If I could describe today in one word, it would most definitely have to be “disaster.” I’m just glad I found this…it’s been gone for a while and I got so worried. For some reason, it was in a girl’s bathroom on a sink. Now I will try to explain what happened earlier today without chucking this book out of the tower…
This morning, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and I were walking out to the Quidditch pitch for their practice. I was planning on watching it, since Ginny insisted. The sky was clear, blue, and the sun just looked all around cheery.
“Well done Ginny,” I said happily. “Good job on making the team!”
“Thanks. I like being a chaser a lot more than being a seeker. No offense Harry,” she added with a grin. “When Alicia asked to talk to me after dinner a couple days ago, I was hoping I’d get the spot. Luckily, she’s seen me play as chaser with you guys after your practices before and she thought I would be perfect.”
“No one is perfect, not even you, darling sister,” Ron said jokingly.
“Shut up, you,” she responded as she punched him in the arm. Ron clutched his arm and moved so that he was no longer walking next to her.
“Where did you say Angelina went off to anyway?” Ron asked Harry.
“Last year she told me that she was going off to Puddlemere like Oliver. That sounds like fun to me,” Harry said.
“I hear they get free brooms,” Ginny piped in.
“Really? Wait--” Ron said, stopping suddenly. “Bloody hell; my broom! It’s upstairs! I forgot it in the boys’ dormitory.”
I could’ve sworn Harry almost grinned. What did he want, for Ron to be kicked off the team?
“How did you not notice you weren’t holding it?” Harry asked with raised eyebrows.
“I don’t know and I don’t have time to think about it! I can’t be late to practice even if I don’t have my broom,” Ron said as he looked at me.
“I’ll get it,” I felt inclined to offer.
“Really?”
I nodded.
“D’you want me to come with you?” Harry asked me. I noticed that Ron quickly elbowed him in the stomach and Ginny swiftly stepped on his foot.
“No thanks,” I told him and I noticed Ron and Ginny looked relieved. “I don’t want you to get in trouble either.”
I walked back into the great stone castle. Rows of suits of armor greeted me as I walked along the hallways (not literally, mind you…though I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually did). I could hear Peeves crashing about in the next hall. Sounded like something valuable. There weren’t a lot of people inside; most were probably outside enjoying the nice day. As I reached the third floor, I met Nearly Headless Nick in front of a bookcase.
“Well good morning, young Gryffindor,” Nick said with a smile. “Now why aren’t you outside with the rest of the students? It’s a brilliant day outside, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” I replied. “I’ve only come inside to get something,” I said as I started to walk again.
“Would you like to see the new painting that was put up on the second floor?” Nick asked as he glided in front of me. I stopped short so I didn’t have to walk through him. “It’s another portrait. She’s quite a nice lady…although she is a bit loud,” he said as he gestured down the staircase.
“No thank you,” I said.
“Oh, but I insist!”
“Any other time would be fine, it’s just that I have to go right now,” I said as I walked past him and up another staircase.
“Could you tell me if my head looks more…erm…decapitated than usual?” Nick voice faintly sounded as I imagined that he let his head fall to the side.
I really didn’t mean to be rude and leave him, but I knew Ron would probably be mad if I didn’t get him his broom soon. I rushed up a couple more staircases until I reached the Gryffindor tower entrance. After saying the password, I climbed through into the common room. It seemed that the whole house of Gryffindor was packed in there. So much for my ‘It’s a beautiful day’ theory. They were staring at me nervously, but I paid them no mind as I climbed up the stone stairwell to the sixth year boys’ dormitory.
Stepping inside, I saw that all of the four-poster beds were all neatly made and orderly. I felt a pang of pity for the house elves that obviously did this work. Disregarding the pity, I then wondered where Ron put his broomstick. ‘Now if I were Ron, where would I put my broom?’ I thought to myself. I looked underneath all of the beds but had no luck. I then searched his trunk, but I found nothing of interest there either (except for some spider repellant, which I find extremely hilarious). I suddenly noticed a small door at the end of the room. A broom closet. Of course. ‘And people call you brilliant…’ I thought to myself as I made my way to the door. The door was open just a crack, and as I opened it, my mouth fell open.
