Soul Searching/End Game
EG Chapter 13 - Consequences
By Chem Prof
Chapter 13, Consequences
Sunday, December 22
Harry awoke slowly, feeling surprisingly well rested. As he became aware of his surroundings and the fact that his best friend’s head was lying on his chest, the events of the previous evening quickly returned to his mind. During the night they had shifted positions, and he was now lying on his back with his arms around Hermione, who was using his chest for a pillow.
It was a marvelous feeling. It made him pause and reflect on how lucky married people were. What an amazing thing it would be to be able to wake up every morning with someone you loved in your arms. Recently he had been thinking that it would be Ginny that he would share that experience with, but now? Now he wasn’t sure about anything anymore. Why not Hermione?
It was just so difficult for him to change the way he thought about her, the category he had placed her in. For so many years it had been ‘best friend’ not ‘potential romance’. It was scary for him to have to acknowledge that the way he had her labeled was no longer accurate.
Hermione gradually transitioned from the land of dreams to the world of wakefulness, only to discover to her delight that the two weren’t that much different this morning. She was in bed with Harry. He had his arms around her. Could they please stay like this all day? She gave up and opened her eyes, only to look up and see him gazing at her. There was a look in those green eyes that made her heart skip a beat. Did it mean what she thought it did? But then, as soon as she caught his eyes with hers, it was gone.
“Good morning,” she smiled up at him.
“Hey. Feeling better today?”
I just woke up in the arms of the man I love. I’m feeling bloody fantastic! “Much better, thank you.” But then she thought about what had happened last night, and what that would mean for today and her face dropped.
“But I don’t think I’m looking forward to today.” She bit her lower lip in thought, then continued. “I’m not up to dealing with everyone’s reaction. I need some time to think about what happened, to reflect, to take a look at myself and figure myself out. Then maybe I’ll be able to deal with what other people are going to say. Does that make sense?” It was getting awkward to keep tilting her head back to look at him, so she reluctantly disengaged herself from his arms and sat up.
“Hermione?” She looked back at him and waited. “Today’s Sunday. Last summer when I needed to think about things it helped me get some perspective some of the times we went to church together.”
“Oh Harry, what a great idea! That’s just what I need. Let’s go.”
Her mood lightened, Hermione stood up and stretched, and as she did the sweatshirt she was wearing rode up to her waist. Harry’s eyes grew wide, then he reddened and quickly turned away. He had just been abruptly reminded that Hermione had spent the night sleeping with him, wearing nothing but the sweatshirt he had given her and a pair of knickers. A very attractive pair of knickers.
“Hermione?” his voice squeaked. “Do you think you could put some more clothes on?”
His response was a giggle as she walked unhurriedly to her room. At the door she turned and announced, “I’m not worried. You’re too much of a gentleman to notice.”
Harry managed to return his voice to normal. “I’m a seventeen year old boy,” he called after her. “Of course I noticed!” Then he went into his own room, shaking his head. If Hermione was in a good enough mood to tease him, she must be feeling better.
-ooOoo-
They quickly showered and dressed, and added the blonde coloring to their hair to recreate their disguises from the summer. Then they flooed McGonagall to tell her they would be out of the castle for the morning. After hearing their plans, she reluctantly agreed, then told them she would need to speak to them later about the incident of the previous night. They activated their portkeys and appeared in the entrance hall of Grimmauld Place.
“Hello! Anybody home?”
They were immediately greeted by an enthusiastic Dobby who insisted on preparing them a full breakfast. Viktor joined them and they shared an enjoyable meal. When they told him of their vacation idea, Viktor informed them that it would be possible but it would take a few days to make arrangements to get to the States, and they decided to plan on going on Christmas Eve.
They would stay at Hogwarts until after the Yule Ball the next night, then have a few days to pack and get ready for the trip. Viktor also allowed that it would be a reasonable time for them to be out of the country, since Voldemort was currently concentrating his recruiting efforts on the continent and they didn’t expect any initiatives on his part until after the New Year.
