The Sweetest Thing

chapter 11

I pant as I sit up, having just awaken from another wild dream, another one, I'm almost certain involved Hermione. Why do I keep dreaming about her, like that, all hot and naked?

I look over to the bed, Ginny is still sleeping, the clock besides her beds shows its just pass 4 in the morning. I decide to go sit on the balcony to get some fresh air. All these thoughts about Hermione, and the arguing with Ginny, is becoming suffocating.

I care about Hermione, I always have, she's been there for me when no one else was, in ways no one were ever able to be. But above all, she's my best friend, and thinking about her in the way that played off in the dream I just had, would ruin that friendship. I don't ever want to lose her, lose that support and security I get from having her in my life.

In all honestly, I'm not blind to the fact that she's a beautiful woman, that when I dance with her in the club, men shoot dagger at me with their eyes, but I'll never put our bond, what we have, on the line for a silly fling behind my girlfriends back. A girlfriend who I love and care about so much.

Mine and Ginny's relationship has been strained the last year, but it doesn't mean that I don't still love her and want t make her happy.

As I sit outside in the cool morning air, waiting for the sun to come up, I try to make sense of the situation that played out last night. Does Ginny really feel I make her compete for my time and attention? What am I doing that is making her feel that way? Or should the question really be, who is making her feel that way? All this nonsense about how its Hermione that's in the way of our happiness, when really, Gin is the one who keeps putting distance between her and I.

And what about Wood? Is he the one putting these ideas in her head? He's never been a vindictive guy, but she does seem to prefer spending time with him over being around me. I just wish we could talk about all of this without it turning into a screaming match.

I decide to go back inside as the skies became lighter, indicating the start of the day. I checked the time, 5:30, I'm sure Ginny will be up soon, given that they usually have their first training session of the day at 8 in the mornings. Maybe I could take a quick shower before she gets up, so I won't be any more in her way.

By the time I finished up in the bathroom, Ginny was up and out of bed. "Good morning. Did you sleep okay?" I say to her as I enter the room. "Morning. " she wasn't even looking at me. "Are you done in the bathroom, because I need to get ready?", "Yes I'm done." She moves to the bathroom, "Breakfast is in 30minutes, will you be joining us?" She says facing me for the first time, with an unreadable expression. "If its not too much of an inconvenience. I can always go grab breakfast at a local restaurant, I don't mind." I didn't wanna push her too much. "No its fine, Harry. Come to breakfast. With me." , "okay then." She nods and closes the bathroom door behind her.

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Hermione POV

I was having coffee with Luna at a café in Diagon Ally, getting some breakfast before a day of shopping. I needed to do my monthly grocery shopping and since Harry was out of town for the weekend I figured why not have a catch up day with my girl friend while am at it.

"Last night was such a blast, thought you would be there though.", Luna said. "I'm sorry, Luna. I just got a bit caught up at work.", " You're such a workaholic, who works overtime on a Friday night? You missed out though. Dean tried to impress some girl at the bar, and started dancing on the tables." We both laughed, Luna at the memory, me out of shock. "Oh wow, the horror!" I say, imaging the scene play out " He wasn't really as bad, even got a bunch of tips from a few older witches, and a very enthusiasts gentleman who asked him for is number" at this I couldn't contain my laughter.

"Did it help with the lady he wanted to impress?", "I'm not sure, but at least he had her attention for a while" Luna say, taking a sip of her spiced late. "So how's things going with you? Haven't seen you at all this week."

"Well I'm good, nothing to mention aside from the bazaar occurrences in the lab. Harry seems to think its a poltergeist or some other deviant entity, maybe even dark magic left over from the war. We were reading up on cases like these and how to deal with them at my flat the other night, but there's a lot that still not clear. I gave him some extra reading material to go over this weekend. But like I said, nothing is clear yet, its still in its investigative state for now." I say, knowing I can trust Luna not to disclose things to the public yet without permission from the right authorities.

"Sounds quite peculiar. I hope non of you have been hurt. Do you think you guys are in danger?" She asks, "I hope not, but you never know. Hopefully all of this can be sorted out soon."I say, finishing the last of my coffee.

"Hey, what are we doing for your birthday? I know it will be in the middle of the week but please Hermione we have to do something. I don't want to hear anything about work." Luna says. "My birthday is still weeks away, I don't wanna start planning already. What if Harry or Ron get called off on a mission and then I'd made plans for nothing."

"I'm sure that won't happen, I mean they don't get called out for more than a day anymore."said Luna.

"Yes, but you know quidditch season kicked off and remember last year. We planed a big dinner party and at the last minute Harry had to go see Ginny playing in France, because she needs him there. And she knew it was my birthday dinner, hell she was there the day we started planning. I don't wanna go through that kinda drama again."

"Oh, that was just Ginny being in one of her moods"

"I don't get why she's been so cold towards me the last few years. She and I use to be so close." I say, realising at that moment that it hurts a bit knowing that Ginny is actively pushing me away. I'm not even sure anymore what it is I did to have her behave this way towards me.

"Well isn't it obvious." Luna's dreamy, voice pulls me out of my own thoughts. "She must feel threatened by your relationship with Harry." I take a moment to think over what Luna is saying. It does make sense but also, it doesn't. "I've also thought about that maybe being the reason, the only problem is that, why now all of a sudden, they've been together for years, and she was never this cold before."

"I think the two of you just needs to talk it out. Hey, maybe we can even go see her play, if she has a game that week, make her feel more included." said Luna. "I've tried to do that over the summer, but it didn't help that much. And if you can recall, she left even earlier this year. Its like she doesn't want to be around any of us anymore"

"That is kind of sad."Luna says. The waiter comes over with our bill, and we pay our respective orders and leave the shop. It was a nice day out and we quietly stroll down the street for a moment. All the talk of why Ginny and I don't gel well anymore had surely placed a damper on our day.

"I'm not saying she's to blame or anything, but I do feel its like she's given up trying to be friends. Maybe its time to just leave it at that. There's only so much I can do from my side. If she doesn't want to be friends I can't force her,right?" I say trying to make sense of it all.

"Well you do still want Harry in your life, don't you?"

"Yes, of course I do, Luna. He's my best friend,"

"Then you're going to have to a make nice with her, Hermione. If she's Harry's girlfriend, you'll have to accept that she's part of the package." I throw Luna an annoyed look, I know she's right but that doesn't mean I have to like it...