I woke up the next morning with a horrible headache and intense nausea. Hermione was sniffling to herself but when I sat up in bed she managed a small smile.
"Morning, Hazel," She said, wiping her eyes. "Last night was hard for both of us, huh?"
"I feel sick," I groaned and rubbed my stomach. "I can't believe I did that."
"What? Got drunk?"
"No," I scoffed and shook my head, my heart breaking at the realization. "I cheated on Harry."
"You... what?"
"God, I feel so bad. I feel horrible," Tears filled my eyes. "Hermione I'm such a bad person. I feel so bad."
"Who was it?" Hermione sat next to me on my bed, now rubbing my back. I crossed my arms and bit my lip as I lost the hold I had on my tears.
"Seamus. He... he was just a friend..." I shook my head again. "Hermione I cheated. I cheated on him and I feel horrible about it."
"Hey, you feeling really bad about it means that you care. You were drunk. I'm... I'm sure if you explain it to Harry he'll understand."
"I can't," I stood up and began pacing a little. "I can't tell him, Hermione. It's going to break his heart. Hell, it broke mine."
"Did... did you two go all the way?" She asked hesitantly.
"No. No, Draco stopped us. He told me to just go back to the common room."
"Draco stopped you?" She looked confused, then rubbed her forehead. "I'm so confused."
"Now I have to deal with things being awkward with Seamus, figure out what the hell Draco's on, and... Harry..." I plopped back down on my bed. "Hermione my life has gone to complete and utter shit."
"Ron kissed Lavender. Merlin knows if they did anything else. They ran off together."
"Bloody hell... I saw that," I sighed heavily. Hermione flopped down onto her back next to me. "What are we gonna do, 'Mione?"
"Well," She sighed too. "We put on a brave face and let things unfold how they will?"
"How could you make a positive out of this situation? Any of it?"
"Because I don't have the strength to keep beating myself up about it. Ron can... kiss whoever he likes. I don't have control over him. If- if he wants Lavender then... then he can have her."
"Hermione, you're one of the strongest girls I know."
"I try to be. And you're strong too," Hermione stood up and held her hand out. "Come on. Give me a hug. We both need it. Then we'll take this step by step."
"Okay," I nodded and let her pull me to my feet. Then we embraced each other in a warm, comforting hug. "You're the best friend I've ever had, Hermione."
"Second to the twins," She reminded me with a light laugh. "And I'm happy taking second. You've known them since all of you were young."
"I miss them," I pulled away. Her chocolate brown eyes looked into mine and she smiled, then nodded.
"We've got this. Let's head to breakfast confidently, yes?"
"I don't know if I can face him knowing what I did, Hermione," I started feeling sick again.
"Facing Ron without looking as hurt as I am is going to be hard too. But we'll be there for each other, yeah?"
"Okay," I nodded and pulled on Cedric's hoodie. "Yeah. Let's go."
YOU ARE READING
tainted transparency || a harry potter story
Fanfiction** this is a sequel! ** as the year that seemed to not have an end, finally ended, everyone seemed to have rather boring breaks between school years at Hogwarts. but all of the danger that happened last year couldn't have prepared either of them fo...
