Hermione's Boyfriend

"Hey, Hermione."

Hermione turned around, fully expecting to see Ron behind her. She was ready with a few choice words, as Ron had made a huge prat of himself that morning by threatening Dean with evisceration by salad fork in the middle of the Great Hall, because he'd heard Dean was dating Ginny.

Not to mention the fact that he was wrong, because Hermione had a feeling he didn't want to know who Ginny was really dating.

"Listen - " she started, only to break off abruptly as she realized that it was not Ron who was talking to her. It was Terry Boot.

"What?" Terry asked, looking confused.

"Nothing," Hermione said, a slight flush creeping onto her cheeks. "I thought you were someone else."

"No problem," Terry said with a smile. "I was wondering, though, if I could ask you a question."

Hermione looked at him in confusion. The only thing she could think of was that he had a question about the D.A. If that was the case, he should have asked Harry, not her. But she smiled none the less.

"Sure," she said genially.

"Um...this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend," Terry said hurriedly.

"Yes, I'd noticed," Hermione said, even more confused. Why had he cornered her in the library to tell her something she'd already known?

"I was wondering if you'd like to go with me," Terry said.

Oh.

Hermione's first inclination was to decline immediately. After all, she was going into Hogsmeade with Ron and Harry like she always did. Come on, Hermione, a small voice in her head urged. Live a little.

That voice sounded an awful lot like Ginny Weasley.

"Okay," Hermione said, grinning at Terry. "I'd like that."

"Good," Terry said with a relieved smile. "I'll meet you in the entrance hall around noon?"

"That'll be great," Hermione said. "I'll see you then."

"Bye," Terry said.

"Goodbye," Hermione replied, and Terry walked away.

Hermione discovered that her body could indeed function without her. She plucked the books she would need for homework off of the shelf, checked them out, and walked all the way back to Gryffindor Tower without even thinking about it.

She was going on a date. With Terry Boot, no less. Now that she thought about it, Terry was kind of cute. He had a load of dark hair that kept falling over his forehead, and his eyes were a light, clear shade of blue, unlike Ron's deep, midnight blue orbs. Terry was shorter and stockier than Ron, but then again most people were.

Why was she comparing Terry to Ron, anyway? Shaking herself mentally, Hermione sat down at a table in the Common Room and spread out her homework.

Hermione was going on a date. Someone actually wanted to go on a date with her. This fact amazed her, as she had never seen herself as particularly stunning. Naïve as she was about some things, she knew that boys didn't date ugly girls if they had a choice. So maybe Terry thought she was pretty.

Lost as she was in her musings, she didn't notice Ginny sit down beside her.

"What's this?" Ginny asked in shocked tones. "Hermione sitting here...not doing homework? What is this world coming to?"

Hermione grinned at Ginny. "It wouldn't hurt you to actually do homework sometimes."

"That's what you think," Ginny said. "Homework is dangerous. You could stab yourself with a quill, get a parchment cut, or nibble absently on the shaft of your quill and get ink poisoning."

"You're so funny, Ginny," Hermione said sardonically. "I'm in stitches, can you tell?"

Ginny sniffed indignantly. "Your problem is that you get too worked up about work."

"That's what I said," Ron agreed, plopping down in a chair opposite Hermione. "Come on, Hermione," Ron pleaded, seeing that Hermione was about to launch into lecture mode. "It's sixth year. We just finished exams, and we've got more next year, but now we have a break. Live a little."

Hermione started. That phrase reminded her of her date, and she had a gut feeling that she really shouldn't tell Ron about it. The question now was how she would manage to keep such information from her friend.

"I tell you what," Ron continued. "If you promise not to hound Ginny about her schoolwork, I'll buy you a big bar of Honeydukes chocolate this Saturday."

"Are you trying to bribe me with sweets?" Hermione demanded.

"Maybe," Ron said, grinning unabashedly at her.

"Well, it's working surprisingly well," Hermione said thoughtfully. "How did you know?"

"Your parents are dentists," Ron said. "Of course chocolate is your weakness."

"Quidditch is Ginny's weakness," Harry offered, sitting down next to Ron. "Because her brothers never let her play with them."

