Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Harry Potter. That would belong to JKR. And I don't own the rights to the familiar staircase scene from the sixth movie, though it was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever watched.
A/N: A short one-shot in Harry's POV.
It Feels Like This
by Hermione Potter
"You really shouldn't have done it." Her voice chimed to the left of me. It was odd how I could hear her over the chanting of `Weasley' from the rest of the Gryffindors.
Ron was brilliant on that broom out there. I was really proud of what he had done and he thought he honestly needed me to help. What a load of rubbish that was.
I couldn't help but keep the smirk off my face. Hermione was so suspicious of me. "I know." I turned to her and grinned. "I suppose I could have just used the Confundus charm."
That's when she gave me the look. Like I was too dimwitted to see what she'd done that day during trials. Ron was on a bit of luck that day with how he handled that Quaffle, but Cormac had the skill. I knew he would have never missed that last goal. If Hermione wanted to be inconspicuous, she really should have tried a bit harder.
"Th-That was different. That was try-outs. This was an actual game," she chastised.
Oh, Hermione. I knew she was trying to help him. Surely, I knew it was out of the goodness of her heart and I would have done the same if she hadn't got to it first. But I found myself looking at her and reaching into my shirt pocket. After gripping the small vial, I immediately felt the weight of the potion before pulling it out and holding it up to her eyes.
The bottle was full.
And I'll never forget the way her eyes widened in surprise. She really thought that I had slipped Felix Felicis into Ron's pumpkin juice. It was the perfect plan. Hermione would have never forgiven me if I honestly did. All Ron needed was the illusion that he had a great bunch of luck on his side. Like the cliché saying, he just needed to believe in himself.
"You didn't put it in," her tone was surprised. "Ron only thought you did." I nodded at her assumption and tucked the bottle back into my pocket before turning to watch Ron glowing with pride. He needed a bit of this. I knew since fourth year that our friendship was never the same after he sought out to believe I was the one who put my name in the Goblet of Fire. Even though we were still friends now, I knew he felt like he was in my shadow.
I was glad he had this moment for himself. And for once, I stood in the crowd, unnoticed and utterly normal.
It felt absolutely brilliant.
Watching Ron receive his name chanting with the greatest of confidence, a grin found its way on my face when Lavender Brown managed to pull him to her and give him a full-blown snog right in front of the Common Room. I was happy for him.
Turning to look at Hermione, I saw no one standing there but a bunch of Gryffindors. My heart sunk for a moment as I looked past them. She must have left.
Looking back at Ron for a moment, I think he had everything under control.
In all honesty, I didn't really mind missing Lavender pushing her tongue down his throat.
Pushing past the crowd, I ended in the corridor outside of the Gryffindor Common Room. It was dim out, the few candles that burned were slowly fading by now. Shutting the portrait behind me, my eyes scanned the hall.
Where had she gone?
And by a miracle of Merlin's staff, I heard the faint sound of sniffling.
Swallowing hard, I slowly stumbled toward one of the staircases that led to a stone terrace.
I could see her shoulders shaking. I had no fucking idea what I was supposed to do.
Coming down the stairs, I didn't seem as subtle as I could be as she turned to look at me before she wiped her eyes.
Getting closer, my ears peaked at the sound of birds chirping. It was no surprise as a small bunch of birds were circling above Hermione.
"Ch-Charm spell. Just practicing," she managed, looking down at her hands.
I stood there looking like a completely idiot. I was horrible with girls.
Glancing up at the fluttering birds, I looked back down at her. "Well, they're really good."
What was that? I should have been kicked.
Sitting down beside her on the steps, my arms managed to rest on my knees and I could feel her trying to regain her composure.
I didn't expect her to say what she was about to say.
"Ho-How does it feel, Harry?" She let a shaky breath out. "When…you see Dean with Ginny?"
Looking at her with surprise, I didn't think anyone really knew. Surely, I managed to see that Ginny had grown to be a lovely witch. Funny, smart, attractive. Nice skin. I hadn't really had that much of a conversation with her though. We barely had many moments together for anyone to realize that there was something going on. Though, I shouldn't be surprised. Hermione noticed everything.
"Oh..Uhm-"
"I know. I see the way you look at her. You're my best friend," she whispered, turning to look at me.
So that was it. Ron would have never noticed anything like that unless I told him. And Ginny was his sister. I wasn't about to go and say anything to him about it. Not yet at least. But Hermione…
Hermione knew everything about me. And I hated the fact that sometimes I took her friendship for granted. I remember when she started saying Voldemort because she knew how tired I was about people being afraid to say his name. Here I was, being a much lesser friend than I could possibly be.
And I hated the fact that until now, I didn't realize how pretty Hermione's own eyes were. We had never been rather close, physically. Surely we had our hugs and our talks close together, but I never had the decency to give her a good look. They were a lovely shade of brown. Much lighter, compared to Ginny's. And they had flecks of….it seemed as though they were gold and green flecks.
A sudden burst of high-pitched giggled tore my eyes away from her own to see Ron walking into the room, Lavender skipping beside him. They quickly halted when they saw the both of us.
Looking down at my shoes, I could feel Hermione's resolve breaking.
"Oops!" Lavender chimed. "I think this room's taken."
Lavender's footsteps disappeared from the room and Ron stood there like the oblivious wizard he was.
And all I wanted to do was kick his arse.
"What's with the birds?" He laughed.
Hermione stood to her feet, her eyes boring into Ron's own form.
She never needed my help when it came to getting back at Ron. "Oppugno."
I barely heard her say it, but I managed to watch as the birds that were fluttering above us quickly dove toward Ron, causing him to run to the door. He ducked and managed to make the birds disappear as they slammed into the door, their feathers slowly falling to the ground.
He looked at Hermione for a mere moment before leaving.
I could hear her let out a strangled sob.
She sunk back down beside me and I realized the only thing I could really do was sit there and let her cry.
Shifting closer to her, her hand came to pull my arm. The next moment, her head fell to my shoulder and she gripped one of my hands. Placing it on her leg, I squeezed to tell her that it was all right. It was the only thing I could do as I felt her tears dampening my shirt. Giving a shaky sigh, my other hand reached and gripped her arm, rubbing it reassuringly.
I hadn't noticed till now that maybe she could have feelings for Ron. It surely was something that I was aware of though. Her reaction clenched it for me, though. In the back of my mind, I could see the two together, snogging and hugging.
And I felt so very alone.
I stiffened for a moment. Surely, I couldn't think of Hermione like that. Like she said, we were best friends.
But the nagging thought of her with Ron made my hairs stand.
Her previous question hovered over me. How did it feel when I saw Dean with Ginny? I felt absolutely jealous. That maybe it was supposed to be me she looked at like that. Dean wasn't good enough for her, but I wasn't either.
However, that was nothing compared to the way I felt when Hermione and Ron looked at one another moment ago. The way she looked so broken up about him and Lavender.
That he had precedence over me somewhere in her heart.
Taking a slow breath, I leaned my cheek against her hair. "It feels like this."
A/N: Give me your thoughts. :] Review, please.
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