Chapter 4
Hermione grunted at the sound of water rushing and rolled over in her bed. Unfortunately, she rolled over onto the wrong side, which consequently became the floor, with a loud thump. Well, at least I’m awake now, she reasoned as she slowly got to her feet.
“What was that?” Terry yelled, rushing back into the room with a golf club raised. Hermione giggled at the sight of him, as he was only in a towel and she didn’t think he’d ever used a golf club before in his life.
“Nothing, I just got up on the wrong side of bed, that’s all. What are you doing up this early anyway?” she asked, remembering why she’d woken up in the first place. She noticed that Terry seemed to be getting dressed remarkably quickly when they didn't have any particular plans. He stumbled whilst doing an almost jig to pull his trousers up, causing Hermione to erupt into such a vivacious bout of laughter that she fell back onto the bed.
“I have to get ready, I want to leave in twenty minutes,” explained Terry, so preoccupied with tightening his tie he didn’t notice Hermione’s face fall.
“But today’s your day off!” she protested, though without too much hope.
“Yes, I know, but I’ve really been swamped at the office lately and I want to get some paperwork finished. You understand, right, dear?” he asked, without waiting for a reply. “Do you have any plans for today?”
“Well, we were meant to be spending the morning together until I had to leave for work,” she said, somewhat bitterly, but it was lost on Terry. “But I guess I’ll just go see Ginny, or go shopping or something.”
“That’s nice,” Terry said absently, in a tone that made Hermione question how much attention he had been paying. If he’d been Ron, she mused, I probably would have said something about it.
“Hermione, could you pass me the folder on Grenilig? Hermione? Hermione?” Harry resorted to throwing a paper aeroplane at her to get her attention.
“Hey! Oh, sorry, Harry, I was just thinking,” explained Hermione with a start. Harry grinned; that much had been evident.
“You know, I remember that look from school,” Harry said with a grin. “That either meant you were thinking about something in the library, or you were thinking about Ron!” Hermione thought that Harry’s grin had turned slightly sly and chose to ignore his last comment as she rifled through the paperwork to find the folder.
“Here you are.” Hermione threw over a green folder titled ’Grenilig’. “What do you want it for, I thought he was cleared of all charges?”
“A little light reading!” Hermione narrowed her eyes, looking down at the headshot of a bald man with a scar on each cheek, his mouth seemed tattooed to a permanent frown. “I was joking!” Harry explained, rolling his eyes. “Ron, then?”
“What?”
“You were thinking about Ron, instead of the library?” Harry’s grin widened as he saw the slight frown come over Hermione’s face, making his guess seem even more accurate.
“No, actually, I was thinking about Terry,” Hermione said, in a slightly frosty tone, though Harry wasn’t sure if it was caused by the question or the answer. “He’s been, sort of, strange lately. He’s always so preoccupied with something or another now.” Harry looked on sympathetically, unsure of what to say. Luckily, someone said something for him.
“Who’s this?” Harry groaned inwardly. Of all the things to say, that probably wasn’t one of the best. Hermione frowned, looking up.
“Terry. But maybe it’s just him being a typical male,” Hermione deliberated.
“Hey! I resent that!” Ron said lightly, walking in further than the doorway he had been leaning against. Harry quickly shuffled his papers together, glad the ring on his finger prevented occasions such as the one he was now witnessing.
“But you’re one of the main perpetrators!” Hermione teased, a grin on her face to show she was only joking.
“Oh, he’s not that bad!” a feminine voice spoke up, startling Hermione so much she dropped the pile of paperwork she was holding all over the floor. She knelt down to pick it up, but when she looked up, she not only saw Ron beside her on the floor picking up stray pieces of parchment but a woman standing inside their office.
“Ron, do you know her?” Hermione asked coldly. “You know we’re not supposed to have people outside of our department in here.”
“It’s only for a minute,” Ron replied, looking slightly hurt. “I just came by to pick up my wallet. I think I must have left it on my desk earlier, and I happened to be with - ”
“Oh, you must be Hermione!” the woman interrupted in a light, airy voice that made Hermione feel a bit queasy. “I’ve heard so much about you,” she gushed.
