The Reason Why (Harmione)

Chapter 5

Hermione got to her room and flung herself down on her bed. She was exhausted. All she wanted was to go to sleep. But after all those years of hard studying, she wasn't going to give up now. Sighing, she reluctantly pulled out her Herbology book.

She started when somebody knocked on the door. She had momentarily forgotten that she had told Harry to come over after dinner. Thank God, she thought, a distraction. But her relief was short-lived. It faded when she remembered what he was here for. She was seriously questioning her own judgement for telling Harry she would explain. But she couldn't really turn back now.

Harry knocked again. Hermione snapped out of her thoughts and rushed to open the door. She smiled. "Hello, Harry."

"Hello, Hermione," Harry replied, making his way into her room. He sat down on her bed and waited for her to join him.

Hermione slowly closed the door and walked over to Harry, sitting down next to him on her bed.

"Hermione-" he started but Hermione held up a hand, silencing him.

"I promise, I'll explain, Harry. But first I need to ask you something." Harry nodded and Hermione continued. "How did you know something was wrong with me?"

Harry sighed and squirmed uncomfortably. "I... I've known for a while, actually. Today really just confirmed it," he said slowly.

"How?" Hermione pressed on.

"Because you looked awful today."

Hermione smirked and laughed humorlessly. "Very funny. I meant how did you know I was having hard time before today?"

Harry sighed. "Hermione, have you been having trouble sleeping lately?"

Hermione was taken aback. "How did you know that?"

"Because I have too."

Now she looked concerned. "Why? Have you been having nightmares again?" she asked, half of her hoping he would say no and the other half hoping that he would say yes.

"No." Hermione sighed in relief. "It's because of you."

"What? How could I have been keeping you up?"

"Up until last night, I didn't know it was you. I just knew that someone I cared about was in trouble. Last night, I don't know why, but I just had a feeling it was you. And when I saw you this morning, I knew I was right."

Hermione didn't know how to feel about that. She felt guilty that Harry had been up at night because of her, and at the same time grateful that he cared enough to know when she was having a hard time without any evidence.

Harry put his hand on top of hers and tilted his head down so he was looking in her eyes. "Hermione what's been bothering you for so long?"

Hermione gulped. She could feel the heat of tears behind her eyes. She tried her hardest to push them back. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She opened her mouth to talk, but all that came out was a sob.

She threw her arms around Harry's neck and sobbed into his shoulder. Harry hugged her and gently rubbed her back. "I'm sorry," Hermione choked  out through her tears.

"Don't be sorry," Harry whispered back.

Hermione sniffed and pulled away from him. "It's Ron!" she cried. "That's what was keeping me up at night!"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

She sniffed again and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Well, at first it was all fine. But it went bad fast. We were fighting nonstop. We argued for hours into the night, and I was always too worked up to go to sleep after that."

"But you've been broken up for a long time now, and you still can't sleep! What about after you broke up?"

She sighed. "It was really ugly, Harry. I've never been in such an awful argument in my life. And I can fall asleep now. It's staying asleep I have problems with."

"Wait, you mean you're the one having nightmares now?"

She shrugged. "Well, I guess I just have more bad memories now."

"That's awful," Harry murmured.

For a moment, neither of them said a thing. Then Harry broke the silence. "Hermione?"

"Hmm?" She looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"What happened to you and Ron? You seemed like a great couple. What came between you?"

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. She opened her mouth to reply, and in that split second, a thousand thoughts ran through her head. Lie, a voice in the back of her mind whispered. Make something up. But looking in Harry's eyes, she knew she couldn't lie to him. She looked down at the floor. "It was you," she mumbled almost inaudibly.

Harry was stunned into silence for a moment. "Me?" 

"You," she whispered.

"How could I have come between you two?"

"Ron..." she whispered, almost unable to bring herself to finish the thought. "Ron was suspicious... About... About us."

"What? How could he be suspicious about us?"

Hermione sighed. I'm in trouble now. "Harry, there's something I need to tell you."