Delayed Friendships

It was a week into the new term at Hogwarts, and Hermione was sitting beside the large lake, enjoying the last rays of sun from a fading summer. She had been coming to this same spot for several years, and fondly thought of it as her own, and had been disturbed here, even during the weeks after exam finished every summer. This she put down to its location, a shady spot on the far shore of the lake, to which few ventured. This evening, however, was different. Hermione had been reading a highly interesting book entitled 'An Encyclopaedia of Hexes', and was just scanning the ten most popular itching and irritation spells when a leaping red thing attacked her from behind.

'Ginny!' Hermione exclaimed. 'What - why -'

'Couldn't help myself,' the girl interrupted. 'You looked so bored, so I thought I'd come and surprise you!'

'I was not bored, I was reading a very interesting book!' replied Hermione haughtily.

Ginny didn't look convinced, and regarded her friend sceptically. 'Okay, well, I just wondered if you'd like to accompany me to dinner. I hear it's sausages,' she whispered.

'Isn't it quite early for dinner?'

'No!' said Ginny defensively. 'I mean, I've been hungry all day. And I do love sausages. There may be beans, too.' She looked a little guilty, and Hermione noticed she wouldn't meet her enquiring gaze.

'I thought you hated beans. With a passion, I recall you saying.'

'I've grown to like them of late,' she said. There was a pause, before Ginny burst out 'Okay! It's not the reason! I'm avoiding Dean. We hardly spoke all summer, and now he wants to know where we stand. It's not that I don't like him; he's a nice enough boy, it's just - I don't sort of... you know... feel that way about him.' She sighed. 'And I still hate beans. They're just so... strange.'

Hermione tried hard not to laugh. 'Do you still like Michael Corner?'

'No way!' Ginny snorted. 'He ran off to Cho Chang and I stopped caring there and then.' She stopped there, and was silent for a few minutes. Hermione got the impression that she was thinking about something, and thought it best not to pry. They walked towards the school, and were nearly at the steps which led to the great oak doors when Ginny stopped and piped up again.

'You know a lot, don't you, Hermione?' Ginny said, and Hermione noticed that her expression seemed a little more serious than usual.

'I read books and can remember them, if that's what you mean,' she offered.

'I don't mean that, I mean - I've seen you watching people. You stare at them for ages, and you're never surprised when people act a little oddly,' Ginny said quickly, and Hermione nodded cautiously. 'I was wondering if you ever noticed that someone liked someone else before they realised it themselves.' Hermione relaxed. She knew exactly what - or rather who - Ginny was referring to, and had indeed seen it already.

'You like Harry, don't you,' Hermione said gently. It was more of a statement than a question, and Ginny responded with a sad nod.

'Do you think that he could feel the same? I just see him sitting there, looking so sad and alone, and it's so hard for me,' she confessed. 'But all he sees me as is Ron's little sister who used to be obsessed with him.'

Hermione thought for a minute before answering. 'Ginny, you know he's been through a lot. He's suffered a lot of loss, and I think maybe you should just give him time. Be his friend. Talk to him when Ron's out on duty or something. Let him see that you're not just the littlest Weasley.'

'Thanks.' Ginny relaxed a little and she smiled as they started up the stone steps again. 'How's that going, anyway? Found anything to talk about yet?'

'Guess,' Hermione said grimly.

'That bad, eh?'

***

After dinner that night, Hermione returned to her room and opened her Transfiguration textbook to begin her homework. Tonight she had the delight of writing two feet of parchment on the exact physical process of changing an ostrich into an emu. Whilst she was by no means finding the subject hard, she had to admit it was far more advanced and so much more complex than it had been when she was doing her OWLs. She sighed and began to write.

Around an hour later, Hermione had just completed the essay and was proofreading it for the third time when April entered the room. She started slightly when she saw Hermione sitting on her bed, and a puzzled expression crossed her face.

'What?' Hermione asked.

