Troubled Trio

"Hermione?" Harry tiptoed into the girl’s dormitory. Lavender had told him that Hermione was crying and let him into the room. "What’s wrong?"

"Oh, Harry," Hermione’s voice came as a whisper. "Promise me you won’t get mad."

"Of course I won’t get mad. What is it?"

"It’s Ron. He... well..."

"Is he ok? What happened? What’s wrong?" If something happened to Ron...

"He told me that he loves me and then he kissed me," Hermione blurted out. "Harry don’t get mad. He didn’t mean it. He couldn’t have meant it."

"Did you kiss him back?"

"No, I slapped him."

"Where is he?" Harry surprisingly didn’t feel angry. He felt very calm. "Is he still in the common room?"

"I suppose he could be. Harry maybe I should talk to him. You should..." Hermione’s voice trailed off as she watched Harry leave the room without another word. "Harry please don’t do anything stupid," she whispered into the silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ron looked up as Harry came down the steps and into the common room. The expression on Harry’s face scared Ron. Harry looked like he had when he saw the snitch during a game of Quidditch. Like he saw what he had been looking for and nothing was going to stop him from catching it. So Ron did what the snitch would have done. He tried escaped.

Ron ran out of the portrait hole, down the stairs and straight into Malfoy. "Get out of my way Malfoy," Ron said.

"Why hello, Weasley," Malfoy sneered. "Where are you running off to? Heard someone dropped a Knut on the floor?"

"Just go away Malfoy," a voice behind Ron said.

"Potter. Always sticking up for Ron. Always with the poor and the Muggles. Stupid Potter."

"Malfoy I am in a very bad mood. I will give you until the count of three to go away," Harry said very slowly. "One... two... th-"

"Harry," Ron interrupted. "If you’re mad, take it out on me, not Malfoy."

Harry turned and smiled at Ron. "If I ever hear that you so much as look at Hermione, you will not live to see the second fall of Voldemort." Then he punched Ron in the nose. Ron didn’t even fight back. He took his beating with Malfoy gawking at them. Punches in the nose, stomach, jaw. Ron slid to the floor in pain and Harry began to kick him. Then, suddenly, he stopped. Things were blurry for Ron but he saw what happened next. Hermione ran over to them screaming. Ron couldn’t hear what she was saying but he could feel her hugging him. She checked his pulse and then her voice became less shrilly. She seemed to be trying to comfort him. Then Ron’s eyes focused for a second. He saw Hermione smile worriedly. Then he blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ron," a soft voice whispered. "Wake up. Please. Wake up, Ron. Wake up."

"Hermione?" Ron’s voice came as a whisper.

"Ron! You’re awake! Do you feel alright? Madame Pomfrey, come quick! Oh Ron, I’m so glad you’re alright."

"Hermione what happened?"

"Harry," Hermione said sullenly. "I’ll tell you about it later."

Just then Madame Pomfrey came in and shooed Hermione out of the room. Ron noticed that the pain was gone and he sat up in bed.

"Lie back down dear," Madame Pomfrey insisted. "You took a nasty fall down a flight of stairs."

"No I didn’t!" Ron said. "At least I don’t think I did. I don’t really remember. Hermione probably knows. If I could just talk to her for five minutes..."

"Mr. Weasley," Madame Pomfrey’s voice was stern. "You fell down a flight of stairs and know you need your rest. Maybe later you can speak to your friends. Now you must get some rest."

After Madame Pomfrey left, Ron drifted into a semi-sleep. He remembered when Harry told him that he liked Hermione. Harry had been so happy and excited. He was going too tell her but he wanted to tell Ron first. He said he wanted to make sure Ron didn’t still like her. Ron should have said something. He should have said "Yes I still like her! I love her! Stay away from her!" Instead he said "Of course I don’t still like Hermione. That was ages ago. Go on and tell her how you feel." How could Ron have been so stupid?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Harry I cannot believe you did that. It’s ok to hit me. I deserve it. It wasn’t Ron’s fault. He was... confused, or something," Hermione was telling Harry. She had returned to her dormitory after Madame Pomfrey kicked her out of the hospital wing to find Harry sitting on her bed.

"Did you tell anyone what happened?" Harry asked her.

"No. I told Madame Pomfrey that he fell down the stairs. But that doesn’t mean anything. Malfoy knows. He’s probably going around telling people how he saw ‘Harry Potter beat the shit out of his best friend.’"

"But you and I will be there to tell people that it’s a lie. Won’t we?"

"Well... I dunno Harry. Promise me that you won’t hit Ron ever again or I‘ll tell everyone."

"Are you trying to black mail me?" Harry asked. Hermione just lowered her head so he couldn’t see her eyes. Harry walked over to her and lifted her face so that he could see the tears streaming down her cheeks. Then he slapped her. Her face began to bruise immediately. She always bruised so easily. It’s a good thing she knew a few healing charms. "Don’t ever try to black mail me. Now go clean yourself up. You look horrible and no girlfriend of mine should look that bad."

"I’m sorry, Harry," whispered Hermione before she walked to the bathroom.