Forever x Always

"So, who are you going to ask to the ball?" Ron asked Harry as they made their way up to the Gryffindor common room.

"Um..." Harry thought out loud. "I guess I'll probably ask Ginny. She'll say yes and I don't want a repeat of the Yule Ball for either of us," said Harry, nonchalantly hinting that Ron should ask Hermione. Seeing that Ron didn't understand, Harry asked, "So, are you going to ask Hermione?"

The two approached the Fat Lady's portrait. Ron said the password, "Flubber-jub," and then replied, "And have her yell at me for not asking her sooner? Yeah, I guess I should so she doesn't get mad at me. But I don't know if I can."

The boys entered through the portrait hole, made their way up the stairs and walked up to their dormitory.

"Write her a note and give it to her tomorrow," Harry suggested as they pulled their pajamas on.

"Oh, is Ron finally going to ask Hermione out?" asked Dean, overhearing the last part of the conversation as he entered the room with Seamus and Neville.

"No," said Ron quickly, pulling back the curtains of his four-poster bed. Harry, thinking like Ron, went to Ron's trunk and retrieved a quill, ink, and parchment. He placed them on the table next to Ron's bed. Sure enough, Ron's arm reached out to the table and snatched the items and took them into his bed. Harry heard the quiet whisper of "lumos" and saw a light appear behind Ron's curtains.

***

"Hermione, do you think Ron will ask you to the ball?" Ginny girlishly asked Hermione as they were getting ready to go to bed.

"Probably not. He'll ask Eloise Midgen before he'll ask me. The only chance I'll have is if he doesn't have a date so he asks me an hour before the ball, and I'll already have told Neville I'll go with him since I knew Ron wouldn't ask me," said Hermione, climbing into bed.

"Don't worry. I think he will," Ginny replied, climbing into her own bed and fluffing her pillows.

"Maybe I could write him a note..." Hermione trailed off.

"No. I can't allow you to do that. I'm not sure Ron can read. I'm glad they combined our year's dormitories. Now I can stop you from doing something that Ron wouldn't understand," joked Ginny.

"Yeah, well at least Harry will probably ask you," Hermione said sadly as she grabbed her purse from the side of her bed and pulled out what looked like a white pack of gum.

"Maybe. Hey, give me some gum," Ginny squealed.

"It's not gum," snapped Hermione. She pulled her wand out of her purse and set it back on the floor. "Good night," she nicely said to Ginny since no one else was ready for bed. They were all still in the bathroom being extra girly.

"Good night," Ginny said back, slightly confused. Ginny instantly fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Hermione started to hear the other girls enter the room, so she quickly pulled back the curtains of her bed. She picked up her wand and said, "Silencio," so none of the other girls could hear her. Hermione picked up what Ginny thought was gum and unwrapped it. She pulled out one of five razor blades in the pack.

Hermione hated doing this, but it was the only thing that would take her mind off of mean Draco, school, being perfect and...Ron. Hermione pulled up her left robe sleeve and saw the scars. Some were faded. Some were new. Some were almost healed, but accidentally ripped open.

Hermione pushed the razor blade up against her pale, tender wrist. Now this was the part she hated. She viciously ripped the razor blade across her skin. Fresh blood stained her skin. She repeated the process three more times before she couldn't take it anymore. Each time she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Hermione brought a pillow from home which was already in her bed. Inside, she kept a few things. The first thing she pulled out was a white, but blood-stained, towel. She wiped her wrist until most of the blood was removed. The next thing she removed was an enchanted wristband which she pulled over her wrist. It stopped the bleeding rather quickly. The last few things she had were a pen and a faded notebook. The pages were almost all written on. Some were ripped out of rage, some were bloodstained. Hermione opened to the next blank page and started to write:

Scars 51, 52, 53, 54:

Harry keeps bothering me about Ron. I know he hates me. We didn't talk almost the whole train ride. We argued throughout the whole Sorting Ceremony. Dumbledore announced a ball for Saturday. Ginny is already bothering me about Ron and I know Harry will. I wish I would just die.

Hermione looked through the notebook. She ended almost every entry with that exact last line.

Hermione replaced the items back into her pillow at the bottom of her bed. With that, Hermione covered herself with her blankets, put her head on the other pillows, and cried herself to sleep.