'Oh, I just thought you had to patrol on Mondays, that's all,' April replied, smiling.

Hermione leapt off her bed faster than a really fast thing, which caused her to knock her inkpot all over her clothes and sheets.

'Oh, for Merlin's sake!' she exclaimed. 'Look at the state of me!'

'Don't worry, Hermione. Calm down! I'll have you freshened up in just a tic,' said April, who was making an admirable effort to stifle her giggles. 'Scourgify,' she said, before muttering something else which Hermione couldn't catch. 'All done!'

'Thank you so much!' cried Hermione as she ran down the staircase to the common room below. She was not shocked to find Ron sitting in his usual red chair by the fire, playing wizard chess. This time, however, his partner was his little sister, and Hermione noticed that Harry was staring desolately out of the window a few feet away. She cleared her feet and crossed her arms, waiting for Ron to notice her presence.

Typically, Ginny was the first to look up, and Hermione was surprised to hear her utter a small gasp.

'Hermione -' she began. At this point, Ron too looked towards her and a strange expression momentarily crossed his face, too quickly for Hermione to place.

'What?' Hermione demanded of her friend. 'Why are you looking at me like that?'

Ginny shook her head and began to smirk. 'Nothing, absolutely nothing. I just thought you were doing that essay.'

'I finished it,' Hermione said as she eyed Ginny warily. 'And I'm down here because some of us remember that we have prefect duties.'

Ron took the hint and stood up, going slightly red as he did so. Well at least he has the good sense to look ashamed, thought Hermione as they headed out of the room. She heard Ginny let out a laugh behind her, and shot a glare at her before climbing out of the portrait hole ahead of Ron.

For ten whole minutes they walked with no exchange of words, and found no trouble. Hermione thought about Ginny's reaction to her appearance, and then about Ron's. She was still unable to understand the look she had seen briefly light up his features, and eventually reasoned that maybe he had seen something or someone behind her. Yes, that would be it. When he looked up he saw Lavender Brown, or one of those girls in Ginny's year who were always throwing themselves at members of the Quidditch teams. Her heart sank slightly at this, which shocked her. Why do I care? She questioned herself. If he wants to shirk his responsibilities for some fifth-year tart, that's his own problem. She suddenly froze internally. Tart?! Where did that come from?! Hermione blushed furiously and shook her head to clear the image; the last thing she wanted to do was catch Ron's attention.

'Are you okay?' he asked, frowning at her.

'Oh, yes.' Hermione replied hurriedly. 'Fine, absolutely fine.'

'Right.'

At this moment, Hermione felt more uncomfortable than she had ever felt in Ron's presence, and silently begged the Heavens for some relief. It arrived, but she definitely felt the Heavens had room for improvement, for Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, the sixth-year Slytherin prefects strode around the corner. Well, Draco strode, Pansy teetered behind him wearing shoes which were definitely not suitable for patrolling school corridors. Hermione suppressed a laugh. Who was that girl trying to impress?

'Malfoy,' snarled Ron. 'We patrol this area. What are you doing here?'

'Just looking around,' Draco drawled back, a dangerous glint in his eye. 'Not very clean up here is it?'

For some reason, Pansy seemed to find this comment hilarious, and shrieked with laughter. Alright, Hermione thought. No need to break the glass.

'Then maybe you should go back underground where you belong,' said Ron, sounding a lot more confident than Hermione felt.

Draco smirked. 'But Weasel,' he said, 'I thought you were the one who lived in dirt. You certainly seem to like it anyway. Just look at that Mudblood girlfriend of yours.' He nodded at Hermione, who instantly tensed up. After years of Draco's taunts, however, she had the common sense to stay quiet and ignore it. Ron, on the other hand, had never heard her called this before, and his response was quite different.

'Take that back, Malfoy,' he spat out, and Hermione suddenly realised his wand was raised.

