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She was not going to cry. She could not cry. She was not going to give him the satisfaction. That was the one thing that Hermione Jean Granger was determined of as she walked towards the Black Lake.
Her head was down, she couldn’t look anyone in the eye and face their pity. She had to be strong and she had to deal with this without Ron getting the satisfaction of knowing that he had hurt her. All she wanted was someone she could talk to but all of her friends were also friends with Ron.
Harry was Ron’s best friend as well. Ginny was Ron’s sister. Luna was dating Neville. Neville shared the same dorm as Ron and that meant that he would hear Ron’s side first. She had nowhere to turn without having to hear Ron’s side of the situation.
All she wanted was to be angry and hurt. She wanted to hate him, she wanted to rant and cry for how he had hurt her. She couldn’t do it with her friends, so she ran off. She made her way to the Black Lake where there shouldn’t be anyone to judge her.
That was the reason why she was so surprised to see Cormac McLaggen, the most ungentlemanly man she had ever met, also sitting at the edge of the Black Lake. Normally she would walk away, normally she would just leave the man to it, but she didn’t have enough energy to fight down her emotions for any longer.
It was calm and beautiful, a contradiction to how she was feeling. The light was glinting off the water of the lake, it was as if it was a path guiding her away from her dark thoughts.
She was drifting away in the thoughts inside her head, the tears leaking down her cheeks and the sound of the rustling of leaves singing in her ears. It was the peace and solitude that she had been looking for. As her thoughts led her to drift away, she missed Cormac approaching her.
The large Gryffindor startled her when he settled his hand on her shoulder. It was strange though because he did it in an almost comforting way. It was yet another contradiction that she was facing while sitting at the Black Lake. Cormac was normally brash and harsh, but for once he was being kind, gentle, and comforting.
“I heard what Weasley did. You deserve better than him, Granger. You shouldn’t come second to someone like Lavender Brown,” his words surprised her. It surprised her even more that he just settled his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
The person who was providing her comfort was the same person who had forcibly shoved his tongue down her throat on more than one occasion during the short few weeks that they courted. However, his words brought a small smile to her face even though the tears leaked slowly.
She knew that what Cormac was saying was the truth. She knew that she deserved more than to walk in on her boyfriend snogging his ex-girlfriend, but that didn’t mean that it hurt any less than it did. She was still allowed to be hurt and upset by Ronald’s actions.
“You’re allowed to be hurt, Granger. And if you want to be left alone then I’ll go,” Cormac offered as he finally withdrew his hand from where it was holding her shoulder. She would be loath to admit it but she missed the comfort as soon as it was gone.
“Thank you.”