HERMIONE’S POV
Caleb Green stood by the foot of the stairs waiting for me just like he’d said he would. His brown hair was styled in messy perfection, it was one of those looks that were supposed to look like he just rolled out of bed, but I knew he had most likely been in front of a mirror for the past half hour. His bright green eyes lit up and a smile spread on his face when he saw me descend the stairs. I had to admit he was a good-looking kid, but he was nowhere near my boyfriend. I had a soft spot for the blonde boy; ever since we met, Draco had been in my thoughts, the good and the bad ones.
“Ready?” he asked offering his arm like a real gentleman. I sent him a beaming smile and nodded.
“I am so sorry I’m late.” I gushed but he just padded my back gently, telling me it didn’t matter. He was just glad I didn’t stand him up.
“I’d never do that!” I exclaimed, “I just overslept.” We started towards Hogsmeade; our plan was to eat something there. Because I was Head Girl I could go whenever I wanted and I could bring anyone I wanted with me. Usually I went with Draco or Ginny, but I thought it was better to go to Hogsmeade instead of hanging around Hogwarts where people gossiped.
“Sure you did.” He winked at me suggestively.
“Caleb! I’m serious, I did oversleep.”
“Well, you did seem extremely tired yesterday morning when I found you sleeping on the floor, that wasn’t enough sleep for you?” he grinned making me hit him.
“Arse. I’m just insanely sleep deprived lately.”
“I wonder why…” Caleb hummed, with a look on his face that told me he thought exactly the opposite than what was actually true.
“Get those perverted thoughts out of your head, Green. It’s not like that!” I sighed, almost wishing it was. It was like Draco pushed me away every time I tried to make a move. We basically hadn’t had sex since we found out I was pregnant. I guess that was partly my fault though, at first I had been freaking out about the fact that a person was growing inside me, but then I started having those weird dreams and I guess I began pushing him away a little every time I was reminded of how much my life used to suck because of him, and then he started to reject me because, well I didn’t really know why, I guess he thought I was growing insane.
I wasn’t, right?
“Oh really? Are you telling me the most perfect couple in the whole world,” was that sarcasm I sensed in his voice? “Aren’t doing the dirty?” he wiggled his eyebrows quickly up and down.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I sighed as I linked my arm through his. “Talk about something else,”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, tell me about yourself? Tell me why you’re suddenly spending time with me instead of your girlfriend?” Caleb laughed loudly and then sent me a beaming smile.
“I don’t have a girlfriend, Hermione.” He grinned, “I did for a while though. You know Astoria?”
“Greengrass?” I asked incredulously, my jaw probably hung down by my knees at that moment. Yeah, I knew that slag very well. I basically saw her naked in the beginning of the year, when Draco had tried to make me jealous. It worked of course. But I had actually forgot about her. I really didn’t like her. What did Caleb see in her? He was so nice and handsome, she was . . . well, a slag, a dumb and spiteful girl.
I didn’t hold a grudge against her; I just didn’t like her. I never did. It had nothing to do with the fact that she slept with my boyfriend.
Ah, whom am I kidding? It had everything to do with that.
“Yeah, Greengrass. She was a boneheaded bint. I never even liked her, she was just hot. Before her there was Jasmine, you know that pretty little sixth year blonde in Slytherin?” yeah, I knew her too. She was Coinneach’s girlfriend; they had been going out for quite a while now. When had the Caleb been with her?
“That ended pretty quickly though, she cheated on Co to be with me, but then she realized she actually liked the guy. So she dumped me.”
“Are you kidding me? Does he know about this?” I asked, I suddenly felt terrible for him. I knew how horrible it felt when someone cheated, except I hadn’t actually been cheated on. I just thought Ron had cheated on me with Lavender. But when we actually talked it through I realized it hadn’t been like that at all. It still tore me up seeing them kiss both during our sixth year and earlier this year.
“No, we decided not to tell him anything, she didn’t want to hurt him.” He snorted, as if he thought it was a dumb decision.
“From what you just told me, I’d say you are quite the lady killer.” I winked. Most girls would probably be disgusted by that, and wouldn’t even want to talk to him in fear of being hit on, but I really didn’t care. I knew about Draco’s past with girls and that was probably just as bad, if not worse.
“Sure,” he shrugged, “It would be nice to be with someone who actually cared about me.”
“Do you have anyone in mind?” I asked curiously. He sounded so genuine. Maybe I could help him find the perfect girl? He was pretty sweet, I was sure I could find someone for him.
“Kind of, but it would probably never happen. She’s way out of my league.” He sighed as we stopped walking. I hadn’t noticed where we had been walking, but suddenly we stood on the main street in Hogsmeade. I didn’t know why we had stopped so I looked at Caleb for an answer.
“Did you know him?” he asked, his eyes fixated on something on my right, I turned to look and stared right at the picture of my late friend. Fred looked happy as always on the picture, waving at me.
“Yeah,” A sad smile spread on my lips as I caught the eyes of his twin who stood inside the joke shop. George opened the door and ran outside, tearing me away from Caleb, giving me a big hug.
