章 11: So, as you might know...
Hermione looked up at the sound of the door opening. Hurriedly wiping the tears from her eyes, she peered up into the concerned eyes of Astoria Greengrass. Feeling the tears bubbling up to the surface once more, she placed her head in her knees and said a muffled,' I'm fine.' Astoria shook her head; clearly she wasn't as her shoulders had started to shake violently and her muffled sobs escaped the confines of her now-dry swimsuit as her breath sped up, and so she knelt down to the distressed girl and just sat there for awhile, comforting her, not saying anything before a lightbulb went off over her head. She summoned a vial of pearly-white vial; it had a moonshine sheen to it.
It was a draught she and Pansy had come up with after Pansy's horrendous breakup with a cheating, bastard Duramstrang wizard named Ikar Vanxoff, and it helped to slow the breathing and calm down the drinker. It was essentially a mix between a sleeping draught and a calming draught, but it worked more like the latter and was ten times more effective. She tapped the girl's shoulder and uncorked the vial, offering it to Hermione. Surprisingly, the witch took it without a second thought, downing the entire thing before her breathing slowed compared to the hyperventilating pace it had been before and her eyes dried and she calmed down significantly.
"Do you want to talk?" Astoria's voice came out softly and gently, assuring Hermione there was no pressure at all, it was just a question. Hermione's shoulders sagged, and she weighed her options. On one hand, if she didn't tell them, she might lose their trust and offer of friendship, which, surprisingly, she found she greatly appreciated. On the other, she wasn't quite ready to explain her awful situation and her abrupt disappearance from the eyes of the Wizarding World. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Hermione made her decision.
"You might as well bring Pansy to come in and listen. There's no point in you knowing and her being in the dark." Astoria nodded, and her head popped out the door frame, catching Pansy's attention. Beckoning, she retreated into the small room once again, leaving Pansy curious.
***
"So, as you might know, Ronald and I had been dating for awhile." Pansy let out an involuntary snort at this. "Oh, Granger, we've more than known. Zara Skornsky and her predecessor, Rita, kept us very much up-to-date on literally every aspect of your relationship." Hermione grimaced. "Oh, I know. But anyways. I bought him a computer, which is basically a larger version of the telephone I showed you earlier, and he didn't love it at first, but then he kept using it more and more on a regular basis. And I was kinda teasing him, you know, because he had refused to use it before, but he didn't even seem to mind. I was pleased he was using it at first, because he had always been more opposed to using it, but then it started to strike me as strange and suspicious. Ron has always been prideful and many times has he let his pride get the better of him- and I should know." Hermione had a grim smile on her face.
"So I decided to have a bit of a snoop around. One day, Harry had stormed into my office and demanded I take a break the next day and Ron told me he had to work overtime, and I didn't question it, so I took a look at his computer, and learned that he had been seeing this girl, Melissa, via chatting; it's like calling someone, but you're writing it instead of saying it; and he had been cheating on me for a couple of months but intensely. So I packed up and left, and went apartment shopping; I met Astoria, as you obviously know, and now I work for Malfoy, as his PA." Astoria was staring at Hermione open-mouthed, while Pansy's eyes were fuming and her lips were pressed into a thin line. Adopting a sickeningly sweet tone of voice, she asked, "Where does he live? I may need to go fire a few hexes. I haven't practiced for awhile." Hermione, in spite of her situation, laughed out loud. "Oh Pansy, I appreciate your offer but leaving him has been punishment enough for him, I know that. Sooner or later- and probably sooner, knowing Ronald- he'll regret leaving me and try and win me back. It will be revenge enough for me knowing he has to walk around, knowing I'm not his girlfriend, and that he means nearly nothing to the Wizarding World, not even as the boyfriend or fiancé of the Brightest Witch of Her Age."
Pansy looked at her in awe. "How are you so mature? I would go and hex the hell out of him." Hermione grinned. "Oh trust me, I wanted to. But I decided it would be more punishment over the long-term to just up and leave." Astoria frowned. "So he's been lying on the ." Hermione sighed. "Of course he has. Wouldn't expect any less." Astoria's face lit up as something occurred to her. "So, do you have your eyes on anyone?" A classic Slytherin smirk was plastered on her face. Hermione's eyes went wide.
"I'm sorry,
***
Astoria's smirk only widened as she observed Hermione's reaction. "Are there any handsome boys out there? That you fancy?"
Hermione's cheeks began to redden, causing Pansy and Astoria to grin at her embarrassed reaction and her clear admission that she at least kinda-sorta-maybe- liked someone. Her friends laughed, only causing her blush to intensify. Hermione, trying to subdue her blush in vain, fired back, "What about either of you? Any boys you have your eyes on?" Astoria threw her head back and laughed, long and loud.
"Boys are overrated, Granger."
Hermione digested that, before the implication behind Astoria's words hit her.
"Oh. Oh. Ohhhh."
***
I throw a vase across the room, yelling in frustration because of the fact that no one is talking to me, nor is anyone telling me what's going on. As it crashes against the wall, I sink down against the wall and hold my head in my hands. Why hasn't anyone told me anything? I feel left out of the loop, excluded. Hasn't that always happened though?
My mind whirling thoughts about Hermione, I decide to go out for a night, maybe hang out with Melissa for the next twenty-four hours. Or get wasted; that would certainly get her shrill, annoying voice out of my mind.
Shrill and annoying. Who am I kidding. Whenever I try to remember her voice it becomes fainter and fainter. It's so quiet it's almost a simple melody, floating on the ever-so-delicate wind but it speeds up and I can't ever catch it. It's so frustrating, knowing her voice is so near but I still can't hear it. Not to mention that she's somewhere out there and I can't talk to her, find her, even see her. Then something comes to me. It wouldn't work, would it? I could try. Closing my eyes, my wand feeling immensely powerful in my fingers right now, I cast a spell...
***
Astoria's smile faltered as Hermione went silent for awhile after her realization, wondering if she didn't accept the fact that she was lesbian. But Hermione's face brightened, a near-Slytherin glint in her eyes.
"So, that's what I heard on the train in our last year as I was making my way to the Headmistress's carriage." Astoria blushed. "Yes, but we didn't work out; it was an amicable split, though, so we still chat sometimes." Pansy's eyes went wide as she remembered that day; Astoria had seemingly vanished during nearly the entire duration of the train ride, arriving back at the carriage where she, Draco, Blaise and Astoria's sister Daphne had been situated. When Pansy had asked about it, she had simply smiled and had found a way to slip away before further interrogation from any of the Slytherin girls. Pansy, sensing her friend's uncomfortableness with essentially discussing her sex life, turned the subject away, looking over Hermione with a critical eye. "Granger, I think that we need to give you a bit of a makeover."
"I- what?"
"Well, your hair is not too bad, I suppose, but it ought to be trimmed a bit; your eyes have bags under them, and you look tired generally." Leading Hermione to the washroom, she rummaged through a drawer before extracting a makeup kit. "Ta-da!"
"Pansy- it's fine, really-"
"Nope. I'm doing this whether you want it or not, and you will thank me for it later. Now, if you could conjure a chair..."
Resigned, Hermione's wand created a chair out of pure nothingness as Pansy began to work her magic.
***
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