Anyone But Me

Chapter Seventy-Three

Another good mix of J.K.R. and myself... Anything of hers comes from Chapter 24, Sectumsempra (HP&tHBP). And while I have you here- the usual disclaimer that I do not own the world or characters. Nor do I make any sort of profit.

-\?/- -\?/- -\?/- -\?/- -\?/-

Surprisingly, everything seemed to go right back to normal after her tiny hiatus from reality. Somehow, nobody had overheard or walked in. She had slept through the afternoon and night, waking when the other girls started on their morning routines. Ginny had covered for her absence with excuses of a minor breakdown over a mistake in her study schedule for the coming months. Believable. Yet, telling...

The whole histrionic experience had been eye-opening. Mainly on how she needed to preemptively invest in a permanent bed for herself on the Janus Thickey Ward for when this was all over... But other smaller revelations kept popping up. Some were more useful than others. Such as, the calming potions at the bottom of her trunk helped.

Not in the way they were intended, of course. Being months outdated, they had sat and strengthened to the point that they were no longer impotent without mixing with the dreaded sleeping potions she hated so much. If she took one right before bed, she was able to sleep peacefully. No nightmares... And the soothing effects didn't wear off until well after dinner the next day.

Leaving Hermione with only a couple of hours to deal with the frantic racing of the heart- she did, in fact, have- whenever her thoughts would inevitably go to him. Otherwise, she was able to push the emotions away and use her more critical side to evaluate the situation. Find what good there was to be had in it. Which wasn't very hard. Another telling indicator of just how far she had fallen in the past year.

The things she had been willing to look past made her shudder.

Along with the newfound guilt that surged through her every time she saw Ginny. There was a lingering tension between them that she didn't understand. It wasn't openly hostile or even noticeable to anyone else. She didn't know how to explain, but the other witch's responses were off, and not necessarily because she was handling Hermione with care. Like with the spite-filled excuse given for her missed meal or the brief acknowledgment when she lied about going to see Pomfrey on her own. It wasn't malicious but hinted at some apathetic change to their relationship.

It might have helped if her friends' every waking second wasn't devoted to the game in a few days. If the entire team wasn't down on the Pitch, they were huddled over enchanted parchments. Going over a thousand different plays, the little X and Os that were meant to represent each player zoomed so quickly that she wasn't able to watch for long without becoming dizzy.

Her notable dislike of Quidditch allowed her retrospective disposition to continue to go unnoticed by the boys. While also putting up the barrier of time to a reconciliation with Ginny. At least until after they had won and the whole school could move on...

Of course, the depraved deity, Karma, still held a vendetta against her. Instead of letting her continue to pick through the chaos in peace, she sent an additional obstacle to litter the nearly insurmountable path.

Harry had just gotten done giving their little group the gritty and horrific details of the duel that had taken place between him and Draco. Her rage at the two idiotic males was boiling right under the surface, and she turned to a lecture to keep her mouth busy from the hexes it wanted to spew, "I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person... And I was right, wasn't I?"

"No, I don't think you were," Harry said. Stubborn as ever. He proceeded to avoid looking directly at any of them. The shame over the severity of the injuries received, and the resulting punishment was evident. His callus advocacy of that ridiculous personalized spellbook notwithstanding.