The beginning of the end that’s nowhere to be seen

I was at a complete, utter, diabolical loss.

I felt small in the armchair by the fireplace in Gryffindor's common room while Ginny was sitting on the opposite side with a somewhat crazed and intense look in her eyes. She was ready to dig out my deepest secret and I knew she wouldn't give up until she got what she wanted. For the past five minutes, I was staring at the same line on the same page of my new book. It was about the categories of spells and when to properly use them, and I spent a fortune (seriously, it costed more than I ever wanted to admit). I was supposed to be very excited and immerse myself in it, but nothing had been registering in my mind.

Help me. Please. I had to think of something quick. Perhaps using some cliché romantic movie plot would work, Ginny wouldn't know anything about muggle films, would she? 

Or I could just avoid the topic entirely.

Yeah right, as if anything good would come out of that, I thought, aren't you a smart cookie, Granger?

Wait, why am I saying that in Malfoy's tone?

"Are you seriously waiting for me to ask?" Ginny finally spoke. "Or you are going to voluntarily to address the elephant in the room?"

"And what's there to be addressed?" I closed the book and rested it on my lap.

"Oh please, Hermione," Ginny leaned forward, "stop it already! You know I want to know everything."

"What everything?"

"About Malfoy, of course! Stop it playing dumb."

"What about him?" I curled my bottom lip.

Was I proud of how I was handling the situation? No. But oh well.

"Hermione, Hermione, our good ol' Hermione." Ginny shook her head. "I don't understand why you don't want to tell us what happened between you and Malfoy. Are you embarrassed that your boyfriend used to be the most hated Slytherin?"

"He's still the most hated." I mumbled, but quickly cleared my throat before Ginny could ask if I had said anything. "Embarrassed you say? No, why would I? In fact, I am quite proud. You know, Draco is actually very clever, kind, and caring."

I tried my best to squeeze those words out. Being seen dating Malfoy was bad enough, and now I had to talk good of him. I couldn't help but feel my reputation and dignity had gone out of the window, together with my tears over having to be with Malfoy most of the time.

"I never expected to hear that from you." Ginny folded her arms. "Seriously, I get it if you don't want to talk to Harry and my brother about it, since they are boys and they won't understand. But you can trust me. Aside from those two boys, I'm your best friend."

Ginny had no idea how much and how desperately I wanted to tell her the truth. But I couldn't. I simply couldn't. It was not because what happened was embarrassing – though the word 'embarrassing' wouldn't be sufficient to describe the situation – it was because I had made a promise. And Hermione Granger had never and never would, break a promise.

"Ginny, it really was nothing," I put on my best sincere look. "I happened to spend a lot of time with him during the summer, and we decided to leave the past in the past. And here we are. People do change, you know, especially now that everything is over, and Draco can finally be his true self."

"And his true self is a disgusting, pretentious, wicked prude." Before Ginny could respond, a voice came from behind.

I turned to see the red hair. It was Ron in his Quidditch gear with his broom in hand, looking nothing but furious.

"Oh, dear brother, what's with you?" Ginny stood up and went to wrap her arms around her brother's arm and said half sarcastically. "Had a rough day, huh? Where's Harry?"

"You didn't come to practice. Harry had some Head Boy duties to finish." Ron scolded his sister, but all she did was shrug. Clearly annoyed, he turned to me and said: "Remind me why you have that ferret as a boyfriend again, Hermione. He's absolutely vile."

"What did he do?" I asked nervously. I was hoping Malfoy wouldn't cause any confrontations for a while so Ron could slowly digest the idea that I was with Malfoy. But how naïve I was, there was simply no way for Malfoy to not push Ron's buttons. It had been Malfoy's so-called 'entertainment'.

"He envies how Harry was chosen as the Head Boy but not him. So, he went on a rampage of mocking every single person in the Gryffindor team. He even called a new girl 'mudblood'!" Ron pulled his arm out of his sister's hold and stepped closer to me. I thought he was about to yell at me, but he didn't. Instead, he took a deep breath. With a frown, he continued: "I'm sorry, Hermione, but I think you do remember that incident in the second year. What kind of change could he possibly have gone through that made you fall you love with him? As your friend, I don't think he's worth it. You deserve much better than that brat."

I wanted to bite my tongue but failed. All kinds of emotions came to me in unstoppable waves. I stood up and stared right into his eyes: "You left me, Ron. You don't get to tell me who I should be with or what I deserve."

Tension, the air was filled with tension. I refused to break eye contact with him first and he didn't look away either. I was hurt. I thought after a few months away from each other, I was ready to see him with Lavender. I told myself that he had always been a friend and the other feelings I had for him were not true.

But it still hurt.

"I've apologized countless times for what happened between us and I'm not going to do it again," he said firmly. "You and I both know that. "

"You broke my heart." I bit my lips.

"So, about Malfoy," Ginny came to stand in between us with a forced smile, attempting to break the tension by changing the topic. "What happened after that? What did you do?"

"You are going to like this." Ron smirked, still locking eyes with me. "I punched him right in the face. I'm sure he's going to have a bruise on that high cheekbone of his."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" I raised my voice. Fueled by complicated emotions that was mixture of anger, disbelief, and sorrow, I began rushing towards the door. Something was compelling me to go find Malfoy. "Grow up, Ronald. Why can't you just grow up?!"