Seamus’s fists were full of long dark hair that I noticed to be Parvati’s. They were quite caught up in snogging. It was incredibly heart-wrenching and disgusting. They broke apart immediately. With surprising calmness, I reached for Ron’s broom and turned around taking silent deep breaths.
“Hermione!” I heard Seamus say. “It’s not what you-” Parvati looked from him to me and then realized what was happening. She then looked at Seamus with disgust.
“That’s quite all right,” I interrupted as I turned around to face him. “I only came here to get this,” I said quietly as I shut the door. It opened again.
“Hermione, wait-”
I was no longer listening to him. I set down Ron’s broom and ripped the locket from my neck. I clenched it in my fist and went over to his bed. Dangling the locket over his pillow by the broken chain, tears began to blur my vision. The colors of the room all began to melt together. I determinedly blinked the tears away. There was time for that later. I took my wand from my pocket and whispered, ‘reducto.’ Because of the extremely close range, the small heart-shaped gold locket shattered into thousands of tiny pieces on his pillow. Gold dust glittered as it gently floated to the ground. I then grabbed Ron’s broom and, with all the dignity I could muster, walked out of the boys’ dormitory. I still had to give Ron his broom and I had no intention of breaking down in front of everyone. I would not give Seamus that satisfaction. Surprisingly, when I entered the common room, it was fully decorated with balloons swelled to enormous sizes and a large banner that read ‘Happy 16th Birthday Hermione!’ that was continuously singing the Happy Birthday song.
“SURPRISE!!!” the entire common room shouted at me. That explained a lot.
I suddenly got wrapped up in a hug by Harry, Ron, and Ginny. This was when the tears began to fall. I couldn’t stop them either.
“What’s wrong, Hermione?” Harry asked concerned.
“I’m crying because I’m happy,” I blubbered. “I swear.” I then turned to Ron. “Here’s your broom Ron,” I said as I gave it to him. “I really appreciate this you guys, but I need to go to my room. I feel sick. Really, really sick,” I said muttering the last part as I pushed past everyone.
I made my way up to my dormitory and made salvation under my covers, crying my eyes out for what I imagine to be hours. That is where I am right now, actually. Trying to get a hold of myself. I can hear people downstairs asking, ‘Have you seen Hermione?’ ‘What happened?’ ‘She said she was sick but I heard she was expelled from school.’
This whole time I’ve been writing this, my usually neat handwriting is small and scraggly because my hands are shaking. I know I’m a mess, but if I look in a mirror, I’ll only be disappointed in myself. I’ll only see the girl who fell for the first boy to give her a compliment. How could someone so practical and who always knows what to do fall into a position like this? Now my feelings keep switching from miserable to furious. I’m miserable that I had my heart broken and that I fell for Seamus’s act. I’m furious that he had the nerve to cheat on me and that everyone knew about it the whole time. Wasn’t that what Lavender was talking about that week when she told me to watch out? Why couldn’t she have just told me that Seamus was a good-for-nothing phony? I should have never fallen for his ridiculous Prince Charming act. I should have never even met him if it would have spared me the grief. Silly teenager mood swings. I know what they are, but that doesn’t give me the power to control them.
Word about what happened must have spread quickly about what happened because I heard Harry confront Seamus only a few moments ago. Parvati must’ve talked about it. As silly as this sounds, after all of these years of knowing her, I honestly believe that she didn’t know what she was doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if Seamus fed her some ill-fated lie as well.
“Is it true what everyone’s been saying, Seamus?” I heard Harry interrogate.
“What are you talking about?” Seamus said defensively. Typical.
“You were snogging Parvati in a broom closet?”
“Possibly…why do you ask?”
“Yes or no. I don’t want to make you regret anything.”