"And all boys have the same weakness," Ginny said, grinning mischievously. "You can get them to do anything if you threaten to withhold snogging."

"How do you know?" Ron asked, glaring at Ginny.

Ginny smiled cheekily and winked at him. "I have my sources."

Ron confined himself to glaring at her. He had learned quickly that she was very tight-lipped about who she was currently seeing, at least around him.

"Ginny, you're making Ron apoplectic," Hermione said. "And you're doing it on purpose."

"I can't help it," Ginny said. "It's so easy to do."

"If he spontaneously combusts from repressed rage, who's going to play hangman with me in History of Magic?" Harry asked indignantly.

"Hermione?" Ginny suggested. Ron and Harry both burst into laughter.

"Who would take notes?" Ron asked. "We have to pass that class, you know."

"I feel...used," Hermione said.

"Don't worry, I love you," Ginny said, leaning out and hugging her friend enthusiastically. This caused her to lose her balance and tumble to the floor.

Ginny glared up at them, because they'd all dissolved into laughter.

"It's not that funny," she said.

Hermione nodded, still laughing. "Yes, it was."

Harry leaned forward and offered his hand, which Ginny took and pulled herself to her feet.

"Fine then," she sniffed. "If you are going to laugh at me, I won't tell you Hermione's secret."

Hermione started, and stared at the girl. "What secret?"

"Terry was just telling me," Ginny said. "You know, even though it didn't work out with Michael, those Ravenclaws aren't so bad."

"What's your secret, Hermione?" Ron said. "Aren't you going to tell us?"

"It's not a secret," Hermione said, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Terry just asked me to go to Hogsmeade, that's all."

"WHAT?" Ron shouted. "I hope you gave him what for!"

"I said yes," Hermione said in a small voice.

"WHAT?" Ron yelled again. "Hermione! This is Terry Boot! He's not even near good enough for you!"

"It's my decision," Hermione snapped. "It's frankly none of your business who I decide to go out with!"

"But...what about Honeydukes?" Ron said. "You were going to Honeydukes with Harry and me, and now you're blowing us off for Terry Boot?"

"We can still meet at Honeydukes," Hermione said. "Terry will just be with me. I don't see what the problem is!"

"I don't like him," Ron said.

"Well, I do," Hermione replied indignantly. "I don't have to spend my life catering to your likes and dislikes."

"We'll be going now," Ginny said, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him out of his chair. "Er...Harry's just...going to help me with my Defense Against the Dark Arts essay...yeah..."

"Harry, back me up on this," Ron pleaded. "Terry Boot is a prat."

Harry shrugged. "Don't drag me into this. Terry Boot's kind of okay."

"Sure!" Ron yelled. "Side with her!"

"I'm just saying, is all," Harry said. "I'm not siding with anyone. Not that I think it makes a difference, as this is Hermione. She'll do whatever she wants, and I'm not going to stop her."

"It's you who is the prat," Hermione shot at Ron. "I'm going with Terry, and that's final."

"Fine then!" Ron hollered.

"Fine!" Hermione yelled.

Ron turned and stormed towards the dormitories. "Fine!"

"Fine!" Hermione screamed at his retreating back.

He slammed the door behind him. Then he opened it again, stuck his head through, and shouted, "FINE!"

Hermione plopped back in her seat, feeling awful. She always did after a row with Ron. Harry and Ginny, however, were smirking at her.

"Weren't you two going somewhere?" Hermione snapped.

"Yeah," Ginny said, tugging Harry after her as she hurried away. "Homework...and all of that...come on, Harry."

"Er...okay," Harry said with a confused frown, following Ginny to a table on the other side of the room.

Hermione sighed and threw her quill angrily across the table. "You sodding git," she muttered towards the door.

What was Ron's problem? All she wanted was to go to Hogsmeade with Terry Boot, and he was acting like an over-protective big brother about it. She was sixteen, for heaven's sake. And it was just a Hogsmeade trip.

Ron was overreacting.

*

"So, are we still on for Hogsmeade?" Terry asked with a grin, plopping into the chair across from her in the library.

"Yes," Hermione said, looking up from a Transfiguration reference. "Why?"

"Well, I heard through the grapevine - "

"Meaning Ginny?" Hermione inquired with a smirk.

