After falling asleep the previous night with rules set, Hermione felt immediately better and more useful. Yesterday had been Friday… meaning today was Saturday, the weekend. No classes. And after this weekend, it was the one week Easter Break. Hermione did her usual routine of showering, dressing and having breakfast. Then she only had one place to go to…
The library.
She no longer felt lazy, like she had yesterday. She wanted to read something, something for entertainment, not for research. She hadn’t read something for entertainment in a long time. Too long, in Hermione’s opinion. So Hermione took herself down to the library, stealthy walking, keeping herself mostly hidden and inconspicuous, so that she would blend into the background. She didn’t want to be bothered at the moment.
She got to the library, said a quick hello to Madame Pince [who had become more of a friend to her than just a librarian] and settled down. She spread out her things on her favourite table and sank into the armchair next to it gracefully.
Before she selected an appropriate book, she had a quick peek at her parchment. The one that held her rules.
5 Simple Rules
Rule #1: Never be ignorant to something obvious
Rule #2: Never turn away from the truth
Rule #3: Never stab a friend in the back
Rule #4: Never let the family know
Rule #5: Never fall for one of them
She was still safe, still okay with herself. She hadn’t done anything wrong yet. Breathing a sigh of relief, Hermione folded the parchment back up, tucked it away, and reached for a book, any book. The book closest to her.
Without further ado, she began to read.
--
He observed her. She couldn’t see him… the perks of Invisibility Cloaks. And he just sat there, completely still, and watched her.
He watched the way she scrunched her brows, running an elegant finger down the page of a book. Then he watched as a smile lit up her beautiful face as she found what she was looking for. He saw her reach out for a quill and parchment, writing furiously in her neat, slanted scrawl. Then she quickly went back to the book, flipping the pages easily as she read swiftly.
And he just sat there and watched. He didn’t quite know why; subconsciously, he knew. But he wasn’t sure what he was really doing, why he was doing this. But he didn’t worry about it, just enjoyed the moment, sat, and watched.
It was a good thing he was invisible, too. Because he wasn’t alone in the library, watching this girl. There was someone else here, too. Fortunately, it was also someone unseen. It was a good thing this boy was so obsessed in watching the girl that he did not study his surroundings, or he may have noticed the other figure doing the exact same thing as he was.
The other was just sitting there watching her. With no Invisibility Cloak to shield him, he hid away cleverly, so that while he could see her, she could not see him.
He also watched, watched the same thing the other boy watched. He watched her long, thick curls fall over her face. He watched how she pushed it backward impatiently; numerous times before getting out a bobble and tying it back roughly. Then he watched her almost growl in annoyance as a wisp of hair fell out of her ponytail and in her face.
And as the girl sat, she had no idea that two boys were watching her, admiring her every move. She didn’t know, even when it was so clear, that two boys were falling.
Falling for her.
--
Hermione’s eyes dropped heavily. She had been in the library all day, not even stopping to get lunch. She had been much too absorbed in her books. But she was getting tired, although she refused to admit it. Her eyes were slowly closing, and she fell into a peaceful sleep.
“Come on Hermione… I won’t do anything, I swear!” Ron begged. Harry was laughing next to him, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.
“No, Ron. I am NOT getting on a broom with you!” Hermione snapped back. She had no desire to die today, or even experience Ron showing off on his broom with her gripping onto him for dear life.
“Ron, mate… give it up,” Harry began, still chuckling slightly. An irritated Ron turned to him,
“I’d like to see you do any better!” Ron said loudly, walking off in a huff.
“So, Hermione… care to prove Ron wrong?” Harry asked as soon as Ron was out of the earshot. Hermione grinned, knowing what was coming.
“No thanks, Harry. While I’d love to annoy Ron even more, I’d fear for my life,” Hermione replied impishly.
“Oh come on… you trust me, don’t you? I won’t do anything,” Harry put on his best puppy dog look and Hermione felt herself melting.
“Fine… but only for a few minutes,” she said reluctantly. Harry grinned and hopped on his broom, and waited for Hermione to do the same. Hermione sighed and climbed on, gripping Harry tightly.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Harry said softly as they took off. Hermione loosened her grip on Harry slightly when she saw he didn’t have anything dangerous planned. They weren’t going too high, or too fast. Hermione was actually kind of enjoying it.
Sighing she leaned her head on Harry’s back and closed her eyes. At least Harry wouldn’t nearly kill her with dangerous stunts… Ron on the other hand, might have. His heart was in the right place, but he tended to go overboard. But Harry did it just right.
They flew like that for a few minutes, silent. There was no need for words. Then Harry began a slow, steady descend. By the time the broom had reached the ground, Hermione almost didn't want to get off. Almost.
“Thanks, Harry,” Hermione whispered as they touched down. “I never thought I’d say it… but that was a great broom ride.”
“Thank you,” Harry muttered back, smiling. “I won!”
“Harry!” Hermione cried, frowning indignantly. This isn’t what she had been expecting… not really. Okay, maybe a bit.
