Hermione Has a Plan

Chapter 2

Ron looked startled for a moment, then irritated. "Maybe. But what's eating you?"

"I'm just sick of seeing you drooling over her. If you like her, why don't you ask her out?" Harry hissed.

Ron saw Parvati nudge Lavender and the two of them start staring and giggling. He lowered his voice, "Harry, maybe we should discuss this outside." He gave a slight flick of his head toward the girls.

Harry agreed quietly and the two of them left the room.

Hermione was sitting near the Quidditch grounds, reading. Two figures circled lazily far above, too far for her to see who they were. She wasn't quite sure students were allowed to fly that high, but she wouldn't know, anyway. She had a confirmed fear of flying, and preferred to travel by other means.

Her wand was slung over her shoulder in a slim, quiver-type harness. She found this the best way to carry it. She had bound the wand and its harness with a charm so that only she could remove her wand, and if she kept her wand down for over 30 minutes, it returned quietly to its sheath. This way she was never without her wand, it stayed out of harm's way, and she could pull it out in a second. Admittedly the idea wasn't original, it was taken from medieval archers, but what the heck - it worked for her!

Harry and Ron emerged from the castle, carrying their brooms. Hermione looked up as they approached, and her eyes lit up.

"Practising, Harry?" she asked.

"Yes. But since you are here anyway, Ron has something to say to you," Harry said, an unreadable expression in his eyes, and mounting his broom, soared off.

Hermione patted the seat next to her invitingly, "Come on, Ron. Homework problems again?" But her eyes were on the slim figure in black robes skimming the top of the grass and making slow figure eights.

Ron swallowed. He coughed a bit before blurting out, "Hermione, I like you!"

Hermione looked at him in some surprise, "I know, Ron. And I like you too - we are best friends!"

"I mean, I like you as more than a friend!"

Hermione's eyes clouded over. Oh, no, she thought. With all the troubles we already have, what a time for this to happen!

"No, Ron."

He looked confused, a little angry. He definitely hadn't expected her to throw herself on his chest and declare undying love, but this reaction was really unexpected. Hermione looked angry, cold, even. He said rather loudly, "I mean it, Hermione. Surely you must have noticed!"

Yes, and I've expected this for some time, Hermione thought rather sadly. Not for the first time, she felt a pang of regret for the double life she was leading, forced to lie to her best friends. But there was no way out. The stage was set, and she was one of the lucky few that knew what their role was. Surely that ought to be enough?

But when she looked into Ron's bewildered, unhappy eyes, she realised that it was not enough. This was her best friend. Granted, they had had their ups and downs, but if Harry were not there, it was Ron to whom she would turn if she were in trouble. He deserved to know the truth, as did Harry. Her hands tightened on her knees and she stiffened a little, readying to speak. Suddenly a figure zoomed past her, its robes grazing her hair, then turned and stopped about 20 feet away.

"Malfoy!" Ron stood up, reaching into his pocket for his wand.

Draco Malfoy smirked, "Relax, Weasel. I didn't come over to take your girlfriend away. Though I have to admit you two make a strange couple. Isn't she a little bright for you, Weasley? Never seen a Weasel that had two brain cells to rub together."

Hermione pulled Ron back into the seat. "Can it, Malfoy!" she said quietly.

Malfoy hovered for a couple of seconds, then drawled, "You are lucky you have such a pretty sorceress to protect you, Weasel."

Luckily for Malfoy, because Ron looked ready to kill, there was a gust of wind and Harry zoomed between them, coming to a stop directly between Ron and Malfoy.

"Get away from us, Malfoy," said Harry, his voice menacing.

Malfoy sneered, "Nothing I'd like better. I just came to tell Granger there's a prefects meeting tonight and she had better be there, without you two jokers."

"All right, Malfoy," Harry said in a brittle voice that sent shivers up Ron's spine. "You've told her. Now beat it."

Malfoy sneered and zoomed off to join his friend high above the ground.

Harry looked disgusted, "Trust Malfoy to spoil our day."

He turned to look speculatively at both of them and Hermione suddenly felt sick. Harry must have egged Ron on to tell her about his feelings! She collected herself and said evenly, although it cost her an effort, "Ignore him. He's a prat. A good-looking prat, though."

"Hermione!" both the boys yelled.

