I'll Always Be There for You...

I'll always be there for you...

Chapter 4

The next morning, Hermione woke up feeling strange and out of place. She got up and blinked and then remembered that she was in her old bedroom.

The bedroom looked strange now that she didn't live there. It was a large room with a big window on one wall and a bed in the middle. Opposite the bed was the dresser and beside that was a door leading to a separate loo. Besides the bed and dresser, the room was pretty empty.

Hermione went to the bathroom and had a shower. She changed her clothes and went downstairs to find her parents having breakfast.

Her mum smiled at her and patted the seat beside her. "You're late today, dear."

She glanced at the clock in the kitchen and found that it was eleven. She usually got up at around eight or nine.

"I guess I was really tired," said Hermione, yawning and reaching for toast.

"I should imagine," said her father. "You were working so hard yesterday."

"Hermione," said her mum, "are you sure about Ron?"

She glanced up from the toast she was spreading marmalade on. "Yes, Mum. Why? You don't like him?"

Persephone shot her husband a look. "Of course I do, dear. I just don't want you to rush into anything."

"I told you mum, I've dated him for like three years," said Hermione, exasperated.

"Yes, but you're so young. Wouldn't you rather wait for the right man?" she persisted.

Hermione sighed. "He's fine mother. He loves me." As she said these words, she wasn't sure she believed them. But she was tired of this interrogating. She was old enough to make her own decisions and live by them. "Mum, I don't want to talk about this anymore." She then got up and left the table.

She made her way to her room and plopped down on her bed. Why couldn't people just be happy for her, instead of making sure she knew what she wanted?

A few minutes later, the phone rang and Mrs. Granger picked it up. A minute later, she called to Hermione, "Dear! It's for you."

Groaning, Hermione picked up the phone in her bedroom. "Hello?" she said brusquely.

"Hey, Hermione," said Ron on the other end. He was talking a little louder than usual and that was because, no matter how many times Hermione taught Ron how to use the phone, he never got it.

"Oh, it's you Ron," she said.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I'm bored."

"Why don't you come over?" he asked her. "It's so quiet now that Ginny's gone."

"Sure," she said. "I'll be right over."

"On second thought," he added, "why don't we go out? I don't really feel like staying home. Meet me in Hogsmeade in about fifteen minutes?"

She nodded, forgetting that she was on the phone.

"You'll be there right?' said Ron.

Hermione said, "I'll always be there for you, Ron."

"Great," he said. "See you." He hung up.

There was a knock on the door and Mrs. Granger entered. "Where're you off to?"

"Out, Mum," she said. "With Ron."

An eyebrow rose. "Oh?"

Hermione just ignored her and continued getting ready, with her mother standing there.

"Why don't you wear something else?" she asked when Hermione was done.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing her favourite black jeans and white t-shirt.

"What's wrong with this?" she asked.

"Nothing," said her mum. "It's just that you're going out to meet your fiancé. You should wear a dress."

"I hate dresses."

"I know, but you should look pretty for Ron," said Mrs. Granger, going over to her closet and picking out a dress that Hermione had left when she had moved out. "How about this one?" she said, holding up a pink sundress.

"Mum!" Hermione said.

"What?" she said, innocently. "Come on, just wear it. This one looks so pretty on you."

Hermione knew that her mother wouldn't ever give up, so she sighed and said, "All right."

Mrs. Granger smiled and said, "Thank you, dear."

Then she left Hermione to get dressed. A few minutes later, she stared at her reflection in disgust. The pink dress had a short skirt with ruffles and was sleeveless. Her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail.

After telling her mother she was leaving, Hermione Disapparated. She checked her watch once she had arrived at Hogsmeade. She was exactly on time.

Ron had told her he was going to meet her near the entrance so Hermione went and stood there.

A few minutes passed by and Ron still wasn't there. Hermione checked her watch and saw that he was ten minutes late. She wondered where he could be.

Ten more minutes had passed by when Ron finally showed up.

"What happened, Ron?" asked Hermione. "I've been waiting for twenty minutes for you."

"I got held up," he said. "Calm down, I'm here now."

"What do you mean, calm down?" she demanded. "I'm perfectly calm."

He appeared annoyed. "What I mean is, don't have a cow, all right? I know I'm late, but don't yell or anything."

"I haven't said anything, Ron," said Hermione, losing her temper now. "I was just worried about you, and in your eyes, 'that's having a cow'?"

