Chapter 1: The Kiss
"Harry, are you okay? You don't look so well."
Hermione's worried voice snapped Harry out of his reverie sharply. It was dinner at Hogwarts on the last day of term before Christmas break. Hermione, Ron, and Harry had all decided to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays - well, Hermione and Ron had just stayed because Harry was staying. He had tried to persuade them to go, that he would not care - but they persisted on staying and with a small feeling of guilt, he relented.
"No, I don't feel that well," Harry said truthfully.
"Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey," suggested Ron.
"Nah, I think I'll just go up to Gryffindor Tower and get some rest," Harry told them. He said good-bye to Ron and Hermione and left the Great Hall quickly. He was glad to see, upon reaching Gryffindor Tower, that it was mostly empty, save some students talking quietly by the window or studying.
He walked across the room and plopped down into his favorite armchair by the fire. For a while, he watched the flames lick the side of the log, mesmerized, and half-hoping that Sirius' friendly face would appear in the fire, like it had before the incident at the Department of Mysteries. If only, he thought, I had been smart enough to open his package to me before...I could have known he wasn't in danger before dashing off to the Ministry of Magic to play hero and getting my friends hurt...
"Hey, Harry," said a voice from behind. Harry looked over his shoulder to see who it was: Neville Longbottom.
"Hi, Neville," Harry responded gloomily as Neville sat in the armchair next to him.
"Where are Hermione and Ron?"
"Still at dinner."
"Why aren't you with them?"
"I didn't feel well so I came up here."
"Yeah, you don't look too well, either."
"Thanks, Neville," Harry said sarcastically. He noticed that Neville was fingering something in his pocket. "What do you have in your pocket?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing," Neville said quickly, taking his hand out and looking furtive. Harry just shrugged indifferently. He thought that it was probably something Neville didn't want to share with anyone.
"Harry, I have to ask you something." Neville sounded very serious. Harry sat up straighter, taken aback by the unexpected seriousness.
"Yeah?" he asked. "What?"
"Well . . . just remember, Harry, you can't persuade me not to do this, my mind is already made up, but - " Neville broke off suddenly as arguing voices came from outside the tower.
"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO THROW THE CHICKEN LEG BACK AT HER!"
The portrait hole swung open and Hermione's voice echoed throughout the Gryffindor Common room as she clambered through. Ron scrambled in just behind here. Everyone stopped to watch the row unfold.
"OH, YES I DID!" Came Ron's equally angry response. Their robes were covered with stains and remnants of food. Hermione's hair had pieces of corn in it and her forehead bore ketchup smears. Ron's fiery red hair was oozing what looked like chocolate pudding, dripping down his freckled face and what looked like mustard was smudged across his chest.
"Ron, you are the biggest imbecile I have ever had the misfortune to meet! Not only did you make a fool out of yourself, but also you turned the GREAT HALL INTO BLOODY CHAOS! LOOK AT MY ROBES!" Hermione flailed her arms about in an effort for Ron to notice the food that covered her clothing.
"What's so wrong with a food fight?" Ron asked innocently. Hermione let out a loud exclamation, rolling her eyes before storming off to the Girls' Dormitory muttering under her breath. Harry had a feeling Ron was going to regret angering Hermione in the very near future.
"Honestly," he said as he spotted Harry and Neville. He came over to join them, squelching as he walked. "You'd think I killed someone by the way she was going on about it."
Harry laughed, "What happened?"
"This girl from Ravenclaw threw a piece of chicken at me," informed Ron. "I don't know if it was by accident or not, but I threw it back at her. Then the Ravenclaws started bombarding me with food and of course the Gryffindors joined in and soon enough the whole Great Hall was throwing food all over the place." He grinned. "You should have been there. It was great until Hermione had her hissy fit."
"She seems really mad, Ron. I'm not sure she'll get over it very soon."
"But she always does," said Ron. "Well, I'm off to take a shower. See you later." Harry said good-bye and turned around to ask Neville what he was about to say before they had been interrupted, but amazingly, he had slipped away.
"Neville?" Harry looked around the common room but Neville was nowhere to be found. Oh, well, he thought, getting up and heading up the Boys' Dormitory staircase, I'll ask him tomorrow. However, he could not help wondering where had he gone?
*~*
Harry awoke to an empty dorm room, which was surprising since only Seamus and Dean left for Christmas Break. Harry quickly got dressed and went down to the common room to see Ron and Hermione sitting at a table by a window. Hermione was doing homework as usual, while Ron was struggling on the Charms essay.
"We wanted to get it done before Christmas, and seeing as it's Christmas Eve, we wanted to get started early," said Hermione as Harry walked over, answering his unasked question.
"Really, you'd think that since we're sixth years and we don't have O.W.Ls or N.E.W.Ts coming up they'd lighten up on the homework, but no, they have to assign us three foot essays on the most boring subjects ever to be done over Christmas break when we're supposed to be relaxing," ranted Ron all in one breath. He hastily scribbled out some lines on his parchment.