"Well, yeah," Terry said. "But she said you and Ron had a big blow up."

"Apparently Ron has decided that I've been deprived as a child, because I had no insane big brothers," Hermione said offhandedly. "So he's decided to fill the position."

"I'm not good enough, am I?" Terry asked amusedly.

Hermione sighed. "Can we just...not talk about Ron?"

"Sure," Terry said. "Listen, I was wondering if you'd like to study together?"

"I'd love to," Hermione said happily. Finally! Someone that wanted to study.

"Cool," Terry said, pulling out his Transfiguration textbook. "About these Switching Spells...this one that transfers the animal limbs, do you think it could work on humans, too?"

"Well, I've been thinking about that," Hermione said. "This particular spell..."

*

Terry turned out to like studying as much as Hermione did. It was a relief to be able to finish her homework without being interrupted because of Quidditch or some other stupid thing.

But it was a lot less...fun.

She found herself wondering what Harry was up to, and whether he'd worked up the guts to tell Ron he was dating Ginny. Hermione didn't want to miss that, in case she needed to restrain Ron.

She found herself...missing Ron. Missing his jokes, and his laugh, and how he always made her smile. Missing his comforting presence, and his optimism.

He's a prat, she reminded herself. An over-protective, insensitive, stubborn prat.

"Hey, are you still here?" Terry said, waving his hand in front of her face. "I'm talking about Arithmancy, and you're off somewhere else. Where are you?"

"Sorry, I...I'll listen," Hermione said distractedly.

"You don't have to," Terry said teasingly. "We can talk about something else."

"That'd be nice," Hermione said with a smile.

"Good," Terry said enthusiastically. "I've been meaning to discuss Time Travel Spells with you, anyway!"

*

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ginny said. "You're looking down."

"I'm fine," Hermione said. "What did you do today?"

"Well, Ron almost blew the lid off the whole affair," Ginny sighed. "If Harry hadn't had the Invisibility Cloak with him, he'd be dead or seriously mangled right now. Ron's been a lot more nosy since you've been spending all that time with Terry."

An illogical, nagging sense of guilt tugged at Hermione's stomach. It wasn't her problem, and they should tell Ron anyway, but she felt she should have been there.

"Well, you know how Ron is," Hermione said.

"How am I?" Ron asked snidely. "Talking about me behind my back, are you?"

"Ron," Hermione said pleadingly. "Don't be like this."

"Be like what, Hermione?" Ron demanded.

"Nothing," Hermione sighed. "It's too late."

Fire flashed in Ron's deep blue eyes. "Where have you been, anyway? You haven't been around all week."

"I've been with Terry," Hermione said. "Studying. Not that you'd recognize the term."

Ron stomped off.

Ginny raised her eyebrows at Hermione. "Snappish today, are we?"

Hermione put her head in her hands. "It's weird not hanging around Ron and Harry all the time."

"How do you think I felt when my constant companion went to Hogwarts and left me behind?" Ginny said knowingly. "You'll find each other again, don't worry."

She got up and left, leaving Hermione to her thoughts.

It was as if the Trio was breaking up. Last year, Harry had been mostly alone, because he couldn't trust Ron or Hermione with his problems. We would have been there, she thought desperately. He could have confided in us.

She and Ron had had prefect duties, so they had been together a lot. But Harry had been there every time they could possibly get him. Now, Harry was off with Ginny all the time, and it was she and Ron again.

But now she was hanging around Terry, and the Trio wasn't a trio anymore. Poor Ron must be thinking the same thing.

She didn't want to not be the Trio anymore. She looked over at Ron, who was staring broodingly into the fire. She looked over at Harry and Ginny, studying at one of the far tables by themselves, and she smiled.

Okay, maybe she'd settle for a quartet.

*

"Come on," Hermione said. "We're meeting the others at Honeydukes."

"We are?" Terry said, looking crestfallen. "I thought we were going to spend the day together alone."

"We've been together alone all week," Hermione said with a laugh.

"Okay," Terry said dully. "I guess we can go."

Hermione rushed into Honeydukes, looking around for a shock of red hair that stood out in any crowd.

"Oi! Hermione!" a familiar, deep voice called. "Over here!"

