it because it changed color depending on the mood she was in, but right now it didn't do much to cheer her up because it was very, very blue. She pulled it away to throw it across the room, but then hugged it tighter against her, not wanting to have the only thing that reminded her of Harry sitting across the room. Hermione tossed and turned for about an hour more before finally falling into a fitful sleep.
***The Next Day***
Harry picked at his breakfast, staring moodily at the empty space next to him that Hermione normally occupied. She had sent word down with Lavender Brown that she didn't want to come to the table, and so Ron took some food up to her to try and reason. Ron grabbed some eggs and a few muffins, plus the pancakes she liked so much and piled everything onto a plate. He knocked hesitantly on her door.
"Who is it?" her muffled voice replied.
"It's Ron." He held up the plate as if she could see it through the door. "I've brought you some breakfast." He could hear her walking across the room, and her door inched open.
"Is Harry with you?" she asked.
"No, I'm alone." He said. He held the plate up again so she could see it and her eyes widened and she opened the door so he could step through.
"Thanks." She said, taking the plate and setting it down on the table. She immediately began to scarf the food down.
"Whoa there, Herm." Ron said. "Take it easy, I can get you more."
"I haven't eaten since yesterday at lunch." Hermione said with a mouth full of food.
"Yeah, yesterday life was still good huh." Ron said.
Hermione dropped the pancake back onto the plate and looked at him. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Of course you don't." Ron said. "Harry's been talking about it though, he can't stop telling me how much he misses you already, how much he cares about you…"
Hermione bit her lip. "He said that?"
Ron nodded, not taking his eyes off her. "Yes, he said that."
Hermione looked happier for a slight moment, but then the shadows crossed over her face again. "No, Ron, no. Don't' you see, he could have any girl he wanted here at Hogwarts, all of them prettier than me. I'm just the bookish nerd who happened to have a chance for sixth months."
"This isn't Hermione talking." Ron said. "The Hermione I've known for the past seven years has never cared what other people said about her."
"Yeah, well, I care now." Hermione snapped. "I need to get to class."
"Who said something to you?" Ron grabbed her arm and spun her back around.
"Nobody!" Hermione tried to yank her arm away. "Look, it's just something I realized on my own, all right?" she successfully pulled away from Ron and grabbed her ever present bookbag. "Thanks for bringing me breakfast and for trying to cheer me up." She offered, and left the room. Ron stared with frustration after her for a moment, then left for his own classes.
Harry decided to spend the rest of his afternoon in the library, hoping to corner Hermione there and talk things out. Ron had told him what she had said that morning in her dorm, and Harry was determined to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. He pulled a new version of Quidditch Through the Ages from his pocket and settled down at one of the tables, where he could see but not be seen. He had been reading for about half an hour when he heard three voices that made him cringe and hide behind his book.
"So did you hear the great news?" Ginny Weasley was saying to her two clones, Holly Gable and Olive Dillweed, who were as bitchy and snotty as she was.
"What?" Olive asked breathlessly.
"Hermione dumped Harry last night." Ginny said with a smirk of satisfaction.
"No way!!!" Olive and Holly both screamed at the same time. All three of them cowered as Madam Pince glared at them from her desk.
"Would you two keep it down!" Ginny snapped in a hushed voice. The three girls sat down at a table not far from Harry's, and he trained his ears to listen to what they were saying.
"Our plan couldn't have worked better." Ginny said gleefully. "Hermione heard every word we were saying about her…. too bad it really was the truth."
"Oh tell me about it." Holly said, tossing back her blond hair. "I mean, that girl just takes no pride in her appearance at all."
"What in the name of Merlin does Harry Potter see in her anyway?" Olive added, and all three girls snickered quietly.
"Well," Ginny said, leaning back. "I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I manage to get Harry into bed with me. I'll be sure and tell you two all about it. I just hope he measures up to Draco…." All three girls gasped as Harry slammed his book down and advanced on their table.
