She stared at her reflection in the mirror.
‘Oh,’ she thought, sighing deeply.
More tears started falling, but she managed to get them under control. She held her wand up to her face, and cast a charm that would lessen the swelling and the redness. She then got dressed and brushed her hair, before heading down to the common room.
It was late; everyone else was already down in the Great Hall, probably finishing up their breakfast and getting ready to go to their first class, everyone except for Harry and Ron. She found them, as always, waiting for her to come downstairs. They were sitting in the arm chairs by the fire when she stepped off the last step. Harry looked over at her.
“Hey,” he said, in a quiet voice.
Hermione tried to force a smile, but she couldn’t even manage that. She sat down next to them and stared into the fire.
After a few moments silence, she spoke.
“I’m sorry, Ron.”
“No, Hermione, I don’t know what was wrong with me yesterday. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that.”
Hermione shook her head. “No, I’m glad you did. You were right, there was a reason he told me to leave the Hospital Wing.”
“Yeah, but it is a pretty stupid-” Harry began, but was interrupted.
Hermione looked at him. “Is it that stupid?” she asked. “If you knew that Ginny would be in danger by being with you, would you have done the same thing?”
Harry looked down, hands fidgeting. Quietly he said, “How did you know?”
“I realized it last night,” Hermione said. “After…after I started thinking about things, rationally, I realized that most good people would do anything to protect someone they love, including leaving them.” Tears were welling up in her eyes again, but she controlled them.
“Wait,” Ron said. “What’s going on? How did she know what?”
“I’ve been planning on breaking up with Ginny,” Harry said. “It’s the only way I see of keeping her safe. If she’s with me, she’ll be a target, she’ll be in danger.”
The smile that graced Hermione’s lips was one of sadness and pain.
“When are you going to tell her?” Hermione asked.
“I was going to wait until the end of term, she has O.W.L.’s this term, and I didn’t want to distract her.”
Hermione reached out and put her hand on Harry’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Harry looked up, eyes glassy. “Hermione,” he nearly laughed. “You have had you’re heart broken, and you’re the one giving comfort? You can’t be-”
“I’m not,” Hermione said. “I’m just…” She looked at Ron. “I’m just better, stronger than this. I haven’t been acting like myself at all. I’m hurt, especially because I know he…he loves me, but I need to be stronger than this.”
“Hermione,” Ron said. “It’s ok to be…sad, or angry, or-”
“Ron, no, I need to be stronger than this. I have to be able to help you guys, and I can’t do that if I’m focused on him,” Hermione looked down at her hands. “He…he said I deserve better, and…and maybe he’s right.”
Hermione looked up at Ron; his face had turned slightly red.
“Maybe I deserve someone who can actually be with me, without it being so complicated.”
“Hermione,” Harry said.
“It’s alright,” Hermione said, and her voice had a solid resolved tone to it. “I’m going to be fine.”
Both Harry and Ron looked at if they were going to start saying something, but they stopped when Hermione got up and headed towards the portrait hole. She stopped just before it, turning to look and see if they were coming.
Harry sighed, “Ron, about Ginny, I-”
Ron shook his head. “I know you care about her mate. You’ll do what you think you have to.” He patted Harry consolingly on the back.
Harry nodded, and they both got up and left the common room with Hermione.
*~*~*~*~
Draco hadn’t slept all night. All he could think and feel, was the pain that started the moment he walked away from her.
‘What did I do?’ he thought.
He looked at his watch. He was late for breakfast, but he didn’t really care.
‘This is why,’ he thought, laying back on his bed and covering his eyes with his hands. ‘This is why I don’t get involved. This is why I do things alone…it hurts too much.’
He decided he was going to skip his morning lessons.
‘I have to go to Potions though,’ he thought, and sighed.
*~*~*~*~
The Great Hall was unusually loud with the buzzing of gossiping students this Wednesday morning, but Hermione’s mind was too distracted to notice.
As much as she hated it, what Hermione did notice, immediately, was that Draco had not come to the Great Hall for breakfast. She looked away from the Slytherin table, and started putting food onto her plate.
After a few moments of silence, Harry spoke up.
