Secret admirer || Pansmione || texting/pov

13

Hermione Granger

The next thing I know Ginny let out some sort of war cry and was charging at Malfoy. His smirk dropped and he stared at the tiny redhead coming closer, unable to do anything. Ginny raised her fist, made a little jump and punched Malfoy in the jaw. The force of the hit threw him back. First his head, then the rest of his body. Pansy yelped and ducked away. Ginny landed with both feet on the floor. Both Seamus and Dean walked past me broadly the second Malfoy hit the ground. His fell was mostly broken by the snow. His goons around him yelled and charged towards Seamus and Dean. Pansy hurried towards Millicent and pulled her to the side. Nott and Zabini stood still, watching how Ginny dropped on top of Malfoy and started hitting him and how Crabbe and Goyle started shoving and punching Dean and Seamus.

Before I could even yell, Ron ran towards Ginny and pulled her off the blonde. "Leave it, Ginny!" He urged. Ginny struggled, trying to free herself of her brothers grip as Malfoy slipped out from underneath her. "He deserves—" "I SAID LEAVE IT!" Ron bellowed. Everyone stood still. Malfoy got up clumsily, looked from Ginny to Ron, scoffed and walked off. Both Crabbe and Goyle followed, Zabini and Nott not close behind. I looked at Pansy, and she returned my gaze. She let down her head, sighed and turned around to walk away.

Ron let go of Ginny, and she shoved him away angrily. "You were the one who said we should do something!" She yelled. Ron glanced at me. "I know. I changed my mind." He said. Ginny gazed at him in disbelief. "After what he did to Hermione? After what he's being doing for years? He needs to be—" She cut herself off and looked at me. I crossed my arms in front of my stomach and frowned at her. She inhaled, nodded and stormed off. "Ginny.." Luna mumbled while she hurried after her. She caught up with Ginny, took her hand and they walked out of sight together. Harry put his arm around my waist from behind me. "Let's just go back to the castle, yeah?" He asked. I forced a smile and nodded.

Harry and Ron walked on either side of me in silence. They didn't want to say anything that'd upset me. I just didn't want to say anything. Once again, I needed people to come save me. I don't want to need people to come save me, and I definitely don't want people to avenge me. Malfoy may be an asshole, but this was just unnecessary. I let out a breath and a little cloud appeared. The snow made amusing cracking sounds as our boots stepped on it. I wonder what Pansy thinks of this. Does she side with Draco? Since Ginny is the one who started the fight I guess she will. I should ask her. I'll have to explain the situation, though, so she won't figure out that I know it's her.

Ron trailed his fingers down my arm and intertwined our fingers. His skin felt cold against mine. I looked at him, but he didn't return the courtesy. Probably didn't want to make it awkward. Something in my stomach sunk. I felt guilty. I led him on and now things have changed. Our friendship has changed and I really didn't want it to.

Harry cleared his throat. "So.. whatever happened with that mystery number you received?" I glanced at him and he wiggled his eyebrows. Ron and I chuckled. Do I tell them about Pansy? "Did you text the guy?" Ron asked. "I did." I replied. "Ohh~" both boys sang at the same time. Ron's was more forced. "And?" Harry asked. I smiled at looked at the snow-covered ground. "..he's nice." "Do you still talk?" Harry inquired. I nodded. "So you like him?" Ron asked quickly. I glanced at him and realized he had a serious look on his face. Is he why you ran after I kissed you? Is what he was actually asking. Deflect deflect deflect. "I don't know who he is." I said, a forced grin on my face. "But do you like talking to him? Do you smile when you receive his text?" Harry asked. My smile dropped.

I do smile when I receive her text and I really enjoy talking to her. We've been talking about anything and we found out we have a lot in common. I reckon we'd be good friends if she'd been in Gryffindor. Everything she tells me about is just so interesting? The way she talks about things she's passionate about is endearing. I wish we could talk like that in real life.

So this must be platonic love, right? Maybe it's a bit early for that... it's platonic interest. I never would have thought it felt so different from a platonic interest in boys. She's on my mind a lot more than Harry or Ron are and I find myself staring at her throughout the day. I just want to be the one to have her attention, or something like that. She's just so much more than she appears to be and I want to discover her?? I'm not sure that makes sense.

"I think she just realized she's in love." Harry laughed, bringing me back to reality. Ron chuckled and let go of my hand. "W-what?" I asked. Harry grinned at me. "I asked you if you liked him and you zoned out for a full 5 minutes." He said. "Sounds like you had an epiphany of some sort." Ron joked. I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to come up with something appropriate to say. We passed the gate to Hogwarts terrain and we stepped onto the courtyard. I smiled and shook my head. "No, I was just thinking," I muttered. "Maybe I'd like him if he didn't hide his identity for me. He seems nice, but the whole mystery man thing just throws me off." I didn't lie, per se. This was how I thought of the situation before I figured out it was Pansy. Harry shrugged. "Fair enough. Well, I'm going to take a bath and warm up. We'll talk later?" He asked as soon as we walked through the door. He turned to look at us. I nodded. "Sure, mate." Ron muttered and Harry walked off.

I bit my lip. "I'm gonna get changed."