Don't Act Like You Know Me

Year 3 - Tea Leaves

Hermione quickly pushed him away. "What the bloody hell, Ron?!" Hermione whisper-yelled. She was so beyond disgusted. What on Earth would make him think it was okay to kiss her? Hermione had never even kissed anyone before and Ronald Weasley was her first kiss? She was outraged. She wanted her first kiss to be with someone she actually liked, not someone she fought with every hour of her life.

"I-I'm sorry." Ron looked down, obviously embarrassed. As she should be! Hermione thought.

"You should be. Why would you ever to that?" Hermione asked, full of rage. Her eyes seared into the top of Ron's bowed head.

He raised his head in defeat and said, "Because I like you. Hermione, you can't tell me you don't feel anything towards me." 

"Yes, I can," she looked him in the eye for a few seconds more before returning back to Ginny's room. Hermione didn't get a wink of sleep that night. She missed Draco. She wished her first kiss would have been with someone special, like him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, at King's Cross Station, Hermione lugged her trunk in a cart onto the train. She found a compartment with Harry and sat down. The only open compartment happened to be one that had contained a man, fast asleep on the seat. Crookshanks was purring quietly on Hermione's lap. Ron came in and glared at Hermione as he sat down next to Harry. The silence was incredibly awkward. 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the window from Mrs. Weasley. "Ron!" she called as she held up Scabbers. Ron opened the window and snatched Scabbers before the train departed. 

"So, I blew up my aunt," Harry spat out of the silence. 

"What?" Hermione asked. She stroked Crookshanks.

"Awesome," Ron said. "What does that mean?"

"My Aunt Marge came over for dinner. She started insulting my mother and then..."

"She blew up," Hermione said.

"I didn't mean to blow her up, I just..." Harry trailed off. "...lost control."

"Brilliant!" Ron said.

"Honestly, Ron, it's not funny. Harry's lucky he wasn't expelled," Hermione said.

"I still think it was brilliant." Suddenly, a copy of The Monster Book of Monsters chomped its way down the aisle, trailed by Neville.

"Hi, Harry, Ron, Hermione," Neville waved.

"Hi, Neville," the trio nodded.

"Who do you reckon he is?" Ron asked as he gestured to the man who was asleep, next to Hermione.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione said.

"You know everything! How is it she knows everything?"

"It's on his case," Hermione pointed to R. J. Lupin's trunk sitting in the overhead. Harry stepped closer to Lupin. 

"Is he really asleep?" Harry asked.

"Seems to be. Why?" Harry just stared. "What is it, Harry?"

"Close the door." Ron ducked inside and shut the compartment door. Harry sat down gently next to the sleeping man, forcing Ron and Hermione to sit next to each other. Hermione glanced breifly at Ron, who gave her a nasty look. They still hadn't talked about what had happened at the Burrow. "Do you guys remember when Mr. Weasley pulled me aside at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Yeah," Ron said. 

"Well, he told me about Sirius Black."

"Who's Sirius Black?" Ron asked.