Authors Note: I have not addressed those who have faithfully read and reviewed this story. I want to thank you for your support. When I started I thought it would just be fun to do. Now I have expectations of myself I didn't expect. I will be editing the story to try to improve it in the next week or so. I'm going to try not use so much narration. Please bear with me. Please continue to give me your feedback, I appreciate it greatly. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge J.K. Rowling and her amazing imagination that makes using these wonderful characters possible.
Chapter 14-Love and Hate
The morning came far too quickly for Harry. If he had ever had a hangover, he would have thought he'd spent the night drinking. His eyes were on fire and his head pounded. He needed to talk to Hermione about getting him something for his headache. He could remember being awakened by Hermione once, but he couldn't remember why. Hermione and Harry had gone off to bed sometime later without speaking much.
Harry got ready for the day with only one thing on his mind. He could see Hermione again today. He chuckled as his cleaned his glasses and put on his shirt. As he looked for a clean robe he tried to remember why Hermione had woke him up. He was so comfortable. He was getting excited to see her this morning. Why today more than any day he could remember? He was living in the afterglow of one of the most fulfilling weekends of his life. It was because of Hermione.
Harry entered the common room hoping to see Hermione. He wasn't disappointed. There she stood as beautiful as ever. Her hair, eyes and smile warmed Harry's heart like always. He wished there were a way to lock that picture in his mind. "Hi, beautiful." There, he said it. He had thought it a thousand times if he had thought it once. Now he had said it.
Hermione blushed a little only because there were two first years making fun of them by pretending to gag at Harry's exuberance, but she played along with Harry. "Hi, handsome, wanna walk me to class lover boy!" They laughed as Harry puffed out his chest like Superman with his fists on his hips and a look toward them as if to say: "Take that you little blighters."
"Why yes I would." He replied.
The last they saw, the first years were standing in awe at the schmaltzy little exchange they'd witnessed. Harry and Hermione were beside themselves with laughter. "Hermione, why did you wake me last night? I can't remember anything you said. I must have really been out of it." He held out his arm for her to take it and she did.
"I was fast asleep and all of a sudden you seemed to be moaning or groaning. I wasn't really awake yet when you stopped but I was sure I heard it. Anyway, you just turned your head and went back to sleep. So did I. I figured that if it was no big deal to you, it wasn't to me either."
"To be honest with you Hermione, I woke up this morning with scorcher of a headache and my eyes burned. Do you have anything for a headache?" Harry asked.
"Sure, I have something in my book bag that'll fix you right up," she said with a note of concern. She always worried when Harry didn't feel well because he rarely complained of anything unless his scar hurt. He had even gone an entire summer and a week at the Weasley's without saying anything about it.
They sat down in their usual spots and had a quick breakfast consisting of toasted muffins and jelly with a little orange juice. They'd been their a few minutes when they realized that Luna was sitting with Ron this morning and talking to Ginny. It looked like a spirited conversation that just looked like friends carrying on. It was nice to see love in the air.
Luna got up after a few minutes and came down toward Hermione and Harry. "Good morning Harry. Hermione, you have an hour free before lunch this morning, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. Why what's up Luna?" She replied.
"Hiya, Luna," interjected Harry.
"Well, Ron and I were having a nice little chat with Ginny this morning and we started talking about you know…girl stuff…about boys. Ron didn't want anything to do with it, so he asked me if I could talk to Ginny later. I thought you might be able to help too. She said she could use some advice. I think it's about her and Dean Thomas."
"I'm not Dean's biggest fan right now, but if Ginny needs to talk…of course, I'll listen and help if I can."
"Thanks, Hermione. Oh, Harry…. Ron said you and he could use the time to go over the new Quidditch stuff he found yesterday. He's pretty excited about it. He misses playing since well…you know…since Goyle and Crabbe." She looked sad. Luna always looked sad when it was about someone dying or being hurt. Even if it was someone she didn't know. Hermione and Harry both noticed it and felt sad that it affected her so. She looked crestfallen as she returned to her seat.
