Hermione Granger and the Paradigm Shift

Chapter 5 - Part 3

The walk to breakfast the next morning was surprisingly quiet and Ron free. Harry had not shared in her enthusiasm for the Apparition lesson notice that had been posted in the common room and had remained relatively silent as they made their way to the Great Hall. It was clear something had happened to dampen his mood after they departed for bed the night prior.

"Everything alright, Harry?" she asked tentatively, still a bit hesitant to push after Harry's defensiveness in the prior year.

Harry shook his head in disgust before speaking. "I gave Ron the notes you made for the Prince's book and told him how we were going to start testing out the spells together tomorrow and he..." Harry muttered before trailing off.

"He what, Harry?" she prompted.

"He reckons the reason you changed your mind about the book and have been nicer to me lately is just to annoy him...because of Lavender."

Her immediate instinct was to lash out angrily but bit back on the urge. If she was being honest with herself it wasn't an unreasonable conclusion based on how irrational she had been acting before the break. She took a breath.

"What did you say?" she asked hesitantly. Based on Harry's despondent expression she wasn't sure she would like the answer.

"I told him we sorted out our problems before the break and it had nothing to do with him. And that you were too stubborn to say you were wrong about something if you didn't believe it."

He was right...she would have been too prideful to admit she was wrong if she didn't mean it simply to keep the peace. That sounded like something Harry might do.

They walked in silence for several moments before she began speaking. "Did I tell you I was originally planning on asking Cormac to the party to annoy Ron?

"You're joking," Harry declared.

"If Cormac had said no I was going to ask Smith."

"That Hufflepuff git?" Harry replied in disbelief as he stopped walking and stared. "Are you insane?"

"I was," she confirmed, "temporarily at least. Then I came to my senses and asked you for reasons that had nothing to do with Ron, thank Merlin. You were right about the other part as well. I've been dreading having to eat crow about the book."

They resumed their walk to breakfast as Harry replied. "He kept mentioning what people have been saying about how we acted at Slughorn's party and how well we seemed to be getting on last night and wanted to know what we were doing. I told him we were trying not to be so stubborn and listening to each other. I suggested he try it some time and then he sort of stormed off to breakfast with Lavender."

"Poor Won-Won," she mused aloud, drawing a chuckle from Harry.

Whatever explanation Ron had provided for not wearing Lavender's gift must have worked because she was once again chirping happily at his every word by dinner the next night. Thankfully for her, they had decided for some privacy at the end of the table, sparing her the majority of their nonsense.

As she watched Harry exiting the Great Hall for his meeting with the Headmaster Ginny leaned forward and spoke in a hush. She looked quite serious.

"What's going on with you and Harry?" she asked without pretense.

"Going on?" she asked confusedly. "Harry has a meeting with the Headmaster right now and I'm going to the lib-"

"That's not what I'm talking about, Hermione," Ginny interrupted, clearly annoyed. "After Slughorn's party and last night everyone thinks there is something going on between you two."

"Who is everyone?"

"Everyone with eyes and a brain?" Ginny countered. "I'm asking you so I can put the rumors to rest on your behalf."

Ginny was doing her best to act as casually as possible. Hermione knew better but bit back on commenting.

"Nothing's going on, Ginny. We're just on the same page and getting on well again...the best since fourth year, actually. And since neither of us have any desire to be in their orbit we are spending more time together. That's it."

She thought about how respectful Harry had been with Ginny and Dean's relationship and realized Ginny wasn't returning the favor. A hint of annoyance flared.

"Honestly, there have been rumors about me and Harry for years and if we want to date it's no one's business but ours."

"So you're saying you are interested in Harry?" Ginny asked, her calm facade cracking slightly.

"I'm saying it's none of your business," she concluded before turning back to her dinner.

As she finished her meal in silence she ignored the irritated redhead sitting across the table and her mind returned to the idea that had dominated her thoughts in third year...that she and Harry could possibly be more than just friends someday. She had eventually realized, thanks to Harry's obvious interest in Cho Chang and now Ginny, that such thoughts weren't realistic and at some point unconsciously pivoted toward Ron. Viktor had provided a nice, though shallow and short-lived, distraction as well. Thinking of Harry in that way was as pointless as her hope to one day see a unicorn when she was six. She was beginning to realize that thinking of Ron in that way was equally pointless for entirely different reasons.

Magic may be able to make unicorns a reality...but love? Any feelings of romantic love created by magic were a cheap parlor trick...a pale, temporary, and meaningless imitation. Harry's friendship was infinitely more important than something that wasn't real. Until recently she had started to take that friendship for granted...she wouldn't let it happen again.

Although she had briefly allowed the thought of romance with Harry to roam free in her consciousness once again it was time to return to reality. Her 'date' with Harry at Slughorn's party and their time spent together the night prior didn't help in keeping the thought at bay but she did her best to forcefully stow it back into its cage. It's a shame, she mused, it is a lovely thought.