The Marauder's Map's Special Symbol
by Leonhart17

Rating: G
Ship: Harry & Hermione
Canon: Books 1 - 5
Genre: Romance
Status: Complete
Length: 784 words in 1 chapter
Published: 3 Jul 2005
Last updated: 3 Jul 2005

Ron discovers Harry and Hermione's feelings for each other with a little help from the Marauder's Map.

From the Unofficial Portkey Archive: https://portkey-archive.org/story/4570/

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1. The Marauder's Map's Special Symbol

The Marauder's Map's Special Symbol

Ron felt blindly under the bed, searching for his lost Quidditch glove. Feeling something, he grabbed and pulled it out.
The blank parchment that could become the Marauder’s Map was in his grasp.

Since it was Harry’s bed he was rooting under, he was only slightly surprised to find the map there. Harry must have
fallen asleep looking at it and knocked it behind the bed in his sleep. Being one of Harry’s roommates, he knew how much
the Boy-Who-Lived thrashed and cried out in his sleep.

Ron examined the blank parchment curiously. Would it really show him where everyone in the castle was? He had seen Harry
do it. Would it work for him? It had worked for his brothers.

Pulling out his wand, he tapped the paper experimentally, saying the phrase to unlock the magical map.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

After a second the words began appearing. He unfolded the map, grinning in delight as he saw the names and figures
moving up and down the corridors that represented Hogwarts.

He flipped up the flap to see the Transfiguration classroom. The second year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were in class.

Closing that flap, he moved across the page, looking for people he knew. Neville, Seamus, and Dean were out by the lake,
probably studying. He saw Ginny’s name walk past the Great Hall and then past the bathrooms. Up ahead of where she was
he saw Draco Malfoy’s name in what appeared to be a broom closet. His jaw dropped as he saw Ginny’s name join Malfoy’s
in the closet.

As he stared, horrified, at the two names, the map displayed a surprising symbol.

A pair of lips appeared over the names, joining them.

Quickly, he flipped to another part of the map. It couldn’t be! There was no way his little sister was kissing that prat
Malfoy! The map had to be wrong.

Trying to calm himself down, he began opening other classrooms. In the library he found Harry and Hermione’s names. They
were close together in a corner of the room. There were no other names near them.

Why were they in the library alone together? Was there some kind of homework assignment they were working on? No, the
three of them were all in the same classes and his homework planner wasn’t screeching at him, so that couldn’t be it.

Maybe they had found out something they could use to fight Voldemort. No, that couldn’t be it either. They would have
told him if it was something important.

Come to think of it, they had been acting odd recently. They were always together, whether studying or eating or just
sitting together. Hermione had even gone and sat through some of the Gryffindor Quidditch practices. She had brought a
book but still, just the fact that she had gone at all was weird. And Harry was always smiling now and seemed to
continually look at and for Hermione. Even when they were in the Common Room, separated by the rest of their house
mates, their eyes were constantly looking at each other.

Was it possible that they had finally acknowledged their feelings for each other, beyond friendship? Everyone in the
house had seen it. Only an idiot couldn’t tell. Granted, it had taken Ron a while to accept it. He had had a crush on
her himself, but after seeing and recognizing the look that resided in Harry’s eyes whenever he saw her or even the was
his eyes lit up when he heard her name, Ron had slowly realized that the way he himself loved Hermione was the way he
loved Ginny. She was like his second sister. His beautiful, very smart and attractive sister, but his sister
nonetheless.

Harry seemed quite oblivious to his feelings for his female best friend, on the other hand. Likewise, Hermione was also
seemingly oblivious. Ron privately suspected that she was more aware of her feelings that she let on but she was
hesitant to show Harry how she felt.

Ron wondered, as he stared at the map, what his friends were doing in their corner of the library.

His question was answered a moment later as the symbol of lips appeared over their names.

“Mischief managed,” he murmured with a smile before folding up the map.

Now to deal with the issue of Malfoy and his sister.

AN: This was just some random little thing I thought of yesterday while I was watching POA with my friends...Hope you
like it...
