I was soon in the tower again and I spilled everything to Parvati. She told me to keep my chin up— the right guy would come along soon, even if it wasn’t Ron. She said that I shouldn’t blame Ron for what he did to me— his feelings were mixed up and he didn’t know what was going on. I gave in, telling her that she was right and asking how she got so smart.
“Experience,” she said, grinning.
Seamus then came over and sat with us.
“Are you all right?” he asked me, looking very concerned.
I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
“’Cause you just say the word and I’ll beat Ron up for you, I swear—”
“That’s really sweet of you, Seam, but no. I can take of myself.” I laughed.
He shrugged. “Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t let it go so easily.”
Seamus was acting odd… why was he acting odd? I looked at Parvati, who was looking between us with glossy eyes and a smile floating around her mouth.
“I think I’ll leave you two alone,” she said, getting up from the room. She left the common room. Seamus and I were now the only ones there.
I’d never been uncomfortable in front of Seamus… but I suddenly found myself wishing a crowd of people would come through the portrait at that very minute.
Well, I didn’t exactly get what I wanted.
The portrait swung open and in walked Ron, alone and looking sheepish.
Seamus stood up quickly, and Ron froze when he saw us.
“What were you thinking, Weasley?!” Seamus shouted as he stomped over to Ron, who remained quiet.
I went over to them and gently placed my hand on Seamus’ shoulder.
“Seamus, don’t start anything.”
He ignored me. “WHY DID YOU KISS HER?!”
He pushed Ron violently to the floor and I screamed. For a second, Ron just stared back up at Seamus, but then jumped up and lunged at his stomach, knocking him to the ground with intent fury.
“Stop it! Stop it right now!” I screamed at them.
“Why must you take everything from me?!” Seamus yelled, punching Ron in the nose.
“I’ve never taken anything from you!” Ron shouted back, kicking him in the shin.
“You knew I loved her— I’ve always loved her— and now you’ve gone and messed up everything and you’re gonna pay!”
“If you want her so bad just take her— I already have—”
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!” Harry’s voice yelled— he just came through the portrait with Dean, but with the commotion, I didn’t notice them.
Neither did Ron or Seamus.
“Coward!”
“Traitor!”
I had no idea who said what. All I knew was that Harry was trying to wrestle Ron off of Seamus, and Dean was trying to wrestle Seamus off of Ron. They succeeded, getting five feet between the two boys.
“I don’t care anymore, okay?!” Ron shouted, sweat rolling down his head. “You just take her!”
“How could you talk about Hermione like that?!” Harry yelled, looking furiously at the back of Ron’s head.
“I’m not!” he replied, panting. “I’m talking about… her.” He nodded in my direction.
I stood there, stunned. Seamus loved me. And according to him, he always loved me. I turned my eyes over to him, but he was glaring at the floor as if it had just insulted him.
“Seamus?” I said weakly.
“Yeah… it’s- it’s true,” he admitted.
There I was, standing in the middle of the common room, between four guys who were all wound up over me. What was I going to do?
All I knew was that I could never look at Seamus in the same way again. Did I love him too? This entire time my feelings have been caught up in the “Ron War” and I’ve been neglecting him.
“I have to think about this,” I said. I turned around and went upstairs to my dormitory.
I flung myself onto my bed. What was I going to do? How could I make up my mind about Seamus in just a little while? Well, for one thing, Ron was definitely out of the picture. I doubted him and Seamus would ever speak again.
Life was so much easier when I was five and boys were icky! I thought angrily to myself. This was so confusing!
I didn’t know anything. Was I going to start dating Seamus? I didn’t know. It certainly wasn’t fair to him that I couldn’t make up my mind. I really did feel an awkward, odd feeling in my gut while I was in the common room alone with him. Did that mean that I liked him?
****************
A month had passed since Seamus admitted to liking me, and by that time I had figured everything out.
I liked Seamus. A lot. It would, of course, take some time for me to fall completely in love with him like he loved me, but I knew I wanted to be with him. I knew that there was no fear of rejection in telling him my feelings. The only thing was that I was nervous.
“Go for it!” Parvati told me encouragingly while we were walking down to the common room that Friday night. “Just ask him to go on a walk and tell him! There’s no rejection!”
I nodded. The common room was pretty packed with students of all ages. Seamus was, of course, playing Wizard’s Chess with Dean.
I found my way over to them, Parvati following me.
“Hey, guys,” I said and Seamus immediately looked up at me, allowing Dean to take his queen.
“Um, sorry about that…” I apologized, smiling slightly.
“That’s all right,” Seamus said quickly and stood up, looking intently at me.
“Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk or something?” I asked him and he nearly fell over with shock.
“Sure!”
I grinned at his excitement and lead him out of the portrait. There was now that usual embarrassed silence between us as we walked around the dark corridors.
“So…” he started uneasily.
“Yeah…” I replied stupidly.
We walked on for a few more minutes in silence, until-
“Lavender, you don’t have to be nice to me,” he said quietly.
I stopped walking and faced him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you don’t have to talk to me and stuff if you don’t want to. You know how I feel about you, and I understand that you don’t have feelings for me back,” he said, looking deep into my eyes.
“But you don’t understand.”
“Yeah, I do. It’s just hurting me more and more each time you smile at me because I know that I could never have you. I don’t think we should be friends anymore.” He looked at the floor.
“I agree completely,” I said. I realized that I had hurt him but he would understand in a moment that I meant something completely different than what he thought.
“Well, I- I guess you’re right. I mean-”
“I think we should be more than just friends.”
His head shot up.
“What?”
I nodded and smiled. “I really like you, Seamus.”
“Really?”
“A lot.”
He gave me a small, mischievous smile. “I really like you, too.”
I laughed. “I know.”
We gazed into each other’s eyes as we leaned into eachother. I closed my eyes and just before we touched, I knew that this boy would be true to me all the way. I knew he really, truly cared about me.
Our lips pressed hard against each other’s. We stayed there for ten more minutes, just kissing. Being there with Seamus in that dark, dusty corridor was better than anything I had ever shared with Ron, better than our first kiss in the Astronomy Tower, better than dancing with him at the Christmas Ball, better than spending any time with him at all.
Stupid Ron.
******
O.K. that’s the end! I hope you all enjoyed it! Keep checking for updates on my other two stories, both Ron/Hermione, “When Harry Wasn’t There” and “All He Ever Wanted” Thanks to all my reviewers, especially deatheaterbabe, for your kind words!