Vox Corpis [Harmione]

Chapter 41

Hermione liked to think of herself as a good friend to Ronald Weasley. She helped him out in his classes to such a degree that it would give some teachers cause to call it cheating. She verbally dueled with him, their little games of give and take, bickering and heckling each other like siblings. She'd tear the arm off of anyone who would think to hurt him, and with the power of a lioness at her disposal now that could be a literal threat.

And because she tried to be a fast and true friend, she did her best to commiserate with Ron when he laid into the varied shortcomings of one Seamus Finnegan from the moment they boarded the Hogwarts Express to return home for Christmas holiday. She could certainly understand why Ron would take exception to their classmate dating his little sister. He was a good big brother, or at least he tried to be. No matter that Ginny had a surplus of big brothers to watch over her and resented Ron's meddling with a fiery passion. At least it made sense, and Hermione approached Ron's displeasure with that angle in mind. She did the bit of a supportive friend and listened to Ron slander poor Seamus seven ways from Sunday.

But Hermione was starting to reach her limit of just how long she could listen to Ron prattle on about the vile and wicked Seamus. To hear Ron talk, one would think Seamus was the foremost of Voldemort's henchmen.

They'd been on the train for hours and Ron's indignation and anger about his little sister's choice in dating partners was wearing Hermione's compassion thin. Seamus wasn't really that bad, and Hermione thought in some ways Ginny and Seamus were a good match. They had a similar spunk to them, a bit of wildfire in their personalities. If nothing else they probably had a good time together, be it snogging or just taking the mickey out of each other in ways that would make Molly Weasley blush.

And Ron was starting to repeat himself. He was running out of new insults to fling Seamus's absentee way and rehashed old indecencies. Hermione stole a glance at Harry sitting next to the window on the same bench as she. She absolutely gave up when she saw that Harry, Ron's mate, someone to take the guy's stance on this as almost an honorary brother to Ginny, was not paying attention at all. He was watching the snowy landscape race by as the train sped down the track.

He must have felt her eyes on him, because just then Harry glanced over at her… and he offered a very apologetic smile for being unable to hang in there with Ron's crisis any longer. He'd bailed on Hermione, and she wondered just how long she'd been suffering Ron's tirade alone.

Suddenly a fiendish smile flickered over Harry's mouth, a glint came to his eyes, and he turned to Ron. "It really is wretched of Seamus. Can't figure what Ginny must be thinking."

"I know!" Ron yelped.

"So Ginny's riding with her friends, then, I expect?"

Ron's face hardened when the implication sank in and his color darkened to a worrisome scarlet. "She'd better be!" Ron stood at once. "If she's in the same compartment as Seamus I'll… I'll…"

They never heard what he would do, because he vanished into the corridor of the rocking train, off to track down his little sister and ensure she wasn't holed up with Dark Lord Apprentice Seamus.

When they were alone in the train compartment (save for the stowed familiars over their heads), Harry looked at Hermione and smiled.

"Oh, you're terrible," she said, but her relief to have Ron out of their car was palpable. The resulting silence was a godsend.

With a chuckle, Hermione slid across the sparse bench space between them. Harry held out his arm, Hermione tucked up against his side, and he dropped his arm down around her and held her close. She snuggled contently against him and rested her head on his shoulder. "You know," Hermione said teasingly, "if Ginny and Seamus are off somewhere snogging Ginny's liable to give you a black eye for setting Ron on them."