CHAPTER FIFTEEN
OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND
Harry woke up alone on the sofa in the common room the next morning. Oh, yeah. He thought glumly as he sat up and put his shoes on. Breathe deeply. Empty my mind. Step back into the shadows of still and quiet thought. His pain lessened but he knew it was still there and that occlumency wouldn't hide it forever. He made his way up the stairs to his room to find that Ron's chest and belongings were gone. Neville was sitting in bed admiring his mimbulus mimbletonia which had grown a bit since Harry had last seen it.
"Ron packed up and left in a huff last night." Neville said when he noticed that Harry had come in. "Did something happen?"
Harry looked at his friend. "We had a big fight last night." He admitted. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about it much right now." Harry sighed as he washed up and put on a fresh set of clothes.
"Sorry, Harry." Neville offered. "Anything I can do?"
Harry shook his head. "Nothing for now, Neville, he's going to need time to blow off the steam and heal. I don't know if he ever will." He wiped a fresh tear from his cheek and went to the door. "I'm going down for some breakfast. I'll see you around, Neville."
"I'll be here if you need someone to talk to, Harry."
"Thanks."
Harry turned out the door and walked out of the Gryffindor tower. He started down the stairs, concentrating on his occlumency when Sir Nicholas drifted through him. Harry shuddered at the cold and looked up at his ghostly friend.
"Oh, hello, Harry, I didn't see you there." Nick apologized.
"It's ok, Sir Nick." Harry replied. "I want to apologize for my blow up at the end of last year. It was uncalled for. I know that I was hoping beyond hope and I was just in a state of denial."
Nearly-headless Nick looked at his young friend and smiled. "No worry. All was forgiven. I can understand your reaction given the circumstances. If I had the answers, I might have been able to help, but as I said, I was too afraid of death and I don't really understand all the complexities of the matter."
Harry nodded. "Thanks for that." He looked up and smiled. "I'll see you around. I've got to get some errands taken care of today." Without another word, the young boy turned around and continued down the stairs in silence.
Nick looked at him in surprise and smiled before he went through the wall on his own way.
Harry passed several people on his way to the great hall. None of them seemed to want to talk to him which he was quite content with. He looked in the doorway and saw Hermione eating by herself at the far end of the house table and sat down next to her.
"Harry?!" She asked with surprise. "Don't sneak up on me like that! You scared me to death!"
"I seem to be doing that lately, don't I?" He chuckled lightly. "Has anything gone on this morning? I didn't check the time, but I assume that it's well past breakfast."
Hermione looked at him. "It's eight, Harry. There's still plenty of time before breakfast starts."
He shook his head. "I seem to be getting up earlier these days. Are you starting to rub off on me, Miss Granger?" He poked her in the ribs and she squealed before she slapped his hand.
"Don't do that!" She grinned. "Besides, if I were rubbing off on you, you'd have all your homework already done!"
Harry laughed at that. "True enough, true enough. Which reminds me, Professor McGonagall told me that we'd be getting our backlog today. She's also going to announce our team's captaincy today." He sighed and looked at the floor.
"Harry, I'm sure things will be alright." She put her arm around him.
"You know what the irony of it all is?" He asked rhetorically. "My Quidditch ban was lifted last night as well. I'm back on the team. On a team where the two people I never wanted to hurt will have to put up with me ... Unless I quit the team, that is."
"You can't quit the team, Harry. You love Quidditch and it would kill you to not play." She retorted. "Just give it some time. I'm sure things will work out, they'll blow over."
Harry just sighed. "I think I'm going to go pick up my backlog now. Would you meet me in the library after breakfast?"
"Sure I will." She assured him then pulled him into a hug and kissed the top of his head. "Around ten then?"
Harry hugged her back and nodded. "Ten would be great." He offered her a week smile and got up. Grabbing a muffin he looked at Hermione once more then left the great hall and made his way to McGonagall's office.
