The Hoax (Dramione Story)

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A/N: In this story, they are in their Seventh/Eighth year of Hogwarts. The war is over and so McGonagall asks for all the seventh years to come back and finish school.

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The frustrated brunette let out a deep sigh, ripping her brown eyes away from the doting couple in front of her. Hermione Granger looked down at her food a moment later and pushed her plate away abruptly. "I think I may have just lost my appetite." She muttered under her breath, looking over at her other friends for some support but instead saw them cuddling with their hands interlaced together.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she stared at the ground because she just couldn't bear to see her happy friends. She absolutely knew she shouldn't have felt the way she did but she couldn't help it. The fact that she was the only single person in her group of friends made her feel almost embarrassed. What made it worse was the fact that the person she loved was with someone else - and not just any someone - Lavender Brown. Why had Ron rejected her?

During the war, they shared a kiss and she thought it meant something to Ron because it meant the world to her. However, a day later Ron claimed that he had only kissed her just for the sake of kissing her at that exact moment. Whether he was 'in the moment' or not, Hermione meant every bit of that kiss. But it didn't matter because he didn't feel that same way; she had to live with that very fact.

And she hated it. There were so many instances when she wanted to scream every time he kissed Lavender or leave the room every time they entered but she couldn't. Unfortunately, she was bound to them because they were all friends. Ever since Harry began to date Ginny, Hermione grew close to her quickly and found herself a best girlfriend to talk to. But everything she told to Ginny would sooner or later be told to Ron because of Harry. They were all connected to each other and that suffocated Hermione because she could never truly tell Ginny everything. But that was just another thing Hermione had to live with.

Or maybe she could stay away from them for once in her life without jeopardizing her friendship with them.

It was soon to be the winter holidays and everyone was just about ready to leave school to go home. Hermione, on the other hand, decided to stay at school for break for she desperately wanted a break from all of them. Besides, there wasn't really a home to go to.

But to her dismay, everyone else, including Lavender, decided to stay at school as well. Right when Hermione thought she could escape from them, they foiled her plan in an instant all due to one person's decision.

"Aren't you excited we're all staying here for the holidays?" Ginny asked her friend with a grin.

"It's great . . ." Hermione responded bitterly. "Why did you lot decide to stay here for the holidays? I mean, I don't want you to break tradition of staying at your house all because of my decision to stay." The brightest witch of her age mentioned, trying to persuade her stubborn friend.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Hermione. You weren't going to come home with us this winter break so I refused to go and everybody followed suit." Ginny stated firmly with a wave of her hand as if closing the discussion. "For the past seven years, we always went to my house to spend the holidays but since you were going to stay here ... well, it wouldn't be the same without you." Ginny explained and smiled. "But we'll have just as much fun here as we would have back at the house - maybe even more! Uhm, we can be roommates while everyone's gone." The redhead exclaimed with an excited grin. "We can gossip the night away," she winked with a sly grin.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "Thank you for staying here just because of me." She told Ginny and Harry. "But I'm pretty sure you guys and . . . Ron and Lavender will be too busy spending time with each other." She told them with a disappointed smile. "But I'll be spending my holiday in the library so it wouldn't matter to me anyway." She quickly added.