When breakfast was finished they thanked Dobby and apparated to the house on Turnbull Court which they hadn’t seen since September first. After looking around briefly to see that everything was in order, they made their way to the neighborhood church they had attended that summer. It was just what they needed. Several people remembered them and greeted them warmly. The minister had an uplifting message about preparing for Christmas, talking about hope and forgiveness. And the songs they sang were bright and festive. They were in much better spirits when they returned to Hogwarts.
Deciding she was still not ready to face the other students, Hermione told Harry to go down to lunch without her. As soon as he entered the Great Hall several of his friends hurried over. Over at the Gryffindor table he caught a glimpse of Ginny, who quickly turned away and a fresh twinge of regret sliced through him.
“Harry, we’re glad you’re here.” Ernie and Justin were the first to reach him, and Harry decided to join the Hufflepuffs so as to avoid having to confront Ginny. “What’s going on? There are all kinds of rumors about Hermione and Blaise. Neither of them has been seen all day and some people are saying they’re off together somewhere. We want to put a stop to the rumors, but we need to know what to say.” By now some of his Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends had also joined them, and they all nodded, willing to do whatever they could.
“OK, here’s the deal,” Harry responded. “Hermione’s fine. She’s back in the room right now. She and Blaise were on a date last night and …well it didn’t end too well.” He paused, knowing that something vague like that would only fuel the rumors.
“Look, without getting into too much detail, they had a good time but he wanted to go further than she was comfortable with. Nothing happened though,” he looked at each of them fiercely until they all nodded in acknowledgement. “They were caught by Professor McGonagall before he could do anything. She apparently heard something while she was walking along a corridor. I think maybe one of Mrs. Figg’s cats gave them away. As you can imagine, Hermione’s embarrassed to death and doesn’t want to face anyone. If you could spread that around we’d really appreciate it.”
“You’ve got it,” Ernie pronounced. Everyone agreed. Looking around Harry saw nothing but concerned faces. Even the gossip lovers like Lavender wanted to help. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and a warm feeling surged through him at the realization that they had such loyal friends. As everyone broke up to return to their tables, Ron pulled him aside. Amazingly, Harry hadn’t been upset with him about the punch the other night, apparently deciding that Ron had only been justifiably concerned for his sister.
“Ginny’s still a mess,” he said in a low voice. “It’s probably a good idea for you to stay away for a while.”
“Thanks, Ron,” Harry returned gratefully. “You and Neville look after her, OK?” Just then he noticed Ron’s face break into a scowl as he looked past Harry’s shoulder. Turning around he saw Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass hesitantly making their way over.
“What do you two want?” Ron snarled. “Hasn’t your friend caused enough trouble?” Harry put his hand on Ron’s arm to calm him down. Ron had never been happy at the thought of Blaise going out with Hermione.
“Ron, you can’t blame them for what Blaise did. It’s not their fault.” Without another word, Ron turned and stalked away.
Tracey was more nervous than Harry had ever seen her. “Actually, we do feel that it’s partly our fault.” Harry’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Can we come over later and talk to her?”
“Sure, but how about giving her a bit more time? Maybe after dinner?”
-ooOoo-
That afternoon McGonagall met with them and informed them that she couldn’t only punish Blaise. Because he was a Prefect and Hermione was Head Girl, they had the complete run of the castle, so neither was technically in violation for being out after hours. And since Hermione had apparently gone into the broom cupboard willingly, they were both guilty of inappropriate behavior. The only alternative that would result in a harsher punishment for Blaise would be if Hermione wanted to make a sexual assault complaint, but that would raise some messy questions. Hermione willingly agreed to accept equal detentions if it would put an end to the matter, and Harry reluctantly concurred.
McGonagall then informed her that her detention would be to spend several evenings with her head of house, Professor Lupin, working on whatever he deemed appropriate. Blaise would receive a similar detention with his head of house, Professor Slughorn. Harry and Hermione would later find, to their amusement, that Lupin’s idea of ‘appropriate work’ was for her to spend her detention researching spells to use against Voldemort.
