Sorting Priorities (a Romione/Dramione Fic)

Chapter 16 • Oops

"Ron...!" Hermione said as she stood uncertainly outside the circle of moonlight. "I...Sorry. I should have told you, but I was afraid you'd be cross with me!" Tears streamed down her face as she burned with shame, but she also felt anger that she'd been discovered kissing Draco. Beside her, Draco tried standing with cool indifference, but Hermione could feel his fear through the air in the corridor, his emotions adding to the thick veil of tension between the three.

"But how could you, Hermione?!" Ron asked. Tears pricked at his own eyes, adding a glossy sheen, but his ears were still beet-red. "Why didn't you just tell me? And you!" he shouted, turning to Draco. "Sneaking around, snogging my girlfriend? What was that all about?! Was Parkinson not doing it for you?! Did you not get her in bed often enough, so you had to use Hermione as well?"

"Ron!" Hermione shouted. "It wasn't like that!"

"Then what was it like?! I heard what he said to you!" He glared accusingly at her.

"Well, maybe you should ask Harry why he never told you any of this! He knew! He knew all along, but didn't trust you to keep your head about it!" Hermione was shrieking, her voice high and echoing eerily trough the halls, but she didn't care if she was heard. She glared furiously at Ron, and pulled her wand from her robes.

Draco caught her hand, trying to calm her, but she wrenched her it away. "No, Draco, I might need this." She watched cooly as Ron gaped at her, knowing what would come next. Sure enough, he wheeled to the side, grasping at thin air and pulling the invisibility cloak off of a sheepishly watching Harry.

"Is this true?!" He asked belligerently. "Did you know about them?"

"No!" Harry denied. "She told me it was over!" He turned to Hermione. "Apparently she was lying."

"Don't you pin your shortcomings on me, Harry Potter!" She said, rage boiling up inside her. Was he really going to do this? "You had every opportunity to tell your best friend I was cheating on him! Oppugno!" She pulled out her wand and sent yellow canaries rocketing towards Harry and Ron, who doth ducked under the aviary onslaught.

"Hey!" Ron called out.

"Don't you 'hey' me, Ronald Weasley! Did you think I would never find out about Lavender?" She felt a twisted sense of satisfaction as his face morphed from anger into a mask of horror.

"What? That--that was one night! It didn't mean anything! And that's different from your situation! Yours actually has feelings to it!"

"One night?" Hermione said scathingly, ignoring the rest of his argument. "I happen to sleep in the same dormitory as her. She was gone for at least ten nights just this semester. And Parvati isn't exactly hard to get a secret out of. Explain yourself. Because this relationship--me and Draco-- it's not just... Whatever you've been doing with Lavender. I have a reason. What's yours? You couldn't ask me for what you wanted, and chickened out, using Lavender instead? Because that's just sick."

Ron'a face turned a light pink, the red spreading from his ears, but he didn't speak. Hermione took that as confirmation, and strode angrily past, lifting her chin belligerently. "Good night, Draco. Harry." She didn't acknowledge Ron.

As Hermione lay in her dormitory bed later that night, she heard the door gently creak and saw Lavender creep back to her bed. As she lay there, she could hear Lavender whispering with Parvati. She imagined they were talking about her, that Lavender had somehow heard about her and Ron's argument, and all of the emotions she had been suffering under tonight suddenly all boiled over. Stress, anger, shame, and disappointment all combined, making tears blur Hermione's vision.

She tried squeezing her eyes shut, stemming the flow of tears, but she still felt the emotions deep in her chest, and in the lump in her throat, and she failed, choking back sobs. Why hadn't she realized she would have to choose one of them eventually? Or just walk away from both? Had she not realized that what she was doing was as wrong as what Ron had done? She took a deep breath, but another sob tore from her throat, and Lavender and Parvati's whispered conversation was cut short by the sudden noise.

Hermione needed peace. She stood up, not caring who saw the tears, and opened the door, creeping down the flight of stairs to the common room.

When she reached the bottom, she walked to the fire and curled up into a ball in a chair by the still crackling embers, sobbing. Her tears fell hot and fast, dripping onto the worn fabric of the armchair, creating a wet patch. Her body shook as she cried, filling the room with the sounds of her misery. She'd finally done it. She'd strained under too many problems, and they'd finally broken her. She'd probably just ruined her only meaningful friendships.

She sat there crying for at least half an hour, until she had cried herself dry, and she snuffled miserably in front of the dying embers. Suddenly, she heard a door creak.

"Hello? Hermione?" Ron's voice called out. "Are you there? I heard you."

Hermione sniffed. "Yes, I'm here," she said softly. What else could she mess up just by talking? "What do you want, now that my personal life is ruined, probably along with yours?" He walked up to stand behind her chair.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I was wrong. I shouldn't have been so harsh, and I'm sorry."

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. "Ron... I was more wrong than you, and I was even more harsh. I sent birds at you again." A shaky laugh escaped her lips, and Ron let out a small laugh too, breaking the tension between them.

"Yeah, but that's what I love about you. You're strong, and maybe a little quick to anger sometimes, but I loved you--love you--for that."

"Can you really forgive me or what I did to you?" Hermione picked at a loose thread in the armchair and sniffed again.

Ron walked around to face her and took her hand gently. "Only if you can forgive me for being the biggest git of a boyfriend ever."

Hermione laughed. "You weren't that bad. You were sweet. And I know it was mostly Lavender, that night. Parvati told me you were half-drunk on butterbeer when she did it, and it really was just one night. Apparently there's a Ravenclaw boy now." She tightened her grip on his hand. "But do you really forgive me?"

Ron didn't hesitate. "Yes. Hermione, I've loved you since first year, and that won't change just because we both did a few stupid things."

"Thank you," Hermione whispered. She sat up in the chair, gesturing for Ron to join her. He sat down beside her, and as he leaned over, their lips meeting in perfect harmony, she knew he'd made her decision for her once again. It had always been him that she'd truly loved.

Their lips melded together, the dying warmth if the firelight fading into nothingness as the minutes passed, their bodies pressed together, until eventually they pulled apart for breath.

"My personal life may be ruined, but at least you're in it again," Hermione sighed, melting against Ron. She closed her eyes, and fell asleep in his arms.

The next morning, Hermione was jolted awake by the sound of footsteps in the common room. She stood hastily as a fourth year looked curiously at the two of them. Once he had left, Hermione bent down, kissing Ron's forehead before slipping back into the girls' dormitories and changing for breakfast. Today would bring a lot of changes.