Fremione Year One

Chapter 3 | Halloween

Words: 1548

The following month did not go as Hermione had planned. She kept up on her school work, she wrote to her parents, but she still had no luck with making any really close friends. Despite the twins friendliness and despite people talking to her, none of them really acted like a true friend. Ron in particular was exceedingly rude and dismissive at her attempts to converse with him, which made it difficult for Hermione to befriend Harry, who seemed like the only one kind enough to accept her friendship. This particular morning, she had experienced a very harsh awakening when walking past the group of first year Gryffindor boys.

"It's LeviOsa, not LeviosA. She's a nightmare, honestly. No wonder she hasn't got any friends." Ron was talking about her. Hermione, at that moment, decided to make a beeline for the girls bathroom before anyone could see the tears running down her face. She was swift and successful at locking herself into the farthest stall from the lavatory door to the hall. There were still some girls there, so she tried her hardest to stifle her sniffling. Hermione wasn't too successful though, because a few girls had seen her face just before she disappeared behind the door.

"Hermione? Is everything alright?" Parvati had come into the girls bathroom to check on Hermione after noticing the red puffiness on her face. She sounded genuinely worried, but her attempts weren't effective.

"No, everything is not, and I really just want to be left alone, right now, please." Hermione was surprised that she was able to stop crying long enough to get her response out.

"Are you sure? You and I can go to our dorm and talk. You don't have to stay in her by yourself." Parvati tried to reason with Hermione as best she could.

"I really don't want everyone to see me like this." Hermione couldn't think of a good reason to get Parvati to leave, but she knew there was no way Parvati was going to get her through the crowded halls to their dorm without being seen.

"How about I go get Lavender and Romilda and the four of us can talk in here?"

"No, no. It's bad enough you're seeing me like this, I don't want anyone else seeing too."

"Ok, I won't get anyone else... but can you please let me stay and help? You don't have to tell me what happened, but I don't want to leave you here alone until you're feeling better." There was a pause after Parvati finished talking, and then Hermione slowly opened the stall door. There were tear marks running down her face and her eyes were all puffy. She sniffed and wiped a tear from her cheek. To her surprise, Parvati's face was only full of concern, no judgment, no mockery, just concern. Parvati pulled Hermione into a gentle hug and let her finish crying out all her sadness, on her shoulder.

After a good long cry, the two of them moved over to the ledge at the front of the bathroom, where they sat and talked for what felt like hours. Hermione had relayed the events that led her to crying in the bathroom. Parvati's face scrunched into a look of disgust.

"Ugh, you should forget about Ron. He wouldn't know a good thing if you threw it at his head." Hermione giggle at Parvati's comment. "You're brilliant Hermione, you've managed to get top results in all our classes and the term has only just begun. Trust me. You're amazing and you don't need to listen to anything he says."

"Thank you Parvati, that really means a lot to me." Hermione said. They hugged again and Parvati looked down at her pocket watch.

"Oh look, it's almost time for dinner. We should start heading to the Great Hall." Parvati said.

"Alright, let me wash up first and I'll meet you there."

"You sure? I can wait and we can walk there together."