31"Hermione?"
She quickly wiped her tears and smiled shakily.
"Hello Harry. What are you doing here?"
"I see I'm not wanted here." he said, looking hurt.
If Hermione hadn't seen the smirk bubbling on Harry's face, she would have felt horrible.
"You are correct," she said rolling her eyes. "Now, off with you. I don't have time for the childish nonsense that is bound to happen with you here."
Harry smirked, plopping himself in the chair next to Hermione.
"Sorry Granger. You're stuck with me."
She made an indignant noise, but then laughed quietly. He smiled at her, taking out the necessary supplies for his essay. She noticed that he seemed to want to speak, but either didn't know what to say or just wasn't sure is he should speak at all. He finally seemed to make up his mind a few minutes later, when her attention was removed from her Charms essay to the question he asked her.
"You wanna talk about it?"
She frowned, confused, "Talk about what?"
"About," he stopped, looking warily at her. "About what happened in the common room."
She turned looked down at her essay so he wouldn't see the tears that flooded into her eyes.
"There is absolutely nothing to talk about," she said stiffly.
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Come on 'Mione. Both you and I know that's not true."
Ever since Ron and Lavender has started going out, Hermione had been known to cry more then she had before. Which frankly, that was something that had not actually been heard of since her first year. But this new relationship seemed to have made Hermione snap.
This was something that confused Hermione most of all; what had happened to strong, independent, and collected Hermione? She had seem him look at other girls. Flirt with them even. She had gotten jealous; she had gotten angry. But she had never cried.
She looked up at Harry, a tear rolling down her face.
He sighed, watching it fall, "He's just being thick 'Mione."
She looked down, finding the table extremely interesting.
"It's just, how could he just do that? Even after I told him I wanted to go with him to Slughorn's Christmas party, he still did it. And just because he heard that I had kissed Viktor? It's...it's just mad!"
He saw tears rolling down her face, with no intention of stopping. Luckily, she had chosen a secluded corner of the library so nobody saw her in this state. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. And angry at Ron.
He had seen them dancing each other for years. It was frustrating, almost maddening. He really had thought that this was going to be the year. He was actually relived when she had told Harry she was thinking of asking Ron to the party. But then he had to go and ruin it by going out with Lavender.
Really, how thick can you get?
He sighed, "Hermione, he'll come around. Ron is being...Ron. And you know us boys in general; we're just..."
"Late," she said, smiling sadly and wiping tears off her face. "Like you were."
Harry noticed that the tears had stopped. The sudden mischievous glint in her eye told him she was thinking of one thing in particular. He knew she was changing the subject, so he let her. For her sake.
She was fine for now.
"Like I was?" he said, trying to sound confused.
She smirked, "Like you were."
He rolled his eyes, "Mind telling me what I had been so thick to notice?"
"Ginny."
She said it so bluntly, that his eyes widened unexpectedly, his mouth drying up instantly. He composed himself quickly though, and rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Oh, not this again," he said exasperatedly.
"You fancy her Harry," she said in a sing-song voice.
What was it with that sing-song voice lately!
"No I don't."
She looked at him with disbelieving eyes. He glared at her.
"I do not fancy Ginny."
She smirked at him, "Now say it like you mean it."
He growled at her. She simply smiled innocently.
He asked himself the question he had asked himself multiple times for weeks: when was she going to give up?
"But I don't!" he whined.
"Keep telling yourself that Harry. I've seen the way you look at her. Not to mention the glares you have been unknowingly throwing at Dean. Face it: you fancy her."
He slammed his head on the table. She laughed quietly.
"Stop laughing."
This made her laugh even more, "Why? It's funny."
"I don't see the humour."
"I do. It's just amusing how you think you can trick me into thinking you don't fancy her when both you and I know that you do."
"Merlin's beard, when are you going to give up?"
"Never. Unless," she said, the mischievous glint in her eye stronger than ever now, "you tell me the truth."
"Well, I am telling you the truth," he insisted. "You're just delusional."
She scoffed, "Oh I'm the one who is delusional?" she said, raising an eyebrow.
She then seemed to realize someone was behind them. Startled, she smiled somewhere to Harry's right, "Hello Ginny."
Harry's head snapped to his right where Hermione was looking at.
No one was there.
She smirked, "Interesting."
"Shut it," Harry growled.
"Well, it is."
"Please Hermione, just stop insisting. I'm not going to tell you a lie."
"But you are now Harry. Come on, just admit it."
"You aren't going to get anything from me."
Hermione was wondering when he'd crack. She really had underestimated him; he was pretty hard to break.
After knowing him for almost six years, Hermione knew whether Harry was lying or not. Well, most of the time. But this, this was completely obvious.
Her eyes widened and she smiled somewhere to Harry's right again. He wasn't going to fall for that again. How stupid did Hermione think he was? She hadn't even waited five minutes to do it again.