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As Harry and Hermione arrived at Dumbledore's office this morning they stopped outside the door. They had learned at the end of last week that they must be ready when they entered. Dumbledore had chastised them more than once last week for not being prepared. They had been practicing, but they knew they probably hadn't practiced enough. They cleared their minds and focused on the door in front of them and tried to remain completely aware of the moment. Dumbledore had taught them that it was another secret to not giving away more information than necessary. The only thing that could be gleaned then was happy or sad, but not about what.
They knocked after a moment of uninterrupted concentration. The door opened without having to turn the knob. They entered. Dumbledore seemed to be concentrating on pensieve on the desk this morning. He seemed to have a different plan judging from his demeanor. They sat on the overstuffed sofa to the left of Dumbledore's desk and waited.
"This morning I am going to teach you the method of removing memories for safe keeping. I am very pleased that you didn't come in this morning expressing the afterglow of the weekend in Hogsmeade. You are to be commended. I expected at least a little glimpse. Ah, but on to the subject at hand."
Dumbledore spent the next fifteen minutes or so describing the need for identifying personally identifiable memories and determining whether they should remain personal in the pensieve. He explained that the best method of avoiding giving away incriminating information was to keep it safe in the pensieve. However, the pensieve could be a risk itself. He demonstrated by thinking of a time in the recent past. It was when Hermione had first seen Harry in the infirmary last week. He explained that there were other memories he had at the same time. He would then remove them. His challenge was to Harry. Could he figure out which memory had been removed and put in the pensieve when he tried to read the thoughts of Dumbledore the second time? It took three times but Harry finally correctly identified the part that was missing. Dumbledore pointed out the necessity of concentration for a Legilimens. Many clues were available, but many are unremarkable and others would tell a great deal. Harry had forgotten about Dumbledore's comment about their first attempt at a kiss that day.
For the first time in a week, Dumbledore broke down and asked them a personal question. "Did you enjoy yourselves in Hogsmeade this weekend?" Harry and Hermione could tell that Dumbledore was not happy having to maintain a professional distance from them. But after a brief summary of their visit, he returned to his business-like manner.
"Harry, Hermione. You must begin to consider the effect you have on each other. There is a positive energy flow between you. Yet at times it overwhelms your ability to remain cautious and in the moment. You have done well today, but practice this during your classes from time to time. You need to be able to turn it on and off. Harry, you and Hermione may one day find yourselves confronting danger again and you must not lose your train of thought worrying about the safety of the other. You must each defend yourselves first. Please take this bit of advice very seriously. I have reason to believe that it is extremely important at this juncture in your relationship."
Harry and Hermione left Dumbledore's office that morning contemplating his advice. Was it as ominous as it sounded? Or was it a point for future reference…a seed planted for further lessons? They discussed both and decided that it was better to take it at face-value and practice doing what they did entering his office more often.
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Potions class was first on the list on Mondays. Harry and Hermione used this first class to practice their new assignment. Harry found that it made concentrating on Snape's lectures easier and he seemed to learn more than he'd remembered in a long time. Snape's usual undertone of disgust with Harry seemed to be less caustic as he focused on the lesson and not the comments. He was going to use this more often in here from now on.
After class, he and Hermione split up. Hermione walked with Ginny to the Gryffindor common room and would meet Luna outside. Harry trailed behind with Ron jabbering away about the new moves Ron had seen in one of the magazines and in a new book he was reading.
"So, Ginny, Luna tells me you have something on your mind. She says it's girl talk? What could be so important?" Hermione inquired.
"Ron told me that you guys talked about seeing me chatting with Dean on the way back from Hogsmeade….ah, there's Luna," Ginny said.
"Hi, Luna," they chimed as all three stepped through the Fat Lady's portrait. It was rare for someone from another house to come into the Gryffindor common room. Luna took it as a complement to be allowed in. She greeted the both of them cheerfully.