"God, Hermione, just forget it," he said, rolling his eyes and walking away from her. "I don't know what your problem is these days."

"My problem?" asked Hermione. "My problem?" She was reaching her boiling point.

"Look, I know in your eyes I've done something wrong, so just tell me and get it over with," he said. "It's better than you just snipping at me."

Hermione could not believe her ears. "Snipping at you?! You want to know what you've done? Do you?"

He turned around to face her. "Stop yelling, Hermione, and just tell me."

"All right," said Hermione. "This, this is what you did to me." She rolled up her sleeve and showed him the markings on her arm. "This is what you did. I know you think your such a great actor and think you're doing a great job of acting, but I'm not blind either!"

"Just say it straight out, why don't you?" he said. "I'm tired of your double meanings."

"My meaning," said Hermione, "is that, the day before your sister's wedding, you tried to rape me."

When Ron looked incredulous, Hermione said, "Stop acting, Ron. You were the one who asked me to go on a walk at one in the morning and then tried to take off my clothes when I told you to stop." Talking about it made Hermione's heart beat faster again. "On the day of Ginny's wedding, you acted like you didn't know what was going on and said 'if I did something wrong, just forgive me'. But I can't, Ron! I can't forgive you."

"You're making it up," he said, not believing it. "Why would I do that to you?"

"That's what I don't understand. Why?"

"It must've been someone else," he said, trying to rationalize with her.

Hermione shook her head. "It was your voice and it was you. Stop acting like it never happened. Just leave me alone for now, Ron." And with that she turned on her heel and Disapparated.

Hermione Apparated in her room and collapsed on her bed. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She didn't want her mother to think that there was something wrong with Ron, now that she was okay with it. She couldn't understand why Ron would pretend like nothing was wrong.

After a few minutes of just sitting there, she put a fake smile on her face and went downstairs. Over the weekend, Hermione spent some time with her parents. She cooked and cleaned and listened to her parent's talk about the trip to Hawaii they were taking in a few days. Hermione's mum kept saying things about how Hermione should wait getting married, but Hermione just ignored her.

On Saturday, she got a visit from Ginny. She came just to say good-bye before her and Harry left on their honeymoon.

As Hermione hugged her, Ginny said, "I didn't even get to see you at the wedding, Hermione. Where were you?"

"Working," said Hermione.

"Really?" said Ginny, surprised. "Ron told me that you were sleeping in the kitchen the whole time."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "That's not true, actually..."

But Ginny didn't listen. She glanced at her watch and said, "Shit! Hermione I've gotta run now. Harry told me to make it quick. I'm sorry you had such a lousy time but maybe you should have slept more the night before to make up for it. And maybe not have volunteered. Bye!" She then Disapparated.

After Ginny left, instead of feeling happy about seeing her, Hermione felt sad. She received the impression that everyone that she had been sleeping in the kitchen the whole time because she didn't want to join in. This made her upset the whole weekend.

Sunday afternoon, Hermione received a distressed owl from Lavender. She had apparently had a big fight with Dean and needed Hermione's help.

Hermione Apparated to her house and rushed to her room. Lavender was crying when Hermione got there, so she hugged her and told her that it everything would be all right.

After listening to Lavender's choppy version of what happened, Hermione tried to fix the problem.

"I'm sure it was a misunderstanding," she said. "You know, Ron and I had something of a misunderstand this morning as well."

"What do I do now?" asked Lavender, completely ignoring what Hermione had said. "He'll hate me!"

Hermione calmed Lavender down and then convinced her to go and talk to Dean. By the time she got back to her parent's, it was nine thirty and she had to go home.

She hugged her parents before she left. "I don't think I'll be able to see you before your flight on Friday. I have to catch up at work."

"That's all right, dear," said Mr. Granger. "We understand. You just do your best at work."

Mrs. Granger nodded and said, "We'll call you Friday morning, though. Get some rest dear."

"I will. Bye, Mum, Dad," said Hermione before she Disapparated to her home.

When she got home, Hermione unpacked her things and then got into bed. She was an early sleeper because she was an early riser. She had to be at the Ministry at seven o'clock sharp.

The next morning, at six, Hermione got up and showered. She then got dressed in her black Ministry robes and tied her hair back in a thick ponytail.

She grabbed some breakfast, her black purse and Disapparated. She got there exactly at seven.

