Rivalries ~ A Fremione Fanfic

Chapter 6: Harry's Advice

"Harry!" Hermione said in a shouted whisper, still recognising the fact they were in a library. She grabbed hold of his wrist and practically dragged him out of the library and into an empty corridor - the same one that Fred dragged her to during the party.

"What happened?" Harry said, pulling his arm away from the frantic Hermione.

"I don't know, I was just sitting there, looking through the notes, and figured I must have missed something. So I reached over to grab the book - it was sitting next to Ron - and..."

"And?"

"He kissed me." She blurted it out, partly shocked at what she had just said.

"What? I thought you liked him."

"What? No!"

"But if you didn't give him that impression, he wouldn't just kiss you."

"He thought I was leaning over to kiss him, but if was just trying to get the book."

Harry looked worried just thinking of Ron, his heart probably broken. "What did you say to him?"

"I told him the misunderstanding," she replied, swallowing before mentioning the next part. "And told him that I was already with someone."

"Why would you lie to him like that? He will be crushed."

"That's the thing.....it's not a lie."

"Oh Hermione," Harry said, almost sympathetically. "Why didn't you tell anyone."

"We just thought we'd keep it a secret for a while. Only two people know: I told Ginny, and he told George."

"Why would he tell George? The only person who is that close to George is-" He stopped, suddenly realising who her mystery boyfriend was. Hermione just bowed her head, wishing the ground would just swallow her whole. "His brother, Hermione? And you just happened to leave out that part in the midst of looking up about journalists becoming insects? No wonder he's devastated."

"I didn't tell him who I'm with."

"Hermione!"

"I know! I'm a coward! Maybe I should talk to Fred first."

Using a calmer, more sincere tone, he asked her, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know." She replied. Tears forming in her eyes, she said, "He's going to hate me now."

"He won't hate you," Harry reassured her, enveloping her in a hug. "He probably will just need some time to process it all, but he will come around." Pulling away from the hug and gripping her shoulders, he said, "You need to go, now, and tell him that it's Fred. Don't tell him you told me first, do tell him I didn't know either, and just keep calm. Just say the two of you didn't know where the relationship was going to lead and wanted to wait until you could tell how serious it was, which isn't really lying. Say you were going to tell everyone tonight. Everything will be fine."

"I better go now."

"Yeah," he said as Hermione turned around and disappeared down the corridor. Harry ran his fingers through his hair and mumbled to himself, "Oh Hermione."