A/N: Please Enjoy!
Chapter 5 - A Small Blip
Harry sighed as he pushed his bacon and eggs around his plate, not putting a single bite in his mouth.
He was getting depressed, and about who else but Hermione? Her rejection and subsequent asking Terry Boot to the ball made him want to mope around like just another angsty teenager.
But Ron knew Harry better than that. "Harry, mate...what the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded.
Harry sighed a long, depressed, weary sigh. "Granger," he said miserably.
"What about her?" asked Ron, already knowing where this was going but wanting to hear it out of his best friend's mouth.
"She's interested in another bloke, of course," replied Harry, making it sound like it was obvious (which it was). "I'll never get her to go out with me, will I? All I seem to do is push her further and further away."
Ron blinked once before reaching over the table and smacking Harry hard across the face. "Ouch! What the bloody hell was that for?" Harry yelled as he clutched his tender cheek.
"You sound like a bloody girl, Harry," said Ron. As much as he hated it when Harry always went on about Granger, it was better than seeing his friend depressed and morose. "You don't sound like my best mate at all." Harry just looked at him with those sad eyes. "God dammit, Harry! The Harry I know would never give up after a couple setbacks and rejections! The Harry I know wouldn't let go of the confidence he has in winning Granger's heart! The Harry I know isn't a pathetic bastard who shares his feelings with other guys! And last but not least, the Harry I know would never let someone as unpopular, as dorky, as...as ugly as Terry Boot have the upper hand on him for more than a few minutes!" Harry was now looking at Ron with steely eyes full of resolve. "Now pull yourself together man, pull on your big boy pants, and kick some Ravenclaw arse!"
"You're right, Ron!" yelled Harry, pounding the table with his fists. "I can't believe I got depressed over Granger! I know, with all my charm, and coolness, and suaveness, and awesomeness, that she will fall for me sooner or later!" Harry jumped up and raised his hands to the sky, about to shout out something even more stupid and egotistical than what he had just said, when the bell signaling ten minutes until the start of class rang. Harry quickly grabbed his books, flashed a grin at Ron, and cried, "Thank you for renewing my vigor!" before sprinting out of the Great Hall while laughing victoriously.
Ron just stared, mouth open, at the doors leading out of the Great Hall. He swallowed once, looked up at the enchanted ceiling, and said, "What have I done?"
1 Week Later
Harry was strutting through the halls by himself, practicing using his charm and charisma on the female population of the school. As he was passing a group of Hufflepuff sixth years, he grinned at them and shot them a sly wink, enjoying the reaction he received. They all smiled back shyly, some of them having the courage to bat their eyelashes back at him. Just as he turned to move on, someone fell into step beside him and made a disgusted noise. "Dear Merlin, Potter." Ah...Hermione. "You've just reinforced reason number three why I would never go out with you."
Harry clenched his jaws and eyes shut, cursing himself mentally. "And what is number reason three?" he asked, recovering nicely with the grin he gave her (even though she wasn't looking). "That I'm so incredibly handsome that women will be admiring me even when you're with me?"
"No," said Hermione tersely. "That you're so incredibly ego-driven and selfish that you'd cheat on me."
Harry stopped in his tracks immediately, grabbing Hermione's upper arm. She immediately wrenched it out of his grip but remained where she was, even turning towards Harry to face him off. She actually flinched back though when she saw the fire in his eyes. "Don't you dare say that I'd ever cheat on anybody, let alone you."
"What was that back there then?" Hermione asked coldly.
"In case you forgot, I'm single," said Harry. "And all that happened was that I grinned at them. They responded accordingly."
Hermione looked at him disbelievingly. "So that's how you get your kicks? You flaunt yourself in front of girls, knowing how handsome you are, even though they have no chance of ever being with you? You give them just enough to leave them wanting and desperately wishing, yet you never give them more?"
"The only girl who I'm even interested in in this whole school is you, Granger," said Harry earnestly. "And how can you look at me disgustedly about leading girls on when you do the same thing to me?" he practically growled.
"I do not do the same thing!" said Hermione indignantly, glaring up at him.
"Really?" asked Harry disbelievingly. "Because you're doing it right now, only it's one hundred times worse for me than it was for those girls. Just being in your presence, seeing your face, smelling your perfume, watching you work in class. It..." Harry swallowed. "It's more intoxicating than any narcotic."
Hermione just stared up at him, unsure of how to respond, especially since this was a side of Harry she had never seen before. He had always been arrogant and conceited, he had never before admitted that he had a weakness. Her highly logical brain didn't know what to do in situations like these. Harry took a step closer to Hermione until they were only a few inches apart and Hermione took a very small step back, barely increasing the distance between them. For some reason she couldn't tear her gaze from his eyes...his warm, beautiful, emerald eyes. Her throat wasn't working either, all she could do was swallow.
Harry lowered his face until their noses were a few inches apart. Hermione felt her face heat up as a small smile subconsciously made its way onto her face. Harry grinned at her and said, "You called me handsome."