"I didn't think you could sink any lower." Harry said to Ginny, clenching his jaw. "To set the record straight, I would NEVER sleep with you, not EVER!" He turned to the other two girls. "As far as you two go, I would watch your back around this one here." He glared icicles at them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find my GIRLFRIEND and set things straight."
Harry stomped from the library in a fury. He simply could not believe how sneaky Ginny Weasley had become. Must be Malfoy's influence rubbing off on her. Harry spent the rest of the afternoon looking for Hermione, but she was nowhere to be found. Finally, around the time that dinner was over, she came dashing into the Great Hall and piled some food onto a plate. She turned to go when Harry came up behind her.
"Hermione." He said quietly over the din of the students rushing out to their Houses. "Herm, please look at me." Harry put his hand on her arm gently.
Hermione pressed her lips together tightly and turned slowly to look at Harry. She wanted to melt into his arms at the concern she saw there, but managed to restrain herself. "Harry." She said tightly.
"Herm, I really need to talk to you." Harry pleaded. "Please, please say you'll meet me in the Astronomy Tower tonight." Hermione figured she must look like she was going to refuse because he moved his hand down to her free one and gripped it. "Please?"
After a long silence, Hermione nodded. "All right." She said before she could stop herself.
Harry felt a wave of relief sweep over him. "Great, great…thank you Hermione. I will see you at midnight." He leaned in and kissed her gently on the cheek, then squeezed her hand once more and hurried off.
It was lucky for both Harry and Hermione that they were Head Boy and Girl, because that enabled them to walk about the building as they pleased, day or night. Harry decided to leave the tower at about eleven thirty, wanting to be up there first. He was surprised, however, to find Hermione already standing up there.
"You're early." He said in surprise.
"Harry!" Hermione jumped. "You startled me."
"Sorry." Harry ran a hand through his raven locks.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Hermione asked.
Harry looked around as if confused. "What do you think?" he asked. "Us."
"There is no us, Harry." Hermione said dully. "I'm not good enough for there to be an us."
"I think I'll be the judge of that." Harry replied. She started to shake her head but Harry put one hand on her cheek. "Who was the witch who fixed my glasses for me on the train, our first trip to Hogwarts?"
"Me." Hermione said, smiling a little at the memory.
"And who, in our second year, who turned herself into a cat so that she could help prove my innocence?"
"Me." Hermione said again.
"Third year, who told McGonagall about the Firebolt, in my best interests?" Harry continued. "Fourth year, who believed me without question when I said I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire, and who stayed up nights with me to practice our banishing charms?"
"Me, me, me." Hermione said.
"And who, last year, helped me defeat the most horrible Dark Wizard of our time?" Harry asked.
"Me." Hermione whispered, looking down.
"How can you say you're not good enough for me, Hermione?" Harry asked. "Ever since we've come to Hogwarts, you have been there for me, time and again, saving me, covering for me…"
"Harry, you could have any of those beautiful girls here at school. Why do you want to waste your time on a bushy haired bookworm like me?" Hermione asked. "I'm not nearly as pretty as any of the girls here."
"You're right, you're not." Harry said, and despite herself she let out an enraged squawk. "You surpass them all, Hermione."
She stared at him a moment, her eyes disbelieving. "Right, I'm better looking than Parvati Patil, I have a bigger chest size than Ginny Weasley, smoother hair than Lavender Brown, right, I'm the best looking girl in our class!" she cried sarcastically.
"Fuck Ginny." Harry spat, then curled his lip when he realized what he had said. "Forget her, she's nothing." He shuddered. "Besides, she's the one who set you a trap."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked quietly.
"She MEANT for you to overhear her and her stupid friends talking about you. She wanted you to think you aren't good enough for me, and you fell right for it." Harry said, growing angry again as he remembered Ginny's awful sneer.
"She did?" Hermione asked gingerly.