Once outside the door, he knocked softly and entered at his professor's invitation.
"Good morning, Mr. Potter, what brings you to my office so early in the morning?" She asked quizzically.
"Hmm? Oh, I just stopped by to pick up my backlog so I could spend some time in the library working on it." He explained as he tossed the muffin wrapper in the dustbin. "I figured I was awake and I may as well get a start on it."
Minerva looked at him for a moment. "Are you ill, Harry? You are Harry Potter, aren't you?" She asked jokingly.
He smiled momentarily. "I'm fine." He lied. "Hermione and I are just going to be working on some research this afternoon and I wanted to get as much of my homework done before she starts nagging me about it." He offered with a grin.
McGonagall chuckled lightly. "Of course." She said simply. "You don't want to miss the captaincy announcement, do you?" She asked him while she rifled through some scrolls on her desk. She pulled out three of them and handed the rolled parchment to Harry. "There you are: yours, Miss Granger's, and Mr. Weasley's."
Harry handed Ron's back to her. "I-I won't be seeing Ron before you do, could you give it to him for me?"
A concerned look crossed her face for a moment but she didn't press the matter. "Sure, Harry. Remember your practice and assignments for our training and I'll see you shortly?"
Harry nodded absently. "Thanks, Professor." He turned and walked from the room to the library. The trip didn't take as long as he thought but he wasn't paying attention to the time. He walked in, set his bag on to the table in front of him and sat down.
At ten, Hermione walked into the library carrying her bag and a small plate of muffins. She found Harry reading through his History of Magic Textbook, diligently noting names and dates of the latest round of goblin rebellions they were studying in class.
"This is a rare sight." She said smiling. "I'm rather unnerved seeing you study so hard without me pushing you."
Harry looked up at her with a grin. "Well, there is something to this studying that you never told me about."
"What's that?"
"It helps me take my mind off of things for a bit. Something tells me I'll be getting full marks on my N.E.W.T.s if this keeps up!" He replied with a laugh.
Hermione joined in his laughter as she offered him the plate of muffins. "I thought you might be hungry." She said.
"Thanks. How did the announcement go?" He asked as he picked at a blueberry muffin.
"Ron was taken aback. I guess he wasn't expecting to become the team captain. It looked like he brightened up a bit after that." She looked at Harry suspiciously. "I'm guessing that you asked McGonagall to appoint him instead of you?"
Harry looked at his perceptive friend. "I spoke my mind on the matter. She didn't tell me she was going pick him over me, though." He smiled wistfully. Good, I know he'll be happier with this. I hope we can work things out later. He thought as a faraway look settled in his emerald eyes.
"He should be happier with the captaincy under his belt, you think?" Hermione asked in a whisper. "I hope we can work things out later..."
Harry smiled at his girlfriend. "Would you quit reading my mind please?"
"It's kind of hard not to." She teased him.
"Well, shall we get some homework done then? Here's your homework for the past week." He handed her the scroll that bore her name and marveled at the way her eyes brightened immediately. "You scare me sometimes."
"Why?" She asked with a confused look.
"I still can't understand how you can enjoy doing homework! Especially when it's make-up homework you're digging into." Harry shook his head with a smile as she slapped his arm playfully.
"You know me, books, notes, studying ..." She laughed as she started pulling out the necessary books.
They worked in silence for several hours, one or the other getting up from time to time to get a different book or stopping down to the kitchen for a round of snacks. Harry couldn't believe that he had actually gotten caught up on a weeks worth of homework already. Hermione on the other hand was meticulous in every detail and she was barely a quarter of the way finished with her own pile of essays and notes.
Harry put down his quill, leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that does it for me." He said with satisfaction.
"What? You're done already?" She asked; her mouth agape in surprise.
Harry nodded. "Yes I am. Time seemed to fly by." He motioned to the rolls of parchment he had sitting on the table. "I have all my essays there, and strangely enough, there weren't any potions on my list other than four essays."