Harry's voice seemed to snap Hermione out of the trance she was in and she leapt back in disgust, her face flaming red. "What do you think you're doing, Potter?"
Harry couldn't help but regret at least a little that his stupidity had just ruined whatever moment they just had. Nevertheless, his hopes had never been higher. He smirked confidently at the woman he loved and said, "Doing to you what you do to me every day. That's how I feel when you're even in the same room as me." His smirk grew wider. "You're mine...you just don't know it yet."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at Harry and tried her hardest to glare at him, but Harry saw her lips quiver a little. She whirled around and quickly walked out of the hallway, not even glancing behind her once to see if he was following.
She wouldn't forget this encounter any time soon.
He had slipped past her defenses for the first time ever.
Hermione furiously swiped at the tears of frustration that were blurring her vision. How she could've let something like that happen was beyond her. She was supposed to be the logical one...she never let her impulses or feelings control her. Yet she had stood there like an idiot and let Harry play her like a harp.
Hermione collided with someone and went sprawling down to the floor, apologizing profusely as she gathered her books. "Hermione...Hermione, it's me," said a voice between her apologies. "I was just looking for you. Not exactly the way I expected to find you, but..." the speaker had just realized that tears were running down Hermione's face. "Hermione, why are you crying?"
Hermione let out a choked laugh and wiped her face. "Why do you think?" she asked, her voice a little hoarse.
The speaker growled, "What did my idiot brother do this time?"
"Why can't he understand that you just want him to leave you alone?" Aurora demanded from the foot of Hermione's bed after Hermione had told her what had happened. Hermione was sitting against the headboard.
"He gets everything he wants," said Hermione. "You already know he thinks I'll suddenly realize I've loved him all along or some nonsense like that."
"He is a bit of an idiot," admitted Aurora.
They were quiet for a few seconds before Hermione chuckled and said, "If only he weren't good-looking. I wouldn't have experienced that little scene back there."
"You think he's good-looking?" asked Aurora, raising a single eyebrow.
"Is it wrong to be physically attracted to a handsome guy?" asked Hermione defensively. "I would still never go out with him, in the end personality beats out looks any day with me. It's just that I have these damned teenage hormones."
"Well," said Aurora, taking in a deep breath. "Looks like you're going to have to show him what happens when he tries to make a move on you."
Harry glance at the seat next to him as he put the finishing touches on his potion. Hermione was sitting there reading, her potion already finished. She hadn't spoken to him even once today, not even to tell him off or degrade him (not that those had any effect on him). The weird thing was that she had acted like he didn't exist all day. She hadn't looked at him, acknowledged him, or responded to his advancements even once.
Harry had been expecting tentacles growing out of his face or boils breaking out all over his body or something. What Hermione was doing to him was twenty times worse.
He knew he had pushed and upset her, but he didn't know he had upset her that much. Quite honestly, it made him feel incredibly guilty. He had that kind of guilt that makes your stomach churn and hurt. The last thing he wanted to do in life was hurt Granger, truly hurt her, not just annoy her or something like that. It seemed that when he had finally slipped past her defenses for the first time, he had truly hurt her for the first (and hopefully last) time. It seemed more like a defeat than a victory that he had truly affected her for the first time now that it was a day later and he could see the effects.
Harry sighed and turned away from his potion even though it wasn't done yet. What he was about to do was much more important than his stupid potions mark. This mattered much more in terms of his future.
"Look, Granger," he said, unsure of how to go about this, especially since she didn't look up from her book. At least her eyes stopped moving across the page. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Maybe it would be better not to over think this and just speak from the heart.
Oh well, he thought. Here goes nothing.
"Look, Granger," said Harry from Hermione's left. Her eyes stopped moving, Harry wasn't going to be an idiot w
ith what he was going to say next. She could tell by the tone of his voice. "I know I can be an arrogant, egotistical, obnoxious prat sometimes...okay, pretty much all the time. I just want you to know that I don't try to do those things...they're just my nature." Hermione couldn't see where this was going. Apparently Harry didn't either. "Er...wait a second, that's not exactly what I wanted to say. What I wanted to say was that even though I'm arrogant and may seem self-centered, what I say about you, my feelings about you, are in no way false. The last thing I wanted to do to you yesterday was cause you pain yet it seemed to be the only thing I accomplished with what I did. If I ever cause you pain like I did yesterday, please...hit me with a painful hex, or slap me across the face, or...or...do something to me immediately so I can apologize right then and there and hopefully rectify my mistake."
Hermione continued looking down at her book, pretending she hadn't heard him. He was so confusing right now and the only person she knew who she didn't really know what to expect from. Why couldn't he just always be an arse?
A/N: I wrote this one a bit differently than the first chapters. My muse just whisked me off in this somewhat different direction. The next chapter will be back to the usual, you can expect more drama and scenes such as the ones above more in the later chapters of the story.
I hope you enjoyed it and please review!