Harmione - The Truth

Chapter Six

The next day Ron showed up to the Great Hall in his odd uniform, his socks overlapping his trousers and uncomfortable headgear when Neville approached him.

"Good luck, eh, Ron?" Neville only managed a half-hearted smile, which was surprising, since Neville could be one of the cheeriest people around when he's not too shy and timid.

"Nice hat!" a chorus of voice yelled at him, as he slinked miserably opposite Harry and Hermione.

"Ron, you're a loser!" Just then, Seamus Finnigan, another Gryffindor sixth-year, runs up to Ron with two Galleons in his hand.

"I'm counting on you, Ron. I have two Galleons on Gryffindor, yeah?" Ron fake-smiled at Seamus, and the second the Gryffindor was out of sight, the smile vanished, just like Ron's hope of being good at Quidditch.

Just then, Ron heard a soft voice come from behind him.

"Are you alright, Ron?" It was Alexis, with her wavy blond hair and blue-grey eyes. He shrugged, and she looked concernedly at him. "You'll do fine in the Quidditch match. I'll be rooting for you." She smiled at him, and this gave Ron what he considered to be hope, now having somewhat of a grin plastered on his freckle-full face. Harry snickered and turned to Hermione.

"Ron likes Alexis, doesn't he?" Hermione nodded. Ron turned back around to Harry and Hermione.

"So how was it, then?" The redhead shrugged, watching as Hermione set down the Daily Prophet.

"How was what?" She asked confusedly.

"Your dinner party," Ron said simply.

"Pretty boring, actually. Harry here wouldn't do anything but get into Slughorn's good books. He wouldn't even talk to me!" Hermione's face turned pink at the last sentence, though only Ron took notice of it, as Harry was too focused on eating his chicken.

"Hey!" yelled Ron, snatching a piece of chicken from Harry. "That chicken - is - mine!" Harry sniggered.

"Slughorn's having a Christmas do, you know?" Hermione mumbled, turning towards Harry, who didn't know about Slughorn's Party yet. "And we're meant to bring someone."

"Are you going to go with McLaggen?" Harry asked obliviously, as Ron tried his hardest not to smirk. "He likes you, doesn't he?" Hermione took a couple of deep breaths and then turned to Harry.

"Actually, I was going to ask you." She sighed, causing Harry to look slightly taken aback.

"Really?" Harry raised his eyebrows as Hermione once more turned bright red.

"Yes, do you--" Just then, as if on cue, Cho Chang raced over to Harry and gave him a quick peck on the lips and looked at him seductively.

"I can't wait to go to Slughorn's party with you, Harry." she cooed, enjoying the furious look on Hermione's face. She leaned in to whisper in Harry's ear: "Oh, and stay away from Granger. She might try to smuggle you a love potion." Harry merely nodded as Cho walked, or rather skipped, away, leaving Hermione in a state of sadness. Harry took notice of it and looked like he had just messed everything up.

"Hermione, I--" But she had already left the hall, crying. Harry sighed as he fighted the urge to run after her, and he eventually won. "Why's she acting like that?" Ron glared at Harry, though not angrily, just implying he was the biggest idiot in the world.

"She likes you, mate, don't you see that? She used the Confundus Charm on McLaggen just so you could keep your spot as Seeker on the Quidditch team! She bloody asked you to Slughorn's party and you rubbed it in her face--"

"Actually, Cho rubbed it in her face--"

"Not the bloody point, Harry!" snapped Ron. "You called her attractive and said her skin was nice the other day! Why can't you see it, Harry? Why?" This flooded Harry with a realm of thoughts. He thought to himself... Cho or Hermione... someone's going to get burned. If I stay with Cho, Hermione'll be even more upset, but if I date Hermione, Cho's going to go into a fit of rage. Aw, bloody hell...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The common room was filled with chaos, as the students celebrated Gryffindor's victory. Harry was dead in the center, feeling slightly uncomfortable as everyone chanted his name.