-ooOoo-
Harry and Hermione were ready when the knock came at their portrait hole that evening. Ron had insisted on being present when the Slytherin girls visited (just in case), and was hiding across the room under his invisibility cloak. As soon as they entered, both girls ran to Hermione to give her hugs.
“Hermione, we’re so sorry to hear what happened. We feel like it was partly our fault,” Tracey said as Harry pulled up two chairs, then sat down with Hermione on the sofa.
“I don’t understand,” Hermione said with a puzzled look. “You don’t have any control over what Blaise does just because he’s in your house.”
“Yes, but we could have warned you,” Tracey replied. “We know what he’s like. It’s just that … well we don’t really know you that well and weren’t sure if that’s what you wanted or not. You seemed to be happy with him, and …” She shrugged.
“I see. I guess I was pretty naïve, but …” She decided it wasn’t necessary to explain her relative inexperience in dating. That must be pretty obvious by now. “So he’s done this before?”
Tracey snorted. “Only with every girl he’s ever dated. And just so you know, it’s an exclusive club. He only dates the most attractive girls in the school.”
That made Hermione feel a little better, but her shoulders slumped as she relived the experience. Even if he had done it with other girls, she knew she had responded to him and led him on. She had enjoyed what he was doing. At least it seemed so.
“I still don’t think she understands,” Daphne said, abruptly breaking into her thoughts. “You’re feeling guilty about it, aren’t you?” Hermione nodded sadly. “See, the thing is, Zabini’s mother is part veela and he has some of that ability. In his case it means that girls get incredibly turned on by him when he kisses them. You felt like you lost control for a bit, right?”
Hermione could only nod again, but perked up a little. Now things were starting to make more sense. Daphne continued. “He’s pretty good at sensing how far a girl’s willing to go, then pushing just a bit further. If they decide they like it after all, he pushes even further on the next date.”
“Some girls,” Tracey broke in, smirking at Daphne, “like it so much they let him go all the way.”
Daphne tossed her hair back hautily, not looking the slightest bit guilty. “I enjoyed it. I got what I wanted out of the relationship; he got what he wanted.”
“I didn’t want that at all,” Hermione objected. “But when he kissed me my mind just went blank. And then I noticed that he had unbuttoned my blouse part way and I panicked.” She felt Harry tense up beside her and reached out to squeeze his hand reassuringly. ‘It’s OK now,’ she sent toward him mentally.
“When he did that to me I hexed him,” Tracey announced triumphantly.
“But … when I came back to my senses he had reached under my skirt and taken my wand,” Hermione protested.
Tracey and Daphne stopped and shared a look, the bantering attitude suddenly turning frosty. “I think we need to have a talk with Mr. Zabini,” Tracey intoned coldly.
Something they had said earlier had intrigued Harry. “So you two keep track of all of Blaise’s relationships?”
“We keep track of all the relationships at Hogwarts,” Tracey confided. “We make it our business to know exactly who’s doing what with who.” At Harry and Hermione’s gaping expressions she went on. “Knowledge is power. You never know when you might need some leverage on someone.” She gave them a shrewd look. “Would you like to know which of your fellow classmates are shagging?”
Suddenly she went rigid. That last question had caused a barely detectable muffled gasp across the room. Harry gulped. This could answer the question that had been torturing him about Ginny. Did he really want to know?
After a quick glance between the two Slytherins Tracey casually reached for a parchment and quill while Daphne suddenly spoke up. “You know, the only relationship we had absolutely no clue about was between the two of you. You either have incredibly loyal friends or you never said anything to anybody. In our experience there’s always someone who knows something and we eventually find out. But with you guys …”
While she was making this pronouncement, Tracey was writing something. Is there anything that someone in the room shouldn’t hear?
Harry reached over and wrote back. Ginny? There was no way he could let Ron find out what he suspected.
Tracey grinned and wrote. She’s OK. She gave a nearly imperceptible nod to Daphne who broke off her commentary on Harry and Hermione’s relationship. Harry slumped back in his chair in relief.