Hermione signed in at the front desk and then hurried to her desk in the Auror Department. Many people thought that Aurors were constantly out there catching death eaters, but actually many had to do the work in the office as well, like preparing potions for catching them and such.

Each Auror had duties they had to attend to, and this week Hermione was on potion duty. She didn't mind doing the potions, but Harry hated them.

Hermione then remembered that Harry wouldn't be here for a few weeks, as he was on his honeymoon. Hermione would miss him as it was better working on potions together then alone, but she could handle it.

So she made her way to the potions room, but suddenly there was a loud voice overhead saying, "Hermione Granger, please report to my office." The voice was that of her boss, Blaise Zabini. Since Hermione was such an important Auror, Blaise constantly wanted to know her opinion on issues. Hermione had thought him to be in league with Voldemort, but in the end, he hated Voldemort and was now working as the head Auror.

Blaise was very handsome, as many women in the department thought, but Hermione was indifferent to him. Maybe it was because he didn't appeal to her and treated her in a very professional way. But Hermione did love to tease Millicent Bulstrode in Magical law Enforcement about seeing Blaise every day.

Hermione hurried to his office and said, "Yes, sir?"

Blaise looked up from his desk. "I need to brief you about catching a certain death eater. Are you ready for a conference?"

She nodded and got out a piece of parchment and quill. For the next twenty minutes, she listened to Blaise describe a Death Eater who was trying various things to get the Dark Lord back and what they needed to do. He then gave her a list of potions she would need to make for the job.

So for the next few days, Hermione worked diligently making potions for Blaise.

Over the week, Blaise was constantly praising her, so Hermione had tons of feedback on her potions. Plus, Millicent was caught trying to leave a box of chocolates in Blaise's office, but Hermione threw them out, causing Millicent to cry her bulgy eyes out. It was good to be back at work.

On Friday, her parents called her from the airport to say good-bye. Hermione talked to them very quickly because she had to get to work.

A few days later, Hermione was still working in the Potions lab. She was having difficulty with a certain potion, however. She had tried to make it about three times but had not been successful and was getting frustrated. So she decided to ask Blaise for some help.

Hermione made her way to his office and knocked on the door. Blaise answered it and said, "Yes?"

"Blaise, I need some help," said Hermione. "I need to go on a mission tomorrow and I need this potion done, but I can't get it."

"Not now, Hermione," said Blaise without even listening to her. While Hermione tried to protest he shut the door on her face.

She stared at the door in indignation. She couldn't believe Blaise had done that to her. She had always been so helpful to him and this was how he repaid her?

Hermione went to her little cubicle and plopped down. She took a few deep breaths and then put a hand inside robe to get her wand, but felt something else.

Hermione looked at what was in her hand and then couldn't help but smile. In her hand was an old Extendable Ear from Fred and George's shop.

Trying to act inconspicuous, she took the Ear and went to Blaise's door. She heard voices inside. There were two voices inside, one that Hermione recognized to be Blaise's and another that was Millicent.

"...I mean she's always slobbering up to me," said Blaise.

Millicent laughed. "Well she is smart and it's cool how well you use her."

Inside, Blaise grinned. "Totally. I don't think Granger has any idea how much I rip ideas off her and how little credit she actually gets."

"She's such a Miss Goody two-shoe I don't think she'll ever figure it out," said Millicent.

Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes. The Ear dropped out of her hand and fell just as the tears in Hermione's eyes began to fall.

She was tired of being trashed and being used. Instead of just going to her office to cry, she decided to do something about this once and for all.

Hermione wiped her eyes clean and then opened the door and marched into the room.

Inside, Blaise was sitting at his desk and Millicent was sitting atop his desk, wearing the tightest miniskirt ever.

"Well, I guess Ms. Goody two-shoe found out," Hermione said.

Blaise jumped up. "Listen, Granger, this was a private meeting and you have no right..."

"No!" said Hermione. "You have no right to use me like this and to pretend to be such a team player. I'm tired of being used and doing all your dirty work. You want someone to be your little lapdog? Then use Millicent. I'm sure she would like be your bitch."

Millicent's mouth dropped open and Blaise's face was reddening.

"Get out, Granger," said Blaise.

"Oh, I'll leave," said Hermione. "Gladly. But not just for today, but forever. I quit!" And with that she turned and slammed the door behind her with such force that the paintings in Blaise's office fell down and shattered.

Hermione then ran out of the Ministry with tears streaming down her face