Three Little Words

As Hermione pulled away from Ron, he groaned in protest. Teasingly, she stuck a handful of popcorn into his open mouth.

"Humiuny!" Ron sputtered as Hermione laughed. Once Ron finished chewing, she kissed him again. Tasting salt, she said:

"Are you thirsty?"

"I wouldn't say no to a cold pumpkin fizz!" he said with a grin.

"Alright," she said, slinging her bottle-green cloak around her shoulders.

"A pumpkin fizz it is!"

She kissed him soundly on the lips, and then headed for the door. When she reached the vending machine, she reached into her pocket for a Knut, catching a glance of her reflection in the glass. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her hair was hanging in loose curls framing her face, giving her an old-fashioned look. She smiled, but as she was about to look away, a white spot on her reflection caught her eye. Looking down at her cloak, Hermione noticed the corner of a small, aging piece of parchment sticking out of her pocket.

"What's this?" she thought, unfolding it. Upon getting it open, she exclaimed:

"Oh! It's the article Ginny wanted to show me!" Glancing at the picture she saw that Ginny was indeed right, it was her necklace.

"But why would it be in here?" she wondered out loud. She read the words:

The necklace of Mal Fait Amour (Misdeed of Love) is a very old charm. Once put on the wearer's neck, the next person they see they will fall deeply in love with-


Hermione gasped, the noise echoing through the empty corridor.

"Ron..." She thought, feeling sick. A small bubble of panic began to form somewhere in her chest but she pushed it back down, and forced herself to read on:

However, the wearer will only be in love with that person while they are wearing the necklace. Once the necklace is removed, the charm will have no effect whatsoever. The Mal Fait Amour has caused many problems throughout history, causing many broken hearts and many broken marriages. The charm was so well made that most wearer's confuse it with real love. It has not been sited by anyone in the wizarding world since it broke up the marriage of Griselda the White and Gondor Monroe, when Gondor gave her it for a gift and she lost it after marriage. It has not been seen since.


"No," Hermione thought wildly.

"It can't be true. It can't, it just can't."

But as she stared numbly at the writing, she flashed back to the night of her birthday. Harry giving her the necklace, the odd feeling it gave her, seeing Ron on the stairs, suddenly losing interest in Harry... And as the pictures flashed through her head, she was filled with a sickening realization. And she knew that it was true. Everything she felt for Ron was a lie. A fake. She had never really loved him at all. It was the charm. The necklace. Rooted to the spot, Hermione's brain raced through her thoughts, processing them as quickly as she could. Maybe she didn't really love him, but she knew that Ron loved her. He loved her so much that it hurt, and he deserved someone that could love him in the same way. Hermione choked back a sob, for she knew now that she could never do that. A steely calm sudden came through Hermione's limbs, allowing her to make her way down the corridor back to the heavy doors where Ron was waiting for her inside. And as her hand reached mechanically for the doorknob, she knew what she would have to do.
* * *

Ron was sitting comfortably on the couch when he heard the doorknob turn. As he heard Hermione slide into the room, he turned and asked:

"Did you get the pump...." He trailed off as he saw her face.

"Hermione, are you OK?"

Something was definitely wrong. The look on her face was one of shock and anguish, and she was visibly shaking, her pale hand clutching a piece of parchment and an un-spent Knut.

"Ron," she choked," there is something I need to tell you."

* * *

Harry now sat in the common room alone. Tomorrow was the first day of Christmas Break, and all the other Gryffindors had gone home except for himself, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny. Yes, Ginny.

Harry leaned back in his chair, allowing his mind to go to the youngest Weasley. What was he going to do? After their goodnight kiss two weeks earlier, they both had gone on acting as though nothing had happened, which left Harry even more confused. Did he still love Hermione? Or was he falling for Ginny? He and Hermione were back on speaking terms, and technically they were still together, because what was two weeks or fighting as opposed to three years? But then again, there was this thing with Ginny. Harry sighed deeply. He didn't know what to do. And then, "Click." Harry heard one of the dorm doors close upstairs, and the soft padded footsteps of someone headed down the stairs. He glanced up hurriedly, his lazy train of thought broken, to find himself looking into the face of Ginny Weasley, her eyes round with surprise.