“Shall we start with the Gryffindors?” Tracey began with a twinkle in her eye. “Since you roomed with him you probably know how Dean Thomas likes to brag about his conquests. Well, despite what he wants everyone to believe, he never shagged any of the girls he went out with. He never did more than a little bit of fondling. Until this year that is. Let’s just say that Lavender Brown made a man out of him.” Hermione gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Normally she wasn’t one for gossip but this was too much. Then Tracey turned to Harry. “Of course, as you probably know she had practice last year with your good buddy …”
“No! That’s not true!” A tall redhead suddenly appeared across the room as his invisibility cloak dropped away, a terrified look on his face. “We never shagged!” he sputtered. “I didn’t do anything more than feel her up a little. I only had her shirt off once.”
Tracey and Daphne burst into laughter, and gave each other high fives. Harry and Hermione were startled for a second, then joined in. Harry was quite impressed. The Slytherin girls had figured out who was under the cloak and executed a clever ruse to expose him. In more ways than one. They turned back to Ron who just stood there gaping at them, his face going even redder than his hair as he slowly realized that he’d been had.
Eventually he calmed down, and sheepishly agreed that they had pranked him but good. As the three visitors prepared to leave, however, Hermione pulled him aside.
“Ronald Weasley, you are not going to say anything to either Dean or Ginny about what we heard here tonight. Do you understand me?” He started to object, as that had been exactly what he had in mind, but she stifled him with a fierce glare. “They didn’t do anything that you didn’t just admit doing with Lavender.” He opened and closed his mouth a few times. She had him and he knew it. “Not one word.” Reluctantly he bowed his head in acknowledgement.
When everyone had gone Harry and Hermione collapsed once more on the sofa. Harry swallowed nervously, making up his mind to take the plunge he had been deliberating about all day. He decided to try a casual approach.
“Well,” he said, turning to her. “It looks like neither of us has a date for the Yule Ball. What do you think …” Her reaction was not what he expected.
“Oh Harry,” came the tear-filled response. “I don’t know. I’m just tired of pretending.”
Harry reached out and lightly touched her chin, turning her face towards his. Her eyes went wide as he bent his head toward hers and captured her lips in a gentle, but firm kiss.
“Harry?” she whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing you like I really mean it,” he said solemnly, the look in his eyes making her insides melt. “I’m tired of pretending too.”
He put his arms around her and drew her closer to him, kissing her again. Softly, caringly, lovingly, tenderly. Exactly the way she had dreamed it would be. Her hands reached up and closed together behind his head, her fingers threading through his hair, not willing to let him get away anytime soon. Harry is kissing me! Oh my god! Harry is kissing me! It was all she could think of as her dreams finally became reality.
-ooOoo-
While Hermione was having her dreams come true, someone else was having a far less pleasant experience deep in the dungeons below the castle.
“Auugh!! Bloody hell, what do you women want from me?” Blaise Zabini was magically restrained and tied to a chair. Daphne had been hitting him with stinging hexes, but Tracey had gone for the direct approach and slapped him several times.
“Dammit, Zabini! What were you thinking? We just spent the last three months getting Potter to trust us and you go and pull a stunt like that. How are we supposed to convince him that we’re on his side now? His buddy Weasley’s ready to take on all of Slytherin house now.”
“I can handle Weasley,” Blaise retorted sullenly.
“Oh really? And can you handle Potter too? The only reason he hasn’t already killed you is that Granger stopped him.”
That knocked some of the cockiness out of Blaise, but it puzzled him. “What’s he so upset about? He’s going with Weasley now. Got a little bit of her for himself the other night from what I heard.” Tracey shared a disgusted look with Daphne. There was no reason to get into that mess right now.
“Because Granger’s his best friend, you moron! How can you have been a student here for the past six years and not noticed how protective he is of her?”
Blaise became decidedly more uncomfortable as that realization sunk in.
“But I don’t see what the big deal is anyway. It’s not like I did anything that a hundred other girls wouldn’t like. She wanted it.”