"I'm not falling for that again Hermione," he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Fall for what Harry?"
Hermione smirked. Harry choked on his saliva; he'd know that voice anywhere.
"Ginny," he said, his mouth suddenly gone dry.
He looked over at Hermione, who looked very arrogant, smirking to him like that. He glared at her, particularly hard, but she seemed unruffled by it. In fact, it seemed to heighten her amusement, which she hadn't bothered to hide.
Ginny frowned as she studied Harry's face.
"Harry, are you alright?" she asked, concerned. "You seem a little flushed."
Harry gulped nervously, "No, I-I'm fine."
She looked at him disbelievingly, and brought her hand up to his forehead. He closed his eyes at the contact briefly; her cool hand seemed to dissolve some of the heat on his forehead.
"You're a little warm Harry; you're not fine. You should go see Madame Pomfrey before it gets any worse."
He smiled weakly at her, "I will tomorrow."
"Yes, well I'll be watching you Potter," she said, smiling brightly at him, seeming less concerned than before. "Well, I actually came here for a reason. It's late and the library is about to close. Just came here to warn Hermione before Pince came here and screamed at you two."
Hermione looked at her watch and her eyes widened, "It is late Harry. It's almost 10 minutes to curfew!"
She started stuffing everything in her back at top speed, Harry rolling his eyes at her. He caught Ginny's gaze and smirked. She grinned at him, and he started putting his supplies in his bag at a less desperate speed as Hermione had. After he was done, he looked up to see Hermione exasperated expression and Ginny's amused one.
"Come on you two, if we hurry we can make it before it's too late!"
So they ran, Ginny seriously controlling the urge to give Mrs. Norris a good kick when they stumbled upon her, almost getting caught by Filch, but made it just it time.
They stumbled into the common room, Ginny and Hermione giggling quietly, trying to catch their breath. Harry looked at them oddly; really, what was so funny?
"What's so funny you two?" he asked frowning slightly.
Ginny and Hermione looked at him, and they started laughing loudly.
"That's the thing; we don't know!" Hermione said in between laughter. This made Ginny laugh harder, making her seem more beautiful to Harry.
Her chocolate brown eyes were brimming with amusement, her hair glinting alluringly with the help of the moonlight.
He had to get out of here. He really didn't want to be tempted.
"Well, er," he said, walking slowly backwards toward the boys staircase. "I'll just...go."
And in a flash he was gone.
Hermione and Ginny seemed to control their laughter a few minutes later and plopped themseleves onto an empty table in the corner of the common room. They looked around and saw that almost everyone was gone, and the some people who were there were looking at them strangely. Ginny glared at them, and most of them found the floor very interesting.
Hermione laughed, "So Ginny," she asked, "how are things with Dean?"
Ginny frowned, and sighed, her amusement dissolving quickly, "Not so good."
"Really?" she said, not sounding surprised at all. "I had the impression that things were going wonderful."
Ginny sighed again and swept her bangs to the side angrily. "Hermione, you don't have to fake it."
Hermione frowned, "Ginny, what's wrong?"
"It's just, lately Dean's been so...I don't know. Clingy."
Hermione seemed startled at this confession. "Dean? Clingy? What are you talking about?"
"It's just, he always wants me to be with me, and he always is opening doors for me and rubbish like that."
Hermione sighed, "But Ginny, he wants to be with you always because, well, he really likes you. And the opening doors? He's just being a gentlemen."
Ginny sighed exasperatedly, "Yes, but he knows that drives me mad! And he still does it! And he doesn't like it when I spend time with my friends. My friends Hermione! Not even with my friends Kate and Luna! Not to mention how he gets when I spend time with Colin or Justin! I don't know what's his problem really."
Hermione sighed. This wasn't a great surprise to her. She had noticed Ginny's discomfort with this relationship for a while now, and frankly, didn't know what to do about it.
"Don't worry," she said, trying to comfort her friend, "It will all work out."
Ginny shook her head, "No 'Mione. Our relationship; it's just not working out. I think I'm going to break up with him."
Surprise? Not really, thought Hermione.
She patted Ginny on the hand, "Well, do what your heart tells you."
Ginny smiled sadly, "My heart has been telling me lately that Harry likes me. But that's just wishful thinking."
Hermione's mischievous gleam had returned. She smiled at Ginny brightly, and winked.
"Listen to it then."
Ginny's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Hermione grabbed her bag and sped off toward the girls staircase.
"Hermione!" Ginny cried, "What's that suppose to mean?"
Ginny heard Hermione say faintly, "That's for you to figure out."
Author's Note: Well, here's the second chapter. I don't know about it though...but tell me what you guys think. Please review! I love feedback: good or bad. Also, I apologize if my English isn't well, English. I'm American, not English, so if I get something wrong, forgive me.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.