Hermione looked over her list carefully. "I don't see any potion brewing on mine either, just essays." She looked at him for a moment. "Do you want me to look them over for any mistakes?" She asked.
"I thought you'd never offer!" He smiled. "But that can wait for now. I was wondering if we could retire to the room of requirement for some research."
"Sure we can." She nodded. "What is it you want to research?"
"I'll tell you when we get there." He answered. "It's safer that way."
Hermione agreed and soon they were walking along the familiar seventh floor corridor. Harry walked back and forth in the hall concentrating intently on the type of research that he wanted to work on and blurred from Hermione's sight. She followed him a moment later and entered the charmed room.
In the center of the room was a large oak table filled with scrolls, quills, and many pots of ink. Each wall in the room was lined with huge bookshelves that stretched from floor to ceiling. The shelves were packed with books on magic theory.
"Harry, what kind of research is this?" She looked at the rows of books with wide eyes. "There are books here on creating spells, spell theory, counter-curses, just about anything needed to create or research any type of spell!"
He nodded. "I need to tell you why I started thinking about this. I was at my detention with Snape when I got inspired, actually. He would have me use occlumency and try to take over my body with mind affecting spells like the imperious curse and legilimency." He started pacing as he went over his explanation. "It turns out that occlumency is a great ability to have. It not only keeps people from reading your thoughts and telling if you're lying, but it can also disrupt or even counter various types of mental control." He looked at her pointedly. "I asked how the killing curse worked. I reasoned that since there were no marks on the body that it could possibly be mind related. If you can convince someone that they are dead, they believe that and die. But he said that isn't how it works."
Hermione nodded as she absorbed his retelling. "That's a good question, Harry." She pursed her lips and rested them on a supporting fist. "Maybe with the information available here, we could develop a way to counter or even reverse the killing curse." Her eyes lit up like Christmas trees. "Of course, we'd need the original body and the wand that performed the curse ..."
"I had a feeling you might be eager to get into this idea. This is going to take a lot of time and work ..." He smiled as he saw the implications falling into place. "If we can find ways to counter or reverse the unforgivable curses that is ..."
Hermione nodded excitedly. "Since we've got busy schedules, how about I set up some planners so that we can maximize our time?"
"Oh, no ... The monster's been unleashed!" He cried in mock horror.
She laughed as she ran after him. "If I ever catch you, Harry, you're going to get it!"
He surprised her by stopping suddenly and she barreled into him. "Here's your chance!" He laughed as he turned around and caught her in his arms.
She burst into giggles as she playfully hit his chest with her fists before returning his embrace. He bent down and kissed her softly and she shivered before deepening it. Time stood still for a moment and they broke apart in a daze.
"Well, it's late and we technically have our first day of classes tomorrow." He said as he rested his forehead on hers. She didn't say anything; her slight nod and smile was all he needed. "Shall we head back, Miss Granger?"
She nodded again. "We should." She kissed him again then broke off and gathered her school things. He had already grabbed his belongings and had her heavy bag in his free hand.
"What do you have in this thing, a small elephant and a rhinoceros?" He chided.
"I can carry it, Harry, really." She giggled.
"I've got it. Besides, it's what boyfriends are supposed to do!" Harry said with a smile. "Unfortunately, you'll have to open the door for me."
She opened the door for him and followed him out into the hall. They made their way quietly to the common room where Harry relinquished the small library in a bag to his companion.
"Well, I guess it's goodnight then." He said as he looked her over, taking in each curve and imperfection in an attempt to memorize her.
"Yeah, I guess it is." She smiled and stepped in for a quick kiss. "Goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight."
On his way to his room Harry realized that tomorrow he would be attending defense against the dark arts with Professor Durkell for the first time. He cleared the rest of the way quickly, changed for bed then wished Ron a silent goodnight as he lay down. Occlumency kicked in to ward off the dream invasions and he was fast asleep.