“Zabini, how can you pretend to know anything about Hermione Granger and say that you knew she wanted to go that far? She’s one of the most straightlaced girls in this school.”
“But she’s a mud…, I mean a muggleborn,” Blaise hastily amended, barely saving himself from another slap from Tracey. “They all want that. I could tell by the way she was dressed. You should have seen the bra she was wearing. She was asking for it.”
“Bollocks! Haven’t you learned anything from all those weeks of Muggle Studies? That old stereotype is a bunch of rubbish. Lots of muggles dress that way and it doesn’t mean they’re asking for it. That was the whole point of learning how muggles dressed for that dance.”
Blaise slowly went pale as the consequences of his amorous advances gradually dawned on him. Having Potter as an enemy was exactly what they had wanted to avoid this year.
“Oh crap. I guess it’s lucky that McGonagall happened along when she did.”
“I’m not sure it was a coincidence,” Daphne pointed out. “You never saw her wand when she stunned you, right? And I think those fourth years you had watching were stunned too. I bet Potter was there with McGonagall and you just didn’t see him. I think Potter and Granger have some way of communicating with each other,” she added thoughtfully. “The way they sometimes seem to be exchanging information without talking is creepy.”
“But that’s not the point now,” Tracey interrupted, getting back to the issue at hand. “You are going to apologize to Granger as soon as we get back from holiday. I don’t care if you have to go and grovel on your hands and knees. We are not going to let you mess up what we’re trying to accomplish here because you can’t control your bloody hormones.”
“What about at the Yule Ball tomorrow night?”
“Blaise Zabini, you are not going to be anywhere near that ball tomorrow. If you show up and Granger gets upset, not only Potter and Weasley but every male member of the DA and probably most of the female members are going to hex you into pile of goo. And if there’s anything left of you I will personally make sure you no longer have the ability to father children. Is that clear?”
Blaise could only nod.
-ooOoo-
Higher up in the castle, Harry and Hermione had parted for the night and she was currently hugging her pillow and squealing with delight. Over in his room, Harry was staring thoughtfully at an ancient parchment. Slowly a small, satisfied smile crept onto his face.
“Mischief managed.”
-ooOoo-
Hermione awakened slowly the next morning, and in that transitory period between sleep and wakefulness she wondered, Was it all a dream? No, she finally decided. It was real. Harry had finally kissed her ‘like he meant it’. And oh, it had been wonderful. She closed her eyes again and let the warm feeling wash over her. They were finally together … or were they?
She opened her eyes again. What were they exactly? All he had actually said was that he was tired of pretending. They hadn’t really talked much after that, they had been too busy kissing. She giggled at that thought, then turned serious. Harry had been very serious about Ginny. Sure, he was hurting right now about what he had discovered, but feelings like that didn’t just disappear overnight. Hermione had a sinking feeling in her stomach as another thought hit her. Was this just a rebound relationship?
In a sense, that was exactly what it was. But Hermione knew that he already had strong feelings for her too, even before this happened. Perhaps he had been suppressing any romantic part of his feelings for her while he was with Ginny. If so, this wasn’t necessarily something that had come out of the blue. Was it? Or was that just wishful thinking?
Hermione’s spirits fell as her dutiful side took over. She knew what she should do. She should back off until he sorted out his feelings for Ginny. She should … No! She was tired of always having to be the one who did the ‘right’ thing. She had backed off long enough, she thought rebelliously. Ginny had her chance! If Harry had feelings for Hermione this was her opportunity to find out. She could sense his presence out in their common room right now. She should go out and discuss this with him. Now, all of a sudden, she was nervous. Where was this going to go?
-ooOoo-
Harry was sitting on the sofa, the same sofa that had been the scene of so many dramatic episodes the last three days, trying to sort out his thoughts. Last night had changed his relationship with Hermione. But what about Ginny? It still hurt every time he thought about her. The easy thing to do would be to avoid thinking about her, but would that be fair? After all, like Hermione had said last night, she hadn’t done anything with her other boyfriends that Ron hadn’t done with Lavender. Was that so bad? But … the realization hit him like a brick. He didn’t want someone like Lavender. He wanted … someone like Hermione.