“Hermione! How are you? Haven’t seen you around for the longest time, where’s Malfoy? Did you finally ditch him?” he joked, “Already got a new boyfriend?” he continued when he noticed Caleb by my side.
“George! I can’t breathe!” he let go of me immediately, “This is Caleb Green, a friend of mine.” I introduced him. The guys shook hands.
“Were you one of the guys who kept running after my sister?” George asked, and a grin spread on Caleb’s face.
“She’s cute, I'll give you that, but no. I weren’t one of those guys, I don’t think my friends in Slytherin would’ve approved of me running after a Gryffindor.” He answered. George looked at me again.
“What is it with you and Slytherin boys? If I didn’t know better I’d think you liked them better than us?”
“Oh shut up. Have you heard from Ronald lately? I miss him.” I said and I meant it. I miss my redheaded friend; I hadn’t seen or heard from him since the night I returned from Australia. He had been avoiding me completely, all I knew was what Ginny heard from him and Harry, and that wasn’t much.
“Not much, he hasn’t really been in contact.” George answered, looking a little uneasy; he was hiding something big from me.
“He’s here isn’t he?” I asked.
“No,” George said, but was interrupted immediately by Ron opening the door to the store and yelling his name. “Damn.” He muttered before turning to face his little brother, “Ron, look who’s here!” he yelled and stepped to the side revealing me from behind him. All the blood drained from Ron’s face and he grew even paler than he already was.
“Hermione!” he was clearly shocked to see me. Ignoring Caleb beside me I ran up to my friend.
“What the bloody hell? You’re in Hogsmeade and you didn’t tell me? Why on earth haven’t you been in contact the past months? I wrote you about a thousand times and you never replied!” I shrieked, I could tell he braced himself for a very painful slap but I just threw my arms around him. I missed him so much, both him and Harry.
CALEB’S POV
As I watched her hug her friend I kind of wished it was I in his place, to have her so close to me was the thing I wanted the most right at that moment. I’d always had my eye on Hermione, all right, not always, but at least for the past few years. She was probably the hottest thing walking around Hogwarts. Not even Astoria reached her level. When I saw her sitting on the floor sleeping I couldn’t resist it anymore. I just had to make contact. I knew she was dating the prince of Slytherin. Draco Malfoy. I had always lived in his shadow. No matter what, I was always second in line. No one had ever noticed me because of that idiot; I was done playing nice. Hermione was going to be mine, no matter what. He needed to know how it felt, being second, being dumped for someone else.
Luckily for me, it seemed to be easier than I thought, getting Hermione, I mean. From what she’d told me, the two of them were having problems. She was clearly depressed and they weren’t sleeping together, he stormed out of the Great Hall the previous day when he saw us together, I was pretty sure she didn’t talk to him about her problems, since she blurted them out to me when we met, and we didn’t even know each other. Something told me they weren’t the perfect couple anymore. I just needed to get her alone, away from her friends and make a move. I was sure she wouldn’t resist. But for the moment, she seemed so caught up in her friend that I wasn’t important.
When she finally seemed to realize I was still there, she told her friends to keep in contact and we continued down the street.
Finally.
We walked in silence for quite a while, suddenly we found ourselves in front of the Shrieking Shack. Hermione stopped dead as she took in the house.
“What’s wrong?” I asked carefully, noticing how sad she looked.
“So many things have gone wrong in that house. I haven’t been in there since the Battle.” She sighed and shook involuntarily. I put my arm around her shoulders and she leaned into me, head buried in my shoulder, gripping my jacket.
“Hey, Hermione. It’s okay. It’s memories now. I know it can be traumatic, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.” I had no clue what saddened her so much; I didn’t know what had gone down in the house that night. She laughed slightly and looked up at me with a small smile on her face.
“I like you, Caleb. You’re so nice to me.” She whispered, “I need a friend like you.”
A friend? Ah, hell no! I was not about to be friend zoned by her, I would not be second to Malfoy again!
“By the way, let’s get back to our previous topic. You said you fancied a girl, but she’s out of your league? I can’t imagine anyone being out of your league, and I really can’t imagine you thinking anyone is too good for you! Who is this mystery girl?” Hermione asked. Huh, I thought she had forgot all about that conversation. She apparently had no clue I had been talking about her. Not that it surprised me; she kind of seemed oblivious to anything love-related.
“She has a boyfriend.” I just said.
“It’s not Ginny, is it?” Was she kidding me? Why would she think that? I shook my head, “Well, you just said earlier you thought she was cute. She has a boyfriend, I could’ve been her?”
“It’s not her.”
“From what you told me earlier, you don’t seem to have problem with a girl being taken? Not that I’d ever condone anything like that, but what’s stopping you now?” Girl’s got a point. Nothing was stopping me. Without a second thought I grabbed her face and crushed my lips onto hers.
FINALLY!!! I am SOOOOO sorry for the very long wait! But here it is! Thoughts? :)
How do YOU think Hermione will react?