“What? You mean I can’t gloat to Ron?” Harry looked at Hermione and widened his eyes. Then he made his bottom lip tremble, in an attempt to look pathetic.
“Well, maybe just a little,” Hermione replied, grinning. Harry smiled back and threw his arm around Hermione.
“Come on! This is going to be fun…” Harry took Hermione’s arm and led her away, to the direction of Ron, who would soon be even more irritated than he was now…
Hermione woke up with a start. Her dream… it wasn’t ordinary. It was a memory, an exact memory of what had happened only weeks ago. She remembered it well, for she and Harry had begun walking back to the castle and did indeed find an indignant Ron, angrily asking where they had been. Both took great pleasure in saying, “Flying.” Ron had become enraged, as expected, but as Harry and Hermione burst out laughing, Ron couldn’t help joining in.
They shared so many laughs together. Hermione couldn’t imagine her life without her best friends. Shaking herself out of her reminiscing, she packed her things away and headed for the Gryffindor Common Room. It had really gotten quite late, and Hermione was amazed that she had actually fallen asleep on her book.
Still, not noticing that two figures had sat there just as long as she had, observing her every move, Hermione walked lightly and happily.
--
Ginny sat on the couch in the Common Room and waited. She knew what she needed to do. She needed to tell Hermione to back off. Hermione needed to understand that she had to stay away, because he was Ginny’s, not Hermione’s.
Ginny could see the way Ron looked at Hermione. She saw how he tried to hide it. She saw how much he loved arguing with Hermione, because she was so passionate about it. Ginny could see it all, even when Hermione couldn’t.
But Ginny could see other things too. She saw the way he looked at her also. Not Ron, but him. The one that was meant to be Ginny’s. She saw how they subtly flirted with each other, in such a calm way it was hard to notice. She saw how much Hermione cared for him, and how much he cared for her. And Ginny was not happy, at all. How could they? How could they do this to her and Ron? It wasn’t fair.
The moment had come. Hermione had walked into the Common Room, her book bag swinging on her shoulder. She smiled when she saw Ginny, but Ginny kept her blank mask on. Walking right up to Hermione’s face, she said what she had to.
“Hermione… stay away from him,” Ginny warned in a low voice. Hermione looked at her strangely, and a smile appeared. She thought Ginny was kidding around, just acting up or something.
“Ginny, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Hermione laughed. But Ginny was not in the mood for joking about with Hermione. Not at all.
“Drop the act, Hermione,” she hissed. Rather nastily, if you asked Hermione. What was making Ginny so worked up, so angry with her?
“What’s wrong, Ginny? Just tell me what I’ve done!” Hermione exclaimed indignantly. It’s not as if Hermione liked being verbally attacked by Ginny… or anyone else for that matter.
“You should know! Prancing around him, as if you don’t know how I feel! Flirting with him ever second of the day, loving all the attention he gives you. It should have been me, all along!” Ginny yelled, tears in her eyes and a look of madness on her face in general.
Truly, Hermione had no clue as to what Ginny was yelling about. Who was this he she kept mentioning? And what was the business with prancing and flirting, something Hermione apparently did?
“Listen Ginny, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t need to be yelled at by people I thought were my friends… I’ll give you some time to cool off. Bye,” Hermione rushed out quickly, wanting to get away from the youngest Weasley.
In her rush, she didn’t hear Ginny’s last words, spoken quietly, and in an icy voice quite unlike Ginny’s natural one.
“Harry… he’s meant to love me… not you. You should be with Ron,”
--
Hermione was totally confused with Ginny’s yelling. What was her problem? Ginny had always been a bit of a drama queen, but this time there was actually something really bugging her. Something Hermione had done.
What did I do to her?
Hermione froze. That thought… it couldn’t be good. She hastily reached for her parchment, slowly opening it and dreading what she may see.
5 Simple Rules
Rule #1: Never be ignorant to something obvious
Rule #2: Never turn away from the truth
Rule #3: Never stab a friend in the back
Rule #4: Never let the family know
Rule #5: Never fall for one of them
Hermione looked at it desperately, begging to God that she was hallucinating or something. Rule #1 had been crossed off. Hermione had betrayed herself, her own promise. A promise she had made up herself.
She had been ignorant to the things around her; to something obvious that concerned her. Ginny obviously knew, and was mad about it. And she had just been yelling about it, quite fiercely.
The worst part was that Hermione still didn’t even know what it was.
--
A/N: First rule has been broken. Stay tuned
Bold font means the rule’s been crossed off. Strikethrough doesn’t work on ff.net
Thanks very much to all who took the time to read… but an even bigger thanks to those who also reviewed!
Thanks to my lovely beta, Kris…. for your ideas, encouragement and, as usual, correcting my atrocious spelling/grammar… and you still managed to review as well. You deserve a prize, girl! And another shout-out to Katy, for pointing out the other mistakes apart from grammatical.
xo aPADFOOT