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"You know, usually the one who says 'We're not done here' isn't the one storming off." An apologetic smile on my lips, I approached Harry as calm as I could. But despite my efforts, he was the opposite of calm when he spotted me. 
                          
He shot up from the stairs he was sitting on, glaring at me. "You have no idea what you're doing, Y/n." His voice was dripping in disappointment and judgement while he was speaking to me. 
                          
"You shouldn't care this much." I knew winding him up any more wouldn't end up well for either of us, so I kept my cool as best as I could while kindly telling him my private life was hardly any of his business. 
                          
"I should because we're family. You're my sister, and I swore myself to protect you-"
                          
"-We're talking about a boy here, Harry. Not about werewolf's, or Dementor's, or whatever else there is out there," I sighed. 
                          
Draco was right when he called my brother a drama queen; he was acting the part quite well at the moment. 
                          
"He's more dangerous than both of those things. Trust me, Y/n, his family-" His voice was still raised, and he still looked as angry as before. I was quite literally wasting my time talking to him about this, and he wasn't going to change his mind this easily. 
                          
"-I don't care," I snapped, finally dropping the forced facade I had put on in the failed attempt to calm him down. "Seriously, I don't. We're not even dating, it was just a kiss!" 
                          
His face turned sour, worse than it was before if that was even possible, but before he could say anything, we were interrupted by Hermione and Ron. 
                          
"What! That's what you think?!" I turned towards the sound of Hermione's voice and spotted the two walking through the tall doors in the middle of a heated argument. 
                          
Was anything going the way it was supposed to tonight? 
                          
I couldn't hear what he replied to her, but it only made her more furious. "You know the solution then, don't you?" She said, her voice breaking towards the end of her sentence. 
                          
I knew what it looked and sounded like when somebody was about to break into tears, and that was exactly what I was witnessing.
                          
"Next time there's a ball, pluck up the courage and ask me before somebody else does. And not as a last resort!" And that was the moment. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes even from the relatively far distance. 
                          
Harry started to walk towards them, clearly confused as to what was going on. I obviously felt bad for Hermione, but I was kind of glad that he had other things to occupy his mind now. At least for a little while. 
                          
"That's, I mean, that's just completely off the point-" Ron stuttered, barely able to form a complete sentence with how flustered he was. "-Harry." 
                          
Hermione turned around to face my brother, who seemed more than just intimidated by her sudden attitude. "Where have you been!" She hissed. "Never mind, off to bed, both of you!" She demanded, and a small smile crept on my face. She really had them under control like trained dogs. 
                          
They went on their way, up to the Gryffindor common room when Ron felt the need to comment on the situation he clearly caused one last time. He should've just kept his mouth shut.
                          
"They get scary when they get older.." 
                          
"Ron, you spoiled everything!" She yelled, making the two climb up the stairs faster before they disappeared around the corner completely.
                          
By now, Hermione didn't try to hold her tears back anymore, letting herself fall on the cold stairs with a loud sob. 
                          
I wasn't going to get involved at first, but I couldn't just leave her sitting there all by herself. 
                          
"Are you going to send me off to bed as well?" I said with a soft smile as I sat down next to her. She didn't reply to my attempted joke, instead just throwing her arms around my body. 
                          
She was crying for a while, her head on my shoulder and a few sobs escaping every now and then. I didn't say anything, knowing that's not what anyone needed in a situation like this. 
                          
Just letting her cry it out would do the job, and once she was ready to talk; she would. 
                          
"I saw Harry go after you and Malfoy earlier. What happened?" She asked, wiping the remaining tears off her cheek and trying to compose herself. 
                          
Alright, I would've imagined she wanted to talk about herself, but I guess she just wanted to get her mind off of that boy.
                          
I was stuttering, trying to find the right words to describe what had happened. I knew she was going to find out sooner or later anyway, seeing as she was Harry's and Ron's best friend. Lying would only end me up in more trouble down the road. 
                          
She seemed amused by my attempts. "The thing you two faked last year.. wasn't so fake, was it?" There was no judgement in her voice, her brown eyes looking at me with interest. 
                          
I sighed. "It was! At first, anyway." And then I told her. Not everything, of course; but what had happened tonight. 
                          
She gave me a half-hearted smile, probably too sad to be upset about Malfoy and I, and too in love with the idea of, well, love. Not that that's what it was, but it was the closest to emotional affection she had heard of tonight. "At least he made an effort to spend time with you, Ron just-" She cut herself off, letting her head hang low at the mention of him. 
                          
"-He's not the brightest, is he?" I asked softly, and she nodded her head. 
                          
"Quite the opposite, really," I could make out a small smile forming on her lips and was relieved to see it. 
                          
"And at least you had a good time with Viktor. He seems quite fond of you, you know," I smiled, nudging her and she giggled. 
                          
I felt proud of myself for lightening her mood, now that she was going on about how much of a good evening she had before Ron ruined it. It was a bonus that it distracted me from my own problems, too. 
                          
Time seemingly flew by; it was close to midnight by now, and we both didn't even realise. 
                          
"The only one having a good time at this stupid ball is probably Wren," Hermione joked, nodding her head towards the great hall. 
                          
I turned around with a confused look on my face, which immediately formed into a wide grin when I spotted my best friend. 
                          
She was sitting at one of the tables, laughing with the same girl that had asked her to dance hours ago. 
                          
"Well, she deserves it, don't you think?" 
                          
"Absolutely."