"Ron," she laughed. "Hey."

Ron, in a very un-Ron-like move, gave her a hug.

A hug?

Ron?

Okay, what was going on?

Hermione hugged him back, grinning up at him. "Miss me?"

"Where have you been?" Ron demanded. "Harry's been sneaking around and I don't know what he's been up to, Ginny's had a sudden urge to do homework, and I've had no one to make me study!"

Terry was looking mutinous. Hermione detached herself from Ron and his unexpected joy in seeing her.

"I've been with Terry," Hermione said composedly. "We've been doing our Charms essays today."

Ron practically drooled.

"And you can't copy it," Hermione said in a sing-song voice.

Ron groaned. Terry rolled his eyes.

"Hermione," Harry said in greeting, walking up with Ginny at his side. "Terry. How's things?"

"Pretty good," Hermione said.

"Alright," Terry said.

"We've just been looking at the Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes treats," Harry said, gesturing over to a row of beribboned shelves.

"Terry," Ginny said smoothly, "can Harry and I show you one of these?"

"Sure," Terry said amiably, wandering off with them and leaving Hermione and Ron standing there.

Ron cleared his throat and squared his shoulders, looking for all the world as if he was being led to the guillotine.

"Hermione...about Monday," he started.

"I'm so sorry, Ron," Hermione blurted out.

"Me, too," Ron said hastily. "Very sorry."

Hermione nodded quickly. "Well, I guess that's settled then."

"Er...yeah," Ron agreed. "So we're friends again?"

Hermione held out her hand for Ron to shake, and he reached out and took it. The moment their skin touched, Hermione's heart skipped a beat. She could tell by the astonished and slightly wary look in Ron's eyes that he'd felt it too.

Now wasn't that interesting?

"You two have made up, I see," Harry said with a grin, as he, Ginny, and Terry returned.

"What?" Ron asked. "We were fighting? Hermione, were we fighting?"

"Harry must be going mad," Hermione said with a straight face. "We never fight."

Harry, Ginny and Terry gave simultaneous hoots of laughter. Hermione glared half-heartedly at them, but couldn't muster up the anger needed for a real death look.

"Well, Hermione and I are going to The Three Broomsticks," Terry said. "See you guys later."

"Bye," Harry, Ginny and Ron said, and wandered off to look at candy.

They left Honeydukes and began to walk towards The Three Broomsticks. Hermione looked sharply at Terry.

"You didn't even bother to ask me if I wanted to go," she snapped. "You just assumed I'd do whatever you wanted."

Terry shrugged. "So?"

"It'd be nice if you asked my opinion before you go making decisions for me," Hermione said, annoyed at his inconsiderateness.

"Sorry," Terry said, but Hermione could tell he wasn't. "What's the big deal? Didn't you want to go to the Three Broomsticks?"

"Well, yes," Hermione said. "But that's not the point."

"Then what is?" Terry said. They'd stopped by now, and were glaring at each other in the middle of the road.

"The point is that you should ask before assuming I want to do things," Hermione explained exasperatedly.

"That's not the point," Terry shot at her. "The point is that you'd rather be back there with your precious Ron."

Hermione gaped at him. "What?" she asked incredulously.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Terry asked indignantly. "I don't know why you agreed to come with me in the first place! It's obvious that your mind isn't on us. You'd rather be with Ron than me, wouldn't you?"

Hermione opened her mouth to shoot back a reply, but found that her vocal cords seemed shocked into silence. She closed her mouth again. She composed a denial and opened her mouth to shout it out, but discovered that her lungs didn't hold enough air to shout anything.

She was perfectly aware that she looked like a fish, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, but she couldn't help it.

Terry was glowering at her. "See? You can't even deny it. And you know what, Hermione? I don't care. Run back to your little boyfriend, see if I bat an eyelash. I don't know what I was thinking asking you anyway, when your heart is clearly somewhere else."

The numbness of Hermione's vocal cords disappeared. "I don't...what are...are you crazy?"

Terry raised his eyebrows at her. "I think you're the crazy one, Hermione Granger."

"Fine then," Hermione said haughtily. "I'll just go find my real friends. See you around, Terry."

