The Mistake

Twittering Yellow Birds

I own nothing! J.K.Rowling owns everything!

This is set during 6th year, you'll probably recognise the beginning of this as it happened in the books.

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Gryffindor had just won their match against Slytherin and were holding a party in celebration of their victory. Every Gryffindor seemed to be there, every Gryffindor except one, Harry noticed. This dampened his mood slightly as he really had no idea how to help Ron and Hermione patch up their friendship that seemed to be in the process of being ripped into shreds and disintegrating into nothing but constant bickering, arguments and slowly developed hatred. At least that what it appeared to be when looking at Hermione. When looking at Ron, instead of hatred he was just oblivious to anything Hermione was trying to say and slightly hurt from when Hermione kissed Viktor Krum years ago.

His mood brightened when he found he had bumped into Ginny.

"Looking for Ron?" She asked, smirking. "He's over there, the filthy hypocrite."

Harry looked into the corner she was indicating. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose. After exchanging a few more words with Ginny, she walked off with Crookshanks trailing behind eyeing Arnold the Pygmy Puff, who was riding on Ginny's shoulder, like his next meal. Harry frowned slightly at Ron, who did not look like he would be surfacing anytime soon, and turned away just in time to see the portrait hole closing. Crap, he thought as he darted forwards and ran through the portrait hole to a deserted corridor.

He found Hermione in the first unlocked classroom he tried. She was sitting on the teacher's desk, alone except for a small ring of twittering yellow birds circling her head, which she had clearly just conjured out of midair.

"Oh, hello, Harry." She said in a brittle voice. "I was just practicing."

"Yeah... they're - er -really good." Said Harry, not really sure what to say to her.

Hermione looked down at her hands, fidgeting with them, before looking back at him. "Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations." She said in an unnaturally high-pitched voice.

"Er... does he?" Harry rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Don't pretend you didn't see him," Hermione snarled bitterly. "He wasn't exactly hiding it, was-"

The door behind them burst open. To Harry's horror and Hermione's dismay, Ron came in laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand.

"Oh," Ron said, stopping suddenly at the sight of Harry and Hermione. Hermione glared at the two that had just come in, hatred radiating off her.

"Oops!" Lavender exclaimed, oblivious to the death glare that was boring into her head. Hermione gripped her wand that was hidden from sight, a string of curses on the tip of her tongue. She didn't care if one or two of them might be illegal and another would land her in Azkaban, she was ready to scream them out loud for the whole castle to hear, Ministry and consequences be damned. But before she had the chance, Lavender backed out of the room giggling and swung the door shut behind her. It's probably for the best, Hermione thought bitterly, although she knew she probably would have relished the pain both Ron and Lavender would have experienced.

Hermione glowered at Ron, who was refusing to look at her, but said with a mixture of bravado and awkwardness, "Hi, Harry! Wondered where you'd got to!" Completely ignoring Hermione's presence. Internally, Hermione was fuming at the boy, the least he could do was acknowledge her.

She slid of the desk. "You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside," She said quietly, knowing that if she said it any louder even a deaf person would be able to hear the venom in her words. "She'll wonder where you've gone." She walked very slowly towards the door, the golden birds continuing to twitter in circles around her head.

Ron looked relieved that Hermione was leaving and that nothing worse had happened. Hermione noticed this and her clenched her fists before turning around suddenly and shrieking "Oppungo!" from the doorway. The little flock of birds were suddenly speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets towards Ron, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.

Hermione smirked at the yelps and shrieks that came from Ron. She shot him a look of vindictive fury before wrenching open the door and disappearing through it. Much to her dismay, before the door was fully closed, she let out an involuntary sob which she was sure the others would have heard.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Lavender asked, her face a perfect picture of worry and innocence, but the smugness in her voice was palpable. Hermione stiffened, the remaining sobs that were going to climb up her throat gone immediately. She quickly wiped her eyes and face to get rid of any evidence of the two tears that had escaped before she turned to face Lavender, who was leaning against the wall outside the classroom, waiting for Ron.

Hermione's eyes went from open and vulnerable to hard and cold in an instant. She didn't want Ron to know that she had been crying over him, let alone tell Lavender. "I'm fine, Lavender." She said, her voice void of all emotions.

Lavender smirked. "Then why are you crying?" She batted her eyes a few times at Hermione, and smiled sweetly.

Hermione didn't back down from Lavender's mocking gaze. "I just received a letter from my parents, telling me that my Grandfather just died. Forgive me for showing some emotion over the death of a beloved family member." Hermione replied bitterly, but she put just the right amount of anguish into her words to make it believable.

Lavender seemed very taken aback from Hermione's response and was rendered speechless. "I- I'm-" Lavender stuttered.

Hermione raised her eyebrow slightly in victory and amusement. The door behind them opened, and Harry and Ron stepped through it. Before either could say anything, Hermione stepped past Lavender and stormed away, her fists opening and closing in aggravation.

Ron watched Hermione march off, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, before wrapping his arms around Lavender's waist. "What was that about?" He asked, secretly quite smug at the idea of Hermione and Lavender fighting over him.

"Her Grandfather just died." Lavender said sadly, she may view Hermione as the competition for Ron - a competition that she thought she had clearly won - but that didn't mean that she was completely closed off to things like pity and sympathy when it came to things that weren't related to Ron.

"What?" Ron gasped, he hadn't expected that. He had been expecting more of an ego boosting response. "That doesn't really explain why she attacked me though."

Harry scratched his head in confusion and worry. "I think you ignoring her when she was grieving and needed friends didn't exactly help." He mumbled.

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First chapter! I hope you guys liked it. Tell me what you thought :)

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