Harry sighed and sat down. "I don't feel much like doing homework," he said as he looked out of the window and noticed it was snowing heavily outside.
Ron slammed his book down and threw his quill on top of the parchment, grinning, "Me either! Hey, what do you reckon? A snowball fight? It looks like perfect weather to me."
"Sure." At Ron's defection, Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Ron quickly overrode her objection.
"Hermione, it's Christmas Eve and we have plenty of time to do our homework. Lighten up, will you?" Hermione closed her mouth and instead of nagging, she made a little "humph" noise and returned to her work.
"Want to come with us?" asked Harry. The pair waited hopefully on their female compatriot, but, Hermione continued to ignore them. Finally, Ron shrugged at Harry helplessly. They headed up to their rooms to get their cloaks and gloves, then bolted quickly through the common room to avoid Hermione's disapproving looks.
"Ah, fresh snow," said Ron gleefully when they were finally outside. He scooped up a handful of it, mashed it into a rough ball in his hands and threw it at Harry so fast that he didn't have time to duck. The snowball hit him straight in the face.
"RON!" he yelled as he tried to get the snow off his face. Unable to clear the snow easily, Harry took off his glasses and wiped his face; cleaning his glasses on his cloak.
"Hey, Hermione, you came!" shouted Ron happily. "Good, you needed a bit of - OW! HERMIONE!"
Harry got his glasses on in time to see Ron spit out a mouthful of snow and rubbing his face to remove the rest, while Hermione stood smirking a few feet away. Harry laughed and gestured for Hermione to come join him as he rushed behind a nearby bush. She quickly caught on and managed to get behind the cover of the bush before Ron could recover.
"When I say three," Harry whispered, "Let's pelt him with snowballs." She nodded, grinning, and started making some.
"Hermione, you are going to get it!" yelled Ron. "Both of you are! Wait . . . where did you go?" For Ron had just cleared the snow off his face and saw that Hermione and Harry were no longer in sight. "I know you're up to something!" He turned about, trying to see spot where his friends had gone.
"One," breathed Harry. "Two." He and Hermione stood up on the third count. A group of snowballs went flying towards Ron, who was now standing with his back to them: two of the snowballs hit him in the back, one in head, one in the rear, and the rest missed.
"ARGH!"
Hermione, snickering, grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him back down behind the bushes. Ron cried out, "You're going to pay for that!" They were barely restraining their laughter at their red-headed friend's disgruntlement.
"Shhh, he's going to hear us," whispered Harry, putting his finger to her smiling lips. Their eyes locked, and then something happened that Harry couldn't quite explain - a tiny feeling of warmth, of hope, and happiness and something else he didn't recognize fluttered at the pit of his stomach.
Her eyes, a beautiful hue of hazel, were staring deeply into his, searching and intense, seeking something - and before he knew realized what he was about, Harry had leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. He half expected her to pull away, to say, "What are you doing, Harry? We're only best friends!" Harry felt that the feelings he had discovered in the last few moments were just his imagination playing tricks on him. He could not, did not, have romantic feelings for his best friend, right? But she didn't stop the kiss to vocalize these doubts for Harry. The crazy mixture of unusual emotions continued to overwhelm Harry as their kiss deepened and he slipped his tongue into her mouth. But before he could completely comprehend and enjoy what he was doing, the bushes were pushed apart and they heard an shocked gasp.
"Harry! Hermione!" The two jumped apart instantly, neither one able to look at each other or their red-faced, red-haired friend either. He was, of course, the least person in the whole entire world that they should want to catch them at this. Ron just stood there, flabbergasted. "I . . . I can't believe this," he finally managed to say. "Harry, how could you do this?"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry, standing up and moving out from behind the bushes, Hermione following.
"You knew I - you knew - " Ron stammered, his ears turning red, always a danger sign.
"Knew what?" Harry said blankly. He was completely confused. Of course, he expected Ron to be shocked at what he just saw, but he had no idea to what else Ron was referring.
"Let's talk privately," Ron said, glaring at Hermione. She quickly scampered up the stone steps and into the Entrance Hall without a backward look.
"What?" asked Harry, a little impatiently.
"You knew I fancied Hermione!" Ron yelled.
A wave of guilt came over Harry. So that's what Ron was mad about. Harry had always had a suspicion, but since Ron never really discussed it with Harry, he had never felt right in asking Ron about who he truly fancied. "How was I suppose to know if you never told me?", questioned Harry.
"You should have figured it out!" Ron turned his back to Harry.
"I'm sorry, I can't read minds!" Harry shouted sarcastically. Ron spun round, his face in full flush, but his words were cut off by a booming voice.
"ALL STUDENTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE GREAT HALL IMMEDIATELY. I REPEAT, ALL STUDENTS REPORT TO THE GREAT HALL IMMEDIATELY." Harry recognized it to McGonagall's voice.
Shooting a shocked and worried glance between them, Harry and Ron sprinted up the steps and made their way to the Great Hall without another word.