I Learned Your Pulse

"I thought when you started crying that you'd seen the Prophet article."

She realized now it was probably because he was being 'satisfied' by someone else.

She choked back a hot sob of regret for not seeing the warning signs sooner.

David's hand was on her shoulder again. "I'm sorry," he said.

"It's... I'm... I'm not good enough," Hermione whispered, staring at the picture of him with the girl, looking ten times happier than he ever had with her.

"Oh, no!" David cried in surprise. "No no no, don't think that, 'Mione."

"But I'm not good enough, Dave, that's the only explanation -"

"No, it' that you're too good-"

"How does that make sense?"

"He can't take -"

"Can't take?" she screeched. "Can't take what? How amazing I am? Yeah, well, how am I amazing? Harry's the Chosen One, Dumbledore was Dumbledore, for Merlin's sake, and Ginny is extremely prodigious when it comes to spells, and Ron is loyal and Viktor plays Quidditch and I'm just some girl that knows nothing besides the theories of how to perform magic nobody cares about!"

"People care about the magic you can do -"

"Outside the classroom I'm useless!" she shrieked, covering her face with her hands. "I can't do half the stuff I know how to because I'm weak! I'm lame and I'm -"

He sighed and hugged her again.

Her father couldn't be there, but she was glad David could be. He was her father in a sense she hadn't ever known. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley had aways been civil toward her, polite, warm and inviting, but he really treated her like family, not like 'oh, it's his friend, we better be nice'.

"Would you believe me," he muttered through the thickness of her hair, "if I told you that you are amazing?"

"No," she muttered back. He chuckled.

"Viktor?" Hermione called out, walking into breakfast the next morning. People gave her quizzical looks and returned to their meals. David smiled supportingly from the

Viktor smiled at her. The smile was normal, usual, but she knew now it was hiding a secret. She frowned back at him, confusing him thoroughly. "I need to talk to you."

"Well, talk."

"No. In private."

He seemed to get defensive very quickly. "There's nothing to be said in private that cannot be said out loud right here."

Hermione lsot control of her temper. Her sight went red and her senses lost reign over her mouth. "You cheated on me!" she screamed, almost as loudly as she had when she'd had her image conjured.

Everybody stared now.

There were whispers flying through the air as quickly as time could. People's eyes all over the oom were trained on them; Hermione's eyes trained themselves in a brief wave over everyone looking, stopping quickly at David, who begged her silently not to go overboard, because she was, in all liklihood, just as guilty. She took a long, deep breath, and looked into his eyes.

"How did you know?" he asked, his voice bitter.

She had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming again. "I saw the article."

"I paid the Prophet to keep from delivering that paper to any students!"

Now he was shouting. She strained her voice so hard trying to keep from yelling back that her next sentence came out a broken whisper. "Fat lot of good it did."

And then Harry was at her side, his hand grasping her wrist tightly. "I think it's time you go," he said, completely in control.

And then Ron was in front of both of them.

"You ignorant little..." he seemed incapable of finishing the sentence. his face was as red as his hair, his hand shaking firecely in his hand as it pointed itself at the broad chest of the internationally famous Seeker. "How dare you even begin to think of betraying her like that? She's the best girl you'll ever mee-"

"Then why did you let her go?!" Viktor challenged, jabbing his fingers into Ron's chest, making him stumble backwards.

The effect was immediate.

Harry's wand was instantly pointed at Viktor's head. Everybody in the hall had actually pulled their wands out, Slytherins included. Even the teachers had their wands trained on Viktor, who seemed to realize he had several hundred wands pointed at him at once. Simis was at Hermione's other side and Harry moved in front of her, next to Ron, allowing Brant to fall to her flank. But Hrmione's own wand was also out, and she shoved her way through the people, its tip reaching his temple.

"You know what I can do," she said softly. "Leave now, and don't you dare ever come back."

David appeared behind Viktor. "I'll escort you out," he offered, his tone anything but civil.

Hermione lowered her wand, enjoying herself as the look of terror on his face diluted to fear.

As soon as the wand was once again at her side, Viktor was pushed rudely through a stream of free space between individuals who glared at him, the boy who had dared to cheat on the only female in the Golden Trio and the only girl in the Triwizard Tournament. To them, he was the worst villian they could imagine, in that moment; as the doors shut behind him and people swarmed her, she wondered what they'd think if they knew of her kiss with the boy whose eyes she met from down the table - eyes of confusion and slight hope.