Lost Along the Way (Dramione)

Chapter 1

HERMIONE'S P.O.V.
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Chapter 1

For me, the story starts when we were in our fifth year.
I sat in the Gryffindor common room, finishing up my Potions essay. The common room was completely empty, given that everyone was at dinner. But I wasn't hungry. I had too much on my mind.
I didn't know why I fell for him, or how, or when, but once I had started to fall, I kept falling. I fell deeper and deeper in love with him, and by the time that I realized it was happening, I was too late.
Because I was in love with the boy who had treated me like I was nothing from day one; I was in love with the boy who already loved someone else; the boy who wouldn't recognize if I dropped off the face of the earth until he needed help doing a homework assignment; the boy who wouldn't have even been my friend if it hadn't been for Harry.
I was in love with Ron Weasley.
I hadn't chosen to fall in love with him, I didn't want to be in love with him. Everyday, I would list in my mind all the reasons why I shouldn't love him.
But my brain had been conquered by my heart, even though I knew that my heart was wrong.
So, yes. I was in love with Ron. He had no idea, but earlier that day, I had screwed up, and I had screwed up bad. I knew it was only a matter of time before Ron would find out and confront me about it, which was why I was sitting alone on the couch by the dim fireplace of the Gryffindor common room, trying to write an essay on an empty stomach.
I shut my potions book and had just gotten done putting my essay in my bag, when the portrait of the fat lady slammed open. I turned to see Ron marching in, angrily. The fat lady started muttering something about Gryffindors having no manners as Ron stomped over to the couch and stood in front of me, looking down at me and crossing his arms like a five year old who had just been told that they couldn't have dessert.
"Well?" he spat at me.
I kept my voice even, because it would not only avoid a screaming war, but the fact that I was remaining calm would irritate him.
"What?" I said, raising my eyebrows like I didn't have a clue what he was talking about.
"You know bloody well what," he exclaimed through clenched teeth.
"Ron, it was an accident, okay?" I lied, standing as if to leave, but I knew that this was far from over.
"No, no it wasn't," he said, giving a sarcastic laugh as he did. "Maybe what Lavender said the other day was right; maybe you're just jealous of us."
Ron and Lavender had been dating for almost a year. One day, Ron needed help on an assignment that Professor Trelawney had given to us; I had already gone to bed and Harry also hadn't been around. So, since he was well aware of Lavender's fascination with the subject, he approached her and had asked for help.
And, for them, things had gone uphill ever since.
For a moment, I froze. She said that to him? Had Ron agreed with her? It didn't sound like he had because he had just said that maybe Lavender had been right. Did he actually believe that now? Or was he just trying to get me to my breaking point? I knew that that was his ultimate goal; for me to stoop to his level and start yelling in his face.
"Ha," I said, not choosing my words very carefully as I spoke. "Why would I be jealous of you two-?"
"Because you're in love with me," Ron challenged, cutting me off. My heart skipped a beat.
"I'm not in love with you. HOW could I be in love with you?" I tried desperately to convince him the very same thing I had been trying to convince myself for nearly two years; the problem was, we both knew it was a lie. "You're lazy and arrogant. You don't care about anyone but yourself, even if they're in trouble and need your support; like when Harry's name got pulled out of the goblet of fire last year. You just got mad at him because you thought he wanted to be in the spotlight. But that's not true, Harry would rather sit alone in a dark corner than be in the spotlight! And that's the exact opposite of you. You're so selfish," I began feeling a bit stronger. I had started out just trying to insult him and get him to believe that me liking him was a lie, but now I started to realize that everything that was coming out of my mouth was more accurate than I had noticed. I pushed on, as if he wasn't even standing in front of me, and I was, rather, saying out loud the things I was writing in a page of a dairy.
"Sometimes I wonder why I am even your friend, you treat me almost as bad as Malfoy does and-"
It was comparing him to Malfoy that did it. I didn't even see it happen, but suddenly my face was turned to the side and a pain was burning my cheek.
He had slapped me.
I - in complete shock and disbelief - slowly moved my hand up to the side of my face, and turned cautiously to face him again.
His face had already shifted from anger to absolute horror, as he realized he'd really done what he thought he had.
I would not allow him to see me cry, but my nose started to get a prickly feeling, and I knew it was only a matter of seconds before the tears came.
Yet I continued to stare at him. My mouth was slightly ajar from the surprise attack that I had just received.
"Hermione..." Ron's voice cracked, but he was just as lost for words as I was.
Quickly, I removed my hand from my face and turned on my heels, as I started towards the fat lady portrait.
"Hermione!" Ron's voice called, now more desperately, from behind me, but I only sped up my pace, and as I exited out of the common room, I broke into a run through the corridor, not sure where I was going.
And the tears began to fall.