t h i r t e e n

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By lunchtime, Hermione was freaking out. She was sitting with Ginny and barely touching her food. “Ginny, I made the worst mistake ever.”

“You’ve finally realized your plan is a complete failure?” Ginny asked with a small smirk.

“No. I just realized I made two major big mistakes.” She cursed under her breath and frowned. “The first mistake is that I’m going to go skinny dipping with Draco Malfoy tonight at ten in the Black Lake.” She said with wide eyes, letting the words sink in. She looked over and saw Malfoy and Blaise both conversing with each other at their table. She turned back to her friend and let out a helpless moan. “I can’t believe I set that up.”

“Well, wasn’t that what you were planning from the very beginning?”

“No.” She said as she shook her head. She slightly looked over at Harry and Ron who were staring straight at her. “This is where the second big mistake comes in. I was planning on . . . doing something else and I . . .” She lowered her voice and whispered to Ginny. “I stole Harry’s map and tried to find a passageway to go somewhere else but Harry and Ron caught me . . . and Harry saw the map in my hand. I’m not really their favorite person right now and they’re slowly losing their trust in me.”

Ginny nodded and sighed. “That’s why they were so bitter when I met up with them at the common room.” She said as she realized that the pieces all fit together. “They were upset with you.”

“Thank you for reminding me.”

“No, I mean . . . they aren’t mad-mad at you, they’re a bit upset with you.”

“You don’t know what happened . . .”

“Tell me what happened.”

Hermione continued to look over at Harry and Ron just in case. She stared at Ginny and nodded. “Well . . . I opened the passage to the certain place I needed to get to, Harry and Ron found me, I dropped the map and Harry saw it. He looked disappointed but he said we’d talk later. And so I just left and I’ve been feeling horrible about it.” She said and sighed.

“Well, that’s not that bad! You should just talk it out with them right now.”

As if on cue, Harry and Ron stood up as they walked over to the girls. “Hermione, I think we should talk and get some things clear.” Harry said as he stared at her.

Hermione stared at Ginny for help but knew there was nothing she could do. “Okay . . .” She agreed and got up. The trio walked out of the Great Hall and stood right outside of it, stopping at the corner.

---

“Why—how did you get your hands on my map?” Harry asked with a sigh as he stared at his friend.

“I snuck into your room and took it out of your trunk when no one was around.” She replied quietly and immediately looked down in shame.

“Why did you want it?” Harry asked and suddenly started to glue the pieces together. “Wait a minute, d-did you by any chance steal it to open the passageway to Hogsmeade?”

“I didn’t steal it! I only meant to borrow it for a few hours.” She said and frowned. “I know this looks bad but—“

“Was it for Malfoy?” Ron suddenly spat at her with a deadly glare.

Blue met Brown.

“What?” Hermione asked as she stared at Ron with shock, feeling the blood drain out of her body. “Wh, why would it be for Malfoy?”

“Don’t lie to us, Hermione. Did that slimy git ask you to help him sneak into Hogsmeade? Did he threaten you?”

Hermione slightly scoffed and shook her head. “Merlin . . .” She sighed out and licked her dry lips. “He has nothing to do with it. And besides, I can take care of myself. I don’t let him do anything to me.” She told him and gulped.

“You’re right. Of course he wouldn’t do anything to you.” He commented with venom as if he was implying something.

“What is that supposed to mean?” She snapped at Ron, completely ignoring the fact that Harry was still there.

“You’ve changed a lot ever since I started dating Lavender, you know that? You started to act cold to me and her. Ever since we started dating, you changed and you drifted away from us. Are you best friends with Malfoy now? Is that why you two are close nowadays?” He snapped at her as he clenched his fists.

“You can’t bring that up now.” She said as she let out a shaky breath. “You have the audacity to start pointing fingers at me for ruining our friendship? It wasn’t me, Ron! It was clearly you because you started dating Lavender! The only thing you said to me was about Lavender, Lavender, Lavender, Lavender! You only cared about Lavender.” She said weakly as she stared at him, breathing heavily. “What? Is Lavender not enough? Do you need more attention? Do you need me to give you attention?” She asked him as she scoffed. “Are you jealous that I’m paying more attention to Malfoy instead of you? You’re right, Ron. He’s my new friend. I replaced you with him because he’s a far better friend than you.” She stated and drew in a shaky breath as she felt tears form in her eyes.

“You think I’m jealous of Malfoy?” Ron spat at her with bewilderment. “No, I’m not the jealous one! You’re jealous of Lavender, aren’t you?! You wanted me to choose you over Lavender, right?!” Ron retorted back angrily as he yelled at her, pointing a finger in her direction.

Hermione clenched her jaw as she fought back tears. She felt her past feelings for him rush through her body and felt the same piercing in her heart she felt when she found out he was dating Lavender again. She gritted her teeth and exhaled deeply. She kept her wet, teary eyes on the person she once loved and felt disgusted. “It’ll always be Lavender . . .” She mumbled under her breath. “It’ll never be me.” She stated quietly as she shook her head. “Well, if Lavender is so important to you, I’d appreciate it if you left me alone. I’ll do whatever I want with Malfoy and you do whatever you want with Lavender. Stay out of my business because I’ve been staying out of yours.” She told him with bitter, wet eyes.