Returned From Superstition

Chapter Nine

"What the hell possessed you to do that?" Hermione shrieked.

"Yes, because you never slapped Malfoy," Ron teased. "Well done, Harry! I would have helped you, but Ginny would stop talking to me."

"Ron, this is not a joke!" Hermione was very distressed. "I only slapped him, but Harry almost broke his face!"

"Actually, he did break his face. Didn't you see all the blood?" Ron seemed to be in heaven. "Beautiful!"

"Humph!" was all Hermione managed to say before walking away from them, angry. Harry felt very guilty about it, but Ron couldn't care less.

"Don't distress, you know how Hermione is. Her priorities are very badly defined. She should be glad you only got a week of detention."

"Yes, I'm thrilled about that." There was no emotion in his voice.

"What did he say to get you so mad, anyway?"

"He said Hermione and I would be a punishment for each other."

"Oh," Ron seemed to stop and think about it, but soon he recovered. "Just a tip, mate; when you tell her the reason, exaggerate a little. Tell her Malfoy said bad things about her."

Harry was going to ask why, but they had just entered the Great Hall and Ron went to the Ravenclaw table. Harry was about to go to the Gryffindor table, but he saw Hermione sitting there with Padma's group and decided to follow Ron.

They took their seats among the group and soon a small boy commented, excited, "Ron is going to teach me how to play chess tonight."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and then looked at a very red Ron.

"Well, you see," started Ron, trying to explain, "I've been spending too much time with you this week, so I feel I need to compensate Padma."

"Compensate her how?" Hermione was the one to voice the question going through their heads.

"Ron will sleep in the Ravenclaw Tower tonight." Padma explained and the entire group cheered. What did Ron do to those people?

"Is there any bed empty?" Harry asked innocently.

They all laughed and Harry flushed. Hermione was so shocked she didn't even realize she was mouthing the word 'sluts.'

"No, we're not!" Unfortunately, a cute friend of Padma saw it. "Slytherins are sluts, we're just... emancipated."

"Besides," another one continued, "he'll be sleeping with Padma, and every bed has its curtains. It's not like we're going to watch it, or be in bed with them."

But the girl seemed to be suggesting it more than anything, so Hermione couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "Emancipated my-"

"Isn't this pudding great?" asked Ron, interrupting Hermione before she ruined anything, and soon they were talking about something else.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*

"Can you believe it?" asked Hermione while they would climb the stairs to reach their common room. "What if a teacher hears about this? Ron will be expelled!"

Harry was concerned too, but he wasn't really thinking about that, he was more impressed with something else. He had always known that Ron was being very 'active' with Padma, but he never imagine they had gone that far.

"Did you know that they, huh..." Harry asked, absentminded, not knowing how to continue.

"That they were having sex?" Hermione was so distressed she didn't even remember blushing. "Yes, Parvati told all the girls in school."

He suddenly remembered Seamus tapping his back jokingly and saying in a dramatic tone, after discovering Dean was dating Parvati. "Yes, Harry my friend; everyone's having some sinful fun but us."

"Now dropping this subject," Hermione woke Harry from his thoughts, "what caused that punch in Potions?"

The first thing that crossed his mind was Ron's advice. "Exaggerate a little. Tell her Malfoy said bad things about her."

But Harry wasn't really the dramatic type. He couldn't even think of something to tell in order to impress her, so he just said, "He was just being Malfoy."

"Like always." She rolled her eyes. "But you don't punch him every time he does that, so it must be something more unpleasant than usual."

"He called you a Mudblood."

"Like he always does."

"Yes, but I didn't like it."

"You punched Malfoy just because he called me a Mudblood?" She seemed surprise, but kept walking while Harry slowed his pace.

He had just remembered what Malfoy had said back then. Was it possible that Ginny really said they loved one another?

"Why?" Hermione asked, and he decided to tell the truth.

"Because I love you."

Hermione froze, and so did Harry. She slowly turned around to face him.

"What did you say?"

"I said I love you," he repeated, tensing. What if she said she didn't?

But she didn't say anything. She just kept staring at him like she was uncertain of what she just heard.

"Does Ron have anything to do with this?" she asked, not sure why and not sure how, since her entire body was trembling with fear he would take it back.

"A little bit." Harry confessed. "He told me to see if it burns." He didn't expect Hermione to understand it, he had just said without thinking. "And it does. I look at you, and there's this peace and this burning, like there's something lacking that only you can replace. It's a weird feeling, but it's very good."

She had tears in her eyes, so he asked, "Can you feel it too?"

It took her a long time before she could finally whisper, "I think I can," and as soon as she did that, he crossed the small distance between them and kissed her.

The kiss was everything she had dreamed about, and everything he hoped it to be. Their mouths were hungry for one another, and Harry could taste the chocolate she had eaten for desert. For a moment he thought that no chocolate could ever taste that good.

And Hermione was thinking... well, she wasn't really thinking, she was just wishing it would never stop, and wondering when the world started slowing down. Everything was perfect, so perfect.

But a bored voice broke their concentration. "Oh, come on, it's unbelievable, I must be cursed."

They looked behind them to see Draco with an arm around Ginny's shoulder, "This castle is getting too crowded at night." He was looking at her like he was avoiding looking to the other couple. "I told you we should have gone to the dungeons."

"Draco, shut up!" Ginny exclaimed, more red than ever. "Just leave them alone." She turned to them, absolutely embarrassed. "I'm sorry; just go on with the kiss."

The request came too late, they had already broke apart, as embarrassed as Ginny, and watched as she dragged Malfoy with her, his face distorted in a desperate attempt not to laugh.

But when they passed by them, he couldn't resist the guilty looks on their faces and said, "Oh, come on, Potter, is that the best you can do?"

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm, afraid he would try to attack the other boy, but he just smiled and watched them go. "He is definitely the last person I wanted to see our first kiss."

Hermione smiled back and closed her eyes, as Harry caressed her hair. "I'm afraid that it won't be the last time he'll be watching it."

"I know. Especially because he's dating Ginny..." Harry suddenly thought of something, and shrugged, "I hope she never invites him to sleep in her bed."

"I don't think she will. I won't let her."

They laughed and went back to climbing the stairs to the Gryffindor tower. "But I won't put up with Malfoy criticising my kissing," he joked.

"You do know there's only one way of solving this, right?" Hermione teased.

He looked at her puzzled, but smiled when she got closer to his mouth before saying, "We'll have to practise a lot."

So they kissed again, the second of many kisses that, according to Draco, always looked like they were trying to eat each other in a disturbing and non-pleasant way.

And although Padma had secretly agreed, and Ron had secretly laughed while Ginny would furtively reprimand Malfoy, they all agreed in one thing: they always looked remarkably happy together.

All six of them.