“Yes…yes I was.”
“Do you have any idea what you did to Hermione?”
“I didn’t do anything to Hermione.”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“Okay…so she got a little bit upset.”
“A little upset??? Seamus, you broke her heart!”
“But she wasn’t even my girlfriend!”
“Everyone thought she was, probably including her.”
There was an awkward pause.
“I saw her more of a sister figure than a girlfriend…”
“DO YOU SNOG YOUR SISTER?!” Harry exploded.
I smiled weakly. I was glad Harry could do my yelling when I wasn’t up to it. That’s what best friends are for, I suppose, yelling at idiots who break the other friend’s heart.
“No…but try and hear me out, mate.”
“I’M NOT YOUR MATE!”
“Well…”
“She’s my best friend! What were you thinking???”
The ranting went on for what seemed to be ages, with Harry swearing at him every so often, additional rage from Ron, and an angry comment here and there from Ginny. Lavender and Parvati avoided me when they came up here and went straight to bed. Maybe they felt guilty or something. Who knows? I can’t believe Seamus told them he thought of me as his sister! The nerve of him!
The shouting is over now…and Ginny just came in to tell me that Harry wants to see me downstairs. She said that there is no one down there. I guess I’ll be okay doing that…I’ll finish writing this later…
I am so glad I have Harry as a best friend. When I went downstairs, he was sitting on the sofa in front of the fire. Ginny was right; no one else was there. They were probably all scared off by the raving of my best friends.
“Do you want to sit down?” Harry asked gently.
I nodded as I sat down on the sofa next to him. My eyes began to fill with tears all over again.
“Seamus is such a jerk,” I said as tears spilled onto the front of my robes as I stared at the floor.
“I know,” Harry said quietly. “He refused to admit you two were more than just friends. I asked him if he snogs his sister.”
I gave him a weak grin. “I know. I heard.”
Harry looked at me sheepishly. “Was I really that loud?”
I nodded as some more tears streamed down my face. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the whole tower heard.”
Harry took me in a big hug. “It’ll be all right, Hermione. I will be your shoulder to cry on.”
I leaned my head against his shoulder and stained his robes with my tears. I sniffed and tried to wipe the tears away.
“I’m really sorry…I’m crying…all over your robes. See, they’re all wet now,” I said shakily as I lifted my head.
“It’s okay, Hermione. Really,” Harry said softly as he brushed some of my hair from my face. He took his thumbs, placed them under my eyes, and wiped away the tears. He looked at me straight in the eyes and tried to give me a supportive smile. I could see that his usually startling green eyes were clouded with understanding and compassion. My heart fluttered. I guess it was just nerves.
“You must think I’m stupid or something for falling for that don’t you?” I said hanging my head.
“Of course not,” Harry said. “Apparently even the smartest can fall for tricks like those.”
I leaned my head back on his shoulder and tried to forget what had happened earlier today. Harry gently patted my back. I put my arms loosely around his neck and eventually drifted off to sleep with Harry’s arms around me, serving as something of a security. It made me feel safe, anyways.
“Hermione?” I heard Harry say quietly.
I didn’t say anything and pretended I was sleeping.
“If only I could tell you,” he muttered as he ran his hand through my hair.
I’ve actually just woken up know. The fire has almost gone out and I can barely make out that the grandfather clock in the corner reads three in the morning. Harry is sleeping as I write. I took off his glasses and laid them on the side table quietly, not trying to wake him up. His jet black hair is ruffled, as usual, and he is breathing deeply and evenly. It makes me smile, for a reason I can’t quite place. Harry is the best friend I’ve ever had. He is always there to laugh, and even cry, with in good times…and disasters. This disaster has ended out with almost a happy ending…almost the exact opposite of what I went through yesterday morning. No one says disasters can’t be beautiful, right? I’m thinking that this has turned out to be one of those. However, right now I’d feel much better going to sleep. I better get back upstairs to my dormitory now.
-H. Granger