Hermione Granger and the Paradigm Shift

Chapter 3 - Part 2

"Why Ron?" he asked. "I mean...don't get me wrong...he's my mate and I think he's brilliant...but you and him...you row so often..."

"I've asked myself the same question...many times," she answered with a sigh. "Why do you fancy Ginny?"

"She's funny and smart...we get on well...we have a few things in common...she's pretty," he quickly supplied.

"You make it sound so simple," she lamented.

"Isn't that the point?" he asked in bemusement.

She unconsciously laid her head on Harry and realized it fitted perfectly into the small of his shoulder...much better than fourth year when she barely reached Viktor's chest. As fond as she was of Viktor spending time with him always felt a bit like she was playing at being a grown up. And she had to speak very slowly...which was a bit annoying.

"I can tell you when it started but it might upset you," she warned.

"This should be good," he replied, "go on then."

"It was after fourth year," she began, "while we were at Grimmauld and you were still stuck with your relatives." She heard Harry hum in acknowledgement and continued.

"After what had happened to you in the third task and then seeing you shipped back to those awful people...not being able to tell you what was going on and worrying for your safety...I was a bit of a mess."

"Sorr-"

"Not your fault," she interrupted before he could apologize. "Anyway...Ron was really sweet. He eased up on the teasing and did all of his summer work with me without complaint. He let me whinge as much as I wanted about how unfairly you were being treated and how worried I was about you. And then you showed up and were so cross with everything and everyone..."

"I'm really sorr-"

She lightly stepped on his foot to stop him from trying to apologize again. "Like I said...not your fault. You had every right to be upset. I would have been furious if it had been me. Where was I?"

"Ron let you whinge and I showed up angry," he supplied.

"Right...well after you showed up we became a bit of a team, I suppose. We didn't really plan on it but we ended up being a bit nicer to each other all year because we knew you needed our help and would use any excuse to isolate yourself from us if we were too annoying."

"So...because I was a tosser you were nicer to each other?" he asked.

"You weren't a tosser, Harry," she admonished. "You were just less patient with us because of everything going on so we behaved ourselves a bit more."

"So now that I'm sane again you two are free to go back to being at each other's throats?" he asked in confusion.

She lightly slapped his shoulder. "You were always sane, Harry. You've handled so many horrible things so well...so much better than I could have managed. I wish you wouldn't say those sorts of things."

"I'm sorr-" he began before stopping himself. "Go on."

She relaxed into him a bit more. "I really thought Ron and I might take the next step this year but the claws seem to have come back out. Spending time around him...especially if you're not around...seems like such a chore now. Nothing like-"

She stopped herself as the revelation rattled around in her brain.

"Nothing like what?" he prompted.

She took a deep breath and continued as casually as possible. "Nothing like this...with you." It was true...even with their brief argument earlier in the evening she couldn't imagine a scenario where she would have had a better time if Ron had been her date.