* * *

The fire burned low in the fireplace, sending warm flickers of light across the chilly room. Hermione stood in the doorway, her eyes haunted. A small jolt of fear went through Ron, and he stood up. His face concerned, Ron reached out to Hermione to comfort her, but she pushed him away.

"No, don't-" she said hollowly with the same horrible look on her face," please."

"Just listen."

Holding out the piece of parchment limply in her hand, Hermione took a shuddering breath, and told him everything. About receiving the necklace, seeing him, finding herself attracted to him, blowing off Harry, her feelings fading when the necklace fell off in the library, finding the ripped-out book page in her pocket.... It poured out of her like a raging river and she couldn't stop until every last thing came out. And by the time she was finished, big, salty tears were rolling down her face.

"Don't you see?" Hermione whispered, a strand of thick hair hanging in her face as though she wished she could hide behind it. Ron stared blankly in disbelief, her words slowly sinking in. The expression on his face wrenched her heart, but she couldn't stop now.

"My love for you isn't real. I only love you when I'm wearing the necklace."

With that, Ron sank onto the couch with his head in his hands. Hermione went on:

"And you don't deserve that, Ron. You deserve real love." She was sobbing now.

"I don't want to have to wear a piece of metal in order to be with you. It's not right. I'm so, so sorry."

Hermione looked down through her tears at Ron's trembling form on the couch, and she couldn't take it any longer. She had to get out of there now, before she caused more damage then she already had. She longed to sit down beside him and hold him in her arms until he stopped shaking, and tell him it would be all right, but she instead took an unsteady step backwards.

"I'm sorry," she whispered almost inaudibly. Then, as the clock began to strike ten, she turned and fled from the room.

* * *

Ginny stopped in her tracks, staring into the almost empty common room. There was Harry, sitting in the common room alone, looking right back at her, his green eyes pensive.

"Oh no...." Ginny thought.

When Harry had kissed her two weeks earlier, Ginny had been floating on air. But after some careful consideration, she had come back down to earth with a jolting thud. Harry had been upset about Hermione, and Ginny was comforting, and just happened to be there. So he kissed her, and well, it probably didn't mean anything. He hadn't said anything about it to her, so Ginny had been doing the best she could to shrug it off as a fortunate twist of fate for her, and to leave it at that. So she had resorted pretending that it had never happened. And now, for the first time since that night, it appeared that Ginny would have to talk to him, alone. She frantically searched her mind for something to say, and what came out was:

"Uh, hi Harry, want to play The Game of Questions?"

It was a new wizarding game the she had just gotten for Christmas that involved simply a deck of magical cards that switched questions so you could never be asked the same thing twice, and a living scoreboard. For every question you got right or answered truthfully, you got a point, first to twenty wins.

Harry looked just as relieved as Ginny felt that she had found something to say, and quickly agreed to play. Settling her small frame carefully on the chair across from Harry, Ginny carefully placed the deck of cards between them, and after a quick explanation of the rules, they began to play. The game had been going on for about a half hour, and the scoreboard had just sprayed them both because Ginny had answered Harry's question (the capital of Africa) wrong, when Ginny drew a blank card.

"What's this?" she asked Harry, holding up the card with a puzzled look on her face.

"I think it means," Harry said slowly," that you get to ask a question of your own."

"Oh," said Ginny, suddenly staring at the card as though it were an alien. She thought for a moment. What did she want to know about Harry? Her hazel eyes flashed as she glanced discreetly up at him. His raven hair was sticking out every which way and falling endearingly in his eyes, and he was biting his lower lip, a sign that Ginny knew meant he was nervous. She glanced quickly back down again, as an idea began to form. An obvious question stuck out in her mind, but should she ask it? Then she got up her nerve.

"All right Harry Potter," she said in a determined voice. Harry's head shot up, and he looked at her with an anxious expression on his face.

"Why did you kiss me?"

* * *

Harry's thoughts:

Damn....

* * *