Just then Hermione emerged from her bedroom and Harry turned to smile at her. But Hermione’s return smile seemed a little strained. She looked anxious as she came over and sat down on the couch. At the other end of the couch. Now Harry began to be apprehensive. He began to think that maybe last night had been a big mistake. If there was anything he absolutely didn’t want to happen, it was for them to become awkward around each other. He needed to say something before it got even worse.
Hermione was growing more uneasy by the second. Harry had looked happy to see her when she walked into the room, but his smile had faltered when she had come over to him. Was he remembering their kissing last night and thinking it had been a big mistake? She needed to say something right away.
“We need to talk,” they both blurted out at the same instant. Then they laughed and the tension eased. “You first,” Harry continued.
The carefully reasoned argument that Hermione had prepared had fled her mind. “Are you having second thoughts about last night?” she blurted out. Argh! That wasn’t the way she had intended to ask that at all.
“Not until you walked into the room,” Harry replied, with his usual bluntness. Hermione felt her stomach clench. Had her mere presence made him that uncomfortable? Harry continued, “I smiled at you and you didn’t smile back. Then you came over and sat down, but you put all this distance between us.” He gestured to the space between them with his hand. “And now you’re sitting there with your arms crossed and your knees drawn up like you’re afraid of me. If what happened last night is going to make us all awkward around each other, then I definitely regret it. I really need my best friend who I can be comfortable around.”
Hermione took in everything he had said and processed it carefully. That had been quite a long speech for Harry. It hadn’t been at all what she had thought he would say. Then she figured it out. Oh. Oohhhhhh. The nervousness vanished and her mood skyrocketed. She scooted over and budged up against him, then lifted her head up and smiled at him. “Is this better?”
He smiled back and put his arm around her shoulder, and she snuggled even closer. “Much better.”
It was time to get it out into the open. “So,” she prompted, “are we together now … for real?”
His answer was more serious than she had expected, but on reflection she decided that it was a good one. “I think I want to try. I need to be honest with you, though. I’m really mixed up about what I feel for Ginny now. But I’ve also realized for the last month or so that my feelings toward you have changed. I think I want to try to figure out exactly what that means. Can you accept that?”
Hermione decided that she should be completely open with him, too. “Well, I realized that my feelings toward you had changed by the end of the summer. I’ve been trying to keep them to myself because you were with Ginny.” The absence of a look of shock on Harry’s face confirmed for Hermione that he had already suspected some of what she was telling him. “So I want to try it too. Even if we eventually decide we’re better as best friends, and you decide you want to be with Ginny after all, it will be better than having to wonder for the rest of my life if we might have had something.” Feeling particularly bold, Hermione leaned up and touched her lips to his. To her delight, he responded enthusiastically.
The need for air eventually made them pull away. When he had caught his breath, Harry turned serious again. “Um … Hermione. I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but as far as what we actually do together, do you think … I mean … could we maybe take it slow?”
Hermione pretended to pout. “You mean now that we’re finally together after all these years we shouldn’t immediately go crazy with desire and pull each others’ clothes off and make mad, passionate love right here on the sofa?”
The expression on Harry’s face was so startled that Hermione burst out laughing, and had to hold onto him to keep from falling off the sofa. Once he realized that she had been putting him on Harry joined her laughter. “Oh Harry. That sort of thing only happens in really bad romance novels.” She managed to settle herself down and continued in a more serious vein. “After what we both went through the last few days I think that’s an excellent idea. How about if for now we stick with the way we acted toward each other at the beginning of the term?”
“Except we won’t be pretending this time,” Harry amended. Then he added. “And with more kissing.”
“Definitely more kissing,” Hermione agreed happily. “Lots of hugging and kissing.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Harry concluded. “So, what do you want to do today? I’m still pretty sore from all the exercise you hit me with on Saturday.”
