Disclaimer: blah blah blah, I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's related titles/works.
Damn. Too bad, so sad for me.
Chapter IV: the truth revealed
Harry entered the library to find Hermione nervously perched on a wooden chair seeming to be completely unaware that she was fidgeting uncontrollably. Whether she was pushing her hair out of her face, or smoothing her robes, she seemed unable to sit still. As Harry closed the door, he seemed to look at his friend for the first time with new eyes.
“’Mione?” Harry asked tentatively. “Are you wearing MAKEUP?”
“What? Me? Oh um…” she hung her head. “Yes. Oh, Harry, why does it look AWFUL?”
Harry laughed, and walked over to his friend. With the tips of his fingers, he lifted her chin and forced her to look into his eyes.
He always knew Hermione was never ugly, (in fact, he had always thought that she was somewhat nice looking) but now he could deny it no longer. Her light makeup; just a touch of mascara (at least, that’s what he thought it was called) and brown eye shadow, and formerly bushy hair tamed into sleek, shiny curls had caused a huge transformation. He knew that she wore hardly any makeup, but still, what she had put on was amazing. There was no denying it, Hermione wasn’t just ‘not ugly’, or ‘somewhat nice looking’, she had turned out to be really… well, the only word Harry could think of was: Beautiful.
“’Mione,” he said, smiling at her, “you couldn’t look awful even with a furnunculus curse mixed with jelly legs put upon you”.
She laughed, and seemed to relax. Harry always had a way of making her snap back to reality. She was glad that he was one of her best friends. Somehow, she felt so much more at ease when Harry was around. She didn’t have to try and impress him…
like she did with Ron.
“So.” Harry continued, trying to forget about Ginny and her harsh reaction towards him, “when did you decide to start conforming to society?”
“Oh,” Hermione blushed, “actually, it was Ginny. She helped me… well, before she stopped talking to me, that is.”
Harry winced at her name, trying to forget about her stinging remarks in the hallway. “’Mione. Get to the point; what do you need help with? I have a hard time believing that you can’t figure out something. Couldn’t you look it up in a book somewhere?” Harry teased.
Hermione’s words came out in a rush, and Harry’s jaw dropped open at what she told him.
“Oh Harry. It’s RON! I mean, I can’t deny it any longer! I like him so much, and I’ve been here at Grimmauld place, and sometimes it seems like he likes me back, and then other times he wont even speak to me. I don’t know what to do!
“And I could NEVER talk to Ginny about it, I mean, he’s her BROTHER, and that’s just not something you say to one of your best girlfriends ‘oh, can I borrow your makeup, and by the way I’m using it to try and get your brother to fancy me!’. Come on Harry she would HATE me for it!”
And then Hermione gasped, “Oh No!! Maybe THAT’S why she’s stopped talking to me! Maybe she knows I like Ron, and she’s just ever so pissed! Oh, and what am I supposed to do? Ron would never like ME! I could never be pretty enough, I mean, look at Padma Patil- she gives him attention all the time and she’s GORGEOUS! And I’m a horrible flyer and I know nothing about Quidditch and he knows everything about it- it’s his favorite thing in the world, and I could just never be- oh HARRY! What am I going to do? Harry, I
“…Harry… you’ve said nothing this whole time. What is running through that head of yours? I mean, I know you’re too smart to miss the obviousness that I care for Ron, but- HARRY! WHAT?!”
Harry stopped, unable to speak. He had, in fact missed the obvious. Or at least, he had somewhat missed it. He had always thought that Hermione had fancied Ron, that is, until the letters this summer. Then he thought that all the time he had been mistaken, and had just been too blind to realize that Hermione had really fancied him, when in reality, he had been right the first time, and she had wanted Ron all along!
Thoughts ran through Harry’s brain faster than the Hogwart’s Express, and finally he just leaned over and put his head in his hands.
“Hermione,” he choked, “please, do me one favor, and when we go shopping in Diagon Alley at the end of the summer, remind me to buy a pensieve.”
“Harry, a pensieve, what? Yeah, sure, but… Oh come on! I need your help! I mean, of course I’ll remind you, but what?? Obviously I’m missing something here- wait a minute, it looks like I’m not the only one that’s missed something here!”
Harry sighed, and then lifted his head to face Hermione. Of all people, he could tell her. After all, in his letter to her (well, he had THOUGHT it had been to her), he said that she would be the first person he would go to, once it all became too much. Besides, he owed her at least this much. Her confessing to him her feelings for Ron was a big thing, so the least he could do was give her some collateral and pour some of his own feelings back into her.
