Petrichor | ?

- Hermione -

The door handle was pushed down and Ginny entered, followed by the boys, who were still dressed in normal clothes and looked at me curiously.

"The two of them were still playing magic chess downstairs. What do you say to that?" Ginny smiled at me.

I swallowed and tried to give myself a little more self-confidence in my thoughts. As soon as the door was closed, I took a deep breath.

"So, Harry, Ron... I have a good acquaintance..."

Ginny interrupted my speech with a throat clearing.

"Well, rather a close friendship..."

She cleared her throat again, which really annoyed me. What the heck else should I call it?

"All right, I'm seeing someone!" I exclaimed. Then there was silence.

I looked up from the floor to the two boys. Harry looked at me with his mouth open, then he looked uncertainly at Ron. He looked as if he no longer understood the world. "What?" he said, looking at me with wide-open eyes.

"Uh, yes," I said, because I didn't know what else to add.

"Um, Hermione. Can I talk to you alone?" Ron asked after a short while, when he had found his voice again.

"Nope, I'd rather not," Ginny intervened, standing close to Harry, of course.

"And why?" Ron snapped at his sister.

"I'd rather not leave her alone with you, Ronald," Ginny insisted confidently, without answering his question properly.

"Why?" Ron suddenly shouted. 'Who is it?"

Ron would have to accept it. I hadn't chosen my feelings. Ron would have to accept it...

"It's Malfoy,' I said with a steady voice.

I was sorry to hurt Ron so much, but I would not let anyone else interfere with my feelings and relationships.

At first, Ron looked as if he didn't understand a word. Then, as if his world were collapsing. Then, as if he wanted to kill someone.

"What?!" He shouted and took a step forward. So much for a good night's sleep... Harry held him by the shoulder while Ron stared at me with mixed feelings.

"No. You can't be serious," he said tonelessly.

"I'm sorry, really," I said, suddenly feeling those feelings of guilt inside me again. I, too, was standing here with mixed feelings that overwhelmed me, not just him.

"You've been deceiving us all along. You deceived me!" he then angrily accused me.

"I never pretended, I asked you for more time. Besides, I was still so unsure about my feelings at the beginning and I really didn't want to hurt you, Ron," I described my situation.

"Hurt me?" Ron spat. "The only one you're hurting is yourself. By Merlin, I would have thought you were smarter than that!" He practically hurled these hurtful words at me.

"Ron..." Harry tried to calm him down, but it was useless.

"We're leaving," my best friend spat, and left the room, slamming the door behind him. I stood in the room in shock, while Ginny and Harry looked at me with uncertainty and pity.

Then Harry stepped forward and hugged me. Almost at the same moment, tears welled up in my eyes and dripped onto his sweater as he held me tight. My body trembled and shook. I felt so miserable and although I hated Ron at that moment, I hoped with all my heart that I had not lost him.

"I'll talk to Ron. He'll calm down sooner or later. You know how he is," he said in a soothing voice, patting my head.

Harry was such an incredible friend. We had been through so much together that it felt like I had known him for more than half my life. He had always been there for me and we had always stuck together. "Thanks, Harry. For everything," I sniffed as we broke apart.

"And actually Ron isn't allowed to tell anyone either," I remembered my worry. Harry grinned. "Nobody would believe him anyway."

Sadly I grinned. Then I took a deep breath and my tears dried up again. I would not keep crying because of this idiot. When Harry and Ginny had said goodbye, Ginny closed the door again and looked encouragingly at me. "You did well," she praised and threw herself backwards on her bed. "I guess he's sulking for a while now, but then he'll surely calm down again."

"Hmm, maybe," I murmured in agreement and lay down on my bed as well. I felt exhausted in every single bone of my body. It had all been very exhausting. Although a wide range of thoughts were swirling around in my head and a variety of feelings were bubbling in my stomach, I soon fell asleep.

*

I hardly dared to leave the room and go for breakfast. Not because I was afraid of Ron. But because I was afraid that now everyone would know about it as well and that hell on earth would await me in this school.

Ginny pushed me forward and supported me while we walked to the great hall. But no one turned around to look at me, frightened or curious. No crazed Slytherin girls came up to me to kill me either. Everything was fine. Except for the fact that Ron wasn't there.

We sat down with the other Gryffindors from our year. Harry noticed my questioning look. "He's sulking. Take him some food right away," he explained.

Sighing, I put some food on my plate, even though I wasn't really hungry. In my mind, I wanted to go over the individual lessons and their upcoming topics, as I did at almost every breakfast, but strangely enough, it was quite difficult for me today.

As inconspicuously as possible, my eyes wandered to Malfoy, who was sitting between Blaise and Goyle and actually behaving as usual. However, Parkinson wasn't there today to ogle him.

Lost in thought, I poked at my yoghurt in an attempt to refocus on the lesson.

*

Ron wasn't there in class either. So while I sat alone in two out of six subjects, I tried to follow the lesson.

I really understood that he was angry, but he couldn't just skip class because of it! It wasn't as if it wasn't bad enough already. After all, we would be taking the exams soon and he would miss out on all the important material for them.

I couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. What an idiot. I'd probably get Ginny or Harry to talk some sense into him.

When I rushed to my room after class to ask Ginny for this favor, the room was empty. A poor owl was waiting outside the window, pecking at it when it spotted me. I hurriedly opened the window and gave him some owl treats before she disappeared without waiting for a reply. I unfolded the plain note.

"Petrichor's Box," it read in neat handwriting.

With my heart beating faster, I thought that this must be from Malfoy.

Ron would certainly not have written the name correctly, and he didn't want to talk to me at the moment either.

I quickly threw on a jacket and set off. With a smile on my face, I entered the barn and went to Petrichor's Box.

Malfoy was not there yet, but then I would just wait a little while and occupy myself with Petrichor in the meantime.

I gently patted Augurey's head, whereupon he croaked softly to himself. Then his croak turned into a screech.

"Impedimeta!"