I Love You, I Love You Not

I Love You, I Love You Not

Chapter 3

Confessions

Hermione woke up the next morning with a smile. As her feet touched her slippers, a thought occurred to her.

"What am I going to say to Harry, Ron and Julia?" She felt for the necklace around her neck.

"What am I going to do?"

She stood up, put her bathrobe on and walked to the bathroom door. She was just about to open the door when she heard water running and decided to knocked.

"I'm almost done, Hermione. You can come in if you want to," came Harry's voice from inside. Hermione opened the door. Harry wanted to impress Hermione, so he deliberately put his towel lower before she came in.

"Morning, Harry," Hermione said as she went to sit on the closed toilet seat to wait for Harry.

"Morning," Harry said and brushed his teeth. Hermione noticed his very well built and muscular body and smiled. She then thought about Draco and her smile faded.

"Uh... Harry?" Hermione asked with an uneasy tone. Harry rinsed his mouth and as he dried it, turned around.

"Yeah?" Harry took a few steps toward her. A tear ran down her cheek. Harry saw this and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as he brushed the tear away with his thumb. Hermione sighed.

"Ok... last night... no, wait. Let me start at the beginning. This summer I bumped into Draco..." Harry interrupted Hermione:

"What? Did he do anything to you? Did he hurt you? Did he say anything?" Harry said very quickly. Hermione smiled and help up her hand to stop Harry from babbling on.

"No, Harry. I'm fine. Now, as I was saying... I bumped into Draco and we chatted. And I soon realized that he had changed and we've been friends ever since..." Hermione trailed off.

"But?" Harry said as he bent down to look at Hermione.

"But last night I got a letter from him. He said that I should meet him... and I did." Hermione stopped once again.

"It's ok, Hermione. You can tell me," Harry said as he stroked her arm lightly. She took in a long breath.

"Ok... he kissed me...and asked me to be his girlfriend." She smiled weakly. Harry stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed at her. When he finally regained his composure, he said,

"And? What did you say?" Hermione looked down.

"I said yes," she said in a barely audible whisper. Harry's mouth dropped open even more.

"Ok... don't freak out... don't freak out," he said to himself in his head. He took a deep breath.

"That's great, Hermione. Good for you," Harry said and enveloped her in a very tight hug. Hermione hugged him back and tears of joy fell from her eyes. Unknown to her, Harry had tears falling from his eyes as well; tears of sadness. When they pulled apart, Hermione gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks."

**--*-*-*--**

Harry and Hermione were walking to the Great Hall for breakfast. Then entered and took their seats opposite Ron and Julia.

"Hey mate!" Ron said and stuffed a huge bite of egg in his mouth.

"Hey," Harry said in a depressed tone.

"What's eating you?" Ron asked.

"Nothing... I'm fine," Harry said with a fake smile. Ron just shrugged.

"Ron, Julia... I need to tell you something..." Hermione began telling them what she had told Harry.

"... and now we're dating," Hermione ended. Ron and Julia sat there and stared at Hermione for a while.

"WHAT?!" Ron's voice echoed through the entire Hall. Every student fell silent and all eyes were on Ron.

"Yes, Ron. I failed a test," Hermione said loudly and smiled. There were some children who gasped but after a while they returned to their food.

"Sorry about that," Ron said as his ears grew redder by the second.

"Congratulations, Hermione," Julia said and gave Hermione's arm a little squeeze.

"Thanks, J." Harry, Hermione and Julia were looking expectantly at Ron. Ron was a little more calmed down by now. He looked up from his plate. There was no trace of emotion on his face. Hermione started to get worried.

"I'm sorry, Hermione... I don't approve of this at all." Hermione's face fell even more. Ron stood up and exited the Great Hall with Julia right behind him, mouthing a "sorry" to Hermione. Hermione followed them with her eyes as they filled up with tears. A tear ran down her cheek and Harry put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Come on, Hermione. It's going to be ok... Ron'll come around." Hermione turned to look at Harry. He saw her red eyes and tear-stained cheeks and he wished that he could kiss all the tears away. He hugged her and she silently wept into his shoulder.

**--*-*-*--**

From the other side of the Great Hall, Draco looked at Hermione and frowned. He saw Weasel... er Weasley stomp off angrily and Julia following him.

"It's probably about me," he thought. He then saw Potter hug Hermione. His mouth opened slightly with anger.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" he asked to himself as he slapped the table hard with his hand while standing up. Some of his fellow Slytherins looked up at him with fear.

"WHAT?!" he barked as he looked at them. They quickly looked down. Although he had kind of gone over to the good side, he was still feared. A wave of relaxation blew over him.

"Maybe he's just comforting her," he thought and smiled. He stood up and walked over to her. When he found out what was wrong he comforted her. A few gasps could be heard but they were ignored.

To Be Continued