'Ron, no,' she whispered. 'Ignore it, please. Don't give him what he wants.' She realised that he was not going to back down that easily, and desperately racked her brains for a way out. 'Look, let's just carry on, and Malfoy and Miss Thing can try and get back to their dismal abode. Of course, it'll probably take them hours to get there, judging by her unfortunate choice of footwear, and Ferret Boy will probably end up carrying her.' It was weak. She knew it was weak, and yet for some reason Ron was laughing.

'You know about that?' he said. 'About the ferret thing?'

'Of course I do,' Hermione replied. 'Everyone knew about that. I'm not completely oblivious to what goes on, you know.' She became slightly uncomfortable under Ron's gaze and directed her attention at Malfoy with newfound confidence. 'Don't you think you should go now?' she asked. 'I don't think Professor McGonagall would be very pleased to know you had been neglecting your duties, would she?'

Draco glared at the two of them before stalking off, Pansy foolishly attempting to keep up with him and stumbling several times on the stone floor.

'You know, you really shouldn't let him get to you like that,' she told Ron, aware of the fact he was still staring at him.

'I know, I know,' he replied, letting his gaze finally fall. 'It's just - he has no right to call you that, to call anyone that. He doesn't even know you.'

Hermione was feeling brave; Ron's laughter had fuelled her and she decided to test new waters. 'But you don't really know me. Not really.'

'Yes I do,' he said defensively. 'I know you like to read, and work, and you're friends with my sister, and you don't like Quidditch, and -'

'What's my middle name?' she interrupted.

'Erm... Katie?' he guessed and Hermione shook her head. 'That doesn't prove anything! I bet you don't know mine!'

'Bilius,' replied Hermione promptly, and then laughed at Ron's surprised expression. 'Ginny told me once.'

'Okay, okay,' said Ron, holding up his hands in defeat. 'I don't really know you. That's not my fault though. You never made it easy. Maybe if you weren't such a nightmare back in first year, it would have been different.'

Hermione let out an indignant gasp. 'I was never a nightmare!' she said. 'I was just determined to do well. You don't know how hard it was to convince my parents to let me even come to Hogwarts. They were worried that I'd turn out weird. I had to show them that I would do well here, or they would have taken me straight back out. You had it easy, you're from a wizarding family.'

'Yeah, well, you could've had a social life as well. Harry and I could have used someone as brilliant as you at times, I can tell you.' As soon as this last comment had been uttered, Ron looked a little embarrassed, and Hermione could see the red beginning to rise in his cheeks and ears. 'Friends are useful, is all I'm saying,' he mumbled.

Hermione shrugged. 'It's probably too late now.'

'Do you really think so?' he asked her.

'I don't know. Sometimes I think it would be so nice to have one friend I could turn to whatever happened. I mean, there's Ginny, but she has her own friends in her own year. I suppose we are getting closer recently, and she's been coming to me more often for advice about things,' she thought out loud.

'Really?' said Ron, a slight frown causing his brow to crease. 'Advice about what?'

'Oh, work mostly,' Hermione lied. 'She's considering what to choose for her NEWTs.'

Ron seemed to buy this and backed off a little. They continued to talk and learned more and more about one another. Ron was shocked that Hermione hadn't flown since first year, and jokingly vowed to get her on a broom; Hermione was disgusted that Ron had never ever read a Muggle novel, and told him that she would lend him her copy of The Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett (providing that he didn't damage it, of course).

When they arrived back at Gryffindor tower, laughing and joking, Hermione was almost sorry that the evening had come to an end. Ron uttered the password and the portrait swung open to reveal a strange sight. Ginny and Harry were standing in the centre of the deserted common room, and Harry was openly sobbing in Ginny's arms. Neither had noticed their arrival, and Hermione was dreading Ron's response. But instead of screaming at Harry to get the hell off his sister, he turned and ran back out of the common room and away from the scene, leaving Hermione standing beside the portrait hole feeling terribly, terribly uncomfortable.