“I’ve heard lots about you too,” Hermione replied, pasting a smile across her face, much to Harry’s surprise, who looked around to see if he could see an easy escape route. “You’re exactly as Ron described you, Angela.” This time, her smile was genuine.
“No, actually, I’m Claire,” she said, her smile having vanished faster than Ron would in the presence of spiders. “Who’s Angela?”
“She’s no-one, really, she’s - “
“Ron’s girlfriend,” Hermione explained innocently. “Oh, ex-girlfriend, I mean! I didn’t even know you two broke up! She was so nice, too.”
“What? I was only saying the truth!”
“You knew perfectly well that I wasn’t going out with Angela! Why would you say something like that anyway? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were jea - “
“It must have slipped my mind,” Hermione interrupted Ron’s shouts coolly. “I’m sorry, all right? I really didn‘t mean to break you two up…”
“Oh, you didn’t,” Ron informed her, still annoyed.
“Oh!” Hermione wasn’t able to instantly conceal her surprise but managed it in her second attempt. “Well, that’s good.” She went back to work, scribbling something down on the parchment in front of her.
“Don’t sound too excited about it,” Ron complained.
“Oh, I am, really…” Ron thought that was probably the most unconvincing Hermione had sounded since she had said she didn’t fancy Lockhart, only this time her cheeks weren’t red. Pale pink was more like it.
In the dining room of The Burrow, Harry was distressed. Ginny could tell by the way he was pacing up and down, occasionally stopping to listen to something that was inaudible to her.
“Oh no!” Harry exclaimed after he’d finished his latest round of pacing.
“What’s wrong?” Ginny asked him, putting down her copy of ‘Witch Weekly’ with a sigh. Harry didn't reply. “What?” Ginny was beginning to get a bit worried about her husband.
“Listen!” There was silence once more as Ginny ‘listened’, her eyes darting around the room to see if she could see the source of the ‘noise’.
“I don’t hear anything,” she said slowly.
“Exactly! The - the silence! It - it burns! They’re - they’re not fighting! Something must be wrong!” Ginny laughed, but at the same moment, they both heard Ron yell,
“Wait - were you with Vicky?”
Harry smiled, and heaving a sigh of relief, he sat back down next to Ginny.
Hermione threw her hands up in the air as she paced over to the furthest corner away from Ron. She couldn’t even remember how they had got to this.
“Why does it always come back to Viktor? This has absolutely nothing to do with him! You were obsessed by it at school, and you still are now! Do you really think I would cheat on my boyfriend with someone who still can’t pronounce my name? Or stand him up for an ex-boyfriend, which is just as bad!” Hermione hissed, not realising her voice was growing louder with every word.
“And you say I was obsessed by stuff that happened at school! Hark at little Miss Pot over there! Or would you prefer to be the kettle?”
“Ooh! You are so - so - “
“What? So what exactly?”
Hermione didn’t reply, but turned away, her eyes shimmering. I knew it was a mistake telling Ron about Terry, she thought, desperately trying to keep her breathing regular.
“See!” Ron shouted, oblivious. “For once, you don’t have an answer!”
“Just because I’m above replying to one of your idiotic comments, it doesn’t mean I can’t!” Hermione yelled back, whirling around. Ron could’ve sworn he could see fire in her eyes, like the day she slapped Malfoy, and he backed away instinctively.
“So why don’t you then?” Ron countered, albeit from some distance away. He may be brave, but he wasn’t stupid; any closer and he would have been within missile range.
“Because - because I can’t be sure of what I’ll say,” she replied, quieter, although it would have been hard to get much louder than either Ron or Hermione in one of their arguments. “I can’t be sure that I won’t say that I hate you, or that I won’t say that I -” She broke off abruptly, as if realising what she had just said, or been about to say. “I have to go.” With that, she hurriedly went out through the lounge, leaving Ron standing alone in the empty room.
When Is Too Late? by Oppungo
Chapter Notes: Lots of thanks and praise for my brilliant beta, songbook99!