"Yes, she did." Harry turned away from her and rested his arms on the half wall, staring out over the Quidditch Field and the Forbidden Forest.
Hermione slumped against the wall as realization set in, finally. How could she possibly have been so stupid? To believe what Ginny and her friends were saying, even though Ginny must have known that Harry didn't want her, she'd stop at nothing to make Hermione unhappy.
"I've been so stupid…" she said aloud.
Harry made a gruff noise with his throat. "Yeah you have." He half smiled at her.
"I just…I've never been very secure about my looks." Hermione gave her hair a tug. "You try having unmanageable hair and boring brown eyes…"
"Uh, I think I've got the unmanageable hair part covered…" Harry said, pulling a lock of his own hair down over his forehead. "And your eyes, they're anything but boring." He tilted her head up so he could stare into them, he loved her eyes, they were a few different shades of brown, dark with lighter cinnamon flecks dancing around.
"Do you really mean that Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, I do." Harry answered quietly. "I think you are the most beautiful witch, no, the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my entire life. I have treasured every moment we have spent together, from these past six months to the time we were eleven and unsure of ourselves. And I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize just how much I have fallen in love with you!"
Hermione's eyes widened. "Did you just say…" she was cut off by Harry.
"Yes, I did just say. I love you, Hermione Granger, bookworm, bushy hair, everything about you, I love." Harry said.
Hermione tried to say she loved him too, but could only emit a tiny squeak. They grinned at one another, and then Harry bent his face down to cover her mouth with his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he pulled her as close to him as he possibly could, curving one hand around her slim waist while the other buried itself into her hair. Hermione pressed her lips harder against his, and opened her mouth to let his tongue inside. One of her hands cupped the side of his face while she let her fingernails on the other hand lightly scrape up his neck, and gently across his scalp. She loved the feel of his hair in her hand, it was always so soft. He moaned into her mouth at the feel of her, and tightened his hold even more around her waist. Neither Hermione or Harry would ever know how they got from the Astronomy Tower back to the Head Boy's room, as neither remembered breaking away from one another for longer than a second to draw breath.
Hermione had to admit; lying on her back on Harry's bed was far better than the cold stone floor of the Tower. Energized by her thoughts, she grabbed Harry's face between her hands and kissed him so hard she figured she was bruising their lips. Harry brought one hand down and unclasped her robe, then without breaking away, he pulled it off her and threw it to the floor. He then took his hand and gently eased his way under her sweater, loving the feel of her silken skin on his palm.
He pulled his mouth away from hers to kiss the hollow of her throat, making a trail of opened mouth kisses down the side of her neck and across her shoulder. Frustrated by the limits the sweater she was wearing gave him, he almost tore it from her and it joined her robe on the floor.
They both took a few deep breaths and just looked at each other for a few moments, Hermione taking this time to deprive Harry of his own robe and shirt, so that she could feel his skin as well.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Harry again attacked her mouth with his, thrusting his tongue against hers, running his hand lightly up her torso, he loved to feel her shiver with pleasure underneath him. His hand found the side of her breast, and he let his thumb brush over the top, making her moan into his mouth and press harder against him. He pulled his mouth from hers, making her emit a large cry as he gently squeezed her breast and kissed the valley between them.
Hermione had quite a grip on Harry's hair, the other was holding onto the headboard. "Harry!" she breathed as he created thrilling sensations that shot through her. He moved back up and once again kissed her passionately.
"Harry…" she mumbled around his lips. "Harry…I want you, all of you…"
Some time later, Hermione lay and watched Harry's chest rise and fall as he slept. She could hardly believe he was here right now, sleeping next to her. She moved slightly so that she could lie in the crook of his arms.
"'Mione?" Harry mumbled sleepily.
"Hmmm?" she murmured back, her eyelids fluttering.
"Don't ever say you're not good enough for me again…"
"I won't." Hermione propped herself up to kiss him on the lips once more, and then snuggled back into his embrace. No, she definitely would never think that again.