Harry sighed, and began to explain. He started to tell Hermione about the letters, and how he had thought they were from her, because of all the ways it seemed to point to her. The signature, the way it had been bewitched to look written by a Muggle computer, and how he had written back as nicely as he could and tried to tell her (well, he thought it was her) that he fancied someone else.
“…So you see, I really like Ginny, and I thought that you liked Ron, but then your letters had me all confused! Well, not YOUR letters, someone else’s, but you can imagine what it was like for me to show up today and see you being the same old ‘Mione. I thought you would be livid with me when you found out I didn’t fancy you back.”
Hermione’s jaw dropped in her understanding. “Oh HARRY! That's AWFUL!!” she cried.
“I know.” He said, glumly. “And so I thought I was writing to you, and then I figured you would put it all together and know that I fancied Ginny, and then you would tell her, because I mean, she’s your best friend, and isn’t that what girls do? Tell each other everything?
"And that’s why I thought she wasn’t talking to me; because she wanted to save me the embarrassment because she didn’t fancy me back. And-
“oh SHIT, Hermione. I just realized it. Did Ginny send those letters? Because I told her- well, now I THINK it’s her that I fancied ‘someone else, who in fact was probably her best girl friend, seeing as she fit her description of not being in her same year’.
“Oh, ‘Mione. No WONDER Ginny isn’t talking to you! She thinks that I fancy you! And now she probably thinks you betrayed her.”
And of all things, Hermione laughed. In fact, she laughed so hard, she fell out of her chair.
“Oh, thanks a lot, ‘Mione!” cried Harry. “I didn’t laugh at your stupidity for not being able to realize that Ron has liked you since at LEAST third year, and now look at you!”
Hermione stopped laughing immediately. “Oh, Harry!” she cried. “You really think Ron likes me? You’re not lying are you?”
“Hermione PLEASE! Look at how he acts! How he was so jealous of you going to the ball in 4th year with Krum, and then writing with him all last year! Bloody hell, ‘Mione, he could barely get his fork into his mouth at dinner tonight because he was to busy goggling at you!”
“Oh HARRY!” she cried, jumping into his arms for another bone crushing hug. “I’m so happy! Oh, I might actually have a chance!”
“Come off it, ‘Mione. ‘A chance?!?’ I’m surprised he’s not kissing the ground where you walk by now! But still, so everything’s great for you, and that’s wonderful! I mean, hell, now I at least know why you were being normal with me. I thought you would HATE me after I sent you those letters telling you I fancied someone else. Well, I THOUGHT I was sending them to you.
"I was so confused when I showed up today and you didn’t just hex me on the spot. I mean, I would be pretty upset if I found out someone I liked didn’t like me back.
“But I guess now we know why Ginny is being cold to us. What am I supposed to do now, Hermione?”
“Well,” she said, regaining her ‘know it all’ composure, “it’s easy isn’t it? You just have to tell her you made a mistake, and she’ll forgive you, and then we BOTH get the Weasley we want! I mean, she told me, Harry, that even though she’s dated other boys, that really she’s fancied you the whole time, and was just trying to make herself get over you! No wonder she wrote those letters- she wanted to try and have another chance with you!
“Wow, she really doesn’t give up, does she? She’s a lot braver than me, but, oh yes Harry, she DOES still care for you, I know it! But if you tell her I told you, I really WILL hex you! She would kill me!”
Harry knew she was right about him having to talk to Ginny, and he told her so. “But Hermione, how am I supposed to tell her? I can’t just walk up to her and say ‘look Ginny, I never fancied Hermione, and I really like you!’- get off it, ‘Mione, she’d hex me on the spot. And don’t try to make it look like it should be easy, because I know VERY well that there’s no way you are just going to go straight up to Ron and tell him you like him, either!”
“Oh Harry shut-…. No. You’re right. I’m absolutely petrified of talking to Ron.” She blushed.
Harry bit his lip, and thought. After a few minutes, an idea came to him. “Okay, look, I know it will be harder for you, since Ginny hates you as much as me right now, but if you can talk to Ginny, you’d have a better chance at getting her to listen to SOMETHING than I would.
"And me, well, I’ll talk to Ron tonight, and see if I can’t make him come to his senses about admitting that he’s wanted to snog with you for the past 3 years.”
“Harry!” cried Hermione, blushing. “All right though, it’s a plan. I’ll let you know how it goes at breakfast tomorrow morning.”
They shook on it, and each went to their respective rooms to contemplate how they would formulate their conversations.
‘Don’t worry Harry,” he told himself, “You’ve got it easy compared to what Hermione’s facing. I’ve never seen Ginny so livid.”