Hermione giggled. On an impulse she hopped onto his lap and leaned against his chest. As she had hoped, his arms automatically went around her and he hugged her to himself. This was getting off to a fantastic start! “Well,” she said, going into practical Hermione mode. “We should still exercise a little bit. You can pick, running or swimmng. And we should get in some spell training. And we need to pack. And later get ready for the Yule Ball. And if there’s any time, we can always study a bit.”
“This is the first day of Christmas break, and you think we should study?” Harry teased, an amused expression on his face.
“That’s right.” Hermione replied, grinning.
“Being the boyfriend of Hermione Granger means a lot of time spent studying, doesn’t it?”
“Mm hmmm,” she responded, burying her head against his chest again. The word ‘boyfriend’ had sent a thrill through her.
“But we can stop and take study breaks occasionally, right?”
“Mm hmmm.” Hermione lifted her head and found his lips again to illustrate what kind of study break he could look forward to.
“This is going to be a lot more fun than when we were pretending, isn’t it?”
“Mmm hmmmm.”
-ooOoo-
After talking it over, Harry and Hermione had decided to keep their newly declared relationship under wraps until after the holidays and just act like friends at the Yule Ball. They would gradually clue their friends in when they got back. There was no reason to make Ginny feel worse right now than she already did.
Hermione and Ginny had decided to wear the same dress robes to the ball that they had worn to Bill’s wedding. Hermione looked just as good in hers as Harry remembered from the summer. Harry shook his head in wonder. Had that been only six months ago? Unfortunately, Ginny also looked as good as he remembered, as he noted when he caught a painful glimpse of the light blue halter style gown across the hall.
Now that everyone knew about the two breakups that had happened over the weekend, their friends had all rallied together to keep Hermione, Harry, and Ginny occupied so they could enjoy themselves as well as possible. There had been a quick rearrangement of escorts so that Neville could be with Ginny again, and he never left her side. Luna ended up being without a date, but she said it would be OK as long as the others danced with her. The male members of the DA readily agreed and she ended up with more offers than she knew what to do with.
When they entered the hall, Harry and Hermione found themselves guided over to a table of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, where Ernie promptly asked Hermione to dance. Since Ernie’s date was Susan, Harry took to the dance floor with her.
Susan was happy to be dancing with Harry, but couldn’t help noticing his attention wander a bit as he kept glancing over at Hermione and Ernie. “You know, Ernie’s fancied her for a while now,” she informed him. Harry greeted that news silently, but she noted a droop in his shoulders, followed a bit later by a sigh of resignation. Of course, he thought to himself. Now that Hermione has broken up with Blaise, other boys are interested in her again.
“Stop it, Harry.” That got his attention, and he looked at Susan questioningly. “I think I know what just went through your head. You were thinking of getting together with her yourself, but now you’re wondering if you should back off and let her be with him. Am I right?”
Harry shrugged noncommittally, but she could tell she had hit near the mark. “If you do that you’re taking the choice away from her. She has the right to make that decision for herself.”
Harry was quiet for a minute as he pondered what she had said. Then he surprised her by breaking onto a grin and giving her a tight hug. “You’re a great friend, Susan. You know that?” They passed the rest of the dance enjoyably, and Harry danced with Padma and Luna before taking a break.
After Ernie, a succession of Ravenclaw boys danced with Hermione, but Harry relaxed, taking Susan’s advice and vowing to let her decide for herself what she wanted to do. If she needed him, he was a quick mental summons away. Belatedly, he realized that he himself would once more be a target for the girls of Hogwarts, but Susan and Padma had apparently staked their claims on him and between them and Hermione his would be suitors were kept at bay.
After the initial flurry of dances, during which Hermione gave no encouragement to any of her partners, she joined him at their table with Susan, Ernie, Padma, and Justin, and the group of them stayed together most of the rest of the evening. Susan and Padma shared a curious look as they noticed that Hermione seemed to be in good spirits considering what had happened two nights previously.