"Hey! Give a girl a break, will you? You think you're the only handsome boys in Hogwarts? I swear you are becoming more and more like Gilderoy Lockhart!"

But she couldn't say any more. Harry and Ron lunged at her and she picked up her book and ran, followed closely by the laughing boys.

They ran into the castle, still laughing. Harry leant against the wall, gasping. Ron was clinging to the door, nearly spent. Hermione seemed the freshest of the three. Ever since she had come back from the summer holidays, she had been keeping fit, taking morning laps around the castle with a struggling Ginny in tow for part of the time, and Harry guessed it had paid off. He was dying to know what had transpired between Ron and her, but didn't know how to ask without offending either of them.

"Must be time for dinner, boys. Shall we go?

Ron slung his arm across Harry's shoulders and groaned, "You go ahead, Hermione. Harry, help me! I don't think I can breathe!"

Harry laughed, "Looks like you need to go jogging in the morning with Hermione, Ron."

Ron brightened a bit, then remembered Ginny had said Hermione woke up at 6.00 every morning. And it was bitterly cold and dark now in the mornings, with a chill wind. He groaned again, "No way! I can't keep up with this witch."

"All right," said Harry, "You stay here. Hermione and I will meet you at dinner." Harry reached out to take Hermione's hand. "Come on, Hermione, let's go."

Hermione looked a little apprehensive, but followed him meekly.

Ron looked at them go, then dragged himself in and plopped down on the ground. He was spent with all that running. Whoever thought Hermione could run so fast?

He felt a little relieved that Harry had taken Hermione off. Ron by now had a rather touching belief in Harry's power to put everything right between Hermione and him. Harry had refereed their fights often enough.

But he was still puzzled about Hermione's reaction. What did she mean by "No"? Was it, "No, you don't like me that way"? That seemed unlikely, although he could easily imagine Hermione saying, "It's just a crush, Ron. You'll get over it. You have better things to do now, like studying for your OWLs." Ron smiled, but the smile faded as he imagined her saying, "No, Ron. I don't like you that way. You see, there's someone else."

And Ron got up to painfully make his way to the hall.

Harry threw the door of the class open and held the door open for Hermione. She walked in and lightly sprang up on to one of the tables, where she sat, swinging a leg gently.

"Did Ron speak to you?" Harry asked, without preliminaries.

"Yes. I couldn't reply because Malfoy butted in."

"So do you like him?" Harry asked urgently.

"Who, Malfoy?" Hermione teased.

Harry looked furious for a second, then his face broke into a smile, "God, Hermione! Don't even say that as a joke!"

Hermione just laughed.

"Do you like Ron?" Harry asked in a gentler tone, moving closer.

"Not that way, Harry. He is my best friend and I like him very much, but he is not my type."

Harry looked relieved.

"So who's your type?" he asked, teasingly.

"Someone who likes to read, the prefect type." Hermione looked up at him soulfully, "Someone like Krum, or Percy..."

Harry frowned.

"Or Malfoy..."

Harry laughed out loud, "All right, all right! You can take the prat to the Christmas Ball, for all I care! You horrible witch!"

But then his face changed and he became serious, "Be kind to Ron, Hermione. It's probably his first serious crush."

"Don't worry, Harry. He'll be dating in a week - you wait and watch. Ron is a Weasley. They are like Indiarubber balls. The harder they are thrown down, the higher they bounce back. But I still don't want to hurt him, Harry. Will you tell him?"

Harry looked at her, his eyes inscrutable behind the ridiculous glasses that looked too tiny now on his face.

"All right, Hermione. I will."

"You better go ahead and talk to him. I'll follow in a while."

Harry nodded and exited the room.

Hermione went to sit on the windowsill, looking out. She felt a sense of pain and loss, but also with it a sense of exhilaration. Playing with danger always did that to her. She didn't meet danger with Harry's cool head. She used to panic when she was younger. Now she faced danger with passion and a fierce joy.

Suddenly a shadow cut off the sun and a flying figure stopped in front of the window. She didn't need to look at his face to know that it was Draco Malfoy.

Draco threw something into her lap and zoomed off.

She picked it up. It was a small piece of parchment sealed with the Hogwarts coat of arms and the motto beneath.

She opened it. It bore a single word - "Midnight", and was signed with a single letter - D.

Hermione put the parchment on the window sill, conjured up a blue flame and watched as the parchment burnt into ashes.