“So,” he said. “I was thinking that we can each take a small vile of Felix Felicis to keep with us on Friday.”
Hermione sighed and nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably the best thing.”
She saw Harry glance nervously at Ron.
“Look, you guys,” she said. “I don’t want you acting all weird around me. I’m going to be fine, I promise.”
“We know,” Ron said. “It’s just-”
“No, seriously, it would help if we just dropped it.”
She took a bite out of her toast, and picked up the Daily Prophet that a post owl had just delivered to her. Hermione coughed and sputtered, choking on the piece of toast in her mouth.
“What is it?” Harry and Ron asked in unison.
Hermione looked back up at them, eyes wide, face white as a sheet.
“They’ve found Fudge,” she said, in an almost inaudible whisper.
“Found Fudge, what do you mean ‘they’ve found him,’ he’s at the ministry,” Ron said, perplexed.
“No,” Hermione said, shaking her head. “They’ve found him…dead.”
“What,” Harry said, grabbing the newspaper out of Hermione’s hands.
Late last night, the Auror Office received an anonymous tip about possible Death Eater Activity.
When the team of Aurors responding to the call arrived on the scene, they saw immediately that someone had set off the Dark Mark.
Upon entering the dwelling, a body was found; that of Cornelius Fudge, former Minister of Magic.
It is believed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named committed this murder himself, although experts are at a loss to explain his latest calling card.
A howler was left on top the Minister’s body, which when it exploded screamed:
“To all who oppose me…”
Continued on page 5
Harry looked up from the paper, mouth agape.
“Harry,” Hermione said nervously. “Please, be careful on Friday.”
*~*~*~*~
“Alright, alright, settle down,” Professor Slughorn said, in an effort to quite his Advanced Potion Making Class who were discussing the news of Cornelius Fudge’s murder. “I understand a lot has happened today, but Professor Dumbledore wishes all the teachers to try and keep things running as smoothly as possible. That means I will not be answering any questions, Seamus,” he added after Seamus’ hand had shot rapidly into the air.
Hermione, not being able to resist, glanced over at Draco once the class began working on their potions. He had her back to her, and looked to be working really hard on his potion.
‘Or he’s working really hard to forget about me,’ she thought.
She looked down at her cauldron of Felix Felicis; it was just starting to turn a golden color. She only had one more ingredient to add, and it would be finished.
*~*~
It took almost all Draco had to keep himself from turning around to look at her. He reached across the desk for the last and final ingredient he needed; a silvery unicorn hair. He added it, his potion simmering immediately, and began stirring it clockwise.
After a full five minutes of stirring, it was finished. The Your Eyes potion was clear but shimmered silver due to the unicorn hair.
Draco sighed. ‘At least she’ll know how I meant for things to go…how I wish they could go.’
*~*~
Hermione forced herself to pull her eyes away from the back of Draco’s head.
“Ron,” she said, looking over at his flustered expression; his potion was nowhere near finished.
“Huh?” Ron responded, distractedly.
“Can I spend the summer with you?”
Ron nearly dropped his wand into the cauldron.
“What?...well…I…”
“I just figured, that with everything that’s going to be happening, I’d be of better use if I was still within the wizarding community over the holiday.”
“Oh,” Ron said, flushing slightly. “Well, yeah, sure. I don’t think Mum will have a problem with it.”
Hermione looked at him for a few moments, then she added, “And, it’d be nice to spend some time with you too. I feel like I haven’t done that in a while.”
Ron’s face turned a deeper shade of red, but he nodded and then turned back to face his potion.
Hermione looked down into the golden contents of her cauldron. Her reflection showed an accepting smile.
‘Yes…I should spend time with Ron. He’s a good friend,’ she thought, and looked over at him. ‘Who knows…maybe I’ve been overlooking something great.’
*~*~
From the front of the room Draco had caught the conversation between Hermione and Ron. He was surprised at the jealously welling up inside him.
‘She deserves better than me, but that definitely does not mean Weasley!’ he thought. Then he sighed, remembering that he was the one who had pushed her away.
Draco poured the potion into the small glass vile he had on his desk, put the stopper in, and sealed it with wax.
‘I was the one who walked away.’