Harry managed a short conversation with Ron, confirming, as Ron suspected, that they wouldn’t be coming to the Burrow over the holidays. He also let Ron know that there were no hard feelings about the other night. Ginny, after all, was Ron’s sister and it was OK to be protective of family. Ron assured Harry that he didn’t blame him for anything.
Toward the end of the evening, Harry spotted Daphne and Tracey and caught their attention. He was glad to see that Blaise was evidently not in attendance, and was pretty sure that the late night meeting he had observed on the Marauder’s Map was responsible for that happy occurrence. He went over to dance with Tracey and noted that Ron was once more enjoying a dance with Daphne.
“So, how are you and Hermione doing?”
“She’s doing much better, thanks,” Harry answered cautiously. Her question could be interpreted in more than one way. “What you guys told her really helped.” He decided to turn the tables a bit. “I notice that Blaise decided not to come tonight. I suppose your and Daphne’s meeting with him last night had something to do with that?”
Tracey cocked an eye at him. This verbal sparring was fun for the Slytherin. The way each one had worded their question suggested that they knew something, but taken at face value the questions were completely innocent.
“We might have suggested something like that. After all, he didn’t have a date so there wasn’t much reason for him to come, was there?” Harry shrugged, not rising to the bait. Tracey changed the subject.
“So, are you getting away somewhere for the holidays?”
“Yes, we’re …” too late Harry realized that he had let slip that he and Hermione were going somewhere together. “We will be visiting with friends.” Tracey grinned at him and he nodded, acknowledging that she had won this round.
“You’re pretty good at this,” he noted admiringly.
“I pay attention. I listen carefully to what people say and how they say it, watch how they act.” She decided to push him a bit. “I’ve been watching you a lot this term. I figured out quite a bit ago that things were serious between you and Ginny. And there’s been something unusual going on between you and Hermione.” She paused, but Harry’s expression gave away nothing. “And something just changed today with you two, didn’t it?”
Harry regarded her soberly for another few seconds, then smiled at her. She nodded back, acknowledging that the information was freely given. “You’re pretty good at this yourself,” she pointed out. “I doubt if you would have come out screaming from underneath that invisibility cloak.”
Harry stopped dancing and they stood silently in the middle of the floor. Tracey suddenly noticed that there was no noise in the hall. Somehow he had cast a wordless silencing spell without her even noticing.
“When you’ve have to stand under an invisibility cloak unable to move or speak while you watched someone kill your headmaster, not much else seems all that big of a deal.”
Tracey swallowed hard. That statement was loaded with implications. He was telling her he trusted her with important information. But the Slytherin in her knew that there was a price to be paid. He would want information from her in return. Being one of Potter’s confidantes was dangerous.
Harry continued. “Good intelligence can be more valuable than a whole army of fighters.” She nodded cautiously. This was it. She had flaunted her intelligence gathering abilities. He had taken the bait. She could back out now and stay on the sidelines, or plunge into the heart of the battle. If they won, she would be one of the heroes of the light side, which would offer unlimited opportunities later. If they lost …
“I believe that it might be profitable for us to continue this conversation next term.”
-ooOoo-
While Harry was dancing with Tracey, Hermione managed to quietly make her way over to Ginny. She gave the small girl a hug and each complimented the other on how nice they looked, and made a bit of small talk. Ginny asked what they were going to be doing over the holidays. Hermione hesitated, then told her that they were going to visit her parents in the States. Ginny nodded, realizing the implications, and tried to hold back her tears. Harry would not be coming to the Burrow, not even on Christmas Day to exchange presents. She would not see him at all. He would be with Hermione the entire holiday. Her greatest fear was upon her.
She reached up and gave the older girl one last hug.
“Take care of him, Hermione,” she whispered.
Hermione hugged her back. “Always.”
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Finally! Harry and Hermione got together. And only about 230,000 words (counting Soul Searching) into the story! The question now is, will it be permanent? Only time will tell. I promise, though, that they’ll stay together for at least the next 4 chapters.