She turned and stomped towards Honeydukes. A thought occurred to her, and she turned on her heel and marched back over to Terry, who was still standing in the middle of the road with his arms crossed.

"And Ron is not my boyfriend," she said, poking him in the chest.

Terry smirked at her. "Right," he said, clearly not believing a word she said.

"I don't even fancy Ron," Hermione continued, poking him again. "Ron doesn't fancy me, either. You are delusional, Terry Boot. Delusional."

"Of course," Terry said sardonically. "Don't know what I was thinking."

Hermione huffed and stomped back to Honeydukes. Harry, Ron and Ginny looked up when she walked in.

"Where's Terry?" Ginny asked a little too innocently.

Something was niggling in the back of Hermione's brain.

"We had a fight," Hermione said ruefully, glaring around as if daring them to comment on it. Ron looked a bit too happy about this development.

Harry, for some reason, started to smirk. "What happened?"

"He just assumed I wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks," Hermione said angrily. "He didn't even ask me! And then when I said something about it, he got mad! Then I said he shouldn't go assuming things, and he told me that he didn't know why he asked me out anyway, and accused me of fancying Ron!"

Oops. She hadn't meant to let slip that little bit of information.

Ron was gaping at her. "What?"

Hermione bit her lip. "He...ah...well, you see..."

"Harry," Ginny said suddenly. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks, shall we?"

"Yeah," Harry said hurriedly. "Off we go."

They made a quick exit, leaving Ron and Hermione looking awkwardly anywhere but at each other.

"Do you?" Ron asked abruptly.

"Do I what?" Hermione stalled, knowing exactly what he was asking, and having just found the answer herself.

"Fancy me," Ron clarified, scuffing his trainer on the wood floor. He sounded...nervous?

Hermione closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. "Yes," she said in a small voice.

Ron laughed.

He was laughing at her.

She wanted to sink under the floor.

In her intense contemplation of a spot on the floor, she was unprepared for Ron to walk up to her, wrap a pair of surprisingly strong arms around her waist, and spin her around, still laughing like a lunatic.

He set her gently back on the floor, looking down at her with a slight flush across his cheekbones. She looked up at him in astonishment.

"I fancy you, too," he said quietly.

Hermione understood why he'd laughed when she herself burst into laughter. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and buried her face in his chest, still laughing.

Something clicked in her mind, and her heart skipped a beat for the second time that day.

"I'm glad," she said.

"Could you two please quiet down?" the shopkeeper said in an irritated tone. "And no signs of affection in my shop."

Ron and Hermione broke apart, suddenly awkward again.

"Well, er..." Ron started.

"Shall we go to the Three Broomsticks?" Hermione asked in a hurry.

"Yeah," Ron said in a relieved tone. "But wait, won't Terry be there?"

Something else clicked in Hermione's mind.

"I am going to kill Ginny!" she shouted, and ran out of Honeydukes with Ron on her heels.

They ran into the Three Broomsticks, and Hermione quickly found Ginny and Harry in a booth, sitting across from none other than Terry Boot himself. They seemed to be laughing about something. She pressed her finger to her lips to indicate silence to Ron, who nodded.

Hermione crept up to their table, where Terry was in the middle of a story.

"So then I said, 'I don't know what I was thinking asking you anyway, when your heart is clearly somewhere else.'"

"Terry, you dog!" Ginny said between guffaws. "You didn't!"

"Well, I tried the subtleness for a week, but Hermione's a bit thick where Ron is concerned," Terry said with a shrug. "Bit weird actually. She's such a smart girl."

"Of course she is," Ron piped up. "She fancies me."

The three conspirators in the booth turned to look at Ron and Hermione, who both had their arms crossed.

"Oh, hello there," Ginny said brightly.

"You set me up," Hermione accused. "This whole week with Terry has been a ruse, a plot to get me to fess up?"

"That's about right," Harry chimed in.

Hermione cracked a smile. "Thanks."

"Anytime," Terry said. "It's a relief to be able to act normal again, let me tell you. I've been bored out of my mind."

"You're no the only one," Hermione said. An evil thought occurred to her, and she smirked at Harry and Ginny. "So, while I was with Terry, did you two get the guts to tell Ron you're dating?"

"WHAT?" Ron shouted.