"As I was saying," continued Ginny with a smile. "Dean approached me the other day asking if I would sit down and chat with him sometime this weekend." She paused. "So, I sat with him in the library last night and we talked for nearly two hours."
"And?" Hermione asked.
"Well, he wanted to know what he'd done wrong that caused our breakup last year. I told him that I didn't really breakup with him because I didn't like him. I felt smothered by his need to always know what I was doing. He stopped hanging out with Seamus and his other mates. I told him I wasn't ready for that."
"How'd he take that?" Luna asked.
"I don't know he just looked at me like I was a nutter or something. I remember he used to get jealous if Harry was close and I laughed at something he said. He'd ask me if I still had a thing for Harry. It just all came rushing back like a bad dream. It was like it was him or nothing."
"So, it sounds to me like there's your answer. He's the nutter. He's a control freak." Hermione said with emphasis on "freak."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Ginny with a bit of the same attitude that Hermione had.
"Well, you remember I told you about when he asked me to the Yule Ball, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Ginny said looking at Luna who was staring off into space.
.
Luna felt Ginny's gaze but ignored it as she listened closely to the conversation.
"Did I tell you what he said when he found out I wasn't going with Harry?"
"No. What happened with that?" Ginny asked with a little bit of an annoyed tone.
"Well, he called me a slut and a Quidditch groupie. It was like I had to be a degenerate or something if I liked someone else." She said.
"I told you he had a jealous streak. I don't know if I like that or not." Ginny paused to regroup. She stopped being angry of Hermione for the moment. "Well, actually, of course I don't like anyone who treats their boyfriend or girlfriend like a possession or uses rude language for no reason. But…when it was just… he and I going to Hogsmeade last year or when we weren't around a whole bunch of people, he treated me so nice. We talked about so many cool things. It was really nice to have a friend like him. Besides, he isn't a bad kisser. I don't know what gets into him sometimes."
After her long silence, Luna spoke up. "Since I haven't had any dealings with him and therefore I think I am more objective…maybe you should talk to him about those examples you gave us. Explain how you like him, but how concerned you are that the same thing would happen again. If he's in-tune with you, he'll listen. If he shuts you out, you know it's his problem."
Ginny and Hermione were amazed at how logical this sounded. Maybe a good talk about it would put a positive spin on it for Dean. At the very least, Ginny would know if she could bring up questionable behavior without a big blowout fight or sarcastic comments. With that finished, Ginny complimented Luna on the good idea and said she thought she'd find Dean and talk to him this afternoon. Luna said that she and Ron could be somewhere close just in case he blew a gasket or something. Ginny laughed to herself…she thought, "Only a gossip newspaper editor's daughter would use a term like 'blow a gasket' when talking about a serious conversation between two people. Luna was great. Ron had done well for himself, she thought.
They spent the rest of the time just laughing and joking about how great it would be if things worked out and Harry, Dean, and Ron could put their recent unfortunate clash behind them. Hermione knew that it was a long shot for Harry. But if Ginny was sure about Dean she'd intercede with Harry for things like going to Hogsmeade or the Yule Ball.
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That afternoon Ginny skipped her regular class and snuck into History of Magic with Harry and Hermione. Everyone knew that Professor Binns rarely looked up from his notes. She quietly sat beside Dean. "Hi." She said.
Surprised, Dean said, "Hi, what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to you sometime to day and I was afraid I wouldn't find you later. What's going on later?"
Dean looked a little nonplussed. "Nothing really. Well, there is a project I am working with Seamus on this afternoon and into the early evening."
Ginny wished that he were free this afternoon, but thought it over for a second and said, "Well, how about meeting in the common room at 9 PM."
Without hesitation, he agreed. "Sure, 9 PM then. What's this about?"
Ginny said, "About you and me. I miss you." She knew that comment would ensure he showed up on-time.
They smiled at each other and Ginny left before the first word had crossed Binns old, ghostly lips.