The Given Choices

*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chapter Eleven *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione slowly walked around to a spot between Harry and the dead fire. He raised his haunted emerald eyes to hers as he tossed the last of the Firewhiskey down his throat. The empty glass was laid on the side table as he simply stated, "Well, morning."

"It wasn't what you think, Harry," she spoke as he leisurely stretched his arms behind his head and leaned back against the couch.

Her boyfriend gave her a chilling smile as he replied, "I'm sure it wasn't. It couldn't have been that small Hermione Granger dot on top of Draco Malfoy's small dot all night long in the Astronomy Tower, now, could it?"

Hermione stared at the parchment still clenched in his hand as her body began to feel very tired, both physically and emotionally. Her fingers ran around the hem of her shirt, as time seemed to pass painfully slow. "Nothing happened. After you left, I ran to the tower sobbing. I didn't even know he was there until he tried to calm me down. He just held me as I cried for hours. The only hand he laid on me was as a friend comforting another friend. Would you be sitting here drunk and pissed off if it was Ron instead of Draco?"

"No, I trust Ron."

"But you don't trust me. Do you believe me when I say nothing happened last night between me and Draco?" she asked as her temper built brick by brick within her.

Harry stood upright until he was about an inch in front of her face. As they stood there all she wanted to do was hit him or pull him into a hug, but the latter was not a winning idea at the moment. There was pain in his eyes but it was surrounded by hate. One word from his lips showed his heart. "No."

That one tiny word stabbed her heart and pulled its blade down as she felt her heart bleed. She no longer tried to stop the tears that ran down her cheeks as she hissed, "I have no reason to lie to you because I did nothing wrong. Do you want to inspect my body for his bite marks? Hmm. Do you what to see if you can smell him on me? Don't you want to make sure he didn't take my virginity up in the tower last night? You are my boyfriend I - "

"Were," he coldly stated.

"Were? Since, when did that change? Last night, after you got mad because of whom my birth mother is? Or was it when you took your first sip of Firewhiskey?"

His eyes almost burned holes in hers from the rage she felt flowing through his body. With a few deep breaths, Harry took a step back as he headed to the stairs that led to the boy's dorm. Ron was just coming down and looked to Harry, then to Hermione. The raven hair wizard turned on the first step and stated, "Our relationship ended the moment you were in Malfoy's arms. Now, I have to get a few hours sleep before I beat the living shit out of your new lover during the match."

As soon as he disappeared from view, her shaking hand picked up the vase he had earlier broken and repaired. The crystal vase smashed into thousands of little pieces as she threw it at the wall with all her might. Her other best friend ran to her side and pulled her into a hug as she wailed into his chest. Hermione cried as she muttered, "I didn't cheat on him, Ron. Please believe me. I didn't. I didn't."

"Shhh. Calm down and tell me how this all started," the redhead softly spoke as he led her to the couch.

Hermione wiped her eyes with her sleeves as she started, "I guess the first thing to explain is the reason behind my fainting spell last weekend. Remus had invited me to dinner."

*~*~*~*~*~

In the dungeons, a talk was occurring in the Slytherin common room. Draco was pacing around the room as Blaise sipped his hot cup of coffee. The silent Slytherin had insisted on some caffeine before he let his best friend explain where he was last night and why he was so bloody mad. Once Blaise felt ready for the explanation, he sank deeper into the leather arm chair and spoke, "Okay, Draco. Why don't you start with where you where last night?"

The blond stopped pacing as he dropped his exhausted body into the chair in front of Blaise. He ran his fingers through his fine, light-colored hair as replied, "Just after eating, I headed to the Astronomy Tower to help clear my head. I stayed there for about twenty minutes when Hermione came in, completely in tears. We stayed there all night."

"Way to go, Draco. I never doubt-"

"No, nothing happened," the blond interrupted, then continued his explanation, "She fell asleep in my arms. I didn't have the heart to wake her. Then she just told me that Potter was the one that made her cry."

Blaise raised his eyebrow and then took another sip of the dark brown liquid. He swirled the drink and stated, "I had a feeling something was not right. He seemed very standoffish to her all through dinner last night. But her back was to me, so I couldn't tell what she was feeling."

"She didn't tell me what their fight was about but she tried to say that he had the right to be mad at her. Why the bloody hell would he have the right to make her cry?" Draco asked as he flung his legs over the side of the chair and got more comfortable.

"Well, I think it could've been one or two things, but possibly both. The first thing is that she finally told him about Bella. Being the daughter of a Death Eater probably will not sit well within the Gryffindor house. And the other thing could've been about you," the raven-haired friend commented as he pulled out his wand to light the fire inside the cold common room.

Draco sighed as he rested his head on the corner of the leather chair and watched the flames come to life in the fireplace. "I haven't done anything recently. I mean, we did spend some time together in the library before dinner but nothing happened. Oh by the way, Hermione knows that you and I know about Aunt Bella."

"You mean Second Aunt, don't you?" Blaise snickered as he ducked the pillow being aimed at his head. "Okay, fine. Be as incorrect as you want. Just don't spill the java, man."

Draco got up and stretched his long body with a groan as he stated, "Yes, I see the coffee is more important than me. Look, I need to get some sleep before the game. A certain Seeker might be looking for blood on the pitch."

"Yeah, yours," Zabini laughed and Draco smiled lazily at that statement but did not deny it. The blond walked off to the dorm as the other Slytherin started to wonder what made Hermione's boyfriend so angry, and if he noticed that she had not slept in her bed last night.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So, that's when you came down the stairs, Ron. I promise on my Grandmother's grave that nothing happen between me and Malfoy." The pain in her voice was very real as she rested her head on her other best friend's shoulder.

Ron had stayed quiet through her whole tale and did nothing but put an arm around her as she kept going. They were still the only two in the common room because it was Saturday and the fact that it was seven in the morning insured their privacy for about one more hour. The word 'shock' did not equal the feeling he felt when Hermione had told him about Remus and Bellatrix. He had understood why Harry was so upset, but his best friend had over-reacted.

Ron chastely kissed the top of her head and then responded, "Well first off, that woman may be your birth mother but she is not your real mum. Secondly, I still don't trust the ferret but I do trust you and believe that nothing happened. You just need to give Harry some time and space."

Hermione sat up and rubbed her eyes as she yawned. Then she hugged him tightly before she got to her feet. She forced her eyes open as she replied, "Yeah. Well, having our friendship back is more important than our relationship at this point. With everything we are each going through, I think maybe it is for the better that it ended. If it is meant to be, then we'll get back together some time. But I have figure out how I feel about all of this. Thanks for listening to me. I think I need to get some more shut eye."

"That's a good idea. Also, I wouldn't go to the game if I were you. I think seeing you might make things worse for him on the field. He doesn't need the distraction. It's going to be hard enough to convince him not to kill Malfoy. Get some sleep and then something to eat. I'll check on you after the game. I'm going to go grab a few things from the kitchen," Ron stated as he got up and headed out the out the portrait hole.

Hermione shook her head as her feet slowly led her to the warmth of her bed. Within a few minutes, she was changed and tucked soundly in the bed. All she wanted to do was to stop thinking about Harry and Draco enough to get to sleep. After about a half an hour, her mind finally let sleep take over but no dreams came to her, which was probably for the best at the moment.