A Throne of Blood and Stars

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Where's Malfoy?"

Blaise looks up from his Ancient Runes notes to see a head of bright red hair. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see Hermione about something but I saw you here."

The Slytherin shakes his head and looks back down into his notes to hide his blush. "He's in the Infirmary."

"Why?"

"Madame Pomfrey came to get him from the Great Hall."

"Oh."

Blaise scribbles more notes for the next couple of minutes in silence. He starts to feel a prickle on the back of his neck. "Stop staring at me, Weasley. Go find your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Ron says it like he's said it too many times already.

"Really," Blaise says, tone bored, not lifting his head from his parchment.

"Yes, really. We're just friends."

"Then why is she giving me the death sentence by guillotine with her eyes?"

Ron frowns and looks up, eyes widening at the look on Hermione's face. She catches his eye and snaps her book shut, stands and stomps out of the classroom. "What..."

"She's plotting against me because she thinks I stole her man."

"Well, you kind of did."

Blaise does look up this time. "Weasley!"

The Gryffindor laughs as he dodges a balled up parchment, flinching when Blaise hits him with his book. "It's true!"

"'Tis not! I did no such thing. You chase me like a lost puppy even though I keep telling you to go away."

"And I told you I wasn't going away because I like spending time with you."

Blaise glares at him, but Ron only gives him an innocent smile in return. "You're impossible. Are you not going to go after the damsel? She's clearly distressed."

"She's just going to yell at me," Ron makes a motion with his hand. "About stuff I don't even understand."

"Wow," Blaise shakes his head at him. "You are heartless."

Ron frowns when Blaise starts packing his stuff up. "Where are you going?"

"To talk to the damsel in distress. And to make amends because you are clearly incapable of doing such."

He ignores Ron's protest as he walks out after picking up Hermione's bag, turning left and right in search of the bushy-haired girl. He walks down the entire corridor before he sighs in defeat.

And then he hears a sniffle.

And another one. And he turns to his left to find an alcove, and a figure squatting on the floor. "Granger?"

The figure looks up. And then it scoffs as it stands to it's full height. Hermione Granger steps out of the shadows with puffy eyes and wet cheeks. "What do you want?"

Blaise drops her bag to lift his hands in defense. "To talk. I just want to talk."

"About what? Ron? You want to rub it in my face?"

"Salazar, no, woman. Who would want to talk about him. You're a perfectly good subject."

Hermione rolls her eyes. "Sweet talking me is not going to change anything."

"Change what? What am I trying to change?"

"This," she motions wildly around her. "The fact that I'm not good enough! The fact that I spent every minute of my Hogwarts career stuck in a tandem between danger and fear, and I came out on top but I still feel like I lost something. Because of you! Because you took that away from me!"